Paul's second epistle to young Timothy, the preacher. Verse 1 of chapter 1 is the introduction,
salutation. Paul was in prison down in Rome. These epistles were among his
last writings, and he says in verse 1 of 2 Timothy
1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according
to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. That's my
message. That's my purpose. That's why
God sent me to be an apostle, to proclaim the promise of life
which is in Christ Jesus, promised by God who cannot lie, he told
Titus. Verse 2, to Timothy, to Timothy,
my dearly beloved son. Timothy was not his son in the
flesh. Paul was his father. in the gospel,
his spiritual father taught him the gospel. And he expresses
here his deep affection for this young man. My dearly beloved
son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, Christ Jesus
our Lord. I thank God whom I served from
my forefathers with a pure conscience. that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day. Paul saw the Spirit of God in this young
man. He saw the grace of God in Timothy. Timothy was special. He knew that God had called him
and God had equipped him to preach the gospel. He told him how much
he loved him prayed for him night and day. And then in chapter
4 as he closed this epistle to this young pastor, young preacher, he says in chapter 4 verse 1,
I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who
shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his
kingdom. Timothy, preach the Word. Preach the Word. The Word incarnate,
and the Word written. Preach Christ the Word, and preach
the Word of Christ. And be instant, in season, out
of season. There's no season when you're
to preach the gospel, or evangelically, or evangelistically, this missionary,
this preacher, every season is a season to preach the word.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine,
for the time will come, Timothy, when folks won't endure sound
doctrine. But after their own lust, shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. The teachers have itching ears.
They like to hear the people brag on them. And the people
have itching ears that like to hear what they want to hear.
So the preachers accommodate themselves to the desires of
these people with itching ears. And to turn away their ears from
the truth is turn them away and turn them
into fables. Not the word of God, but just
fables. Fables. But Timothy verse 5,
watch thou. Be a good watchman, alert, attentive
in all things. Endure afflictions, they'll come. Hardships. Do the work of an
evangelist. Make full proof of your ministry.
Fulfill your ministry that's God given you. For I'm about
to leave you. I'm about to be offered, I'm
ready to be offered, poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice. The time of my departure is at
hand. I fought a good fight, I finished my course, I kept
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge,
will give me in that day. And not to me only, but to you
and to all there. all them also that love is appearing. His appearing on this earth as
our sacrifice and Redeemer, his appearance at the right hand
of God as our high priest, sacrifice, mediator, and his appearing one
day when he shall split the heavens and the trumpets shall sound,
and the voice of the archangel will cry, Behold, he cometh on
clouds of glory. And we love that appearance.
We love his appearing in the flesh, born of woman, made under
the law, our sacrifice and substitute. We love his intercession, mediatorial
work, our great high priest, our hope in life and salvation. And we long and look for his
appearing. We love him coming again. And
all those who can in their hearts sincerely say, I love his appearing,
will receive that crown. Now back in chapter 2, as I said,
this epistle primarily to this young preacher. of which we have
many here and have had several, and a lot of them have gone out
to preach the gospel and pastor churches. And this will be very
appropriate for us to hear and maybe for them to hear if they
get the tape. But in verse 1, he says, Timothy,
my son, thou therefore my son, be strong. Be strong, be strong
in the grace that's in Christ Jesus. Be strong inwardly and
outwardly. Be strong in the gospel that's
in Christ. All the promises of God are in
Christ. The grace of God is found only
in Christ. The grace of God comes to us
by Christ alone. You be strong in this grace of
God that's in Christ Jesus. Be rooted and grounded in that
gospel. Over here at verse 15 in chapter
2, study, study Timothy, study to show thyself approved unto
God. I'm not ashamed at all to declare
to this congregation that since 1950 when I heard this gospel
the first time I have studied, The first time I heard it and
became pastor of the Pilate Baptist Church, every morning at 8 o'clock
after I had the radio broadcast, I went in that pastor's study.
