2 Timothy 1:1-7

Good evening. We're in the New Testament this evening. The book of 2nd Timothy in chapter 1.!

That's where I was going to be preaching from tonight. And then tonight, Brother Mike was talking about rekindling something within us.

And that's brought up in the same passage of Scripture. So sometimes we need confirmation of some kind of what we're going to be preaching. And I guess that was mine.

But Paul's letters to Timothy, if we go back to 1 Timothy, and I think on Wednesday nights when we were going through 1 and 2 Timothy, I didn't go through the first, I guess, few chapters of 1 Timothy that I recall or the first couple of chapters.

But anyway, I remember bringing up at some point or another that 1 Timothy was written not really casually, but more relaxed.

It was written to young Timothy who was a young minister in Ephesus, at the church at Ephesus. And you find all that in 1 Timothy as well as in church history.

But he was writing this to Timothy to help with guidance of the church and the leadership of the church, but not only the leadership, but the parishioners of the church.

He was writing to Timothy as far as church leadership goes, as far as confronting false doctrines goes. He wrote about the elders and the deacons and the pastors or bishops as it's referred to in the Scripture and their qualifications, not only their qualifications, but their jobs once they were in office.

And he talked about how the church was to care for people, how the church was to act towards the world, and how the church was to act towards the church. He specifically talked about the care of widows and children.

But all 1 Timothy was written along those lines was to help this young pastor named Timothy in his role at Ephesus.

And I say his role, I don't know that he was pastor of the church at Ephesus at that time. Church history says that later on he became pastor of that church.

But now we also got to consider that John the Apostle was pastor of the church at Ephesus. And that also is part of church history. You don't find that within the Scripture, but early church historians record that more than one does.

But, so I doubt both of them were pastor at the same time is what I'm getting at. But we get to 2 Timothy, and 2 Timothy is written on a darker level than 1 Timothy was.

There's nothing casual about it. There's still instruction there to Timothy. In fact, the seven verses we'll be going through tonight are instruction.

But why was Paul going with this particular instruction? Well, folks, persecution was hot and heavy at the time against the Christians. In fact, Paul wrote this letter from prison.

He was in prison for doing nothing more than preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is the last letter that we know of that Paul ever wrote was the letter we refer to as 2 Timothy.

But persecution was very, very heavy towards the Christians, toward those that professed Jesus Christ. And fear-mongering was prevalent in the outside world, and the pagans and the heathens, to cause those that were professing Christ to denounce or renounce their profession of Jesus Christ.

And that's part of what is addressed in these seven verses here this evening. So, all that being said, in the book of 2 Timothy, in chapter 1, beginning at verse 1, says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I served from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.

greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also.

Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Back to verse number 1, 2 Timothy chapter 1. It says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.

Paul here, addressing his letter much like he does his other epistles that he writes, introducing himself, not that there was much need for him to introduce himself to Timothy.

Timothy was well familiar with brother Paul. Paul had taken Timothy under his wing. He had trained him. He had written 1 Timothy 2.

So Timothy was well familiar with who Paul was. But folks, this was the regular way to begin a letter back in this time.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And that's a very important statement that he makes here. Paul being inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, again, he wouldn't have necessarily needed to have said this to Timothy because Timothy was well familiar with Paul, who Paul was, that he was an apostle, that he was a preacher, that he was probably the greatest church planner that was ever placed on planet earth.

He was well familiar with all these things. But Paul addresses his letter that he is an apostle by the will of God, by the will of Jesus Christ. And folks, if we have been saved and we have been born again, we've been brought into the family of God, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, our sins have been made white as snow.

Your call may not be to preach, your call may not be to teach, or anything along those lines. But folks, you have a call of Almighty God. Every one of us have a call of God, regardless of how insignificant you may think that it is, or it may seem to you.

Every one of us have a call. Now this letter specifically, and this call of Timothy's specifically was as a leader in the church at Ephesus, as a pastor at the church of Ephesus, as a preacher, as one who would explain the scriptures to the people and explain the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But as I said, if you are born again, folks, God did not save your soul. And God did not send His Son to Calvary's cross to die on your behalf so that you could simply sit in a church house pew and do absolutely nothing for the glory of Almighty God.

