Entrusted Series: Week 4 (2 Timothy 3:1-17)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] rise [Music] [Applause] this is [Music] rising [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning Church welcome to this moment wherever you're watching this our prayer for you is that your heart would be both encouraged and comforted as you gather all over our region to worship God with us if you're new to Exodus we would love to hear from you you can let us know that you tuned in by emailing us your name and how you found us at info at the exodus church org we would love to send you some information about connecting an exodus you can also send us any prayer requests we're aware that the range of our experience during the time of isolation is wide and varied so some of you are longing for a peace that maybe seems just out of reach some are enjoying the additional time with your family and some are feeling isolated alone so however you've experienced the last week that we've walked through we want to welcome you to this moment and we want to begin our time together in worship by reading this Psalm and I'd really like for you to participate with me in the reading the scripture will be on the screen and please read aloud the portions that are underlined psalm 16 preserve me O God for in you I take refuge I say to the Lord you are my lord I have no good apart from you as for the Saints in the land they are the excellent ones and whom is all my delight the Czar's of those who run after another God shall multiply their drink offerings of blood well I will not pour out or take their names on my lips the Lord is my chosen portion and my cup you hold my lot the lines have fallen for me in Pleasant places indeed I have found a beautiful inheritance I bless the Lord who gives me counsel in the night also my heart instructs me I've set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be shaken therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices my flesh also dwells secure for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your Holy One see corruption you make known to me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore now let's read that last verse aloud again verse 11 you make known to me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore this is the word of the Lord and as we gather in homes and living rooms because of Christ God's presence is offered to us to enjoy and experience so today wherever you are our prayer for you is that you would experience the fullness of joy and the pleasures that come through knowing our great God we're gonna sing a couple of songs this morning and as we do I want to encourage you to sing aloud and as quiet as your voice may seem singing alone remember the sound of our voices lifted up together remember the volume that we've sung together and anticipate the promise that we will sing together again now let's sing come out together [Music] [Applause] every dancing to my heart to see [Music] [Applause] Misun my baby [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] - crazy daily I'm constrained to die [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] let's take a moment and pray there's gonna be some things on your screen and you can pause the video and pray through those together [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] let's sing together again and continue to pray that God's name would be hallowed in our lives in the church and in the world today [Music] [Music] keeping your promise faithful to [Music] guilty [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] your name [Music] spirit who geysers giving us make me creations Oh [Music] people shining in darkness give us the straight [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the whale headstand the final [Music] [Applause] [Music] define [Music] by [Music] me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Music] hello me [Music] hey Exodus family and anyone else who's joining us via video today my name is Brian and I'm one of the pastor's here I'm really super grateful to have the privilege of gathering with you around God's Word today and as usual we find that God's Word is really really applicable to our lives we've been in this series called entrusted which is a study in the book of 2nd Timothy this is a letter written by Paul to Timothy he's written two of them Timothy's one of the pastors at the church at Ephesus and Paul has written two letters first Timothy tells Timothy what the church should be and second Timothy tells Timothy what Timothy should be and here in Chapter three Paul is talking to Timothy about how people respond to difficult times no that's really interesting isn't it it's been an interesting couple of weeks for us to kind of watch one another and even watch our own hearts about how we're responding lots of different ways to respond in fact there's lots of memes going around if you just need something to laugh at during times like this the series in fact that we did in January I was thinking about this week renovate where we talked about how we respond to things control approval comfort and achievement you can look back on that on our website and I hope that it serves you well here in 2nd Timothy Paul picks up on a similar theme of how we deal with difficulty and he reminds Timothy that difficult times will come and that these difficult times will produce different responses so let's look at God's Word together then I'll pray and then we'll jump in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 starting in verse 1 but understand this that in the last days that will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self lovers of money proud arrogant abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful unholy heartless unappeasable slanderous without self-control brutal not lovingood treacherous reckless swollen with conceit lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god having the appearance of godliness but denying its power avoid such people for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women burdened with sins and led astray by various passions always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth just as janice and Jambres opposed moses so these men also oppose the truth men corrupted in mind too disqualified regarding the faith but they will not get very far for their folly will be plain to all as was that of these two men you however have followed my teaching my conduct my aim in life my faith my