And I didn't come out of there till noon to get my lunch. And
that went on for years and years and years. And it's still going
on. I study. And a man who will not study
has no business teaching God's people. Now that's right. You study, he said. Study to
show yourself approved unto God, not for the approval of men,
but approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth, rightly interpreting the
word of truth. Don't attempt to interpret any
scripture you haven't already had interpreted to you. That's
right. Be strong, rooted, grounded.
in the word, and then secondly, have a full persuasion of your
interest in it. A man can't preach what he doesn't
know, what he hasn't experienced, what he hasn't felt, what hasn't
been applied to his own heart. Be rooted and grounded in the
gospel, study the word, have a full persuasion of your interest
in Christ, and preach it boldly. and defend it bravely. We've
had some to leave the gospel. We've had some to set out to
other interests. We've had some to compromise
the gospel. But God's true servants never
compromise this gospel. Be strong in the grace that's
in Christ Jesus. And look at verse 2. And the
things that thou hast heard of me, from me, among many witnesses,
by many witnesses. You've heard this gospel from
me. You, the same gospel, the same
message that you've heard from me, you commit it to faithful
men who shall be able to teach others also. That's, if future
generations are to hear this gospel of God's grace in Christ,
we're going to have to pass the torch to the Todd Nabberts, to
the Bill Parker's, to the Paul Mahan's, to the Charlie Pennington's,
to the Tom Harding's, to the Gary Vance's, to all these young
men, to the elders here, to the Ron Trabant's, and the Bob Coffey's,
and the Dan Culber's, and the John Chapman's, and all these
young men. We've got to teach them. Teach them the word. The gospel that you heard from
me, I'm leaving here, he said. You take this same message and
teach others. Teach these men that they might
teach others. If our future generations are
going to hear this gospel, we're going to have to pass this torch
to young men. What kind of men? Faithful men. Proven men. Not a novice. Don't,
when a fellow walks in here and talks real good, don't make a
preacher out of him. Let him wait. Let him sit there. Let him listen for one year,
two years, three years, four years, five years, six years,
seven years. Isn't that right, Susan? Don't lay hands suddenly
on anybody, lest you ordain and send forth a novice, a fool,
that'll embarrass you someday. I've done that. Too quickly. We lay hands too
quickly on folks. He said, you commit this to faithful
men, men who've proven to be faithful. Faithful. You see, the church is the prophet's
school. I've found this out the hard
way. Don't take your young men, whom it looks like God has his
hand on, and send them away from you to some school. Don't do
that. Keep them right there with you.
Right there with you. Keep them with an experienced,
faithful pastor. The church is the prophet's school
and the pastor's the teacher. Now you let them go to the junior
college or the senior college or the vocational tech school
or wherever they want to go to get a little discipline and study
and learn how to discipline their minds and study other subjects,
English and math and science and history and all these other
things. You let them do that. Let them go to school. Don't
let them leave that peer. Isn't that right? And that's
proven here. The best preachers we've got
are the preachers who sat here. Somebody asked Tom Harding down
in Pikeville, said, where'd you go to seminary? He said, 11 years
at 13th Street Baptist Church. 11 years I was in the seminary. Took me 11 years to get out.
But he knows something, and he preaches something, and he'll
bless your heart, and exhaust Christ, and I guarantee he'll
never quit the gospel. I'd bet our grocery money on
that. I would. Faithful man. Faithful man. You committed to them. And you
listen, you Timothy. Timothy, I'm not going to try
to tell you it's an easy road. It's not an easy road. It's a
hard road, verse 3. The ministry, preaching the gospel,
is not an easy road. You wouldn't be a good preacher
if God made it a velvet road, a bed of roses. You wouldn't
be worth salt. You wouldn't be any good. You couldn't help anybody. You
couldn't weep with anybody. So thou there poor Timothy, I'm
not going to make it easy on you and I'm not going to tell
you a lie. You get ready to endure hardship as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ. Now religion is popular. Salvation
by works is popular, it's promoted on every hand. And if you want
to be a professional preacher, and preach what itching ears
want to hear, and be glad-handed, and all over town, and call Reverend,
and Bishop, and Doctor, and be popular at all of the places
where you go, and the clubs, and other places where you go
to their schools, and get your credentials, and be one of their
paid preachers. The lady said to me one time,
I want you to meet my little preacher. Well, I said he ain't
little and he ain't yours if he's God's preacher. But if he's little and he's yours,
he's not God's preacher. You endure hardness as a good
soldier of Christ Jesus. Those who preach, listen to me. In 1954, over at Pollard Baptist
Church, we had the first Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. I reckon
it's been held in this country. for four days, emphasizing what
we call the five points of Calvinism. I remember the key messages that
were preached at that conference. We had some old warriors. We had Brother Barnard, Brother
Caldwell, and Brother Fletcher, Brother Walker come to preach
for us. Brother Mews preached a message
on the elect church from First Thessalonians. John Flaming drove
all the way to California to attend that conference thirty,
forty-four years ago. Brother Fletcher preached from
Ephesians 1, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Brother Walker preached on my spiritual biography, whom
he foreknew he predestinated be conformed to the image of
his son whom he predestinated, he called him, he called he justified
him, he justified he glorified him. But Brother Barnard brought the
message that sent people away, choosing upsides. As he says,
spitting on their heads and choosing upsides. It was called six stubborn
statements. Six stubborn statements. I remember it like yesterday.
