Open your Bibles with me this morning, please, to the letter that we call First Timothy. First Timothy, and I hope you were able to receive a handout when you came in that will be page one of our brand new series that we'll fill out over the many months in front of us this year, the next year. As you're turning there, We're all creatures of habit, we just have to admit it, right? Every last one of us. As a matter of fact, when I come home, I usually leave the office at 5.45, not 5.44, not 5.46. I try to, unless something's changed in my schedule, I try to do that so my wife knows I'll walk in the door right at six, the top of the hour, and we can have dinner. So that's pretty rigid for me. And then it's rigid, too, what happens when I get out of my car in my driveway after having opened the garage door. I go in the garage door, not the front door. I, therefore, enter the laundry room and then into the kitchen, not the living room. And I have a chair that Lori allows me to put my briefcase on. I have one chair in the whole house I can put my briefcase on and I love it. I love the organization. So I put my briefcase down and it's right next to our coffee table, our coffee bar if you will. There I go again talking about coffee. And then my next thing in my habit is this. I look at the corner right there on the coffee bar next to my chair. Why? That's where my wife puts our mail when it comes. After she's gone through and gotten rid of her stuff and the junk mail, what's left, bills usually, is for me. That's my pile on my corner. I do this every single night as I go home from the office. And of course, if there's nothing on that corner, I'll say, did we get the mail? Did the mail come? Meaning we could have already gotten it and everything was junk. Or it came and we didn't get it, or it just didn't come yet. And that happens in Ipsy Township. And that's just my little routine. And maybe it's yours too. Whenever you make your way home in the afternoon, you tend to look and see if the flag is still up. Or if you hear the rumble of the mail truck coming or going in front of your house, you're interested in getting your mail every day. And that's a backhanded way of you admitting that you are pretty dependent upon and in many ways very impressed with the United States Postal Service. You assume it will fit neatly into your day. It's, for the most part, it works very well. It's pretty impressive. As a matter of fact, I did some digging around this weekend, and I found out some things I didn't know about the USPS. On average, the postal service processes, get this, 318 million mail pieces every day. 318 million. You say, what does that break down to? Well, it handles 13.3 million each hour. Break it down some more. 221,000 each minute. Say, I want the seconds. I have that number. That's 3,684 pieces of mail every second. The USPS. That's pretty impressive. I found this to be impressive, too. The Postal Service ordered more than 447 million rubber bands in 2023. You say, well, how much is that? Well, this totals, this stuff interests me, 24,518 miles of rubber band. It would make one trip around the world. That's cool. But then there's, the post office has to put up with you a lot. Not only that you get grumpier for meals out there in time, but some of you have awful handwriting. You know, there's a whole department of the post office that is built for you, people like you. This is right from their website. Letter mail at a processing plant that cannot be read by the automated equipment has an image taken of it. And that image is transmitted to what's called the REC. That's the Remote Encoding Center. At the REC, employees look at the image of your handwriting and type in address information. And the information is eventually matched up with a valid address. The data is transmitted back to the equipment at the plant, and a barcode is printed on your letter. That barcode can be read by any letter processing machine in the post office, keeping the letter within the automated stream of mail in the postal network. My, you keep them busy with your handwriting. You do know what ZIP stands for, right? It stands for the Zoning Improvement Plan. That's where we abbreviate that for our ZIP code. This was launched in 1963, ZIP codes, to better process and deliver increasing volumes of U.S. mail. The first number of the five-digit zip code represents a general geographic area of the nation, and zero is clear up to the east, and it moves to nine in the west. The next two numbers represent regional areas, and the final two identify specific post offices. Many years later, it added those extra four numbers, which actually can get down to street. at the street level. That, to me, is impressive. So when I walk in and look on the corner of the coffee bar to see if the mail's come, a lot has gone into getting it there. So, props to the USPS. But you also have to admit something this morning. Every last one of you. With all of the USPS technology and logistics in play, you still sometimes receive in your mailbox someone else's hand-addressed personal letter, don't you? It still happens. And admit it, that you note the sender. You look and see