Every one of us have got a calling. If you've been saved, you've got a testimony, and you need to go out there into the world in which we live and share that testimony with the world.

Your testimony does not have the power to save a single soul that's out there. But your testimony can be an influence in the life of someone who hasn't been saved, in the life of someone who hasn't been churched, someone who doesn't know the scriptures, someone who has never heard the gospel.

When you tell someone, I was a sinner, but God saved my soul. When you tell someone, I once was blind, but now I see. When you tell someone that I used to do this or do that, you don't have to go into any great detail of your sinful past.

But all you have to let them know is that once upon a time, you did not walk with Almighty God. But one day, God came down to where you were into your situation, and He dragged you out of the miry clay.

He set your feet upon a solid rock, and He established your going. You go out there, and you testify to the world about the goodness of God, the grace of God, and the mercy of God that is found in Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah. Every one of us have got that call. Every one of us have got that call to go and testify. And folks, it brings me great comfort.

Again, let's read it. Boy, it says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. It gives me great comfort that my calling, whether it be preaching, whether it be teaching, whether it be giving testimony, whether it be serving God in any and all capacities, whatever it is, that it is by the will of Almighty God that I do that.

It is God's will that I go into the world and that I preach the gospel. It is God's will that I do the things that I do to the glory of Almighty God. And that brings me a great level of comfort.

It had to have brought Paul a great level of comfort when we consider where Paul come from, a man who persecuted the early church, a man who wanted to have the church killed off and imprisoned.

Hey, when Jesus Christ saved his soul there on the Damascus road, he called Paul to preach the very gospel that Paul was in opposition against.

Hallelujah. What a call we have of God and what a God that would call us. What a God that would take a sinful creature such as yourself and such as myself and wash us clean and have us to go into the world and proclaim his goodness.

And it is of the will of God that we can do that. But he says, he also says, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. Folks, that's the foundation of it all.

Christ Jesus is the foundation. And the foundation of our faith is belief in Christ Jesus. When we believe and we repent, we are found in Christ Jesus and he is found in us.

And it is according to the life that is promised in Christ Jesus. What kind of life are we talking about here? We're talking about eternal life that is promised in Christ Jesus.

It's not out there in the world. It's not in circumstances. It's not in material things. It's not in wealth. It's not in status. It's not in cloud. It is in Christ Jesus and he alone.

Hallelujah. And I'm glad. I'm glad that's where my hope is. And I'm glad that's where all hope is found. It's in Christ Jesus. Verse number 2, To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son. Now Timothy was not the physical son of Brother Paul. We should all know that by now. If not, you know it now. He was not Paul's physical son, but he was Paul's son in the faith.

As I said before in the introduction to this whole sermon this evening, Paul had taken Timothy under his wing. He had trained him in the ways of God, in the ways of the Scripture, in the ways of the church, and he had done his absolute best to do so with young Timothy here.

But he says, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, Paul did not consider himself just a mentor to Timothy.

Paul loved Timothy. And folks, whatever ministry it is that we have, whatever ministry it is, and don't say that you don't have a ministry, you have a family that you can minister to.

You have neighbors that you can minister to. Some of us have co-workers we can minister to. We have all kinds of people that we can minister to. We do not say that you don't have a ministry when the Bible teaches otherwise.

If we are to love God and we are to love our neighbor as Scripture commands, we are to minister to our neighbor. Whoever that is. Whether they be lost, whether they be saved, we are to minister to our neighbors.

Period. Paul refers to Timothy as a dearly beloved son. As a dearly beloved son. Folks, we don't go to people and minister to them outside of the love of God.

We do not do that. And folks, consider before you were saved, was it your desire to serve anyone other than yourself? Was it your desire to do for anyone other than yourself?

You may say, oh, I used to do this and I used to do that. But folks, behind those scenes, it was either for a pat on the back or it was for a payment of some kind or something along those lines.

But once we are saved, folks, once we are saved and God begins to mold us and to fashion us into the likeness of His only begotten Son, how did Jesus perform His ministry?

How did Jesus? Jesus loved them all. Jesus ate with the publicans. He ate with the prostitutes. He ministered to them all. He ministered to the Pharisees, to the Sadducees.

He told them all about the Gospel. He told them all the truth. And if we are ministering to anyone, it will be in truth. Period.