First statement is this, God is sovereign. Absolutely, unconditionally
sovereign. Reigns over all things, creation,
providence, and salvation. Or He isn't. Take your pick. God is absolutely, unconditionally
sovereign. He reigns over all men, angels,
creatures, events, happenings, there he is. Secondly, men are
dead in trespasses and sin, born dead, without life, without hope,
without God, without help, without Christ in this world, incapable
of thinking, doing, or acting spiritually. Dead! And if they
ever live, God's going to have to give them life. Sovereignly. They're either dead or they're
not dead. Take your pick. Both can't be
so. Thirdly, God elected a people
before the foundation of the world. Before an angel ever flapped
a wing or a son of God ever sang a song or a cherubim or seraphim
ever praised the Lord. Before the morning stars sang
together, before the sons of God shouted for joy, before a
cloud moved across the heavens, before the foundations of the
earth, God chose a people in Christ, gave them to Christ,
wrote their name in the Lamb's Book of Life, and said, These
are my sheep, my church, my people, mine elect. He did or he didn't. Take your pick. Both can't be when Jesus Christ came to this
earth. Fourthly, every sin of every
one of the elect, every one God gave him, he paid for every sin,
every offense, every iniquity, every transgression, and he left
not one sin or act to be paid. He redeemed
all of his people completely. totally, effectually, sufficiently,
or he didn't redeem anybody. Take your pick. Deathly, the
Holy Spirit comes in time, takes this Word, this precious seed
of God, precious Word, and hovers over that elect one, like David
read about this morning. Zacchaeus, Peter, James, John,
you, you. He comes, the Holy Spirit does,
effectually, particularly, individually, to that dead sinner, and awakens
him, and gives him life, and gives him an ear to hear, and
an eye to see, and a heart to understand. and a man to lay
hold of the mysteries of the gospel of Christ, he effectually
awakens, regenerates, and gives life to all those elect for whom
Christ died. Or he doesn't regenerate anybody. Now which is it? And then six. Every person whom
the Lord chose, every person, every tribe, nation, tongue unto
heaven, whomever, wherever, every elect person, whom God gave to Christ, for
whom he made Christ the surety, for whom Christ died, to whom
the Holy Spirit comes with the word and quickens, every one
of them will be saved and will continue in the faith and continue
to believe and persevere till God calls them home and not a
one of them will ever be lost. If that's not true, they'll all
be lost. That's six stubborn statements.
Now when you push that, now you can go out here with a little
religious message, but these are vital things. How can God
be just and justify? These are vital things. These
are vital issues, vital questions, vital statements. They've got
to be dealt with. Who is God? Who is man? Who is Christ? What
did he do? Where is he now? Was he successful
or a failure? This is the gospel. That's not
a deeper truth. That's the gospel I just gave
you. That's the good news of salvation I just gave you. That's
not some deeper truth you learn by going to school. That's the
gospel. If you preach that, The good religious folks of this
town will hate you, and they'll hate your children. That's right. And they'll talk
about you, and you'll suffer, and folks
will come to hear you and say, I don't believe that, and they'll
leave. But I tell you this, there's
a lot of joy. You'll look into the faces of God's elect. And
you'll preach this gospel to them, and they'll embrace it,
and receive it, and love it, and love you, and help you, and
support you, and pray for you, and keep coming to hear you preach,
if you'll just keep telling them about the Lord Jesus. But the rest of the world, we
are of God, and the whole world, John said, lies in wickedness,
the religious way. But now you get ready to endure
hardness. And then he uses three illustrations. I found an old hymn written by
Joseph Hart I thought was real good. I wrote it down and thought
I'd give it to you. The title of it is, Why Are Men
Afraid to Preach Grace? Listen to it. Joseph Hart lived
many years ago. Why so offensive in men's eyes
does God's election seem? Is it because they think they're
wise and they've chosen Him? Why is Christ's righteousness
a point so little known? Is it because men think they
possess a righteousness of their own? Effectual atonement, why so angry? or some to hear or speak? Do
they think it takes works that they do to make his work complete?
