Pastor Paul Chappell: Be Strong in God's Call

second Timothy chapter 1 verses 6 & 7 ready begin 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 let us pray father thank you for the time in your house tonight thank you for the faithful members of Lancaster Baptist Church father bless them this week father anoint us tonight for the preaching and the hearing of your word and we will give you thanks as we pray in Jesus name Amen you may be seated why in the seventh verse of a brand-new epistle the last ever written by the Apostle Paul why does he mention the word fear why does he say to Timothy God has not given us the spirit of fear there were many other things he could have spoken to Timothy about he could have spoken to Timothy as he did to Titus and Titus chapter 1 and verse 5 when he said I want you to put them in remembrance of the things that I have taught them he could have said to Timothy set in order the things that are wanting but that was not the initial message given to timothy 2 timothy he is speaking about fear I do not know definitively but I believe one of the answers may be that Timothy as he thought of the Apostle Paul's ministry ending and as he thought of his responsibilities in a church called Ephesus and in the other churches of the 1st century that he felt unworthy unprepared and yes that his heart was fearful at the prospect of all that God would call upon him to do in the ministry and so it was that God through this epistle was speaking to the heart of a man speaking to the soul speaking to the spiritual leadership within this man that would come to pass as he followed the leadership of the holy spirit of God and this is always God's Way it is always God's Way to speak into the heart of a man and to strengthen and refine and mold that man so that he might be the instrument that God can use in cities like Ephesus and in cities like Lancaster you see men and women are God's method the church today is looking for better methods but God is looking for better men Christians today are wondering if there isn't some way that technology can take the place of soul-winning or if supporting missionaries gives us a free pass from being a witness tomorrow at work we're always looking for a new method we're always looking for a new mechanism or a new strategy but God tonight is looking for new men and women who will allow him to use them in his service eeehm bounds once wrote what the church needs today is not more machinery or better not new organizations or more more novel methods but men in whom the Holy Spirit can work men of Prayer mighty men in prayer the Holy Spirit does not flow through methods but through men he does not come down upon machinery but upon men he does not anoint plans he anoints men and God is looking for some men and women tonight who would be strong in the grace of our Lord who would overcome fear and phobia and discouragement and setback and say once again here am i Lord use me and so it is that Paul is challenging Timothy to be strong in the call of God upon your life to never forget the fact that God has a purpose for your life other than just buying groceries and watching television and driving around town and going to work and riding your bike and playing your golf and shooting your gun God is looking for men who will stand up stand up for Jesus Christ once again men and women who will pray again men and women who will witness again men women who will be strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ now as we come to Timothy's letter and as we come to the admonition speaking of the subject of fear and of the subject of the calling of God I draw your attention tonight to verse number 6 where the Apostle Paul from a Roman prison writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God wherefore I put the in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God I love these words wherefore I put thee in remembrance I said to you just a moment ago the reason for the upcoming conference one month from tonight is because sometimes we need to remember what God has already done in our heart we need to remember when we got saved and we need to remember when we surrender to the Lord and we need to remember that first time we filled out a commitment card for missions and the first time we served as an usher and the first time we sang in the choir it's good to remember what God has already done in our hearts and I want you to notice if you're taking notes tonight first of all the strength of the call of God there is strength in the call of God upon our lives may I remind you tonight that all of us have a calling upon our lives that calling may have various manifestations and there may be various different gifts that are given in the local church but all of us are the called according to the purpose of God I want you to see first of all there is strength in remembering he says I want to put you in remembrance Timothy I want to remind you that there's a calling of God upon your life I remember in my life as a seventh grade boy in Palmer Lake Colorado as I had been working in a summer camp throughout the summer and as I was there sweeping up the cabins and sweeping up the chaplain and mopping the kitchen and working in the camp I had opportunity night after night to hear the preaching of the word of God though a seventh grade boy just saved not many years prior though a preacher's son I sat in the back of that Chapel each night though I was not a registered camper I was there as a worker I listen to the preaching of the word of God I can remember on the last Friday night of the month of August as I heard my last message for the summer that God spoke to me about being a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ there were many things I could have done I suppose God could have allowed me to serve in the corporate world perhaps involved in some type of business I suppose I could have become involved in