Apointed, Gifted, and Empowered by God - 2 Timothy Part 1

When Carl went away on vacation, his brother Ben promised to take care of his cat. The next day, Carl called Ben to see how the animal was doing.

“Your cat is dead,” said Ben, matter-of-factly.

“Dead?” said the stunned Carl. “Why did you have to tell me like that?”

“How should I have told you?” asked Ben.

“Well,” said Carl, “the first time I called, you could have broken it to me gently. You could have said my cat was on the roof, but the fire department was getting her down.

The second time I called, you could have told me the cat fell out of the fireman’s arms and broke its neck.

The third time I called, you could have said that the vet did everything he could, but Fluffy passed away. That way it wouldn’t have been so hard on me.”

“I’m sorry,” said Ben.

“That’s all right. By the way, how’s Mom?”

“She’s up on the roof,” said Ben, “but the fire department is getting her down.”

You know, how we communicate really does make a difference. People can tell how we feel about them from the words we use and how we say them. We are going to study a portion of scripture that is a powerful example of effective communication.

Anchor Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-7

Theme: Purpose / Gospel

Aim: Encourage a desire to see the world reached with the love of Christ.

The message today comes from what has to be one of the most intimate letters written in the Bible from a spiritual father to a son. As I read the first 7 verses in this letter try to picture the author, Paul, sitting in a prison cell. He misses his wonderful disciple Timothy. Picture Timothy reading this letter with a longing deep within to hear these final words from his spiritual dad. Their love is deep, their commitment to the gospel is powerful, and their desire to see the world reached with the love of Christ is real.

2 Timothy 1:1–7 TPT

1 From Paul, an apostle of Jesus the Messiah, appointed by God’s pleasure to announce the wonderful promise of life found in Jesus, the anointed Messiah. 2 My beloved son, I pray for a greater release of God’s grace, love, and total well-being to flow into your life from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! 3 You know that I’ve been called to serve the God of my fathers with a clean conscience. Night and day I pray for you, thanking God for your life! 4 I know that you have wept for me, your spiritual father, and your tears are dear to me. I can’t wait to see you again! I’m filled with joy 5 as I think of your strong faith that was passed down through your family line. It began with your grandmother Lois, who passed it on to your dear mother, Eunice. And it’s clear that you too are following in the footsteps of their godly example. 6 I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you. 7 For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.

When I read this scripture it stirs up something in me. I haven’t been able to read it in my personal study time without tears in my eyes. It’s a powerful reminder to me of what’s most important in this life.

Your life has a purpose. God created you for a reason. I don’t know your past, but I know that in Christ you have a future! What I hope you hear through this scripture is that God appoints you, gifts you, and empowers you to announce the wonderful promise of life found in Jesus, the anointed Messiah!

Purpose, meaning, fulfillment cannot come from any other source than God and His will for you. People are looking for power, love, and a peaceful mind in the wrong places. We can only find what we desire when we walk with the Spirit of the Living God.

In our scripture I want to bring out three points that I hope will stir up Heaven’s urgency in your life today.

First up, Paul says that he was...

Appointed by God

2 Timothy 1:1 CEV

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. God himself chose me to be an apostle, and he gave me the promised life that Jesus Christ makes possible.

The mighty apostle Paul. What an example in our Christian faith. He proclaimed the gospel no matter the cost. His life was poured out as a living sacrifice to God. He was crucified with Christ so that Christ could live in Him. For the sake of the gospel he was hungry, naked, beaten, shipwrecked, snake bitten, and wrongfully accused.

He was also a murderer.

In his own words:

1 Corinthians 15:9 (CEV)

9 I am the least important of all the apostles. In fact, I caused so much trouble for God’s church that I don’t even deserve to be called an apostle.

Before Paul became an Apostle he was a man named Saul who was an enemy of Christ and His church.

But God has a plan for Saul to become Paul. He had a plan to save him from sin, death, and eternal damnation.

Christ came to save the murderers. He came to love the unlovable.

1 Timothy 1:15 CEV

15 “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This saying is true, and it can be trusted. I was the worst sinner of all!

Paul was saying that “if God can save me then ANYONE can be saved!”

The truth is that God appointed Paul.