Not so. The needy, helpless soul, he
cries to God in prayer, and he looks to Christ who works the
whole. He finds his salvation there. And his language is, let
me, my God, on sovereign grace rely. I know it's free. because it's bestowed on one
as poor as I. It's got to be free. We got nothing
to pay. Election, grace, Christ, sweet
words divine. For Lord, I plainly say, had
not your choice preceded mine, I would have never chosen thee. This is the message for folks
like that. That's good news. The world can't
hear it. They don't have ears to hear. When God gives men ears, they'll
hear it. Can a man be saved and not believe
all these doctrines? Oh, I suppose he could. But when
he hears them, he'll believe them. That's right. The thief
on the cross didn't know quite as much as y'all know, did he? He didn't have too much understanding. He knew who he was, and he knew
who God was, and he knew who Christ was. He knew where salvation
was found, and he knew it was suffering. But I tell you, a
man whom God saves, he'll believe it when he hears
it. Now I want to show you these three illustrations that Paul
gives. Timothy here. I want you to listen
to me a minute now. And then if a man also strives
for masteries, he's not crowned except he strives lawfully. What
he's saying there is a fellow that competes in athletic events,
he has to compete according to the rules. If he breaks the rules,
he doesn't gain the prize. They take it away from him. Penalize
him because he didn't follow the rules. And then the husbandman,
the farmer, that laboreth, he first must labor. He's the partaker
of the fruit. He's the first one to partake
of the fruit, but nobody's going to partake of the fruit until
he labors. A farmer's going to have to break up the ground,
tear out the stumps, plow the ground, cultivate the ground,
sow the seed, water the seed, wait on the Lord, Tear out the
weeds. Man, he's got some work to do.
He doesn't go to the market and buy the fruits. He grows them. And this is to the preachers.
This is to the preachers. Three illustrations. The first
one he talks about in verse four is part-time soldiers and full-time
soldiers. Now part-time soldiers, that's
like the National Guard. They keep the peace. They're
necessary. They keep the peace, they keep security, guard the people,
keep out the enemy, the offensive things. But the people that go
to war and deal with the main enemy and fight the battles,
of people that don't have other businesses and other interests
and other activities, that he might be a good soldier and please
him that chose him to be a soldier. And that's what I'm saying is
that people who preach the gospel or live by the gospel, it's necessary
to have elders and deacons and teachers people that work, people that
help others, people that contribute to the
growth of others. But when God calls a preacher,
a man to do business with the enemy, a man with discernment
and understanding and going to war in a real battle, Paul calls
it a warfare. There's no discharging this war.
There's no quitting. There's no throwing in the towel.
A man who's in the war, at war, does not entangle himself with
other affairs. He can't do it. I joined the
Navy one time. And I walked in. There's a great
big, rough, ugly chief petty officer. that met me. You fellas remember him, don't
you? He told me there's the right way and the wrong way and his
way. He told me, he said, I'm your mama, I'm your papa, I'm
your brother, I'm your sister, I'm everything to you for the
next 12 weeks. It's me and you. I'm gonna make
a sailor out of you. He wouldn't even let me call
home for a little while. I was his. And that's what I'm talking
about. And I say that to men who covet
to be pastors. They're men that have wives as
if they didn't have, as if they didn't. They have children as
if they didn't. That's right. But that's it. They're not the same. Now there's
part-time soldiers like the National Guard and the rest of them, and
they're essential. They do business. But they don't
do business in the deep water. The Timothys and the Pauls and
the Apostles and the Evangelists and the Missionaries who sell
out. And this fella, this fella striving
for the mastery, striving the race, he's running the race,
he's running the race to be crowned, to be crowned. And I tell you
this, he'd better follow the rules. Now that's right, he'd
better follow the rules, whatever the game, if it's football or
soccer or basketball, he'll get a red card and he's out of the
game won't he I've seen that last few days, that fella holds
up that yellow card, two yellow cards, and you're out. You're
not playing according to the rules. And a red card, you're suspended
for the rest of the tournament. You've got to play according
to the rules. And what are the rules here? The Word of God. I've got
to preach the Word. I cannot labor, I cannot run
in the race God has called. Therefore, seeing we are encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience
the race that is set before us according to the Word. According to the Word. And if
it offends people, it will just have to offend them. It won't
offend His people. It won't offend His people. And then what's this? The husband
money. And I say this to preachers, there's no shortcut. You don't have a 13th Street
Baptist Church a year after you start your church. You have one
47 years after you start it. That's right. People are looking for shortcuts
all the time, shortcuts. The farmer goes out there, Breaks
up new ground. He's got a, he's staked his claim. He looks out there, staked his
claim. Never been a garden there before. Never been a church of
the sovereign grace of God there before. Never has been. And he
goes out there and I tell you what, he's going to have to bust
stumps. He's going to have to break up ground. He's going to
have to sweat. and labor, and pray, and cry,
and work, and months will pass, and day weeks will pass, and
years will pass, and you'll break up the ground, you'll sow a little
seed, some will come up and some won't, some will fall on fallow
ground, some will fall among the thorns, some will fall among
the rocks, some will fall on good ground, and bring forth
fruit. But he's going to have to labor
before he can partake of it. I'll give you a couple of good
examples. Down here at Lexington, Kentucky, there's a church over
there on Todd's Road. My grandson's down there worshiping
with them tonight. It's a good church, good pastor.
