despise your youth, but being an example to believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity, till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders. Meditate on these things. Give yourselves entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. pretty convicting few verses. As I said, it's a passage where Paul, the Apostle Paul, he's writing to Timothy and he's Telling him and encouraging him and challenging him and through this whole passage on what to do Remember Timothy is in in Ephesus. And so just to give a preliminary to start a Preface to the to the sermon and introduction where it says let no one despise your youth you know, there's been a lot of talk about how old was Timothy, just so you know, there's a broad spectrum, it's all over the place, but the majority of folks believe that Timothy, when Paul wrote this to him, was between the ages of like 35 and 40. and the church was looking at him as being young and green and rightfully so and if you look and read throughout church history It's evident, and I don't know if it's come through the struggles with Timothy, but it's evident that the church has struggled through history calling young pastors. Now, there's been some remarkable exceptions to those rules, and probably most of you are thinking of Charles Spurgeon. right now, that he was 16 years old. And God definitely gifted him for that, for the task that he had before him, and really in all of Europe and Christendom at that time. But Spurgeon also, and he wrote a lot about it, about the powerful struggles that he had as a young pastor. But throughout church history, the church has struggled with leaders that were young. And you understand this, because I know that there have probably been times that you have been sharing, or I hope you've experienced this in some ways, that you've been sharing with somebody that was a lot older than you. and a lot more experience than you. And I hope that you were humbled enough that even though you may have had a lot more biblical knowledge than them and a lot more understanding scriptural, scripturally wise, that you also had a humbling of yourself to think, this person has lived and had a lot more experience in life than me. And so you have these difficulties. And so the struggles that were being faced in Ephesus at this time was not just that Timothy was young. But remember, do you remember when we started this chapter in Ephesus, do you remember this church was in the shadow of the temple of Diana? Do you remember that? And so there were all of these pagan rituals going on around them and the church was struggling. And listen, this church in Ephesus, it was made up of a lot of widows and a lot of orphans. Because they were throwing babies away out in the streets. And the Christians would go down the streets at night and pick them up. and care for them. They were throwing the elderly out and kicking them out and guess who would go along the streets and gather them up and bring them home. And so this church was struggling in a lot of ways. Financially, a lot of poor lowly folks and made up the congregation and a lot of needs, a lot of needs were being faced. And so Timothy comes on, Paul sends him, remember, sends him to Ephesus and he shows up and man, he's overwhelmed. And he's not only getting it from inside the church struggles, he's getting struggles, of course, from outside the church. So in a way, as we look at these five verses, as we look at this, we can sit down and go, okay, what are the principles that Paul is trying to tell Timothy, how to face these criticisms, how to face these struggles, what is the apostle Paul telling this young minister in this church and how to live out his Christian life in this huge, The mixed bowl of emotions, the soup bowl of emotions and struggle and strife. And how is he to live out his Christian faith? I think we can see some principles. Now, to help you, I've summed it up to three points. Now just so you know, I was reading the Puritans, I've been reading a couple of messages on the Puritans on this passage, and one of them had 11 points. 11 ways to help you. So this is the cliff note version. So I'm gonna give you three points. How do you, as a born again believer, as a follower of Christ, how do you function in this world and face criticism in this world and live out your faith in this world? How do you do it? I'm gonna give you three points. And just for my friend Kurt, they're all C words. Canon, commitment, and consumed. Canon, commitment, and consumed. So let's start with the canon. A standard. You have to have a standard. In verse 12, it says this. Let no one despise your youth. But be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. You must be a good example. You must be a good example. You must live in such a way, you must have a standard of life that God has called you to live in such a way, a standard, higher, holier, more moral you must have this this element of that that you are different you have been changed by the gospel it has changed you and you are a different person now if you know anything if you've read anything about statistics in the church in America you know this there's not a whole lot of difference between what's going on inside the church and what's happening outside the church, which is sad. Do