Rut, Rot, or Revival: Errors in Thinking

Well, as we continue on in this series that I've been doing a rotter Revival today, when it came to. I wasn't sure what to do for a title. So you'll see on your sermon notes. It's got one title and then, it says, or couldn't decide. So I just put them both on. And afterwards, you can tell me which ones fit a little better. Our main scripture today is from 2nd. Timothy chapter 1 verses 3 through 8. Since I think God whom I serve as my ancestors did with a clear conscience as night and day. I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears. I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I'm reminded of your sincere Faith, which first live in your grandmother Lois. And then your mother Eunice and I am persuaded. Now, lives also lives in. You, also, for this reason. I remind you to Fan into Flame, the gift of God. Which is in you through the laying on of my hands for the spirit. God gave us does not make us timid but gives us power, love and self-discipline. Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

You know, that you read through that scripture. It becomes pretty clear that, you know, this passage contains kind of a classic example of a man who, you know, if he wasn't already in a row, he's heading in that direction.

And, you know, Paul who knew that he was about to retire. Or in other words. He knew that the Lord was going to be calling him home soon. He felt compelled to write a letter to his young coworker Timothy. Which leads me to believe that Paul was nearing. The end of his journey. He was beginning to see some things in Timothy that made him believe that maybe Timothy was starting to struggle.

You know Paul talks about his time as a prisoner in the many times. He had been jailed for what he was preaching and teaching and no doubt. Timothy saw all those things. Timothy saw how Paul was treated in, you know, maybe it was beginning to get the best of him. Me and Paul knew that Timothy had a strong faith. He knew his grandmother and his mother and that they had taught Timothy the faith at a young age. So he knew you had a solid foundation.

But he knew that everything they were going through was wearing on him. And you know, I think that's why Paul said that phrase, they're of you note to Fan into Flame, the gift that God has given you. He means his faith tube fan it into a flame. Or if you look at the King James version of that. It says, stir up the gift of God.

He's reminding Timothy to not lose his face. And we know that God never uses unnecessary words in scripture. If it's there. It's because it needed to be. So if Paul was writing this in this letter to Timothy, it's obvious that Timothy needed this or it wouldn't have been written.

And you know, that last verse that passes second Timothy 18. So do not be ashamed of a testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

Like I said, Timothy had been with Paul for a long time. So there's no doubt that he had seen all the trials and tribulations that Paul had went through. You know, Timothy was always tagging along. So most of the time when Paul got into trouble. That probably meant, that Timothy got into trouble, a lot of those times, you know, the whole guilt-by-association thing. He may have not said those things but he was with him.

And Paul notice the little temptation to be ashamed of that time. They had spent in prison for the gospel or to be ashamed of the trouble, but they stirred up some places. But Paul is telling him to not do that. Don't shrink from the Affliction. That's brought upon you because of your willingness to share the gospel. Don't back away from it because God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of strength and love and power. And we need to remember that. In 2nd, Timothy 2:3, Paul said, join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ. Jesus. Like I said, you know, Paul sees that his young companion is tempted to pull back from the task that they've been given.

And Paul knew that Timothy was a good man. He knew that Timothy had been raised in a Christian home with a strong faith. So he knew

that this wasn't really the way that Timothy wanted to live his life. He didn't want to live his life in a timid fearful way, being afraid to advance the gospel. So Paul is trying to encourage him here to stand strong and to not fall into the rut and join with everyone else and just living up to the status quo.

I need a really as I thought about that and I prepared and this is what this entire Series has kind of been about that wake-up call that warning to all of us that we don't want our own faith to fall into that place. It can become easy. Especially after we went through the last couple years of covid-19 are as much time together, not near as many functions happening and things like that. It's easy for face to grow stale and for us to stay in that fearful mindset that so many people adopted during this time. But that's not how we're supposed to live. So how do we get to the Revival side of this series? You know, we've talked a lot about the rut in the rot and we want to begin moving towards Revival and we're just going to touch on that briefly today, but I wanted to get started and toes are in his book. He uses a very good illustration. I think to kind of get it across the hell, revival can begin to happen in our lives. And what does he compares? The coming of Revival in your life to the coming of spring?

