Morning Church. How are y'all enjoying this nice summer that we have going on? Nice. All the nice sweat.
Well, at least some of the mosquitoes haven't been as bad as they normally are. Well, today we will be jumping back into our Timothy series. I pray that you both learned and applied some information from the other two series that we just had non-series messages from our founding pastor Pastor Miles Sweeney, which was up receiving the fullness of Jesus. And then also from our lead pastor, Pastor Michael Lemas, American exceptionalism.
And as we dive back into first Timothy, we'll recap. First Timothy chapter one was defending the faith. First Timothy chapter two was Sunday morning services. Timothy three was the church government.
Now, on today we'll be in chapter four. And here the apostle Paul was speaking to Timothy, telling him what the Spirit told him and pointed out as to what was going on in that time. Well, a lot of that is still true for today. Let's kick off chapter four by starting with chapter three.
First Timothy chapter three versus 14 through 16. Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question, the mystery from true godliness brings us great. He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up to glory.
Thank you, Jesus. We are the church of the living God and the pillars and foundation of the truth. Well, family, we have some work to do. If you're looking for a title of this message, it will be a good minister.
We can't be passive in our gaining of knowledge of scripture. We must actively seek him in his word so that we will be able to better defend our faith. There's no quick microwave solution to getting that word into us. I know we often try to fast track it by getting up in the morning and opening up that social media, trying to get that verse of the day, get that podcast going.
Now, some of them are actually pretty good. Some of them are downright inspiring. So have you taken the time to see if it lines up with your core beliefs, your doctrine? What do you use it compared to?
Do you actually open up your Bible and compare those verses and compare that content? These are just a few questions that popped up as I was reading and preparing for this message. Now, I know for me, in the past, upon further study of some of the most interesting podcasts that I was listening to, I found them to be as reliable as the groundhog seen in the shadow or not. They started out all great and informative, but then as the subscribers grew, the money grew, they started to bend and bow to the will of that and lost sight of exactly what they started it all out for.
So that's why the church should be grounded firmly on the Word of God and treated like the source of life that it is. Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. We are the living stones sealed by Him. The supports, aka the pillars that have been carefully placed on that foundation which is Christ Jesus.
The generation after generation after generation we've been placed there to help build and lead His Kingdom. We are the church, the light of the world, the carrier of the good news, so we must prepare ourselves. Amen? Now let's actually jump into the message.
Today we will be looking at three points in this particular chapter that correlate with several verses. Let's start out with the first one, apostasy in the last days. First Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 through 7, the Spirit clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Those teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciousness have been seared as with the hot iron.
They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods which God created to receive with thanksgiving, for those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving because it is consecrated by the Word of God. If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus. Nourished on the truth and the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales rather train yourself to be god name.
Now apostasy is the deliberate, willful abandonment or rejection of the Christian faith by someone who previously professed to believe it. That is nothing that you want for someone. The term derives from the Greek word apostasia which literally means to stand away from. Now I personally have not met someone who has stepped away.
Let me tell you about a story of two gentlemen. One being a Mr. Charles Templeton and the other being Billy Graham. These two gentlemen met at a young age and started out in their evangelism together.
Now as they went on preaching and moving and I mean moving in power, filling in cathedrals and summits, Charles Templeton's worldview began to become different. He let his mind start getting away and ultimately became an agnostic. He even wrote a book about it. On that same time Billy Graham was battling with what Charles had done.
Charles was trying to get him to change his mind. Billy stated that he went out in deep prayer with the Lord and when he rose up from that prayer he fully decided that he was going to follow God and he believed the Bible literally and he did. He walked that out with the power of the Holy Spirit with no regrets and changed the trajectory of many lives in that. Whereas in an interview later in life in Charles Templeton's life as they were asking a lot of questions and seeing what led him there, they asked him about Jesus.
