“A Gift of Exhortation!” 2 Timothy 4:1-5

So this morning it’s kind of interesting the message that I have. It’s not a typical Christmas message except for the fact I tried to make it one last Sunday because I made a comment that this Sunday we had a Christmas message because it was the first Sunday. It was right before communion. I could make that tie in. I thought that would be good. I still want to finish Second Timothy while I still have time. You’ll all get that. But while I still have time to finish Second Timothy and I knew this particular message is one that was truly on my heart.

So I made a comment that that this Sunday that the sermon would be a gift to Pastor Ryan. Well, somehow that got misconstrued or it could have been that I misconstrued it. I don’t know, but it got misconstrued that my gift of the sermon to Pastor Ryan was going to be this last Wednesday. But they weren’t able to be here today. There was a Christmas party where Chelsea works and so they weren’t able to be here. So the youth group was in here and I heard there was a bit of a scuttlebutt because the sermon was on Satan. So I just feel the need that I need to kind of correct that. And that that that the sermon on Wednesday about Satan was not the gift that I was wanting to preach in a message and give it to Pastor Ryan. Today’s the day for that gift.

And so it’s it’s kind of that way. But it’s also in the in the message or in the bulletin that that that’s the gift of exhortation. And that can be taken in different ways. But but I’m looking at the gift of a particular exhortation, because in a Second Timothy, and you can take your Bible and turn here if you would like, but it’s going to be Second Timothy chapter four. And some have turned this particular passage, the Apostle Paul’s final message. And so in that what he is giving is a gift to the church. At large, as we’ve already seen, he is looking at certain death and so forth. And it’s a gift. Now there’s all kinds of gifts that we can give and take in our family. We make up a Christmas gift list and I just hate doing that personally. I don’t like to put down a gift because if you put down a bunch of nice gifts, they think, wow, what does he think? We’re all made of money. My kids and all that. Are the gifts too expensive? So I’m not going to do that.

But but then I usually put down a bunch of practical gifts. And so I put down vitamins and, you know, probiotics and stuff like that. And now they’re jumping me saying I don’t like those gifts. But, you know, it’s such a thing as healthy gifts. Right. You know, super beats. I want Super Beats for Christmas. And so they don’t like that gift. But anyways, those are gifts. There’s healthy gifts. There’s special, beautiful gifts, you know, some jewelry. And there’s going to be special gifts like that that’s really there. And it’s just, you know, there can be gifts that smell good. And that’s a good time when you buy something. Generally, wives might buy what they want their husbands to smell like if they can get him to wear it. Or vice versa, the husband will buy his favorite and then try to convince his wife to wear it. But there’s all kinds of gifts.

There’s important gifts. There’s big gifts, small gifts. But last night at a Sunday school party, we had a gift exchange, but it was called, what do they call that, a white elephant? And the white elephant was, if you’ve ever experienced that, they set up a price limit and so forth, and they said, well, you can get a gift. Well, that’s a particular kind of a gift. But there was one particular gift that just hit the ball out of the park. It was a home run. And it was a screaming goat. And if you’ve never seen a screaming goat, now you have. And it, let’s see, I’ll see if I can do this. It screams. That all came from that, you know. Now that’s a, Totally mundane, silly gift. But it was the talk of the town. It’s part of a Sunday school class this morning, in fact. You know, because it was a gift. Well, today I want to look at not the gift of a screaming goat, but the gift that would come not as a scream, but out of the mouth of a pastor. And it’s gonna talk about what it is like, what is its motivation, and why. And we find it all in 2 Timothy chapter four.