Strong church. A lot of folks. Nice building. I was down there last Sunday
night. What a great service. What a crowd. I remember when
they started About four college students, Todd Nibert and his
wife, Paul Walms and his wife, and maybe one other. They met
in the home. And they prayed, and they preached. And they kept meeting. And they
went over there on North Limestone in one of the worst places in
Lexington, I reckon. You've been there. And rented
them a building. in an old store building. And
those young students got in there and scraped the floor, washed
the walls, painted the walls, built them a pulpit, put up some
benches, and started preaching. They thought they'd have a rescue
mission. All those drunks down there and harlots and folks along
that skid row, they thought they'd be just as glad to hear the gospel.
But they found out that those people were more religious than
anybody. They didn't want to hear the gospel. But those young
people stayed there. One year, two years, three years. Remember? Sometimes it'd be seven
of them, sometimes eight of them, sometimes nine of them, sometimes
ten. But nobody went in there and said, we'll fix it up for
you, move you somewhere else, we'll do this, we'll do that.
They're waiting on God. They're laboring, they're sowing
seeds. Well, they found a little building
over in another section of town. Little run-down church building.
Cheap. And they bought it. Got them
a mortgage. This church helped them a little.
They started meeting. And they fixed that little place
up. They worked so hard and labored and fixed that little place up.
And I think they stayed there about eight years. Didn't they? The pastor got cancer. So sick. Worked in a print shop. That counts for about 11 years. And then God gave them a revival. God honored faithfulness. And
you know how I know it's of God? Because man didn't do it. God
did it. And that's how they can be assured
it's of God. Because God did it. I'll give
you another illustration right over here across the river. Wheeler's
Park. Years ago, years ago, I don't
know how many, how many Bob, you're supposed to be one way
down there, what, nine years ago, eight, nine, let's just
say nine, ten years ago, two men over there, Roger and Bob,
heard me on television, started coming, sitting right back there
where Kevin is, about their wives. And Miss Elliot came, remember?
Started listening. And one night they came down
here and they said, Pastor Mahan, would you meet us in your study
and talk a little bit? I said, yes sir. We went in there.
Sat down. They said, now we don't mind
coming here to church. We like to come here. They said,
we'd love to have a church in our community. Our friends and
family and neighbors are not going to drive to Ashland. But
if we had a church over there, they'd come. I'll help you." They said, would
you elders come preach? I said, they'd be glad to. Bob
used to be the first one that went, one Sunday morning, you
and Becky and the children, a long time ago. They rented a little
building over there, down some steps, wasn't it? Little building,
little room. And they started meeting. They
started growing. They met there for years. And
our elders would go over every Sunday morning, every Sunday
morning, preach to them, preach to them. They meet in that little
bank building, go down those steps. Some of you went. Then
they met over in the Board of Education building. Had some
meetings. And Charlie Pennington started
going, preaching farming. They said to Charlie, they said,
won't you come Sunday night and preach? They were just having
Sunday morning service, remember? Won't you come? Nobody told them to
do this, but God. You see, if we run ahead, we
do things, God doesn't do things. You got to have some evidence
that He's doing it. He's doing it. I left them alone. Didn't you run things first?
Oh no, no, no. Not a bit in this world. I didn't
even go over there. Our elders went. And they said to Charlie, you
come on Sunday night, every Sunday night. So when I go Sunday morning,
Charlie goes Sunday night. They did that. And then they
said, why don't you be our pastor? And Charlie quit his job, sold
his house, moved to Williamsburg, joined up, joined up. And they kept meeting. And God One man called me over
there one time, he and Charlie looking at a lot, cost $150,000
downtown. Scared Charlie to death, me too.
