1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy 4. As you turn there this morning, remember this. I'll set the table for us. This is the first of two inspired letters that Paul wrote to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy. So there's two main characters today that you need to keep in your mind as we preach this message and that is the Apostle Paul and Timothy. Timothy had two incredible ladies in his life. His mother was a lady named Eunice and his grandmother was a lady named Lois. Devout Jews who through the ministry of the Apostle Paul came to Christ. They even named Timothy their son and grandson, one who honors God. That's what Timothy means, one who honors God. So in this letter, Timothy is growing, he's developing, And Timothy is being given a great challenge. The Apostle Paul has been dealing with the presence of false teachers at a place called Ephesus. You'll find the letter to the Ephesians in your Bible that was also penned by the Apostle Paul. But here there's some other things taking place and no doubt the Apostle Paul is helping Timothy specifically with these issues because God's going to use Timothy in a great and a mighty way to set some things in order. And in chapter 2 and chapter 3, you'll find positive instruction. It's not just all bad. It's not all about the church turning away from truth or false teachers and false preachers. The apostle Paul knew that Timothy needed to be equipped with really positive reinforcement and how to counter the false teaching in the church. So now we're in chapter 4. So you have Paul and Timothy. Paul is helping Timothy get things in order in the church. And there's some things to remember that in chapter 2 and 3 we got some instruction on how to counter it. But now in chapter 4, the Apostle Paul is dealing directly with these false teachers themselves. And not only is he dealing directly with the false teachers themselves, but the Apostle Paul is getting very personal with the personal responsibility that Timothy has to do with the church and its future and all that's taking place. So there's some things to remember about the relationship between the Apostle Paul and Timothy. Most of you that are students of the Word of God, you know this immediately when we say Paul and Timothy. They're almost synonymous, if you will. But if you're new to the Word of God, understand this, that Timothy has been the Apostle Paul's student. It's further than even student or a kind-to-uncle-like character in his life. Timothy really has been the Apostle Paul's protege. He's been underneath him learning, training, developing. And Timothy has been learning from Paul since Timothy was a young teenager. And so Paul knows Timothy and he knows Timothy's capability. He knows Timothy's strengths. He knows Timothy's weaknesses. And now he's placed the assignment back on Timothy to set the people in order and to put them back on the right path towards truth in the church. This is a daunting task for a young man. It says in this chapter, he's telling Timothy, Paul is, put the brethren in remembrance of these things. Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. So he's putting the godly pressure back on Timothy that you have the duty to teach and to preach truth and to be exactly what you're supposed to be. He's honest with Timothy. Go to 1 Timothy 4. Look at verse 10. Look what's said. Paul speaking to Timothy here. For therefore we both labor, and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. These things command and teach. So the Apostle Paul is admitting to Timothy, this is not going to be a popular or an easy thing to do. We labor and we suffer reproach because we are holding to the standard of the living Savior. We're holding to the standard of truth that comes from Christ. So Timothy is getting his charge. The Apostle Paul is charging this young man to do what is to be done. And the Apostle Paul is using Timothy and the truth that he knows and what he's invested in his life to get the order back in the church. To get things that are out of order back in place. And then in verse 12, 1 Timothy 4, verse number 12, the Apostle Paul drops a 2,000 pound bomb of truth in Timothy's lap. And it's because, no doubt, Timothy knows his own limitations. Most men know their limitations. Most men understand their capabilities and how far they can go within their capabilities. So Timothy knows his inabilities. Timothy is aware of his insecurities. He's aware of his doubts. He's aware of his fears. But more than anything that Timothy knows about himself is that he is young. Timothy is young. Timothy is being put into a position and really a role, a place of predominance and power and authority as a young man. But the Apostle Paul knew what Timothy would be experiencing because the Apostle Paul not only knew the church there, but he knew the culture. Notice what it says in 1 Timothy 4.12. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers. in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. So Paul's response to Timothy's youth was to actually put more pressure and more responsibility back on Timothy. This was not the path of least resistance. This was not the easy way out. Paul is saying to Timothy, You're going to have to step up to the plate in a very contentious time. Be an example." And then he gives him those five areas in which Timothy was to be an example to the church. And as I told those hundreds and hundreds of college and career students this week at Arise Youth Conference, I find no single greater passage in all of Scripture than this for people who are under 40 years old. All of those that are under the age of 40, with me, say amen loudly. Amen. Say it again loudly. Amen. For those of us that are under 40, this is one of the greatest places for us to go when we're searching for definition for our life. This is where we go when we search for identity. This is where we go for defined passions, for opportunities to serve God. And yes, to even understand the world that we're living in. And for us, we have that same charge that we are to be an example. And in front of those seven, eight hundred young people, I was able to point to this truth and go through each of these. And it was wonderful and the Lord helped us. But my heart this morning is not towards the young people who received their charge this week at Arise and at Kids Camp. My heart is not for these young people today as much as it is focused on how Timothy became Timothy. And how it was that he was trained. And what sort of investment was truly made in the life of Timothy. How was Timothy loved? How was Timothy supported? How was hard truth shared with him? And how was all of that lived out in front of him as an example? And here's where my heart is more than anywhere this morning. I know the narrative of culture. And I know the narrative even maybe of some church culture in this country. I've heard it and you've heard it. And the narrative is that this generation is collapsing. The narrative is that this generation has no real desire for consistency with God. And no desire for laboring with the Lord. That this generation is ruined by the hook of technology and instant gratification. That there's no attention span in the generation that would even allow for spiritual nurturing and development. And I've been told that this generation is there. And I've maybe even believed at times that this generation is there. When you look at the world around us and you look at the degradation and the decline of morality and goodness, I'm not talking about Christianity. I'm just talking about being able to walk to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk without getting robbed. I'm talking about being able to go downtown on a Friday night with your wife for a dinner date without seeing heroin abuse everywhere. I'm talking about there is an absolute degradation and a decline in the morality, but there is also a group of people. There are young people, there are men and women, young ladies and young men who make up this generation. And I'm here this morning maybe to gain back some ground in your perception and in your heart as it pertains to the next generation. I'm here to report that this morning, that this generation is truly jam-packed full of young men and young women who are desperate for God. They are desperate for His Word. There are young people who are hungry for truth. There are young people who are hungry for guidance and mentorship. The problem is that this is a generation without many who are willing to be the Apostle Paul to Timothy. I do not see a Timothy problem in this generation. I see thousands even this week, thousands of young people who are hungry for truth, who are hungry for stability, who are hungry for real Christian leadership. The problem is the Apostle Pauls are not being the Apostle Pauls, investing in the lives of the Timothys. 1 Timothy 4.12 is such a moment of truth. The apostle Paul tells Timothy, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. But for the apostle Paul to say that to Timothy, Paul had to have been living out what he was instructing. I do not believe that God put the Apostle Paul in the Bible with such great presence, with all of the things that are canonized in Scripture for us, if Paul was full of hot air and did not live out what he preached. The Apostle Paul was able to say this to Timothy with boldness and with love, with a comprehensive relationship, because the Apostle Paul was living this out in front of Timothy. This morning, with the help of the Lord, I want us to focus on how Paul's mentorship and how his investment impacted the life of Timothy. And with the help of the Lord, that every person in this room, no matter how old you are, that all of us would ask God to help our hearts this morning to look for Timothy's in our life. to look for young men and young ladies in our life that we can invest in and that we can speak truth to and that we can love so that if the Lord tarries another 100 years, there will still be people full of faith and full of the Holy Ghost, that there will still be a church at 216 Shelburne Road long after we're dead and gone that believes God's word because they saw people who were faithful to hold to the truth. I don't see a Timothy problem. I see a generational problem where there's thousands and thousands of Timothys who need desperately the help, the leadership, and the guidance of an Apostle Paul in their life. Holy Father in Jesus' name, right now in this moment, God, we ask you for clarity of mind, strength of body. God, we pray that the word of God would find good ground in the heart of the people today, and that, Lord, you would use me in power to preach what you've put in my heart. God, I pray that you would hide me behind the cross, that no man would see me. God, put the words in my mouth that I ought to speak. God, keep the words out of my mouth that I should not say. God, use me to preach exactly what you want in this place today, and get all of the glory for what's done. Help the people to pray today for their preacher. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. and amen. The mentorship, the investment, the life of Timothy impacted by the Apostle Paul. I want to show you three things and we'll move on with our day in the good grace of God. Number one, I want you to see that the Apostle Paul modeled mature ministry in front of Timothy. The Apostle Paul modeled mature ministry in front of Timothy. Paul encouraged Timothy to be an example of maturity and godly character, and no doubt that is a tall order for any young man to live up to. But Paul charged Timothy, and it was in a way that was to demonstrate qualities of a godly man, not just when Timothy was behind the pulpit in a place of authority. But when Timothy was doing anything, all of his life, every aspect of his life, that Timothy would strive as a role model for other believers. And then he tells Timothy, let no man despise thy youth. He says, let no man despise your youth. To despise someone or something is to dislike someone or something. But it's also, despising is more than that. It's that you think that there is no value in that thing. that you see no value in that thing. So if the church there was despising Timothy because of his youth, then they're just leaning into the culture. Remember now, Greek culture at that time, the apostle Paul knew this, Greek culture placed a great value on age and experience, more than it did just about anything that they did. Understand that Timothy though, he's not 14 years old here. Timothy is not 15 years old. He's not even in his 20s at this point. At this point, Timothy was in his 30s. But still disregarded by culture as inexperienced and not valuable, thus they despised his youth. We don't want to hear your words. And the Apostle Paul knew that. So he's saying, Timothy, it's not just going to be behind a pulpit, but Timothy, it's going to be in the way you live your life. The Apostle Paul can't teach that. He can't model that unless he's living that himself. Culture was telling Timothy, you can't. God was telling Timothy through the Apostle Paul, you must. Culture says you can't. God says you must. You have to live this way, Timothy. It's in every aspect of your life. But Timothy had been with Paul since a young teenager. Timothy knew Paul, Paul knew Timothy, they knew each other well. And he had matured under one of the greatest men, if not the greatest man since the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul was saying that all of the people looking down on Timothy because he was under 40 really was inexcusable. Paul's saying, I give my stamp of approval. I have invested my life. I have lived it in front of the boy. And now he's going to use God's Word and the truth of what he's been taught to get this church back in order. You better listen to him is what Paul's saying. Let no man despise that youth. He modeled mature ministry to Timothy. Our issue today is that the ones who are supposed to be the mature Pauls, The bulwarks of truth are often the ones acting like immature Timothys. We have an epidemic of that in the church in America. We're too busy in this generation tearing each other apart. We're too busy getting on Facebook and taking an album by a Christian artist and pastor and spending hours of research trying to tear apart the leader of a youth conference because some of the songs on his album didn't go the way he thought they ought to go. Another evangelist, another brother in Christ. We've gotten really good at tearing each other apart in this generation. We've gotten really good with being busy with the devil's work, being skeptical. being cynical and being diabolically self-centered. We're too busy with all of that to invest in a Timothy. The sad part is that I'm not truly convinced that some are even able to notice that Timothy exists. You can't model mature Christianity in front of Timothy if you don't even realize that Timothy is living and breathing. You won't know and you will not care and you will not invest in Timothy if you can't even acknowledge that Timothy exists. We need a resurgence in American churches all across the country of people that rise up in the spirit of Paul and Lois and Eunice who are models of maturity so that young men and young women have authentic Christians that they can look up to and who they can trust. And for those of you who are parents, those of you who are grandparents here this morning, there is no greater influence than your influence. Moms and dads, this is not the time to be immature in our faith. This is not the time to be immature in the way we conduct our household. This is the time to be more mature than ever because here's the truth, when your child gets to elementary school, to elementary school, there are mature themes and mature ideas and mature discussions being had in the elementary school with your children that were not had at the high school 20 years ago. They're dealing with mature themes and