So take a look at this passage as we come up to it. Now this is in the context of the book, of the last book of the Apostle Paul, written by the old preacher to a young preacher. He’s looking at his certain death is up and coming, And he’s not expecting to live much longer. Verse seven of chapter four, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I’ve kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all those that have loved his appearing. And so he’s expecting to die. And after that, the judgment as what the scripture would say. And so he’s getting prepared to die. And he’s got this last message. The last thing, the gift, as it were, of exhortation, not a scream, but a gift of exhortation to a young preacher and that this is something that is good and my gift to Pastor Ryan and for all of us to properly understand why this is such a good time to be even looking at this passage of scripture. And he says, to Timothy, that is, the Apostle Paul says to Timothy, stir up your gift, stir up the people because they need to have sound doctrine.

Now, that’s the theme of the of Second Timothy. That’s also the theme of First Timothy, but especially in Second Timothy. He’s going to say in Chapter one of first of of Second Timothy, Chapter one in verse 13, if I’m not mistaken, 113 hold fast to the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. So he tells him to hold on to sound teaching. He says in Chapter 2 and verse 24 and teach it. This is what he says in verse 24 of Chapter 2. And a servant of all must not quarrel but be gentle to all able to teach patient and to be patient in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. And so you are to hold on to the sound doctrine or hold on to truth. You’re to teach it. You’re to abide in it. Chapter three and verse 14 says, But you must commit. I’m sorry, you must continue. in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing this from whom you have learned them. And from a childhood, you have known the Holy Scripture.

So you need to abide in the truth. And now in chapter four, verse two, he’s gonna say, preach the word. The looks of a pastor are not important. Necessarily, not even the schools that he goes to. or all these other things, although there are qualifications, and we see that in 1 Timothy 3, that pastors must have. But one thing, as far as an exhortation, that a pastor must do, and in the proper handling of his job as a pastor is, you have to preach the word. Now, if we need a tie to the Christmas story, the Gospel of John does not have the nativity nor the recitation of the virgin conception, all of that. But it does start off this way. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Such was in the beginning. And then verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld the truth in his glory.

Now, preach the word. Who is the preacher to preach? Well, the first application of this is the word of God. The second is preach Christ. It isn’t about how you can be healthy, wealthy and wise. The prosperity gospel. No preacher is called to commit his life to make other people rich or healthy. He is to preach the word and to preach Christ to prepare them for death so that they go off into eternity with anticipation rather than dread. So that is going to be basically the thrust of this passage but he’s going to go on and develop this in a four-fold way in the developing this whole passage. So that’s what I want to do today. This is my gift. of exhortation for me to give to Pastor Ryan in front of the whole church, so that this would be that special gift, not to preach like a screaming goat, but to preach the word as a man of God.

Well, let’s take a look at this. In chapter four, and in this passage, the first thing that we have in the division, and this becomes so important, and it really shows us The heart of Paul. And it really shows us how important this gift that he is exhorting in and he’s giving this to young Timothy. How important this really is. This is really serious stuff and he sets it up in verse 1 of chapter 4. Please note the immense importance of the charge. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word.

Now, verse one is the setup. Well, I always think of it this way. He’s setting up what it is that he wants to say. It’s the intro, if you want to call it that, although it’s in the middle or in the last chapter of the book. But he is. He’s grabbing the attention. The Lord Jesus would do it. I don’t know that it’s really true to call it just a Hebrew or a Jewish thinking or thing. It is public speaking. When you speak in public, you always want to set the hook. You want to grab the attention. And you do that somehow. And then you try at the end to then wrap it up. But you set the hook, you grab the attention.

Every good public speaking thing, or at least most good public speaking thing, opportunities, they grab the attention. And you don’t have much time to do that. Now, in a church situation, in sermons, it’s a little different, because you keep coming back, and you know me, and you can take it a little bit longer. But not too much longer. But if you’re going to listen to what it is, I’m going to say, you’ve got to grab the attention. The Apostle John was good and we’ve seen it in his and Paul and others. It is the word behold. It was the word that Luke used with the angels. Behold. You know, ye men of Galilee, the John the Baptist. Behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The word behold grabs the attention. When you say that, it’s it. The Lord Jesus did it in another way.