who's sending this. You look and see who it's sent to, and it's not you, but now you're really curious, and so what do you do after that? You hold it up to the sunlight on the way back up to the porch. You're squeezing it to see if there's anything of value in there, because what's the technicality here? How thick is this? And you seem to be especially interested when it's a handwritten, hand-addressed letter and envelope. And for a brief moment, you need to admit it, you wonder what's inside. But then of course, of course, your conscience tackles you, right? Don't answer that. Here's our big question. Is it ever okay to read other people's mail, especially a personal letter, handwritten? Well, let me give you some pastoral nudges here. When it comes to the USPS, we should respect privacy. you can return it to the sender. But when it comes to the Bible, by all means, rip it open, dive in, leave no line unstudied, and carry every detail of that correspondence away with you into your day personally. Say, why? because the letters that are part of the Bible are scripture. And the Apostle Paul will write near his death in 2 Timothy chapter 3, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. And when we come across a letter in Scripture, you better believe we need to read it and own it, because it's personal to us. This is exactly what we are starting this morning, as we begin our new journey through a very personal letter from none other than the Apostle Paul. Our Bibles are going to get used to being open to 1 Timothy for many months, As a matter of fact, I hope that your margins fill up and note pages fall out from time to time, because it's quite a letter. It's quite a letter that you and I have in our hand right now and on our lap. You say, well, Paul, why did you write this letter? Why did you write this letter? And I'll just say this to you right now, and we'll see it later on in the service as well. He's writing a personal letter to Timothy. and through Timothy to the church. Absolutely everything he writes to Timothy will grow the believers behind Timothy. And that's where I just want to give you your challenge up front this morning as we come into this letter, as we look at this letter. I want you, Calvary Baptist Church, to run into every single study that follows I want you to lunge into every single paragraph and unit of thought in this letter. I want you to comb with a fine-tooth comb every line of this letter. I want you to dig into every word of this letter, and then I want you to step back and marvel and grasp every topic of this letter. I want you to do it with a huge anticipation because, here you go, this letter will cause you to grow deeper in your godliness within the context of your local church. Growing deeper in godliness is Paul's theme and my challenge to you as we look at this letter this morning. So in other words, I guess I'm putting it to you this way. If your Christian life has grown stale, if your church life has become periphery, you say, what's that? Think the planet Pluto. If your church commitment has become the farthest thing in your mind, has the lowest level of gravity to your mind in a given week, it comes after everything, if that's you. If your ear for preaching has become bored, if your reach for others within the local church has become, well, oh, maybe forced or even extinct, then I want to write a prescription for you and for me. Read someone else's mail. Read this letter, and I can promise you this, you will regain life. in your reach to others, in your love for preaching, in the gravity towards your local church, there will be freshness in your Christian life. So what we're doing this morning, here's our assignment. We're holding this letter. I want you to think of an envelope that I've handed to you this morning in this introduction. I want you to pick up this letter of 1 Timothy And I want you to note three important details of this letter before we even open it. The first detail I want you to note is this. Number one, I want you to note the sender. I want you to look in the upper left-hand corner and see who's sending this. It was Charles Spurgeon who once wrote these words about humility. I love this. One sentence. The best definition of humility I have ever heard of is this, to think rightly of ourselves. That's good stuff. He's right. As I open this letter and look at, or at least look at the envelope here in the first two verses, I'm pretty impressed. Because it's interesting, listen, wrap your mind around this, it's interesting to listen to Paul as he summarizes himself He's going to give a full autobiography in one verse. I think that we can think in terms of three words that Paul allows us to use, or to deduce from this verse, that gets us to know who the sender is. I wonder, before we get into this verse, can you summarize your life? with three words. Well, chapter one, verse one. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope. That's so impressive. Let me suggest these three words. As far as getting to know the sender, the first word is identity. Identity. You see, Paul, right out of the gate here, understands that he has one identity. You say, what does that mean? When I say that Paul has one identity, I mean this. He knew whose he was. No question in his mind. No near competition. He had one identity, he knew who he was. He says here, Paul. Now, you know that name, right? Those of you who know that name maybe would allow me to use a rubric from one of my favorite old movies, The First Gladiator. Paul, we know that name. He was the Jew who became a Pharisee. And the Pharisee who became a murderer. and a murderer who became a Christian, a Christian who became an apostle, and an apostle who became a martyr. That's Paul. But how does he explain himself or identify himself? He says, I am an apostle of Christ Jesus. You say, well, he's writing to someone he's known for decades. True. Why does he have to say that? Because Paul never got over that. He never lost clarity on his identity. He uses the word apostolos. It's a common word here in the New Testament. And you know the meaning of it, no doubt. You've heard sermons on this. This is someone who is, as one commentator says, personally commissioned. This is someone who is sent. This is a messenger. But I find it interesting that he says he is an apostle of Christ Jesus. He's making sure he doesn't let the name ever dangle loose from the title. He is an apostle, listen, who belongs to Christ Jesus. This is important to understand. It made me think back to fifth grade. I remember moving from Warren, Michigan in fifth grade from Calvary Christian School there at part of Calvary Baptist Church in Roseville, and I moved at 10 out to Springfield Christian Academy and Dixie Baptist Church in Clarkston in the middle of the first semester of the school year, so that stinks, right? So I walk in, I don't know a soul in this school, but I do know what recess means. And we had a couple, I guess, in fifth grade. And they said, it's recess time. So I went outside just to do something that was enjoyable, hopefully. This is a hard day. And immediately, we get outside. And there was over two dozen in my fifth grade class. And they just immediately get outside, and they split up. or two of the leaders of the group split up from the rest of the group, and then they separate themselves. So I have one guy over here, a guy over here, and then the rest of us standing over here. I don't know where to stand, so I stay with the group. And these are deemed captains, and they start picking teams. I'm like, cool, what are we going to play? And kickball, because I know how to do that from Clarks, or from Warren. And they started picking teams. And of course, the new guy, they knew nothing about me. I was the last one chosen, even after all the girls. And come to find out, the girls could beat us all anyway. And so I got chosen, and then I was like, okay, what are we going to play? What is this? Kickball. And they said, no, we're going to play soccer. I said, what's soccer? I don't know anything about soccer. What is that? And they said, oh boy. This is what we play here at recess, and so they tried to explain it to me, and we played soccer, and I had to figure it out, a long learning curve, but I did know this. I did understand this, that whoever the two people were that were choosing teams one after another, taking turns, those people, those two leaders were called captains, and for the rest of the 25 minutes of recess, they owned you if they chose you. They're in charge, you're not. And you kind of gave them that right to reign for those 25 minutes until you had to go back in to class. If you're chosen, then you know who you belong to. And they have the right to tell you where to play and how to play. You know, I think of that as I come to this topic of being a chosen apostle of Jesus. In order to feel the weight that Paul felt every day with that identity, I want you to hold your finger here and go back with me to the Gospel of Luke as we watch Jesus choose, and even in some cases name, the twelve apostles. As he chose them out of the wider group of general disciples, if you will. We find this in Luke chapter 8. Excuse me, Luke chapter six, verses 12 to 16. Luke chapter six, look at verse 12. It was at this time that he, Jesus, went off to the mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples, out of the larger group, He called them to him, and he chose 12 of them whom he also named as apostles, sent ones, commissioned messengers, if you will. Who were they? Well, you read the names here in verses 14 through 16. Simon, who was also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. And what did he do? Well, he instructed them, and then he sent them out. The other gospel writers remind us that he sent them, he recruited them to teach them, to send them out. On a short-term trip first, and then eventually, permanently, when he ascended to heaven. They were chosen by Christ. They were his. Paul never got over that. He, too, was an apostle of Christ Jesus. He identified himself that way many times. In Galatians chapter 2, verse 8, he says, He who effectively worked for Peter in his apostleship effectively worked for me also. Romans 11.13, he refers to his apostleship again. Romans 11.13 says, I am speaking to you who are Gentiles inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles. I magnify my ministry, he writes. So Paul, who are you? I have one identity. I'm an apostle, but I don't leave it there. I want to tell you who I belong to. who chose me, who named me an apostle, and that was Christ Jesus. By the way, if you choose, you own. Paul never got over that. That's the first word of his summary in verse one that I'll use. He had one identity, but secondly, what's another word he used, or concept he uses? I'm gonna use the word assignment. One assignment. One assignment. You say, well, what does that mean? Well, if one identity means he knows whose he was, one assignment means he knew what he did. Paul never went looking to become an apostle. Never. No, God chose him and made it very clear what he was supposed to do as a representative and as a messenger of God. It says in verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, and here's what I want you to fixate on in this moment. According to the commandment of God, our Savior. It was according to God's command. This word command is a powerful word. It could be a military order. This isn't like an item on a buffet. Paul, would you like to do this? This is God overtaking Paul and saying, I've written the rest of the script from here for you to know. And it's not just to be a messenger in general. I am sending you. Now, I can unpack this according to the commandment of God our Savior, according to the commandment. I can unpack that and give you word studies, but you know, it might just serve you better to hear it from Paul himself. So once again, hold your finger here and go with me to when this happened. Acts chapter nine. He's still a Pharisee at this point. Heaven is going to transform him in these verses. He's on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus. You know this story. It was at midday when the sun is the brightest, but for some reason the sun was overtaken and eclipsed by something so much more brighter. And even Paul's companion saw the light. It was the glory of the resurrected Jesus. And that resurrected Jesus spoke to Paul, spoke to Saul at that point. Now the men with Saul did not hear the voice, but they saw that light. This is an amazing, an amazing episode. Well, as you work your way down further into chapter 9, you see the Lord going to Ananias in Damascus saying, yeah, I got a new player on our team. His name's Saul of Tarsus. And Ananias is like, you're asking me to go say hi and welcome him? And it's right here that these words are so clear of the command of God to be an apostle in Paul's life. Look at verse 15. Verse 15. But the Lord said to him, to Ananias, go, for he, Saul, is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake." That's the episode. That's Paul's conversion. Saul, who would become Paul, his conversion right here, and the report that went out to his first critic to receive him. You say, but I don't hear him saying that directly. to Saul in that episode. Well, I note that too, and I want you to go with me to Acts 26, because I want you to hear the voice from the light say these words. Acts chapter 26, Paul is giving his defense before King Agrippa, and he's recalling what we just saw in Acts chapter nine. Follow along as I read verses 15 through 18. Who are you, Lord? He said into that light. And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet, for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you. Rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes So that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me This is decades later and Saul Paul never got over those words. That was God commanding him in what he was to do with his life. When God sends someone, when God commissions someone as an apostle to be his messenger, we capitalize that letter A, Apostle. The word Apostolos is used in other places in the New Testament. The context is what determines whether we capitalize it or not. We save the capital A when referring to someone that God has personally sent as his messenger. We don't capitalize it when we are referring to someone who is a messenger that is sent from a local church or an apostle. Think of little a as JV. Capital A is sent by God himself, by Christ himself. Little a means sent from a local church or from an apostle. I think the ESV and the NASV translations of the Bible are correct in translating the little a, apostolos, if you will, with the word messenger to clarify that distinction. But these nouns and verbs From the mouth of God himself, the resurrected Lord, this command washed through Paul's mind the rest of his life. This is what he was supposed to do. By the way, if you're here this morning, or listening online, and your heart was captured by what I just read in Acts chapter 26, look down at the page again. Acts 26, verse 18. if your mind was captured with this, because you've never experienced this, then this verse is what we call, in Christianity, good news for you. Because everything in verse 18 that I'm gonna read again with you right now is available to you if you haven't accepted this gift yet. Right now. Look at verse 18. To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. My