You're Stronger Than You Think | Keeping Faith In A Crazy World | Twin Rivers Church

turn in your bible to the new testament book of second timothy it's new testament book ii timothy you're going to want to follow along um because we are beginning a brand new series and it's unlike any series that i've done this year a lot of our series center around a topic or they center around um some principles but um this series is totally different we're going to settle in a single book of scripture a single book and it's it's listen it's going to be amazing because um we get to get all the context all the insights i mean it's just going to be remarkable what we're able to pull out of this by saying in the book of second timothy now there's one central idea of the book of second timothy and i i want to give it to you it's the title of the series here it is it's we're going to keep faith in a crazy world keeping faith in a crazy world so that you can see why this is so relevant because if there was one word that i think universally we would all say yup that that sounds like the world today it would be the world crazy right i mean just the news and and what we hear and it's just mind-blowing and often what we we hear about or scroll through is just head scratching so i thought it'd be fun to get us started with just a few of what i think are some pretty funny headlines uh that came out over the last few years i i think you'll enjoy them too here's the first one um woman falls in hospital told to call ambulance like there's your health care system right okay here's the next one alton attorney accidentally sues himself wow okay look at this one federal agents raid gun shop and they find weapons you know it's like yeah figures um all right here's this is a good one safety meeting ends an accident that's one of my favorites right there here's another one um world bank says poor need more money well we have heard from the experts right i mean there's what they look at this one um man found dead in graveyard it's like was that really worth the lines this is my favorite one look at this one sewer was blocked by large poo that's funny that's good so listen uh unfortunately headlines normally today they don't make a smile if anything they do the opposite and and i don't know about you but i just feel like at times i'm just like in an alternative reality where honestly i feel pulled between kind of allegiance to christ and my place in the community you know it's just between the news reports of of vitro politics pandemics and and un just unnecessary violence i i just feel stuck sometimes and we would all be a little naive if we didn't just admit that it's affected us maybe it's been affecting you longer than someone else but at the end of the day um our hearts are troubled by these these things we see and and witness um for example some of you are here today and you're you're confused like like you there's so much information so much misinformation so many arguments that make sense on this side so many arguments make sense on this side you're just struggling to discern it and listen you're saying i thought i used to believe this like i thought this was 100 and now i'm not certain of that anymore um some of you are angry like you're just angry you watch the news and it burns in the inside of your chest there are certain subjects you get real sharp with people on um you have probably at some point argued with somebody you don't even know online and and if you were to be honest you you've probably lost friendships relationships over the last couple years over topics that you see in the news then some of you it's just fearful fearful like you're scared for your kids you're scared for your career you're scared for your health and we know this is affecting a lot of people because um prescriptions will be written at all time highs for uh antidepressants anti-anxiety anti-insomnia all-time high in all categories and then i think all of us would just say we're just disheartened i don't know by you but chances are at some point you went god where are you in all this like like what what makes sense of this for me and i can relate to all of that but i'm here today to remind you that that there's a bigger bigger thing going on a bigger ploy bigger plan and it's this that there's a war for the leadership of your life and it's being waged on the battlefield of your feelings and if your feelings consistently look like these four words then you're losing because this is the plan of the enemy for your life confusion anger fearful you know dishearten that's his plan we know it's not god's plan because jesus said in john 16 33 here's what he told us he said i have told you these things so that you may have peace in this world you're going to have trouble but take heart i've overcome the world here's here's what he's saying hey the world's going to be crazy but i have made a way for you to remain at peace in the middle of the craziness and and it comes from two facts one is i've already overcome the craziness nothing that you will ever see or hear about has shaken god's throne but he also says i've told you some things or i've given you a gift of guidance to navigate these crazy times so what is this gift of guidance well well simply said it's scripture and scripture really holds two views for us in what it provides us in guidance here's the first one um scripture gives us wisdom from the past it shows us what it looks like to live in a persecuted state it shows us what it looks like to believe for god it shows us what it looks like to keep your