If God appointed Paul, has He appointed you? The short answer to that is YES! You are called to a new life in Christ.

Your life can be more than just the sum of minutes, hours, and days. It can count for eternity when you walk in the spirit and reach the world with the hope of eternal security.

You’re not disqualified. You’re not too sinful to have hope!

Consider Pauls words in his first letter to his spiritual son Timothy:

1 Timothy 1:16 CEV

16 But since I was worse than anyone else, God had mercy on me and let me be an example of the endless patience of Christ Jesus. He did this so that others would put their faith in Christ and have eternal life.

God saves hardened haters of Christ.

God can make the chief of sinners the chief of missionaries.

God wants us to see a seemingly powerless, persecuted, marginalized church that they can triumph by the supernatural conversion of their most powerful enemies.

No person is beyond God’s reach. YOU are not beyond God’s reach. He has chosen you!

Do you believe that you are appointed by God? Faith is really the differentiating factor. Once Paul encountered Christ, he repented, was baptized, and then he started telling about what Christ had done in his life.

You and I are no different, Christ loved us as sinners enough to give His life. When we come to Him in faith we have been set free from the old life. We are now appointed members of His kingdom.

We are appointed by God because He wants us to reach people with the Good News! It’s not for our own glory, but to bring God glory. We shouldn’t seek a position for a title recognition, no, it’s because our hearts ache to reach a lost world with the blessed hope of salvation.

In our scripture, Paul says he was appointed, he reminds Timothy that he was also appointed through faith, but he also reminded Timothy that he was...

Gifted by God

2 Timothy 1:6 CEV

6 So I ask you to make full use of the gift that God gave you when I placed my hands on you. Use it well.

We’ve all bought a can of paint. Before you leave the hardware store, they take the paint in put it in an electronic agitator. It shakes the paint to get it all mixed up and ready to be used.

Say you don’t use that paint right away. You may put it in a closet or the garage for a week. When you come back before you can use the paint you have to stir it up again to get all the chemicals mixed together for it to be able to coat the wall.

That can of paint is a picture of the Christian; they have to stir themselves up in faith in order to be effective in their spiritual work.

Jesus said something that I think it s a warning and a reminder for us to make sure our hearts are in sync with the Spirit.

Matthew 15:8 NLT

8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Timothy was instructed to “fan into flame” or “stir up” the gift of God that was given to him by the laying on of hands. To me, this is a reminder to be a doer of the word and not just a hearer. It reminds me that we can honor God with our lips, but our actions can prove that our hearts are far from Him.

The truth is that we have all been the gift of God’s spirit to do good works for Him.

Remember the day of Pentecost? Peter preached a message that is still relevant and true for us today.

Acts 2:38–39 CEV

38 Peter said, “Turn back to God! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord God will choose, no matter where they live.”

He says to repent, be baptized, receive the forgiveness of sins, and then he promised the gift of the Holy Spirit!

When you give your life to Christ the Spirit of God takes residence in your soul. This is a promised gift for all who believe.

Ephesians 1:13–14 CEV

13 Christ also brought you the truth, which is the good news about how you can be saved. You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show that you belong to God. 14 The Spirit also makes us sure that we will be given what God has stored up for his people. Then we will be set free, and God will be honored and praised.

There can be no doubt that Paul was reminded Timothy that he was a chosen messenger filled with the Spirit of God who imparted certain gifts and abilities to reach people with the gospel.

He was reminding his spiritual son that God gave him all that he needed to continue in the work that was started.

You and I have a work and a path that we are assigned in life. God is wanting you to re-kindle your fire and effort knowing that the Spirit of God is with you!

Don’t count yourself out just because you’ve experienced hardship or set backs in this life. We know those things are going to come, but you must remember that God chose you for a reason. You’re the perfect person for the job He has for you. There are people that you are supposed to reach, teach, and love.

The great danger we have in our lives is that we allow time to weaken our resolve. We allow circumstances to push us down. We allow other people to make us doubt the gifts God has given.

I’m telling you, as Paul told Timothy, to stir up the gift of God which is in you! Don’t give the enemy another moment of your life. Step up into the perfect plan of God for your life.

