Good morning. Trust that God has given you another good week. And believe it or not, this is our sixth Sunday apart. And I hope that that number is not going to get too high. But here we are on our sixth Sunday. Hard to believe. But praise God again for his goodness. We've enjoyed seeing you on Zoom and at our prayer meeting and in our Bible study on Sunday nights. and thank God for that opportunity that he's given to us. There's some special things coming up this week that you could be praying about. Today, this afternoon at three o'clock our time, I have the opportunity to participate in a Zoom service with the Baptist Church in Napoleon, Michigan. And pray for God to bless that Sunday school class and that opportunity just to be with them. It's my youth pastor, Pastor Reggie Coleman, that I'll be with there and our family will be with online. And so pray God will bless that. And then next week we have the opportunity to be in a missions conference. with Pastor Baker. And you remember Pastor Baker was at our church with a team mission trip for our football outreach this past year. And so we get to be in their missions conference and pray for God's blessing on that as we put that together for next week. But anyway, praise God for this and if you turn your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 12-16 and you could be turning there as we get started here this morning. Mac was watching a school DVD downstairs this past week and his teacher was teaching him to identify objects that are alike in size. And so they were learning about the Indians and the pilgrims. And so she put up three Indians and then do a comparison. And then she put up three pilgrims and put a comparison. With the comparison, she would put up a card, one size, and you've got the three sizes on the other side. And she'd say, now which one is like this one? And it was interesting to me because I forget that children need to be taught. My wife does the homeschooling in our family, but children need to be taught everything, including how to reason or how to think and those skills that they have. And, you know, children are just kind of like a sponge, aren't they? They're just soaking it in, learning from everything. And you don't even realize you're teaching a kid to do something until you see him doing what you're doing. And so we've got in our church, we've got children that are growing up in our church that are looking up to us as believers in the church. And in our church, we also have young believers in Christ. They might be older as far as physical maturity, but as far as spiritual maturity, they're still growing. And we wanna be a good example for them. And Paul understood that. And Philippians 3.17, he said, brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example." Okay, we are a model or a pattern to follow. And you've got us, and Paul realized that, and he said, follow me. And you know, that's a good thing as long as we have a good pattern or a good model to model our life after. If it's good, it'll help us to turn out right. If it's bad and we follow it, then it will hurt our life. Joe Zichterman wrote a hymn entitled, Be an Example. And it's from our texts that we're going to look at this morning. But in that hymn, he said, many now are watching the footsteps that we take. Many soon will follow in the choices that we make. So let us then be faithful to do what we should or to be what we should be and leave a good example that they can clearly see. Let us then be watching the weary day by day looking to encourage and to lead them in the way. To run the race with patience on Jesus, fix their eyes and challenge them with excellence that they might win the prize. And the course is be an example of the believers in word and in conduct. Be steadfast in love and faith and purity of life. For those behind us, let us stand within the gap and make a difference in their lives. Be an example. to follow Christ. And as you hear the words to that hymn, and you read our text this morning, you'll understand that Joe Zichterman, again, took his hymn text from this text of scripture that is our text this morning, 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verses 12 through 16. Timothy is what we call a preacher boy. He is a preacher in training and he's in his own ministry, but Paul is discipling him and encouraging him and really building him up in the faith and teaching him to be an effective minister of the gospel. And the pastoral epistles are excellent for us that are in ministry. We have 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus that help us to understand how to do the ministry as pastors that God has given to us. But Paul says there to Timothy in verse 12, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers. And then he's going to go through a list of things that he wants him to be an example in. And I want to encourage us this morning to take Paul's challenge to Timothy to be a good example of the believers. and ask us this morning, am I a good example of the believers? Is that in my life? And I've got an acrostic for us this morning. I don't often do this in my preaching, but I have an acrostic that is the word hope this morning. And so the idea is hope for good examples, hope for good examples. And so the points that we're gonna look at, H is hold up a good example. O is observe a good example. P is practice a good example. And then E is evaluate a good example. And hopefully maybe that'll help us to remember the message this morning and to file it in our hearts and minds. And may God do that as we go to God's word. Let's pray and ask him to help us as we study this morning. Father, we praise you for the grace that you give. Lord, thank you for our church. And Father, I thank you for Free Baptist Church and Lone Head. And Father, I