the series on first and second timothy and i mentioned last week that second timothy the theme
of this particular book has to do a lot with enduring hardness right going through trials and
tribulations a lot of what first timothy was covering was essentially the basics of how people
needed to behave themselves in the house of god dealing with heresy the qualifications of a pastor
and deacon making sure the church is giving attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine
a lot of practicality in chapter five and chapter six second timothy on the other hand
seems to focus more on the patience of timothy you know helping him to kind of get through the
persecutions and afflictions and this kind of shows us that you know we need both elements in
the christian life right we need to learn how to behave ourselves as christians we also need the
virtue of patience we need to learn how to endure we need to learn how to be strong and so it's not
enough that we know the bible we have to be able to endure and be in this thing for the long haul
why because you know the christian life is filled with afflictions it can be filled with tribulations
it can be filled with hardships and it doesn't really matter how much bible you know if you
don't know how to endure you're not going to last very long in the christian life god wants us to
endure the bible tells us that if thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small
and he's basically saying you know if you fall apart when you go through a hard time when the
evil day comes upon you it's an indication that you're not strong in the lord and the power of
his might and so we as christians need to make sure that we're not only accumulating knowledge
of the bible but we're also growing in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ
being able to endure hardness look at verse number one it says here in chapter two thou therefore my
son be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus right we obviously have read this verse multiple
times and what i believe this is referring to is the fact that you know god wants us to rely upon
the grace of god when we're going through a hard time now go to go with you if you would to second
corinthians chapter 12 hold your place there in second timothy go to second corinthians chapter
12 when the bible says be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus it's essentially referring to
the fact that when you're going through a hard time you need to learn how to rely upon the grace
of god to make it through that tribulation to make it through that trial and not to just throw in the
towel when the going gets tough too many weak christians out there just kind of quit when it
gets just a little hard right god wants us to endure afflictions he wants us to be strong in
the grace but what it says in second Corinthians chapter 12 in verse we'll start in verse number
sort of verse number seven unless i should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to buffet me
lest i should be exalted above measure now what this is possibly referring to is some sort of
physical ailment that the apostle paul had and what he's implying here is that because god was
using him in such a great way he's revealing revelations unto him obviously he's giving him
a lot of biblical information he's penning down the scriptures there's obviously a temptation to
become proud right become proud and arrogant because of the fact that god is using him in
a mighty way and the bible says that because of that lest he should be exalted meaning he becomes
puffed up and prideful because of it god essentially allowed him to have a thorn in the flesh he says
the messenger of satan to buffet him in other words there's some sort of uh you know physical
ailment that he experienced something that was harming him maybe physically maybe something that
was just a continuous affliction or infirmity that he had that he just was never cured of okay
and it says in verse number eight for this thing referring to his infirmity i besought the lord
thrice that it might depart from me so he's like praying god please take this away from me it's
just like a thorn in my flesh it's i feel like it's hindering me from being at my full
you know physical potential strength whatever it may be it's obviously something that's bothering
him it's troubling him he says in verse number nine and he said unto me my grace is sufficient
for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will i rather
glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me therefore i take pleasure in
infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions and distresses for christ's sake
for when i am weak then am i strong what is he saying you know he basically has the grace of god
that essentially enables him to make it through those hard times right and the grace of god is
something that god wants us to grow in he wants us to experience the fact that god can empower us
he can strengthen us through trial and tribulation a lot of times christians when they are met with
a hardship one of the options that they have is like well i'm just going to take a break from
christianity i'm gonna take a break from church i'm going to give in to carnal pleasures i'm not
going to read my bible as much i'm not going to be in church i'm not going to go soul winning i'm
going to take you know a spiritual break from soul winning from reading the bible from things
of that nature but the bible is saying here that that's not the solution the solution is to be
strong in the grace of our lord jesus christ meaning that when you're going through a hard
time of pressure and tribulation you need to pray god be gracious to me you know give me the power
to make it through this give me the patience necessary to kind of make it through this
tribulation and folks just know that you know trials yes they're difficult but just be reminded
that they make you stronger but they only make you stronger if you do what you're supposed to do
while you're going through the affliction they don't make you stronger when you quit okay they
make you stronger when you compound your afflictions with Bible reading you compound your
your afflictions with more church attendance with soul winning and if you remove those elements
from your life when you're going through afflictions you're just going to end up being a weaker Christian
meaning you will not handle the pressures that come through life in the future and let me just
remind you young people trials only get harder the older you get okay they just become far more
difficult you get more responsibility they don't get easier okay and this is important for you to
know because of the fact that you know if you've lived a life of ease and and you know you've never
had to suffer you know you got to recognize that you will suffer this side of eternity you are going
to experience some sort of trial and if you haven't accumulated some sort of spiritual strength in the
grace of God you know Satan's going to take you out of the fight okay go back to 2nd Timothy chapter
two so this is what the apostle Paul is telling Timothy hey Timothy I know about your tears he
says in chapter one you know be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel of Christ
and then he says be strong in the grace okay recognize that God's not going to give you more
than you can handle recognize that if you're going through a trial God obviously sees fit that you're
able to you know overcome this temptation to make it through this tribulation he says thou therefore
my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou has heard of me
among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others
also this is often referred to as like a discipleship type of a verse but what the apostle paul is saying
here is like just as i'm encouraging you to be strong in the grace you need to also remind those
around you to be strong in the grace as well right he's like commit this to faithful men
who shall be able to teach others also he reiterates what he says in verse 1 in verse 3
where he says thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of jesus christ this is implying
that there's bad soldiers out there right does endure hardness endure hardness as a good soldier
of jesus christ showing us that the alternative is that there's bad soldiers and how do we identify
bad soldiers those who can endure hardness god wants us to be able to endure afflictions
not to be weak and when i say endure afflictions i'm talking about mentally spiritually and yes in
some cases physically as well okay and you know we do live in a soft society today soft society
where words offend people soft society that just completely bucks authority they don't want to be
told what to do they don't want to take on responsibility they don't want any type of
pressure or hardship that's not the christian life my friends you are a bad soldier if that's you
okay and again the more years that pass by the more difficult situations become the more trials
you will experience and you're going to wish you accumulated some spiritual strength when you find
yourself in those situations he says endure hardness as a good soldier now if you don't know
how to endure hardness then you need to make your life hard for yourself okay if you don't know
any type of hardness if you never grew up in a hard situation in a hard family maybe the
Lord has blessed you with some ease in the beginning of your life maybe you've been financially well
physically well you know you've never really had to experience anything hard you know that's not
your fault but from here on out you have to kind of impose upon yourself some form of hardness
and not allow yourself to just become to just atrophy and become weak as a Christian right
and luckily you know there's a built-in hardship that comes with being a Christian because the
Bible says "yea all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" okay but you know
what it all it all begins with just discipline learning how to discipline yourself in the
Christian life and this is important my friends you know the Bible commands us to fulfill certain