agriculture our farming I suppose I could have done any one of a million things but I thank God that he reached down and touched my heart and he called me to be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it would be the great thrill of my life tonight if there would be but one teenager in this room that would say the same thing spirit of God fall on me use me call me I'm willing to be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he says Timothy I want you to put into remembrance that the things that I've done in your heart the gift of God in your life Timothy did not need any new spiritual ingredient in his life he simply needed to stir up what he already had hey last say to you tonight if you've been born again by the Spirit of God you don't need to get saved again you're never going to get any more of the Holy Spirit of God than you have right now but some of you need to stop what you already have and you need to get stirred up once again for the Lord Jesus Christ it's not enough just to sing in the choir we need men and women that are stirred up for God singing in the choir it's not enough to just go through the motions of the Christian life but we need to be stirred up for the things of Almighty God and so the Bible says continue thou in the things which thou has learned and been assured of knowing of whom thou has learned them and so their strength in remembering sometimes we need to go down memory lane in our lives sometimes we need to remember when we got saved I'm going to count to three in just a moment and I want you to tell me the year in which you got saved all right let's think about it now think about it some of you got to get way passed by Abraham Lincoln back in that timeframe so get back there in your mind all right I want you to tell me the year you got saved one two three wonderful now think about it some of you think for just a moment some of you men had hair I don't know what you look like I don't know where you were but if you're saved you can remember where you were some people say I don't remember the exact date I understand that but they ought to remember the exact day they may not know the date of the day but they're gonna know the day they got saved they're going to remember where they were that can remember who talked to them and it's not some light that came at the end of the hospital bed and it's not some warm fuzzy feeling because they had pepperoni pizza it's not that my friend it's the day you heard you were a sinner lost it on your way to hell and someone showed you that by grace God sent his son and that if you would put your faith in Jesus Christ you would pass from death on the life you'd be born again a child of God hey if you're saved tonight you remember when that happened right and sometimes we need to walk down memory lane sometimes we need to remember now I find that ladies may be better than this then we men are seems like men are always trying to press on to the next thing right we're always driven to get to the next goal seems like ladies could say do you remember our fourth date and men can say sure sure do and you know what's coming next oh you do sweetheart where was it Oh in and out there was no in and out then seems like ladies are better at walking down memory lane making scrapbooks and memory books and picture books do you know I believe you ought to have a memory lane I have some books in my office mrs. versatile helps and keep them up-to-date too called the blessing books sometimes I open those books I'll go back way back 1988 I'll look at the first missions conference $30,000 committed for missions sometimes I'll go back to the very early banquets when we're raising money to buy this property sometimes I go back to the very early moments when we were having our first open house Sunday sometimes I'll go back and just remember the opening of a school or a college and sometimes I'll remember when your children were born and when they were married and I remember when they surrendered to Christ and I remember when those that were away came back to God I remember when men and women had their spouses saved it's good to go back and remember the great things that God has done in our lives and sometimes when we become self-centered we forget to remember what God has done in our life and Paul says Timothy I want you to stop your remembrance and thank God for what he's done in your life their strength in remembering may I say their strength and stirring did you see that phrase there he said I want you to remember the things of God I want you to put the in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God now we see we're to remember but notice secondly here there's strength and stirring and the word stir up means to Kindle it means to Kindle to Kindle the gift of God the calling of God to Kindle the moving of God once again in your life any of you that have ever had a fireplace in the wintertime you know that you can't just light the logs and leave them there right I mean somewhere along the line though it may have been glowing at once somewhere along the line you've got to get that poker out and you've got to stir that fire are up a little bit you got to throw some more wood on there lest the fire burn out you've got to stir it up just a little bit to keep it going to keep it warm I don't know about you I like to have a warm fire in the wintertime I enjoy sitting on Saturday night putting a big fire in the wintertime and getting my sermon notes out and going over those notes and spending time in prayer but I also have learned if I don't just stir it up just a little bit it's going to die and it's not going to give off the heat like it once did and I'm here to say tonight one of the reasons we have this anniversary and spiritual Leadership Conference is because some of you where you once were red-hot now you're beginning to darken now there's gray ash now there's some falling down of the wall now