And after a compassionate talk about who Jesus is and how much he loves Jesus, he simply said after he tearfully cried and stopped the interview he said, I miss him. I would not want anybody to miss out on a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ. Now there are many ways that lead us down this dark road. We can begin with Deceph's teachings.
Now I have led numerous steps to freedom appointments and been through them and I've seen people that have come in that were raised up in false religions and also misled into them. And there's enough of them out there to create a serious catalog like back in the day. Some of them flat out denying who Jesus Christ is and others demeaning him to be only to only be a prophet. They're very crafty in how they present their teachings such as the prosperity gospel.
Promises financial and physical success directly tied to the amount of money that you give. So the more money you give, the more shows up in your bank account, the healthier you get so you can give more so you can show up in your bank account. Well I have some bad news. You cannot buy your way into heaven.
God is not for sale. He's not a genie in the model. The next way is reinterpreting scripture. It's just altering the plain meaning of the Bible and trying to align it with modern societal trends or personal preferences rather than submitting to its historical authority.
Trying to replace the name of the word father in the Bible. Trying to add other pronouns. Just trying to deny what the Bible says in his historical value. The next thing is they just flat out have a lack of accountability.
Teachers who reject correction, they're not trying to hear the truth because it doesn't align up with what they're trying to achieve. They isolate their followers because they don't want them to hear the truth either. So they put them in a bubble. They don't want anybody to point out the truth that they're in the Bible.
Or they elevate their own authority above biblical scriptures. I guess when all else fails I'll just change what the Bible says or I'll say that the Bible's old. It's out of date. We need to update it.
But enough we have those that focus on self. Preaching that is centered heavily on self-esteem and human potential and personal gain rather than the core pillars of the Christian faith such as repentance, the cross and the grace of God. To God against these things, let's look at scripture. First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 21.
But test them all. Hold on to what is good. Reject every kind of evil. And I'm here to tell you, distorting the word of God is evil.
It is messing with somebody's eternity. We also have false spirituality. False spirituality refers to beliefs or practices that claim to offer inner peace, well-being, or enlightenment. But are actually rooted in self-deception, ego-boosting, or escapism.
It often creates a false sense of elevation while allowing a person to avoid real emotional growth, accountability, or the challenges of daily life. These false teachers set up fence laws to shield them from their own issues. As Paul pointed out, they forbid people getting married and forbid certain types of food, trying to protect themselves from their own ideals. And heck, I think they changed their plan now.
If we can't forbid marriage, then we'll try to bring all other types of unholy unions into the marriage. So it's not good. Food, don't eat this. Don't eat that.
This is bad. This is bad. When we just read in verse 4, that everything God created is good when it's received with thanksgiving and prayer. Now unfortunately in a lot of cases these days, it's not even a willful falling away or stepping away.
It's a lack of knowledge. How then can we combat this avalanche of false information? Well, I'm glad you asked. By simply putting in the work of studying and getting into the word for yourself, or as Paul instructs in Ephesians, in chapter 4, verses 14 through 15, then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking of truth and love, we will grow to become in every respect a mature body of Him who is the head that is Christ. That's exactly why every summer we study a book of the Bible. We go through chapter by chapter so that you can see that that is where you need to be. You need to live and walk in the Word.
That's also why throughout the rest of the year, you receive scripture field teachings that are very personal and applicable to your daily lives. Amen? Which brings us to our second point. Spiritual training.
First Timothy, chapter 4, verse 8. For our physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. Godliness versus worldly pursuits. We often spend a lot of time fine tuning our physical bodies for appearances, looks, competition.
We get up at 4 or 5 a.m. in the morning and go to the gym and use every piece of equipment in there, but there's more work that needs to be done. I'll give you an analogy, say like my service van. I have one of those subscriptions where I go to the car wash and I can drive that bad way through there every day if I so chose to keep it all nice and shiny and the tires are all that way when I pull up to a customer's house.
I look good. I present good. Over that inside. Nobody's supposed to see in there but me.
