So, I'll be preaching in English. So,<\/p>\n
that was for the Thai speakers. Or if<\/p>\n
you'd like to hear the sermon in Thai,<\/p>\n
we have translation equipment that you<\/p>\n
may use in the corner. And we'll wait<\/p>\n
just a moment as<\/p>\n
that gets prepared. And if you need to<\/p>\n
get that<\/p>\n
and then uh you can let maybe someone<\/p>\n
can let me know just by raising your<\/p>\n
hand that it's working. Ifa<\/p>\n
Okay. Can anyone hear? Can you hear it?<\/p>\n
Okay. Phone. Okay. Am I? Yeah. Okay.<\/p>\n
Good. Um, my name is Tim Mills. If<\/p>\n
you're visiting with us this evening, we<\/p>\n
especially want to say welcome to you.<\/p>\n
We are glad you're here. Even with the<\/p>\n
rain falling, that you were able to make<\/p>\n
it here. Um, and we're glad you're<\/p>\n
visiting.<\/p>\n
Grace City, just to give you a little<\/p>\n
bit of background about our church, if<\/p>\n
you are visiting, we're a community that<\/p>\n
is centered around Jesus. centered<\/p>\n
around Jesus Christ and the grace of God<\/p>\n
that has been made evident through all<\/p>\n
that Jesus has done. And so we talk<\/p>\n
about it, we preach about it, we sing<\/p>\n
about it, and by God's grace, we hope to<\/p>\n
live it out as well. Our desire as a<\/p>\n
church, as a community, uh is that we<\/p>\n
will be captivated<\/p>\n
more and more by God's great grace day<\/p>\n
in and day out. and his love, his great<\/p>\n
love. And that so then we turn to our<\/p>\n
neighbor. We have plenty of neighbors in<\/p>\n
Bangkok.<\/p>\n
We have plenty of neighbors. Love your<\/p>\n
neighbor as yourself is the message of<\/p>\n
the gospel.<\/p>\n
So we do that as a community. We seek to<\/p>\n
seek the Lord. Seek after God. And as<\/p>\n
God works in us, we hope that we will<\/p>\n
become more and more a people that love<\/p>\n
and care for this city through the grace<\/p>\n
of Jesus Christ. So just a little little<\/p>\n
bit of background of what Grace City is<\/p>\n
all about. Welcome. We're glad you're<\/p>\n
here if you're visiting. So in recent<\/p>\n
weeks, we if you want to go back and<\/p>\n
listen, the sermons are recorded and you<\/p>\n
can go back and listen. But we've been<\/p>\n
going through the letters, the books in<\/p>\n
the Bible of First and Second Timothy. 1<\/p>\n
and 2 Timothy. Uh, and today we're<\/p>\n
actually going to be finishing the<\/p>\n
letters to Timothy and we'll be looking<\/p>\n
at the last chapter of Second Timothy.<\/p>\n
And next week in the week beyond, we'll<\/p>\n
be looking at the book of Titus, the<\/p>\n
book of Titus. Now, these three books in<\/p>\n
the New Testament, they're actually<\/p>\n
letters.<\/p>\n
The Bible has all kinds of writing, all<\/p>\n
kinds of pros and poetry even and songs<\/p>\n
and psalms.<\/p>\n
But these were written as letters. These<\/p>\n
books were written as letters. They were<\/p>\n
written by the Apostle Paul and they<\/p>\n
were written to individual church<\/p>\n
leaders. You can probably guess who they<\/p>\n
may have been written to. Timothy and<\/p>\n
Titus. These letters were written to<\/p>\n
encourage.<\/p>\n
They were written to outline sound or<\/p>\n
truthful doctrine<\/p>\n
and they were written to help Timothy,<\/p>\n
Titus<\/p>\n
in the role that they were serving in at<\/p>\n
that time. Now, as these letters are in<\/p>\n
the Bible, they are the word of God. And<\/p>\n
so just as these letters were written to<\/p>\n
Timothy and Titus, these letters were<\/p>\n
written so that we today, all these<\/p>\n
years later may glean from them. We get<\/p>\n
to read someone else's mail as it were<\/p>\n
and we get to learn from it. Let me pray<\/p>\n
for us. Lord God, we pray that you would<\/p>\n
help us today. Open our hearts and our<\/p>\n
minds to your scriptures. We believe<\/p>\n
these are true and they are inher in<\/p>\n
inherent. They are eternal and they are<\/p>\n
ready to teach us and show us our own<\/p>\n
hearts today. So we ask that you would<\/p>\n
do that. Um some of us may be not sure<\/p>\n
what we even think about you. If there<\/p>\n
is even a God, if there is a God, what<\/p>\n
has God done? What has God revealed? So<\/p>\n
God, even if someone is exploring<\/p>\n
Christianity tonight, wanting to<\/p>\n
understand more, we also pray that you<\/p>\n
would open hearts and minds. Teach all<\/p>\n
of us, encourage all of us. We ask and<\/p>\n
pray in your holy name, Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n
Amen.<\/p>\n
Speaking of letters, I want you to think<\/p>\n
about, you know, when was the last time<\/p>\n
that you actually wrote a letter to<\/p>\n
someone or even a note? You just sat<\/p>\n
down and wrote a note.<\/p>\n
Can you think about that time? It seems<\/p>\n
to I see some smiles. It seems to be a<\/p>\n
lost art<\/p>\n
in our day and age. It seems to be<\/p>\n