there may not be the fire that there once was and God's Word says to Timothy I want you to stir up the gift I want you to remember what I've done I want you to stir up spiritually so that you'll not just be reading a lector reading a little extra in your Sunday School class but you'll deliver your heart so you not just be given a little ditty in your family devotion but you'll be given your heart so that when you're out there soul winning that we attend once again in the corner of your eye I'm saying sometimes you've got to start what God's already given to you and already put in your life you say well how do I get stirred up preacher I'll tell you one way I get stirred up by hearing the preaching of the word of God and you show me any Christian that gets out of church this summer I'm talking about missing God's house and mitching missing preaching and they're going to go call his ice without the preaching of the word of God for preaching stirs up the heart and we all need the preaching of the word of God God has commanded that we gather together and assemble together and I believe not only the preaching will stir us up but the right kind of fellowship stirs us up I mean getting around the right kind of people where as iron sharpens iron we're just encouraging one another and strengthening one another and God forbid that we gather in a Sunday School class simply to talk about basketball or football or bicycles or tricycles or skateboards my friend we're not here to talk simply about those things let's talk about Jesus the King of Kings is he hey it's good to fellowship about how great our God is it's good to say I've been praying for you it's good to say we sure are glad to see you here's a Bible it's good to say it's wonderful to be a Christian hey it's fine to talk about sports it's fine to talk about those other things but they can hear about that on Monday at Northrop somewhere along the line they need a friend that will talk to them about Jesus and about prayer and about the Bible and about the assurance of salvation and they need somebody that will pray with them for their wayward child and somebody that will pray with them for the salvation of their parent and I'm saying tonight we've got to have some fellowship that will stir us up I'll tell you how to say stirred up how about prayer time my friend how about coming and spending time with the Lord in prayer so oftentimes people say to me well we've made this decision and we've prayed about it and that prayer is nothing more than a Polly wanna cracker prayer it's like the Roman Catholic praying to the saint it's like the backslidden man with his little rabbit's foot you didn't pray about it you decided what you wanted and you told God it would be a good thing my friend you're not going to get stirred up just deciding what you want the way to get stirred up is to find out what God wants and stay happy in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ he said Timothy I want you to stir it up I want you to come to the place where you and your life put into remembrance the things that God has done in your life and stir those things up Phillip Brooks said it does not take great men to do great things it takes consecrated men men that are stirred up and on fire for God I thank the Lord tonight for men in this church that are stirred up and who have the spiritual discipline to pray and the spiritual discipline to attend and the spiritual discipline to hear the word of God and to read the word of God and to be a man of God of discipline who stays stirred up my Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord thank God tonight for men all across this room who 15 and 20 and 30 years down the road are still Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesday night bringing their Bible into the house of God and being stirred up for the things of the Lord still know how to say Amen still know how to come to an altar still know how to sing amazing grace still though how to tithe and love and serve God hey it's not that we need to learn something else it's that we need to be obedient doing what God has already called us to do and so we see the strength of the call God says Timothy you already have everything you need when I saved you when I called you I gave it to you but you've got to stir it up you've got to stir it up you've got to be the one that stirred up in the things of the Lord notice the strength of the call but I want you to notice secondly the source of the call now in verse 6 the Bible says something I find very interesting yeah unique wherefore I put thee and remembrance that thou stir up notice this please the gift of God the gift of God this call some refer to it as this anointing this relationship this inner work of God it is the gift of God and I want you to see the source of the call is given by God he says here stir up the gift of God how many of you first of all are thankful tonight for the gift of salvation how many of you are thankful tonight for the gift of the Holy Spirit the comforter has come hey you don't get saved one day and then 12 years later as you're praying and hollering and waller and get the holy spirit hey the Bible says in Romans 9 and 7 if we have not the Spirit of God we are none of here's my friend you receive the Holy Spirit of God at the moment of your salvation it's a gift the Holy Spirit is the gift to everyone who believes the gift of forgiveness the gift of a home in heaven what a gift salvation is the greatest gift of all the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord now then this word gift is unique it is the word charisma it is a gift of divine grace it is a spiritual gifting that is to say them that when Timothy was saved and called he received a gift or gifts where by he might serve in the church God gave to him as we read in 1st Peter chapter 4 concerning the manifold gifts of the grace of God God had a unique blend of abilities or divine