And it was to everybody with Jesus. And folks, it should be to everybody with us. But what stops us from doing that? What keeps us from doing that? Many times it's fear. We'll get into that here shortly.

He says to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace. He's praying these things through this letter to God toward Timothy.

Grace, mercy, and peace. Grace, because Timothy, again, was a young leader in the church at Ephesus. And he was going to need grace to handle the challenges of that ministry.

Just as you and just as I need grace to handle the challenges of whatever ministry we are partaking in. Whether it be preaching, teaching, singing, whatever the case is.

We need grace to do that. Because there will always be opposition to it. There will always be those that are unappreciated. There will always be those who come against us.

There will always be those that say this or that about the Bible or about God or about Scripture or about our lives or whatever the case is. We need grace to handle those situations.

He says grace. Mercy. What would Timothy need mercy for? Now listen, we're talking about mercy. And Paul goes on to say from God and from Jesus Christ.

So we're not talking about Timothy showing grace to others. Now that should happen and it should happen with us as well. But he's talking about grace coming from God to Timothy.

Why would he need grace? Why would he need mercy in this? He needs mercy for his own weaknesses. Timothy was not a perfect man.

Paul was not a perfect man. Peter was not a perfect man. John was not a perfect man. Only one perfect man ever walked this earth and his name was Jesus Christ.

He needed mercy from God because of his own weaknesses. Because he was still in a fleshly body. Because he was still in the world. Because there was still temptation.

Because the demons were still prevalent. Because of the culture that he was ministering in. He needed mercy from Almighty God. Coupled with that grace that is brought up first.

Grace, mercy, and peace. Peace and grace go hand in hand. Mercy and peace go hand in hand. Peace from God though is what Paul is writing to Timothy about.

That he is praying for Timothy to have from God. Peace from God. Because all those situations that you needed grace to handle. All those challenges of the ministry.

All those people that you're ministering to. All those older people that know more about the Old Testament Scriptures than you do. And they make that known to you that they know more of the Scriptures than you do.

You need grace to handle those situations and you need God to give you peace about those situations. So you don't lie in your bed at night and mull them around in your head and say, I should have said this and I should have said that.

You need peace from God. I need peace from God. Timothy needed peace from God to handle these situations. And Paul is praying peace through a letter.

Grace, mercy, and peace through a letter to this young church leader named Timothy. He says, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Not from just anyone. Not from just anyone at all. And folks, this should have relaxed Timothy somewhat. Knowing that he didn't have to manufacture his own grace.

Or his own mercy. Or his own peace. And folks, we don't need to manufacture it on our own behalf either, folks. We can't. We are incapable of doing so.

These are things. These are actually attributes of God. And God gives them to His people so that they can go forth and be effective in whatever ministry they are called to be doing or called to be involved in.

God supplies these things. God has always supplied His people with what is needed. If you go back to verse 1, you read about Paul saying he was an apostle at the will of Jesus Christ.

At the will of God Himself. Then we read here about just grace and mercy and peace coming from God the Father and from Christ. We read about all these things.

And when we consider in the Scriptures, the people, you take Moses for example. Moses thought that he was inadequate to go to Pharaoh and to say, God says to let my people go.

Gideon, he thought that he wasn't significant enough. But God showed him otherwise. There's all kinds of examples throughout the Scripture. You take King David.

His own family overlooked him. His own father overlooked him when Samuel came to anoint the next king. But praise God. Praise God.

God does not look at our own sufficiency because you and I are insufficient in and of ourselves. But God chooses broken vessels and God saves broken vessels and God fills those broken vessels with His Holy Spirit to show just how sufficient that He is.

Not only to you and not only to the church but to the lost world around us. Hallelujah. God chooses us. God chose us from the beginning of time.

And God chooses us to go forth in ministry and to proclaim His Gospel. And all this grace, mercy, and peace come from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Verse 3, I thank God whom I served from my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of Thee in my prayers night and day. Where did I say Paul was writing this from?

He's writing from prison. Now this isn't considered one of the four prison epistles. But he was writing from prison nonetheless. And we know that he was sitting on death row at this point in his life.

And how does he begin this verse? With three words. I thank God. He is in prison. He has had His freedom taken away from Him.

