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[0:00] Turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Dave read our text. Well, guys, it's 2019. Are you guys ready for the new you?

[0:17] Right? I hope all the trees are down. Apparently not. All right. We talked about that last week, who the go-getters are and who aren't the go-getters, right?

[0:36] I know that for Danielle and I and Jordan, we've enjoyed this 2018 and we're praying for God's continued blessing in 2019.

[0:47] So how many of you guys do that whole resolution thing? Any of you guys sit down, make some resolution? Is this like a Squamish thing? Like, we hate change or something like that?

[1:02] Is that, we want to go back, if we bring those horse and carts back, we would kind of thing? Well, I made a resolution. I made a resolution to change our laundry detergent because, no, no, no, it's a big thing.

[1:19] Because it's shrinking my clothes. You know, as I've been living, my clothes are becoming tighter and tighter. So I made that resolution to change my laundry clothes.

[1:33] However, my son has decided to step in and say, he just said, BK, I think you need a trainer. So he's volunteered to be my trainer. So he said in about six months, he can get me in about as good shape as Ray Krumay.

[1:49] So six months, it's all it's going to take here. But we all set out to make changes one way or another. Ready? Right? Whether they happen January 1st or any other time.

[2:01] There's usually admittance that something is off in our life. Sometimes we're unhappy. Sometimes we need to make some type of an adjustment. Well, there's a couple of things here that I want to have just a short little pastoral talk with you that we want to help you spiritually with.

[2:21] So there's a couple of announcements that we have for you. Dave, as you know, is the primary leader in the Journey class. So Dave's actually looking for help for a new name. New name.

[2:33] Okay, but what we want to do is we want to offer short, small classes that would be of growth and benefit of questions that you might have. It gives you a couple of hours, you know, over a three-week period.

[2:45] It's like three hours of a tent study. I know in my growth group, a lot of people have been asking about they would like a survey of the Old Testament to see how the Old Testament fits into life. And I think that's a great question.

[2:56] It gives us better understanding. Next weekend, we're featuring the Breakfast Club. So we're inviting you guys to join Sabian's Bacon Cooking.

[3:10] And Chris Mitchell's volunteered to share his testimony with the men. I think we're generally encouraged by testimonies to hear how God has reached down in our own miry clay, plucked us up, redeems us, and then puts us on a path to making us more like him.

[3:28] Right? So it's an event that we all can become a part of. The third thing that we have is on February 22nd, we're actually going to have a men's retreat.

[3:43] This is still taking shape. I've got a few of the guys working on the fun part of it, of bringing some action-packed. But I want to speak to the men here.

[3:53] I'm actually bringing in one of my good friends. I consider him the manliest man that I know. If there was any guy that I could emulate that I know personally and that I try to emulate is this man.

[4:06] He is a godly man. He's a loving man. He served in the U.S. Air Force. Served in the Pentagon, the White House. This is the guy who was in charge of the nuclear codes.

[4:21] This guy reached the epitome of his career, gave it all up, and became a pastor. So he's actually a children's pastor in St. Louis, Missouri, right now.

[4:33] He's a great father, and he's a great grandfather, and he's a great husband. He's a great outdoorsman. So I told him, of course, when we come out here, we live in igloos, so he's more than excited to join us here up in Canada, right?

[4:50] But I would encourage you men to take some time. We're going to build some social, fun things. Chris Mitchell's got a few ideas that he's working on. But I'm hoping it'll be a good time where we can come together as men and be challenged as we go into this new year.

[5:07] I'm going to tell you right now, it's not going to be a light, fluffy retreat. Ray aims for the heart. His whole desire is to see men desperately follow after Christ Jesus in a way that I've seen few men do.

[5:28] And the last thing I want to talk to you as we go into 2019, I want to invite you guys to come to the concert of prayer tonight. Finally, I would love to open up this new season with prayer.

[5:45] I would like to take this time to pray for our families, our church, our city. I think it'd be a good thing to make known the names of people that we want to see saved, to write them down and to pray for them individually, to come together supporting one another.

[6:07] But that's how I believe direction for a church takes place. It begins with prayer. As God brings us together, knits our hearts under the common goal of prayer, of simply seeking after the Lord.

[6:23] So I'm asking you guys, I know sometimes it's rough. You've got kids, there's things going on. But if you could steal yourself away for an hour, even an hour and a half, I think it'd probably be a real blessing and encouragement.