character when everybody else does it it shows us how god is faithful and has been faithful and will continue to be faithful but it doesn't just show us wisdom from the past it also shows us prophetic insights for the future that that scripture will show us signs events or or even cultural twists that show us and assure us god is in control even when things look out of control and so these these two things are given to us as a gift of wisdom and if you were as a gift of guidance and if you were to take those two things they perfectly described the book of second timothy wisdom from the past with prophetic insights about the future the book of second timothy is actually not a book it's a letter and it's written from the apostle paul to a young pastor named timothy and what makes it interesting is it's paul's final letter it's the one before he exits this earth through execution and so it's his most personal and pointed letter because he realizes he only has so much time but you'll not find paul really worried about himself what he's worried about is timothy he's worried about timothy's ability to to stand in a crazy world and and this succession to take place of the gospel because after 30 years of planting churches and expanding churches and writing scripture paul wants to make sure this continues on and so he writes to timothy and and to to to really do two things to give him wisdom from the past and prophetic insight about the future now if you have ever doubted god's ability to speak to a person about what is coming in the days ahead you should read with me the beginning of the third chapter of this book and see if it doesn't sound familiar look this is just just to give you an excerpt it says paul writes you should know this timothy that in the last days there will be very difficult times for people will love only themselves and their money they will be boastful and proud scoffing at god disobedient to their parents and ungrateful they will consider nothing sacred they will be unloving and unforgiving and they will slander others and have no self-control can anybody say social media they will be cruel and hate what is good they will betray their friends be reckless be puffed up with pride and love pleasure more than anything else definitely more than god they will act religious but they will reject the power that could actually make them godly man does that not sound like what we live in today listen but let me be clear because sometimes we fall in a ditch when it comes to the scriptures showing us the future we want to know the timeline paul's not offering the prediction of the of apocalyptic events what he's offering is how to live through crazy times and so we're going to lean into that into his wisdom and into his prophetic kind of insights but but listen it all starts with chapter one in the very first lesson that he teaches timothy and it's this and it's the one you need um what is in you is stronger than what's around you what's been deposited in you is stronger than what's around you and um you know paul and timothy's relationship began um when paul came to an area in asia called lystra and paul was there and he was on a missionary journey his second missionary journey and he he was in the temple teaching and he kept hearing about a young man who had a great passion for god and a spiritual spiritual heritage named timothy so they began this this mentoring relationship um and it lasted almost 15 years i mean they traveled together they they paul unpacked scripture for timothy they he gave him principles so it was no shock that when paul was about to take his his swan song and he was about to to go on his last journey that he placed timothy as the pastor in the church of ephesus now ephesus was a central church because of it the importance of the city it would have been almost like being placed as the pastor of the church of new york city and and it was very important because it held such south um meaning to to the people of faith but it also because there was great risk of being infected from the world around it and and so paul places timothy and and timothy's probably excited and he's passionate i can't wait to pastor my own church love people i mean everybody's just going to love her love one another and we're just going to sit around love god listen church work is hard work and four years later timothy is at the end of his self he's worn he's tired ready to give up this whole faith thing and it's because he's serving in a world gone crazy as a matter of fact if you look at first century ephesus it looks a whole lot like what you live in for example um pleasure was the pursuit of everyone all things lead to pleasure and i'm gonna get what makes me feel good no matter how it hurts you was the mindset in addition to that christians were seen as narrow-minded lacking intellect or the ability to progress in their thinking and not only that there was this toxic mixture of selfishness with self-righteousness it was people who walked around and acted like they cared for everyone but never really sacrificed for anyone not only that though that there was this cultural wars that waged wars over sexuality wars over gender wars over governance wars over economies that were constantly taking place and then there was an upcoming um group called the gnostics who offered a gospel newly and improved they showed up and said oh we follow jesus but we've added some pagan rituals that help make this a better gospel and so in the middle of this culture which feels a whole lot like what we live in he timothy's worn out