God only knows what kind of meals He was eating. He can't go out and visit with people. He can't go out at all. He is in prison awaiting to be executed.

And he begins verse 3 with, I thank God. How many of us in His situation would have any thought whatsoever toward thanking God?

Now I realize in this context He wasn't thanking God that He was in prison. but nevertheless He was thanking God for something. He wasn't focused on what He had.

He did not allow His circumstances to destroy His gratitude toward God. How many times does the church allow that to happen? How many times have I allowed that to happen in my life?

Sickness comes. Death comes. Financial problems come. Heartaches come. All these things come around. And my gratitude toward God diminishes if it doesn't just completely dissolve.

And Paul sitting here in prison knowing that his ministry was coming to an end. Knowing that his earthly ministry was about to come to an end because he was about to be killed. He was about to be executed.

About to be martyred. And he says, I thank God. He found something to be thankful for in the darkness of that prison. He found something to be thankful for in that dungeon.

He found something to be thankful for as he lived in the dirt in chains. And here we are with our cushy lives and our comfortable lives and our nice clothes and all kinds of good food to eat.

And we have a hard time being grateful toward God sometimes. Why is that, church? Why is that with me? I'm not pointing a finger at you all without pointing at myself as well.

I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience. Now, he's not saying here that he was a perfect sinless man when he says a pure conscience.

But very simply, Paul is saying here that he can say that he served God just as his forefathers did. Just as his Jewish forefathers did.

Because they served the same God. Hey folks, the God of Israel in the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. He has not changed. His name has not changed.

His motive has not changed. Nothing about Almighty God has changed. And Paul here says, I've served God from my forefathers just as my forefathers did.

And I've done it with a pure conscience. In other words, regardless of what state I found myself in. Regardless of what situation I found myself in. Folks, you consider Paul.

You consider how many times he was rejected. You consider he was abandoned. He was flogged. He was whipped. He was stoned. He was left out in a desert region for dead.

And here he is saying, I thank God. And I can say that I've served just as my forefathers did. with a pure conscience. In other words, I have taken the faith that Christ gave me.

I have taken the gift that Christ gave me. I have taken everything that Christ gave me on that road to Damascus. And I have given it my all.

That's why he could say he had lived with a pure conscience. And he had served God with a pure conscience. Because he never allowed his circumstances.

No matter how dire they were. No matter how threatening they were. He never allowed his circumstances to revoke in his mind his call from God.

His call to spread the gospel. His call to preach the gospel. Folks, whatever call you have, again, it may not be to preach. It may not be to teach.

But you have a call. Do not let your circumstances be the decisive matter as to whether you push forward for God or not. Paul didn't do it.

Moses didn't do it. Elijah didn't do it. Although Elijah whined a little bit. How much do we whine? We can't look at our noses at Elijah. Moses even whined a little bit.

Moses wanted God to take him out of this world just like Elijah did. because the burden was so great for them. But folks, they never, ever, ever completely turned their backs on God.

Never did they do that. God help us to be like us. He says, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee and my prayers night and day.

I said earlier, you don't feel like you've got a ministry, you've got a testimony. And I'll say now, you don't feel like you've got a ministry, you can pray. If you're a child of God, you can pray.

And prayer is essential. Prayer, I mean folks, you read the letters that Paul wrote to the church. You read the epistles that he wrote to the churches. You read what he wrote to Timothy.

You read what he wrote to the church at Colossae. You read what he wrote to the church at Corinth. You read what he wrote in all these letters and constantly, constantly, he was saying, I'm praying for you and I want you to pray for me.

Prayer is essential in the Christian life. We all need it. We need it for ourselves and we need it for one another. And I encourage you now and I ask you now, pray for me when you get a chance.

And I pray for you all. Yes, you've got a ministry. And prayer is a ministry. Folks, prayer is not an afterthought of ministry.

It is ministry in and of itself. We must pray for one another. We must do this for one another. We must seek God on one another's behalf.

Sometimes we get in such bad shape. It's not that we can't pray. It's not that we can't speak. But our minds, our minds and our hearts get so tore up sometimes.

I'm talking about Christians that we can hardly utter a prayer through. Now, I understand Romans chapter 8 and I understand that the Holy Spirit can take our groanings unto God and that God can make sense of those groanings.