I know where everything is until I actually need it. And I get in and out of there and sometimes I'll get in. What's that over? Oh man, I left over.
I talked to a rapper from yesterday's breakfast. So I ask you, what about the inside? What about cleaning out your internal closet so that you can have room for more of the Bible, more scripture references, more life experiences that you can share with people on your shelves? We must devote time to study, pray and seek God to cleanse the inside, which contains our spirit, which will be carried up to glory, and leaving these earthly vessels that we took such great care of behind.
But now yes, it is highly important to take care of these earthly vessels because they will allow you to do everything that you've been called and created to do. scripture says it like this. Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 15, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. A worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
The next thing we must work on is our discipline and faith. Discipline is a broad term that generally refers to training that develops self-control, character or orderly behavior. It has several distinct meanings across different contexts ranging from a set of rules and personal habits to an academic field of study and a form of corrective action or punishment. In this context, we will be referring to a set of guidelines and personal habits that help you to work to develop your character spiritually.
Personal habits such as starting your day off in prayer, not just giving the Lord a list of demands and needs, but having a conversation with him full of gratitude and openness to actually hear him speak. Followed up with daily Bible reading from scripture, preferably from your actual Bible. But I get it, technology has made it pretty convenient for us to open kind of apps and all kind of numerous things. We can just go everywhere.
But there's a lot of distraction in that. You get your calendar app, your church app popping up, although you should use the church app. Text messages, the kids forgot their lunch. But that's just distraction.
Now me personally, as soon as I open my eyes in the morning, I start thanking God for waking me up in what I consider to be my right mind and asking me to allow me actually to move this body, even though it makes a few more creaks and sounds. And before I throw a leg out of the bed, I start praying in the spirit. And I continue praying in the spirit going through my normal morning routine. And I'll pause briefly.
And I'll ask Michaela if she would like some coffee. And regardless of what she says, I start grinding my beans and getting that water ready. And the way my coffee maker is, I can look right out my back window into creation. And that's where I feel God speak to me the most at.
At that point, I stop speaking. And I start listening for what he has for me today. After that time, I pour up the coffee, we sit down and we go through a chapter of the Bible in the morning. And we go through a chapter of the other.
We discuss what we see in our insights from it. And then we roll into our day. Now there are days when I'll let the bed fast enough. And the world is right there knocking at me saying, hey, we got to get to work.
Customers say, you should have been there yesterday. And those are some of my worst days. Now I will give you this. Just because I got up and I did everything right.
I read, I prayed. Just because I did all that doesn't mean my day was going to be perfect every day. But through the power of the spirit, I made it through that day and I accomplished everything and I even learned some stuff. Here's a quote by Adam Clark that put it in perspective for me.
The man that fears, loves, and serves God has God's blessing all through life. His religion saves him from all those excesses in both action and passion, which sapped the foundations of life and render existence itself often a burden. The peace and love of God in the heart produce a serenity and calm, which caused the lamp of life to burn clear, strong, and permanent. Amen.
Let's look at our third point. Timothy's example. First Timothy chapter 4 verses 12 through 16. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
Until I come, devote yourself to public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through the prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters. Give yourself holy to them so that everyone may see your progress.
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Don't severe in them because if you do, you will say both yourself and your hearers. Be an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Let your actions line up with your words and your words line up with the Bible, the word of God.
Don't be too fazed or double minded. People can see right through that. And then you have to hope that they love you enough to correct you in that. And even beyond that, you have to hope that you're smart enough to listen.
Now, just in case you didn't know, someone is always watching. Always. I talk about it as a service man and as a technician, that's my life. That's why I draw from.
So as a technician, I get the chance to put all of these into practice on a daily basis. As I go into a customer's home, in speech, I'm highly respectful. In conduct, I do exactly what I say I'm going to do. In love, I treat everyone and their home with respect.