he's tired questioning his own faith and and i don't know exactly what day he was ready to give up but i do know this i believe with all my heart the day he was at his lowest he got an email from the apostle paul and this is how that email started in verse one paul an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god in keeping with the promise of life that is in christ jesus to timothy my dear son grace mercy and peace from god the father and christ jesus our lord i mean just from the moment he opened the letter it must have felt like a breath of fresh air to a tired soul and and i bet his eyes fixed on every syllable that he he's so long for paul's boldness so long for paul's encouragement so long to to to again hear that things are going to be okay and and that god's working it out from someone who had lived a little bit longer than him and so he's reading it line by line and i believe with all my heart his eyes fix or get stuck where what what we would call with verse 13. and he reads this in chapter 1 verse verse 13 follow timothy what you've heard from me as the pattern of true teaching follow it with faith and love because you belong to christ jesus guard the truth of the good news that you were trusted with guard it with the help of the holy spirit who by the way timothy let me remind you lives in us lives in us been deposited in us see i i think timothy's eyes swelled with tears it was not though he was reading paul it was as like he could hear the voice of the apostle in his aged and beaten and battered body looking timothy in the eyes taking him by the shoulders and saying i know you're worried about your kids i know you're anxious about the way the world is going i know you're questioning some of the things you were taught but you listen to me timothy you're not a quitter you keep on following this truth you've been given you keep on living against this pattern of godliness that you've been entrusted with you keep on loving the people that are around you because christ jesus has saved you and his spirit is on the inside of you you listen to me timothy i don't care what lies they spew god's word will stand true i don't care how low culture goes the holy spirit will raise you up i don't care what they try to pull you into god's grace will pull you out of it i don't care what power they claim jesus rules supremely timothy take heart something on the inside of you is stronger than what's going on around you but you have to guard it listen listen listen you know ships don't sink because the water around them ships think when they become unguarded and let water into them and he's saying hey timothy you better guard it don't let what's going on around you get in you or it's going to sink your faith so how do you guard your heart in crazy times well we're just gonna walk through chapter one paul tells us three things here's the first one engage your spiritual family i think this is so interesting paul's first instruction to reviving timothy's faith is not to get him to do spiritual practices it's to get around spiritual people i think that's so interesting it's almost as if paul knew this he knew hey hey timothy there's gonna be a place where you get so discouraged and so down and the world's raging that the best thing you could do is get around a spiritual family that can just put life back into you and and and the reason i think paul writes that is because like in today then i bet people stood up and said well you know my faith is personal it's a private faith i don't need to be a part of a church a life group a people it's just me and jesus and we're good now here's the truth to get into heaven to have a relationship with jesus just you and him is good you don't have to you can't actually access a relationship with god through your grandmother your father your neighbor or even me but there is no way you could read the breath of scripture and come to the conclusion that god has called you to individuality because it's overwhelming he's called you to community and overwhelming which is why paul points from the very beginning the first thing we're going to do is get you back engaged with your spiritual family because there is a power in it and i know i know i know i know you get tired of hearing us say go to connect track join a life group go to connect track join a life group go to connect go join a live group but listen it's not because we need filler it's because we know nothing will have a greater impact on your life than that and we know this because the enemy works to isolate he works to isolate and and so what we know is is if he can isolate you the quality of your experience goes down as a matter of fact we don't just know that sociologists know that a journal academic journal called the journal of happiness for decades has measured happiness what's the difference between people who aren't happy and people who are happy and here's what they found there's only one factor it's not attractiveness it's not success it's not career opportunities it's not you know geographical area that you live in it is it has nothing to do with the car you drive it has nothing to do with your intelligence or your education the only factor for decades that they have found that separates happy people from unhappy people is happy people have rich deep meaningful relationships don't you love when science catches up to what god already said but but let me say this and that's why listen we're not here as a this isn't a country club this isn't like a thing that you come to and that this is not a concert you don't know