you know how many people that I share the Lord with, and I kid you not, I'm being serious when I tell you this, and they honest the goodness look at me sometimes and they will say, not these certain of words, but in words very simple, well, why should I give my life to Jesus when I'm living a more moral, better life than most of the people that I know that go to church? I'm being serious about that. And y'all know what I'm talking about. It's shocking to me, and it ought not to be that way. And if your pastor or your elders of this church find out things in your life, we'll be dealing with them. Evil things, immoral things, ungodly things. But the standards, that there ought to be a change, that that grace that we sang about today in all three of the songs, that that grace should have changed us. It's not you changing you. It's God changing you. It's you having a different life. different convictions, that you think differently, that you're not the same as this world. Hear me when I say this, believer. This is just a side note. If you are like the world around you, you have a problem. Do you hear me? Just examine your heart. Look at your life and look at your friends. Hopefully there is a gulf, such a difference. It's overwhelming. And then when you see the difference, you need to sit back. Instead of looking down and going, pity the fool, you should look at yourself and go, Lord, I don't deserve this. You've done this in my life, because I would have never done it. If I had a million chances, if I had a million choices, if you would have given me every opportunity left to myself, there was nothing good in you. Amen? Do you understand that principle? That if God Almighty doesn't move upon your heart and pour His grace in it, no man will repent. No one. And so there should be this, a standard difference. There should be something that is noticeable. In Matthew verse five, you know this verse very well, but I'm gonna read it to you. Matthew 5 verse 16 it says this, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. I wonder what do Christians today in our churches in America, how do they interpret that verse? Let men see the light in me and see the good works in me and what they see in me will bring glory to God. I want to read another passage. it's pertaining to leaders in the church but I it helps with this example we read this up it's out of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 7 I wanna read this to you remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct." It's saying, look at their lives. What are they teaching? How are they living their lives? Do we see a distinct difference? And has the Word of God changed their lives? Has the grace of God changed their lives? Look at it. You know, I think about this a whole lot, and I'm going to read it to you. I always think about qualified leaders to lead the church in America. A qualified leader should uphold the standards of God. that when God says something and he says this is wrong or this is right, a qualified leader should uphold the standards of God. A Christian should uphold those standards. An unqualified leader, do you know what he does to the standards of God? He lowers them. Food for thought, it's a simple thing. But a qualified leader, Christians should uphold the standards. And Christians should never lower God's standards. But Paul gives five things, and I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna point them out. He gives you a list here. He says, in word, meaning in your speech, Matthew 12, 34, it says this, what is in your heart comes out of your mouth, amen? I'm gonna just say, you hang around a person in any amount of time, five minutes, talk, engage them in a conversation, 10 minutes, and you can tell what's in a man's heart by what comes out of his mouth. 10 minutes. Do y'all believe me on that? Is there anybody here, I wanna, this is a little unorthodox, but I really, if there's somebody that disagrees with that, I want you to come talk to me after service. Do you hear me? Because I'm telling you, you can see a man's heart by what comes out of his mouth. It says in Word, in deed, which is in life or in conduct, 1 Peter 1.15 says this, you be holy as I am holy. People could say all they want, I believe in Jesus, I believe the Bible. They can say that all day long till the cows come home. You can say it and say it. You can say it every day. You can repeat it to everybody. I believe in Jesus. I believe in his word. Look at their lifestyle. Because what a person really believes, you can see them living it out. It's evident in how they live. Look at their lifestyle. Does the fruit on the branches match the sign on the tree. It can say it's an apple tree all day long, but if it's producing pineapples, are pineapples on a tree? No, that's a bush. If it's producing whatever, I don't know, pears, Well, I wanted to think of something that not a lot of people like. Whatever. Coconuts. It's not an apple tree. I love coconut. But a lot of you, I'm sure, don't. So, conduct. Love. Love. A Christian, I will tell you, this is the one characteristic that should dominate, dominate a Christian's life. I'm serious about this. Love. James 15, 13, every time I think about this, I think about Calvin running around the house a Batman cape on quoting this