I certainly love your pastor and appreciate his labors in the gospel. And I've known Brother Rickey a long time and appreciate his faithfulness to the Lord. I believe he's done, he's practiced what he preached to us tonight. And you know, if you don't practice what you preach, it doesn't have much effect. There's an old saying that parents can teach their children all day long, but You really can't teach them until you practice what you preach. And I think that's what the Apostle Paul was saying to Timothy. Take heed to thyself. It's not just enough to teach the truth, but we have to live it. And what a powerful message that is when ministers of the gospel live a Christian life. I was talking to somebody recently about a minister that we both knew that not a lot of people seem to enjoy hearing preach, but I told this friend of mine, I said, well, some men don't have to preach much to preach to me. When men live such good, godly lives, they may not be a five-talent gift, but I'll tell Their lives do a lot of preaching. And it doesn't matter how gifted a person is, if they're not living it, then it's like a fly in the ointment. It spoils it. And Paul knew that. And so, and I believe Paul lived it. In his letter to Timothy, in his last letter to Timothy, he said to him in chapter four, 2 Timothy chapter four, and verse six, for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. I hope I'll be able to say that and feel that way about my life and the kingdom of God when I come down to the end of the journey. to be able to say that we fought a good fight, we have kept the faith, we have finished our course. And Paul was very concerned about Timothy. He refers to him as his son. There's no question but what Paul loved this young preacher. And you know that's such a blessing when young preachers are blessed to come up under older preachers that really love them. They're not jealous of them. They don't try to put them down or constantly criticize them, but they just encourage them and give them opportunities to exercise their gift. I was blessed to come up under, I guess, as great a cheerleader as there ever was among the primitive Baptists, and that was Elder Cecil Doherty. You could make the most pitiful effort you've ever made, and he would cheer you on and try to encourage you. And that's a blessing when older ministers encourage younger ministers and love them. And Paul loved Timothy. Let's notice, beginning here in 2 Timothy, Brother Ricky stirred my mind up on this subject tonight. I want to notice with you in 2 Timothy chapter 1. beginning in verse 1. This is Paul's second and last letter to Timothy, and you get the impression as you read this letter from the aged apostle who is now in prison, perhaps waiting to be executed. But he's writing to Timothy, and apparently he has gotten news that Timothy is discouraged. Can you imagine that? A preacher discouraged. Now, I want to tell you that is a common ailment among preachers. And I've said for a long time that I think it's Satan's greatest weapon against the ministry. Most ministers don't fall to some gross, immoral sin out in the world. Of course, that's a possibility. Most of them don't end up in jail because they robbed a bank. But I'll tell you what really pulls a lot of preachers down, and that's discouragement. Just being discouraged. And there's a lot that will discourage us if we start looking at the circumstances of life rather than looking to the Lord. And Paul apparently had gotten word that Timothy was discouraged. Elder Joe Hildreth—I'm sure a lot of you know Brother Joe—he wrote a little history of the primitive Baptist in the twentieth century. He wrote it here a few weeks ago, and he started out by saying that the twentieth century was not very kind to primitive Baptists. And through the limited research that he did, he concluded that our numbers decreased almost fifty percent in the twentieth century. Now, I don't know how accurate that is, but I know it's declined in my lifetime, and that's sad. It grieves me, and I'm sure it grieves all of our ministers and faithful church members. Brother Joe gave a number of reasons as to why that happened, and a lot of it was not our fault. I don't think we need to be putting preachers on a guilt trip if they don't desert it. A lot of circumstances were taking place that we had no control over. But I can tell you, beloved, that is discouraging. It can be, if you just focus on that. Well, you don't have to live in the twentieth century or the twenty-first century to be discouraged. They were discouraged in the first century. They struggled with discouragement. And Timothy, a young preacher, called of God to preach, was trying to pastor a church in the city of Ephesus. And Ephesus was a wicked city, full of all kinds of perversions. And here this young man of God goes to this city to preach the gospel and to build up a gospel church in an evil environment. You can understand why he would be discouraged. So Paul gets word that he's discouraged. And Paul writes him a letter to encourage him. And I tell you, that's what we all need in this day is encouragement. The message tonight encouraged me. You know what the word encouragement means? It means to pour courage into somebody. Are you an encourager? Do you go around encouraging people and looking for the good in people and trying to pull the best out of them? Or are you a professional critic? I can tell you the world's got far too many critics already, including the church. Beloved, we need somebody around encouraging us, and I want to be an encourager. Paul wrote Timothy to encourage him. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus to Timothy, my dearly beloved son. Paul describes Timothy as his son. Don't you know that had to be encouraging to Timothy, for this aged apostle to refer to him as his son? Now he wasn't his son biologically, but he was his son in the faith and his son in the ministry. I was telling the brethren tonight, I've been compiling some experiences that I had with Elder Pat Byrd, who was highly regarded among the Old Baptists all over the country, and particularly in Georgia. And I was privileged to spend a lot of time with Elder Byrd the last two or three years of his life. And I can tell you, even to this hour, He died in 1975, but until this hour I am strengthened and encouraged as I look back on those few years that I had in his company and the respect that he had for me and the encouragement that he gave me as a young minister of the gospel. I just recently got a tape somebody gave me that was recorded in 1972. I've been called to Hebron Church. and where Elder Bird lived, and I was a young brother, and I didn't grow up in that area. And of course, a lot of times people don't appreciate older preachers. Elder Bird used to say, when you're a young preacher, they'll idolize you. When you get middle age, they'll criticize you. That's where I am now. And he said, when you get old, they'll scandalize you. That's where he was. Well, I listened to this tape. Elder Berg took about ten minutes, and I can tell you he said more in ten minutes than I could have said in a hundred hours. And yet the people didn't seem to appreciate him. But oh, how they did encourage me. Now that's sad. Old preachers need encouragement as well as everybody else, you know, along the journey. You know what a big shot is, don't you? It's a little shot away from home. But anyway, I know what it is to have had encouragement along the journey. Well, Paul refers to Timothy as my son, but he not only refers to him as his son, but he says, you're my dearly beloved son. Have you ever thought about how that must have made this young preacher feel for the old brother suffering for the faith? to refer to him as my dearly beloved son. And I want to say tonight, beloved, that I think it's the greatest source of encouragement to all of us in the church to think of ourselves as a family. Would you all agree with that tonight? We're not just a bunch of American citizens, but over here in a beautiful building in Nashville, Tennessee, this is a family gathering tonight. I went back through the congregation before the singing and spoke to a lot of people that I have loved for many years, and I just felt at home here tonight. This is a family gathering. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are related to one another by the blood of the everlasting covenant. It's a family connection that lasts beyond the grave. We're family tonight, and we ought to refer to one another as Brother Lawrence and Brother Ricky. And I just feel like old Baptists refer to one another as brother and sister so and so. It reminds us that we're not just casual acquaintances. This is God's family. We're born of the Holy Spirit, and we're in God's family. That itself is encouraging, isn't it? Somebody refer to you as Brother Sam. I tell you, that means a lot. That means they think I'm in God's family, that I belong to God, that I'm an heir of God and I'm going to heaven when I die. I'll tell you, that builds us up, beloved. You know, words have great power in them. So Paul says to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, Grace, peace, grace, mercy and peace from God, the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. Oh, he he brings up grace and mercy and peace. And he brings up God, the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. And then he says, I thank God. whom I serve for my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day." Can you imagine what it must have meant to this young discouraged minister of the gospel to know that the aged apostle is praying for him night and day? Oh, I need your prayers. We need to pray for one another. Did you know that prayer is one of the most difficult aspects of the Christian life? The word perseverance is only used one time in the Holy Scriptures, and it's used in reference to prayer. Paul is encouraging us to persevere in prayer. Now, he's not talking about saying a little thirty-second blessing at the breakfast table. That's not a big, you know, that's not so hard. It's important to do, but that's not so hard to do. Say a little blessing at lunch. He's talking about praying night and day. He's talking about being instant in prayer. He's talking about praying without ceasing. You think prayer is easy? Shut yourself off in a room for a little while, for 30 minutes, and see if you can stay focused on God and prayer for 30 minutes. I suggest you start out with 10 minutes. It's hard to stay instant in prayer, but Paul is letting this young brother know, I pray for you night and day. Paul persevered in prayer. And I believe that's probably the greatest need of the church in this day, prayer. Not getting on the phone and talking to everybody. I say we're a lot better off at the throne than we are on the phone. Now, you know, if you're talking to somebody and they can really help you with your problem, that's all right on the telephone. But if you're just blowing air and you're just rehashing old problems and gossiping, brethren, you'd be a whole lot better off getting off the phone and going to the throne. And the finest churches we have in this country are prayers, are churches that are prayer conditioned, where the people really pray to God. You want to be a blessing to your church, to your pastor, to your family, to your nation, to our government, to our military, lift them up to God in prayer, to somebody that can do something. And that's God, you know. Paul said to Timothy, I'm praying for you night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy. Paul is saying, I know that you're full of tears, Timothy, and I greatly desire to see you that I may be filled with joy. I tell you, it just does me good to be around God's people. I've been looking forward to this meeting. I'm in a lot of meetings, but I can tell you, I