[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:15] Take your Bible and turn to the book of 2 Timothy, the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4. And I remember having my father-in-law, Bo, speak for me on some things, and it seems very weird that now I am the father-in-law speaking for you.
[0:32] It makes one feel extremely old. And it's like I told you, we want to follow the Bible, and that in the Old Testament, Moses should be one of your key characters that you learn from, and that how Moses would go to his father-in-law for wisdom and advice.
[0:46] And some of that's sort of expected, but I want you to understand this, and I've told you before. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I believe that you, sir, are a man of God.
[0:59] I have just the complete confidence in you. I have not only the complete confidence in you that I would take my daughter that I love very, very, very much. And we can all make jokes about that, but a father loves all of his kids.
[1:12] There's a special relationship between his father and his daughters. And for a man to hand off the baton to another man, he is saying to that man, I have just incredible confidence in you. And so for a month ago, for me to be able to stand before a congregation, to hand my daughter off to you and say, Bo, I have just extreme confidence in you.
[1:30] It was a great honor. Tonight, now Lauren, I love you, but I don't know if maybe tonight is not equal to the honors that I have of not handing off my daughter, but being able to hand off, if you will, the Word of God to another preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[1:47] Words cannot describe how incredibly proud I am of the man of God that you are. When I first met you, I would not have let you marry my daughter. I remember the doorway over yonder.
[2:00] The wall was not there, and many things were changed. And all of a sudden, this young man came in, and I was going, Dear Heavenly Father, have you ever had one of those moments when you met somebody?
[2:11] And I was like, Well, we'll wait and see. And I'll tell you what we saw. We saw God in heaven take a piece of clay, and we have seen Him form and shape and mold that piece of clay into somebody that's mighty for His kingdom.
[2:29] I'm taking a portion of Scripture tonight, and I'm going to share my heart with you. When I was about your age, maybe just a wee bit younger, somebody challenged me to look in the Bible for what is your life verse?
[2:40] I wasn't raised around this and this kind of scenery, so I'll be honest with you. I don't really know what you're saying. But then I found out what a life verse was, and I was reading through the Bible, and I'm going to share with you tonight my life verse.
[2:52] It does not have to be your life verse at all, but it will be a verse and verses that I think will encourage you and challenge you as we take just a moment here to love on you. Paul looks at Timothy.
[3:03] Paul is going to give his life. This is the last epistle and the last letter that Paul is going to write. So the words of a dying man that knows that he's coming to the end of his days, I will assure you of this.
[3:14] When you get more and more age upon your life, what you say has more and more and more importance because you know that when you're young, your words are limitless, but you realize the older you get, and when death starts staring you in the face, you realize that your words are becoming more and more limited.
[3:29] Paul realizes that he has limited words, and so what he's about to share with this young man, he understands that he doesn't have just a plethora of words that he can share. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he understands I need to share my heart in this last letter.
[3:44] Verse 1, he looks at him and he says to young Timothy, he says, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom.
[3:56] Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and want. All together, 1, 2, 3, all longsuffering and?
[4:08] Father, we love you. We pray that you would take bow and you would use him mildly for your cause. Father, as Paul would give Timothy encouragement, I pray, Father, tonight would be just a great night of encouraging this man of God, his dear wife.
[4:19] I pray, Father, that you'd help us to be able to say what we ought to say and keep our mouths silent to what we ought not, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Paul is saying here in verse 1, he looks at him and he says, I charge thee.
[4:31] And, Bo, if I could just talk just between me and you and let the others just sort of join in, but I want to talk to you from my heart. He says, I charge thee. And I've got to be careful of talking too bold to you because I am your father-in-law and I don't want to run you away, okay?
[4:43] And also, God bless you with grandkids. I want them to come in by my house once in a while. I've got to be honest with you, son. I'm looking forward to that. But notice with me, he says, I charge thee. He says, I want you to understand that what we're dealing with right here, it's got some weight to it.
[4:58] It's got some value to it. See, this is a very serious task that you're undertaking. It's not a task that should be done casually. Paul is helping Timothy to see the weight of what's before me. He says, Timothy, I charge thee.