friend, have your eyes been opened to your sin? Have you turned from darkness to light? Have you left the kingdom of Satan and entered the kingdom of God? Have you received forgiveness of your sin? Do you know there's an inheritance waiting for you in heaven? And until then, are you being conformed to the image of Jesus every day a little bit more? Because if you don't yet own that, what I want you to do is I want you to pray today, your first opportunity. Say, I don't know how to pray. Well, then come talk to me. After the service, talk to Pastor Michael, talk to anyone you've seen up here this morning, and we'll help you pray and receive this free gift of eternal life, because I'm telling you, verse 18 is truth. It's good news, and it's available to you. Paul, how do you describe yourself? He'd say a couple words. I want to talk about my identity. I want to talk about my assignment. But I want to talk thirdly about what I'll call message. Message. You see, the Apostle Paul had one message. What does that mean? One message means that he knew what he said, what he was to communicate. It says in verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of God, our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope. Or as you're reading the word order in the Greek New Testament, it says, God, the savior of us, and Christ, the hope of us. That's his message. That's his one message. It doesn't need upgrades. It doesn't need a 2.0. That same message that defined his primary burden to communicate once Christ saved him. is the same message we have today. It's one message. I love these two phrases, God our Savior, Christ our hope. When we see God our Savior, which, by the way, is a phrase that you're going to see occur several times in the pastoral epistles. You'll see it two more times in this epistle. You'll see it in the epistle to Titus. What does that communicate? It communicates that we needed a Savior. that the Savior himself is God, that he is the one that initiates our salvation, he is the one who extends mercy to us as our Savior, he is the one that exercises grace towards us as our Savior, and this is a look to the past because this whole deal was initiated before time began. It initiated with God. It's God our Savior, but it also says Christ, our hope, God our Savior perhaps makes us look in a wonderful way to what even in eternity past our God has done so that we can spend eternity with him. But Christ our hope also allows us to look perhaps to the future. As Paul said in Colossians 1 and 27, that Christ is the hope of glory. Christ in you, listen, is the hope of glory. We look to the heavens for our Lord to return, for the Son to complete what the Father initiated. I also see in these two phrases, Christ our Savior I'm sorry, God our Savior and Christ our hope. I see here an affirmation of the deity of Christ because both of these characteristics are described of the others in these statements throughout the New Testament and even in the Old Testament with God. That God is our hope, Jesus is our Savior. And here in these opening verses we see a strong Christological statement of the deity of Jesus Christ. Paul knew what his message was. We're in trouble. God has initiated a salvation. And Christ will bring it to completion. That's it. He said that in one breath. He had one message. Isn't that cool? In verse one of chapter one, Paul could introduce himself, as I'm trying to do, with three words. Identity, message, and assignment. Identity is who he was, whose he was. Assignment is what he did. Message is what he said. So I'm back to our question I had with you a moment ago. Do you use three different words if someone says summarize yourself? Do you start with your identity being a position you hold? You start with a line from your resume. Do you start in pride with something about your family? Do you start with your income, your college? What do you do for that second word, your assignment, what you do ultimately? Are you an engineer, an accountant, lawyer, teacher? How about that third word? Do you start with a different word there? What's your message? Well, it depends on who I'm talking to. I don't want to offend. I don't want to get canceled. You know, already in verse 1, Paul is screaming out to us from the envelope, upper left-hand corner, figure it out. Because the same three words should be what we use to describe ourselves. We know who we are. We are Christians. We know our assignment. Our assignment is to be engaged with our generation, on our watch, on this earth, with others who need the third word, our message, the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we use anything other than those three concepts, we're just still looking at the envelope, but we need to change and repent. Biblical counselor Dave Polissen, who's been in heaven now for a few years, once wrote these words, your true identity is who God says you are. You will never discover who you are by looking inside yourself or listening to what others say. The Lord gets the first word because he made you. He gets the daily word because you live before his face. And he gets the last word because he will administer your