mature things faster than ever before. And now is the time for the apostle Paul's to be models of maturity. This is what we do. This is how we live. We have a standard in our home. We have a standard with everything that we are and everything that we do. I'm not talking about legalism, I'm talking about living under the perfect law of liberty and grace in Jesus Christ. But being mature enough to realize the day and the hour in which we're living. Christians today, children today, Timothy's today desperately need mature models of Christ-like example. The Apostle Paul secondly promoted persistent purity. Not only did he model mature ministry, but he promoted persistent purity. Paul highlighted the importance of purity, not only in Timothy's conduct, but purity in everything. He said, Timothy, if you're going to be used of God, then your thoughts, your actions, your faith, all of it must be pure. It's essential, Timothy. Timothy, you are young, and yes, people will despise your youth. But Timothy, if you'll be pure in all of your ways, then God will elevate you. Timothy, God will use you. They will have no choice but to respect you, Timothy. and he promoted purity in his life. Notice what he does in 1 Timothy 4, 12. We spent an hour this week looking at this, really word by word, but I wanna point to something here. He says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers. Notice the first thing he puts here, in word, in word. If you highlight or underline, I want you to highlight or underline in word. Words. So if Timothy is going to be an example, his words have to be pure. Words are where Paul started because of how vital words are when we're setting an example. James chapter number 3 verse number 5, it says this about our words and our tongue. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, and a whirl of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of where? Of where? That's what the fire of the tongue is compared to, the fire of hell. For every kind of beast, and of bird, and of serpent, and of things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. That's why the apostle Paul started with words. If we're going to promote purity in our home, in our home culture, what's in our car, what's in our house, what's even in our minds, then we are going to have to start with the internal dialogue and the external sharing of that dialogue happens with our tongue. This is truly nothing, there is nothing on this planet more dangerous than your words. Be an example with your words, Timothy. Words start wars. Words crush lives. Words spew out online in an open economy of public perception and reception. And just because you have a Facebook platform or just because you have a TikTok or an Instagram or whatever you wanna put there does not give you the right to put whatever comes to your mind there and be right with God. Some of the example that needs to be set is an online example to our Timothys. It's getting quiet in here. Words split churches. Words break up relationships. All because the thought and the tongue got out ahead of what the Holy Ghost would allow. If you'll go home today and get your bottle of Sensodyne or Colgate toothpaste, your little tube, If you'll take all that toothpaste and squirt it in your left hand, get all the toothpaste you can possibly get, even do the little roll thing where you get every ounce of it out and put it in your left hand. There's all your toothpaste. Now take all of that toothpaste, take all that Colgate and try to put it back in the tube that you got it out of. Good luck. You can't do it. You might get a little bit there on the edge and you might be able to get a tool and force more in there. But the truth is all you're going to do is make a big mess. So when a Christian who's supposed to be under the leadership and the guidance of the Holy Ghost allows their emotion or their flesh to get ahead of what God would allow and all of that toothpaste comes out, then all you're going to do trying to clean it up is make more messes. It's a messy situation. Your tongue can destroy a life. And truthfully, it's not about what you can say to Timothy as much as it is what you say around Timothy when Timothy is just listening to the background noise. You can say words to Timothy all you want, but it's what your heart reveals when you're not on guard with Timothy. And see, the truth is you cannot tell Timothy. All of the young Timothys in your life and in my life, we cannot tell them to live your life for God. Go for God, pursue God, speak truth for God, be bold for God, and then spend a good portion of your day gossiping. Doesn't work. We can't spend a portion of our day backbiting and complaining and fussing and fighting and carrying on and expect there to be purity of thought and word in our home. It doesn't work that way. We can tell our Timothys to be faithful to church. We can tell them to listen to the preached Word of God and to ingest the Word of God from what's being preached from the pulpit. That's wonderful to say. And yes, you should encourage your children to listen to preaching and all of those in your influence. But the problem is you can't tell them to listen to the preacher and then spend Sunday night and Monday tearing the preacher apart. You will not cultivate a Timothy that's tender for the Word of God. If the