[6:37] There's always a group that is meeting here, and they're always inviting more people in. But if we want to take this right step in our decision making, I think it's important to go to Christ first.

[6:50] Amen? I believe that God has a plan for us. I believe that God desires to see your children saved. I believe God desires to see the people of this city saved.

[7:04] I believe God has a plan to see you grow in Christ like no other time in your life. I believe that God desires to see you be a part of your children, walking in maturity of Christ.

[7:17] And I do believe that God desires to see your neighbors come to a loving relationship with Christ. And you know who he uses, eh? You guys.

[7:29] So it's a great time to be equipped. So I thought I would share this sermon. It's a sermon I've preached before to a group of pastors overseas. But it's the challenge of, I am daring you to be a Timothy.

[7:45] The sermon title is, Dare to be a Timothy. For some of you who know Timothy, he's well known in the Bible. There's actually two letters that mention his name.

[7:55] He followed Paul all across the Middle East on his journeys. He's a very well-known man in the church.

[8:08] So let's just take a look as we build a little bit of a framework to get a little bit of context. This letter, as we notice in verse 1, is written by Paul.

[8:19] Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by command of God our Savior, and of Jesus Christ our hope to Timothy. So we have this letter before us.

[8:30] It tells us who wrote it and who it was written to. It doesn't tell us when, but church history tells us it's written between the years of 62 and 64 AD.

[8:42] Just two years after Paul wrote the letter to Ephesians that we're now studying, which we're going to get into pretty quickly. But this is this letter he's writing to Paul.

[8:54] Paul has actually taken over the leadership of this Ephesus church. Okay? So this apostle Paul goes on to demonstrate just exactly whose authority is writing this letter.

[9:08] It's written by the power of God, the authority of God. Paul's intention in the book of Timothy is actually told to us in 1 Timothy 3.14.

[9:19] I'll just read this for you. He simply says, I hope, this is Paul telling the people, the church at Ephesus, I hope to come to you soon. But I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth.

[9:43] There's a couple things we learn from that. Paul considers church, when the leaders gather together under God's word, to be the pillar and buttress of truth.

[9:55] It is us who stand against the lies, the false teaching, the false doctrines. Just some of the example that Carl was reading to us during our time of prayer.

[10:10] Those are worldviews. There's a gigantic clash of worldviews in our culture. One is led by lies.

[10:23] In others, it's the truth that stands against it. And we need to be pillars and buttresses of truth.

[10:34] But it's not like this church as in a building is to be that pillar and buttress to withstand the winds, the waves of lies that come against us.

[10:48] Who is the church? Who is the church? Us, right? We are. So if we don't stand for truth, if we're not the pillars, if we're not the buttresses of truth, if you settle for watered-down teaching that's not biblical, if you cease to follow after God, that pillar, those buttresses erode, and the forces of darkness are victorious.

[11:17] So the strength of the church begins with you. So this is this letter written to Timothy.

[11:30] But I want to pull out four characteristics that we learn about Timothy to be what God is calling us to be, to be in Christ.

[11:42] So the first characteristic we learn about Timothy is that we need to dare to be discipled. We not only need to dare to be discipled, we need to dare to disciple.

[11:55] People do not become strong in the faith on their own. They actually need older brothers and sisters of the faith who are willing to invest their lives in younger believers, willing to love them, care for them, teach them, open up God's Word.

[12:17] It's knowing when a couple's in trouble, older couples coming beside them, talking to them, encouraging them, showing them. So let's look.

[12:29] So first, we actually encounter Timothy in Acts 16. He lives in Lystra. This is when Paul's first missionary journey comes in. We believe it's around 45, 47 A.D.

[12:42] on Paul's first missionary journey. Comes to Lystra and he begins to preach the gospel. We find out that Timothy believes along with his mother and his grandmother.

[12:53] In fact, later on, Paul will commend his mother and grandmother for taking the time to teach Timothy the Word of God. We know that Timothy had a Jewish mom and a Gentile father and that he primarily learned the scriptures through his mother and grandmother.

[13:12] This letter arrives five to eight years later. Paul is returning on his second missionary journey. Acts 16 tells us that Timothy is a man who was well spoken of.

[13:28] And Paul wants Timothy to come on his missionary journeys. He meets Timothy, first missionary journey. He comes back and he sees that Timothy's changed.