[5:09] Sometimes relationally in conversations, we talk to one another in a different way. But you know when the conversation changes, when somebody looks at you and says, listen, listen, listen, I need you to listen to me for a second.
[5:19] He shows him that this is not a casual thing. This is a very serious thing. He says, I charge thee. And then notice it's a very sober thing. He says, before God. Now, understand this. Everybody's here to support you and everybody loves you and everybody wants to be there to give you encouragement or whatnot.
[5:34] But son, one day you and I, we're going to stand before the great God of heaven. And it's a very sobering thing to understand this gift, this honor that God has bestowed upon us, that we're going to stand before the God of heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing.
[5:48] There's coming a time that we're going to give account of the ministry, of the blessings, of the gifts of God that God has given us. This is a very serious thing. It's a very sober thing. You look and it shouldn't be done casually.
[6:00] Don't ever do this thing carelessly. And he looks at him and he says, Timothy, and though Timothy was not an 18, 19-year-old young man, Timothy was very likely, maybe close to my age, but he was young compared to Paul in the faith and in the ministry of what he had before him.
[6:13] But he looks to him and he says to Timothy, he says, we're going to stand before God. See, before you ever preach a message to the people, God's going to preach a message to the preacher.
[6:24] And God's going to do a work in your life. And so all of a sudden, Paul is looking at Timothy, and Paul is saying to Timothy, he says, understand this. I'm going to give you some beautiful things. Verses 2, 3, and following, these are powerful things.
[6:36] But he says, I need to talk to your heart that you would understand that before you ever go out publicly, before you ever go out before a congregation, that the God of heaven is going to take into what you say and how you handle this ministry.
[6:48] And Timothy, it's a very serious, sobering thing that we don't handle as children. We don't handle carelessly. We, with great care, take this calling of God and we perform this because we know that we're going to stand and we're going to give account to a holy God one day.
[7:03] So he preaches to the preacher before he preaches to the people. And he says to them here, he says, now I want to charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
[7:15] And then he says these words, and we've all heard all this stuff before, but he says, preach the word. He says, I want you to preach the word. And we've all heard, some people put the emphasis on preach, and some people put the emphasis on word.
[7:26] And boy, we want to be Bible preachers without apology. We want to be Bible preachers. But I want to tell you, there's a herding forth. Bo, there's that unashamed bringing forth of the word of God.
[7:38] You know, it burns within our soul. It's a fire, Jeremiah said, that's shut up within me. And the truth of the matter is, people in this auditorium, they'll try to understand what we're talking about.
[7:51] But to be a preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it goes beyond our definition, and it goes beyond our words. And Paul is tapping into that kindred passion that rests between one man of God and another man of God.
[8:04] And he looks at him and he says, he says, we're going to stand before God one day. He says, you do this. Don't worry about pacifying the people. Don't worry about pleasing everybody.
[8:15] He says, you be focused and you concentrate on one thing, and that is you preach, you herald out the word of God. You don't do it, Bo, in your own spirit.
[8:25] You don't do it in your own power. Don't do it in the energy or the ingenuity of the flesh. There is a spirit anointing that spirit of God that abides within your life. You allow that Holy Spirit of God to take that living, breathing word of God to explode forth from your life, lovingly into the lives of other people.
[8:44] He looks to him and he says, oh, this is a wonderful, marvelous, sobering thing that we're going to stand before God. But he says, you preach the word. We see more things these days on how to double our attendance and how to promote our churches and how to grow this and how to grow that.
[9:00] And sometimes my heart is so grieved that we've been so misled into the wrong direction. Your job and mine, and I need to be reminded over and over, that our job is not to build the church.
[9:12] Our job is to preach the word of God. And as we preach the word of God and we disciple, and we put the word of God into people's lives, God's the one, let's the Lord build a house you're going to labor in vain, that build it, okay?
[9:24] So understand, your responsibility is to be a preacher of the word of God. Don't go on your own energy. Don't go on your own power. He says, I want you to stand, Timothy.