spiritual duties that requires discipline endure hardness of discipline of reading the Bible every
single day endure the hardness of waking up in the morning at a reasonable hour and going to work
right and let me just say this you know part of enduring hardness is learning how to hold down an
actual job okay learning how to work learning how to work under a boss learning how to do what you
don't feel like doing laziness is a curse okay and it is the plight of a soft man who you know
does not want to work can endure hardness it's God's will for you to get a job earn a living
even if it's not a lot of money that you're making even if it's not a pleasant job that you have
it's still God's will for you to get out there and do something with your life and look if you're a
person who's just well to do you don't have to work you should still go work and you know why
because the Bible says that if you're not working you're being a disorderly person and the only
alternative to not working is laziness and you know what happens to lazy people they end up
getting involved in sin your resistance your resistance to sin and temptation drops it becomes
low and you end up giving into temptation because you're not tired you're not occupying your mind
and your skills and accomplishing anything folks working is not just about paying the bills
obviously that's a large part of it right you know that's the motivating factor like we work
because you know we need to put food on the table we need to pay the rent we need to pay
the mortgage we got insurance we got to pay for you know maybe we want some things on the side
those are motivating factors but you know another motivating factor is that we need some sort of
project to accomplish so we can achieve success and greatness and so you know there's people
out there that don't have to work because they're already wealthy but they should still work though
learn how to you know have a good work ethic that's part of the christian life
that is god's will for your life and if you're not doing that you're being disorderly
you're you will eventually not only get involved in sin but your resistance
towards temptation will drop exceedingly okay and satan is always looking for the idle
lazy individual to tempt the sin okay and look also you know when when men don't work you know
aside from the fact that you don't pay the bills or whatever uh you know you do end up becoming
depressed become depressed because man was made to work it's god's will for you to work but you
know the the ground to a certain degree is still cursed for our sake right meaning that you know
it's good for us to work we need to work in order to produce something but it's also for our sake
because it protects us from temptation from being idle and it makes us strong it gives us structure
okay what do you mean it gives us structure well you know maybe you're working for someone you have
to clock in and you have to clock out you have to learn how to be on time to your job you have to
learn how to fulfill the tasks of your boss and look don't give me this yeah but i'm my own
businessman but have you governed yourself though right you know i know the the the desire of just
like well i'm my own businessman i know how to do this yeah but have you governed yourself though
that's that's the thing right you need to be able to how to you need to be able to discipline
yourself to be successful and let a fire under your blessed assurance in order to get the business
off the ground and so it's just like yeah but what if i'm already making money then go build a go
go build some legos do something with your life like go do something productive with your life
because idleness is a danger and if you're not doing anything with your life you're you know
uh an idle mind is the devil's workshop but also work it's important for us to work because work
is hard and we need to do that which is hard and you know what it's good for us to work a nine to
five so that we make mistakes and someone yells at us that's just the honest truth you need someone
getting on you you need someone to yell at you you need some you need to disappoint somebody and
know what it feels like to not get the job done and be cussed at and be yelled at and you know
to correct the problem we need to hear those things you know and you know we live in a society
in a generation where no negative comments can be made towards anybody because oh man they might
have some sort of anxiety attack or something like that at work and now they can't work the
nine to five or something like that because they're they're going through an episode you know you know
what will prevent the episodes is going through more of those situations it'll just make you
tougher you need to be tough and so obviously part of enduring hardness as a good soldier
is not quitting when we go through trials but it's just also self-inflicted hardships that are
necessary in our lives which one avenue is working a job okay and let me just say this if you don't
have a job in our church and you're a man you know you ought to be ashamed of yourself okay you
ought to be ashamed of yourself you're a shameful person you're walking disorderly that's not an
honoring thing to do don't brag about that crap okay you know i respect the dude who's making pizzas
whatever earning minimum wage or whatever maybe but you're making people you have a job i respect
anybody who just has a job and is accomplishing things even if it's like at a gas station or
something you're working at mcdonald's at least you have a job oh man i work at wendy's so what
you got a job it's great make the best dang burger you better make a good baconator how's that
baconator you know it's not an honorable thing not to work and not to have a job okay and so people
often think well you know a job is to make money yeah but that's only one aspect of it when it
comes to the christian life there's other factors that play a role in us working a job it's helping
us so that we're not depressed we're not lazy we're achieving things for god and you know men
should be men of ambition okay ambition wanting to achieve things accomplishing things because if we
have families and we're raising children they're we're their example you understand what i'm saying
and they will follow your example and so endure hardness and so you can endure hardness by
not quitting through spiritual afflictions by self-imposed afflictions of just working a nine
to five right or just exercising you know again you might live just the kind of nice life where you
don't you know experience a whole lot of afflictions then you kind of have to put yourself in that
situation put yourself under some weight you know you know i know a lot of people the ladies right
now are getting into running you know i commend you for that i will never put that affliction upon
myself okay that's not a yoke that i personally want in my life i have a biblical conviction
against that you know but hey you know what i'm i'm glad that people are doing that because you
know what running isn't pleasant so if someone is getting involved in running and they're doing that
that's showing that's showing me that's showing others that they are purposely making things
hard for themselves because they want to do something hard right you know lift weights go
to the gym get on a diet get on a caloric deficit do hard things learn how to discipline yourself
challenge yourself right and i'm not talking about challenging yourself by playing video games or
something like that i'm talking about legitimate challenges okay they exercise your brain and your
body you know so that at the end of the year you're like you know i accomplish much because
i put myself in a hard difficult situation but also whatever afflictions or responsibilities
comes your way don't run from them you know if your boss gives you a lot of responsibilities
don't just collapse like you got no bones in your body you just don't know how to handle it
if your boss is giving you more responsibilities is because you're a man of activity right you are an
individual who your boss seems you know deems fit to fulfill tasks and responsibilities you know and
you're a hard worker you know it should be a problem if your boss is not giving you more
responsibilities that means they probably can't trust you with more responsibility right you know
i'll give you an example okay you know brother hernandez is a hard freaking worker okay and
this man is a straight wajahcan machine you would think i got this guy from home depot or something
because the guy works so hard he's legal don't worry you know you can call ice if you want though
you know if you want to double check guy works hard though he's how do you know because he has
all kinds of responsibilities and i'm constantly compounding more responsibilities on him and
expecting him to meet deadlines and fulfill duties throughout the week and on sundays and you know
what bro gets in like 30 000 steps a day if not oh that's like on an average day or something
that's when he's being lazy okay and if you're here throughout the week you just all you see
if you're looking inside just a brown person just walking just just constantly doing stuff you know
it's just like a little he's a busy bee he's constantly getting work done you say you know
is he really that hard of a worker well i know because i'm here late and so is he and you know
sometimes i come here late at night to do some work and he's in here doing something he's working
on projects he's cleaning the church he's organizing things he's on omitv there's
never a time when he's here where he's just just kicking back or something he's just constantly
working so you know that tells me you're getting more responsibility this year you know you say
why because he's doing a good job right and he's showing me that he can handle a lot of responsibility
and he's increasing right his capability therefore he gets more responsibility now obviously i don't
want to overload him too much because then things start falling through the cracks or whatever and
things don't get done and then he gets in trouble. But in general though, the man is a hard worker.