[13:42] He's grown up. So much so that he wants him to come on this missionary journey. See, what's interesting is that Timothy didn't just go from a man who was saved or a teen that was saved to all of a sudden a man who's well spoken of to the type of man who was saved to the type of man that Paul would want him to come on his missionary journeys by accident.

[14:15] Something had to happen for him to grow in the type of stature that Paul recognizes. This is the kind of servant that I would like with me.

[14:27] We know that Timothy had grown spiritually. He had grown through the acquisition of Bible teaching and he served in his church.

[14:40] When Paul founded the church, it would have been a very small, tiny church. Probably a few families heard the gospel. God saved and it would grow. And Timothy, just a teenager, gave himself to serving in his church using his gift.

[14:56] God saved and he was a good man. Let me tell you who Timothy wasn't.

[15:09] He doesn't tell us this. But I can pretty much guess that Timothy wasn't the kind of guy who says, hey, I want to get it in shape. I'm going to get in shape.

[15:21] But I'm going to do so by watching the game, eating as many chips as I can. Right? We know the type. Hey, we want something to change, but we're really not going to do it. He wasn't the kind of guy who says, man, I really want to know my Bible.

[15:35] I really want to know my Bible. But you know what? I got to watch this latest sitcom or I have to make sure I get out for that third mountain bike ride of the day. Right?

[15:45] Somewhere along the line, a priority has to take place. It can be good or it can be bad. But somewhere along the line, Timothy had to make a decision that he had to give up something in order to grow first in Christ.

[16:02] I believe Timothy was the guy who went out and did it. The Christmas tree was down on December 26th. Right? He was ready for the next challenge.

[16:15] He's made his priorities. Probably one of the greatest miracles I've ever been a part of is when I lived in Ottawa. I was just starting off in CSIS.

[16:28] Would have been about 27, 28 years old. I'm just learning this whole new government career mode. And the church asked me to lead a Bible study with my peers.

[16:40] I had led one with Campus Crusade. So I said, great. So I had three guys in my Bible study. And we decided, I just asked them, which book do you want to start? And they started, let's start with Philippians.

[16:51] So the very first line of Philippians introduces Paul as a bondservant. And if you were here for my sermon on James 1, you would know bondservant is another word for slave.

[17:04] Okay? A slave to Christ. That first testimony, there was a guy named Gabe in the Bible study. Just said, what do you mean, slave? I said, well, what do you think a slave is?

[17:17] Gabe goes, I don't know. So I said, I'm going to give you the next week to come back and tell me what that means. He comes back to the next Bible study and he says, I've never been a Christian until I am now.

[17:36] Gabe started making some drastic decisions in his life. In fact, it was quite embarrassing as the Bible study leader because he would come more prepared than I was. He'd have his vine book and he would write out all the Greek words, trying to learn the original languages.

[17:52] And he was overdoing it somewhat, right? But he was trying to learn. Then I told him there was this word called commentaries, which saved him hours and hours of life. But he studied and he came from an Asian background.

[18:05] And his parents thought he was kind of wild by making this decision. But they inquired a little bit more into him. Next thing you know, mom and dad start coming out to church, get saved. Brother and sister get saved.

[18:16] He's a bank manager, actually, at the Royal Bank. Next thing you know, his employees are coming to church and many of them are being saved. Save went, or Gabe went all in.

[18:30] What was interesting about the other two guys in the study, there was never a study that they actually showed up with all their work done. And it was always, man, I just went to the game last night.

[18:42] Rough riders, you know, Montreal Canadiens were playing the Senators. You know, they had a lot of money doing a lot of things. And they honestly asked the question, because they were brokenhearted that God was doing something in Gabe's life that wasn't happening in their life.

[19:00] I said, guys, it's right before you. Gabe's given everything for this. He's pursuing this. And God is doing something wonderful to the point where Gabe's actually, the last time I heard, he's the head of the prayer ministry of this multi-thousand person church.

[19:23] He's just continuing and continuing to grow in the faith. Because somewhere along the line, he just looked at that word bondservant.

[19:35] And something had to change. So, Gabe took the chance to be discipled, to come under teaching.

[19:51] I know many of you have spoken to me, well, you're not always sure, you have a lack of knowledge, or you want to know more. That's why we have growth groups. There's actually many groups beyond our growth groups of men who get together and study God's Word.