the people down the op this is a spiritual family and and and paul though says hey you're not just need to be engaged with the spiritual family there are some specific roles you need from the spiritual family and he shows us in verse five here's what he says i am reminded timothy of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother lois and your mother eunice and i am persuaded now lives also in you um so here's what he's saying timothy it's essential you have relationships with people who are ahead of you on this journey you you need some spiritual mothers and fathers in this family that can just tell you they've tried god's word and it's true you need some people who have told you you know what i i struggled in that situation too but god was faithful some people who grabbed hold of god's hand and walked through all that you're walking through and on the other side can tell you he remains good you need people like that and and but he's not just saying it because it would be oh it would be nice to have an older friend no no no paul's pointing to something much more powerful so i'm going to take it a step further he's pointing to the fact that in a spiritual family there are actually can be transference of spiritual power okay you say what does that mean here's how i would explain it to you let's imagine for a second that your great-grandparents in 1919 bought a single share of coca-cola stock okay 40 is what it would have cost them now let's imagine that they kept a single share for 80 years just putting the dividends back into the to the to the share at the end of 80 years from a single stock 40 they would have 7 million dollars for you to inherit come on grandma why didn't you do that okay now listen listen listen let's take it back a little further let's assume that your great-great-great-grandparents in 1892 bought a the very first chairs of st of coke and they bought it for a hundred dollars and they kept it for 100 years so just 20 years more just 80 years now 100 years that would be worth one single 100 share would be worth 7.3 billion billion come on grandma listen listen listen here's what what i'm illustrating to you is the power of compound interest it's the idea that someone can possess something keep it long enough that it becomes life-changing for those that come behind them okay see listen notice what paul says here this faith you have timothy it didn't start with you it first lived in your grandmother then she passed it to your mother and i'm now persuaded it lives in you hey hey practically you know what this means it means you can experience compound generational power spiritually you say well what does that mean that means in a single conversation you can get 75 years of wisdom in a single phone call you can get 30 years of insight in parenting hey in in a single moment 60 years of faith for the prayer need you have there there is a power that can be transferred in these moments that god offers when we are in relationship with spiritual mothers and fathers which by the way that's why we have elders and life group leaders we want to see that we don't want to be a young church an old church we want to look like a family listen listen but there's a lie that's keeping to these two generations apart young people believe that they'll be judged by older people for what they look like what they say what they do how they parent older people believe young people don't want anything to do with them and those two lies keep the generations apart and keep the transference of power from happening so so you know how we fix that let me let me let me just pull the the curtain off the whole thing as a person who stands in the middle and leads a lot of everybody let me say to the 20 year old i have personally found the people in this church who are 50 60 70 to be the most kind compassionate generous and loving people i've ever encountered in my life listen you know why because they've lived long enough to figure out it ain't them it's jesus in them so there's a humility they but listen hey hey to the older folks let me say to you why in the world would you think the most fatherless generation never wants to hear from mothers and fathers they're dying to hear a voice of a spiritual parent so listen hey let's get together in that all right because it's going to revive our faith here's the second one um you got us timothy stir up your spiritual flame how many of you remember the first like the first time you were in love come on come on let me see anybody remember not like the eighth time the first time you remember that okay listen i remember taylor and i um we um we lived at distance um in our dating years and so um we just had the phone and we talked to each other on the phone and we all we wanted to do was talk on the phone we talked so long for so so late i always run out of words and then we just sat there and we just listened to each other breathed we were so in love and then there would be this moment where it's time to it's time to get off the phone and be like well you hang up no you hang up no you hang up no you hang up do you hang up no i'm still here like you know it'd be like that and um and listen this week we celebrated 14 years married and i know i said come on now that's good um but listen this is this is things change um because now like we use the bare minimum number of words through text get milk that's it like left toilet seat up mad emoji that's it no not listen we're more in love than ever we really are but here's what we've learned um you've got to stir it up it's not natural