I get that. But that does not dissolve your responsibility to pray for a brother or sister in need. We need to pray one for another.

Pray for the church. Parents, pray for your children. Grandparents, pray for your children and your grandchildren. Pastors, pray for your church. We need to pray for one another.

We can all pray. Every one of us. And prayer is a ministry. And here is Paul telling Timothy that he prays.

He says, Remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. He prays for Timothy constantly. Every time Timothy crosses his mind, it sounds like to me Paul is uttering a prayer on his behalf.

And I ask you to do the same for me, folks, because I need your prayers. And as much as you may not think so, you need my prayers and everyone else's prayers of this church.

We need the prayers of one another. Practice that ministry. Verse 4, Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with joy.

Paul here says he greatly desires to see Timothy. Now, did Timothy ever see Paul again? More than likely not. But it's possible that Paul was talking about a visit from Timothy to him in the prison here.

But regardless, this speaks of the love that Paul had toward Timothy that we were speaking about a couple of verses ago. He greatly desired to see Timothy.

He wanted to be in the presence of Timothy. And we should want to be in the presence of one another. Not just as Blessed Redeemer Baptist Church, but anywhere that we are out there, anywhere that we are in the world, we should desire and want to be around the people of Almighty God.

Because folks, there's only one other side to that coin. And we don't need to desire to be around that crowd. Now, sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we're the only one of the bunch that's saved, it seems like.

And sometimes we'll find ourselves, but that should not be our desire is to be in a situation like that. But when you find yourself in a situation like that, practice your calling. Practice your calling.

Give you testimony. Pray for those people. Practice your ministry when you find yourselves in those situations. Greatly desire to see thee being mindful of thy tears.

Paul's saying he is mindful of the tears of Timothy. What tears might Timothy have been shedding? Well, folks, tears get shed for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes we're just sad.

Sometimes we're sad for ourselves, sometimes we're sad for a brother or sister in Christ. Sometimes we're sad for the state of the world. Sometimes we cry while we repent.

There's all kinds of reasons that we shed tears. But either way, Paul says that he is mindful of the tears that Timothy's crying. Notice, he doesn't belittle Timothy for tears.

Tears do not disqualify us from serving God. And I know some men right now that will brag that they've never cried while preaching a sermon.

They've never cried while they're praying. They've got the attitude, real men don't cry. I'll tell you right now, Jesus Christ was a real man. And Jesus Christ wept at the tomb of Lazarus.

He wept. Jeremiah wept over the state of his own people. Paul wept for Israel. Folks, there is nothing wrong with weeping.

And even better than Paul being mindful of Timothy's tears. Almighty God, my Savior is mindful of my tears. According to the Scriptures, God knows every tear that has ever fallen out of my eye.

God knows every sadness that I have ever known, every weakness that I have ever felt, every depression I have ever felt. He knows every hurt that I have ever felt.

He knows about it all and He is mindful of my tears. And He is mindful of yours as well. Now, it would have been a great thing to have been Timothy and to have had someone like the elder Paul, Paul the apostle, to say I'm mindful of your tears.

But how much greater folks, how much greater is it to know that the Creator God of this universe is mindful of every tear that we shed.

He is mindful of it. He remembers it. He does not forget it. Now folks, all that will be rewarded one day with this life that we read about in verse number one.

The life according to the promise of Jesus Christ as eternal life with God, with the God who is mindful of those tears.

He says that I may be filled with joy, greatly desiring to see he is mindful of his tears, that I may be filled with joy. He would be filled with joy not because of the tears that Timothy had shed, but if he was able to see him, once again, again, this testifies to the love and the regard that Paul had for young Timothy here.

How many people can we say that about in our lives? How many people, honestly, can you say that you are just overfilled with joy when you are in their presence?

Some of us would say, well, I can get in the presence of this one or of that one and I can be overfilled with joy for about ten minutes and then it goes away. Or this one, I can be overfilled with joy for a half an hour, but then it goes away.

Folks, Paul here is saying, if I could just see you Timothy, if I could just be in your presence, if you could just come to where I am, I would be overfilled with joy.

How many people can we say that about? I hope it's a prayer of mine to be that type of person in people's lives. That they just can't help but feel joy when I'm in their presence.