[20:06] There's one-on-one discipleship. And that's why we're retargeting the journey class to be a little bit more specific for a shorter amount of time to help you with those specific areas.

[20:16] So, my first challenge to you in daring to be a Timothy is dare to be discipled and dare to disciple.

[20:27] The second thing we learn from Timothy is dare to be a Timothy by staying true to the gospel. By staying true to the gospel. Notice verse 2.

[20:39] It says, What Paul is stating is that Timothy is his legitimate child.

[20:53] Which is faith that, which is a declaration that salvation is based on faith in Jesus Christ. The opposite thought would be one who is not legitimate would be a child born out of wedlock.

[21:11] And sadly, Scripture gives us names. One man, such as Demas, served along with Paul many years and deserted the faith. The fact of the matter is, this world, this culture, has trappings which seek to sway a Christian's from the mooring of their faith.

[21:32] I'm going to show you something really cool. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. I'll tell you right now, it's before Revelation.

[21:50] I'm having a hard time digging into it myself. So this is a great passage and I'll preach this at some point. But it's chapter 12, verse 1.

[22:05] But there's this very interesting terminology. It says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight. And notice this next phrase.

[22:17] And the sin which clings so closely. The verbiage being used is that sin is actually an active participant and clinging to you and slowing you down.

[22:34] Sin is not just this neutral idea that just sits there and you just need to avoid it. You have to really, it's got hands, it's got grapples, it wants to draw you in.

[22:48] It wants to show you something. It wants to enter your soul by means of your heart. It's going to put things on movie channels. Sitcoms, ideas, things that we naturally laugh at are actually sin tentacles reaching out to grab us, corrupt us.

[23:10] They seek to sway us from the moorings of our faith. I'm sure you guys heard about the Lockhart's boat.

[23:23] The big windstorm that we had actually blew their boat up the river and smashed it. That's what Satan seeks to do with us.

[23:35] He seeks to come against us, to blow us into a point where we hit the rocks and we shatter. And some of us, sadly, are never put back together again.

[23:50] Sometimes, those trappings are we were hurt in church. Someone was mean to me. Sometimes, I had an expectation that God would do something.

[24:06] I believed God would do this. He didn't do this. Therefore, God doesn't love me. I walk away. There's all sorts of strange things that Satan comes at our heads and we accept these lies, right?

[24:21] Well, I know I'm married and I've heard this. My marriage is kind of tough, so yeah, I had the affair. Don't I enjoy some happiness? happiness? That's going to lead you to destruction on the rocks.

[24:40] I have known many men and women who have left the faith for money or fame, publicity, to seek physical desires and worldly attention.

[24:54] and many of them have soon learned that all that glitters is not gold. What keeps us happy only works for a season.

[25:12] Counseling a friend who's now losing his children because they don't respect him because of the affair that he had. Thought he was justified, but now he's finding out that his sons don't respect him.

[25:28] That's the price. I know in the moment you thought it'd be great. See, now the key issue that Paul is dealing with happens in verse 3.

[25:41] Take a look at this. It says, As I urged you when I was in Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.

[25:51] That word doctrine is just simply teaching. Teaching what the Bible says. Just doctrine teaching. Nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

[26:11] The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience. certain persons by swerving from these have wandered into vain discussion.

[26:28] Desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. These certain persons in the church are believed to have been the elders in this church.

[26:44] people who were seeking points of authority. And what they did is they didn't really attack the gospel. They added to the gospel.

[26:56] If someone comes here what's the you know the biblical definition of discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It's knowing the difference between right and almost right.

[27:10] And sometimes you can read a lot of books and they're very popular in our day right now they start slicing truth. Just little bits and they add their own speculations to them.

[27:24] And there's a key word they always use. You know what that word is? Love. Wouldn't it be more loving if we did this? Wouldn't it be more accepting? God must love that.

[27:37] It brings unity. So we're going to augment this idea of unity and by augmenting unity we have to do away with certain beliefs right? If we're all going to agree like the only thing I could think of that we all agree with all together is probably the Toronto Blue Jays are a great baseball team right?

[27:56] No? Oh I already got one dissenter in the back. You know so you start reducing it to something that we can all agree on which usually tends to be a pretty low bar.

[28:09] So here are these men these elders they're teaching and the gospel is not the main thing and when it talks about the myths and genealogies we've been there do you guys remember the book that came out the Bible code?

