The Fire and the Fear - No Reserves...No Retreat...No Regrets...

Doug said that uh I called him and and said um that 's I I'm just some book of the Bible has really got me and and I think that's it for the president's retreat. Actually, 2 Timothy was my second choice. I said, actually, I've been interested in the book of concordance, and he said, uh, Dad, that's not a book of the Bible. So, 2 Timothy went to the top. I have to tell you this about this. Um, I immediately like Timothy because it's about a young leader. Welcome to Fantasyland. Um, and you didn't pay for that. No, listen, uh 2 Timothy is only three pages in my Bible And about two and a half months of my Jesus time, I can't, when I get in a book, I can't get out. That was really funny when I told people I was in Exodus. And I can't get out. That happened one year. So I but I'll tell you why, and I think you will know why very shortly And you're probably one of the reasons why, because of what God knows about your life right now. Now, if you need to know about tornadoes, I got that. I've been there. If you want to know about hurricanes, got that, been in three or four, yep, caused a couple. So yeah, that yeah, I know about those. Now earthquakes, I'm not a California boy So I was out in California I mean I've been there many times but I was out there and a friend of mine started telling me earthquake stories. I don't know how many of them were true, but you know, he told me all these and then he said this was true He said, Ron, we had a a really, really uh that last really bad one. And he said at Berkeley, at the uh children's at the trauma center, trauma counseling center, after that quake, we had an influx, a flood of children. And we didn't we don't we usually have a few, but we don't usually have that many. And he said, they told me that the reason for that tremendous influx of traumatized kids was very simple. They just said something like this Things that never moved before were moving all of a sudden. And I thought if that's a cause for trauma, we might be traumatized Because things that have never moved before are moving incredibly in our lifetime, morally, politically, economically. Uh parentally, uh emotionally, I mean uh yeah, it's a it's a major quake. And that's interesting because we are living in a time of seismic change, and what I realized is I pan back from the the environment in which 2 Timothy was written, It was written at a time of seismic upheaval, especially in the lives of the two principles. The writer and the recipient. Of course, it was for all of us, but for Paul and Timothy. And it was a world that truly everything was moving. I tell you this about the book of 2 Timothy. It is one of the most personal, poignant, and relevant books of the Bible I've been in. And I've been there many times, but this time I've been really in for a deep dive. And though it's only three pages in my Bible. It's been a life-changing study for me, and I'm going to take you there. It's a book for people who have changing seasons ahead of them. Is that you? Some of us here there we're in the middle of a change, or we're on the edge of a changing season. So were Paul and Timothy And all the people around them. And they were in an environment where there was change all around them. Well, that might be both of those apply to us. Seasons that we're facing, and a world that's changing all around us. Okay, let's take a look at what we've got. Paul is in the maritime prison in the city of Rome. In fact, I've been in that cell where Paul spent the last days of his life And it's right at the bottom of Capitoline Hill where the Roman government is. That's where Paul spent his last days. That's where Paul wrote 2 Timothy. It's still there today. It was largely Maritime Prison was not your ordinary prison. It was for people who were going to be executed. This was death row. Paul writes 2 Timothy from death row, not knowing when the soldier may come to the door, and it will be his last day on earth. That's how he's writing this. And on his mind and on his heart is his dear son in the faith, he calls him, Timothy. He's been in Timothy's life for quite a few years. He is the anchor person in Timothy's life. We'll tell you more about Timothy in a few minutes. He is the young leader that Paul has discipled for a long time, and Timothy is about to lose the anchor of his life. There will be no Paul anymore. And these will be the cherished final words of the Apostle Paul And the parallels between their times and ours are pretty striking. Let's go there. Let's be in there for a minute Jesus has been gone for 30 years. There's a generation who has not seen Jesus, basically And already, and you can pick this up if you read 1 and 2 Timothy, there is a lot of false teaching of all kinds that is rampant in the church. They've departed far from Scripture. In fact, Paul describes it being authored by, quote, deceiving spirits. It's false teaching from hell, from what he says in 1 Timothy. And there's lots of people defecting from the faith. Paul says five times in the two books of Timothy, he talks, departed from the faith Sound familiar? Lots of people walking out the door. Persecution is increasing. Paul's concerned about Timothy. There are lots of distractions. There is a lot of controversy in the church at