thank you for what you're doing in our church. Thank you for the 10 years of ministry that you've given to us. And Father, these are exciting days as a church. There is great opportunity for men and women to stop and consider their need. And Father, maybe to understand that they need God. And Lord, we praise you for weaning them off of life and entertainment and sport. activities and work and so many things that consume men's time and giving opportunity, Lord, for men to turn to you in your mercy. And Father, we pray that that would take place. We pray by the grace of God that these would be wonderfully exciting days. But Lord, these are great days too for us as a church to really grow. Father, to be humbled in our heart and realize, you know what, we need the judgment of God too. And if judgment begins at the house of God, what must the end be for the wicked? And Father, yet we do need it. We need the Spirit of God to remind us that there's a work to be done in evangelizing this world and being the example that we need to be to be able to have the world see what Christ looks like. And Father, I pray that people would see Christ in us. Father, I praise you for Paul's burden for Timothy and his love for Timothy and to impart knowledge to him through writing to him. Father, the Spirit of God giving us scripture through these lessons that Paul gave. Father, I pray that our hearts would be tender to you. I pray, Father, would you give us grace to take in the truth of the Word of God. May what is said Lord, really help us in our walk with you. Father, I can't speak without the enablement of the Holy Spirit. I ask that the Spirit of God would lead me and guide me in this time. I pray that he'd enable me. I pray, Father, for liberty to preach the truth of the Word of God with clarity. Father, pray give us ears to hear and to take in. Your precious, precious word. And Father, may it be like that fresh spring water that's coming down on the grass and just bringing forth life. Father, may it bring forth life in us. And I thank you for your help. Thank you for your enablement, your guidance, both with my speaking as well as our hearing. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. The first one is H. Hold up a good example. The Royal Highland Show took place this past year, and I think, I imagine it's going to be canceled this year. But we enjoyed going to it this past year, and really, I said it to the church, it was a highlight for me as far as experiences that we've had in Scotland, just being able to go and see all the different livestock and things. But, you know, there's good examples in many different categories there. at that show. They've got categories of crafts, and you've got good examples, I suppose, of quilting, or woodwork, and other crafts. You've got good examples of food items, like honey. We enjoyed going into the honey tent and testing different types of honey. They've got livestock, and horses, and sheep, and cows, and I mean, some of these cattle are majestic, huge beasts that are beautiful to look at. They've got examples of lumberjacking and good examples of climbing that post and cutting through and sawing logs and other things that lumberjacks do. They've got horsemanship categories and riding and good examples of that. Paul has several categories for us where he wants us to be a good example. So he's gonna give us those categories of areas where we ought to have in our life something that we can hold up and say a good example here of this category. And so Paul says, first, hold up a good example of a believer's speech. Hold up a good example of a believer's speech. Verse 12 says, be an example of the believers in word. What comes out of a believer's mouth ought to be good. Colossians 4 says, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. And there ought to be flowing from our lips as believers, good, wholesome speech. Sadly, our world has changed their position on good speech. I was surprised in touring the Britannia that's there at Leith Docks, the Queen's ship. As we walked through the museum part of it, before you get onto the boat, there's some plaques on the wall and you're reading them as you go along. But I was surprised to read that the police, and I think it was port police, had authority actually over language that if somebody was using profanity, they could actually deal with that. You know, nowadays, sadly, what used to be, if a woman was present in a room, a man would be very careful what he would say. Sadly, in our day, it's a woman whose tongue has to be guarded from, or the child whose tongue has to be guarded from, as they use profanity without conscience. And sadly, even believers are very free with their speech and take God's name in vain very easily. As a counselor at the Wiles Christian Camp in North Carolina, we had a ride that you could go on, and it was called the Giant Swing. And it's kind of a 60-foot length of rope that you're harnessed to, and you're drawn back in an arch with another rope to a release point. And when it released, you free fall for a second, and then it catches you and swings you up, I don't know, 45, 50 feet in the air. But as they would do that every week, they would warn the kids and say, look, we are glad to have this right. We're thankful to have this right. But the last thing that we want to hear coming out of your mouth as you're released from that rope that's hauling you up is to take God's name in vain. And yet it happened all the time. and how easily that takes place, sadly, in the lives of a believer. David had a good idea when he prayed this prayer, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. Our words, our speech, is it a good example? Is it something that God is pleased with as a good example? Paul said that's one category I want you to hold up a