[28:26] Do you guys remember that? Came out a few years ago it was a book and it had all these numbers and if you could add up all the numbers in the Old Testament it would give you prophecies I didn't really sound Christian guys that got into that nonsense right?

[28:38] like the guy gave a number to everything and you could add it all up and Christian television is full of it you know we have these prophecies sadly my cousin loves Revelation so much that he didn't love his family and his wife and kids left him but he knows everything about prophecy and what's going to happen in Revelation it just became an idol a way for him to be augmented so what Paul's telling us to be discerning in who we listen to discerning what we watch just because people say they're Christians doesn't mean they are one of my friends is actually a very well-known evangelist and he was just simply telling me that he's convinced that the reason the Christian voice is so insignificant in the world today is because we chose to make the 70s about prophecies the 80s about signs and wonders rather than actually talk about the gospel we engage the world with all the fascination of the Bible and we forgot to engage the world with the message of Jesus

[29:53] Christ so the third way we dare to be a Timothy is that we must be about the word of God that is what's going to help us separate what is right and what is mostly right and I'm not talking about we're all about the word of God where we hold it up at a rock concert and say I'm 100% with this Bible it means I take that time during my day and I get a book pad and I actually study it I read it I purposely go under good teaching to learn more check out verse 3 as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine which is teaching or instruction see we happen to live in an age where a lot of people believe doctrine is bad to develop biblical convictions is bad because we might disagree with other

[30:59] Christians on something so we're told to do the opposite like I said we just water it down so the reason why error is so readily accepted in the word is because we do not know our doctrine we do not know our teaching and our instructions in the Bible has made us quite thin you see to know doctrine is to know how to live in fact the matter is we are told that we do not need more doctrine the world will tell you but we need more practical teaching believe me I believe that doctrine has to lead to teaching in action but doctrine is the heart of practical living our can't use Christian pastor and author writes do you love God now will you love him less if you learn more about him absolutely not the more you know

[32:00] God the more you will love him the more you learn of his excellences his holiness his grace his mercy his love the greater grasp of his character the closer you will draw to him so here in first Timothy Paul is telling Timothy to stay and straighten out their doctrine their teaching their instruction so that we would love God love his word what happens when we don't have our doctrine right what I love secure a lot of people think hey they put an emphasis on one sermon but true maturity happens not week after week of good sermons or month after month of good sermons it's actually years after years of good sermons you know that that's what solidifies that makes you pillars in buttresses of truth sure there's going to be some sermons you can remember just I've been here for a year

[33:11] I know some people say hey I remember this sermon I remember that sermon but it's even the sermons that you might not remember my desire and Dave's desire is to continue to give you a diet of God's word that it's filling you up and you might not even notice it taking place but it's what makes you secure and the fourth way to dare to be a Timothy is to think rightly like Timothy and avoid wrong thinking verse 4 because they got themselves so involved with myths and endless genealogies basically they were not stewarding what God had called them to God had given them a responsibility to share and preach Jesus but they weren't doing this so he says in verse 5 he says the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience in a sincere faith see what God

[34:13] Paul is telling Timothy here is you need to produce greater love for God which produces greater love for others not greater love for yourself you get that greater love for God doesn't mean you serve yourself more greater love for God means you want to serve others more right let's go back to Matthew 22 36 Pharisee comes up Jesus what is the greatest commandment of the law and he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind that is the great and first commandment and a second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself there's a question here what are the prerequisites for love this is what Paul tells us in verse five one love needs a pure heart two we need a good conscience and three we need a sincere faith what is a let's deal with the pure heart you know you guys as parents you're dealing with one of your kids they stumble into error and they'll sometimes say well I had a really good heart about it right or is that just me with my kid no sorry you know but we all want that right when we say hey

[35:43] I'm operating from my heart even though I made a mistake I was actually pure in my intentions say what the Bible has to say on this Psalm 24 3 says who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place he who has clean hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul toward his false and does not swear deceitfully Jeremiah 32 38 says and they shall be my people and I will be their God I will give them one heart and one way and they may fear me forever for their own good and the good of their children after them pure heart is one whose heart is designated to God amen that's a pure heart one that's designated to God sold out to God God loving people makes people who love others good conscience it's one it's one's conscience which is generally understood as man's inner awareness