look forward to every meeting and every service when I can see my brethren and sisters face to face. An email's all right, a letter through the mail's okay, a telephone call occasionally is encouraging, but to get together and to see one another, oh, what a blessing that is. And Paul is saying, I greatly desire to see thee, being mindful of thy tears that I, may be filled with joy. when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also." Now, Paul uses a little psychology on this young discouraged brother. Paul says, Timothy, I remember your mother. And I remember your grandmother, and I remember their faith in Jesus, and I remember their faithfulness to the cause of Jesus Christ." Reckon what that did to the young brother. I'll tell you, the older I get, it seems like the more I go down memory lane. And not long ago I was down at Cool Springs, just in the community, and I just had to drive by and see my mama and daddy's grave. And I'll tell you, it just always does me good to go and visit their graves. When my father died, the children chose to put on his tombstone, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. He didn't leave us an inheritance, but He left us a good name, and He was faithful to the Lord Jesus. When my mother died, we put on her tombstone, faithful till death. If you had faithful parents, beloved, you are richly blessed in this world. And if you didn't have faithful parents, make real sure your children have faithful parents. Would you all agree with that tonight? Oh, let me tell you, the faithfulness of my mother and father really does something to me tonight. I wouldn't want to preach my mom and daddy, but I could talk to you a long time about them. Daddy was 54, mama was 44 when I came into the world. And I was never made to feel like I was a mistake or a misfit. I'm sure I wasn't planned. I just know that. I tell you, I was the last of fifteen and I'm sure the last thing they wanted around there was another child, especially another boy. Mama had four in a row, four boys in a row. Oh, but let me tell you, they never made me feel like that I was an accident or in the way or a burden. I was loved and nourished and taken to the house of God. You know, we were talking about coming, bringing babies. Sister Karen was talking about Molly and them bringing this baby to church when it's young. I was taken before I was ever born. I can assure you of that. My mama was there, and she was there with me. Now, they didn't make me love God. They couldn't instill in me Christian life. But I'll tell you what they did do. They set an example before me. And that's what Timothy's mother and grandmother did to him. I want to tell you, beloved, there is no greater heritage in life than to have godly parents in this world. Families are vital. They're very important. And so Paul says, Timothy, I remember your mother and your grandmother and their unfamed faith, their real faith. And he said, I'm frustrated that it's in you also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up. Now, in verse 6, he's beginning to admonish this brother. He says, For I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Wouldn't that lead you to think that Paul had gotten the word that Timothy was neglecting his gift? Did you know it doesn't matter how gifted a person might be, they can neglect that gift. And Paul is saying to Timothy, I want to put you in remembrance to stir up the gift of God that is in you. If God has given you a gift, stir it up. Bring it to life. Use it to its fullest potential. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Paul is not suggesting that when he laid hands on Timothy, he made him a preacher. You and I can't make preachers. I tell you what, if laying hands on a man would make him a preacher, I'd suggest we have an ordination right here tonight. There's a great need for preachers all over the country. Y'all do know that. We just ordained a young brother down in Birmingham, and five churches called him before he was even ordained to the ministry. There is a tremendous need for gifts. We need to be praying to God about that. Paul isn't saying, I made you a preacher by laying my hands on you, but I recognized your gift when I laid my hands on you. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind." He's saying to this young brother, don't be fearful of the enemy, don't be fearful of the devil, don't be fearful of the culture that you're surrounded by over there in Ephesus. No, Paul is saying, I want you to know God has not given us the spirit of fear. What if you got the spirit of fear and God didn't give it to you? Where do you reckon it came from? Came from the devil. The devil would like to paralyze us and immobilize us tonight in God's service by causing us to be fearful. I want to tell you, God hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love. out of a sound mind. And here the Apostle Paul is facing the madman Nero, and he's lost his family, is standing in society, he's vanished in ways, and he's in prison. And yet this man is saying, I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course. And he's wanting Timothy to do the same thing. Because he knows that there are people like Demas that our brother preached to us about tonight. Paul loved Demas. He was his fellow traveler. I can tell you can't travel with ministers and not learn to love them and appreciate them. When I went to Tanzania back in May, two ministers went with me that I really didn't know very well, one of them especially. But before we got back home, we were very close in the Lord. Now, let me tell you, friends, when you travel with somebody, you learn to love them, and I'm sure Paul loved Demas. But oh, how sad it was when Paul writes to Timothy, and he said, I want you to do diligence, to come over here quickly to where I am, and when you come, bring my cloak, because winter is coming on, and I'm cold in this prison, and bring my