If you have old King James, it is verily, verily I say unto you and the original language, it’s kind of interesting. It isn’t verily, verily it is. Amen. Amen. That just with the way we use amen to conclude a prayer, that would sound kind of funny. Sometimes newer translations, it’ll say truly, truly. Sometimes in our culture, we want to say, I’m telling you the truth. I try not to say that anymore, because someone told me that if you use car salesman says, I’m telling you the truth, you can be pretty much assured that he’s not. And so I don’t like to use that phrase anymore, but it’s the idea of to pay attention. That what I am about to say is really important. We also sometimes invoke deity, although I don’t think we should. Sometimes we say, well, as God is my witness. And what we mean by that is, I’m telling you the truth. This is maximum. This is number one priority.

Let’s look at the text again. I charge you. And keep in mind, it’s the last sermon. I’ve got a message for you, an exhortation. I charge you, therefore, before God. And our text, a lot of most translations has and the Lord Jesus Christ, it sounds like he’s trying to divide them up. Actually a better translation is therefore before God even the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead because all judgment has been given unto Christ. Christ is God and that’s part of that thing doctrine of the Trinity and we get it. But the original language has got a real oomph here. I charge you, what I’m about to preach to you this day is the message of the Apostle Paul. And he invokes God, even Jesus Christ, to bear witness to what I’m about to tell you. This young Timothy is what you must pay attention to. But he doesn’t only stop there.

Notice he goes on to say who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. And he invokes the fact that God, even Jesus Christ, is the great judge with the full implication. And he will judge me. On what I am about to say. This is an introduction, as some have said, into a courtroom Now, in the day and age in which this was written in the secular world, a word like this was this was a common declaration or summons. And it would sound like this, quote, The case will be drawn up against you in the court of Hiopolis in the presence of the honorable Judge Festus, chief magistrate. Now, that’s all legal jumbo, but the idea is this is serious. This is gonna be judged by the judge. Well, he jumps secular court. He goes to high heaven. And he says, pay attention.

Now, James, the half brother of our Lord, in James chapter three in verse one, James 3, one, puts it another way. Don’t desire to be many teachers because ours is a greater judgment. So what he’s about to give to the young preacher. As he’s saying, God is my witness, this is really important. I see in the church, not just Fellowship Baptist, but the church historically, when this was given is asked, listen in. You want to see what the apostle Paul wanted to preach as his last message? What did he really think? What did he really say? This is what counts. It isn’t if you’re seeker friendly. It isn’t what is the youth program. What is it that they have to have? It’s an immense importance to the charge. It deals with urgency, seriousness, the giving of orders from a superior.

Now, what’s kind of interesting is this is kind of typical of the Apostle Paul. Go back with me to First Timothy, First Timothy, Chapter five. He as he’s wrapping up First Timothy, the first letter to Timothy. and the pastoral epistles. And in chapter five, verse 21, he starts off, sounds a lot the same. He says, I charge you before God, even the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, the chosen angels, the ones that are in state of righteousness, the elect angels, that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins. Keep yourself pure. So he invokes this idea of witness and very, very typical of the of of of the Apostle Paul and writing these letters because of the gravity of what it is that he’s writing.

Second, Timothy Chapter two and verse 14 has another one much like this. 2.14. Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord, not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved unto God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Before God, be a workman. Don’t be stealing sermons or don’t be doing things of no profit to the ruin of the hearers. And this is a season where some of that is done. I know there’s a church not far from here that had Alvin and the Chipmunks as the main characters in their Christmas program. May I just bear witness The judge overall was not pleased. Because the main character of the Christmas season is Jesus Christ. And God does not share his glory with anyone, and especially chipmunks. Chipmunks are cute. I love chipmunks. I would love to have a chipmunk as a pet. Actually, if you know me, I’d want more than one and I’d want to breed them and have a bunch of baby chipmunks. But that’s just another issue. But God doesn’t share his glory with chipmunks. It is about Christ. and about Christ alone. So he introduces what his message about this exhortation. But the very, very first point is this. It’s an immensely important charge. This what I am about to say is serious stuff.