[36:56] Paul would write in Romans 2 15 they show that the work of the law is written on their own hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them do you know the conscience is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us our conscience we know right we're involved in something and something just doesn't feel right in our brains tell we might not have all the information there but there's something giving us a warning tells us that it's wrong or something that's right that's a really good thing it reacts to accusation sometimes it produces guilt shame doubt fear remorse even despair those are good things that tells us when no one else is around

[38:00] I may have done wrong when we are free of offense we experience peace confidence joy hope courage contentment the way to find out if someone's conscience has been accusing them but they don't want to admit to it is when they blame shift make excuses they'd rather fight and argue they get angry irritable it's very interesting when I was in thesis and I would I'd have to do these interrogations or investigations and some people's consciences were quite funny I'd have the proof from a video camera of an operation audio recording I'd go before them oh no no I wasn't there on that day you know I put the file and the pictures there and they get mad right like they're so dead and they're still fighting that wasn't me you know close up next to him to his mom right they're still fighting it and

[39:14] I'd meet people like that all the time sometimes that's us sometimes it's just easier to admit I sinned I was wrong please forgive me the third element is called sincere faith and that means faith without hypocrisy we were just kind of talking about this recently about how do you know if true doctrine is right if you are pursuing a knowledge of God which tends to create controversy strife confusion snobbiness hatred and distrust probably God's not the spirit in the middle of that knowledge is good but if it's making you or giving you a desire to fight and battle everybody I don't think that that's the way God meant it to be you see when you are about right doctrine you will live it out and that will mean with a pure heart a good conscience and sincere faith but

[40:22] Paul gives us this warning in verse 8 he says in daring to be a Timothy there is a warning verse 8 says now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully understanding this that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient fact of the matter is without the Holy Spirit we cannot know the mind of God 1 Corinthians 2 14 tells us the natural the things of the Spirit of God they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned what was interesting with the men that Timothy was trying to straighten out with this church is that they were confident in their misunderstanding so learn that confidence is not always an indication of truth right and one of the ways they were mistaken is they thought by obeying the law brings salvation and that is probably still the greatest trapping in our church today if

[41:30] I follow this law and I do these things I gain favor with God and therefore God owes me he owes me a good life he owes me a good wife he owes me a good job he owes me obedient kids why because I followed the law that's not the place of the law the place of the law which is good is to demonstrate how distant we are from God and how greatly we need his love amen that I can't accomplish all this it's just a treadmill to nowhere but the law is good when it's applied lawfully Romans 3 19 says now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable for God the law is both morally right and good but the law alone is not good news

[42:32] Galatians 3 24 says so then the law was our guardian until Christ came when you were an unbeliever the law did keep you in check from being worse than you were but now that you know and you're free and you're justified by God you don't need it verse 9 says so so that is what we need to guard ourselves against the law so the ultimate question that comes up that you might be asking and I hope you are asking is can I really be a Timothy can

[43:33] I really be a Timothy some people believe that there's several types of Christians there's the Christians that are missionaries the Jim Elliot right they're called to a certain level of holiness that I do not need to pertain to then of course there's the pastor level I don't need to know as much as the pastors know then there's those well they're the prayer warriors they're the really sound ones they're the ones who do all the discipling I'm just a soldier doing what I'm asked to do when the time is given they believe that knowing doctrine is for far more gifted Christians for confident Christians you might even point to Timothy that he must have had been a superstar to have walked learned and served with

[44:35] Paul that he must have his star carved out in the great hall of fame walk of faith right let me tell you something that's interesting about Timothy Timothy was not an extraordinary man in fact scripture tells us that he often felt inexperienced that he felt immature for the heavy responsibility that Paul was placing on him so much so Paul knew that Timothy was both shy and needing affirmation talked to the other churches and said put him at ease exhort him and instruct him to not feel ashamed do you get that this is one of the greatest men who ever lived serving everywhere with Paul but yet he still had weaknesses still had doubts needed to be affirmed encouraged reassured

[45:48]  John Stott would believe it would not be unfair to call him a timid man we also know that Timothy often felt physically ill often in our day and age we'd say Paul why on earth would you have taken a man like Timothy to be on mission with you simple reason wise Timothy was faithful engaging and willing and ready to be used by God something I believe every single one of us can do and experience the type of life that Timothy was able to please pray with me