good example in. And then hold up good examples of a believer's behaviors. It says in verse 12, be an example to believers in conversation. Conversation is our behavior or our lifestyle. It's what we do. And you know, believers used to, and they should today as well, but it used to be more distinctly evident in past days that a church historically differed from the world in behavior. that that was expected to be that way. And so how have they done that historically? Well, believers opposed profaning the Lord's Day. I mean, it was understood that that was God's day and it wasn't a day just to go out and do your own thing. And in fact, a believer would take a strong position about the fact that shops should be closed on the Lord's Day. Believers used to oppose the cinema in Hollywood and the entertainment that was coming out that was wicked, and a believer would stand against that. Believers oppose sinful habits like smoking or drinking and cursing that we talked about. Things like that that a believer would be very guarded about. In fact, in Lone Head, I've read a history of our community which celebrated 350 years this past year. A man in our community wrote a very nice set of books like that thick that speaks about the history and one of the things it spoke about was back in the day, the churches in Lonehead going against alcohol and really taking a position against it and getting it out of the community. Believers historically taught modesty and being decent in appearance, not just dressing modestly, but dressing appropriately to go to the house of God and to worship God. They would dress up and go to that place of worship. Believers lifted up and honored the Word of God as absolute authority, that that was, if the Word of God said it, that's where they stood. Sadly, in our day, believers are dressing down, taking on habits, watching all entertainment, abusing the Lord's Day, disrespecting the absolute authority of the Word of God. And it's good for us to step back and say, you know, it's right for our world to expect that in the life of a believer, they're going to lead in an example of what is a good behavior. And so this morning, does God approve of our behavior? Are we a good example, not just in what we say, but in that which we do. So hold up a believer's speech, a good example of a believer's speech. Hold up a good example of a believer's behavior. And then hold up good examples of a believer's affections. Verse 12 says, be an example of the believers in charity. That word charity is the word love, and that would be the word that we probably use. But it's love. And there's three Greek words that the Bible uses for love. Eros is romantic love, phileo is brotherly love, and then agape is the highest form of love, and it's the love that God has for us. Agape love involves faithfulness and commitment. It's an act of the will. It's distinguished from other types of love by its lofty moral nature and strong character. The types of love that characterizes God is not a sappy, sentimental feeling such as we often hear portrayed. God loves because that is his nature and the expression of his being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely, not because we deserve to be loved or because of any excellence we possess, but because it is His nature to love and He must be true to His nature. Agape love is always shown by what it does. God's love is displayed most clearly at the cross. And that's from GotQuestions.org, a website I like to go to to get some information. A great definition of love is shown by what it does. The Bible says in John 3.16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that sacrificial love of Calvary is agape love. Agape love is also demonstrated in the story that Jesus shared about loving your neighbor and the Good Samaritan. And the stories of a man that was robbed on a roadside between Jerusalem and Jericho, and two religious men walked past, and they were religious in name only, but as they walked past, they walked past on the other side away from this man that had been robbed and beaten. But a third man came along and he's a Samaritan, a man that would have been hated and despised by these religious leaders, but he sees this man and he does something about it because he has, he demonstrates agape love or charity to this man. He had a concern for an injured stranger. In Luke 10, verse 33, it says that when he saw him, he had compassion on him. He wasn't anybody to this man. He didn't know who he was, but his agape love or charity gave him a concern for that person. He changed his plans to personally care for the stranger, it says, and he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. He was on his way somewhere, but he took the time to stop and to personally care for the needs of this man. He freely gave to meet the needs of the stranger. It says he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the morrow when he had departed, he took out two pens and gave them to the host and said unto him, take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee." And I mean, he's freely giving of his resources to meet the need of this man. Jesus said to the man he was teaching about loving your neighbor, he said to him, go and do that likewise. And so God would say to us as well, we are to be a good example, an example of charity. And so as God looks at our love this morning, what does he see? Does he see the outflow of genuine love, agape love, for others being demonstrated as a good example in our life? And so Paul says to Timothy and to us, be a good example of a believer's speech, of a believer's behavior, of a believer's affections, and then hold up good examples of a believer's attitude. Attitude is the fourth thing that that Paul speaks to Timothy about in verse 12 be an example of the believers in spirit. Spirit has to do with our attitude. or feel about it. You know, attitude is contagious. It is. As a youth pastor, you know, if you've got one person with a bad attitude, it's going to be horrible. It's going to be rough. It's going to be hard to get the teens motivated. If you got somebody with a great attitude, it's going to be easy because that spirit is contagious. Remember the story of Moses sending in the 12 spies into the promised land to see it and bring back word to the people about what they saw there. 