Now the second thing that we have in the fourfold division is the substance of the charge. And what’s interesting is is in the whole passage in these five verses in the original language we have got nine imperatives. Now don’t go nervous and think I got nine more points. Well, you might want to get nervous because I do have at least actually I have more than nine points, but they’re not all major points. And we’ll get through them pretty quickly. But it is this that he breaks it up into two sections. But the first one, there are five imperatives. And what he has just said, God is my witness. Jesus is going to hold me accountable. But Jesus is going to hold you accountable. And that’s why don’t lose this gift. Pay attention to it. What is everyone supposed to be taken to? Well, the first one here is found in verse two, and we’ve already can see it. Preach the word.

Preach the word. Herald forth the word. Preach, not your hobby horses, Preach not your just doctrine in your systematic theology. Preach the word, the whole counsel of God. And you make sure that it’s balanced, that it’s reachable, that it’s teachable, that it’s eatable by the sheep so that they can get it. Don’t just try and use big words to impress, but they still don’t get it. And one thing you do not, Preach is yourself. You are not to preach yourself. Colossians chapter one and verse 20. Well, let me let me just start at verse 24. Colossians 1 24. Listen to this. The apostle Paul rang to the church at Colossi. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. for the sake of the body, which is the church of which I became a minister. I’ve been thinking about that. Why did I become a minister?

Well, here’s what Paul says. I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to the saints. To them, God willed to make known what are the riches of his glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is in Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory, him that is Christ, we preach. You preach Christ, what is the church about? It’s not to alleviate your religious conscience. It’s to preach Christ. Who is Christ? The Son of God. The only atoning Lamb of God. The only one who has blood that can wash away sin. Preach Christ. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end, I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.” And then he goes on, I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you. And he goes on and talks there about the church. We’re to preach Christ because that is what we have been called to do.

So the important thing that continues on in January and for the years ahead until Jesus comes is this. How much preaching of the whole council uplifting Christ, the message of Christ and those things that he finds dear. How much of that preaching will take place here? The second imperative that is here is to always be ready to notice what he says, OK, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. OK, so always be ready in and out of season, 24 hours a day, like a soldier, like a guard. OK, you know. How would you like to be part of an army where the front line says, Well, we’re going to take Tuesdays and Thursdays off. You know, and yet people make jokes about preachers that we only work one day a week. Does that because Satan takes, you know, all those other days off, too, and we wrestle not against flesh and blood. And so there is a call to reminder.

The ministry is a great place to slack off. Because a lot of times you don’t have people to hold you accountable, especially in churches where there’s a single elder alone and no one there to keep them accountable. Well, some of those churches use deacons like elders, and it’s the deacons that keep the pastors in order, which is not really the way it’s supposed to work. But there is a warning. We are to be given to the preaching of the word and to be ready night or day, 24 hours, seven days a week, because of the nature of what it is. Just like a soldier or a guard, to be ready, to be persistent, on call. It’s supposed to be the mark of a pastor.

I know of a man who went into the ministry and he went on a vacation and he said that somebody died in his church And he said, well, I wouldn’t have said it to the family quite this way, but I just told the funeral director, put him on ice and I’ll be home in a couple of weeks. And when after he told me that, I said, you need to get out of the ministry. If that’s your attitude, get out, please. for the rest of us, and especially for Jesus Christ, because that is not what a man of God is supposed to be. You’re supposed to preach the word. You’re supposed to be available in season and out of season. You’re supposed to be available no matter what, period. And it may involve coming home. Now that doesn’t mean, you know, if you’re in the middle of the ocean and on a cruise ship, it may be kind of hard to come back right away. But that a man of God and the church and the message of the church, you got to preach the word, you got to always be ready.