Ephesus. There's a lot of difficult people to get along with, and there's a lot of detours. A lot of contentious Christians. Fortunately, that was over after the first century. And There's a the generation of spiritual giants is passing away. The founders of the faith Peter will die about the same time Paul does. There are some who believe that Peter and Paul were executed on the same day. They were certainly in Rome in about the mid-60s. But in any case, the founders are almost gone. You talk about changing seasons. You talk about things shaking. That was a pivotal generation for the Christian faith. With all of that. A lot would be decided by how they navigated that. But what Paul is writing to Timothy isn't just for Timothy, of course. It's a message to another pivotal generation for the Christian faith. Ours. And for those of us who live in that pivotal generation. So here's what we're going to do. We are going to look together with uh Brad and Doug and me at six spiritual accelerants. For what I would call empowered faith. Because it's not a time for grandma's faith, even if you're grandma. Gamo 's faith means that all of our faith has to take a step up because we are living in incredible times So let me dig in a little bit to what I just said, the writer and the recipient. First of all, let's take a look at Paul He is the unsinkable warrior. Here's how I know. Let's go to 2 Timothy. Let's go right in. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. Love how he introduces himself. Then say a prisoner of Nero. He says, apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy. My dear son, grace and mercy and peace from God the Father. Boy, in that cell, would those words mean a lot. Grace. and mercy and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. For this reason, and we're going to really Camp on this in a couple minutes, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for which I am suffering. Even to the point of being changed like a criminal, but God's word is not changed. Paul, three things I want you to notice about how Paul introduces himself. Number one, His position. I am the I am an apostle. Has Nero changed that? Can Nero change that? Can Nero take away who he's who God says he is? Nope. It doesn't matter where you put him, including on death row, I am an apostle of Christ Jesus. He starts out with that. Nobody can touch his position. Secondly, he said, by the will of God. He said, where did God suddenly say, oh my goodness, Paul's in prison? What do we do? Paul's on death row, what do we do? He said God's plan hasn't changed. God's position for me has not changed. But nowhere in his introduction to any of his 13 letters does he mention the promise of life. Can't you see why he would mention that? Why that would be important to him right now? He said, Anne, I come to you with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. No one can take away his position, no one can take away God's plan, and no one can take away God's promise. He is unsinkable because he's he's he's hanging on to stuff that it doesn't matter who is against him. He can't take it away. He is still fighting. He's still got his gloves on. He's still pouring out, he says, his life. You know what's cool? He has got what I call a theft-proof identity. He has anchored his identity to things that can't be taken from him I remember when I um uh unexpectedly and unwillingly uh dehydrated uh some years ago. I was not planning on it, uh was not uh something I'd ever done And I'd never been in a hospital. Somehow I had avoided that all those years. And I thought that hospital was a four-letter word. I I mean I will go visit you, but I don't stay in hospitals. Yeah, well that night, that night, yeah, I passed out. Karen called 911. I said, we need to talk, Karen. That means the ambulance is coming here. And when the guy walked in, he said, uh, oh, I was nervous all the way out here. I'm like, great. Why? He said, I hear you on the radio and I've always wanted to meet you. Well here I am. So they take me to the hospital, and there it gets worse Because Miss Hardcore Nurse, the Iron Lady, is there, and she says, well, you know what? Because you've got the flu, you're going to keep dehydrating. So we're going to have to. the A-word, admit you. I want to tell you I'm not proud of my reaction. I was not. I was glad you weren't there. Until Karen leaned over to me and she said, honey, don't forget. She said, I want to tell you something you told me. I hate that. I can't argue with me. She said, remember, don't forget who you are. And don't forget why you're here. I was a good boy after that. We set up on the spare bed in the room, we set up a Christian bookstore with lots of uh recordings and books and stuff and Miss Hardcourt came up when I was gonna uh be be released at two days later and she said you know uh some of us uh think we know why you were here we've been talking down NER I said why was I here? She said because we think you were sent here for us pagans Those are her words. See, um, I forgot my identity there for a minute. And I needed to be reminded of who I was. Because I wasn't acting like God's boy, which is who I am. Look at your notes. An emperor, a prison, a death sentence have no power. To take Paul's position or yours, to touch God's plans for him or