The point that I'm making here is that, you know, if your boss gives you more responsibility,
don't collapse, don't just fall apart, don't get bitter or resentful. That's kind of showing,
that should show you that your boss thinks you're a hard labor and a hard worker. You should want
more responsibility. You should want more responsibility at church, right? You should
want more responsibility at church because it shows you that you are capable of handling it.
Be a handler. Amen. And so, you know, make life hard for yourself sometimes because you're going
to regret it when hard times come to you and you cannot handle it. You know, don't give me this.
You believe in the post-trip pre-wrath, but you can't handle just a little bit of pressure today.
Bro, you're going to give us up on the tribulation. You're going to rat me out.
You're going to be the first to go. You're going to, you know, because that's,
that's legitimately how it is. Okay. You know, you can believe the right doctrine. That's great.
But handling in real time, the practicality of living out the Bible is something separate. Okay.
So be a man who's strong in knowledge, but also strong in the grace, endure hardness as a good
soldier. Okay. He says in verse four, no man that warth entangle with himself with the affairs of
this life that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier. So notice over and over again,
the Bible says that we're soldiers. He's calling him a soldier because we're supposed to fight the
good fight of faith. This is showing us that the Christian life is not necessarily a life of
passivity, right? We're not passively just living this life. We're not just, you know,
kicking back, putting in second gear or in cruise control. You know, the Bible says we have to fight.
We have to fight our flesh. We've got to fight the wiles of Satan. We've got to fight the
philosophies and ideologies of the world every single day. And you know, one enemy that you're
always going to have, because you know, Satan comes and goes, right? Seasons, he comes,
seasons, he goes, the world's going to kind of be there, but you can kind of remove yourself from
the world sometimes. But you know, one enemy that you will always have is your flesh. That's a fact.
It's a fact. You know, you're always going to have your flesh fighting against you. You give me a
Christian who cannot endure hardness. I'll give you a Christian who's always giving into his flesh.
Fact. Okay. And that's why, you know, I do believe it's good to go on a diet every once in a while
throughout the year to deny the flesh because it teaches you restraint, right? You know, right now
I'm on a cut and it sucks. It sucks, but you know, it's okay because I'm teaching. I'm keeping under
my body, bringing it into subjection. You know, I want to go get a double cheeseburger after the
service. I want pizza. I want to kill all that box of chow mein that was back there. You know,
you know, people, people, when people stress out, they quit. I just overeat when I'm stressed,
you know, but I have to teach myself. No, you know, you, I got to tell the old man, we need this.
You're eating ground beef. You're eating meat. You're eating chicken and you're only eating
1800 calories today and that's it. That's all. You know why? Because it's important to discipline
yourself to do those things and make yourself do the things that you don't want to do. Do hard
things. And you know what? You give me a Christian who can endure hardness. I'll give you a Christian
who can't resist the cupcake, who wakes up at 12 PM, right? Who just gives in to every fleshly desire
who collapses under pressure. They just are constantly slaves to their flesh. They're not
even strong in the spirit. They're always weak in the flesh. They're always just emotional.
They just completely fold under any type of pressure. That's how it is, my friends.
And you know what? That's not honoring to God, my friends. God wants us to be strong in the Lord
and in the power of His might. And part of that is telling the carcass what to do, leading the carcass.
The carcass wants contrary to the spirit, right? The flesh lusteth against the spirit. The spirit
against the flesh. These are contrary to the one to the other. We need to be able to lead the flesh
and make it do what it's supposed to do, even if it doesn't feel like doing it. I don't feel like
reading the Bible. We're reading the Bible today. I don't feel like praying. We're praying today.
I don't feel like preaching the gospel. We're preaching the gospel today. I don't want to go
to church. We're going to church. Shut up flesh. We're going to church and we're going to sing
the hymns and we're going to be happy and we're going to obey the preaching of God's word.
You know, sometimes Christians are just like, I don't want to go to church. That's a good idea.
We won't go. I don't feel like going. The flesh is like, I don't feel like reading my Bible.
You know what? Me too. Let's just not read the Bible. Just give in to every whim of the flesh.
It's not God's will, my friends. We need to make sure that we don't entangle ourselves with the
affairs of this life. He says, if a man also strives for masteries, yet is he not crowned
except he strived lawfully. Meaning that, you know, God wants to reward you at the end of this
whole thing, but you're only be rewarded if you're actually fighting and striving according to the
Bible, lawfully as the Bible says. He says the husband man that laboreth must be first partaker
of the fruits. Consider what I say and the Lord give the understanding in all things. Remember
that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.
Wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. So he's
saying here, you know, the gospel has caused him a lot of trouble. It's caused him to be persecuted.
It's caused them to be evil spoken of. And he says, even to the point where I've been arrested,
that's what he's saying, right? Even unto bonds is referring to the fact that he's been arrested
for preaching the gospel. But look at his attitude. He says, but the word of God is not bound. And
it's, it's an amazing disposition to have. He's like, I'm arrested, but the word of God is not
arrested. The word of God is going to continue to go forth and it's going to continue to reach
people. People are still going to get saved. He says in verse 10, therefore I endure all things
for the elect's sake that they may also obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus with eternal
glory. Now, what is this verse referring to here? Well, let's break it down here. First and foremost,
let's talk about who the elect are. Okay. And obviously Jews out of the picture, right? We know
that that's not who it's referring to. Okay. Who are the elect? Well, according to the New Testament,
the elect are God's people. Okay. That's what the Bible teaches. We're elect according to the four
knowledge of God. According to the first Peter chapter one, it's just another way of saying that
we are the chosen people. Would you look at that elect means chosen. It means it's referring to
saved individuals. And what the apostle Paul saying here is that he's enduring the afflictions
of being arrested, going through hardships, suffering. He's doing it obviously for the Lord,
but he's also doing it for the elect sake for other Christians. And he says specifically why
he says that they may also obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Now it's important to understand that when the Bible uses the word salvation, we often automatically
associate that with the justification of the soul, right? Which in general, that is what it's
referring to, but salvation is just means deliverance, right? To be delivered, to be rescued.