something that is from yestery year.<\/p>\n
We mostly communicate in a digital<\/p>\n
format, right? We send emails, we send<\/p>\n
me messages, lots of text messages every<\/p>\n
day.<\/p>\n
And so the idea of writing and<\/p>\n
communicating through a letter or a note<\/p>\n
seems old-fashioned, out of date, maybe<\/p>\n
even just a lost art. But imagine, all<\/p>\n
right, I want you to imagine with me<\/p>\n
that you have the opportunity to write a<\/p>\n
letter to someone that is important to<\/p>\n
you. Maybe it's a family member, maybe<\/p>\n
it's a close friend you haven't seen for<\/p>\n
a while. Maybe it's another person that<\/p>\n
has done something for you. You want to<\/p>\n
thank them. It's someone important in<\/p>\n
your life. Think so, I want you to think<\/p>\n
of that person right now. Who might you<\/p>\n
write a letter to? And let me tell you,<\/p>\n
if you do, they'll be surprised to get<\/p>\n
it. So maybe do that. But who would you<\/p>\n
write to? Think about that person right<\/p>\n
now.<\/p>\n
And depending on who you have in mind,<\/p>\n
you probably have some idea of what you<\/p>\n
would write. Right now, you know, the<\/p>\n
context of the letter and your<\/p>\n
relationship with that person, it<\/p>\n
actually and obviously dictates what you<\/p>\n
would write to them. Maybe it's a thank<\/p>\n
you note. Maybe it's a letter to catch<\/p>\n
up with some news. Here's what I'm<\/p>\n
doing. Here's what life looks like. How<\/p>\n
are you? What's happening in your life?<\/p>\n
Maybe it's an invitation to a party.<\/p>\n
Maybe it's a wedding invitation. We have<\/p>\n
some of those happening soon. Now, what<\/p>\n
if I told you, okay, you got that in<\/p>\n
your mind? Got your, you know who you're<\/p>\n
going to write to, maybe what you're<\/p>\n
going to write. Now, what if I told you<\/p>\n
there's a high likelihood, possibility<\/p>\n
that this note, this letter would<\/p>\n
actually be the last thing that you get<\/p>\n
to communicate to them, the last time<\/p>\n
you get to send them a message, the last<\/p>\n
time you get to explain something or<\/p>\n
tell them what they mean to you.<\/p>\n
Suddenly,<\/p>\n
this letter, this note takes on a<\/p>\n
different meaning, doesn't it? It takes<\/p>\n
on some more importance, takes on a<\/p>\n
different level of what you want to<\/p>\n
explain. Maybe you edit it down. This is<\/p>\n
exactly what I want to get across to<\/p>\n
this person. Becomes a very, very<\/p>\n
important message. And you want to be<\/p>\n
careful and precise with how you<\/p>\n
communicate and what you say. You'll<\/p>\n
make sure you get it all across, right?<\/p>\n
That you focus on what really, really<\/p>\n
matters. What really matters. and what<\/p>\n
you want them to know. Now, this is how<\/p>\n
we may look at the letters to Timothy,<\/p>\n
particularly this second letter, second<\/p>\n
Timothy, because as it was written by<\/p>\n
the Apostle Paul, it was written in a<\/p>\n
time when he was imprisoned.<\/p>\n
He had the ability to write from prison.<\/p>\n
He was given scrolls and and quills and<\/p>\n
the ability and ink and the ability to<\/p>\n
write and compose letters. And these<\/p>\n
letters would be carried and<\/p>\n
communicated to other people in other<\/p>\n
places. So he had that ability, but he<\/p>\n
was awaiting trial and he knew likely<\/p>\n
that his sentence would be death and<\/p>\n
that he would be executed. And so what<\/p>\n
he does not know is will this be the<\/p>\n
very last time that I can communicate<\/p>\n
with Timothy. So, I want you to think<\/p>\n
about that as we read this because what<\/p>\n
he's getting across particularly in this<\/p>\n
last chapter, this last portion of the<\/p>\n
letter is what he really wants to say.<\/p>\n
Now, of course, this letter was not it<\/p>\n
wasn't second Timothy at the top. You<\/p>\n
know, Paul didn't write that at the top.<\/p>\n
And it wasn't split up into chapters<\/p>\n
with numbers for the verses, right?<\/p>\n
Those were added later in history to<\/p>\n
help us be able to find certain<\/p>\n
passages. But as this letter was written<\/p>\n
as a whole, we can believe that what<\/p>\n
Paul wanted to write was of utmost<\/p>\n
importance.<\/p>\n
What he wanted to convey to Timothy was<\/p>\n
what he really wanted Timothy to know.<\/p>\n
I'm going to read that to us, this part<\/p>\n
of the letter, chapter 4,<\/p>\n
and then we'll spend some time<\/p>\n
distilling what Paul really wanted to<\/p>\n
get across to Timothy and what we may<\/p>\n
glean from this as the word of God. And<\/p>\n
this is the word of God. Let me read to<\/p>\n
us.<\/p>\n
I charge you in the presence of God and<\/p>\n
of Christ Jesus who is to judge the<\/p>\n
living and the dead and by his appearing<\/p>\n
and his kingdom. Preach the word, be<\/p>\n
ready in season and out of season.<\/p>\n
Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with<\/p>\n
complete patience and teaching. For the<\/p>\n
time is coming when people will not<\/p>\n
endure sound teaching.<\/p>\n
But having itching ears, they will<\/p>\n
accumulate for themselves teachers to<\/p>\n
suit their own passions and will turn<\/p>\n
away from listening to the truth and<\/p>\n
wander off into myths.<\/p>\n
As for you, always be soberminded.<\/p>\n
Endure suffering. Do the work of an<\/p>\n
evangelist.<\/p>\n
fulfill your ministry.<\/p>\n
For I am already being poured out as a<\/p>\n
drink offering, and the time of my<\/p>\n
departure has come. I have fought the<\/p>\n
good fight. I have finished the race. I<\/p>\n
have kept the faith. Henceforth, there<\/p>\n
is laid up for me the crown of<\/p>\n
righteousness, which the Lord, the<\/p>\n
righteous judge, will award to me on<\/p>\n
that day, and not only to me, but also<\/p>\n
to all who have loved his appearing.<\/p>\n
Do your best to come to me soon for<\/p>\n
Damas in love with this present world<\/p>\n
has has deserted me and gone to<\/p>\n
Thessalonica. Cresins has has gone to<\/p>\n
Galatia. Titus to Delalatia. Luke is<\/p>\n
alone with me. Get Mark and bring him<\/p>\n
with you for he is very useful to me for<\/p>\n
ministry. Tishius I have sent to<\/p>\n
Ephesus.<\/p>\n
When you come bring the cloak that I<\/p>\n
left with Carpass at Trrowass. also the<\/p>\n
books and above all the parchments.<\/p>\n
Alexander the coppermith did me great<\/p>\n
harm. The Lord will repay him according<\/p>\n
to his deeds. Beware of him yourself,<\/p>\n
for he's strongly opposed our message.<\/p>\n
At my first offense, no one came to<\/p>\n
stand by me, but all deserted me. May it<\/p>\n
not be charged against them.<\/p>\n
But the Lord stood by me and<\/p>\n
strengthened me so that through me the<\/p>\n
message might be fully proclaimed and<\/p>\n
all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was<\/p>\n
rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord<\/p>\n
will rescue me from every evil deed and<\/p>\n
bring me safely into his heavenly<\/p>\n
kingdom. To him be the glory forever and<\/p>\n
ever. Amen. Greet Prisa and Achila<\/p>\n
and the household of Anaphorus.<\/p>\n
Arasus remained at Corinth and I left<\/p>\n
Trophamus who was ill at Militus.<\/p>\n
Do your best to come before winter.<\/p>\n
Ubilas sends his greetings to you as do<\/p>\n
Prudins and Lionus and Claudia and all<\/p>\n
the other brothers. The Lord be with<\/p>\n
you. Be with your spirit. Grace be with<\/p>\n
you. This is the word of God.<\/p>\n
Paul focuses this last portion of his<\/p>\n
letter<\/p>\n
on a singular message for Timothy. That<\/p>\n
is to preach the word. To preach the<\/p>\n
word of God, the good news of the<\/p>\n
gospel. We can think about the good news<\/p>\n
of who Jesus is. That is the word of<\/p>\n
God. That is the message of God. It's<\/p>\n
the message of what God has done in and<\/p>\n
through Jesus. At this time it was still<\/p>\n
unfolding.<\/p>\n
And he adds, Paul adds this, \"Be ready<\/p>\n
in season and out of season.\" Be ready<\/p>\n
in season and out of season.<\/p>\n
Essentially, be prepared all the time.<\/p>\n
All the time. Be prepared to share the<\/p>\n
hope that you have that we have in Jesus<\/p>\n
Christ.<\/p>\n
Jesus. Paul alludes to his kingdom. He<\/p>\n
talks about his return. Jesus is going<\/p>\n
to come again.<\/p>\n
He's going to come again. He's going to<\/p>\n
return.<\/p>\n
His kingdom has come.<\/p>\n
His kingdom is coming in full. So preach<\/p>\n
the word. Paul says, \"Preach the word.\"<\/p>\n
Now remember, Paul's writing this letter<\/p>\n
and all of the letters that he writes,<\/p>\n
there are more in the New Testament.<\/p>\n
to these various churches. He's helping<\/p>\n
to encourage them. He's helping to guide<\/p>\n
them. He's helping at times to correct<\/p>\n
incorrect or uh untruthful doctrine.<\/p>\n
He's helping to shape and form. There's<\/p>\n
false teaching that's out there. He's<\/p>\n
helping to correct it by sharing the<\/p>\n
truth.<\/p>\n
He's doing this to help Timothy, to<\/p>\n
protect Timothy, to protect those in<\/p>\n
Timothy's care. And he's helping to<\/p>\n
protect him and prepare him for upcoming<\/p>\n
and further opposition to the word of<\/p>\n
God. So look at verse three. He writes<\/p>\n
this, \"The time is coming when people<\/p>\n
will not endure sound doctrine.\" So<\/p>\n
there are things that are going to be<\/p>\n
said and preached and revealed or or<\/p>\n
talked about which are not the truth of<\/p>\n
God. So be ready, Timothy. He says, \"Be<\/p>\n
ready to point yourself and others again<\/p>\n
to the truth of the word of God.\"<\/p>\n
So he's seeking to help protect the<\/p>\n
church from falsehood and that which is<\/p>\n
not the gospel.<\/p>\n
And he adds this to it's interesting. He<\/p>\n