and the same thing's true in your faith which is what paul was kind of saying to timothy he said hey timothy here's one of the things you're going to need to do in verse 6. he says this being so i want you to remind you you got to stir up a flame of strength and boldness that is in you that entered you when i laid my hands upon you and and blessed you now one just side note that's why we offer prayer listen if you have attended here and you said i don't know about going up and getting somebody to pray for oh you're missing out there's a stirring that comes when that happens like you come up and don't have enough faith but the person praying does and it just gives you the faith you need like you you come up and you you just don't know what to even want from god and they just help direct you there's a stirring so i want to encourage you to be a part of those moments but but here's what he's really referring to in the first century the first person to get up in the house would have to go address the house the house fire because you went to bed and it was raging but through the night it started to die down and it was nothing but coals by the time you got up and and listen if the fire goes out nobody eats and you live in the dark so the first thing before before anything else you would go and put tinder on it and you would blow into it to stir it back up okay um so here's what he's saying craziness and busyness and difficulty are trying to smother your faith and you need to realize that that um that some of you are just not where you used to be like your faith is smoldering your standards are going up in smoke like you're your your prayer times not vibrant anymore you don't you gotta make yourself even come when you do come to church and there's a problem because when that happens you can't wait you gotta stir it up you can't wait you have to stir yourself up oh notice notice notice though i said you got to stir yourself up hey your spiritual vibrancy is not your wife's responsibility your spiritual vibrancy uh student is not your parent's responsibility hey this one will get you it ain't my responsibility i'm not responsible for your spiritual vibrancy you are you gotta stir yourself up so how do you stir it up you add fuel to the fire whatever adds fuel to the fire listen um that means there's going to be a moment where you have to push past your feelings to fuel the fire but we it happens to all of us this two weeks ago our staff i could feel a malaise setting in on our faith i mean we're going through the motions there's you know we're just executing events and i could tell our hearts my heart was not burning for the lord like it needed to so i came in and said listen guys here's what we're doing i want you to clear the schedule for the first part of this week three days clear the schedule completely and we're gonna come in this room and we're gonna go after god um because we we need this and and listen i didn't feel like doing that i got sermons to write they got meetings to have we got things to get done and so it took a great sacrifice to do that but i recognize if we don't do this there's going to be a problem so we came in here and we worshiped and we read portions of scripture and we we confess to one another and listen the first day is kind of awkward second day a little bit better third day that thing was burning i mean there was a passion and that's when we saw god's presence come in and and when we saw people you know open their hearts to darken places we saw life change they played prophetic words were given it was the experience we all want with god but it didn't happen by accident it did not happen you cannot leave your spiritual vibrancy to chance you gotta determine i'm gonna put i'm gonna put fire on this thing if you're sitting here today decide today in the morning at angle b sports center it's gonna be scripture because i need fire on this thing listen decide today i'm not gonna watch netflix tonight i'm gonna listen to this message again to get this on side of me listen you need to decide to go on a mrs trip decide to get in the life group now decide come on decide now that i'm responding to prayer i cannot wait for this fire to go out because no fuel equals no fire and no fire equals a life in the dark so you got to stir yourself up here's the last one depend on your spiritual fortitude i love this um you know i've come to realize that most of us see ourselves much weaker than we actually are and you can hear it in people's language they say things like um you know she's going through cancer i could never go through that you know they're going through a divorce i just i wouldn't make it you know what they're going through with their kids oh i i just couldn't even imagine losing a job at that age it would take me out we say this stuff but what's interesting to me is most of us have already lived through things that were equal or worse to what we're describing um and and you got to pause and go how is that possible how can in one level you say you couldn't make it and on the other level you're standing on the other side of it paul tells us verses seven through nine he says for the spirit of god gave us god gave us does not make us timid but he gave us power love self-discipline so do not be ashamed of the testimony about our lord or of me his prisoner rather join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of god he has saved us and called us to a holy life hey but remember not because of anything you've done not of your strength but because of his own these last three words purpose