preacher said something that's wrong, then go to the preacher, not your children. If you don't like the preacher, then pray that God changes him or find a church you can go to that you'll enjoy for the sake of the Timothys. Now it's really getting quiet. Your tongue, your words, If things are that bad at church, and we're getting real here this morning, if things are that bad at church and you can't find nothing nice to say about the youth department. and he can't find nothing nice to say about your Sunday school teacher. And if you can't find nothing nice to say about the effort being made in the children's ministry and the music ministry, and all it is is negativity and skepticism and a critical spirit, my friend, you might have a problem. Number one, you're either at the wrong church, or number two, you're not right with God. Timothy's listening to what you're saying, not just about your pastor, but about your church, which in the heart and the life of Timothy reflects a heart for God. Where is the connection to God for a child? Is it in your home? It should be. Is it at your church? It should be. Your tongue must be guarded. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of believers in word. Paul knew how to speak in front of Timothy. What you say in front of your children matters, friends. What you say in front of the other children of this church matters. What you say to a young preacher boy, preachers and pastors, what we say to them, it matters, it's weighted. What we post, it matters, it's weighted. Business owners who have employees that work underneath you that know you're a Christian, every word is weighted. Your tongue can destroy a life. How many people are not in church today all across America because of words? Our words matter. Timothy is listening. Let no man despise thy youth. But be thou an example of believers, Timothy, in word. The last thing he said there in that verse, in purity. Go back and look at all of these. Look at conversation, charity, spirit, and faith. But let's focus now on this last part in purity. Purity, especially sexual purity. Paul said in his letter to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 6, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that committeth fornication sinneth against his whole body. There will be no Timothys when those who are called to be investing and promoting purity are sexually promiscuous and impure. You cannot have purity at home cultivated in the life of your Timothys, your children, those that you have influence with, if you are yourself not sexually pure. You say, well, I don't step outside the bounds of my marriage. God's more interested in your heart, my friend. God is interested in the behind-the-scenes, private nature of your sexual conduct. You say, preacher, that's none of your business. Stop going there. No, we're going to stop right there because God, the Holy Ghost, wants us right there. If you want your children to live for God and if you want your children to marry right and to save themselves for marriage Then you cannot live like hell behind the scenes and expect to reap blessing in your house Get it under control today with a help in the grace of God Paul could not have said this if Paul himself was not pure sexually Why would your children, why would your grandchildren, why would those in our sphere of influence, why would they live with purity in mind, keeping themselves from marriage if we do not cultivate that lifestyle, that generation of sexual purity in our own homes? There must be a revival of integrity in the homes of this church. There must be in what we consume through movies, in what we consume through TV, YouTube, everything that's inundating your life every day. Ask God to keep you pure because your Timothys are watching. It's not about you getting caught red-handed. It's about what God desires for the future of the church and the future generation to come. Timothy needs Paul. But if Paul's messing around online, then Paul will have no ground to stand on when little Timothy turns 16 years old and wants to go out on a date for the first time. What kind of unction and power are you going to have mama and daddy if you're not right with God in this area of your life when your teenager wants to step out and be an adult? How are you going to share what the truth is about maintaining sexual integrity and purity if you refuse to live there now? There's a price to be paid if Paul messes around. For the love of God, it's not just about you and your happiness. It's about your children and whether they will accept Christ and spend an eternity in heaven or an eternity in hell rejecting Christ in their sin. Eternity is on the line. And if God's gonna tarry another hundred years, and if it's gonna get darker and darker, I don't know when the Lord's coming back. If anybody tells you the Lord's coming back in the next five years, you need to turn the channel, they don't know. It could be that God has us here for a long time. And if I go to a grave, if I'm not part of the rapture party, and I have to die and go to a grave, and wait for that blessed day, where to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and this church goes on for decades, what will Timothy have? What will be the investment we made in Timothy? Are we going to hand him a plate of rotten fish and