10 spies came back with a bad attitude, and that bad attitude kept the nation of Israel from entering into the promised land that God had for them. Nobody wanted to go because their spirit had affected the spirit of the nation. You know, Winnie the Pooh has some fun characters in it, and we've seen that a time or two with young children in our home. But Winnie the Pooh, you got a character that is Eeyore. And Eeyore is the pessimist. Everything's bad. Nothing's going to work out. And then on the other hand, you've got Tigger. And Tigger's like, everything's good. He's the perpetual optimist that has that spirit of excitement. If I had a choice between an Eeyore and a Tigger in my youth group, I'd choose a Tigger every time. It's got that good spirit that can motivate people. How's your attitude as a believer? Are you holding up a good example of a good attitude? Do you have to go to church or do you want to go to church? Is it, I've got to go to church or I get to go to church? Do you have to serve the Lord or do you want to serve the Lord? You know, is serving God a drudgery to you? Oh, you know, it's, I've got to go do something for the Lord or is it a joy to serve God? Do you willingly obey God or begrudgingly obey? David said it this way. I'll run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. David had his running shoes on, he had him laced up, he was ready to take off as soon as God showed him what God wanted to do because his spirit was so good. Hold up a good example of believers' attitudes. Hold up a good examples of a believer's convictions is the fifth thing. A believer's convictions. It says in verse 12, be an example of the believers in faith. Another word for faith is conviction. It is the firm belief of the truth of God's word and a corresponding obedience. Remember with those 12 spies, two of them were good. You had Joshua and Caleb that they had strong convictions about what God was going to do. They came back, they had a great spirit. Caleb stilled the people before Moses. And the Bible says, he said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. That's his spirit, his attitude. But with that, he had faith when he said, for we are well able to overcome it. He's saying God is faithful. If God be for us, we can go in and we can do this great thing. I suppose that spirit and faith often work together. A good attitude also has a good confidence in God. Remember that Gentile woman whose daughter was demon possessed that came to the Lord to have that demon cast out. And the Bible says, that in Matthew 15, verse 22, And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered and said to her, I'm not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It's not meek to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. And Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. This woman's spirit was indefatigable. I mean, it could not be put down, no matter what was thrown at it. I mean, she just, her spirit was great, and her faith was strong. Do not the dogs even eat from the crumbs which fall from their master's table? You know, our young people need to see, and younger believers need to see men and women of conviction that say, you know what, I believe God. I believe God. Strong in faith. 6. Be a good example in chastity or purity. Our world is not very chaste at all, but is sexually perverse and immoral. I've often wondered if we could take somebody from the 1800s and bring them into modern life, what they would think. You could take them and put them in a fast automobile or just even a slow automobile and see what that experience would be like for them or put them in a jet or give them a power tool to try to build something and how incredible that would be and how revolutionary that would be and shocking that would be to them. But if you stop and think about it, what if we took somebody from the 1800s and fast forward into our modern life, what would it be like for them to walk into our unchaste society? Women in those days covered their skin. And so they'd walk down Princeton Street here in the immodesty that is everywhere where in our society would be very apparent and shocking to them. Public schools back then would have taught the Bible and sexual purity and yet nowadays we've got perverse teaching about sexuality, normalizing what is sin and what is very wicked, I mean incredibly wicked and perverse. Back in the day, 75 years ago even, wicked music would have been veiled and used innuendos. I mean it was still wicked, it was still evil, but it was hidden, it was secret. Nowadays it's not just obscene in its lyrics, it's obscene in everything visually there is about it. Pornography 100 years ago was printed by wicked companies. Somebody would have to work hard to access pornography. Now it's available electronically on devices that are small enough to fit inside somebody's pockets and can be viewed anywhere. We live in a very unchaste society, but it's been well said that light burns most brightly in dark places. And so praise God, that example is what our world needs to see of godliness and chastity, you know, and purity. And so Paul's lifted up these categories before us, and he's challenged Timothy to be a good example in word, in behavior, in love, in attitude, in conviction, and in sexual