enablement that were given to this man so that he could use them not for himself but for the edifying of the church of the living god and when God saved you he put within your heart charisma divine enablement giftedness in order that these god-given abilities might be used whether to praise God or to teach about God or to encourage others to know God or to give for God or to help and encourage there's many ways but God has given you a gift and my friend what a tragedy tonight that millions of professing Christians are not stirring up their gifts they're not using their gifts they're not edifying they're not singing they're not teaching they're not giving they're not helping and the church tonight is crippled because of Christians who are neglecting their gift I'm not a doctor in the medical sense but I know enough about human anatomy to tell you that if you were to take the average person's muscular structure if you were to take a person that has been using their muscles in the normal rigors of life perhaps even some exercise as well and you were to clip that person in a hospital bed to for six weeks later their muscles would do what atrophy suddenly they're going to find it hard to walk around the house to lift up the lawnmower to carry a grandchild suddenly it's hard just to do normal things that's why God commands us to stir up the gift to use the gift whether it's teaching serving helping ministering giving whatever it is God says hey you've got the strength use the string stay busy get involved hey pass throughout not to say boy we had a hole let me beg you and let me beg you to serve at the spiritual Leadership Conference that's just common sense to anybody that doesn't want to die on the vine it's common sense to be faithful and to be involved and to serve and to stir up the gift why because it was given by God for a reason 1st Timothy 4 and 14 neglect not the gift that is in me which was given about prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery o listen tonight God has given you a calling and God has given you a gift and God has given you a church and God has given you a place and teamwork makes the dream work and when God's people get involved using their giftedness to the glory of God and when God's people stir up the gift and stay faithful to the Lord mighty things can happen for God but we must recognize that this call in this gift is given by God well notice Ephesians 4 in 1 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called now let's get right down to the basics tonight you're not an aerospace engineer or a public school teacher or a doctor or a nurse or a police officer in the first place you are not a nurse in the first place my friend you in the very first place are a god called servant and God has saved you and God has a purpose for your life and it's not just to make another dollar it's to bring glory and honor to him that's the purpose of life and you've got to stir that up once in a while and we've got to say Lord thank you for saving me thank you for gifting me thank you for letting me serve in the local church thank you for letting me serve my wife on this Mother's Day thank you for giving us the blessings you've given to us Oh God use me as a servant stirred up for you it's given to you this gift this charisma it is given by God but then secondly I want you to notice that it's recognized by others now in this passage verse number 6 we're to stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands interestingly the word by is not stating that it was Paul's power that placed the gift that was obviously the gift of God and it is very clearly spoken in the text it's the gift of God but there was the placing on of the hands of the Apostle Paul in recognition of what God had done in Timothy's life let me tell you something when God has his hand on someone's life it's obvious in the local church many times it's obvious to me when someone's called to preach long before they recognize it it's obvious when someone is to be involved in local New Testament full-time vocational ministry why because it's just all over them and they they've got visitors next to them every time they're in charge they can't help but talk about Jesus they can't help but look for opportunity to preach in the rest home the prison on the bus route hey they just want to serve God some way it's no secret that something's going on in that person's life and when someone who can barely make it to soul-winning tells me they feel like they're called to be a missionary I just have to say excuse me do we go to the same church because when someone is exercising their gifts and in particular gifts of preaching and in particular gifts that would be involved in full-time ministry hey it's going to be seen by the local New Testament church it's going to be quite obvious so notice this verse 6 where I put the inner members that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on in my hands by the way if God has not called and gifted you to be a pastor or a full-time minister there is no shame in being a godly man or woman as a member at Lancaster Baptist Church just fine God's will and pursue it with all your life because this gift that Timothy had was given by God and it was recognized by others and so Paul says here in verse 6 which is in thee by the putting on of our hands in other words the laying on of hands did not impart the spiritual calling or giftedness but it was recognized by the church hey it's obvious to see when you watch our bus workers that they have the gifts of mercy it's obvious to see when someone's giving their offering and just talking the missionaries and going out to the building and some of our members as we built the wall through senator praying out there 4:00 in the morning 4:30 in the morning 5:30 in the morning praying and giving it's pretty obvious to see they've got the gifts of giving and gossiped worth in their heart listen