Thirdly, and this is where it gets tough. Well, let me put it this way. It gets tough depending upon what your personality is, because not all preachers have the same personality. Because the next word, preach the word, be ready in season, out of season. And now we have another imperative, just a single word, convict. Convict. What does that mean? Well, to convict means to reprove. You need to preach the truth about sin. That’s not a message well received in our society today. They’re talking about DEI, everybody’s backing off that, things that are politically not correct. Some people are backing off. But then there’s just some things that I don’t think are going to go totally away. And there’s some things that you’re just not really supposed to say. Well, historically, it’s always been that most people don’t like to be called sinners.

Well, guess what the Bible says? For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You all are sinners. And I’m a sinner. And we are in trouble and preachers and the church cannot back off on that message. But yet they have. You know, if we talk to a person that is in an alternative lifestyle and we say that that is sin, they say, well, that’s hate language. Actually, it’s God. So love the world. He doesn’t want you to eternally perish. And if you want eternal life, you need to understand that’s a sin. You’re a sinner and you need to flee from your sin. But that same truth goes to a person who’s committing heterosexual sin. And adultery or fornication. That’s a sin. We are sinners. But Christ is the answer to the sin problem. We come to the Savior and the church cannot back off on that.

There are consequences to our actions. There are consequences to sin. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. But the soul that repents and calls upon the name of Christ, it shall live for eternity. But you gotta understand, you gotta call, you gotta understand that you’re a sinner, and you gotta understand you need to turn from your sin, repent from, recognize God said no, and he will judge you for that, unless you repent, and that sin is placed on Christ. That’s the gospel. It isn’t trying to make yourself better, better and better. It’s to get your sin on Jesus. Preach Christ. So we’ve got this idea of reproof, and that’s a truth that needs to be brought home to persuade, to convict, to convince, to bring. It’s actually where that means to bring to light those who oppose. It is to preach the word of God and to realize we’re dead in trespasses and sins, but it takes the spirit of God to reprove.

The next word is kind of along the same same way to convict to convince the other one is to rebuke. Sinners need to be reprimanded. Sin needs to be exposed. There needs to be sometimes in the preaching of God’s word, a sharp, a sense of sharpness. Historically, it has been referred to in church circles as stepping on toes. That if, and I’ve already done it with respect to those that are involved in sin and sexual sin and within our own society, but it can be in other things as well, whether it be fraud or the like and lying. You take that sometimes there just needs to be a rebuke. And it has to be that in the ultimate sense is really what church discipline is all about, is to rebuke someone in sin. And to say, it’s not supposed to be that way.

You cannot do that. And says, well, judge not lest ye be judged. Yeah, but then the verse goes on to say, and the passage, but judge this rather. And you need to not, if you’re, you know, got a beam in you, don’t go for a speck in your brother’s eye. But that we’re supposed to get rid of things in our eyes so we see clearly. And so rebuke can be very pointed at times, and it doesn’t make for popularity. He’s going to go on and look at verse four. He says, and they will turn. This is the next generation, part of the reason why this message is needed, because they will turn their ears away from the truth and will be turned aside to fables. God wants you happy. And it doesn’t make, you know, if your wife, you know, if she burns the pancakes, you have legitimate grounds for divorce. No, you don’t. You don’t. Well, I’m not happy. Big whoop, who cares? But you see, that just falls, you know, I like no fault divorce.

Well, first of all, that just doesn’t exist. Somebody, everybody’s at fault. But you see, the idea is marriage, divorce and remarriage and all of that, that’s extremely narrow biblically. And this isn’t a verse on that, but I’m just saying there are those who say, well, I don’t like that message. You’re too narrow. You’re too hateful. No, I want to be too biblical because I preach the word. You have a problem. You can make a personal against me. But what you’re really going to do is if if I’m preaching the word, your problem is with the word. And surviving as a pastor in one church for 30 years, at least I’ve convinced you that I’m preaching the word because you still seem to like me. But you see, the fact of the matter is, what does the word of God say? And that is what we must preach. Always be ready. Reprove, rebuke, but now comes at least a little bit, gets a little bit better, because then he tells us to admonish. This means with patience and with indoctrination. To exhort or to admonish with all longsuffering and teaching.