say, serve? Are we going to hand him our putrid, vile trimmings the best we could do and say, there you go, Timothy, go do what you want to do. Do it to the best of your ability. Or do we want to hand them a pleasant garden, a harvest full of olives and fruits and vegetables and meats that are prepared to be cooked and eaten and consumed through the word of God? What is the integrity of the church? It's not just about us. Let's give the next generation better than we had. Let's give the next generation more than we had. Not for our glory, not for their comfort, but for the cause of Jesus Christ. This is not the time to turn off the dial and to stop living holy and clean before God and circle the wagons and play dead. This is the time for pause. to hold to the line of integrity. All the dads in the room say amen. Dad, God knows if you have social media. Sir, God sees that private Instagram conversation you're having. There's no adult in this room that should have Snapchat on their phone. I'm absolutely guaranteed of it. I hate it. I hate Snapchat. You say, you're an old fogey and you're only 34 years old. Quit acting like an old fogey. I'm not an old fogey. I just know that it's from hell. Send a picture to someone that instantly disappears in an allotted set of time. We're setting the generation up for failure. And it's not the Timothys we have to worry about. They at least know the warning. It's the Pauls now that we're having to worry about. My God in heaven, there's more to do than to play on Snapchat. Your children are dying and going to hell with no truth. Meanwhile, you scroll and you sin and you share and you have fun. What are we doing? Timothy needs Paul. There needs to be an investment. There needs to be a revival of truth, a revival of character and integrity in the whole for the sake of the future generation. And so I'm doing my best. Ask God, like he did this week from my heart, ask God to show you where you can do better. And he will. You say you sound angry. I'm not angry. I'm sounding the warning. I'm angry at sin and I'm angry at the devil. And I'm angry that hell expands its coast every day. But hear me now. We have an opportunity in this day with all that God's given us. This church is so blessed it blows my mind. All the people that God gives us and the staff that He gives us and the opportunities to serve that He's given us. This is the time to promote purity. not only in our church, but in our home and in our lifestyle. Timothy had Paul, and Paul promoted purity. Here's what I believe. When I get to heaven, I'll ask this question. Lord, did Timothy have a daddy? I don't think he did. I think his grandmother and his mother, Lois and Eunice, I think it could be that his mama was a single mama. Either through death, maybe his daddy abandoned him, I don't know. But it doesn't make sense if you go back and look at some of the scriptures that reveal how close Paul was, where was Timothy's daddy. Maybe he was alive, but he wasn't investing. Thank God there was somebody though to invest in this little boy who did not have a daddy at home. And to all the single mothers in this church, you hear me. You are not alone. There are deacons, and there's leadership team, and there's pastors, and there's men who are faithful, who are filled with the Holy Ghost, who know the truth of God's Word, and we will help you with your babies. It's our duty. It's our task. Don't you marry some deadbeat just so you can put a version 2.0 in the house. You follow God. You pursue God. You stay close to God. You pursue His Word. You hold the line with purity. You hold the line with integrity. And allow God to give you someone else down the road if it be His will. If He left you, let Him leave. If He divorced you, you're divorced. But it is not your card to do whatever you want to do just because your heart got broken. Hold the line for the sake of your children. To the grandparents who are playing the role of parent, don't give up. Don't give up. They're listening more than you would ever realize. They're watching you more than you would ever know. It may not be the mama and the daddy, but it might be the grandmama and the granddaddy that God gives a measure of health in this day to live 20, 30, 40 years beyond what God would have allowed them in another time. God gives them that strength so they can live to be the witness to their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren. My prayer is that every grandparent in this room would live past 100. Let's get some more Advil and let's keep going for God. I'll buy the bin gate by the truckload. It'll smell like a nursing home in here, and I'll shout the victory. Glory to God, we need our old-headed, gray-headed saints so that the Timothys, the tomorrow church, can have somebody to invest in them and love them. Don't you give up? Hover on your grandbabies and your great-grandbabies. Promote purity. If it sounds like hell and it looks like hell, then call it what it is and say that it's hell and stand up for what's right. Some of you need to take a baseball bat to your son's computer today. You need to take it out back and load it up with five pounds of tannerite and shoot it with a .223 and watch it explode 110 feet in the air. Video it, send it to me, and then put it on YouTube. It'll get a million and a half likes. Some of you need to