And if we were to take this in its context, he's obviously referring to the fact that when he
endures affliction to be an example for the elect, they're emboldened to also take the same stance
as him, knowing full well that God will deliver them as well as he delivered the apostle Paul.
And if I go to second Timothy chapter three, if you would, second Timothy chapter three,
he says in second Timothy chapter three, verse number 10, but thou has fully known my doctrine,
manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charity, patience. And I want you to notice this
persecutions, afflictions, which came up to me at Antioch and Iconium, Lystra, what persecutions
I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Right. So what is he telling Timothy? Hey,
I experienced a lot of these afflictions, but just keep in mind, like God saved me out of all.
And he's not referring to like, he saved them, like he justified them. He's referring to the
fact that like he rescued his flesh. When there's instances where he could have physically died,
he could have been physically harmed to the point of death. It's like at the very last minute,
God came through and saved them out of that situation. That's what it's saying. So he's
saying like, I went through all this persecutions, afflictions, but at the end of the day, like God
literally saved me out of all of them. Like he delivered me out of all. And why is he telling
Timothy that? Because he wants to embolden Timothy to take the same stance as he is because he's
telling him like, God's going to save you too. Like, don't be afraid that you're going to be
persecuted. Don't be afraid that you're going to go through afflictions because just as the Lord
delivered me, he's also going to deliver you. Let me tell you who the Lord does not deliver.
The, the coward. Let me tell you who the Lord does not deliver. The person who tries to save
his own skin, whosoever save it this life, you know, shall lose it. But whosoever lose it this
life for my sake, the same shall save it. So Jesus said, so he's like, if you want to save your life,
you just want to run away. You're a coward. You don't want to stand up for the word of God.
Well, the worst possible outcome that you can imagine will happen to you is going to happen
to you now. So it's better for you to just put yourself on the front lines, stand for the word
of God, put yourself in the way of danger by preaching what the Bible says, have the danger
come to you, and God will deliver you from that. He will save your life because you chose to lose
your life. You understand what I'm saying here? So when the apostle Paul, go back to chapter two,
when the apostle Paul says, I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may also obtain
salvation, which is in Christ Jesus. He's saying, you know, one of the reasons I even push through
these afflictions is because other preachers are watching me, other Christians are watching me,
and I want them to grow confident in the fact that when they experience the same afflictions
for standing for the word of God, they have faith that God will deliver them as well.
Right? And wouldn't you say the boldness of a man of God makes you bold as well too?
Right? Wouldn't you say that when you see a man of God who's bold, who just stands in the face of
danger, who preaches the word of God, he stands for truth, doesn't that encourage you? Doesn't
it create courage within you to do the right thing as well? Because then you think to yourself like
God saved this person, he delivered this individual, he blessed this person, then he'll deliver me as
well. That's what it's referring to. And let me just say this from a practical perspective.
This is a good reason, a good motive for you to just endure anything. Why? For the Alexi. Hey,
parents, endure all things for your kids sake. Don't be a quitter. Don't be a quitter. Don't
be a weakling. Be strong in the Lord. Why? Because then your kids are going to be quitters too.
Your kids are going to be weaklings too. You quit the Christian life. Guess what? They'll grow up
and they're going to quit the Christian life as well. Why? Because they're watching your example.
Keep in mind folks, your kids are going to be who you are. So ask yourself, is that a good thing or
a bad thing? Right? If we were to assess our lives and be like, would I be happy if my son
or my daughter was just like me when they grew up? Think about it. Like would I want them to have
my level of endurance? Would I want them to have my level of patience? Would I want them to have
my level of virtue? If the answers are resounding no, it's time to change some stuff. If it worries
you that your kids would turn out like you, something's wrong. Change some things. But you
say, well, what if I don't have kids? Well, here's the thing is people in church watch you too.
That's a fact. And you're still enduring all things for the elect's sake. There's someone in
our church. There's someone, even my kids, your kids are watching you too. You know, there you
are their example. You are somewhat of a template of a Christian in this church. And yes, they
esteem you. Okay. The point being here is that we endure all things. Why? Because we want to do it
for the Lord. But we also do it because we know that others are watching us as well. Right. You
know, I don't believe I will quit the Christian life. I'd like to think that I would not quit.
I'm planning to be in this thing for the long haul. Okay. And I have no plans of quitting.
I'm not like, well, maybe in 10 years, I'll think of something else. I'm planning to die being a
pastor. Okay. And hopefully the tribulation happens and I get my head chopped off, you know, all that
stuff. That's ideal. The ideal situation is that the tribulation comes, I get persecuted. And you
know, I can go out Tony Montana style, you know, and just like, you know, that's ideal. You know,
we don't always get what we want, but a man can drink. You know what I mean? But my goal is to
just die pastoring. I hope I, I pastor for the rest of my life. I hope if I die at the age of 99,
it's my last sermon on homos or something where I just, I just strained myself so hard. And the
last thing I said is like pastor dies, you know, preaching against homos or something.
That would be awesome. Okay. You know, and that's my goal. I don't want to quit the Christian life,
but you know what? Even if I wasn't a pastor, I still wouldn't want to quit the Christian life.
Okay. Cause I want to keep serving God for the rest of my life, no matter what.
And you know what? Don't ever create a plan B in your mind. It should never be a plan B.