final comprehensive life review. It's truth. See Apostle Paul, verse one. Say, wow, an apostle sent from God, they write to churches. They write to small and big churches, to networks of churches and cities and regions. They write Romans. Paul would not only write Romans, he would write to the church at Corinth, at Thessalonica, in the region of Galatia, Philippi, Colossae. That's what apostles do when they write. So what is this? As I look at this envelope, this is just addressed to one person? Yeah. And what I want you to do right now is let your eyes drift now from the upper left-hand corner to the middle of the envelope face. Because it's there, I want you to note the second thing. I want you to note the recipient. Look at the address, if you will. And look at verse two. To Timothy. It's an interesting name. It's really bringing two Greek words together. Timae, honor, value. And Theos, God. This is one who honors God. To Timothy. My true child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. It's interesting, like the USPS, the address here could have four lines for the recipient. The first line we could call the line where we find his connection. His connection and his past relationship between him and Paul. We don't have a record of their first meeting. We can deduce certain facts, but we do have a record of his being recruited. Hold your finger here and go with me to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. We're now on the second missionary journey, which began towards the end of Acts chapter 15. Paul is with Silas now. Not Barnabas. Chapter 16, verse 1. Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. He had been there before. And a disciple was there. Seems to sound like he's already a Christian. A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. And he, Timothy, was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. And he heard enough, verse three, Paul wanted this man, this young man, to go with him on the missionary journey. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. See what's going on there? Well, Paul had come through this region earlier on his missionary journey, his first missionary journey. Some deduce or guess that Paul led him to the Lord on that first missionary journey, and he has since been growing. I don't hold to that position, though good people do. I believe that he came to faith, and I think Paul will remind him of this, through the ministry of his believing mother and his grandmother. and you meet both of them in 2 Timothy. It's worth looking at this for a second, then I'll summarize my thoughts. 2 Timothy, chapter one, verses three through five. I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you. But you're seeing there, especially in verse five, that Timothy, I believe, came to faith through the ministry of his mother and grandmother, and that's further enhanced in my mind as I come to 2 Timothy chapter three, verse 15, no, verse 14. You, however, continue in the things you have learned to become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them. Now, at that point, at the end of Paul's life, That could be the teaching from Paul that he had learned, but I think it's gonna push back even further to his mom and grandmother because of the next verse. And that from childhood, you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The words there translated sacred writings referring to the Old Testament. By the time Paul comes for him and acts, chapter 16, he's considered, I need that man with me, slightly older than a child. I really believe that you have an example here of a godly mother, a godly grandmother, even in a potentially contentious marriage and home to a Gentile dad, you have God's grace finding this young man through the use of scripture. That's how his connection, though, started with Paul. Maybe an acquaintance from the first missionary journey, but from the second missionary journey and on, his protege. By the way, can you relate to this? Somehow God's grace found you in a home where a believer was married to an unbeliever who might have even been hostile to church, yet grace found you. Maybe you had both parents who were unsaved and no help at home, yet the gospel still found you. The Savior sought you and rescued you. We can relate quite well to this man named Timothy. Paul says here in verse two, my true child in the faith. Now, some will hold onto that and say that means that Paul gave birth to him spiritually at his conversion. I don't think it necessarily means that, but again, we're allowed to just say what we read here. And that's the data that we have. But this is, I believe, as he, Paul will use it as well elsewhere in chapter 18, or in chapter one, verse 18, he's gonna refer to him as my son. In chapter 2, or 2 Timothy 2, twice in the first two chapters, he'll refer to him as his son. And even when he writes to church in Corinth, he refers to Timothy as his son. What are we talking about here? I think that he's likely referring to this as the relationship that has been longstanding between Paul, the one who is serving as a spiritual father to him, a teacher, someone whose heart is connected spiritually. He's