get into your children's business and say, Timothy, Timothy, who you texting? Who you texting, Timothy? Timothy, what's that incognito tab on your Google Chrome? Why has it been open? Timothy, why is it that you don't want to talk anymore about that girl that you're dating? You used to talk to her about she's the most beautiful thing you'd ever known, and you can't wait to maybe go out with her. And now all of a sudden, she's off limits for me to talk. We are still dating. So what's the deal? What gives? Timothy, why can't you talk about your relationship anymore with your mom and your dad? What's up? Timothy, I know what's underneath your bed. I know about the vape. I know about the cigars. I didn't know vape was a problem until this week. You get around 5,000 teenagers and you find out what the real problems are. FYI, those vapes are absolutely destroying your lungs. I'd rather you smoked Marlboro Reds than a vape. That'll make it to YouTube. Parents. Grandparents, youth pastor, staff. It's time to get in Timothy's business. Promote purity, not just sexual purity and integrity, but in every, every aspect of life. Thirdly and lastly, not only did he promote purity, but he encouraged enduring example Paul is honest with Timothy. We've got to be honest with this generation. It's not going to get easier to serve Christ. The day and the hour that we're living in is not going to get easier to serve Christ. It is going to be tough. As Pastor Nathan said this morning, though, every time we are in a battle of warfare, we do not fight in our own power. God wins our victory for us. But the reality is there is a pressure, and it is difficult. Jesus said, pick up your cross and follow me. It's difficult. And you've already read one of those verses where he's very honest with him in chapter 4, that we're going to endure together, there'll be labor together, there'll be affliction together. 2 Timothy 2.3, he goes on to tell him, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Let's have some honest conversations with Timothy. Timothy, it's going to be a war. It's going to be a struggle. But Timothy, do you remember being in Awana and singing that song? I'm in the Lord's army. Yes, sir, I'm in the Lord's army. I may not march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery, but I'm in the Lord's army. Timothy, you're in the army. There's a battle to be fought and to be won. And we get the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. and to teach that to our young people and to our children at an early age so that the first semester of a public college or the first semester of high school doesn't send them in a tailspin. We can get out ahead three and four and five steps ahead of the devil. A little bit of spiritual common sense. Have some honest conversations with Timothy. Timothy needs to know about sexual integrity. If you don't teach it, somebody else will. You might as well tell him about the war. Young ladies, all the ladies in this room, 20 years and younger, say amen. Say it again louder. You hear me? Just because he loves you, and just because he's got a forked tongue and can speak the right words at the right time, you hold yourself to a standard. Your preacher will buy you the biggest pocket knife. I'll buy you a can of mace. You spray, you stab, you run, I'll call the lawyer. Keep that boy off you. We have holes all over this county. That's all I'm saying. Deep holes. No food, no water. You keep your hands off of my sheep, young men. Moms and dads, talk to Timothy. Tell him about how wonderful marriage really is. Talk about how God created the sexual relationship between a man and a woman and how beautiful and wonderful it really is that God designed it that he made it. And that everything that goes against God's design is nothing more than a war, an attack against something that God has done. You have to promote purity, but you have to encourage an enduring example. This is going to be difficult. Endure hardness as a good soldier. He goes on in 2 Timothy 4 to say, but watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions. Then he goes on to say, do the work. Hey, there's work to be done, Timothy. Timothy is 30 years old, and he's having to put an entire church in the first century, in the first church, back in order. It's a lot of pressure for a young man. But he told him, Timothy, it's gonna be hard. Do the work, endure. Romans 8, 18, the Apostle Paul said this. What a man the Apostle Paul is. He said, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Do your children, do your teenagers, do they understand that? Do the Timothys that are living in your home understand that this is not our home? Do they have a godly mindset even in their youth that earth is not everything for us? And that our material gain is really gonna burn up one day? You say, well, that's hard to teach to a child. Yes, it is, but you can at least begin to plant the seeds now that this is not our home. We're like illegal aliens passing through. Your passport, again, it may say U.S. State Department and say United States of America, but if you're born again, you're not gonna live here very long. It's just a season. And then we're home in heaven. And Paul says that, I reckon the sufferings that we're going to go through, Timothy, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. He