Sunday School 7/24/22

2 Timothy 1:8-14; 2:1-7

Announcements:

Awanita To Bring:

Songs: Graves into Gardens

Build my life

Skits:

I need two teams this morning.

Team 1: Act out a scene

You have something important. When the owner returns, they find everyone has failed to guard what was given to them.

Team 2: Act out a scene

You have something important. When the owner returns, they find everyone have successfully guarded the item.

Transition:

This morning we are going to read about how Paul instructed Timothy to guard the message of the gospel.

The way he can guard the gospel is by passing it on to the next generation.

Let’s read 2 Timothy 1:8-14 and 2:1-7 “8 So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me his prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. 10 This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald, apostle, and teacher, 12 and that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day. 13 Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

2 Timothy 2:1-7 “1 You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer. 5 Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

Paul is writing to Timothy from Prison (vs. 8 [of me his prisoner])

Paul is making clear from the beginning, whether you live in comfort, or if you suffer for for the gospel, don’t be ashamed of the gospel.

This echoes something Paul wrote in Romans 1:16 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”

Three truths to learn right from the beginning.

The gospel is the most important thing when life is bad.

The gospel is the most important thing when life is good.

3. What’s most important is not the conditions of your life, but your commitment to the gospel no matter the circumstances. So Guard the gospel!

The gospel is the most important thing when life is bad.

How many of you have a desire to be liked and accepted?

Spoiler alert… we all do.

We all have a deep desire in us to like others and be liked by others.

By the way, that is something God placed inside of us. We were created that way.

However, What happens when we live lives unashamed of the gospel? Will everyone like you?

NO!

So how then do we do this?

vs. 8 “relying on the power of God.”

vs. 9, “not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”

vs. 12 “I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.”

We can’t live contrary to what we want, being liked, without the power of God in us.

A. We need to be constantly drawing from God in order to live unashamed for Him.

B. It’s risky.

What are some risks you have taken in life?

We shouldn’t ever take risks, just for risks sake…

We need wisdom.

However, we need to remember, every day we choose to live unashamed for the gospel, we risk our social status in life.

We risk losing friends, people thinking we are too weird, and not being one of the cool kids.

Is that risk worth it?

Paul is telling Timothy, the gospel is always worth it.

When life is bad, and it will be for all of us at different times, the gospel might be all you got!

The gospel is always worth it. Especially in bad times.

2. The gospel is worth it in good times.

Being a teen is a good time.

I loved being a teenager.

Some of the worst moments of my life happened when I was a teenager, but some of the best times of my life happened then too.

If you’re with us at camp tomorrow night, you will hear some of my story you’ve probably never heard before and I look forward to sharing that with all of you!

But something I learned as a teenager is that the gospel isn’t just worth it in bad times, it’s worth it in good times too.

2 Timothy 2:1-3 “1 You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

what are some things you don’t have to do in your life right now that you know you will have to do one day when you’re an adult?

Bills

not sleep when you want to

No summer vacation

4. Pay for wifi, power, water, literally everything…

It’s a wild ride being old man!

But, being a teen is rough too. There’s alot of emotional stuff going on right now.

The truth is, one phase of life isn’t better than another, but all phases of life are different and we forget sometimes what one phase used to be like because we are so focused with the phase of life we are in.

You know what you can be committed too in any phase of life though?

THE GOSPEL!

Paul reminds Timothy in 2:1, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

But also vs. 2, “Commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Y’all, we need people older than us, our same age, and at some point younger than us that are pouring the gospel into one another.

This is discipleship.

Paul was much older than Timothy and Paul poured his life, unashamedly into Timothy.

He discipled him.

We need faithful men and women in our lives committed to the gospel.

We need that in the good times so we are reminded of the gospel in the bad times.

Lastly

3. No matter the circumstances of your life, guard the gospel!

Paul closes with 3 illustrations. A soldier, an athlete, and a farmer.

The soldier teaches us to focus our priorities.

Soldiers always have a strategy and a priority.

Our priority must be the gospel. Our strategies to share the gospel may vary but one part cannot.

We can’t refrain from sharing the gospel!

The Athlete teaches us to be disciplined.

Like a runner training for a long distance race, We are in a spiritual race.

We can’t finish without God. We must rely on Him and be disciplined to always go to Him.

Lastly, A farmer teaches us that we reap what we sow.

If we never sow the gospel, we won’t ever see people respond to the gospel.

If we do share the gospel, at some point, God will certainly use you to bring someone to the gospel!

In closing, I want to tell you a story.

When I was in high school, we had a big tree fall in our front yard.

We went out the next day and my dad ran the chainsaw and we cut the tree up into pieces.

My brothers and I split the wood and piled it up in the back yard.

Now, some of the logs had little twigs and stuff hanging off the side and I would snap them off so the wood would stack better.

Well, at one point, I was snapping a twig and it was too green…

the twig bent back, my hand slipped, and my other hand responded with Newton’s third law.

Remember Newton’s third law?

“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction force.”

Well when the force of forward motion failed, the force of my other hand propelled the log at my face.

I hit my nose with a log guys.

I broke my nose and to this day my nose is not the same.

I have a deviated septum on the left of my nose, so I can hardly breathe out of the left side of my nose at all. I really only breathe out of my right nostril.

You know what I learned that day?

I’m never hitting myself in the face with a log again.

Never...

Because of the pain of the situation, I learned to guard myself for the next time I’m stripping twigs off logs.

If we share the gospel and we get into a bad situation, we will probably learn not to share the gospel that way again.

However, you want to frame it, if something bad happens sharing the gospel, we now have learned a valuable lesson of what not to do!

But we must do! to be clear, is share the gospel! We can’t ignore it!

With all gentleness, graciousness, and truthfulness, may we share the gospel to a world that desperately needs it!