Okay. There should never be like, well, if this doesn't work out, what do you mean
if, if this doesn't work out, the only reason it wouldn't work out is because of you,
not because of the Lord, not because of the Bible. You know, we should never have on our minds like,
well, you know, if it doesn't work out here, I could always do something else. Like what
we should have in our minds. Like, I want to be in this thing for the long haul. I want to
endure hardness as a good soldier. And folks, obviously I'm going to experience certain trials
in the coming years that I would at this moment not be ready for. They might break me. You know
what I mean? It might make me into a different person, might mature me. And it might be very
hard and difficult and arduous. That's a fact. And I might be in that situation and I might
be tempted to quit. I hope I don't. I don't think I will. But you know what? Everyone is
always pushed to the verge of almost quitting though. It happens to everyone and I'm not
excluded from that, you know? And so I'm putting the necessary precautions and guidelines and
convictions within my soul so that when that time comes, I've already purposed in my heart that I
will not defile myself with the king's meat, right? That I'm just going to stick it out no matter
what because the Lord is worthy of it. But also because of the fact that I got six kids and I
want them to serve God for the rest of their lives too. Okay? And look folks, maturity in the
Christian life is recognizing that you don't live unto yourself. Stop being such a selfish Christian,
just living for yourself what you can get out of the Christian life, what you can get out of this
world. You know, why don't you start actually living for others and recognizing that your
decisions affect other people. Your character or lack thereof affects other people. Your endurance
or lack thereof affects other individuals. Why don't you take that into account? That's what
Christian maturity is. It's recognizing, you know what? Life sucks right now and I want to quit,
but I can't quit because Poindexter over here is watching me. You know what I mean? Poindexter is
watching me and I don't want him to quit. I don't want him to throw on the towel. He might be
relying upon me to stick it out. So stick it out. And look folks, you know, we got it kind of made
here because you have a church that can like aid you and help you and strengthen you, right? And
so, you know, if you go through a hard time, come talk to me, come talk to one of the leaders,
go confide an older brother, sister in Christ. And look, there's nothing wrong with just going
up to someone saying like, Hey, I just want to let you know, like life sucks right now. I just
want to quit. I don't want to come back to church anymore. You know, hopefully you talk to the right
person and you don't talk to someone who's just like, Hey bro, me too. Let's just go, you know,
hopefully that's not the case, but you know, more than likely you're going to run into someone who
says, bro, don't quit. Like I love you. You're going to be just fine. I'm here for you. I'm praying
for you that your faith fails. Not just stick it out and do a hardness. You know, you're not in
this alone. That's important. My friends, folks, let me just remind you that God wants you to do
this thing until the very end. He wants you to be faithful to death, dead in mind. And if you're
young, that's a long time from now, hopefully, right? You young people, God wants you to do
this into death. John Michael, he wants you to do this until you're Lord willing, 90 years old.
You better be sitting in church, winning souls to Christ, living, listening to preaching.
Hopefully, you're married by then. You know, married, got kids, grandkids, great grandkids.
You know, he wants you to do this to the very end. Same thing with you, Adrian. He wants
everyone to stay in this thing for the long haul and do all things for the elect's sake.
And this is why he says, you know, commit thou to faithful men. People are watching you.
Don't be an example of a quitter. Don't be the template of a quitter. The last thing that I
would want for you and the last thing that God wants you for you is to be a byword and a proverb.
And look, there's a lot of bywords and proverbs that came through this church. They're no longer
here. You know that's true. We'll talk about them after the service. People who were like
hardcore, they're super in, they're just, they're not here anymore. They're byword and a proverb.
They could not endure afflictions. They could not endure temptation. They went through something
and it took them out. And you know, we need to take heed lest we fall, right? And you know,
obviously I'm preaching to myself because you know, there's pastors out there that quit.
Pastors out there, they just throw on the towel or they get involved in sin.
They do something wicked and they destroy their church. You know, shame on those pastors. Shame
on them. Why? Because they were supposed to pastor and shepherd an entire church. And look folks,
pastoring is hard. It's super difficult. It is not all the time, but it is difficult. You know,
you got to, you got to do it for the love of the game. You know, like, don't just think like,
you know, I'm going to try out pastoring. No, if that's your attitude, don't ever do it. Don't
ever do it. Why? Because only the real ones should do it. The ones who are doing it for the love of
the game and nothing else, for the love of Christ, for the love of people, for the love of the Bible,
because it is going to, it is hard. Okay. And you know what? Here's the thing, you know,
pastors out there that struggle with sin, no one's going to sympathize with you. That's just a fact.
You're held to a higher standard. That's just the way it works. So look, you, you guys, you know,
You guys want to pastor a church one day?
Well, you better make sure that that's exactly what God has called you to do.
You better make sure that that's something that you feel like, "I'm called to do this.
I know I'm going to stick with this for the very end."
Because folks, it is hard.
"Oh, you're discouraging me."
Yeah, I'm discouraging those who shouldn't be pastors.
And you know what?
It's not enough to be organized.
It's not enough to know how to run a music program.
It's not enough to be a Baptist.
You got to have the dog in you.
Got to have that dog in you to be able to do it.
And you think to yourself, well, what if I've never experienced anything hard in my life?
Then you better catch up and start doing hard stuff before you ever consider being a pastor.
And if you've never done anything hard in your life, you need to sit this one out, bro.
It's a fact.
This is what Paul is telling Timothy, and he's talking to someone who is ordained as
a pastor.
He's like, "You better endure hardness as a good soldier."
I honestly, I'm not looking forward to the coming years of death and trials, because
I know that's a thing.
I know it's going to happen.
I know the older I get, people around me are going to start dying.
People in my family are going to start dying, they're going to start passing away.
I don't really look forward to the fact that I'm going to bury you one day.
I don't look forward to that.
That's going to be a hard thing.
One day I'm going to bury Marcos, hopefully he doesn't bury me, but one day I'm going
to have to bury Marcos.
It's a hard thought to think that one day I might have to bury Ulysses, but isn't this
the reality?
Because life is just filled with this stuff.
The reality is this, I'm preaching to you about heaven, but you'll probably get there
before I do.
See what I'm saying?
Life is going to be hard and you have to be able to deal with those situations.
You're going to lose family members.
You're going to go through hard times.
And you know what?
A lot of those hard times, they can push you out of the will of God.
The point that I'm making here is just you need to endure for the Lord, but you also
need to endure for other people as well.
And so endure all things for the elect's sake that they may also obtain salvation, which
is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
And look, this is definitely for pastors too, because a lot of pastors refuse to preach
certain things because they're afraid of the persecution, and they need to not be pastors.
That's just it.
You know, they need to just kind of sit down and be an assistant or just be a congregant
or something like that because, you know, they kind of restrain themselves and abstain
from saying certain things from the pulpit because they're afraid of the comment section.
They're afraid of the DMs.
They're afraid of the emails they might get.
And I remember, you know, when we got bombed, I was thinking to myself like, "Man, this
is going to deter a lot of pastors from like preaching like this."
Because they're probably thinking to themselves like, "I don't want to get bombed," you know?
And that's true.
But you know, I'm sure it encouraged others to say, "You know what?