patience my love my steadfastness my persecutions and suffering that happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and at Lystra which persecutions I endured yet from them all the Lord rescued me indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters go from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived but as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you have learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be competent equipped for every good work let's pray together Lord we believe this to be true of your word today we believe it is god-breathed we believe that it is helpful to us and is helpful to us as we help others so lord I pray I pray that you by your spirit would speak through your word even in this medium that we're not entirely used to a pray Lord that you would speak to hearts you know you know every heart listening this time and so Lord would you speak in a way that that heart needs and we pray all this in the strong name of Jesus amen so our big idea today is that difficult times produce different responses let's start with difficult times look at verse 1 Paul says but understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty I want us to first notice Paul's intensity he says in verse 1 understand this pulse trying to get Timothy's attention here it's like when I was growing up and my mom would use my government name I knew either I was in trouble or I was in danger but I did know she was intense she wanted me to pay attention and that's what Paul wants for Timothy here he wants him to pay attention and he wants him to pay attention to some specific content here in verse 1 he says in the last days there will come times of difficulty now this phrase last days needs to be explained when we read that we immediately think something dystopian or some bad Nicholas Cage movie but that's not what he's talking about here for Paul all of human history is divided by some key markers you have the time before Christ was born you have the time from when Christ was born until he died on a cross you have the period from when Christ rose from the grave until he ascended to the Father and then you had this moment this period of time from when Christ ascended until Christ returns to bring the new heaven and new earth to all those who hope in him and what Paul understands as the last days is this time between the time of Christ's ascension and Christ's return and so for Paul we are living in these last days in fact you and I have never known anything but the last days and what Paul wants us to understand about these last days is that during these last days he says there will come times of difficulty now even in that warning there's some hope notice he says there will come times of difficulty he doesn't say it's always going to be bad he says that they're gonna come times of difficulty and church we're in a an unprecedented time of difficulty right now we're anxious and uncertain perhaps were over informed and we don't know when the end of this will be and I believe that we need to prepare our hearts for it to last longer than maybe we think we need to think of this as a period of time not a long weekend and as pastors we're working on some tools to help you consider how you would prepare your own heart and those around you for this difficult time but listen to me church this time of difficulty will end this is not forever this period of difficulty will come to an end and in that we can have hope and Paul wants Timothy des to understand that in the last days in this time between Jesus ascension and Jesus returned there there will be times of difficulty and in these difficult times there are going to be different responses and we see that in verses 2 through 14 the first kind of responses are religious response look at verse 2 he says for people will be lovers of self lovers of money and then goes through this whole long list in verses 2 through 4 of all the ways we might respond in a rebellious way now there's a temptation for us to look at this list and say well that's those people for us to look at this long list of things that are going on and think well that's them rather than seeing how this is me I just want to highlight a few of them in the list just for us to understand that the ground is level at the foot of the cross first he says people will be lovers of money now there's a lot of ways to love money you can spin too much you can save too much you can trust it too much all of that has been tested in the last two weeks another one is without self-control now we it's easy for us to see people fighting over toilet paper and feel like oh wow that's not me but what about the ways I mean I'm just thinking about the ways in my own life that I've not exhibited self-control this week emotional leading constantly wanting to know more and have more information this this this work-life balance that we're all trying to figure out now when we're at home trying to get work done and it feels like the workday never ends having self-control about the things we're trying to get done and then the one that sinks all of us disobedient to their parents hey kids how's that going for you you see when we look at this list in verses 2 through 4 we should not think oh that's them we should think oh my that's me and when we think that we need to remember that's why Jesus came that Jesus came for a people from every tribe and tongue and nation who were once this list and he came to die on a cross to pay for your sin and mine so that we could be forgiven and free to have our sins paid for washed away clean so that we could have a relationship with God the Father through the work of Jesus on the cross in our place but one of the ways we respond to difficult times very often as we are rebellious and if that's you and you've never trusted Christ today I beg you trust him there's grace for you today there's grace for you there's grace for us one of the ways we respond to difficult times is a rebellious way the other way we respond is a religious way look at verse 5 Paul writes having the appearance of God leanness but denying its power one of the ways we respond to difficulty is you know we would say we're never gonna be verses 2 to 4 we're gonna show everybody that we've got it together we're going to show everybody that we're okay that there's nothing going on in us and so we're portraying this this level of calm when inside our hearts are spinning and what we really believe is that the best way we display