adds this at the end. And he says, \"Do<\/p>\n
this with patience.\"<\/p>\n
So the word of God is there to help<\/p>\n
guide us away from our sin, to reveal<\/p>\n
our sin to us, guide us away from our<\/p>\n
sin. And it's he lists these different<\/p>\n
words. To reprove,<\/p>\n
and reprove, actually, I'll tell you<\/p>\n
what each of these mean so we have a<\/p>\n
greater understanding of them. To<\/p>\n
reprove<\/p>\n
is to gently correct.<\/p>\n
It's to to kindly point someone in the<\/p>\n
right direction to to to encourage them<\/p>\n
to walk in the truth.<\/p>\n
It's a kind there's a kindness to it.<\/p>\n
There's a gentleness to it. Now, the<\/p>\n
word rebuke, it's a it's a bit stronger.<\/p>\n
It's a stronger word. It's to to kind of<\/p>\n
criticize in the best light of that word<\/p>\n
to really reveal and to be critical of<\/p>\n
something in the best possible way<\/p>\n
because you care for them. You love<\/p>\n
them. And so what you see happening, it<\/p>\n
grieves you. And so you're you rebuke,<\/p>\n
you reprove, you rebuke. And then to<\/p>\n
exhort, which is to strongly encourage,<\/p>\n
to urge someone to plead with them<\/p>\n
almost<\/p>\n
because again, you're concerned for<\/p>\n
them. You're concerned for their very<\/p>\n
soul.<\/p>\n
Do all of this as you preach the word,<\/p>\n
Paul says, with complete patience and<\/p>\n
teaching.<\/p>\n
patience<\/p>\n
because God<\/p>\n
is a patient and merciful God. God<\/p>\n
continually demonstrates his mercy and<\/p>\n
his patience unto us and to this world.<\/p>\n
And so we are to be patient as we preach<\/p>\n
the word and along with a patient and<\/p>\n
loving God. We're to do each of these<\/p>\n
reprove, to rebuke, to to exhort,<\/p>\n
and with teaching. Meaning Paul's saying<\/p>\n
this is this rebuke, reproof, this<\/p>\n
rebuking, this exhortation<\/p>\n
must be done with the desire for<\/p>\n
instruction that is understanding and<\/p>\n
knowledge that is rooted again in love.<\/p>\n
I think it's likely that you've<\/p>\n
experienced a situation in your life<\/p>\n
where you see a loved one, a friend, uh<\/p>\n
someone that you are acquainted with<\/p>\n
walking forward in something, living um<\/p>\n
in or stepping into something<\/p>\n
um that is contrary to God's<\/p>\n
law, God's way, God's desires for us.<\/p>\n
and you see this happening and you're<\/p>\n
you're so concerned for this person.<\/p>\n
Now, sometimes it's a a fellow believer<\/p>\n
and so as believers, we want to lovingly<\/p>\n
come alongside one another, right? And<\/p>\n
and and care for one another. It could<\/p>\n
be someone that does not claim to follow<\/p>\n
Jesus and and they're making decisions<\/p>\n
that are really difficult that will lead<\/p>\n
to really hard things. And for both of<\/p>\n
those people, you feel you feel that<\/p>\n
ache in your heart that you want to help<\/p>\n
them. You want to protect them. You want<\/p>\n
to guide them. Now, for the other<\/p>\n
believer, it's especially excruciating,<\/p>\n
right? Because you know what they claim.<\/p>\n
You know what they believe, but they're<\/p>\n
they're being they're entertaining<\/p>\n
something which wants to pull them away<\/p>\n
from the goodness of God. And so, your<\/p>\n
own heart aches for them. Have you<\/p>\n
experienced that before? Have you<\/p>\n
experienced that before? It's really<\/p>\n
tragic and sad. And so you're doing all<\/p>\n
you can to love them. Like kind of<\/p>\n
gently speak to them. Perhaps you feel<\/p>\n
like I've done these things. I've I've<\/p>\n
reproved them, right? I've reproved<\/p>\n
them. I've rebuked them. I've tried to<\/p>\n
get together with them. I'm critical of<\/p>\n
what they're doing in the best way, and<\/p>\n
I want to help them. And you're praying<\/p>\n
for them. You're wanting to be around<\/p>\n
them, and you're asking God to help<\/p>\n
them.<\/p>\n
Patience. Paul says, patience.<\/p>\n
Preach the word of God. Let the word of<\/p>\n
God do its work on the hearts of others.<\/p>\n
And it's hard to understand when we see<\/p>\n
that not happening. What is our role<\/p>\n
there? We continue to be present in the<\/p>\n
life of that person to love them, to<\/p>\n
care for them, to let them know we are<\/p>\n
there with them<\/p>\n
and and longing to love and care for<\/p>\n
That's what we're called to do.<\/p>\n
And we can pray, we can continue to pray<\/p>\n
that God would use his word to remind<\/p>\n
them that God would use his word in his<\/p>\n
presence of goodness and mercy to call<\/p>\n
them to repentance in him.<\/p>\n
You know that they would be wooed back<\/p>\n
to God by the love and grace that God<\/p>\n
has for them. So it's extremely<\/p>\n
difficult to see that happening in<\/p>\n
someone else's life and to see that<\/p>\n
happening when we so long for it to be<\/p>\n
different.<\/p>\n