Now, I wanna, this is kind of the balance. There are churches, and I may dare say Baptists are maybe some of the worst ones, that like to take the word of God and clobber people over the head with it. Shame on us. That’s not what this passage is saying, to be some mean-spirited old codger that is just trying to get a rise out of you. There are some really scruffy old guys that are just mean. And they go, I’m preaching the word. Yeah, but how? See, it’s one thing to just go around and spanking a child. That may lead over into abuse. But the proverbial, this hurts me more than you and you really mean it. And you bring discipline to the child’s life because you really love the child. Or if a church really feels that the pastor really loves his sheep, he’s not mean-spirited and trying to get mad and back at people. Or if he’s having a problem with the wife, and then he takes it out and browbeats all the people in the church. But that does happen. And where people can feel, man, he’s just angry. And maybe you know, I’ve heard of preachers. He just seems angry all the time.

Now, he may be preaching. He may even be preaching the word, but he’s not doing it right because he isn’t following the passage and remind and he needs to be reminded, you know, God’s going to judge you not only on what you preach, but how you preached it. To exhort with all longs of admonish with all long suffering and teaching, be able to back it up for the time will come, and that’s going to go into the reason why or how. For the time will come. when they will not endure sound doctrine. You don’t change the sound doctrine, but you make sure that what you preach carries the idea of love, of patience, of slowness of growth. Not everybody grows as fast as maybe you or other people. You’ve got to be patient and kind, kind of, you know, the fruits of the spirit. Pastors ought to be definitely recognizing that. But you don’t avoid. Subjects like the wrath of God. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. And, you know, sometimes and I’ve used the joke, your sin keeps me employed.

You know, that’s really true. Because I don’t want to avoid the wrath of God. In your life. Nor the judgment of God in mine. by trying to avoid it. And that’s hard to do. So in this, the substance of the charge is to preach the whole council being ready at any time, reproving and rebuking when necessary, and admonishing understanding long patience in love for those then the reasons that are given because of wicked times and because of wicked people that want to turn away from the truth verse 3 for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers And boy, if there’s any heaping up right now, it’s podcasts and Christian radio and Christian TV and all this other stuff and everything. And people just get caught up in the things that they want to hear, not the things that they need to hear. And the electronic podcast church is growing by leaps and bounds, but it’s nowhere found in scripture. You need to be in a local church with a local pastor, a pastor who is your shepherd and who loves you. and will teach you and will feed you and who will rebuke you and who will love you to death and always wants you the best for you.

But verse four, but they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. And so we have the reasons for this charge because of wicked times, because people won’t want to listen. People will desire and go after bad doctrine. Some have said, looking for the golden calf makers. The Old Testament, when Moses is up on the mountain with God, and they get Aaron, and they get Aaron to do all kinds of things, making a golden calf, go figure. And we have people that say, I don’t like what the church teaches. We need to grow up. We need to change our doctrine. I heard, now again, I just heard this, so that’s still hearsay, but I heard that the Pope now has created a jubilee for gay marriage and gay lifestyle. May I dare say, God hasn’t. The Bible and the canon are complete. That’s why I’m a proud Protestant, but also a reformed Protestant. But that’s also why I am a biblical Christian. Because people want the other message. How can we change this? People, I mean, the Church of England, changing its position on so much, and they’re doing it because, you know, the people don’t like our message.