books and the parchments, because he says, Demas hath forsaken me. having loved this present world. Can a child of God, saved by grace, born of the Holy Spirit, and knowledgeable in the things of God, fall away? Yes, they can. But they ought not to, and if we fall away, it's not God's fault, it's our fault. I was talking to a man a while back about Demas and pointing out that Demas had fallen away. Paul says, he had forsaken me, having loved this present world. And this brother said, well, Brother Sam, don't you think if God would have given Demas a quart or two more grace, he wouldn't have fallen away? I scratched my head on that just a minute. I didn't know exactly what the brother was saying. Then it occurred to me, he's blaming God for Demas falling away. But all the grace you need tonight, not just a quarter, two of it, oceans of grace are available for you at the throne of grace. You go there and fall sad. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time. I need help tonight. You need help. We need help from above. And I want to tell you there's help at the throne of grace. This might be a little loud for this PA system, but I want y'all to hear me tonight. If you and I fall, brother, it won't be God's fault, and it won't be that there's a shortage of grace. God's not running out of grace, and the price isn't going up. All you'll ever need is available at the throne of grace. And I have to go to that throne. You know, Paul said, let us therefore go boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of what? Need. When is your need? Well, I'll tell you, when your house burns down or your wife has got cancer or you come down with a heart attack, things like that. I mean, that's a time of need. I think our time of need's all the time. Can you think of a time you don't need God's grace? I certainly need it when I'm trying to preach the word or sing the hymns of Zion or pray or love my enemies. I need grace, but the grace is available. Now, Demas forsook Paul. Why? Because there was a shortage of grace. No, because he didn't guard his heart. And he let the devil seduce him. Did you know God's children can be seduced by the world and its charms? He loved this present world, and he forsook the house of God. Now I'll tell you this. I believe a child of God can commit awful sins in this world, but I don't believe a born-again child of God can commit them and feel good about it. If you can go out here and do wickedness and just forsake the church, forget all about it, and it never bothers you, I tell you, I doubt you were ever born of the Holy Spirit. Because if you're a child of God, friends, you might go wrong, but you're not going to enjoy it. God will see to it. If you think that you can enjoy sin continually in this world, you have truly been deceived by the enemy. Let's notice some others that Paul mentions. My time's already gone. I want to notice just some other expressions Paul gives about others that he was afraid would forsake him. Let's notice in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 6, from which some, having swerved, have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor what they affirm." Then verse 19 of that same chapter, "...holding faith in a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck." You and I can shipwreck our lives if we don't stay focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's notice another example or two that Paul gives to Timothy. Over in chapter 5 of 1 Timothy, in verse 15, for some are already turned aside after Satan. He's talking about God's children. that have turned aside after Satan. Notice down in chapter 6 and verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Now notice in verse 21, which some professing have erred concerning the faith, grace be with thee. Amen. And then in the second Timothy, Paul mentions a number of others that have fallen. In chapter 4 and verse 16, he says, At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Paul was aware in the first century that many in the church had fallen away. It's been true in every century. It was true in the twentieth century. It'll be true in the twenty-first century. But it doesn't have to be true for you and me. You and I can remain faithful to God to the day we die. We can do it, beloved, not in our own strength. No, we're weak. But He's strong. And Paul, and he said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee. I don't have a, I really don't have a clue as to what the future holds for me. We sung that song tonight about shifting sand. I want to tell you this, this world is full of shifting sand. We don't know what tomorrow holds. But that song, it was talking about bearing me up angels and And you know, it's a beautiful thought. It's a prayer that God will bear me up with His angels, even with the shifting sands of this world. I don't know what tomorrow holds. I don't know what kind of trials or tribulations or burdens are going to come my way. You don't know either. None of us know that. But we know God is faithful. That's what we do know. And we know His grace is sufficient. And we do know We were talking tonight about some old brethren that we know, and we were talking about Elder Compton. Some of you may know him from Washington, D.C.' 