So Paul points Timothy towards preaching<\/p>\n
the word<\/p>\n
and this is the call for all<\/p>\n
in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n
This is our call. Preach the word. There<\/p>\n
is an evangelistic reality to this.<\/p>\n
That's what it is. It's the evangelistic<\/p>\n
reality. We are to have hearts<\/p>\n
that are sharing living out the truth of<\/p>\n
who Jesus is.<\/p>\n
with those that we are in community<\/p>\n
with, with those around us. And in order<\/p>\n
to do that, in order to preach the<\/p>\n
gospel, we need to also be anchored in,<\/p>\n
we need to be rooted in the gospel<\/p>\n
ourselves.<\/p>\n
I mean, you're rooted in that. Martin<\/p>\n
Luther, the the reformer, he wrote this.<\/p>\n
I want you to think about this for a<\/p>\n
minute.<\/p>\n
He said, 'The highest of all God's<\/p>\n
commands is this, that we would ever<\/p>\n
hold up before our eyes the image of his<\/p>\n
dear son, our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
He must be daily, daily be our to our<\/p>\n
hearts the perfect mirror<\/p>\n
in which we behold how much God loves us<\/p>\n
and how well in his infinite goodness as<\/p>\n
a faithful God he has grandly cared for<\/p>\n
us and that he gave us he gave his dear<\/p>\n
son<\/p>\n
for us.<\/p>\n
Do not let this mirror and throne of<\/p>\n
grace be torn away from before your<\/p>\n
eyes.<\/p>\n
Luther is saying do not forget. Do not<\/p>\n
forget who you are in Jesus. We must<\/p>\n
preach the word of God, the good news of<\/p>\n
Jesus to others<\/p>\n
and to ourselves<\/p>\n
to others that they may be made aware of<\/p>\n
the savior Jesus Christ. that they would<\/p>\n
know, they would grow in him and be<\/p>\n
encouraged in their faith, that they<\/p>\n
would come to know and then preach it to<\/p>\n
For we are prone to forget<\/p>\n
who we are in Jesus. We are prone to<\/p>\n
forget<\/p>\n
who we are. Do not forget, this passage<\/p>\n
is saying, this quote is saying, do not<\/p>\n
forget who you are in Jesus. Dear<\/p>\n
Christian, you are forgiven in Christ.<\/p>\n
You are in Jesus. Do not forget the<\/p>\n
grace of God over you in Jesus.<\/p>\n
There's a pastor, theologian, Paul Trip.<\/p>\n
This is where it gets really practical.<\/p>\n
Just a few quotes from him.<\/p>\n
No one is more influential in your life<\/p>\n
than you<\/p>\n
because no one talks to you more than<\/p>\n
you do.<\/p>\n
In our sin, we constantly find our<\/p>\n
responses to life in our fallen world to<\/p>\n
be disconnected from the theology that<\/p>\n
we confess.<\/p>\n
Anger, fear, panic, discouragement, they<\/p>\n
stalk our hearts and whisper a false<\/p>\n
gospel that will lure our lives away<\/p>\n
from what we say we believe. They will<\/p>\n
lure us away from Jesus.<\/p>\n
I'll leave that there for a moment.<\/p>\n
And Paul Trip continues, he says a lot,<\/p>\n
but I kind of distilled it to a couple<\/p>\n
of things. There's a difference, he<\/p>\n
writes, between merely reminding<\/p>\n
ourselves of truth<\/p>\n
and preaching to ourselves the truth of<\/p>\n
The latter preaching the truth of the<\/p>\n
gospel is selfconsciously and internally<\/p>\n
reminding ourselves of the person and<\/p>\n
the presence and provisions of our<\/p>\n
redeemer of Jesus. So reminding<\/p>\n
ourselves of who Jesus is that Christ is<\/p>\n
with us Emmanuel<\/p>\n
and what Jesus has done and is doing in<\/p>\n
So to sum this up, preach the word of<\/p>\n
God. Preach the gospel of Christ to<\/p>\n
others. Preach the gospel to your own<\/p>\n
heart, to my own heart. Do not forget<\/p>\n
who you are in Jesus. And do not forget<\/p>\n
what Jesus has done.<\/p>\n
He kind of succinctly wraps it up like<\/p>\n
this. Make it a daily practice. This is<\/p>\n
Lu Luther's mirror, if you will. Hold up<\/p>\n
that mirror and gaze on the beauty of<\/p>\n
Gaze on the beauty of Christ. Remember<\/p>\n
who you are, dear Christian, as a child<\/p>\n
of God. Rest in the power and presence<\/p>\n
and provision of Jesus Christ. And then<\/p>\n
what? Act in reliance of him. live out<\/p>\n
the gospel in reliance on him.<\/p>\n
In verses three and four<\/p>\n
of 2 Timothy 4,<\/p>\n
Paul is warning Timothy about this very<\/p>\n
thing, about that which is not the<\/p>\n
gospel, that which is antithetical to<\/p>\n
the gospel. And he's warning of<\/p>\n
teachers,<\/p>\n
others espousing<\/p>\n
teaching that is contrary to the word of<\/p>\n
God. He says it's coming. Time is<\/p>\n
coming.<\/p>\n
And so he's underscoring the importance<\/p>\n
of the word of God is the standard.<\/p>\n
Remember as Pan Aantan talked about last<\/p>\n
week that standard of the panone colors,<\/p>\n
right? Designers are looking at those<\/p>\n
colors like this is the standard of that<\/p>\n
color. In the same way, the word of God,<\/p>\n
the truth of God, eternal without error,<\/p>\n