the disciple and the disciplee, if you will. You say, what is he being discipled in? It says, my true child in faith. The assumption here is the faith, the body of truth, the realm of doctrine. I'm the one who's discipled you, as a father does his son, into the details of this life of faith that we exist. That's where it all started, his connection. But I would be remiss if I didn't take time to ask you one more time to hold your finger here, and I want you to hear some of the most endearing words Paul has for Timothy in Philippians chapter two. Paul mentions Timothy in his letters to the Thessalonians, in both letters, Corinthians, both letters, Romans, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Paul mentions Timothy in all but three of his epistles. But it was such a deep relationship that he could only put these words down to describe them. I'll start reading in verse 22. But you know of his, Timothy's, his proven worth. that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. Wow, such endearing terms. However it started, it only intensified with time. The second line on this address, we could call his history. What does the history of this relationship look like between Paul and Timothy? How can you summarize that? Well, as I said, their first meeting was on the first missionary journey in Lystra, which is modern day Turkey, probably around A.D. 50. You can read of that missionary journey in Acts 14, starting with Acts 14.6. But after the first meeting, we note his personal recruiting, which we saw in Acts chapter 16. That's the second missionary journey. And now he's hanging out with Paul for the rest of the missionary journeys. In total, the three missionary journeys would take from 48 to 56. Timothy was heavily weighted there in the second missionary journey and the third missionary journey. And after the missionary journeys, or during them, during the third missionary journey, we see a church at Ephesus planted and a formal school that Paul ran took place, and I believe Timothy was not only constantly learning one-on-one from Paul, but he was also part, perhaps giver, part receiver in this two-year formal education setup in Ephesus. He was ever-growing. And then we have Paul's incarceration that took him from Jerusalem ultimately to Rome, and that was a two-year process from around 61 to 62. And then the book of Acts ends. And we don't have to work and sweat, as some scholars do, to force the writing of 1 Timothy into the Book of Acts chronology, because Luke only wrote up to a certain point, and Paul was in his first Roman incarceration. Many believe, as they put the data of Scripture together, that Paul would be released from Rome and have an additional missionary trip, a missionary journey that would take him to places like Macedonia, Spain. We know that he made it to Ephesus and Crete. His final leg of missionary service where he was with Paul would go from 62 to around 66 or 67, but then Paul would be rearrested and would be martyred in 67 there in Rome. So it's a long history line. But keep reading on that envelope, where's the city? What's his address? We've seen his relationship, we've seen his history. What's the address? Well, it's Ephesus. Timothy is pastoring at Ephesus, the church planted on the third missionary journey in Acts chapter 19 for that story. I'll just for now tell you that's where the letters go. Dr. R. Kent Hughes writes in his commentary that Eusebius, historian, Eusebius records the tradition that Timothy was beaten to death by a mob in Ephesus because he was preaching faithfully and lovingly regarding the idolatrous immorality of the worship of the false god, Diana. The address on this envelope is also going to be the place of his death, Timothy. Well, what's the fourth line? Well, I just gotta lay it out with you here. His profession is that he was a pastor. Maybe that's why I like this guy so much. He was a pastor. He was a pastor at Ephesus, and you'll see that in the next verse, verse three, when we come back to this, as I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, this is the traveling that's going on after he was released from Rome the first time. When we went to Ephesus, he said, I told you to remain on there as I left upon my departure so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. He was left in Ephesus to shepherd before the rearrest of Paul. At this point now, Paul's writing this in his second and final incarceration in Rome. He'll write first Timothy and Titus, And then right before his execution, he will write 2 Timothy. I prefer to take the position that he wrote these two letters before he was rearrested. There's debate on that. But 1 Timothy and Titus came as a clump back to two of his guys that he's left on assignment in Ephesus and Crete. But nonetheless, he's a pastor in Ephesus because Paul said so. And Paul knows. that the end of his life is approaching. Paul knows, after all the decades of planting churches, the persecution from not just Jews and Gentiles, Paul knows, because of situations of church discipline, Paul knows the church needs nothing more urgently still, before he rides out into the sunset, and as he does, it