to me it's pretty obvious to see an usher that really is serving and ministering as a ministry of helps it's pretty obvious to see a teacher that's teaching with a heart to help their students know God and know the books of the Bible and know the doctrines of the Bible it's pretty obvious when they go back and back and back and back and they're going out on Saturday and they're calling and they're emailing it's all over them to build that Sunday school class pretty obvious it's also pretty obvious when it wanes it's pretty obvious when the passion is not there Paul said Timothy it was obvious to us that God had put that gift in you that's why we laid our hands on you some Baptist churches have the ordination of Deacons they lay their hands on the Deacons and set them apart this fall we'll lay our hands on a number of men raised up through this ministry called to preach and they'll be ordained here this October all we're going to be doing at that service is just recognizing what we see God doing hey if you can't see it in a man like Abram Thomas who would move to Englewood and knock three four hundred dollars a week my friend you don't do that just for kicks you don't knock on the door of people who think they're already saved because they do marching and so forth and tell them they're lost without Jesus and they need to get safe you don't do that unless God's got a calling on your life you don't move to Thailand and learn a language for two years and preaching in the in the humidity and live in the jungle you don't do that unless God's put a calling on your life to do that you see the source of the call is God the strength of the call is found when we stir it up the source of the call is God there ought to be some men in here tonight you know you're saved and you know God has a purpose for life thought not to be a question about that with the vast majority of mature men and women in this room God has a purpose for my life God has called me and it's of him and these gifts and these desires to serve and to witness and to give these are not of my own these are from God I didn't care about this stuff before I got safe but ever since I got saved I just want to see other people get saved I remember Dell Holtman by about six six some of you member Dell he was an usher for a while I remember knocking on his door in palmdale inviting him to church and going through the gospel with him right when I was getting down to the part about being saved some company drove into the driveway and I had to cut off my presentation of the gospel I said oh why don't you come to church tomorrow we'd love to have you come and I remember that next Sunday as I was preaching in the North Auditorium at the time Dell sat over here on my left side I gave the altar call time I had heads bowed and eyes closed l did not want to close his eyes he kept his eyes open and kept looking right if it means the first time visitor probably it was all very foreign to him I said if you're here today you're not sure that heavens you're home but you'd like to know for sure that heaven is your home I'd like to pray for you if you're not saved I'd like to pray for you I remember that big six six men sitting over here on my left side lifting up his hand that he wasn't saved and wanted me to pray for him not only did he lift up his hand he began to wink at me like this you've heard me hundreds of times say I see that hand but I felt weird saying I see that wink I didn't know how that would come across I remember the day Dell came to our parking lot beautiful I call it a Winnebago I have no idea what it really was he drove in with beautiful Motorhome had the TV in it had the back cameras on it loaded he said pastor he said I hear you're trying to make more room for people hear about Jesus we're trying to build the building you're sitting in right now he said pastor he said here's the keys here's the keys to the Motorhome I want you to take it have the deacon sell it put the money in the building he said before I got saved all I wanted to do was drive around America and put stickers of the states I visited on the back of the motor home but now then since I got saved all I want to do is stay here and see more people getting saved what was that it was a man stirred up it was a man saved it was a man with a gift and a calling from God and he wasn't going to miss it and he wasn't going to blow it and he wasn't going to live the rest of his life to go see some foreign a situation or some cultural thing he wanted to come and find himself faithful in the work of God it was God that put that in his heart and every one of you in this room have had similar times in your life when God put something in your heart and yet the devil is constantly saying hey how about this and how about that and hey you're getting little old now how about planning for this and planning for that and I'm saying tonight stir it up tonight stir it up the Christian life is a life that God has given to us not for a period of time but for eternity to be faithful to him I see the strength of the call I see the source of the call I want you to see finally the spirit of the call verse 7 the spirit of the call for God hath not given us the spirit of fear now the word spirit here for those of you who are taking notes does not speak of the holy spirit it speaks of the mindset of the Christian it speaks of the heart the attitude the spirit of this call is not a spirit of fear I want you to notice first of all the spirit of the call is the spirit of a strong mind a strong mind you see my friend tonight God hath not given a spirit of fear but of power love and of a sound mind the word fear means timidity normally used in a bad Timothy don't be fearful God has given you the spirit of power which is Dunamis which is strength and ability but you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you Weir's be said of this passage the Holy Spirit gives us power for