we look to the word of God, if a message<\/p>\n
comes that doesn't match the word of<\/p>\n
God, it is not of God. It is not the<\/p>\n
gospel.<\/p>\n
So, we have the word of God. So, Paul<\/p>\n
says, this is so important. If some<\/p>\n
teaching doesn't align, it is not of<\/p>\n
God. Be on the lookout for this. Paul's<\/p>\n
telling Timothy and we're hearing that<\/p>\n
today as well. So, we do guard one<\/p>\n
another. We guard our church community.<\/p>\n
We guard our own hearts in this as well.<\/p>\n
This is a powerful quote from Tim<\/p>\n
Keller, Timothy Keller.<\/p>\n
We can think about this. He says, \"If<\/p>\n
your god, like your idea of God never<\/p>\n
disagrees with you,<\/p>\n
you might be worshiping an idealized<\/p>\n
version of yourself.\"<\/p>\n
Are there times where you read the Bible<\/p>\n
or you look at what God calls us do uh<\/p>\n
to do obedience-wise and we think I<\/p>\n
don't want to do that or that's really<\/p>\n
hard or I need your help to do this.<\/p>\n
Think about forgiveness.<\/p>\n
Think I don't want to forgive that<\/p>\n
person or I want to forgive them but<\/p>\n
it's really hard for me to find that<\/p>\n
desire to forgive them. Right? It's<\/p>\n
because we're coming up against what God<\/p>\n
calls us to. We're not making God in our<\/p>\n
own image. In fact, we are allowing God<\/p>\n
to make us, to refine us, to teach us.<\/p>\n
So, that's interesting, right?<\/p>\n
If we never come up against something in<\/p>\n
the gospel that's difficult for us, we<\/p>\n
need to examine our hearts in that.<\/p>\n
Are our thoughts and our beliefs aligned<\/p>\n
with the scriptures and the truth of the<\/p>\n
gospel? Or are we potentially creating<\/p>\n
our own faith, our own religion, our own<\/p>\n
set of rules, our own God in our own<\/p>\n
image, our own God to serve us.<\/p>\n
As we continue reading, Paul turns to<\/p>\n
the reality that his life is likely<\/p>\n
coming to an end. Did you catch that?<\/p>\n
When he said, \"The time of my departure<\/p>\n
has come,\" he's thinking, \"It could be<\/p>\n
any day now. It could be tonight. They<\/p>\n
could come and take me away from my<\/p>\n
execution. I could be executed<\/p>\n
tomorrow, the week after. I do not know.<\/p>\n
The time has come for my departure.<\/p>\n
I've fought the good fight. I've<\/p>\n
finished the race. I've kept the faith.\"<\/p>\n
Paul says these things. He goes on uh to<\/p>\n
share and this is where we get to see<\/p>\n
like this is a letter you know he gets<\/p>\n
to share just some basic details I think<\/p>\n
this is interesting right these these<\/p>\n
basic details come see me please come<\/p>\n
soon and come to visit me here in prison<\/p>\n
here are some details for you he kind of<\/p>\n
lists some of these things and he talks<\/p>\n
about a cloak that he left like you know<\/p>\n
bring me that cloak bring me some<\/p>\n
parchments bring me some things that I<\/p>\n
need some books talks about some<\/p>\n
different people he gives some more<\/p>\n
warnings to Timothy right? Those like,<\/p>\n
\"Watch out for this guy. He caused me<\/p>\n
some harm. This Alexander, watch out for<\/p>\n
him. He's opposed to the message.\" He's<\/p>\n
giving these different these different<\/p>\n
details in his letter. He's starting to<\/p>\n
sum it up. Starting to close.<\/p>\n
But the final thought Paul wants to pass<\/p>\n
along is this. He says, \"You know, I've<\/p>\n
been deserted by some.<\/p>\n
I've been left without a defense at<\/p>\n
different times.\"<\/p>\n
But he talks about this<\/p>\n
He says, \"Look,<\/p>\n
all these things that I've been through,<\/p>\n
all these things that have happened in<\/p>\n
my life and what's going to happen to<\/p>\n
me, the Lord has stood by me.\"<\/p>\n
The Lord has stood by me and<\/p>\n
strengthened me. And why? For what<\/p>\n
reason? And Paul writes, \"So that<\/p>\n
through me the message might be fully<\/p>\n
proclaimed and all the Gentiles might<\/p>\n
hear it.\"<\/p>\n
So in all of this, and Paul could have<\/p>\n
listed a lot of things and in other<\/p>\n
letters he does, and as you read about<\/p>\n
his transformation<\/p>\n
in the gospel and all that he went<\/p>\n
through, he could have listed that here.<\/p>\n
Again, maybe the urgency<\/p>\n
didn't permit him to do that. But in all<\/p>\n
of these things that have happened to<\/p>\n
Paul and are happening and will happen,<\/p>\n
he says, I want to give glory to God.<\/p>\n
Everything that's transpired<\/p>\n
is for the purpose of God's will and<\/p>\n
God's plan.<\/p>\n
The Lord has stood by me, Paul writes,<\/p>\n
and God has strengthened me so that the<\/p>\n
gospel may be preached. The word of God<\/p>\n
may be proclaimed.<\/p>\n
So, we see this, right? We see it. We<\/p>\n
see kind of what happened after these<\/p>\n
letters. We see what happens later in<\/p>\n