That encourages me to take a stand for God."
But I'm sure there's pastors out there who's like, "I'm definitely never going to say the
F word behind the pulpit."
I mean, fact, by the way, you know, I'm not talking about the Pastor Shelley F word.
I'm not going to say that behind the pulpit.
I hope we raise pastors in our church for sure, okay?
I want to, but I'm not in a rush to ordain anybody.
Because I want you to learn the Bible.
I want you to be able to teach the Bible.
But I want you to have that dog in you too though.
I want you to be someone who is able to endure all things.
Someone who's got that grit.
Someone who's able to just handle hardness and endure it as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
He says in verse 11, "It is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him, we shall also
live with him."
Meaning that if you take up your cross daily, deny yourself, right?
You'll be following Christ.
But it says here that you will also live with him.
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him, if we deny him, he will also deny us.
Go to Romans chapter eight, if you would, Romans chapter number eight, Romans chapter
eight, if you would.
He says, again, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.
So as you can see, the apostle Paul is trying to give Timothy some incentives to endure
things.
He says, you should do it in order to be rewarded, to be crowned.
You should do it for the elect's sake so they can obtain salvation.
And then he says here, you should suffer so that when you do suffer, you'll reign with
him.
What does that mean?
Look at Romans chapter eight and verse number 17.
It says, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together for I reckon that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us.
So what is he saying?
You know if we want to rule and reign with Christ in the millennial reign, part of it
is that we have to suffer with him, participate in the fellowship of his suffering.
And what is the fellowship of his suffering?
You know, enduring reproach for his namesake, right?
So he's saying look, if you want to rule and reign with Christ in that thousand year period,
you better be ready to suffer with him.
You better be ready to endure hardness as a good soldier because in order to be a joint
heir with Christ, you have to be able to do those things.
Go back to second Timothy.
By the way, when he says, if we deny him, he will also deny us.
This is not in context of salvation and in fact, none of this is in context of salvation.
This is all about enduring hardness.
What is he saying?
You know, if we deny him, first of all, we'll get denied rewards, right?
But also you could also apply this like this.
If we deny the Lord because we're embarrassed, then he's going to deny a salvation as far
as the physical salvation, right?
If we deny the Lord, we're just embarrassed to the word of God.
We don't want to take a stand for God because we're afraid of what might happen.
Guess what's going to happen?
He's going to deny us deliverance when it comes upon us.
So here's good insurance for you.
Just stand for the word of God.
Don't be ashamed of his word and God will deliver you.
Okay?
He goes on to say in verse 13, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny
himself."
Now, this doesn't necessarily mean, I used to interpret this to mean like, oh if we stop
believing in God or something like that, like we're still saved or something, you know,
because people can have a lapse of memory, maybe they have Alzheimer's or something.
But I, in context, I do believe that this is referring to the fact that if we don't
believe that he'll deliver us, yet he abided faithful.
He cannot deny himself.
Because quite frankly, you will go through instances in your Christian life where you're
suffering persecution and you're like, "Dang, I don't think I'm going to be delivered from
this."
Meaning you're doubting.
He cannot deny himself.
Meaning he will still do it.
I believe, but help down my unbelief.
So in other words, if you're doubting that God will deliver you and provide for you,
yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself.
Because he's essentially promised to do these things for us.
And he can swear by no greater, as the Bible says.
He says, "If these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive
not about words to no profit, but the subverting of the hearers," he says, "study to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
of truth."
So, you know, Timothy has a big responsibility.
He's just like, "Hey, you got to endure hardness, all the persecution, and you got to make
sure you're also teaching the Bible and studying the word of God.
You got to make sure you're a workman that needeth not to be ashamed."
He says in verse 16, "But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto
more ungodliness."
What is he saying?
You need to make sure you cut off conversations of stupid doctrines.
Nothing wrong with the little surmising of what we think the scriptures might say.
But when you start delving into things that the Bible does not teach, and you start coming
up with weird doctrines, the Bible says we need to shun profane and vain babblings.
Why?
Because they will eventually lead unto more ungodliness.
It would end up creating heresy, false doctrine.
There's nothing wrong with a little speculation, but don't go too deep into things that the
Bible doesn't talk about at all.
Because when you start delving into things that the Bible does not explicitly say, then
you're going beyond the boundaries of scripture and you can get involved in heresy.
Okay?
Now here's an example.
Verse 17, "Their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,
who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already and
overthrow the faith of some."
So obviously, there's an issue here where these guys were involved in vain janglings,
profane babblings, and they ended up increasing to the point where people were just denying
the resurrection, which is the key doctrine of the Christian faith.
So this is why it's important, folks.
When we hear about stupid doctrines in the church, we just need to nip it at the bud,
shame it publicly, put it to shame, and not allow people to just bring up weird stupid
doctrines.
Right?
You know, modalism.
I'm entertaining modalism.
You know, predictable heresy.
Next question.
You know, people start buying into the flat earth.
Sorry, this is not a flat earth church.
Bible doesn't teach a flat earth.
We just think it's flat out retarded.
It's profane and vain babblings.
And you can't use the scriptures to try to prove it.
It's a fact.
You say, why are you so rude about it?
Because the Bible says that we need to make sure that we shun those things.
And I've never met a righteous individual who just fully involved in the flat earth.
I mean, look, do I need to bring up that pastor again?
Tyler Doka, who was a flat earther, right?
Full blown flat earther.
And what happened to Tyler Doka?
He ended up calling himself Jesus.
How about that?
Isn't that an example of something that increased him to more ungodliness?
Because that was like his major thing is like flat earth, flat earth, flat earth.
Like the earth is flat.
And then he was just like, then every, every week thereafter, he came out with like a damn
little heresy.
Talking about Christians are going to go to the lake of fire for about a thousand years.
Saying that, you know, just saying that his head was the temple and eventually just saying
that he's Jesus calling himself the son of God.
But that's what happens when you don't shun profane and vain babblings.
You end up increasing unto more ungodliness.
You end up teaching dandable heresy.
Okay.
So the apostle Paul is simply telling Timothy like, make sure you know what the Bible says
and also make sure that you completely shut down stupid doctrines that people come up
with.
Okay.
Look at verse 19.
And again, I'm not discouraging Bible talk either.
Okay.
We all have different interpretations regarding certain scriptures, things that are, you
know, not explicitly stated in the Bible.
We might come up with certain theories or whatever it may be.
I think that's healthy talk, right?
Instead of talking about whatever football team won or something like that, let's talk
about the Bible.
What about the Rams?