verse, greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friend what now? Bible man, that's right, not Batman, Bible man , is there even do they still have bible man is it still even around bible man that was what he he'd run around and defeat the evil foes of But it's true, love, love, love. That's why, do you know, that's why it's such an oxymoron to have divorce in a Christian church because God, He's calling us to love each other. And it doesn't matter how you feel, get over it. Get over yourself. Love. Love. Love your friends, love your neighbors, love the world. Love. Love. Fourth, faith. Hebrews 11, 6. which it's amazing you need to spend some time I'm I'm going to read one part of one verse in verse 6 but you need to read some you need to read that whole chapter about the faith that God has given men as examples for us men that even to the point of being sawed in half kept their trust in God. Amen? And it says in Hebrews 11, 6, without faith, it is impossible to please God. And let me, let me, I'm going to put a point on this. If you think that you can muster up enough faith, you are sadly mistaken. If God waited for you to have enough faith for something to get done, it would never get done. Do you hear me? Faith is a grace. To have faith in God, it's a grace. Now, can you cultivate that faith? Grow it? Yes. we're on talk about that in a minute but if you if you think you're gonna have enough faith and muster up enough faith and say it enough times to overcome something you can forget it but you can throw yourself to God and say Lord I trust you I love you whatever I have to do and whatever you have to do just let me know and we'll let's do it amen Whatever you're calling me to do, I'm going to do it. And whatever, Lord, you have to do, do it. Do it. Faith. And lastly, purity, which we talked about a little bit last week. And I used a verse, and you can write it down. I used a verse last week, Philippians 4, 8, about meditating on certain things, putting your mind and heart in certain places, good places. positive, godly, pure places, things that God wants you to put your heart and mind in certain places instead of in places that are against Him. Amen? There's not a person in this room, cat poos are included. that if he didn't meditate and put his mind and heart in places God wanted his mind and heart to be, he wouldn't stand. Prone to leave the God I love. Prone to wonder, Lord. What is it? Prone to leave the God I love. Lord, bind my heart with feathers, leather straps. Bind my heart, Lord, to Thee. Amen? Because you know why? We are all prone to wonder. Our hearts will wonder. And if we go over here and feed and hang out with the goats, guess what happens? Guess what happens? Boys, guess what happens, John? When you feed with the goats, you act like goats. It's not just the boys, it's the girls too. What now? Okay. Prone to leave the God I love. Alright, so canon, there needs to be a standard. Second point commitment Commitment you not only need a standard, but you need to be committed you need to concentrate Verse 13 and 14 it says this till I come Timothy till I get there till I come give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine do not neglect the the gift that is in you which was given to you by the prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. What does this mean? Being committed, being focused in, centered in, concentrated on this, loyal, given over, loyal to Jesus, committed to the truth about Jesus, given over to it. And Paul says, he goes, I'm gonna tell you three ways to do this, three ways how you do this, three ways of how to commit yourself and to recommit yourself and to concentrate and focus on these things. Three things, reading, exhortation, and doctrine. You want to know how to do it? You want to know how to have a standard? You want to know how to live by, have a good example? You want to know this? You be committed and you do these three things to help your commitment. Reading, exhortation, and teaching. Reading. reading it just point-blank. By this time, when 1 Timothy was written, there were letters being passed around in the churches, but they were talking about reading the prophets. They were reading some of the letters, and by this time, probably parts of the gospel were being shared amongst the church, but they were reading these early manuscripts from the apostles. They were listening to their teaching. They were listening to the prophets. They were reading this, the Scripture. The Scripture that you have in your hands. Reading it. And they were also exhorting it. Challenging people. Challenging God's people to hold on to it. To never leave it. To listen to it. To rise up above everything else this world has. To listen and be accountable. To apply the truths that they were hearing to their lives. To be exhorted. To get up. To be encouraged. To go forth in doctrine. which just simply means teaching. That somebody was sitting down and systematically applying these things to Christians' lives. That they were talking about doctrinal issues that they were facing. Well, what do we do? Do we eat meat that was sacrificed to the idols, or do we not? What do we do about remarriage? They were wanting to know these questions, to live godly lives. And so he was telling them, so you've got to read it, they need to