for you, or steal God's promise from him or from you We are not who our situation says we are. We are who God says we are That's who you always are, that's who you always will be, don't be less than that. That is unlosable identity That is constantly victorious identity. So you can know who you are when you can't do what you do What happens when you don't do that job anymore and you're retired? Do you know who you are? What happens when you can't play ball like you used to? You know who you are? What happens when the kids are all gone, mom, and the nest is empty? You know who you are You're not what you do. You are who God says you are. Paul models for us what it means to have our identity in the right place. In Christ, you have an anchored identity. The other thing about Paul we learned from this letter is he has a situation-proof mission Yeah, well, I mean he can't go plant churches now, that's for sure. He's not gonna go out and preach to any crowds now He's going to be in a maritime prison the rest of his life, however short that is. But I still I say he has he's still on mission You can't steal that from him. First of all, he's writing letters. Hello? If he can't go preach, he'll write you a letter And notice these words, 2 Timothy 1. 3. As night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Oh, he's still changing lives. He's changing lives from death row. Because when you pray, when you intercede, you change a situation. You can do nothing more powerful than to intercede. And nothing's going to stop him. In fact, his body is in prison, but his heart is in the throne room. And nobody can keep you out of the throne realm. Nothing can keep you out of the throne room. And he's still changing lives. Look at chapter 4, verse 21. This is he's signing off. He says, do the best to get here before winter. Notice something about these names. Ubilus greets you, so do Pudans. Linus with Claudia and all the brothers and sisters. You know something about those names? Those are Roman names. Those are Jewish names. He's been changing Roman hearts and Roman lives. In that prison cell. By the way, just to show you my perverse thinking, I apologize for this before I say it. But you know, he asks for uh Timothy to make sure he brings his coat. And I thought that wouldn't have been necessary if Linus would have loaned him his blanket. But I'm sorry, that's just That's just how my brain sorry okay so that's all you're gonna remember from tonight please please don't let that happen um so he is still changing lives And now much of his legacy is leaving to Timothy. And he has a lot of confidence in Timothy. He's installed him as the pastor of the church at Ephesus, the only place Paul stayed for three years. He had a special place in his heart for the church at Ephesus. And Timothy is the leader there. It's a town that's very wealthy. It's a crossroads of the empire. It has a lot of occult stuff going on. And the temple of the goddess Diana. Oh yeah. Yeah, he's in a very strategic place. And so Paul has a lot of confidence. In fact, look at what he says about Timothy in Philippians. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon that I may be cheered when I receive news about you. Notice he really trusts him. I am no one else like him. He doesn't say that about anybody else. I am no one else like him. Why? Who will show genuine concern for your welfare? For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself. Because as a son with his father, he has served with me in the work of the gospel. He says he's not about himself, he's all about others, he's all about you. I have a feeling that when Timothy ministered to people, they felt seen and heard and loved, cared for. But he also has some concerns for Timothy. Yeah, he's confidence in him. But there are concerns. 1 Timothy 5 23. Stop drinking only water, use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. Timothy's got some recurring chronic medical problems, physical problems. Which may account for the timidity that Paul addresses in chapter 1 of 2 Timothy. Let's take another look at another verse here, chapter 4, verse 14. Do not neglect your gift. Huh? Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders Laid their hands on you. Now what's interesting is he's still going to be talking about this four years later, about four years between these letters. He's still going to be talking about this in 2 Timothy. There's something Timothy is holding him back. And people have gotten around him and laid hands on him and said, we we see potential in you, we see gifts in you, we see what you can be. And he's not being it. And there's something about he's neglecting his gift when we get to 2 Timothy. He says, you gotta stir up your gift, buddy. We'll get to that in a minute. And uh there are temptations. He constantly remembers the godless chatter of people. Don't get sucked into all these Things on social media, I mean uh um uh godless chatter. He's got sexual temptation that's mentioned. So he's got concerns for Timothy. Now let's talk about Timothy for just a minute. That's Paul. We were talking about Timothy. I call him the legacy leader. He came from a mixed home spiritually. Read chapter 1 of 2 Timothy. He heard about Jesus from his grandma. We think his grandma was led to Christ by Paul. His grandma's even name, Lois. And then there's his mom, Eunice. And later, Paul will say, you've known about Jesus since infancy. So he's been a lifer growing up around Jesus because of a faithful grandma and a faithful mother But Mr. Timothy, his dad, was Greek, which probably means he was an unbeliever. Somewhere along the way, Mama Eunice got involved with the lost guy And she must have been at a bad point in her life. And so he grew up in a family where mama was about Jesus and dad was about pagan culture. So, just by way of interest, that's his background. He is the co-author of five epistles If you read at the beginning, Paul and Timothy is mentioned as a, I'm sure Paul did most of it, but he's mentioned as a co-author of five of them He is profoundly loved by Paul. In chapter 1, verse 2, when Paul says, my son in the faith, he calls him my dear son. You know where that word dear is used? At Jesus' baptism, when the Father says, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, it's that deeper word. It's how God the Father feels about God the Son. He said, this is my dear, the English doesn't capture it, my dear son in the faith. And as I said, he grew up with Jesus Which leads us now to the real heart of where this takes us, all this background. Because there is in chapter one three challenges For an empowered faith for times like these. Let's talk about the neglected fire What did Paul say about the fire? He said, you mean neglecting it? What happens to a neglecting fire? Duh? What happens? Yeah, you'll have a fire before long. So he says in chapter 1, verse 6, fan into flame, stir up, my translation says, the gift of God Apparently it's just embers. There once was a fire burning pretty high in Timothy. But something's happened. The fire's not there now, or there ain't much left. He's still a good guy, and he's still helping other Christians and still believes the beliefs. But there's something about the fire. Paul keeps on this. It was neglected in the first letter he wrote, and now it's dying. That's a uh means vigorous action, the verb does. If a fire is untended, it is soon ended, right? So Paul is concerned about a flickering fire. in his legacy leader. Maybe God is concerned about a flickering fire. And someone here. He's still doing all the right things, just like Timothy was. Timothy was a great guy. Something about the fire. The original fire. You know in Matthew 24, 14 , 12 to 14, Jesus said, just before he came back, he said, because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most of my people will grow cold. I wonder why it got cold. It gets cold when the fire goes out, doesn't it? This is not unique to Timothy. Fires untended. Fires unstirred. And though people God has spoken to Timothy about his potential in Christ, I mean God said some things to some people about Timothy and they passed him on. Something is holding this guy back. I think I can't wait to see if I have it here. I think I do. I have uh something from C. S. Lewis. He said I go on I go to play in the sea and he said, but I always want to stay in the shallow water. And he was talking about spiritual mediocrity. He said, somehow there's something about us that wants to meet the minimum. He did say that. Dunn and Brad were used by God to start a ministry that goes on to this day as part of our ministry. Then it was a separate 501c3 on the Hopi Reservation. And some of our team that works there today are are here with us. And I would go there for an annual board meeting every Thanksgiving weekend. And uh Brad was supposed to get me and another guy back to the Phoenix Airport in time to catch our plane. And unfortunately, when we started to drive away, we couldn't get above about 40 miles an hour. It starts lurching. It's lurching and we're like, oh this is not gonna work. It's two hours to Phoenix. This is gonna be about five hours to Phoenix at this rate. And we try to figure out, pull over what's wrong. It was the emergency break. No. We had the emergen their house was on a little slope and we left the emergency brake on. You cannot get up to full speed, I can guarantee you with the emergency brake on. And it's almost like Paul was saying, though they didn't have emergency brakes then, that Timothy was trying, he can't get up to his speed that he would he was capable of Because he's driving with the brake on. And he's living beneath his calling. And maybe right now you are too. What happens to the fire? Well, you know what? Let me give you a my theory. The longer you're a believer, follow me on this. The longer you're a believer, so I speak to veterans now, the longer you're a believer The more what was once a right brain faith tends to become a left brain faith. It started out as passion, but not much knowledge. Now you've got a lot of knowledge. You know all the words for things. But often the passion's not there that was. Paul talked about first love and to the church at Ephesus, didn't he? You've lost your first love Young believer, high in passion, low in knowledge. Veteran believer, hey, I know it before you say it. I can finish your sentences. But low in passion. So maybe I don't know who I'm describing, but you'll know if it's you Nothing is bad wrong. It's just that once was once something that was so much heart is now more head. Something that once was transforming, regularly transforming you, is now performing For God doing what you're supposed to do. What was once checking with God? You checked with God all the time about what He wanted you to do And now maybe it's more just checking the boxes. And maybe There was a time when it was a passionate thing. And now more it's more about programs. And there was a time when you were searching for Christ. Now you're kind of settling. There's a fire problem. And Paul said, Timothy, I don't want to leave you like this. Not with a fire burning down. So you go from passion to a practiced faith to a passive faith And nobody'll see any difference. You're fine, but you're not And 2 Timothy is a call to Timothy and to me and to you to re-kindle the fire that was once in our soul. Stir it up. You knew there was a time you were made for more and there were but you're living below some of those things. So what's the step one? Okay, let's talk about action steps. First of all, you recognize You need to rekindle. Are you willing to look in the mirror and say that's me? That's me. I need to rekindle the fire. When uh Doug's dream came true when he was a freshman, because he got to play football as in his freshman year in high school. And there was one thing I was working some with the team, so I saw I heard this. There was a guy named Scott and they were scrimmaging, they were sizing up the players before the season. And uh came up , the guy's name is Scott, and he and the coach goes, okay, Scott, you're in. He didn't move. I was dazed, asleep, whatever. He says, Scott, you're in! Oh Scott, doc doc. Finally he just said, Scott, what do you want? A telegram? Finally the check out and went in the game. The culture's calling. But you're not going in. There's something he's asking you to do or to be. But he just keeps calling. I think to start the fire you have to identify, is there somewhere where God's been saying go to you and you've been saying no? That's a fire problem. You need to do the things that will return discovery to your relationship with Jesus. There was a time when it was all discovery. You remember? And I mean the Bible, you're discovering stuff and you're discovering the power of prayer and and and and you're discovering You know, the joy and sometimes the frustration of telling people about Jesus. But there isn't much discovery anymore. It's just Because you're good at this. You're good at doing this Christian thing by now. You need to take some risk for Jesus. You need to be serving in a place that isn't a natural fit for you. You need to discover him in those kind of it worked when you were a younger believer You need to be mentoring someone. Take a young man, a young woman, and pour into them, and that will challenge you. It'll wake you up again. You've got so much in you. Give it to someone It's time to say yes to some things, to volunteer, to go into aggressive Bible study. Be it make it like the walk with Emmaus. When they those two guys walked with Jesus and they didn't know they were walking with Jesus, it says they opened their eyes and their hearts burned. Did your heart something happen in your heart when you read the Bible? Or just in your head. Familiar information revisited. Something's supposed to happen in your heart. Isaiah 66, 2 says, to this man I will look, to him who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word, you feel something when you read the Bible. Because it's two hearts touching. It's not you getting some more spiritual information. It's two hearts touching. Me and Jesus. Feel something. Go for that again. Return discovery to your relationship. After you admit, I'm the one with the fire broken down. And then Here's another factor, because right after this, let's look at verse 7. After he talks about the fire burning down For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, or the, you may be used to the more common translation. God has not given us a spirit of what, do you know? What? Yeah, you learned it like I did. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love, and this is translated different ways, sound mind, self-discipline. We'll come to that in a minute. Notice, right after he talks about the fire burning down, he talks about fear. Well, with Timothy knowing he could lose Paul at any time , can you understand he would be addressing fear? It's like you're gonna be living without me, buddy. Of course he's gonna talk about fear. So there's something about the fear and the fire here And he says, God didn't give you that spirit of fear. Fear is the lid on Timothy's promising life He's afraid of something. So tell me. Help me. What's one of the fears that hold us back from doing things God is trying to tell us to do? Fear of what? Tell me. Rejection. Rejection, what else? Failure. What else? In a fear of inadequacy, that's a big one. How about fear of expectations? If I say yes to this, there are expectations that has to do with the failure, fail uh fear. All right, I want let me give you a quiz real quick. I want you to fill this in. I want you to think of a time When you wish that you hadn't let fear stop you. It was not nothing good happened as a result of you letting fear. So you see, and you're not gonna you're gonna have 30 seconds to think about it I should have what? If you could go back again, if