purity, in chastity. And so H of our acrostic, hold up a good example. And then secondly, observe a good example. Observe a good example. My children and I enjoy looking for agates, which are semi-precious stones. I grew up in Wisconsin and I enjoy doing that in my youth, looking for these semi-precious stones. And I was pleased when Benson was walking on a beach over here and he picked up a stone and he said, Dad, what is this? And I go, wow, that's an agate, and realized that they have agates in Scotland. And this past year we enjoyed taking Blake, our college student in our church, out to look for agates. And as we do that, we take and we pick up a good example and we show that to whoever is with us and say, this is an example of what an agate is and here's a good example. And so that they can succeed by observing and then finding what is really a quality stone. And Blake did very well and found a lot of agates. You know, to observe something, to see it, you've gotta be in attendance. Our family enjoyed, just before COVID-19, going to a Valentine's concert at Usher Hall, and it was lovely to do that. But we were present there in the audience, listening and giving attention to the music being performed because we were in attendance to observe it. Paul has some places for us to be in attendance to observe a good example. He wants us to be present in these places so that he can show us what a right example is. And so we can observe a good example by reading. A good example by reading. It says in verse 13, till I come give attendance to reading." Reading is the Bible, it's the word of God and spending time in it. We painted our garage this past week and it's an ongoing project that has been ongoing because the first coat took something like 72 hours to dry and I've never had a paint like that didn't expect that I thought thinning the paint was optional I saw it you know I understood a little bit that it was to be thinned by 10% to put on that first coat but I thought that was just to get it to adhere well to the block walls that were there well apparently thinning it has more to do with, rather than just being suggestive, as to being the way that you're supposed to put on that base coat. My wife told me that as she read the 10 on the side, and it wasn't suggestive, it was the first coat is to be thinned by 10%. You know what, our example can get flawed if we neglect to follow what the word of God says. And so we gotta get in the word of God and see what it says to check out and observe what a good example is. And so 2 Corinthians 3, 18 says, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. You know, a great way for us to be a good example is to get in the word of God and to be diligently in the Bible to observe what is a good example of these different areas and categories that Paul has set before us. Let me ask you, how was your Bible reading this morning? Or if not this morning, maybe you didn't have time, how was your Bible reading last night? And if not last night, how was it yesterday? Or how was it this past week or this past month? If I were to ask you, where are you reading in your Bible right now? What would you say? God has given us a book that is the book that identifies what a good example is in these different areas. And we need to get into that place of observing by reading. And the second thing that Paul says, I want you to give attendance to reading, but secondly, be in attendance and observe a good example by hearing. Being present under the preaching of the word of God, and verse 13, till I come, give attendance to exhortation. And Paul is speaking to Timothy. Timothy was both the reader, preacher, as well as the hearer and taker in of the reading. And a preacher knows that as we stand up and as we preach the Word of God. I've heard it been said, if you point one finger, you've got three pointing back at yourself. And a preacher senses that so often. But exhortation, give attendance to exhortation as preaching. Our example changes as the Spirit of God impresses upon us what is a good example through the declaration of the Word of God. My father-in-law got saved in his late 20s with a young family. And my wife was just around the age of five and six when this took place. But he didn't know what a good Bible preaching church was. And so he started seeking. My wife remembers going to Pentecostal churches. She says she remembers once ending up at a Passover service. But somehow, my father-in-law ended up at a Sword of the Lord conference at Bob Jones University, and as he listened to these fundamental Bible preachers preach the Word of God, he realized, this is what I need. He went back to his little town of Fremont. Michigan and walked in, saw a Baptist church there, walked into that church and said to the pastor, Pastor, have you ever heard of Bob Jones University? And it was Pastor Steve Tipmore. And he looked up and he said, actually, I'm a graduate of Bob Jones University. And God led him there and praise God that he did. But you know, as God led him into a good Bible preaching church, that was a point of real transformation in his life. because he observed a good example by exhortation. And so observe a good example by reading, by exhortation. And thirdly, Paul would have us observe a good example by studying. It says in verse 13, till I come, give attendance to doctrine. Give attendance to doctrine. Doctrine sounds dry and dusty, but it's not. What doctrine is, Bible doctrine is, what does the Bible say about this topic? Tonight, if you are at our Zoom Bible study, we're gonna look at the doctrine of angels, angelology. And even this past week, for me, it's been a fascinating study to think about what does God's word teach us about angels? Doctrine like a precious metal protects our example from being tarnished and corrupted. I