And that's a difficult thing to do right now. But God, praise God, He is still working on me. Not many people, if any, would say that about me right now. But that is a prayer of mine.

Is that I bring joy into whatever room I'm in, whatever situation I'm in, and whatever crowd I'm in at the time. That I bring joy, that people feel filled with joy.

Verse number five, when I call to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee, which dwell first on thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also.

Again, folks, again, we can say, you feel like you don't have a ministry. Eunice probably didn't feel like she had a ministry.

Lois probably didn't feel like she had a ministry. But they were ministering. They were ministering to this young leader of the church at Ephesus at this point.

they were ministering to him throughout his entire life. And it shows. Paul says, I saw it in your grandmother. I saw it in your mother.

And bless God, Timothy, now I see it in you. Hallelujah. Don't think for one moment that your Christian life is not an influence on someone.

Don't think for a moment that your walk with God is not influencing someone. Now, there's two sides to that coin. Is your Christian walk true?

Is your Christian walk faithful? Is your Christian walk what the Bible says your Christian walk should be? If it is, you're being a positive influence in someone's life.

But if it isn't, you're being a negative influence, but you're still being an influence. If it isn't according to the Scripture, if they look at you and they say, well, Scripture is just not that important to them.

Church is secondary. Praying is a secondary thing. It's not really that important. It can't be. Mom and dad don't do it.

Grandma and grandpa don't do it. That's a negative influence. But it's still an influence. But when we live lives according to the Scripture, when we live Christian life as God has instructed us to, that is a positive influence.

as far as eternity is concerned, that is a positive influence in the life of someone that you know. And more than likely many people that you know.

And God helped me to be that way. Verse number six. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of mine hands.

Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God. Now folks, Paul is not instructing Timothy here to run amok. He is not instructing Timothy, as we would call it nowadays, to cut a shine or anything along those lines.

Folks, what was the issue? Ephesus was a filthy place. It was a pagan place. It was filled with nothing more than heathenism.

And there was this church sitting there. The church in Ephesus that was trying its best to be a light for Christ in the dark world in which it sat, in the dark city of which it sat.

And here's Paul instructing Timothy to stir up the gift. Why would Timothy's gift need stirring? Why does your gift need stirring?

Why does my gift need stirring? Sometimes it's just simple laziness and complacency. We get comfortable with where we're at with God. We say, I don't need to get any closer.

I'm fine right where I'm at. We need our gift stirred up. We need the gift that God has given us stirred up. Sometimes it's for fear.

And more than likely, that's what it was with Timothy. We'll get to that in the next verse. Sometimes, though, it's for fear. It's for fear. But nevertheless, he says, that thou stir up the gift.

He doesn't say you need to wait on God to stir up the gift that He has given you. Sometimes we need to stir it up ourselves.

And sometimes if we back up a couple of verses, we need the prayers from the saints of God that God can deal with us and cause us to stir up the gift that He has given us.

But folks, there's a blue billion reasons out there right now that whatever gift you have, whatever calling you have, whatever ministry it is that you have, there are a gazillion reasons that the world will give you, that Satan will convince you of, and that demons will try and talk you into to getting comfortable and getting complacent and just backing down and backing off.

And Paul tells Timothy, you stir up the gift. That is within you. How is the best way to do that? I'll tell you. Read your Bible and pray.

Read the Scripture and pray. Pray fervently. Pray to God. Pray that God help you to stir up that gift again, folks. He is not instructing Timothy to have God to stir up the gift.

He is instructing Timothy to stir up the gift himself. And he says, you receive this gift. By the putting on or the laying on of my hands.

Now, folks, there's all kinds of different directions that can go. But that was a very common practice in this day. It was a common practice. And it wasn't just for ministerial purposes either.

I mean, you read the apostles laid hands on people to heal them. There was laying on of hands all throughout the Scriptures. And examples of that happening. But I can promise you, there was no magical power and there is no formula to someone coming to the front of the church and the church laying hands on that person and praying for them and some kind of power goes from our hands or our bodies into that person.

That is not what it's talking about. And that is not what it's talking about anywhere in Scripture. No more than anointing oil has any type of magical power to heal someone.

But it is instructed by Almighty God to use oil. It's instructed by God to lay hands on people. We find it all throughout the Scriptures. But folks, it is not because there is something about our hands or about our bodies that does that.

It is all God. And it is practice, practice that was set in motion by God for separate purposes. You even read about Jesus Christ when he called the little children unto him.

It says that he picked them up and he laid his hands on them and he blessed them. And that laying on of hands was right there in the Scripture. The apostles done it. So many people did it.

But it was not something magical that Paul did when he laid his hands on Timothy that that suddenly gave Timothy the gift of preaching. But it was to put him in the ministerial role.

It was to confirm him in that. It's kind of like baptism is. Baptism has nothing to do with regeneration. It has nothing to do with salvation. It has nothing to do with being saved.

That water cannot wash away sin. Period. But it is a public profession. And it is a public testimony that you are identifying with Jesus Christ.

That you have been buried with him and resurrected to new life. And this laying on of hands, it was nothing more than a practice that they done. So, some of the charismatic crowd will beg to differ with that.

That's why I threw all that out there. Again, the main gist of this verse, verse number 6, is that he is instructing Timothy and encouraging Timothy to stir up the gift himself.

To stir up that call himself. Why? That's in verse 7. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

And I dare say because of the persecution that was going on in the church world, or toward the church world, I should say, toward Christians at this time, fear was a main factor.

And here is Timothy, a young leader in the church at Ephesus, who had a very pagan and evil and earthly and worldly culture, that were probably threatening him.

In fact, you read in church history, it's nowhere in the scripture, but you read in church history, that that's exactly what happened to Timothy. Timothy stepped up in Ephesus, they were celebrating a festival called Categoria, which was a pagan festival, where people put on masks, and they went out on the streets, and they practiced violence, and Timothy stepped out and spoke against it, and spoke about the gospel, and the entire mob attacked him, and clubbed him to death.

Now that's church history, that's not Bible, but there's enough people that have testified to that in church history to where I believe that's what happened. There's not much variation to that story.

But here was young Timothy, that would have been later on. Here was young Timothy, brand new to the ministry, and Paul is saying God has not given us the spirit of fear.

Now folks, he doesn't say fear doesn't visit with Christians. In fact, in his very words here, God has not given us the spirit of fear.

That tells me that there is indeed a spirit of fear, but it does not come from God. And it has not come from God. And God has not sent it to you or to me.

It says God has not given us a spirit of fear. But what has he given us but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.

Timothy needed this encouragement. And folks, 2,000 years later, you and I need this same encouragement. God has not given us a spirit of fear.

So when you go to practice, whatever calling you have, when you go to practice, whatever ministry God has put you in, regardless of how hostile your family might be against it, or against you for that matter, regardless of how the world takes it, regardless of how co-workers might take it, God has not given you a spirit of fear, but he's given you one, a spirit of power.

And folks, we need that power. We need that power. I'm not saying he's made all of a superman or superwoman and we can do these amazing and mighty things, lift buildings and trees and everything else out of the ground.

That's not the kind of power I'm talking about. But we have power to go forth in our ministry and in our calling. That's the context of what we are talking about here.

God gives us that power and we need that power. Moses needed the power of God to stand before Pharaoh. David needed the power of God to go against Goliath.

Daniel needed the power of God to defy the ordinances. The three other children of Israel, they needed power to defy the ordinances of the king of Babylon and not bow down before that statue.

All of them needed that power. But fear, fear will make us feel like our power is diminished. Folks, I tell you now, God is just as powerful now as the day that He spoke everything into existence.

That power has not diminished, it has not depleted, it has not been exhausted. God has enough power to supply all of us and to suffice for all of us until we all get home one day after a while.

But that fear will make us feel like we're powerless. But God has given us the spirit of power. You take Peter for example. Peter very bravely and really arrogantly told Christ the very night that he was arrested, I will not deny you.

I will not deny you. I'm ready to go with you now even unto prison and even unto death. And Christ told him, I tell you now, the cock shall not crow before you deny me thrice.

And what caused Peter to deny Christ? Fear. Fear. I believe I saw you with him.

I don't know him. I don't know what you're talking about. I believe this is one of them. You speak with the Galilean tongue. I don't know what you're talking about. And then this little servant girl comes along.