And they waited. They waited. And God gave them
that beautiful place up on the hill. Waiting on the Lord. And some of you men went down
and helped them. They built that church. But there's no shortcuts. No shortcuts. No shortcuts. The husband must
labor, labor, labor, labor. And someday, by God's grace,
he'll partake of the fruit. Now look at verse 7. I won't
let you go. Consider what I say now. And
the Lord give you understanding. I learned this lesson in the
Yucatan. watching Walter Groover. We'd
go out there in those Pueblos, those poor, poor, poor people. And Walter would meet in the
yard, preach. Maybe he'd get an interest, maybe
he wouldn't. He'd go to another Pueblo, another
Pueblo. He'd been to every Pueblo around there in the last thirty
some odd years. And maybe somebody would be interested. And he'd
go back the next week, back the next week. The little group would
grow and grow and they would have to go and meet in the house
and then they would meet in the yard. And then the Lord would
form a church, people would be saved and they would be baptized
and form a church. And then they would build them
a little stick building. And they would meet in that little
stick building and I could do a tattoo with you. And then they would
build them a barrier building. It takes about five, six years
to do those things. When I first started going, you
remember Eddie, we talked to Walter and said, let us build
that for you. He said, no, no, no, no, no. Walter said, if I come upon a
man trying to move a rock, and he's putting everything he's
got into it to move that rock, I'll help him move it. But I
ain't going to move that rock for him while he sits over under
a tree. Remember that. If I come upon him, he's given
everything he's got, blood, sweat, and tears to move that rock or
to move whatever it is, I'll help him. I'll help him. And that's the way he's built
those churches there. That's the way God's built those churches.
That's the way he built them in Africa, same way. And I begged the missionaries,
I said, let us do something. I'll let you know when you can
do something. But these are indigenous churches.
These are churches that support their pastors. These are churches
that build their buildings. These are churches that do for
themselves. And they wait on God. And in that way, they know
God's in it. You understand? Consider what
I say. Verse 7. Please. It's hard to
get folks to listen. But consider what I say, and
the Lord give thee understanding in all things. Be strong in the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's commit this gospel to faithful
men that will teach others. Let's endure hardship, the sufferings
of Christ. It's all right. If it's for his
sake, I don't mind. disentangling ourselves from
this world, we who preach. Disentangling ourselves. Where preaching is all we do.
That's what the early apostles said. They said, you pick out
some deacons and put them over this business and we'll give
ourselves to the study of the Word and prayer. Isn't that what
it said? Study the Word and prayer. That's my life and I'm telling
every preacher, if you want to If you want to be in the warfare,
the real warfare, where things are happening, where God is blessing,
where God is acting, where God is defeating the powers of evil,
you've got to join up His army. Lock, stock and barrel. Everything
you've got, turn your pockets inside out, give your children,
wife, everything else to the gospel. And walk in the Word. Don't compromise it. And remember, you've got to plant
and plow and weep and sow, and God will give the increase. But
He's the Lord of the harvest. I told you the truth. That's
the truth. Our Father, I'm thankful for
this letter that you gave Paul to send to Timothy. I'm thankful
that you gave this letter to me and to this church and to
thy people and to thy servants everywhere that we might be committed
to the ministry of the grace of our God that's in Christ Jesus
our Lord. I pray that you'd open effectual
doors for us that we might continue to proclaim this gospel of your
grace in Christ. I pray that you would supply
our every need and give us evidence of your presence and your power
and teach us to wait upon thee. Not to be hasty, but to wait
upon thee and to find your will and your way. And Lord, I pray that you'd bless
these faithful men you've sent out from this place to preach
the gospel. And I pray that it will please
you to send out more. Give us your servants that we
can love them and teach them and help them and encourage them
and pray for them. And I pray, dear Lord, that you'd
raise up a man to take this pulpit someday and preach the gospel to our
children's children. May this place that you've blessed
so wonderfully through the years be continually blessed for years
to come. As David said, is this not a
small thing to thee, O Lord? And it's not the matter of men,
but you're God. And nothing's impossible with
thee. And you can destroy or you can build. You can make alive
or you can kill. You're the Lord. The Lord of
hosts is thy name. And I pray for our people here
and for our little ones and for generations to come that
you'd keep this gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we love,
always in this place, till you come again. For Christ's sake,
I ask these things. Amen.