and grace purpose and grace purpose and grace so here's what he's saying timothy look at me hey hey i don't care what's ahead i don't care what you're presently facing there is a spiritual work of grace and it's not because you're strong it's not because you're capable it's not because you did anything there's a source on the inside of you and it will bring a fortitude that no matter what you face it'll bring you to the end of it hey paul can you be sure aren't you just trying to be nice i mean aren't you aren't you isn't that just positive thinking oh no no no timothy i can tell you this this this well of grace exists because i'm presently a prisoner and suffering yet i am sustained in this moment by that fortitude he says hey i'm telling you i'm not writing you from a deluxe suite i'm writing from a dungeon foul smelling barely any light to right no one to to comfort me barely food barely water completely cut off and i'm telling you there's a strength that is flowing through me that is not of me but is of the lord jesus and and listen here's what paul's trying to get to there's no read this there's no self to pity no no blame no bitterness no fear because fear can only grow in self-confidence and paul has given himself completely to god confidence so much has has paul shifted his his confidence to the lord look at what he says he doesn't even say he's a prisoner of nero who was holding him history will tell you nero you know what he says i am he says i'm a prisoner of the lord jesus christ because listen there's no authority not nero not rome not washington not parliament not vatican holds power over me if i'm in this cell it's for his purpose sustained by his grace for his purpose sustained by his grace and so listen listen i don't know what you're chained to today i don't know some of you are chained to an addiction some of you are chained to a broken home some of you are chained to love just just a terrible situation at work and you're chained to it but i'm going to tell you this according to paul you're going to make it and god's going to use it listen you're going to make it and god's going to use it listen but it's so bad yep you're going to make it and god's going to use it but but i mean it's a loveless marriage yep but you're gonna make it and god's gonna use it yeah yeah but all the doors have shut yep you're gonna make it and god's gonna use it you're gonna make it and god's gonna use it because there's grace and there's purpose and there's grace and there's purpose and there's grace and there's purpose working on the inside of you and and and listen kayla and i have had to live this so many times i was thinking about even today you know for years um we recognized very early on that our our oldest is a very sweet very kind pure-hearted individual and we perceived that through the lens of fear to where we were actually concerned like when he goes to school i mean he's going to get polluted when he when he when he gets around people with that that aren't they're going to cause him great pain and we live with a lot of fear about that and and for years every grade you're holding your breath oh i i i hope this isn't the year that that it gets loses that i hope this isn't the year that's ruined and at one point i just couldn't take any more we it was such a fear i took to the lord and just poured it out and i felt like the holy spirit rebuked me here's what he said don't you come here praying for the way i designed sawyer he said i made him exactly the way i wanted and he said this he said purity is not weakness purity is the epitome of strength when something's pure it can be put in a polluted place and it remains pure in spite of the pollution and then the lord spoke this to me he said i didn't make sawyer to be changed by atmospheres i made sawyer to go in and change atmospheres listen listen listen i i just feel like that switch just it put a confidence in me just that switch and that's what my prayer is for you today that this first chapter would just yeah we're going to get into how's this work out and what about these type of people and what about when the the government does it we're going to get into all that but listen it does no good if you walk around with your head down your shoulders sunk and you don't understand what's in you is stronger than what's around you the grace in you is stronger than the chains holding you listen the purpose of god coming through you is stronger than what you're facing this fortitude it's on the inside of you and it's stronger than any craziness the world can show and so you need to stand up put your shoulders back hold your head high not in pride but knowing that i am being sustained not of myself but of the spirit of god he didn't design me to be polluted he put me here to change an atmosphere not be subject to it that's what we're going to have in our hearts so i want you to stand to your feet i want to pray for you and then we're going to pray over our kids hey what's up guys we hope that this message you just heard blessed you to always get our newest messages and to stay up to date be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel and click that bell icon to be notified every time we upload now while you're here go ahead and check out our page and some other messages we've got and we'll see you next time

Channel: TwinRivers.Church

Views: 269

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Church, Twin Rivers Worship Center, St. Louis

Id: SVgeudyoHrM

Length: 36min 7sec (2167 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 10 2021