And Peter was afraid of her. Fear. Fear caused Peter to do that. But later on in Acts, you see what the Spirit of Power does.

When Peter preaches with boldness before the authorities, he preaches with boldness the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not truly, not afraid of jail.

Truly, not afraid of death. That's what the power of God will do. Don't worry so much about your job. Hey, I need a job just like anybody else does.

But folks, the ministry that God has given us, and the calling that God has given us to go into the world and preach the Gospel to every living creature, that ministry is so much more important than any job out there.

So, when it comes down to it, what are we going to do? Are we going to be afraid? Are we going to have fear? Or are we going to go into our ministry and do our ministry and do that which God has called us to do?

He's given us power and of love. Why love? I'll tell you why. Because power came first. And if we minister with power and no love, it can turn into arrogance real quick.

It can turn into harshness real quick. It can turn ugly real quick. God has given us power and He has given us love.

That when we go to the world, we preach and we teach and we testify of the love of God and we do it with love toward our neighbor.

With love toward God and with love toward our neighbor. God has given us that. And we need to utilize it. We need to utilize that power so that fear doesn't overtake us.

And we need to utilize the love that He has given us so that when we're utilizing the power, we're not doing it in an unbiblical way and of a sound mind.

What does this mean? It doesn't necessarily mean that God won't let some of us run around crazy because some of us do. Of a sound mind.

He's given us power. He's given us love. And He's given us a sound mind. This is wisdom. This is discernment.

God has given us this. This is the ability. God has given us power, love, and a sound mind. And the sound mind is so that when we come against opposition such as Timothy would, when we come against those that would rail against us such as Timothy would, when we go out to do our calling and something happens that just causes us to be disappointed with the results of it, when these things happen, we can use wisdom and we can use discernment that God has given us for those situations.

sound mind doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be a cakewalk the entire time that we're here. We know better than that. Y'all have been in this walk longer than I have.

And it's not a cakewalk. In fact, being a Christian is very difficult. It's a very difficult path. It's a narrow path. It's a narrow way according to the words of Jesus Christ.

But folks, do not do not let fear do away with these other things that God has given you. Do not let something that is not of God take away the power, the love, and the sound mind that God has given us.

And these are the very things. These are gifts from God. These are things that if we back up a verse, we can pray to God that He stir, that He stir up those gifts or that He help us to stir up those gifts.

God, help me to be more bold in my testimony. Help me to be more bold in my preaching. Help me to be more bold in my singing. Help me to be more bold for you.

God did not save you and give you any type of gift for you to do nothing with it. He did not do that. Folks, Jesus spoke an entire parable.

In Matthew chapter 25 about this very thing, a man gave three servants. He gave them all talents. He gave one five, he gave another two, and he gave one one.

And when he came back from his trip, the one that he gave five to had doubled it. And he was commended for it. The one that he gave two to, he had doubled it.

He was commended for it. But the third servant, he gave one talent to, what did he do? He took it and he buried it. He buried it. He did nothing with it.

And he was condemned for it. He was condemned for it. He had been given something and had done nothing with it. God, help me to not be that way.

Whatever gifts I have, or gift I have, if it's just singular, whatever it is, God, help me to use it for his glory. God, help me to use it for his kingdom.

God, help me to use it for his sake and for the sake of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. God, help us to do these things. Now, all this that we've gone through in these seven verses here tonight can all be traced back to one reason, and that's been verse one.

We've already been over it this evening. When he says, when he talks about the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. that's the only reason that any of those things is even possible.

That's the reason prayer is possible, is because of Jesus Christ. The reason salvation is possible is because of Jesus Christ. The reason that we have a gift of power and of love and of a sound mind from God is all because of Jesus Christ.

And that promise of life in Jesus Christ is available for everyone who would repent and believe his gospel and believe on him, believe in his death, his burial, and his resurrection.

If anyone's here and not saved, then you can have that power. You can have that love and you can have that sound mind, but it is not for you to sit on and it is not for you to bury as the fellow in the parable of the talents did.

It is for us to do something with. That power, that love, that sound mind, and any gift that God has given you, utilize it. And utilize it more.

And utilize it more. And utilize it more to multiply the kingdom of God. And to multiply the honor that is due to him. God bless you all.

That's the message for this evening. I appreciate your attention.