the goodness of Jesus is to show people that we're okay we're portraying an appearance of godliness and what Paul tells us here is that when we do that we actually deny the power that would actually make us godly now it may very well be that you wonder that you wonder if there's anywhere anywhere where you could really be open and honest about what's going on in your life you might think I've got to portray this this sense of calm I've got to be strong at work I've got to be strong at home I've got to be strong with my friends I've just got to be strong and maybe maybe you don't know that there's a place where you could really be weak and let people really see what's going on in your heart and life and if that's you I want to offer you oh I would love to and I know all of our pastors would love to be a place where you could just share what's going on where you wouldn't feel like you had to look strong where you wouldn't feel like you had to appear godly you see the good news of the gospel the good news of the gospel is that God's power comes not to those who appear godly but to those who admit they're weak and what we need to remember is that we don't need to appear godly we can actually admit our need and Jesus will work actual godliness into our lives and that's actually what we see in Paul's repentant response in verses 10 through 13 he says you however have followed my teaching my conduct my aim in life my faith my patience my love my steadfastness my persecutions and suffering that happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and at Lystra which persecutions I endured yet from them all the Lord rescued me indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters go from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived in contrast to either a rebellious response to difficulty or a religious response to difficulty Paul holds himself up as an example of a life that's been radically transformed by Jesus you see Paul was a man in acts 9 who was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians now because of his faith in Jesus Paul is now being persecuted as a Christian and he says look this is what everyone can expect in difficult times when we follow Jesus Paul holds himself up as an example and he says to Timothy you know you know what this was like and then he calls Timothy to the same look at verse 14 Paul says but as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus now I want us to notice a couple things what Paul holds out to Timothy in this moment of difficulty he says remember what you learned he says in verse 14 continue and what you have learned and have firmly believed so Timothy you don't have to learn a lot of new stuff you need to continue and what you already know and then he reminds him remember who you learned it from Timothy you learned it from God's people he Paul sites himself as an example in the previous verses but he says that you've learned it from childhood Paul's reminding Timothy of his grandmother and his mother and so Paul wants Timothy to remember that God's people have taught him what he needs to know while he's going through difficulty but he points him to another place - he points Timothy to God's Word he says in verse 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings when Paul's talking about this he's talking about Scripture he says they're able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and Paul wants to point Timothy not only to God's people but to God's Word and then he tells them some things about God's Word in verses 16 and 17 he says all Scripture is breathed out by God all of it it's this idea that Scripture is inspired by God it's it's he actually makes up a word there to talk about just God's Word being breathed out by God and since it's from God we believe it's true we believe it's reliable we believe it has authority it's breathed out by God and then we also believe not only is it from God but it's helpful to us he says it's profitable in verse 16 profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training and righteousness it teaches us things Timothy Paul wants Timothy to know that he wants us to know that as well and then not only does it help us it helps us help others in verse 17 that the man of God now this is talking about Timothy but by extension to us that the man of God may be competent equipped for every good work Paul wants Timothy to know and understand and in the middle of difficult times the God's Word will not only help us but it will help us help others and so when we think about how we respond in difficult times we need to remember that we don't run from Jesus and rebellion and we don't run from Jesus and religion we run to Jesus in repentance and so as we think about how to apply this there's two things the first one is a really important question where are you running where are you running we all find ourselves in the midst of really unprecedented difficult times and I'm convinced that God is breaking us of both our rebellion and our religion he's breaking us of our tendency to run from him to other things because so many of those things are failing right now and he's breaking us of our temptation to run from him to our appearance or this thought that we have it all together because none of us feel like we have it all together right now and those two realities are inviting us to run to Jesus and so I just want to beg you today if you don't know Christ if you've never repented of your rebellion or repented of your religion to run to Jesus I beg you today to run to him and when I say run to him it's not like he's far away and you've got to turn around and go he's right there as soon as you turn around from whatever you're running toward he is right there to receive you by His grace and when we turn from all those things whether it's rebellious or religious when we turn from those things the Bible calls sin he receives us by His grace because he died on a cross in our place for our sin and so where are you running today if you're running anywhere other than Jesus Christ I beg you to turn from those things and run to him and if you want to know more about what it means to trust Jesus please reach out we want we want you to trust him today and so we run to Jesus where are you running and then secondly while we run to Jesus don't run alone don't run alone no all of us know how easy it is when we're trying to exercise whether that's running or going to a gym or or whatever it is we all know how easy it is to