I don't know.
Who?
What?
I don't know anything about football.
Let's talk about the Bible.
That's important because you know, I've been in churches where it's just like, they only
want to talk about sports.
They only want to talk about carnal worldly things and it's just, it's almost taboo to
talk about the Bible.
You bring up the Bible and it's just like, Oh, here he goes again.
Oh, I'm sorry that I'm a Christian who wants to talk about the Bible.
I thought this is a Baptist church.
And so it's good to talk about the scriptures, right?
Now I will say this though, because in the type of church that we have, you know, the
guys can get a little out of hand sometimes, you know, we almost think like people are
going to throw hands or something like that because they're just arguing about scripture.
At that point, you guys need to just shun each other before we shun you.
Okay, so men, you need to learn how to make sure that when things like that come up and
it starts getting overly aggressive, then you say, you know what, yeah, this is stupid.
We're vain jangling right now.
And don't be like, yeah, you are vain jangling.
That's right.
You know, let's just move on from this or something.
You know, you just be like, you know, yeah, obviously I can see it from your point of
view to a certain degree.
Just learn to agree to disagree.
Move on.
Okay.
Because we don't want to have, we don't want to strive either.
Right?
Verse 19 says, "Nevertheless, the foundation of God's stand is sure, having this seal,
the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone the name of the name of Christ depart
from iniquity."
So it doesn't say let everyone the name of the name of Christ will depart from iniquity.
It says let them depart from iniquity.
Right?
It's basically saying like, this is the commandment given to you to repent of your sin.
It doesn't say that it will naturally come.
It's a commandment to do so.
And he goes on to say in verse 20, "But in a great house, there are not only vessels
of gold and of silver, but also wood and of earth, and some to honor, some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified,
and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."
What is he saying?
You know, in a great house, you could think of a great house as a church.
There's vessels of gold, of silver, of wood, and of earth, okay?
And you come to your conclusion what he's implying there.
He's saying some people are useful, some people are not.
And he's saying there, if you purge yourself from these, from iniquity, from things that,
you know, profane and vain babblings, from not being able to endure, then you will be
sanctified and meet for the master's use, prepared into every good work.
And what does that mean?
It means God wants you to work.
I mean, God wants you to be useful.
And look, folks, it shouldn't be, and I'm thankful that we have people in our church
that serve, so want to do all these things, but you know, serving in the house of God
is not a burden, right?
It's not a burden.
And if you think it's a burden, don't serve and go to some non-denom church where they
don't expect anything out of you except for your tithe.
But in this church, yes, you know what?
We do expect you to serve because we're supposed to be meat for the master's use, prepared
it to every good work.
I mean, doesn't the Bible say that we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God had before him that we should walk in them?
What does that say?
It says maintain good works.
And you know, I believe that God wants us to do it cheerfully.
I know I don't sound cheerful right now, but I love serving God.
I love winning souls to Christ.
I love counseling people.
I love yelling at your faces about the Word of God.
I love preaching the Word of God.
I love discipling people.
I love doing the work of God.
I love it.
Is it tiring?
Of course, but I don't want to quit.
This is what I love to do, because I love serving God.
I love serving my wife.
I love serving my kids.
I love serving you.
Why?
Because this is God's will for us is to serve, you know?
And here's the thing, folks.
We should never view the service of God
as being like some sort of burden or something.
And the moment you start thinking it's a burden,
it's time for you to just either get right with God,
or maybe you just need to go do something else.
I don't know.
Because you're not going to be able to point to the word
of God and tell me that the service of God
in the ministry is a burden.
It's not.
It's not in the Bible.
The Bible is filled with admonitions for us
as God's people to serve, to do works,
to lead people to Christ.
God wants the church to continuously work,
maintain good works, be a workman,
to do the work of God, to spread the word of God,
to get people saved.
That's why we have this competition, amen?
I love the competition.
I think the competition's great.
We got more people saved in the first three weeks
than we did in the first three months last year.
Put it that way.
Think about that, you know why?
'Cause people are working.
I love it.
I love the fact that people are just like,
preaching the gospel.
One of you guys are on Omi like right now, probably.
You're like, "Don't worry about it.
"That's someone else."
But anyways, I love it.
I love people who just have a good spiritual work ethic.
And you know what?
The best spiritual work ethic are the ones
who just don't view the work of God as a burden, okay?
It's not a burden.
And you know what?
Okay, I take that back.
It is a burden, but his burden is light.
That's what the Bible says.
It's a good burden.
And you know, we need burdens.
We need to bear the yoke in our youth, amen?
We need, you know, put some weight on that bar.
Put it on your back and squat that mess.
Squat the work of God.
Put 225, put 275, put 300 on it.
And give me a single, give me some reps.
You know, the weight is good.
Oh man, I just, what, you want to do the bar?
Is that what you want to do?
You just want to do the bar?
Or how about just, you just want to do some body squats?
Is that what you want?
Or you just want to sit down and not ever get back up?
You just want to squat and never get back up?
That's not God's will for your life.
The Bible's telling us here
that we are supposed to meet for the master's use
and prepare them to every good work.
You know what that means?
Like, Lord, what will that have me to do?
You know, help me to preach the gospel.
I want to get people saved.
You know, I'm gonna throw out the trash.
No amens on that one, amen.
You know, I want to organize, you know, what, you know,
get me some to do something.
I want to be prepared for every good work.
Not like, do I have to?
No, you don't have to, sit down.
You don't have to do anything ever again.
I don't want you to do anything.
And I'm being honest with you.
You know, I don't like that kind of talk.
I think it's weak.
I think it's disrespectful to the service of God.
And I think you got a bad perspective on the ministry.
No, you're giving me a bad taste for the ministry.
Then go to some non-denom church
where you could stare into the purple lights
and inhale the smoke and listen to the weak preaching.
And all they want from you is to be a warm body,
giving to Israel, don't feel like serving.
Then just say you're gay
and that you support Benjamin Netanyahu.
How about that?
Just say that.
Just say you stand with Israel.
You know, instead of saying
you don't want to do any work for God,
just say you support, you stand with Israel.
How about that?
Just say that.
You've said it all already.
The Bible says we're supposed to be prepared
unto every good work, okay?
And I get it, some people get burned out,
but quite frankly,
I don't think people are doing enough to burn out though.
Oh, is that, are they?
Are you, I don't know.
I don't think people are doing enough to get burned out.
It's just a fact.
You know, he said, well, how do you know?
Because of the fact that we have a young church.
Our church is young, right?
Like the men in our church are young.