[9:34] I want you to preach the word. I want you to be instant. I want you to stand by. I want you to be faithful, identifying with the word of God. I want you to preach the word. I want you to be instant, in season.
[9:45] When it's received, I want you to preach the word of God. And when it's out of season and it's rejected, I want you to preach the word of God. And when it is popular, I want you to preach the word of God.
[9:57] And when it is unpopular, I want you to stand with the soul of a man of God, with no shame, and I want you to preach the word of God.
[10:07] I want that Bible to echo in the souls of every man in every part of this world. Lord, I want you to preach the word of God. Instant, in season and out of season, I want you to reprove.
[10:21] I want you to know the word of God in such a way that as a lawyer would stand before a jury and he would lay out systematically the evidence to bring about a conviction. He says, you, sir, don't let a lawyer outdo you.
[10:34] When you stand to preach the word of God, reprove. Bring them to the bar of God. Bring them to the truth of the scripture. Bring them to what the word of God says.
[10:45] And allow conviction to settle upon their soul. Reprove, rebuke. All that which is unholy and against God, Bo. You're going to have to stand against it. Because, son, you're going to understand this.
[10:56] If you don't stand against it, who will? I'm not talking about being a mean-spirited, ugly, hateful, spiteful preacher. I'm not talking about that at all. I want you to preach the word. Realize the sobering task that it is. But preach the word of God.
[11:08] I want you to be instant in season and out of season. Always a man that is standing by. When they say, oh, is there a preacher here that could bring forth and unfold the word of God.
[11:20] May your name be the first name that comes to the minds of men. Because you're instant in season. And you're out of season. Reprove, rebuke. And then exhort. May your life, may it be full of compassion.
[11:33] May you exhort them as a father doth his children. May you bring them close to yourself after you've brought forth as a lawyer the truth that convicts their souls. It stands against their sin. It brings them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
[11:47] May you bring them close so that they know that the messenger, though the message was hard. The messenger had a soft heart. A tender soul. Exhorting them.
[11:58] Encouraging them. Lift them up. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering.
[12:10] There's days in our younger life that some of this stuff maybe was a wee bit easier. There was a glamour on it and the glitter was still there. There's patience with people.
[12:22] But day after day and situation after situation and one crazy thing after the next, all of a sudden you find within your soul going, surely I'm wasting my time.
[12:37] And the spirit of God will whisper down into your soul. Preach the word. To be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering.
[12:49] With that gentle patience that God has had towards you. That you realize you're not doing it for the decisions of man. But you're doing it for the glory of God. And whatever it takes to continually bring forth the word of God.
[13:03] To illuminate and bring light upon the darkness of men's souls. You, sir, preach the word. With all longsuffering. And doctrine.
[13:15] Sort of a wee bit different way. Of saying, As God has taught you through the word of God. God's going to take you and God's going to take Lauren.
[13:27] And God's going to take you down a path and a journey called life. And the hard thing, Hefe, is when you and I would go through things, it was one thing when you and I would go through them.
[13:38] The thing that's challenging now in this church and looking at these men and their wives. It's when the emails come across and they're now going through some of the garbage that we've also had to experience.
[13:51] And you'll be able to stand and you'll be able to say longsuffering in doctrine. The doctrine is you will stand and you will say. I have lived this life consistently and faithfully before my God.
[14:05] And when I tell you this truth and I bring you this beautiful nugget of gold from the word of God. I can also tell you that God's sweet love is true.
[14:17] And let me tell you how God's love is true. I can tell you about God's grace being real. Let me tell you how God's grace is real. And you take all of these things that you've learned from the word of God. And you will wed them to your life experience.
[14:31] And you, sir, will preach the word. You will be instant in season and out of season. You will stand and reprove and rebuke. And you'll also exhort.
[14:43] And it will come from a soul that is full of longsuffering and doctrine. To the things that I say unto you. I, by the grace of God, have lived within my life.
[14:56] See, Beau, the greatest message, son, that you're ever going to preach. It's called the life that you live. Don't ever forget that your responsibility is to preach the word of God.
[15:11] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[15:31] Thanks. And we'll be back in a few weeks.
[15:48] Thank you.