Well, What is the message? Does it change? No. So the reason for the change is a turning away from knowing truth. Then third, or the fourth thing that this divides itself is in verse five. And this divides up into the four more imperatives of the verbs. And it becomes very cool in how it organizes itself. And it deals with the mind, the heart, The vision and the will. So let’s take a look at just very quickly, the mind, verse five, but you see, he comes back now to his imperatives, but you be watchful in all things. It’s the word of to be sober minded, to be level headed. It is the word when we talked about sober. It means not being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, but it has the idea of being well-balanced, being in control of your thoughts and of your self-control. Don’t lose sight of clear thinking.

In our search years ago when we were looking and when Pastor Ryan came down here, There was always those questions, and I remember and I think maybe I’ve even said this publicly, but I say it again because this is it. What are you willing to take a bullet for? There are some things. Deny Christ or die, I’d say, shoot. But then there are some things that I’m not going to quite do that on if it’s a. Are those real angels in Genesis 6? I’ve got an opinion, but I’m not going to take a bullet for it. Do you think that the Holy Spirit is truly God? Absolutely. Take a bullet for it. You think the spirit of God indwells everybody or only believers? It’s only believers. There’s no give or take. There’s nothing. So there’s something you got to be able to think clearly, sober, sober mindedly, level headed, well balanced.

The second deals with the heart. Notice what he says. Verse five, be watchful in all things, endure afflictions. That means to persevere. He says within this book, and he’s going to say it before this is over. They have tried to make my life really yucky. I have suffered persecutions. I’ve been involved in beatings. And he’s going to bring that up for my. I am already being poured out as a drink offering, verse six. And the time in my departure is that I fought the good fight. He’s been disappointed, verse nine, be diligent to come to me quickly, for Demas has forsaken me. Having loved this present world has departed. Friends, we’re leaving him. But the message is this, be sober minded. Be in realization, you’re going to have to suffer persecution if you want everybody to love you, this is not the job that you want. Persevere in suffering evil.

And then he talks about vision. What does he say? when he says, Be watchful in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist. Now, that’s an interesting thing. This term evangelist and it’s a noun form is only found in the in the Bible three times in Ephesians four, 11 and Acts two, 21, eight. And here, I think it would be for do the work of an evangelist. Well, by way of application, don’t forget the lost. You know, he’s to take care of the congregation. But you don’t ever want a pastor that has no burden for the lost. That’s why I appreciate so much even what Pastor Ryan and his participation down at the First Friday. You go there out of a passion for the lost, for evangelism.

In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 and following it says that and God gave gifts, and he goes through apostles and so forth, and then he says evangelist and pastor teachers. Now there’s some debate on do evangelists exist today and all of that, and I’m not gonna go into that, but to the fact that he is writing to Timothy, who was a pastor teacher, who is a gift, pastors are a gift to the church to accomplish the purpose of God. And whether you have the gift of evangelism or not, you’re to be doing the work of it. And that was a message he wanted all young preachers and the people of the first century to hear. And then the last one deals with the will. And it just, if you’re in the ministry, it just makes you feel good. Do the work of evangelists, fulfill your ministry. Now, what does that mean? Fulfill your ministry. God calls a man into the ministry to do his ministry, and we are to fulfill it.

So at our end time death, and we stand before God, we hear those words, well done, thou good and faithful servant. To end well should be what the word of God exhorts believers to do. You see. The church doesn’t need more screaming goats. It needs men of God to preach the word. There’s your gift. Now your future will hold on whether you receive it well or not.

Let’s pray. Our Father in heaven, the ministry needs to be fulfilled. You called us to do a work. May we be found faithful doing it. Not only as pastors, but also as sheep, fulfilling our role to be a local assembly of believers of which this world can look at and to say, That church is different because they preach Christ. They are interested and they uphold all that the Bible says. It’s not just what makes them popular or what makes them big. It’s what does this to make us true. Father, may we be found faithful, may I be found faithful, may Pastor Ryan be found faithful, may other churches in Lakeland, Florida be found faithful, because you have called us to a task. The task must be completed. Help us to do that for your glory, for we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.