be exhorted, and they need to be taught. The scriptures need to be taught. It's interesting as I've been reading, the earliest writings that we have, this was after the apostles, the earliest writings that we have of a record of a church service was from Justin Martyr in A.D. 70. I thought you might think this was interesting just so you can hear it. And he was writing to the emperor in Rome about slacking off of the Christians and giving them a break and he was writing about what the points of what they do in their worship. I want you to hear this. There are actually four points. Are you ready? And then I'm going to talk about them. Reading, teaching, exhorting, and prayer. That was the elements of their church service. And he was writing it in such a way of saying, you can find any Christian service, any group of believers in any part of the Roman Empire, and this is how they worship. It's interesting though, when he was speaking about reading, he said, we read until we're exhausted and we can't read anymore. Amen? They read until exhaustion, until they're exhausted. You know what that's like. Now, listen, when you read to yourself, you can read and read and read until you fall asleep or something. But if you have to read out loud, that's a task. It wears you out. And they would say, we would read to exhaustion. And then somebody would teach the people what they have just heard. And then read to exhaustion and then teach it. And then one of the elders would exhort the people to live these lives and apply these principles. And before we leave, we pray for each other and for God's mercy. That sounds like a wonderful church service, doesn't it? Amen? 170 A.D. 170 A.D. is when Justin Martyr wrote that. 170 A.D. A record of church services. So, he gives us three points, but then there's this verse in verse 14 that I wanna explain just a little bit. Don't neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by the prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders. What does this mean? It simply means this. What does this mean first for you? And then I'm gonna explain this. It means this for you. Every believer and the Lord Jesus has a gift. Use it. Use it. Exhort the body. Encourage the body. Use your gift. Use your gifting in the ministry, in the calling, in the kingdom of God. Use your gifting. Now what was Paul saying here about prophecy and the laying on of hands? Well, very clearly and very easily, by this time the apostles, they were still living. And so the gift of prophecy was still being exercised. And so obviously, and we don't know exactly, but probably 15 years earlier from this writing, I'm just guessing, that's an estimate. When Timothy came to know the Lord and one of the apostles, maybe even Paul, because Paul was very close to that family and more than likely led Timothy to the Lord, Paul probably prophesied over the young man. And the elders examined him in the church and saw the gifts that were happening and laid hands on him and said, you're called to this task and laid hands on him and sent him out. So that's what's going on. It's no confusion. Listen, the gift of prophecy today is closed. I know, does that send shockwaves anywhere? There are no modern-day prophets. Now there are people that take the Word of God and will tell what it says and be forthright, come and teach it. And some people have said, well, is that a modern, is that a prophet? Does he have the gift of prophecy? Not the New Testament gift of prophecy, let me put it that way. that died with the apostles. So, what does it mean for you and I? It means you've been gifted. You've been gifted. The Lord has given you a gift. He's given you a spiritual gift. And there's lists of them. First Corinthians chapter 12, Romans chapter 12. I mean, you can go look and you can pray. I mean, if you are a believer in Christ, He has given you a gift. Use it. Use it for His honor and glory. And third last point So you there's got to be a cannon There's got to be a commitment and lastly you got to be consumed Verse 15 and 16 says this meditate on these things give yourselves entirely to them amen entirely to them That your progress may be evident to all. That goes back to verse 12. That everyone will see you growing in the Lord. You growing in your knowledge. You growing in your conduct. That you're growing in these things. That it's evident. But you've got to give yourself entirely over to them. Verse 16, take heed to yourself and to your doctrine. Continue in them. For in doing these, in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Be consumed. Meditate. Day and night, think about them. I hope you get woke up at night. I hope the Lord wakes you up. Lord, please wake our people up. Lord, please stir amongst our body. I hope the Lord wakes you up and you have to get on your knees. Amen? That you are called to pray. That He's asking you to pray. That you're praying for your family, for your marriage, for your kids, for your friends, for people that we mention on our prayer list. I pray that He wakes you up. Day and night that you're constantly thinking you're being consumed by these things. What are we cultivating in our lives? Listen, everybody is cultivating something. Hear me on that. Everyone in this room is growing something in their lives. What is it? I pray it's