witness and service it is futile for us to try to serve God without the power of the Holy Spirit talent training and experience cannot take the place of the power of the Spirit so here we see that there is in this third place the spirit of the call is the spirit of a strong mind and you see the battle is often in the mind prone to wander lord I feel it that's why the scriptures command us to cast down the wicked imaginations that plague the mind whether those are wicked sinful imaginations whether those are imaginations of dreaming outside the will of God whether those imaginations are contrary to the scripture anything that's negative anything that's sinful anything that's resistant to the Holy Spirit of God is something that should be cast away why because there's a battle for the mind that tonight and he says here that the spirit of the call revolves around a strong mind so how's your thoughts lately what do you think about lately are you in your mind all in for Jesus Christ I can't read your mind some of you think I can some of you think your spouses send me notes of what to preach I cannot read your mind but there is a God in heaven who reads it well so what's been on your mind lately as it pertains to God as it pertains to his word as it pertains to his mission what's been on your mind lately God is looking for men and women with a strong discipline mind secondly he's looking for men and women with a selfless mind notice if you would God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love this is the word agape it is a sacrificial love it starts with loving God we love him because he first loved us it continues with loving others God says to Timothy I want you to have a strong mind I want you to have a loving mind John 13:34 a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another by this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you love one another God says I'm looking for people who will have a mind that is possessed of God I'm looking for people who have a heart that is the heart of God to love this lost world God says I'm calling you to have a strong mind and a selfless mind if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit I think of men like Dale Hoffman I think of many other men of his generation brother Bobby Lane so many other names that I can mention tonight men with discipline Minds men with loving minds and as they hit their 60s and 70s they were not thinking predominantly about fishing and golfing though they did some of that they were thinking predominantly about how to finish well they were thinking predominantly selflessly the first bus purchased by this church was purchased as the gift of brother Bobby Lane already retired already had plans and things he could have done with the money but God was working in his heart he had a lab in his heart for others and he wanted to see something done great for God it was on his mind it got into his heart I'm going to tell you my friend you can tell what's on your mind and what's in your heart if you'll just lay it out before the Lord he'll show it to you God says I'm looking for those of strong mind Timothy not a fearful mind of a strong mind of a selfless mind people that love one another then thirdly of a sound mind for God has not given a spirit of fear but of love and of power and of a sound mind the word sound speaks of this a call to moderation discipline and self-control sound mind we live in an era of unsound minds even people that have similar convictions to us in the political and religious realm often do not have the moderation this verse speaks about and it's a detriment all you say but we need men of fire and passion you can have fire and passion without having angst and anger God says I'm calling Timothy that you would have moderation and discipline and the word sound mind means self-control self-control Timothy that when people are mad you can steady and stay in there and when people are elated that you can see the end result and Timothy when things are good and bad and up and down that you will have a sound mind a steady mind of leadership in the local church thank God in this room for men of steady mind sound minded men it's interesting to watch sound minded men versus sheep that are brand new sound minded men and simple men as proverbs calls them sound minded men something happens it's terrible something in the church maybe it's someone is having marital problems and maybe it's maybe it's a staff member that's going to go to another ministry maybe it's some other difficulty a sound minded men response something like this well let's pray about that situation God will make a way simple minded man oh-ho how did that happen oh-ho how come how come that's happening what's going on here how come why oh the sky is falling sound minded man sound minded man hears about some difficulty coming into the community maybe hears about they're going to lay off jobs at the solar plant if there is such a thing sound minded man says well if they're laying off jobs at the solar plant let's help those men that work at the solar plant let's be an encouragement to those men let's have a prayer meeting for those men come on help me here I'm being a sound minded man simple money bang oh the economy's falling Trump didn't fix it oh I should have voted for Hillary Oh God give a sound minded men men that are not easily swayed not easy move not easily worried not easily up or down just sound minded men for God has not given us a spirit of fear but a power of love and of a sound mind I remember building this auditorium I don't know the exact budget now but Herzl but I know it was over five million I thought it should be three he thought it would be five it probably was seven don't laugh at us it happens in aerospace too we're trying to build this building and we had so much going on and we got this building program going the economy was going and going and suddenly the economy tanked