had an opportunity to speak this past week from six feet away with somebody and speaking with them, they made a statement, we were talking about religion, but they said, my minister has said this is okay and that made me feel great because he said it's okay even though this person was questioning it because it was an issue that was twisted by sin. And I said to him, I said, is your minister God? I said, are you God? And see, the thing is God is God. And so his word is his word. And we need to know what does God say? Because our example, if we're not doctrinally correct, will be skewed. And so if we want a good example, We need to study God's word, dig into the doctrine and compare scripture with scripture and say, you know what? I know this is what the word of God says. I know it by reading. I know it through exhortation, listening to good Bible preaching. I know it through personal Bible study I've observed. And so I can identify what a good example is and hold up a good example. That showed me the categories. Observe a good example shows me what a good example truly is. 3. Practice. It's not enough just to observe it, we need to also put it into practice. a part of our life. James said it this way in James 1.22, he said, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own self. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man, beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Just because I know it doesn't mean that I show it, doesn't mean that I demonstrate. I got to take it from head knowledge to my feet and make it a part of my life. And so we need to practice a good example. So practice first of all spiritually, practice spiritually. It says, neglect not the gift that is in thee. which was given thee by prophecy and with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Again, Timothy was a preacher teacher and Timothy had a spiritual gift of preaching teaching. He had a spiritual calling that the church recognized that was given by prophecy and that the church understood that Timothy has this gift and spiritual commission was given to Timothy as they laid hands on him and ordained him to gospel preaching, teaching, ministry. There was a spiritual work that Timothy needed to do. And if you think about it, our examples are pointless if they don't accomplish the work that God desires us to do in the house of God or in his church, in the gospel ministry that he's given to us. We had in our church in Michigan, a young believer that was a refreshing blessing that God gave. And I had the privilege of discipling him. His name was Earl. And I remember as I asked Earl, you know, talk to him about the importance of being a part of a local church. He asked a refreshing question to me. He said, okay, if I join your church, what's my job? What do I do? He said, do I mow the grass? You know, and he's just thinking, if I'm a part of something, then I need to be doing something. You know, if we're going to be a good example for the Lord, then we need to be active, using the spiritual gifts that God has given us to exercise in the local church. And so practice, being a good example, practice spiritually. Those things that we looked at, the categories, put those into the work that you do for the Lord spiritually. And then practice diligently, practice diligently. Many things have been canceled by COVID-19, including the Summer Olympic Games. They've been postponed to 2021. And I read that rather than being disappointed, the athletes were thankful that this had happened because they're training and disciplining themselves and working so hard trying to get their body to peak fitness at those dates, that it was a relief to them to know that it had been postponed. You know what? They do that because they are striving for victory. You know, Paul doesn't want half-hearted Christianity. He wants wholehearted examples that are really giving themselves to be a godly example. And so he says, practice diligently, discipline your mind. Discipline your mind. He says in verse 15, Meditate upon these things. Meditation is to really think about it, really chew on it. If you've ever seen a cow chewing the cud, and it's kind of disgusting, but they chew it, they put it down, and they kind of burp it up, chew it more, put it down, burp it up, and they chew it, trying to get all the nutrients out of there. It's called rumination, all right, get it right, rumination. And Paul wants us to ruminate and it does mean to meditate and just chew on these ideas about what would help us to be a good example for the Lord. Might be something like Psalm 101, verse three, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave unto me. And chewing on that to get past Satan's snares and to be a good example. Psalm 119, 32, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. I wanna be a good example and stay in the race, the Bible way, running down that path. James 4 7 submit yourself therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee for you and Meditating upon and say I want to be in the battle and be a good example for the Lord There's so many scriptures that we could talk about but meditate upon these things Really make it the focus of your life to be a godly example And so discipline your mind and then discipline your body. It says give thyself Holy to them Give thyself wholly to them. All right. But if I'm going to have a root canal or something, I want to have a professional, a career dentist that is not practicing as in learning, but practicing as in disciplining and giving themselves wholly to that dentistry that they do. Let me ask you, have you given yourself wholly to doing what God wants you to do? Is Christianity kind of an aside? Or is it something that, I mean, this is what my life's about, and so I wanna be a good example of a believer, and so