We're not, it's not a church of a bunch of 40 year olds
and 50 year olds, no offense to anybody in the 40s.
I'm in my 40s, by the way.
40s and 50 year olds, how old are you?
Why are you speaking in Chertofsky?
17, how old are you, Adrian?
23, we got young people, you know,
bear the yoke in your youth, you're serving God.
You know, you got the vinegar.
You understand what I'm saying?
It's not like we have like an old church
with gray heads, just struggling.
We got a lot of people who are doing great things.
And look, if you're a 20 year old,
if you are in your 20s or in your teens
and you don't want to serve God,
you're being lazy, your testosterone is low.
And so is your Bible reading.
And you need to get to work or get to a non-denom church
but do one, do something though.
Do something.
'Cause you know, I wouldn't be saying this
if I was dealing with a church
that was filled with 45 to 60 year olds.
I'm not trying to look at anybody.
Sorry, I looked at you man, I don't know.
You know, right?
But I'm not looking at a church like that.
And this is a Sunday Night Crown.
We have a lot of young people here.
We have a lot of young people.
You know, I'm trying to get you to remember your creator
in the days of your youth.
Because you know what?
There are people in this world who are saved.
They're in their 70s.
They're in their 80s.
And they wish they can do the things that you do.
They wish they can be in your position.
They wish that they had your energy.
They wish that they had your time.
They wish they had working legs.
They wish they can get off the toilet.
They wish, but they can't.
And then you got Christmas was like,
"Oh man, it was so hard."
What's hard?
What is hard?
Nothing.
Folks, the work of God, the burden is easy.
The yoke is easy and the burden is light.
And look, I'm not saying that burnout is not a thing,
but you know what?
You got to keep putting gas in the tank though.
You got to keep reading the Bible.
You know, Monday morning, fill up premium, amen.
Go to the spiritual gas station, which is the word of God,
fill up on premium, get that oil change,
meaning the Holy Spirit to fill you up.
Fill it up, vacuum yourself, you know?
Change the fluids and the oils or,
I don't know anything about cars,
the transmission or whatever.
Make sure everything's flowing and get back to work!
A vehicle's meant to be driven, right?
You know, it's just like, oh no,
my vehicle just stays in my garage.
Yeah, you just look nice or something?
Is that what it's for?
Folks, the House of God is not a museum.
It's not a museum.
It's meant for people and vehicles
who are actually going places.
And look, I'm not telling you to hit full throttle
and hit 80 miles an hour or something like that
every single time, but you should be going
from point A to point B at some point though.
The vehicle needs to get out of the garage though.
You know what I mean?
You got a tank full of gas.
The oil is running.
Do something, 'cause you know what?
I'ma tell you right now, you might run into a situation
where God pops all your tires, you ain't going nowhere
because you chose not to use it.
That's pretty much it.
Just read the rest of the chapter.
He says, "Plea also youthful lust."
Get people saved and the servant of the Lord
must not strive and all that.
Good, amen.
You know what Paul's telling Timothy?
Like, you got a lot of work to do.
That's what he's telling him.
Got a lot of work to do.
And Timothy's young, right?
Isn't he young?
The idea here is that he's a young man
and he's putting a major burden on Timothy.
He's saying, this is what life is.
This is how serving God is, you know?
And don't be apprehensive about serving God.
Folks, I'm just telling you right now, just listen to me.
You will remember these words.
You will remember the words that I tell you at this moment.
In eternity, you're gonna remember this.
You will wish that you had done more.
You will be in the millennial ring.
You're gonna be like, "I should have gone from point A to point B."
Or you know what?
When you're 70, then you realize, because your mind matures when you're older, you're
like, "Dang, I just kind of wasted my youthful years on laziness, slothfulness, self-pleasure,
video games, the affairs of this life.
I've been entangled with the affairs of this life, and I kind of just wasted my life."
Yeah, and you know what?
You don't get those years back.
Now, you can redeem the time, because the days are evil, but here's the catch, though.
You don't have the same energy and capabilities that you had when you were younger, though.
It's a fact.
That's just the way serving God.
Why not?
I have no regrets how I spent my 20s.
What did you do in your 20s?
Just serve God, literally.
Serve God.
I was in church, preaching the word of God.
I was getting people saved, discipling people, starting churches in my 20s, and I have no
regrets.
I wasn't out there in the world.
I wasn't partying.
I wasn't getting rich.
I wasn't getting, there's no money in the bank, but I have no regrets.
I got no vehicles, no possessions, but you know what?
I got a bunch of riches in heaven though.
I got no regrets.
I used my youthfulness, my strength, my energy of my 20s to just invest it all into the house
of God and to the work of God.
You know what?
No regrets whatsoever.
And I'm still young.
Okay.
Don't laugh.
But I'm talking about my 20s.
When you're in your 20s, you can do that stuff on two hours of sleep.
Right?
I mean, I know some of you guys can't.
I was able to do that stuff on like four hours of sleep, five hours of sleep.
You know how it is.
Because you do it with video games.
You know, you just, right?
I remember you on there last night.
You know what I mean?
Probably on there till four o'clock in the morning.
Then you got ready for church like in a couple hours or whatever.
Your youth for the Lord.
Remember you're creating the days of your youth.
And look, I'm not trying to be disrespectful here.
I'm done.
All right.
I'm not trying to be disrespectful here, but let me say this.
You could go talk to some of the older people.
I didn't say old.
I see older people and they'll tell you you're very fortunate.
You're a young person.
I wish I would have been saved at your age.
I wish I would have had those years.
Don't waste your years.
Be prepared unto every good work.
And don't just buck responsibility, buck the burden.
Welcome it.
Yeah, but it's so hard, it's so difficult, then take it anyways because you need hard
things in your life.
Pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the hardships that you've allowed into our lives, Lord.
And maybe there's people here who experienced a lot of hardships growing up.
Maybe they lived a hard life.
Maybe they went through a hard childhood.
But you work all things together for good and maybe it was those hardships that they
experienced that made them the great Christian they are today.
Help us to realize that hardships are essential for us to be better Christians.
Help us to use our youth to expend ourselves for the things of God and not to shun the
work of God, but rather shun profane and vain babblings, shun excuses, shun and flee youthful
lusts that can destroy our lives, Lord.
I pray that you'd help us to, like Timothy, endure the afflictions of this world and not
allow ourselves to be entangled with the affairs of this life, that we may please you, Lord.
And we know that, Lord, there's going to come a day when we're going to look back and either
we will regret it or we'll be thankful that we did it.
We love you and we thank you.
We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen.