to you today for your glory and honor, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you were to sit down with me for any length of time, you would quickly know that for a lot of my life I've wore several different hats. Probably you could say that about your life too. I mean, when I started out, I was the second born of four sons to my mom and dad. I was known, first of all, as a son. Well, as a son, I grew up to about 13 years of age, and somebody shared Jesus Christ with me, and I placed my faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, and I became a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Lord Jesus Christ. at the young age of 13, out of great difficulty, despair, and a dysfunctional family unit, and I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ, and I'm thankful that at that moment I became one of God's children. That gave me a different hat to wear. Now at the moment of 13 years old, I didn't know really what it meant to be a Christian, except that I would miss hell and make heaven one day when I died, and that I would have God with me in all the circumstances of my life, and even through the difficulties of growing up, teenagers, growing up in my adult life. I would always have Him to lean back on. But I didn't understand all of that at 13. But I came to understand that it meant more than just praying a prayer. It was about becoming a follower of Jesus Christ and living for Jesus Christ. And then at the young age of 17, I surrendered my life to preach. I thought it was just about getting up and giving a good talk every Sunday. But I very quickly learned that being a pastor is not just about the preaching of the sermon, it's about loving the people of God. And he's given me a great privilege to do that and I love all of you, but I had to wear that hat. And as a preacher first, not as a pastor, it took me a while to grow into that responsibility. And then at the young age of 18, got married, now I'm a husband. Wow, 18, do you think I knew anything about that? I had no idea what it meant to be a husband, but I'm thankful now. As I look back on the whole of my life, I'm thankful for the blessing of more than 36 years of life together that Mary Ann and I have shared and embraced together in all of these years. I wore that hat as a husband. Sometimes Mary Ann would say my hat is crooked, but I still wear the hat of a husband. adoption, a father that adopts children. I've been an under-shepherd of Jesus Christ. By the way, he's the good shepherd. I'm just his assistant. He's the one that guides the church. I'm just the one trying to get all of the bad sheep in line. That's what I do. That's what we do. We just, but we all wear different hats, don't we? We all have different, but every hat, and some of you, I can see it in the twinkle of your eye. Some of you are sitting right there thinking about some of the hats that you have worn. Some of the lives, the lifetime commitments that you've made in different arenas of your life. And with every single hat that you wear, It always comes with great and awesome responsibility. Can I hear an amen to that? You wear the hat as a friend, a confidant. You wear the hat as a son or a daughter. You wear the hat as a pastor or as members of the church in Christ. All of those hats that you and I wear come with great and awesome responsibility. Just like when the soldiers put on the uniform of the United States of America, right? They don't understand sometimes, they're young. They don't understand fully what that commitment is going to look like and what it's going to cost. But they have a commitment to put on that uniform and go in and be prepared for whatever comes their way. And sometimes they'll look at that and say, I didn't sign up for this. But the truth is, they already made a commitment and they followed through with that commitment. It comes with a great deal of responsibility. You say, preacher, why are you going into all of that? Well, because I'm trying to set your minds toward the passage of scripture today, that the apostle Paul puts it to his young protege Timothy. And what I want you to gather from this sermon today, more than anything else, what I want you to gather is I want you to gather what is it God sets in front of your life and mine as the center of our focus. The center of our focus matters. No matter what we're going through in our lives, no matter what we're experiencing in our lives, the focus of our mind and the attention of our heart really, really, really does matter in the circumstance. If you, and I said this to our Winston and I Bible study group, I don't mean to repeat it but I need to, if you look only at your You look at cancer or heart disease, you look at crippling disease, you look at financial woes, you look at the culture of the world, you look at the things that are happening on the landscape of wars and rumors of war. If you only look at the things that are around you, you will miss Christ. What you and I as believers need to do is no matter what our responsibility is in this life, no matter what's being set in front of us to put our hands that we set in our minds and our hearts a right focus and a right commitment for the Lord Jesus Christ in order that everything else may be ordered by Him and know that He is with us no matter what's going on in our life and our circumstance. But ladies and gentlemen, if we're not careful, the responsibility can make us so focused on the activity that we miss the purposes of God. We can get so wrapped up, let me show you what I mean, give you a couple of examples. Look with me at 2 Timothy chapter 2, and here's what it says in verse 1. Thou therefore my son, he's writing to young Timothy as a son, not biologically, he's writing to him as a son spiritually. And he's writing to him and he says, my son, be strong. in the grace that is in, who everybody? Christ Jesus. And so what he's right off the bat saying to him is, as a son in the faith, set your sights on nobody or nothing other than Jesus Christ your Savior, your Lord. And he's setting that right off the bat because he knows that as a child of God we are going to face difficulties in this life. Just circumstantial Circumstances that happen just naturally in our course of our life. But because you're also a son in the faith, you're going to face things that others may not have to endure and face in their life. Keep going. He says to him, and these and the things. that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. As you are a spiritual son to the apostle Paul, he's saying, you also become a spiritual father to somebody else. You care enough to tell somebody about Jesus Christ and share your faith with them, but he also says teach them the ways of God. But don't just pick anybody out to do that. No, you find people who are interested in the things of God and you teach them and you train them and you equip them with the things of God so that you would have a focus on Christ and you will teach others to have a focus on Christ. What am I trying to do? I'm trying to set in your minds and your hearts an appropriate focus in your lives today. But he doesn't stop there, and here's where it gets really good in the sermon. He says in verse 3, he says, Thou therefore, this is the first hat, well actually it's the second hat that he gives Timothy to wear in verse 3. He says, Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of who, everybody? John. Alright, so once again, what's he setting in his focus? The Lord Jesus, right? And so what he says is endure. He doesn't say escape. He doesn't say run. He doesn't say knock face. He says endure hardness. What is hardness? Hard times. difficult circumstances, overwhelming moments, overwhelming thoughts and your emotions, overwhelming things that you don't even know how you're going to maneuver through them, but they're in front of you. He does not say to run away from them. He doesn't say for you to hide from them. He says you have to be like a soldier willing to put on the uniform and face that difficulty, whatever it might be. You are the one. It isn't somebody next to you, it's not somebody behind you, it's you. And if I could echo his words, I would point a finger at each one of you, and then you could walk out and say, the preacher pointed right at me today. But he says, endure hardness like a good soldier. But who are you soldiering for? You're soldiering for Jesus Christ. You're not soldiering for the United States of America first. You're soldiering for Jesus. You're not soldiering for the church. You're soldiering for Jesus. You're not soldiering for a simple cause of somebody's ideology. You're soldiering for Jesus Christ. You put on the helmet of your salvation and you put on the shield of faith. You have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and you go in with the sword of the spirit in your hand and you face whatever it is you have to face as a soldier that is willing to endure the hard and difficult things that are going to come to you. We live in a culture of Christianity that is so Mamby-pamby Christians. So I've now pointed the finger at you and now I've said some of us are mamby-pamby and here's what I mean by that. We are so weak. I believe that much of what we endure in our lives is for God to get us stronger on the inside so that we are able to withstand some of the difficulties that are in our future. Because after all, God sees far, far further down the road than what we can see. And so he's trying to prepare us. And if we keep on hiding in the weeds, we keep on trying to run from the experience. We keep on trying to get away from it in all the manners of escape that the world offers. If we're not careful, we're going to be right back at that. to speak there's troubled waters there and we're going to come right back to that same place in our life and God's going to say I've been preparing you all of this time to get you back to this very point in your life now are you ready to be a soldier that the hard stuff? Are you willing to walk into the water? By the way, the Bible teaches, and I know this is completely out of line with this, I'm not trying to go down a rabbit trail, but I think in my mind about the people coming to the edge of the water in the days of Moses. The Bible says they had to put their feet in the water before God did what he did in parting the waters. They had to be able to put on, if you will, the belief that God was able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that they could ask, think, or imagine. and they had to be willing to get their feet wet in order for God to do what God promised that He would do, and that is, He parted the waters. But many of us get to the edge of the water, we say it's too troubling, it's too difficult, and we look at it and say, why me, Lord? Why am I having to go through this? And God says, wait a minute, don't you know I'm preparing you for something you cannot see right now? But it will be approaching your life in the future. You better get ready. So what do you need to do? You've got to go through some conditioning. Well, what's the conditioning? Well, you've got to step into the water. You have to be willing to step into the water. And when you see the glory of God, it will change you so radically, so dramatically. that you will always use that moment to look back on and say, boy, I remember the last time I faced troubled waters in my life. And when I was willing to endure that troubled water in the name of the might of Jesus Christ, he brought me through those waters. And I came out on the other side victorious, not in my ability, but in the strength of And so you look at that and you say, so he says to him, he calls him a soldier. He says, be like a soldier. You're putting on the whole armor of God. You've got this challenge in front of you. Endure it. Endure it. People say, preacher, I've got disease. I've got financial woes. I've got family crisis. I've got family difficulties. A preacher, I put on a smile when I come to church. I want you to be resting assured today. I may not know the circumstances of your past I may not know the circumstances even of your present But I know one who does know what you're facing right now in your life. It is God Almighty. I made known through His Son, Jesus Christ, in the aid of the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit of God is dwelling on the inside of you, He is making intercession for you. And every single moment of your life to the throne of God, even when you only have a groan to express, He has the prayers to pray on your behalf. Because He knows what you're going through. He knows what you're struggling with. And He knows how to get you to the other side. Is anybody still listening to me? That is the promise of being a soldier. Willing to put on the uniform. Willing to step into the battle if necessary. And you're willing to face whatever it is that's in front of you. Not in your power. Not in your strength. Not in your might. But in the might of the Lord. God, here I am. I don't understand why. I don't understand how. I don't understand what. I don't get it. But God, by faith, I'm going to believe that you want me to endure this like a soldier faces the battlefield. You want me to be ready to go into battle if necessary. But God, oh God, don't leave me now. I can't do this on my own, Lord. So Lord, whatever it is I've got in front of me, You give me the power. You give me the strength. You give me the authority of Jesus' name and might. You give me what is necessary to deal with what's in front of me. But He takes it another step, everybody. In verse 5, He says, And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. So now you've got the hat of a son, a spiritual son. You now have the hat or the soldier's helmet of a soldier. And now you come to verse four. Oh, I didn't finish verse four. That's important. You didn't even stop me. Verse four is really important, isn't it? Look at it. He says, no man that woreth entangle himself with the affairs of this life. Satan is setting traps for us. Satan is always laying a trap in front of you. He's always laying a trap. He's always trying to find a way to trip you up. All the time. Some of us who have dealt with addictions in our life know that there's always somebody that could feed that addiction again. If you just open your life up to it, they're ready. They're right there to trip you up. He says no man that woreth entangles himself, nobody that puts on the uniform that entangles himself with the affairs of this life. They're not the first priority. A soldier that goes off to battle, yes they can get notes from home, but everybody knows that those notes come in a certain wave to the soldiers. Why? Because they can't have the soldiers worried and thinking about what's happening at home as much as they're dealing with the fight that's right in front of them. He says, we don't let the things that are seeking to entangle us by the way. The word tangle, it's like a fishnet gone bad, right? It's like a fishing string gone bad. It's like when I go fishing and I pull the reel back and all of it turns into a big ball of yarn right there on the handle, right? It's not yarn, it's fishing string right there on the edge, right? You're all looking at me strange. You mean that's never happened to you? The knots and all that stuff that happens in the string and I'm looking at it and saying, I thought it was going to be more fun to fish than this. You say, Preacher, you're being kind of silly. But I'm telling you right now, Satan wants to do everything he can to trip you up and to tangle up your life. He's doing everything he can to try to destroy, to kill your spirit. And sometimes that comes from people that are closest to us. Sometimes the people that are closest to us are the very ones that Satan uses to discourage. Can I just tell you, ladies and gentlemen, discouragement is the absence of courage. What does Satan want to do in your life? He wants to bring you to a point where you have an absence of courage. in his instruction to his people, he says, you need to endure the hardness like a soldier. And you need to be willing to face with courage, whatever is in front of you. What is courage? It is not something that you and I muster up enough inside ourselves. It is the ability to believe that God is able to deliver us. That's the kind of courage we need when we're facing greater difficulties in our lives. You say, preacher, when you look at this passage, verse 4, He says, and that He may please Him who has chosen Him to be a soldier. Who is He? Jesus. Who are we striving for? Jesus. Who are we working for? Jesus. Who is the focus of our mind? Jesus. Who is it that we pray to? Jesus. Who is it that we can rely on no matter what happens? And who leaves us or betrays us? Jesus. You look at this and he says in verse five, and if a man also strived for masteries yet is not crowned except he strived lawfully, now he's putting on the hat of a competitor, an athlete, somebody that has to keep the rules in order to win the trophy. You could win the game. And if you don't do it the way you're supposed to by the rules, you don't get rewarded. There's a scripture that is the saddest scripture of all the Bible. And the scripture says something like this. You stand before me and you say, Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons in your name? Have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not done great things in your name? And Jesus said, the Lord said, depart from me. I never knew you. Why? Because you didn't play by my rules. You wanted to play by your own. And when that happens in your life, you're going to maybe win the competition in your eyes, but you're going to lose the crown of life that God promises. He says to us, you have to do it the way God wants you to do it. Well, I've got to hurry. Here's what else he says. In verse six, now he goes to the height of being a crop owner or a husbandman for a vineyard. He says, the husband that labors must be first partaker of the fruits. What he means by that is whatever you sow, you're going to reap. And I don't know how this will speak to every life that's here today, but I just want to say on the authority of God's word, whatever we sow, we're going to reap. If we sow to the flesh, we're going to reap from the flesh. Whatever you sow, you're going to reap. You will never sow it and reap it immediately. The Bible teaches us the principle that I sow and then I reap later than what I sowed it, right? It has to take time to grow. I also have to recognize that I will reap whatever it is I sow. If I sow hate and frustration and anger, if I sow betrayal and brokenness, people for my own selfish gain. Whatever I sow, it will come back to me. The same thing that I sowed is what I'm going to reap. And I don't reap it right away. It takes time. But I will reap whatever I sow. Not only will I reap what I sowed later than I sowed it, but I will always reap more than I sowed. People are living in frustration because they feel like they've got all these certain things coming back at their life and they say, I don't understand why I'm going through this or having this attack or this anger or this betrayal. I don't understand why all of this is coming back into my life. Well, it may be that some of that is coming back because that's what we sowed at some point early on in our life. We don't like to hear that. It's not easy to hear that. It's not easy to preach that. And I'm not saying everything because we live in a sinful and fallen world that does some bad things to one another. And there's a lot of hate in this world. Can I hear an amen to that? There's a lot of discouragement in this world. There's a lot of stuff that happens. But I am going to tell you, we should always do an assessment of our life and say, Lord, if I'm reaping this, is it because at some point this is what I've sowed? Is there something in my life that is coming back into my life because I didn't deal with it when it was sold years ago? So it gives us the expression of being a husbandman that labors. Then he says in verse seven, he says, consider what I say, that the Lord give the understanding in all of these things. And then he gives us an example, verses eight and following. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I will endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. You understand what Paul is saying? He's saying that no matter which hat it is that I'm wearing, I will put Jesus Christ first. And in whatever arena of my life God places me in, the greatest concern of my life is that they who are around me will find a relationship to Jesus Christ. Amen. Do you live like that? That's the principle. The principle that comes right back smacking us in the face is, are we living like that? The mindset, are we affirming in the lives of other people what it looks like to be obedient to Christ? Are we fanning the flame in somebody else's life that they're trying to do right by God, even with faults and failures? Are we fanning the flame and encouraging them to never give up? Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to be encouraged today. Don't ever give up. Don't ever give up. He says in verse 11, it is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. And oh, how we as believers need to be reminded of that passage. Whatever we're dealing with in our day-to-day life, and I probably say this to a fault, But I believe with all of my heart that it needs to be said at every opportunity that I have. God's ultimate plan for every single one of our souls is to get us home. No matter what we're dealing with in this life, no matter what hardships there are in this life, no matter what joys and victories we have in this life, there is one ultimate plan of God, and that is to get you home. What is home? It is to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. His ultimate plan for you is to get you home. You say, preacher, how can I be assured that I'll get to go home? The only way you and I get to go home to be with God at some point in our lives in the future is to have our name written in the Lamb's Book of Life by the lifeblood of Jesus Christ. The only way to get your name written down in the Lamb's Book of Life is to surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ, plead for the forgiveness of God, change your life so that you now become not a follower of your own will and wants, but you follow now the will and wants of Jesus Christ. Some of us are living a part-time Christianity and we're wanting a full-time God. And I'm telling you as I stand in front of you that God promises us that it is his goal and his desire to get us home. But I want you to know you have to be willing to put him first in every dimension of your life, every conflict, every cancer, every heart disease, every conflict of family members, every single thing that you deal with in the workplace or in the culture of the life you're in. No matter what's going on in our lives, He says you have to be willing to put me first. You have to be willing to trust me. You have to know that my ultimate plan for you is to get you home. Now, people, listen to me carefully. I pray for the healing of God to touch lives when they're broken and hurting. Can I hear an amen? I'm supposed to pray for those sick. We're supposed to lift up each other when we're weak and infirm. We're supposed to believe that God will and can do miracles and sustain lives. And He can do greater than we could ever ask, think, or imagine. It is like coming to the edge of the water, fighting like a soldier. going and knocking on heaven's door on behalf of somebody that we love and God gives them a little extra strength and we give all the glory back to God and say, God, thank you for that victory in their life. But ultimately, this physical body is going to wear out. It's going to give up. And when it does, if you're a true believer in Jesus Christ, you exhale all of this life and the next breath you draw is the glory of heaven into your lungs and your capacity is to be absent from the body. and present with the Lord, God's ultimate plan is to get you home. This is not our home. We should be constantly recognizing through the circumstances of this life, this stinks. Because I'm not home. This feels awkward because you're not home. This feels uncomfortable because you're not home. You say, but preacher, I got a place I call home. I got family and friends. Yeah, but guess what? These physical bodies are gonna die. And you say, preacher, you're being kind of hard. No, I'm pleading with you on the evidence of God's grace, love and mercy. Do you have a relationship with God that puts him first, no matter what you're dealing with in your life? Or are you so wrapped up in the conflict and circumstances that you can't even see the Lord? Well, that brought a hush in the room, didn't it? Everything, every hat that we wear, every identity that we have should be for the greater desire to see people safe. I've preached in churches with hundreds. I've preached in churches with less than 20. I've had Bible studies where two people show up and I've had Bible studies where 200 people show up. I've laid my hands on hundreds of people to baptize them in the waters of baptism over my lifetime in my career in ministry. It's not really a career, it's a ministry. I've had the privilege of watching many of those faces come up out of that water and give all the glory to God. I've seen much of that happen in my life and my ministry. There's not a single accomplishment in any aspect of my life that matters more than making sure that I express the full gospel of Jesus Christ in every opportunity that I have. I've been called an evangelist rather than a pastor. I've been told that I preach too hard and too loud, that people don't want to hear that kind of preaching in our culture anymore. I've had people say all kinds of things against my style, against my presentation. But guess what? The Bible tells me to endure hardness like a soldier. And I'm going to keep marching on. The Bible tells me to keep doing everything I can in the competition of life that I may end by saying, I pleased the Lord. It's my job and my desire to not be pleased, have you be pleased with me as much as I want my heavenly father to be pleased with me. You say, preacher, why are you speaking so personally? This shouldn't be about you. Oh, it's not. I'm getting ready to turn it back to you. That should be exactly your heartbeat and your desire. And you should be looking at the circumstances of your life and saying, God, I want you to be pleased. Whatever I put into this temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit, I want you to be pleased. Whatever I listen to, I want you to be pleased. Whatever I watch, I want you to be pleased. Whatever I preach, I want you to be pleased. Whatever I speak, I want you to be pleased. Whatever I confront, I want you to be pleased. Whatever I accept, I want you to be pleased. Heavenly Father, whatever I do in this life, I want you to be pleased because at the end of life, It does not matter what men say, but it sure will matter what God says. I want you to be pleased, and that is the whole essence of what Paul was sharing with young Timothy. Would you bow your heads with me for a moment of prayer? If there's anybody here today that would say, Preacher, if I died right now, I'm not sure that I would be allowed to go into God's heaven. I want to. I've prayed a prayer before, but, but I know there's something missing in my life. I'm not sure that if I died today, I would go to heaven. Is there anybody within the sound of my voice that would say, pray for me, rift your hand quickly and put it down. Anybody pray for me. I'm not sure. Now see, I can't make you be sure. All I can do is tell you, God wants you to be sure. God wants you to have a confidence. God wants you to have an assurance. God wants you to have a belief. He wants you to have faith that when you're absent from the body. See, I can guarantee you there are people that woke up this morning and they were planning to go through just a regular daily routine and their life was cut short. They were absent from the body. They were present with the Lord. We don't know how short or long our life is going to be. Only God knows that. Don't kid yourself into believing your good health or bad. God knows when your time is up. Is there anybody here today that would say, preacher, I want to fully surrender my life to Jesus Christ. I want my name written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And I want to be assured that when I die, I'll go to heaven. Lift your hand again quickly and put it down. I want to have that confidence in my heart then you pray, but you can't pray a mamby-pamby prayer. You've got to come to the river of life, and you've got to be willing to fight. You've got to be willing to grab a hold of. You've got to be willing to believe with all of your heart. You've got to trust Christ right now, not some preacher praying a prayer. It's got to change your life. You want that change? You pray this prayer with me. You say, dear God, I am a sinner. I have sinned against you. I have messed up my life in many ways. And God, I am tired. God, will you please forgive me? Will you please turn my life around? Will you please cleanse me by the blood of Jesus? Wash me thoroughly. Take away all of my sin. I give you my life. God, be my heavenly father. Lord, be my savior. Spirit, be my guide. I want to learn how to love you the rest of my life. I pray this prayer in Jesus' name. If you meant those words as you prayed them with me, no one looking around, but if you meant those words as you prayed them with