the work of what Jesus continues to do<\/p>\n
in the building of the church and the<\/p>\n
the spread of the gospel throughout the<\/p>\n
world. But at this time, Paul is<\/p>\n
desiring to<\/p>\n
highlight for Timothy that all that he's<\/p>\n
been through, this is for God's glory<\/p>\n
and these are God's purposes.<\/p>\n
So we friends may also take this as a<\/p>\n
great encouragement when we are in Jesus<\/p>\n
that the Lord will<\/p>\n
be with us.<\/p>\n
You remember that term given to Jesus<\/p>\n
the newborn king in the Old Testament?<\/p>\n
He will be called Emmanuel, meaning God<\/p>\n
with us. God with us. So just as Paul<\/p>\n
could say, \"The Lord stood by me and<\/p>\n
strengthened me,\" we may also say that<\/p>\n
as we live our lives<\/p>\n
forward,<\/p>\n
especially as we face temptations,<\/p>\n
especially as we struggle with sin,<\/p>\n
especially as we experience setbacks and<\/p>\n
frustrations and disappointments and<\/p>\n
discouragements and hardships.<\/p>\n
Seek after the Lord and submit to his<\/p>\n
ways. Preach the word of God to others<\/p>\n
and to your own heart and walk in the<\/p>\n
way of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Some years ago, I participated in a<\/p>\n
trail run. Now, Paul's using a little<\/p>\n
bit of this language of running a race<\/p>\n
here. Here we get this idea of the<\/p>\n
Christian life as this momentum and this<\/p>\n
trajectory of moving forward in and<\/p>\n
through life. So I participated in this<\/p>\n
trail run. If you want to do a trail<\/p>\n
run, let's talk. Uh they're intense.<\/p>\n
They're fun. You're out in the woods. Uh<\/p>\n
this one was up in Cawai.<\/p>\n
Um and the race, this particular race<\/p>\n
had four distance levels.<\/p>\n
25 kilometer, 50, 75, and 100 km<\/p>\n
distances.<\/p>\n
You can guess which one I did, the 25<\/p>\n
kilometer. I remember making it to about<\/p>\n
the 18th kilometer that day. And I<\/p>\n
started to feel some nagging pain in my<\/p>\n
right knee, just bothering me. Uh, it's<\/p>\n
uncomfortable. Keep going. Keep going.<\/p>\n
It's uncomfortable. It got worse. It got<\/p>\n
worse. And as it got to I got to the end<\/p>\n
of the race, it was just really<\/p>\n
uncomfortable. I shouldn't have, you<\/p>\n
know, tried to push through it too hard.<\/p>\n
And by the time I got to the finish<\/p>\n
line, I was basically walking and kind<\/p>\n
of limping. I would kind of limp for a<\/p>\n
little bit and I could walk for a little<\/p>\n
bit. I'd limp for a little bit. Do you<\/p>\n
feel like that sometimes? Do you feel<\/p>\n
like that?<\/p>\n
It was hurting and I just, you know, I<\/p>\n
bar, you know, I got across the finish<\/p>\n
line. It was great to be done, but it<\/p>\n
was painful.<\/p>\n
Well, another friend of ours that day,<\/p>\n
um, she actually ran the 100 kilometer.<\/p>\n
Uh, she started at 5:00 a.m. whereas I<\/p>\n
started at seven.<\/p>\n
Um, and she, you know, so she had been<\/p>\n
running a couple hours before I had even<\/p>\n
started. And, and she was still running<\/p>\n
long after I had gone back to the hotel,<\/p>\n
gotten cleaned up, had lunch, driven<\/p>\n
back to Bangkok. She was still running<\/p>\n
to get to the 100 uh kilometers.<\/p>\n
She ended up placing 14th<\/p>\n
overall. She had 13. She was the first<\/p>\n
female finisher. She had 13 guys ahead<\/p>\n
of her. Pretty incredible, right? Pretty<\/p>\n
incredible. And so I was talking to her<\/p>\n
actually a couple days ago about this in<\/p>\n
this example and she said, 'Yeah, Tim,<\/p>\n
you know, a couple years later, remember<\/p>\n
when I had to drop out of that other<\/p>\n
race because I was in excruciating pain<\/p>\n
and I knew that I was going to injure<\/p>\n
myself more if I kept going. So I just<\/p>\n
kind of share and so yeah, we I she was<\/p>\n
reminding me that yeah, sometimes you<\/p>\n
feel great.<\/p>\n
Glory be to God. run as God gives you<\/p>\n
strength. More often than not, perhaps<\/p>\n
we feel like I did. You're just limping<\/p>\n
along.<\/p>\n
There's pain. There's sorrow. There's<\/p>\n
discouragement. But friends, what what<\/p>\n
Paul is saying here to Timothy and to us<\/p>\n
is that the Lord Jesus is with us,<\/p>\n
standing with us. Paul's about to die.<\/p>\n
He's about to be executed. and and he<\/p>\n
could write, \"Look, the Lord is with me.<\/p>\n
My savior is with me.\" So really, we<\/p>\n
take two things today. You can go back<\/p>\n
and read the rest of Paul's letter. He<\/p>\n
talks about suffering. He talks about<\/p>\n
living before the Lord. He talks about<\/p>\n
being anchored in who God is. And in<\/p>\n
this final portion today, he says,<\/p>\n
\"Preach the word.<\/p>\n
Gaze upon Jesus. Preach the word to<\/p>\n
others, to yourself, to your heart day<\/p>\n
in and day out. And we know our<\/p>\n
weakness. The Lord is with us. We see it<\/p>\n