you could turn back the clock, but fear stopped you, fear of something I should have, write it down. If you can think of it in that short time, something came to your mind, perhaps. I should have what? I'm not happy now about that decision, but I should have. Second part, I didn't because I was afraid of what? I should have. I didn't. Because I was afraid of Here's what I've concluded in reading Timothy. You know the most common command in the Bible is fear not. How how do you do that? Okay, I'm gonna feel out. You still feel fear. You can't not you can't wish fear away You're gonna feel fear. The things that have made you afraid will probably still make you afraid But here's here's the you ready for a liberating truth? Right, you can put down liberating truth here. We cannot stop feeling fear, but we can stop letting fear decide Yes, I'm afraid. But I still go. I will still say yes. Fear will not stop me. You can make that commitment Yes, you'll feel fear when the troops landed on the beaches of Normandy in D-Day and knew many of them would die that in moments that day A correspondent made this observation. He said, fear is not the absence. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the disregard of it. So I'm going in. If God says to, if he says to stop it, I will. If he says to do it, I will, and I will not let fear decide. I can't stop feeling fear, but I can stop letting it be the boss. That's what he's saying. Get past that, Timothy. And now comes what I call the decisive fight. He names three fear beaters that Timothy, here is what beats your fear and allows you To have the fire burning high again. Power, love, and a sound mind. He said, God gave us those. God didn't give us the fear, but God did give us those. So the power word is dunamis, and you're going to hear a lot about that from Brad shortly, not tonight. Here's how I define dunamis. It's the bridge from what you can do to what God can do. So you stop short of doing something you know God wants you to do, because you've gone as far as you can. And that's where dunymus comes in It's the bridge from I can't. No, you can't to God can. And that changes a no equation to a yes Or maybe something you should be saying no to. Who changes your yes to a no in that case? And there you you know what how many times I can't tell how many times a year I we end up saying this at headquarters it's gotta be God or it ain't gonna be what are you doing right now that that's true of Or are you just doing the safe things? It's gotta be God. Or it it ain't gonna be Those are the most exciting moments with God. Human weakness becomes the canvas on which divine power is displayed You get that? Human weakness becomes the canvas on which God's power, divine power, can be displayed What kind of power is it? 2 Timothy 1. 10. It has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death. What kind of power is this? Death destroying power. Do you think that can get past your fear? Do you think you could do it with death death crushing power? You got dunamis, buddy. You got dunamis Secondly, he says love. It's agape. It's supernatural love. And uh Doug, I think, is going to talk a little bit about Onesimus, but he's the living example. He seeks Paul out. And finds him somewhere in Rome, he's the only guy who comes in and refreshes Paul and encourages him. Listen, if Paul's on death row for being a Christian and Nero's condemning Christians, this guy's risking his life to encourage Paul. So there's your example of Agape loved. Hall mattered more to Enesimus than the risks and the sacrifice. So, your care outweighs your scare. Oh, that rhymes. Your care outweighs your scare. Yes, I'm scared. But I care too much to not because some life is a some life is affected by your fire deficiency and your fear holding you back, your emergency break. And then clear thinking. He said it gives you calm and enables you to have God's perspective on the situation. A calm, reasonable response. You know why that's important? Because fear distorts reality Think about it. When you're afraid of something, it looks so huge. It distorts it. It's not that big. When the Jews were afraid to go into the promised land, ten of the spies said, they are so much bigger than we are, and two of the spies said, God is so much bigger than they are. They're not that big compared to him. And so this these are the fear-beaters, the antidote to the fear that holds you back. Clear thinking allows you to remember God's promise and see what God sees. So here we go. Spiritual accelerant number one. Rekindled fire. To say, you know what, the fire is not there like it once was. But I am not going to accept that. We cannot let fear hold us down, because on the other side of our fear is lives. And we have been entrusted with a treasure only Jesus can give. Look at the treasure we've been given. This is amazing. Paul in that pitiful, miserable cell. He says, let's go to 2 Timothy 1. 9. He has saved us, called us to a holy life, not because of anything we've done. But because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. It's now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior. This is what we have to give people, Timothy. Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death, has brought life and immortality, and by the way, I'm almost about to experience that, I'm sure Paul is thinking, to light through the gospel. And of the gospel I was appointed a herald, an apostle, and a teacher. So here's what Paul says we have. Little list here. He said, we have grace to give people. You know what grace is? Freedom from performance. Some of us have been performers our whole life Including performing for God. And Grace says there's nothing you can do to impress me. It's all me, and it's not you anyway. Grace is freedom from performance And then we have life forever to give people. We have it. They don't. They die without hope. We die with hope. But they could die with hope if we gave them the hope. We give them death disarmed. We give them life with eternal significance. Paul said, plan for us by his purpose and grace. Before the foundation of the world, people are like, I want to be significant, I want to know why I'm here. We can give it to them. And we can give them hope in a hope-crushing world. You know that grace was there, and I'm not, I just give you the references. In 1-1, 1-11 he says that grace was there before we were born. And chapter 1, verse 9, and he says, that grace was there when we're saved. Chapter 2, verse 1, he says, there's grace there when you're leading. Chapter 4, verse 22, he says, there's grace when I'm gone. Always you can look at any situation and say, praise God, there's grace for that. There's grace for that. So um I notice you're still here. I don't mean in the room, I mean on this planet. You seem to be doing alright, saw you eating And you're still here? The Bible says all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. You know what the cause of death is for a believer? Work done. Not a heart attack, not cancer, not an accident. You go home and your work's done. You can't leave before and you can't stay longer. You're still here. Guess what? Your work's not done, honey. Can you tell? That's why you're still here. But maybe the fire to be awesomely, totally, no conditions available to God is burning low tonight. I'll tell you, if you want to believe that your work is not done and that's why you're still here, ask that man on death row in Mametime prison. Work not done yet. When they carry me out of here, it'll be done. This weekend may be for you in the eternal purposes of God about rekindling of fire. And about dethroning fear that's been your boss too many times. And to release the resources of God of power and love and God's perspective Because my brother or sister, the stakes are too high. The darkness is too aggressive. The time is too short Now about the theme. Bill Borden was heir to the Borden Dairy fortune. Lived in Chicago. His parents, being fabulously wealthy, sent him on a high school graduation trip around the world. Pretty typical graduation gift. That was supposed to make him, you know, more cosmopolitan. And you know what it did? Broke his heart for a world. He saw mission fields. That was unscheduled. Came home with, didn't want to live for what he was supposed to live for. He's the heir to the broad and fortune, to the leadership of that great company. He goes uh to Yale, has a Bible study with fifteen hundred students in it. Gets involved with the homeless and the street people, the undesirable people of the city. Ends up basically donating his fortune to start Christian work among those kind of people in that city Everybody thought he was crazy. He wrote these words in his Bible. No reserve. I'm not holding anything there. Then um It came the time when they uh said, time for you to start to take over the company. Guaranteed. Empire for life He said, I'm going to go to the mission field. His roommate said he's lost his mind. He wrote two more words in his Bible No retreat. He um was felt felt called to go work in China. But to learn some Arabic, he stopped for a while in Cairo and planned to be in Cairo for a year. And there he laid it with two weeks in he came up with a plan to get the gospel and the Bible into every home in Cairo, Egypt. And then he got spinal meningitis A few days later he died. I can tell you that generations since have heard the story of Bill Borden, people like me. And it's changed their life about the kind of Christian they wanted to be. Days before his death, deathly ill. He wrote two more words in his Bible. No regret. How about you? No reserves. Holding nothing back And no regrets. Church tradition believes that this is what happened to Timothy. Timothy was in Ephesus, a city full of paganism. There was a parade of a horrific festival. that involved public immorality and even murder. And Timothy put his body in front of that crowd And said, in the name of Jesus. You can't do this. They brutally attacked him. Church tradition says he was carried away by the Christians, but he died. Apparently, the fire was rekindled. And the fear didn't decide. But Timothy will die fighting. Talk back to God for a minute. If nothing else, say I'm hearing you and I'm listening I'm not going to show for where I am. Precious Father , are these ancient words? Sound so now. They probe deep in our heart for us to evaluate a life just like Timothy's it looks fine. It's actively Christian. But the passion and heart, maybe the love and the fire. Something's not there. Tonight we just cry out to you Delpha slide to flame again. Jesus' name.