I mean it tanked I remember in San Diego California I was preaching in the preachers meeting he got up on early early one morning had my devotions went down to coffee shop opened up the USA Today and I read the newspaper and this is what it said Lancaster and Palmdale lead the economy in foreclosures just a few years before we led the economy in new homes being built per Hey look at us now we lead the economy in foreclosures and the devil jumped right up here on my shoulder like he's been on some of your shoulders you're an idiot you're building a multi-million dollar building in the middle of a recession foreclosures Palmdale Lancaster people are going to lose their homes they're not going to give it's never going to get finished you should have waited I had to get up from that coffee table I had to go back to a quiet place of prayer night and say Lord I really believe you wanted us to start it I pray before we started and God helped me and after a little while God gave me a sound mind and I'm going to tell you something I thank God tonight for hundreds of men in this church who weren't saying oh let's try the winds oh it's a good economy it's a bad economy my house is up my house is there I have equity I don't have equity I will be faithful to God as long as I have equity I will be faithful to God as long as the economy is good thank God for some sound minded men who said as for me in my house we will serve the Lord equity no equity up down I'm going to be a faithful man of God and Paul is saying Timothy God has not given you the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind some of you men tonight what your wife needs on Mother's Day is a man with a sound mind not a man that's always here and there and mentally there and emotionally here and always in a sense of wonderment and not sure what's going on but someone that will put his hand into the plow and not looking back be faithful unto God that's what our children need they need to know that whether they're good or bad or up or down or A's or B's or C's no matter what's going on mommy and daddy are going to be faithful to the house of God mommy and daddy are going to love them and pray for them and hold the standard high and be faithful in the home with a sound mind it means moderation it means well-balanced a mind of sound influences I close how does someone get a sound mind well you need to start by getting saved somebody say Amen tonight I got five minutes I got 45 minutes left in this sermon it's really up to you now I said you're not going to have a sound mind if you're not saved you want to get a sound mind you better get saved hey nobody can have a sound mind wondering am I saved am i lost am I saved am I lost am i heaven bound or hell bound hey that's not sound make sure you're saved my friend make sure you know you're on your way to heaven you see the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto Him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned make sure you're saved secondly you want to sound mind get into the Word of God I think of that theme verse of ours Philippians 1:27 that with one spirit and with one mind we would strive together for the faith of the gospel how does a church stay sound in its mind how does that happen how do men become sound men when they hear good news bad news when they hear ups or downs how do you how do you have men that just are steady at the wheel where does that come from comes from this book right here the Bible the Canon of Scripture is referred to as a rule for our life it is the rule of our life and the only way to have one mind a sound mind is to be in the Word of God for it is inspired all Scripture is given by inspiration of God it is renewing it is recovering it brings the sustenance of health to one's mind we've had many trials in our 31 years one of our families this week went through a trial and still going through a time where the franki chocho you pray for him recovering from a very serious back surgery brother Eric gross is in the hospital waiting for knee transplant the Cabazon family going through chemotherapy there's always someone having a difficult time over the years we've had many folks in a coma one of the things we've often seen done by the church family is to put headphones into someone's ears and just put the Word of God into their mind just the Word of God the Psalms just the Word of God I don't know how many times in my life I've been to a place needing direction and God through his word gave me the mind that I needed let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus God has called us not to fear God has called us to power love and to a sound mind you see Paul was telling Timothy something we need to be reminded of with God's calling comes God's enabling shall we say it together with God's comes God's Timothy you've got what you need stir it up Timothy you've got what you need God will give you the power of love God will give you that sound mind the strength of the call is found when it's stirred up the source of the call that's God himself and then tonight the spirit of the call is the spirit of power love and a sound mind how's your calling tonight not the missionary not the pastor not some other guy in the church how is it going in your life are you stirred up and on fire do you have the spirit of power love and a sound mind or has fear begin to come and say well I need to do this and I need to do that may God help someone tonight to find the spirit of a sound spiritual mind leading you and guiding you as God's Word shows the way

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 2,723

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: preaching, sermon, Christian, God, Jesus, Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster Baptist, Pastor Paul Chappell, Paul Chappell, grace, strength, fear, mind, power

Id: sJtQP1EyhPo

Length: 47min 2sec (2822 seconds)

Published: Mon May 15 2017