Increase you faith. Move closer to Him. Trust in the gift He’s placed in you.

You might say, I don’t know what gifts God has placed in my life. I’d tell you that you first and foremost must acknowledge the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and then work to develop other gifts in your life.

Romans 12 gives us a glimpse of other gifts in the kingdom of God. Prophecy, serving, teaching, encourager, giving, leading, kindness, and much more.

You might need to work on developing your gifts. A person with the gift of teaching who does not work to educate themselves first is not stirring up their gift for the Lord. A person with the gift of giving who does not work hard in order to earn more to give is not stirring up their gift!

You see, Paul is showing us that we must be intentional. You are gifted by God - He’s done His part. Now, like Timothy, we must do our part.

Why? So we can have some glory? No way! It’s for the same reason we have been appointed by God. It’s so that we can do our part to proclaim and show the good news of our Saviour Jesus!

Let me ask you a question: If we are appointed by God, if we are given the Gift of the Holy Spirit and gifts of ministry, then what stops us from doing more for the kingdom?

What stops us from boldly walking in faith?

Maybe it’s because we don’t believe that we are...

Empowered by God

Look at our scripture again…Paul tells us that he and we are appointed by God, that we have been given been gifted by God, and now what does he tell us in verse 7?

2 Timothy 1:7 CEV

7 God’s Spirit doesn’t make cowards out of us. The Spirit gives us power, love, and self-control.

What stops us from boldly walking in faith? Fear is what stops believers dead in their tracks. Fear makes us cowards who run from difficult situations. Fear makes us step back instead of stepping up.

Paul was telling his dear son in the faith that when you’ve been appointed by God and you are stirring up the gifts He has given you then you will walk in Power, Love, and Self-Control.

Jesus is our example. He even told us that we are to continue working in the power of God.

John 14:12 CEV

12 I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father.

This does not mean that we are going to eclipse Jesus’ miraculous work on earth, but our outreach would be greater (e.g., Peter in one sermon had 3,000 converts).

This is only possible because Jesus has gone to the Father and sent the Spirit.

Miracles are important, but some evangelists have done even greater things than these by preaching the good news to many thousands of people.

The gospel is what sets people free. We should seek that above everything else, not just signs and wonders.

Paul was reminding Timothy of this promise: God empowers us to reach the world with the truth.

We should be reminded too. We don’t need to be ashamed of the gospel. We should boldly proclaim the truth knowing that the power of God is at work in the hearts of people even if we can’t see it working. We boldly proclaim the truth in love believing that God is working to reconcile just as we have been reconciled.

Never underestimate the power of God. Never doubt the power of God. Never give up in the face of fear.

God has not given us a Spirit of fear! We have power, love, and a sound mind!

The Holy Spirit is the power of our lives:

Acts 1:8 CEV

8 But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.”

Ephesians 3:20–21 CEV

20 I pray that Christ Jesus and the church will forever bring praise to God. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. Amen.

The Spirit also gives us love, for the fruit of the Spirit is love:

Romans 5:5 CEV

5 that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.

Our love for Christ, for the Word, for other believers, and for the lost, must come from the Spirit.

The Spirit also gives us discipline and self-control; as a result we are not easily captured by our feelings or circumstances. When the Spirit is in control, we will experience peace; fear and cowardice will vanish.

If you find yourself motivated or making decisions in fear then you can be assured that you are not being controlled by the spirit of God.

Your life has a purpose. God created you for a reason. I don’t know your past, but I know that in Christ you have a future! What I hope you hear through this scripture is that God appoints you, gifts you, and empowers you to announce the wonderful promise of life found in Jesus, the anointed Messiah!

When I read this letter to Timothy, I sense and urgency in Paul’s tone. An urgency for Timothy to stay strong in his faith because he’s been given the purpose of reaching the lost and equipping those who have been saved.

That urgency hasn’t changed. There are people in danger. We can all name someone who is lost.

What would you do to save a person in peril physically? Is there a difference in the spirit?

If you saw someone hanging from a limb off a cliff, in order to save them you’d need to be strong enough to pull them up.

Spiritually it’s the same way, have you fanned into flame your gift?

Repent

Desire to reach the lost