I give myself to that. It's a career of Christianity. And so practice diligently, practice spiritually, and then practice openly. Practice openly. It says that thy profiting may appear to all. that other people would look at that as you're doing that and you're focused on it and you're disciplining that, they look at that and say, wow, you know, there is something different about that person's life. I can see that they are a believer. It's to be open. You know, our Christianity is not to be a secret. Some people, I think, look at the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus taught there not to let your left hand know what your right hand does when it comes to tithing. He taught about praying in a closet rather than praying out in a public place. He spoke about fasting and washing your face so others wouldn't look at you. and know that you're fasting. But what Jesus was teaching when he preached that in the Sermon on the Mount, he was preaching about not doing your spirituality or the things that you do religiously, not doing them for the praise of men, but doing them for the praise of God. But he was not saying that you're to be a secret Christian. In fact, he said in Matthew 5 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. Our world ought to be able to identify the real genuine Christianity within us. Daniel didn't have secret Christianity in his life. He was a clear Christian. I mean, he took a stand and went to the jailer and said, hey, can you give us pulse to eat? I don't want to eat this idolatrous food, this food that's been offered to idols. And Daniel had a very clear stand for God. When it came to prayer, Daniel 6.10, when he found out that the writing had been signed saying you couldn't ask anything of anybody other than the king, He went to his knees in prayer. Daniel 6, 10, Daniel knew that the writing was signed. He went into his house, his windows being opened and his chamber toward Jerusalem. He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four time. And we know that these ungodly guys saw him do it because they went and told the king and Daniel was cast into the den of lions. You know, if we're doing what we should do as godly examples, other people ought to be able to see it taking place because we need to be practicing it publicly. We need to practice it spiritually, the spiritual disciplines that God's given us to do the work that we have to do for the Lord. We have to practice diligently disciplining our mind and disciplining our bodies. And then letter E, all right? H was hold up the categories, the different things, good examples, observe good examples. We looked at secondly. Thirdly, we just looked at practice. All right. And that means get in there, get it done. And then the fourth thing, evaluate your example. Evaluate your example. Evaluate your example, first of all, by position. Are you correct in your position? Are you correct in your position practically? In other words, what you do. Verse 16, Paul says to Timothy, take heed unto thyself. Timothy, what are you doing? Observe and Christianity is not just a creed. It's not just a belief system. At Bob Jones University, where my wife and I went to Bible college and got our degrees, there was a great creed that the university had called the Bob Jones University Creed. And I try to quote it. I probably should be able to. We quoted it every day in chapel during the weekday. But it says, we believe in the inspiration of God, both the Old and the New Testaments, the creation of man by the direct act of God, the incarnation and virgin birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, His identification as the Son of God, His vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind by the shedding of His blood on the cross. the resurrection of his body from the tomb, his power to save men from sin, the new birth through the regeneration by the Holy Spirit and the gift of eternal life by the grace of God. It is a great creed. But just for somebody to understand and know that doctrine, if it doesn't get into their life and impact their life, it is vain. And a good creed with bad practice is a bad example. I'll just tell you as a preacher, I'm grieved every time I hear somebody defend a church and say, but the preaching is good. The dress is bad, the music is bad, the associations and the activities are bad, but the preaching is good. You know, the Bible doesn't separate the two. If an example is to be what it ought to be, it ought to be good in practice as well as in doctrine. And that's where Paul started with Timothy. He said, take heed unto thyself, what you do. And so are you correct practically? And then secondly, are you correct doctrinally? And it says, and unto the doctrine. And very simply, if I could just put it like this, do you stand where God's word stands? That is the simplistic answer of doctrinal correctness. Do I stand with the word of God? 2 Timothy 3.16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. We don't pick and choose. We're not doctrinally correct because we say, well, I believe this, it's in the Bible, but I don't believe that, that's in the Bible. Doctrine of correctness is, you know what, we stand where God's word stands and God's word is very clear where it stands. Evaluate. Am I right, God? Am I right doctrinally? Do I stick with the truth of the Word of God and what it says about all things? God, am I correct practically? Is what I do right in your sight, is it right according to the truth of the Word of God? And so evaluate your position. Then evaluate your example by constancy. By constancy, are you staying the course? Paul says to Timothy, continue in them. Okay, Paul says get right practically, get right doctrinally, and then keep on. Keep on to be a good example. So examine your continuance. Are