stop doing that unless we have a partner if we don't think we're gonna get a text from somebody or get called out in our f3 group or or whatever it is we're doing if we don't know that's coming it's very easy to just turn over in our bed and press snooze and not do what we know we need to do what we want to do what we spend money to do and it's saying it's the same in our walk with Jesus we're not made to run alone so that's why we want to help exodus stay relationally engaged in this time you we we need to be connected to people we can care for and who can care for us and so the primary way we do that here is with our community groups and you're thinking well we can't gather well we can't gather together physically we've taken all of our groups virtual using a tool called zoom you can meet with a group without leaving your home which is really helpful since we're supposed to be there now listen it's not the same I just want to be really honest with you it's not the same the other night in my group we were meeting we have a couple of method we have a medical worker a couple of medical workers in our group one of the families was sharing a prayer request and the spouse of that medical workers started crying and and every part of me wanted someone in our group to be able to put a hand on her shoulder and say we love you we're praying for you and there's no virtual way to do that all we could do was look through the screen and say hey we love you and we're with you and we'll do anything that you need but while it's not the same it's better far better than nothing and so this is the way we're going to care for one another during this time or stay connected to one another during this time there has never been a more important time in the history of our church for you to be connected to a group and so if you're not connected to one get connected to one there's some information on at the bottom of this screen that will help you connect to one of our groups somebody asked me this week well how are we gonna care to people who are how are we gonna care for people who are not in a group my response was we're gonna get them in a group that's what we want for you for years so that you can be cared for and known don't run alone now it may be that your role is not so much to get in a group but your role is to make sure people are connected I want to encourage us all I want to encourage us all to go out of our way to stay connected and relationally engaged during this time it's so important and I want us to remember that we have a hope during these difficult times the scripture has made us wise for salvation in Christ Jesus not because we're special not because we're good not because we have the appearance of something but because Jesus Christ in His grace has reached into our messed up lives and radically saved us by His grace and for his glory and so as we relate to people who don't have that hope let's share it so that we don't run alone let's not just run in community but let's run on mission so that we can share the good news of the gospel of Jesus with those around us Exodus in the last days there will be difficult times we are walking through some of that now my prayer for us today is that we would not run to anything but Jesus that we would not run to anything but Jesus and that we would do that together let's pray together father god we are so so grateful that you are ruling and reigning that you are attentive and aware Lord we we find great hope that you are our rock and that we can trust you lord I pray for those who are facing difficult this difficult time in a very unique way whether they're involved in the medical field or their their job is in question or or whatever is going on in their lives lord I pray that you would be so close to them that they would experience you as very very close during this time lord I pray for those who are tempted to put on an appearance of something Lord I pray that you would just free them to be weak so that the power of God might produce actual godliness in their lives and Lord I pray for all of us that we would continue in what we have learned and have firmly believed that we would stay state rooted in your word that is profitable and that makes us equipped for every good work you have for us to walk in in these days so Lord would you work in ways that we can't even imagine or fathom would you just captivate our minds and hearts with your goodness and your power and help us trust in you we pray all these things a strong name of Jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] with my son Oh [Music] [Music] hi I'm Ben I'm one of the pastor's of X's Church thanks for joining us we hope this has been a gift to you if you are new to Exodus we'd love to hear from you you let us know that you tuned in by sending an e-mail to info at the exodus Church orgy if you do that we'd be happy to send you info about connecting an exodus one way to connect is through our community groups particularly in this season of social distancing it's really important that we remain connected our community groups will continue to meet virtually you can join a group by clicking on the word connect at the top of our web page and then go into the community group options email a leader that you're interested in joining them and they'll send you an invite to join their virtual gathering lastly with all the ways that we are wisely preparing to care for our families it's easy to focus solely on self-preservation we want to encourage you to consider ways you can also be generous as Christians we've been given more in Christ that we could ever possibly lose so please keep your eyes and your heart focus on ways that you can help one way that you can be generous is to set up online giving here at Exodus to do this click on the word give at the top of our web page then click on the orange box that says click here to give online when you do that consider also giving to our benevolence fund which will help us care for the hurting in our midst exodus has already begun caring for the most vulnerable in our community and we'd love for you to help with this if you have questions about giving or anything else we've shared please send an email to info at the exodus church or gee and thanks again for joining us we really look forward to connecting with you soon you [Music]

Channel: Exodus Church

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Length: 47min 51sec (2871 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 22 2020