's 102, this coming February. And somebody told me they heard him preach a 30-minute sermon last weekend in Texas. I tell you, I wouldn't mind signing on the dotted line for that kind of arrangement. Wouldn't that be something? And the man's still got his right mind, he waits on himself, he can transfer himself, feed himself. You know, 102 and still flying all over the country preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to tell you, if God can help Brother Compton to do it, he can help Sam Bryant to do it. The same God that was with Paul in the Roman prison is the same God that's on the earth today. Y'all believe that? Y'all aren't listening to me tonight, aren't you? Y'all do believe God's the same yesterday, today, and forever? And we want to be faithful, Brelebit. And I just believe that God's children who are faithful enjoy their life on this earth. When I read Paul's letters, I don't get the impression this brother's down and out, and I don't get the impression that he's depressed and sad and got a death wish. Do y'all get that impression? He said to the Philippians from a Roman dungeon—now let me tell you, those Roman prisons were hard on people. When I was in Rome back in 1970, one or two, they took us on a back street and showed us a hole in the ground that they said they thought could have been the prison where Paul was. It wasn't a place where I even wanted to go as a tourist. Just a hole in the ground. Can you imagine the kind of food they fed them? Can you imagine the stench? Can you imagine the dampness? Can you imagine, beloved, this man suffering so much for no greater sin than having preached the gospel of Jesus Christ? But he writes a letter to the church at Philippi, one of his prison epistles, and he says, he says, do you all remember what he said in chapter four? Oh, listen to this. Yeah, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And then he said, rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say, rejoice. Does that sound like a man having a pity party, feeling sorry for himself? If I had spent one night in a Nashville jail for preaching the gospel, knowing my disposition, I'd probably have a two-week pity party. I tell people back home, if you're going to have a pity party, plan it, the beginning and the end of it. Start about four o'clock in the afternoon, end it at five. Don't expect anybody to come, because they're probably having their own pity party. But if I had to spend one night in jail, I'd probably mention it every time I got up to preach. I'd work it in there some way. I'd want y'all to feel sorry for me, you know, by nature. Here is a man that spent much of his life You find me one time he ever complained about it. One time he ever murmured about it. No, from this jail, he says, rejoice in the Lord. That man didn't need a psychiatrist. That man was close to the Lord. That's what keeps us going, brethren and sisters. That's what keeps our head up. That's what makes us strong, staying focused on Jesus Christ. I want to tell you, I am concerned about America. I had my first grandbaby about two and a half years ago, and it changed my total outlook on things. Because, you know, I'm 57, I've had a wonderful life. I got here in 1948, three years after World War II. Brother, it's been a wonderful country to live in. America's been a great place to live. If I died tonight, I can tell you I believe I lived in the best time. As far as the history of the world is concerned, as far as comforts and all that is concerned, in the greatest nation the world has ever lived in, or the world's ever known. But I think about my grandchildren. Do y'all ever think about the next generation? I am concerned. I can talk to the rooster crows in the morning about the dark clouds that I see gathering on the horizon. But I can't focus on those dark clouds. If I do, I get so down and out I couldn't get out of bed in the morning. I'm going to keep looking to God who can get us through anything and everything and keep His people safe and cause the church to grow and abound if we'll look to the Lord and trust in the Almighty. He kept that church through the first century. And I believe God will be with us today. And I want to encourage all of you, as Brother Ricky did tonight, to remain faithful to the Lord and faithful to Bethel Church or wherever your church membership is. And if you're not a member, I'd be glad to see you join tonight. Get started now. Being faithful. You know, you can't hold, you can't, Paul said to the Hebrews, he said to, you know, let us hold fast our profession. If you haven't made a profession, you can't hold on to it. You need to make a profession. How do you do it? Come down here and say, I love Jesus. A little five-year-old girl walked down the aisle Sunday at The first thing out of her mouth was, Brother Sam, I believe in Jesus and I love this church. I can tell you she was gladly received into the fellowship of the house of God. I love to see them come young in life. Isn't that a wonderful thing? And not take their youth out here and offer it on the altar of Satan. and bring the ashes of a misspent life to God at the end. No, my friends, get started now serving God. He deserves the very best you've got. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." And here Paul is wanting this young minister to be encouraged and to be faithful. And I tell you what, I've got a lot. I hardly got started in this first chapter tonight, but I want to close by giving you all the greatest encouragement that Paul could have possibly given this young minister. Let's go back to chapter 1 of 1 Timothy, and the apostle would say this, or excuse me, in 2 Timothy chapter 1, and he would say in verse 9, Who hath 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 us in Christ Jesus before the world began. If I didn't have anything else in this world tonight, but my hope in Jesus of a better world than this one, that ought to be enough to keep me trucking till the end. Because I've been saved by the grace of God, and I've been given a home beyond this world. And I'll tell you, that is encouraging, isn't it? Jesus said to his disciples in the upper room, don't let your heart be troubled. He said, if I go away, I'll come again and receive you unto myself. I just tell you, I'm encouraged. I hope y'all are. and let's remain faithful to the Lord Jesus and pray that in our day the churches among the old Baptists will experience a great revival and a great in-gathering. We don't need to be reformed, but we need to be revived. I do. And may God help us. Thank you for your wonderful attention tonight.