more often than not. The Lord is with<\/p>\n
us. When you're strong, you feel good.<\/p>\n
Thanks be to God for giving you that<\/p>\n
strength then. But let's rely<\/p>\n
more and more and finally and eternally<\/p>\n
on Jesus.<\/p>\n
Paul closes his letter again, some<\/p>\n
various details. These people are doing<\/p>\n
this, you know, bring Mark. Um, Mark<\/p>\n
probably felt good about that, you know,<\/p>\n
like, wow, you know, I'm helpful to him<\/p>\n
in his ministry. Um, just some different<\/p>\n
details. And he sums up and ends with<\/p>\n
this. He says, the Lord be with your<\/p>\n
spirit.<\/p>\n
Grace be with you. Friends, that is the<\/p>\n
message for the Christian day in and day<\/p>\n
out. The Lord is with you. The Lord be<\/p>\n
with your spirit. Grace be with you. May<\/p>\n
God's grace be with us and upon us. May<\/p>\n
we feel that day in and day out. And you<\/p>\n
know Christian, if you have believed on<\/p>\n
Jesus as savior, he is and he is with<\/p>\n
you and he is leading you. And there are<\/p>\n
going to be some really<\/p>\n
challenging things in our lives. And<\/p>\n
some of you have said there already have<\/p>\n
been and there are now. This is the hope<\/p>\n
of the gospel. It's an eternal hope.<\/p>\n
Hope for now. Hope for what is coming.<\/p>\n
The Lord Jesus is with us. The Lord<\/p>\n
Jesus is saving us, helping us. The<\/p>\n
grace, his grace is upon us. And for<\/p>\n
those of you that are honest, you know,<\/p>\n
I don't know what I think about Jesus.<\/p>\n
I've heard a lot of things. I've heard<\/p>\n
about Christianity a little bit or a lot<\/p>\n
and I I just don't know what I think. I<\/p>\n
don't know what I believe. First of all,<\/p>\n
we understand and you have real<\/p>\n
questions and you want to know perhaps<\/p>\n
and we'd love to talk to you. Anyone<\/p>\n
here would love to entertain your<\/p>\n
questions, hear from you kind of where<\/p>\n
you are in all of this. But the message<\/p>\n
we would hope that you would hear from<\/p>\n
this letter written thousands of years,<\/p>\n
a couple thousand years ago, is this.<\/p>\n
That you are loved. That there is a God<\/p>\n
of mercy and grace that wants to lead<\/p>\n
you, to help you, and to assure you that<\/p>\n
he is with you.<\/p>\n
So my hope for you is that your heart is<\/p>\n
open to that today and that you bring<\/p>\n
your questions and we talk about it and<\/p>\n
we ask and pray to God to reveal himself<\/p>\n
in power to you. There's a beautiful<\/p>\n
part of the book of Hebrews<\/p>\n
that talks about the work of the Lord<\/p>\n
God in our own hearts and we'll close<\/p>\n
with this.<\/p>\n
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so<\/p>\n
great a cloud of witnesses,<\/p>\n
let us also lay aside every weight and<\/p>\n
sin which clings so closely and let us<\/p>\n
run. There's that race idea again. Let<\/p>\n
us run with endurance, the race that is<\/p>\n
set before us. And here's the here's the<\/p>\n
key. Looking to Jesus,<\/p>\n
the founder.<\/p>\n
Other translations say the author<\/p>\n
and the perfector of our faith<\/p>\n
who for the joy that was set before him<\/p>\n
endured the cross despising the shame<\/p>\n
and is seated at the right hand of the<\/p>\n
throne of God. So friends, be<\/p>\n
encouraged.<\/p>\n
Jesus has run the race we cannot run in<\/p>\n
full and perfectly. And as we run the<\/p>\n
race of life, we can look again and<\/p>\n
again to him. The one who has given us<\/p>\n
faith. The one who builds and directs<\/p>\n
and grows our faith in him.<\/p>\n
Let's pray.<\/p>\n
Father God, help us<\/p>\n
as we walk or maybe run through this<\/p>\n
life. Help us to be continually looking<\/p>\n
to you for all of this.<\/p>\n
Show us now even if there's any way<\/p>\n
anything in our hearts in in which we're<\/p>\n
being unfaithful to you or are just not<\/p>\n
living or or walking in the way that you<\/p>\n
want us to and lead us first of all to<\/p>\n
understand that<\/p>\n
as sinful action and then lead us to<\/p>\n
repentance.<\/p>\n
Lord Jesus, help us to preach the word<\/p>\n
of God as we read today, to preach the<\/p>\n
gospel to our own hearts. Stir that up<\/p>\n
in us and help us to do that.<\/p>\n
May we always know your truth.<\/p>\n
Give us hearts of gratitude for all that<\/p>\n
you've done for us.<\/p>\n
Holy Spirit, come.<\/p>\n
Guide us.<\/p>\n
Illumine our hearts.<\/p>\n
Remind us that you are with us.<\/p>\n
and that you are faithful today and you<\/p>\n
will be faithful to the end.<\/p>\n
We pray all of this in your holy name,<\/p>\n
Lord Jesus. Amen.<\/p>","english_search_text":"","":"","original_publish_date":"20250917","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HZYz-AvB4ow","video_id":"HZYz-AvB4ow","video_duration":"42:35","channel_name":"Grace City Bangkok"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}