Your toes are talks about when we're in the dead of winter, and it seems that the snow has been there in the cold forever. Things can begin to look a little bleak.

Snow's, pretty at first, right? We at, we like it if we get it on Christmas morning, but any other day, it's not near as pretty. The cold is colder. And the snow is wider, and you knows we see that out there across the entire landscape. It can seem like there's just nothing there. There's no life. We don't hear the birds chirping like we normally would, we don't see all the pretty flowers and leaves on the trees. Just everything is Stark and Bear.

but then, The days start to grow a little bit longer. You have days like yesterday and today. Where it's a little bit warmer outside and after a while, all those patches of snow that have been there for the entire year, start to melt and we begin to see them replaced by patches of Grey.

And then, as the days, get a little sunnier and warmer and longer, we begin to see buds popping on trees. Flowers, starting to come up out of the ground and it's proof that there are signs of life in this landscape. Even though four months, it had been gone.

And you know, toes are Compares that to, you know, there is such a thing of as going through a season of winter and your spiritual life. We've all been there at one time or another that time when everything seems cold start bear and dark. Not a place. We like to stay. Not too many people vacation at the North Pole during the winter. For a reason. It's dark and cold. But yet we can get to that point where even though as life is taking us into that winter. Because of the blood of the Lamb, we have hope of the coming spring.

That to me, is just always a part of the beauty of, you know, this being the season of Lent this being what leads us up to Easter, because we get to see that played out in the world around us. We see it in the landscape that life coming back into something.

But, you know, praise the Lord that seasons in our spiritual life. Can pass just like the seasons. Do in real life.

No, just as we know that at some point, which you never know. When an Indiana that we will actually cross from Winter into spring, but it will happen.

You know, we can have that same hope in our spiritual life that, you know, God is going to continue to lead us there. We can have a spiritual Springtime in our life when we feel the Life coming back into it when we can see the Life coming back into it, but How do we get to that sort of place? There are many ways you can do it. There are hundreds of books out there talking about it. But, you know, King David set a pattern for us, I think. Yo, David confessed and repented over and over again. We see that a lot whenever King David's mentioned in scripture and really if you also read through the songs, you can't help but notice I think some of the different seasons. Better there throughout his life.

You know, if you knew the timeline of where some of those psalms matched up with events that were going on in his life. You can see some of that and, you know, if you read through a lot of the songs. So of them, start out with confession and repentance for things that David wishes, he hadn't done in his life, but he regrettably did. But then many times those psalms as they continue to turn into worship and praise. For the hope that he has. And it can be that same way in our lives, you know, if we will take the time to do that cuz, you know, it seems like for King David. I think maybe a big part of the songs for him was maybe it helped him to write it out. Maybe that was how King David processed, a lot of the stuff that was going on in his life was to Simply, write it out to write down his thoughts in his feelings.

Your toes are had what he called his pad and pencil method. He's a genius at naming things. How you can guess from the pad and pencil method. What toes are recommended you do is sit down and read your Bible daily. And as he do have a pad and paper there. And as you read a particular passage of scripture, write down the things that you read that scripture that don't necessarily match up with your life.

And then it's you read and you write those things when you end your time and prayer, you can ask God to help you get your life more in line with scripture.

An example toes are gave us. He said, you know, read The Sermon on the Mount when you read The Sermon on the Mount. And the Lord says to you, you are that person, write it down. As you continue to read through The Sermon on the Mount and you realize that you may be wrong and how you're acting here or there? Write that down, take note of it. Then when you finish your reading for the day, set your Bible aside and prayerfully go through your list of things that you've written down that day with the Lord. Asking him to help you. And then to empower you to live your life in a way that is more open. To the movement of the Holy Spirit and that is more open to Allowing God to continue to work in it so that you can get your life back on track.

I know one thing he said is that you should question yourself like a doctor as you read through that list, trying to find out what's wrong.

You know, you already know the symptoms. You need to try to get it the causes of those things. And that's why you want to ask those questions for God to make that clear to you. Because if you are evasive with God, then the winter will continue.

If you're evasive with yourself and, you know, read through a passage of scripture and think I do know, I I'm good on all that. If you're evasive with yourself than Springtime is never going to come. This all too often. What happens when we read that and we might see something that sticks out to us. We think. Well, my life doesn't quite line up with that scripturally.