told Timothy that, no doubt. He told the church at Rome this. Then in 2 Timothy 4, 7, it's a beautiful moment. The apostle Paul says, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. What a man. What a man. That God the Holy Ghost would unctionize him and allow him to say such a thing that God would agree with it, that it would be here for us in the Word of God. I believe that because it's here, it's true. I believe the Apostle Paul fought a good fight, that he finished his course, and yes, that he kept the faith. I'm afraid, though, that we have an entire generation of Timothys who are running their race. But the problem is they're turning the corner. And as they go down the road, they see many Pauls sitting on the side of the road and not in the race anymore. Too many gray-headed saints, too many moms and dads who just gave up Come around the corner, there's another sitting down. Supposed to be in the race. Go around the other corner, there's three or four of them. There's a pastor, preacher. What are you doing on the side of the road? It got too hard. It got too difficult. I'm too tired. Maybe these Pauls that are sitting on the side of the road, maybe they're saying things like this. I wasn't recognized. I wasn't appreciated for running my race. I don't care anymore. I'm not running. It's too hard. Friends, it's not about us. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever and to be a witness to the Timothys that are running their race right behind us. And a day of fallen men, and a day of fallen leaders, a day of great warfare. Someone comes to the piano as we close. The Timothys around us are being absolutely attacked from every side. Some of those lives that I saw this week at Arise, I know Pastor Nathan saw them, Pastor Will saw them, Pastor John no doubt ran into this with some of the children that were on that trip. I told Miranda, I looked out on those 800 college and career students, we did a Q&A with them, we asked them questions. What's on your mind? What are you struggling with spiritually? If you could ask a pastor something without any judgment, what would you ask? I wept and I wept and I wept for what was being asked. You know what it felt like? Michael, it felt like they were in the Alamo. They're in the Alamo. They're surrounded on all sides. There's a little bit of ammunition left, but they're gonna have to have some reinforcements if they're gonna make it. They're struggling. And I thought I was aware of just how real the battle and how real the war was. But this week, God got a hold of my heart. He let me see it. He let me feel it. They want leadership. They want it. They're smarter than you were at your age. They're more advanced. It's prophetically perfectly in line with the word of God, the technology and the knowledge of the day. Their world is changing. There was a 19 year old college student going to a Christian college and she is so gripped. She's in a box of torment because she has an addiction to pornography online. And she's drowning. a son of a pastor, going to a Christian college, who says, I got hooked, those were his words, smoking pot, listening to music with friends, and I just can't stop. Nobody knows, what do I do? I struggle with envy, I struggle with jealousy, I have a family that's broken. Mom and dad are divorced. Christmas is terrible. What do I do? They're in the Alamo. Church today, we have a chance. We have an opportunity. Not to look at the next generation inappropriately. We don't put some sort of ungodly pressure on them. that we look to them with hope, with anticipation, what they could do for the Lord if the Lord tarries. I'm wondering if there's anyone here under the sound of my voice that as we were preaching this morning's message that God put a Timothy, a young man or a young woman on your heart today. Every head bowed and every eye closed. You see, Titus tells us that the old are to be teaching the young. That goes for both men and women. Our young ladies need some godly examples of older women that love God, who are faithful to God. Our young men need more than just pastors to be faithful around them. They need faithful businessmen around them that love God. Faithful to their family, faithful to their wives, faithful to their children. We need some adults that are in their 30s that are not married yet who will refuse to give in, that will live pure. But it's not gonna happen on accident, friend. It'll happen by God's grace and by you finding a place this morning and saying, God, I'm willing to be used. God, you can use me. I don't know how, I don't know where, I don't know when, but God, this morning, I'm willing to be a Paul to a Timothy. And all of those that are younger, you hear me. All of those younger that are under my voice. If God gives you a Paul, you better listen to him. They're not perfect. They may get on your nerves from time to time. They may even disappoint you. But if God's given you somebody that loves you, that loves him, that's willing to invest in your life, you need to listen to him. Maybe some of the young people in this room need to come and you need to tell God you're sorry for being so rebellious and hard-hearted towards the Paul that God put in your life. Every young man, every young woman needs a gray head of authority above them, speaking truth and love in their life.