godly cultivation. I pray that there are things that are happening in your life that you're growing spiritually, that you're growing in your knowledge of the Lord, that you're growing in your conduct. I pray you're doing this. Let me ask you just a simple question. Let me ask this. Have you grown spiritually in the last month? Have you grown spiritually in the last six months? The last year? The last five years? Where are you? Where are you spiritually? Do you know what Christians, what our testimonies should be? It's really simple. Now, everybody has different things that have happened, circumstances that have happened, but do you know what our basic testimony should be? That God took a wretch like me and did a great work. I cannot imagine having a family, a wife, I'll be honest, even friends like you guys. Friends. That's so amazing compared to where I came from. where I was, and I can remember as a little boy, a little boy looking at block walls and going, am I ever gonna have a family? What's a family really look like? I remember when Beth and I, and the Lord did so much work in my life, and when God brought Beth into my life, And me finding out that I was going to be a dad, I was scared to death. I didn't know how to be a dad. Grace! Amen? Grace! Grace! And that should be all of our testimony that God took a wretch Sorry, no good. There was nothing redeemable in my life. Did you hear me? Nothing redeemable in my life. Now I'm going to step on some toes. There was nothing redeemable in your life. But we have a problem in our churches in America. We have bad theology because we actually think that some of you... And I'm going to step on some moms' toes. Moms, as much as you love your kids, they're totally depraved. Do you understand? And grandmas, whoo! Grandmas, Ms. Ellen, your grandbabies are totally depraved. Do you hear me? They need Jesus. But we don't say that to our kids enough. We tell them, well we should tell them how. You did a good job and we should encourage them. But we go way beyond. You're such a good boy. I'm not kidding you. I've got to tell you this story because it's funny, but it fits the point. I was eating with one of my friends breakfast with his family and his daughter was eating oatmeal. I'm going to try not to say any names. And he said, would you like to put some pepper on your oatmeal? And she said, no, I'm good. And he said, no, you're not good. You're a wretch. And you're terrible. And you need Jesus. And we laughed and cut up, and as we ate oatmeal, we talked about total depravity. But that's the point I'm trying to make. No, you're not good. And you need Jesus. Amen? No, you're not good, and we all need Jesus. We all need Jesus. And we need to be consumed by it. And praise the Lord for Philippians 1-6, that the good work that He has started in us, He will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Amen? That what He has started in you, He's gonna complete it. Amen? He's gonna do it. Because if He waited for you, I know some of y'all. And some of y'all need to be on the plane to Kathmandu. So let me ask you this before we leave in closing. Where are you today? Some of you here think that you're born again. And you're fooling yourself and you're fooling everybody else around you. But you're not fooling God. And you think you're okay. And you're sitting there right now saying, I'm okay. And you're not. You're not. But Christ will not turn away from you. Run to Him. Amen? Run to Him. Say, I'm not okay. I'm not okay. And run to Him. Run to Him. And some of you are here today, and you are born again. But some of you are still infantile in your faith. Just like Paul said, why are some of you still drinking milk? Shame on you. This is yours. This is you working with the Holy Spirit, Him convicting you in your life in the growth of sanctification. Some of you are born again and you're infantile in your faith. You're babies and whiners and complainers in your own milk. In your own milk. And it's time for you to get out of diapers. Amen? It's time for you to get out of diapers. And some of you are born again here this morning and you're just flat struggling. You're in one of those places again that you're struggling and everything is beaten down on you and everything is around you. I mean, you're a pastor, I know. I'm a man like you. and understand, and things are beaten down around you, and you're struggling and walking. Keep on walking. Don't ever stop. Amen? Let's encourage one another. Listen, there are some wonderful brothers and sisters in this body. Let's talk to each other. Let's hold each other accountable. Go to your brothers and sisters and say, man, brother, sister. Now listen, sister to sister, brother to brother. You got me? You got me? Or if it's to your pastor, it needs to be sister to brother and sister. Amen? Do it right and godly. But go to each other and say, I need prayer. I need help. I need help. Pray for me. Pray for me. So where are you today? Where are you spiritually? Where are you? And here's three ways, three points to tackle the circumstances in your life, the struggles in your life. And every believer knows this, that nothing else matters if you're not right with the Lord. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for this word. Lord, do your work. The work that only you can do.