In faith, I'm looking for every opportunity I can to share the gospel. In my action or in my words. In purity, I'm honest. I love the truth.
I am so blessed to get referred. I don't do a lot of advertisement. In those referrals, I get a bigger blessing. When I go and I knock on that door.
When I knock on that door, and they say, and I introduce myself, hey, I'm Larry. And they say, oh, yes, you come highly recommended. They said you were a good man. You're a man of God.
At that point, I give them all the glory. All the glory. We must also have devotion to scripture and teaching. Do you own a road map to eternity?
The Bible? If so, what's keeping you from opening every day? Before you start. Or before you make any decisions.
Large or small? If not, see one of the pastors and elders. We will get one in your hand today. We're not just supposed to defend our faith.
We're also supposed to spread the gospel of Christ Jesus. I see many of these false teachers and their followers. I don't think they're out spreading the false news. The fake news, as I like to say it.
Now, I won't single anyone of them out today, but you go out and their billy needs big cathedrals and temples. They're out getting into our school systems, on the school boards, trying to push their agenda. They're gobbling up all of the political seats, trying to push their agenda. We should be taking those seats.
We should be standing on the word of God. So we must continue to prepare and get prepared to share the good news of Christ as much and as often as possible. Now, as far as teaching, of course, that starts with opening up the word, learning and putting it into action. That doesn't always require words.
But just in case, I suggest you study and read through the book of Romans. That way, when that opportunity does present itself, you'll be able to bless them when they lead them to Christ. Because once again, someone's always watching. They're watching your reactions and responses to the trials and to your successes.
And you have to set a good example in both. So don't walk around all doom and doom. Always mean I'm a follower of the one true King, the mighty God. On the second side of that, don't walk around thinking too highly of yourself with your successes.
I'm better than everybody else. I know the word of God better than everybody else. Find a balance in God and set a good example in both. As we begin to close, here are some practical points.
First, we should continually grow and produce fruit. Read your Bible daily. Cultify the deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you don't know the Holy Spirit and want to meet the Holy Spirit, reach out.
Reach out to Mr. Joanne Van Horn. She'll get you set up for baptism in the Holy Spirit. You'll walk through all the scriptures and learn who the Holy Spirit is and his purpose in a believer's life.
You will need your paper Bible, though. Devices will not be accepted. I depend heavily on the Holy Spirit, on all my day-to-day activities and everything I do. And it's because the indwelling of the Holy Spirit produces Christian virtues in a believer's life.
You can find those Christian virtues in Galatians 5, verses 22-23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. We did a whole series on each one of these.
If they didn't get all the way in your soul yet, I recommend you go back and listen to them and pray for the Spirit to move in each one of them for you. Next, a life full of the Holy Spirit is better than the world of the accolades. You can get all the patch on the backs that you want. All the thumbs-ups, all the trophies, all the medals, but they all fade.
Whereas walking in the fruits of the Spirit will not only earn honor among men, but will bring honor and glory to your Father. And lastly, we are to lead by personal example, with or without a title. We're not saved by our deeds or our conduct, but what we do is the evidence of our faith. The greatest title that I've ever carried or ever will carry will be serving of Christ.
I want that for you. I say all these things to help you continue to be a good minister in Christ Jesus. In closing, we can have discipline or we can be disciplined. This world that we are in now can be a very, very cruel teacher.
At the end of the day, the choice is ours, and it has eternal consequences. But we have a great hope, and his name is Jesus Christ. He has given a clear path to eternal life. For them that believe.
If you have made that decision, that choice to follow him, then study to show yourself approved and help others. If you have not, see one of the pastors and elders so you can start to run your true race today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this opportunity to bring you glory and honor.
We love you and we thank you for the love that you showed for us as you gave us your son Jesus Christ. Without an across for our sins, that we may have the opportunity to spend eternity with you. Isn't Jesus Christ's name I pray right now? Amen.
Have a good day, church.