But then we rationalize it. Well it's because of this that I don't do that or it's because of this that I it's okay for me to do this. The problem is what we usually use to rationalize it as the values of our society. And we all know that the majority of those do not line up with Biblical values. So, we need to be sure that we're using God's word.

Do you know that has a companion kind of for his? Pen and Pad method that toaster had he suggested some questions and he said that, you know, and quiet silence. After you've spent your time and God's word. You need to ask yourself some tough questions. Occasionally. And I've put just a few of them on there, you know, am I always truthful and honest?

That's a tough one. Answering it. Are, you always truthful and honest and everything that you do and everything that you say?

Do I have any habits? I'm ashamed of to let anybody know that I have.

You know, the funny thing is we think that, you know, just because we can hide those habits from the rest of the world that we can hide them from God. Truth is, you can't. God knows, everybody's browser history.

What do you hide? When the pastor or someone from the church comes over to your house? I like that one.

Got to tell you my days of working with the Department of Child Services. There are things. I wish people would have had before I came to the house, but they didn't. You know, I used to have a guy at the church in Wyoming. That every time I would go to his house, he would offer me a beer. Every time I wouldn't be there 5 minutes before he would offer me a beer and every time I said, no, I don't drink. But you can feel free to but what was refreshing about that as he wasn't trying to hide it.

And that's often the way we should be in things. Do I gossip about people? I know, none of us are guilty of that one. We probably could have left that off the list. Where do my thoughts go? When I take off the leash?

When you just let your mind run wild, where does it go? Does it go to the places that it should be going? Is it go to the places that? You would want God to know about that. It's going. Nana's. Last one was a, my faithful and prayer.

Do we pray every day? Do we spend time and God's word every day? You know, those are just a few questions and I mean, even if you just ask yourself a few of those questions every day. It's going to change the way you live your life, but, you know, have to remind you that if you answer those questions, evasively. If you are honest with yourself, if you aren't honest with God, you can be sure the snow is going to fly. And your spiritual life? The snow and the cold, and the bitterness will return. Or you can answer those questions, honestly. And ask God to help strengthen you everyday to live your life in a way that honors him and you will begin to see Springtime come. In your heart and your mind and in your life.

But you know, it all boils down to trust. You have to trust God enough to be willing to put your whole life in his hands, to put your life in the hands of the one who loves all of us infinitely more than we could ever imagine.

And if you failed him, if you've failed in some way, you just need to be honest. And admit that.

Noah a Schulman on my bus, came home the other day and he was on the bus. He got in trouble for something at school, and he was talking to me about it. And I said, yeah, I understand. My mom was a school teacher. I knew if I got in trouble at school. I better just say it when I got home, first before she had to drag it out of me. He's at his mom's a teacher at the school. So,

You know, it's the same thing in our walk with God. So often we think we're hiding it. That we're the only one that knows it, but he already does.

In your heavenly father will not turn his back on, you in anger, and say you disappointed and betrayed me.

God will never do that to you. And what we need to remember is that the blood of the Lamb can cover at all, no matter what it is. No matter how offensive, it may have been, no matter how ashamed you might be of whatever it is.

The blood of the Lamb can cover it all. Jesus will get you out of the rut.

The part of Jesus getting you out of the rut begins with, you being honest, with yourself and honest with God. so that is something we need to remember and I thought, you know how fitting is it that as we talked about this today that It's a first Sunday of the month when we do communion. That you know, we've talked about how Worthy is the Lamb and how the blood of the Lamb is lot. Washes us, clean.

And it truly is.

But sometimes. That falls into just an empty ritual that we do once a month and we forget the power in it. We forget what it can do, what how it can change lives, how. Anything in our life that we've done in the past and anything we might do to fail God in the future that if we simply repent and turn to him. Those things can be covered. By the word of the blood of the Lamb. As we get ready to do communion today, just continue to quietly, examine your own hearts. And as we do it today will be upfront here and passing it out. So you'll be able to get up and come. Get the trays, and if you can't walk too upfront to get one. That's fine. Just stay seated where you are, and my mom and Millie.