you continuing to be a good example? You know we're not a good example because we're a good example for a week. Christianity is day in, day out, week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out. Christianity in our example is always, in a sense, future. Paul said it this way in Philippians 3 verse 13, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul never looked at his example and said, I've arrived. Paul's example was always future saying, I wanna be more for God. I wanna be better for God. And that example is good if it's continuing. And so examine and evaluate your example by constancy. Is there a good projection of going on for God? And then finally examine your example by impact. Examine your example by impact. And it would be like this. Are you motivating others to follow you? Is there an impact to bring others along for Christ? For it says in our text, for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyselves and them that hear thee. A good example is gonna have a good impact on others because of what that good example is. A good buddy of mine, Dan Haspin, he's five years older than I am, and he's serving God in South Africa with his family as a missionary. We grew up together, same youth group. did a lot of things together. And I just, I praise God for Dan. Dan was my counselor at Camp Joy, or I'm sorry, Camp Shitech, when the Spirit of God spoke to my heart about surrendering my life to God to do whatever God wanted me to do. And I went out and I prayed with my counselor, Dan. And, you know, I just praise God for a good example that had an impact on my life. You know, for the example that God wants us to be, we ought to see people that we are motivating to follow God because of our good example. As I saw Max schooling this past week, I was reminded that that children learn by example and they need a good example so that they can learn to do things correctly. In our churches, we don't just have young people, we have young believers. In fact, all believers that are looking up to us as an example. What is our hope for God, the examples in our church? hold up good examples. I mean, Paul lists the categories and he wants us to be a good example in each one. And so we have speech and behavior and love and attitude and conviction and sexual purity. And that God would have us be great examples that people can look at and say, you know, that is an example of godliness. How do we get there? Well, we need to observe good examples, read the Bible, listen to good Bible preaching, study the doctrine, and so that you can evaluate, this is what's good about speech, this is what is good about chastity, this is what is good about faith, this is what's good about spirit and attitude. Observe. Then we need to put it into practice. And as we serve God spiritually, we need those good examples practiced in our life. And then we need to practice it diligently, that we give thyself wholly to them. That it's not an aside, you know, well, if I'm a good example, I'm a good example. No, it's something that we invest our life in, and then openly, so that others look at it and say, you know, that's a good example of a believer, and I see that in their life. And so to get there, we need to evaluate it. We need to look at our life and maybe just consider, God, am I right doctrinally? Do I stand where your word stands? God, am I right practically? Is my music right? Is my dress right? Is my Christianity? All those things, those categories fall into that area largely of practice. Am I right practically? Is it constant? Is this my trajectory to go on and be a good example for God? And then is it having an impact? Who am I bringing with me? By doing this thou shalt save thyself and then that here the who am I bringing along by my good example? May God help us to have that good hope. of a good example in our lives. May God do that. That's what we need, isn't it? I mean, look at that and think, you know, by God's grace, that's what we ought to desire to be. God, help me be a good example. Let's pray. Father, I praise you for the grace that you give. Thank you for your love. Thank you for the time and the word of God today. It might be somebody listening in thinking, you know, I can't be a good example because I've got sin in my life. And Father, maybe it's because they're not saved. And if that's the case, I just pray they'd understand the mercy of God for them today that Christ died on the cross for their sin, that he paid the complete price, that if they'll repent of their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ, that today they could receive God's gift of everlasting life. It is a gift, Father, nothing to be earned, nothing they have to do other than turn to God in faith. Father, I pray the Spirit of God help them to do that. It might be a believer that's defeated and they're not reading their Bible like they should. They've got impurity in their life and immorality, Lord, on the telly or in some other means getting into their life. They don't have the convictions that they need to have about the Word of God. They don't have a good spirit, a good attitude about serving God. Lord God, would you just give them grace to to get to the practice part and to look at the Word of God and say, well, this is what the Word of God says. Confess your sin and start to use their spiritual gifts diligently and give themselves to being a godly example. And then, Father, may we all examine our life and consider, you know what? I need to really evaluate and make sure that I'm right doctrinally, practically, and that I am what God desires me to be as a good example. And so Spirit of God, would you do that good work in our lives today? Thank you for your grace. Thank you for our time together in your word. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.