Be Ready

Announcements

No Youth Group for thanksgiving Nov 27th

OCC shoe box items bring next week

Help set up for Family Life Center

Game

Oreo Challenge

Intro

The last two weeks we were talking about our focus, and why our focus is important. This week we are finishing up the last chapter of 2 Timothy, and in this chapter we can see a couple of things. This chapter is kind of broken up into two different sections. First this chapter is giving Pauls last bit of advice to Timothy, kind of like his last charge. Secondly we see Paul giving his requests to Timothy on what he would like Timothy to do for him personally. The majority of the time we will spend talking about the first half of this chapter.

We must be prepared

In the beginning of this fourth chapter of 2 timothy we see that we have to be prepared, and if Paul was telling Timothy to be prepared in his day, how much more should we be prepared today.

2 Timothy 4:1–2 NIV

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

Paul starts out by reminding Timothy where his authority comes from. He is not just speaking out of his own desires for Timothy, but Paul is reminding Timothy that these are the things that he believes that God has told him to pass on.

Paul is kind of summarizing everything that he hopes Timothy will do for the rest of Timothy’s life.

The first thing that Paul mentions is to Preach the word. Now for you and me this may look differently. You may not have a church or a large group of people that you stand in front of and actually preach, but for each of us we all have a friend group that we can have the opportunity to share the Gospel to, and that is what Paul is referring to here. No matter what happens, share the Gospel. No matter how difficult life gets, share the Gospel. Paul continues when he says be prepared in and out of season, what he is meaning here, is just what I just mentioned always be ready to share the Gospel. Whether you are at your school, or at a Taylor Swift concert, we should be prepared and willing to share the Gospel with the people around us, because we never know who God will put in our paths.

Conversation with TJ at Auglaize fair

Next the passage tells us that we are to rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.

Right now our culture feels like they should be able to do whatever they want and that everyone should freely accept them for who that they say they are, without any pushback. And a frequent statement made is dont judge me. Well I hate to break it to you, but Paul is telling Timothy here that it is actually our responsibility to point out where other believers have fallen short, but it also mentions that we should do it with great patience and careful instruction. So we shouldnt just walk up to someone thats in the middle of doing something wrong slap them up side the back of the head and tell them to do better. Even though sometimes we may want to. But we are called to make sure that we are keeping our fellow believers in line with what the Bible teaches, and unfortunately I believe this has become lost so frequently in our culture today.

So we have to be prepared to share the Gospel with people whenever and wherever we are, and we should also be ready to speak to our fellow believers where we feel they are falling short of the Bible’s teachings

We Speak Truth

SO not only do we have to make sure that we are ready to share the Gospel, but we can also see that we must speak the truth.

2 Timothy 4:3–5 NIV

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Paul in this passage is telling Timothy that there will be a time where people wont want to hear the truth, but will instead want people to just tell them what they want to hear, and only listen to people who tell them that they are correct.

Does this sound familiar to todays culture. What Paul is talking about here is what is known as an echo chamber. What an echo chamber is, is when a person surrounds themselves with other people who all believe the same thing, so they never hear other points of view. This is why so many people can be amazed when something happens outside of their viewpoint, because they never knew it was even a possibility. Unfortunately with our technology and the algorithms that control tiktok, instagram, facebook, and every other social media platform out there, it is very difficult to avoid being in an echo chamber. All of these platforms know exactly how long you stopped to look at different things, and they can guess what you will want to watch in the future. Which is what fills your for you page, and why all of the sudden when you watch one new tiktok trend dance, all of the sudden thats the only thing you see for like two weeks.

But Paul is telling Timothy that not matter what happens to keep focused on his work, kind of reiterating what he told Timothy in chapter 3. Not to get distracted by things that dont matter but to focus instead on his work as an evangelist.

In the same way we are called to do similar things, not to get distracted by things that dont matter, but to keep our eyes on Christ. Get your school work finished, and finish it well. Because remember anyone can start a race but only the truly committed can finish it.

We must persevere

Finally I want to look at the last portion of this chapter, and through this I think we can find that we must persevere.

2 Timothy 4:16–18 NIV

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

As you are doing the work of Christ, and as you are looking to serve Christ, there will be people that come up against you, you may be abandoned by friends, even Paul says that he was left alone and deserted. And yet he forgave them. But notice in verse 16 he states that no one came to his defense but the Lord stood at his side. He mentions that even though there was no person to walk with him he was not alone, and that Christ was with him even in his hardest struggles.

The same is true for you. Even when you think that you cannot go on, that there is no way that you can take another step, if you are a follower of Christ, than He is your strength, He is the one that will carry you through your darkest days, but we want to be here to help as well. We dont want you to feel abandoned like Paul did.