needs tight doctrine. It needs deep leadership. It needs godly flocks. It needs a clear mission. And that's why he writes these three pastoral epistles before he signs off. And he really dumps his heart in this one to this person, Timothy, because he had been through so much with him. He said, I want you to pastor. And then, he says, here's what you're gonna need. Grace, mercy, and peace. From God the Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord. A very common greeting for Paul. He does slip one in there that's not usually in the lineup, and it's the word mercy, because he's gonna talk about mercy in his own life, Paul will, later in this chapter, as he once again gives Timothy a testimony Timothy's very familiar with. And how mercy rescued him. He says, may this grace, mercy, and peace that comes not only from the Father, but our Lord, another indication of the deity of Jesus. May it happen to you in the fullest extent, because you're gonna need it when I'm gone. And so, Timothy went to work in Ephesus. He would organize and lead the congregation that the Apostle John would eventually pastor. It's from this church that Timothy's pastoring in Ephesus that John will not only pastor, but John will be arrested and exiled and eventually write Revelation. And by the way, pastors get no shortcuts when it comes to godliness. You're gonna learn about Timothy a lot of stuff I don't know if you want to know about him. He really struggled with fear of man and intimidation. Timothy Got tired of fighting false doctrine. Fatigue, I don't think he gave in, but he was beat up. Timothy knew what it meant to want to run and hide sometimes and to be embarrassed. Timothy could be short-sighted when it came to heaven and what's coming. You gotta get to know this guy. I think you'll find you've seen him before. It's us. We need to finish this. Can you imagine me, Jim, sitting in a doctor's office looking for something to read and there's stuff on the table in front of me as I wait for my appointment. Can you imagine me picking up and enjoying a welding journal? I wish. I don't know anything about welding. Can you picture walking in and finding me just pouring over a decorating magazine? Or would it jolt you if you walked in for your appointment and you saw me reading a knitting book with tears? Or how about if you saw me reading a ballet manual? I'm going to be unemployed soon, probably. But you know, I could ask the same question about you. I could ask the same question about you reading a pastoral journal. Why on earth should you pick up a pastoral letter to read and study? I want you, number three, as we close, to note the weight. Note the weight, how heavy it is. I'm talking here the contents and the thickness. Two of us in the church here, Leslie Biester and I are both attending virtually the National, or the Association of Certified Biblical Counseling National Conference. It's every year in October. When I don't go in person, I still attend it virtually. If you go in person, when you register, you get this book, excuse me, a bag filled with free books and gifts with ACBC stuff in it. Well, if you don't, if you attend virtually, you still get that. They send it to you. My box came in the USPS yesterday. I got my box of goodies, freebies. And it was on the counter there in the kitchen, of course. And I just was looking. I walked past it a few times before I opened it, just letting the excitement build. I picked it up, tried to see how full it was, see how loose things were packed, anything bulky. And then I just leaned in with a grin and opened it. And I wasn't disappointed. I got a new Yeti cooler, or a little drink thing. I got a t-shirt with this year's conference theme on it. I got about six books. I got a handwritten letter from one of the ACBC offices. I was just delighted. I was delighted with what was inside. I have to be honest about this letter as we get ready to dive into it. We're gonna be right back here next week in this. There is a lot of churchy, pastory stuff in it. Full confession. As you hold this letter in your hand, and feel the weight, there's churchy stuff in there, like what? You know, Paul's gonna write to Timothy about how do you shut down fruitless teaching and debate in the church. He's gonna write about the ordination of church leaders, not just Timothy, but also others. He's gonna write about how to organize prayer meetings in order to manage conflict. He's gonna write about leadership roles, not just for the church, but also for home. He's going to talk about the selection of deacons and pastors. He's going to talk about preaching schedules and topics. He's going to write about pastoral maturity. In other words, Timothy, never stop growing and learning. Be a lifelong learner. He's going to talk about generational mentoring with no generation left behind. He's going to talk about relief for widows and how to prioritize benevolence funds. He's going to write about accountability and discipline of church leaders. He's going to talk about the reality of lay pastors and staff pastors. He's going to write about promoting offerings and grace-giving. There's churchy, pastor-y stuff coming up. Just telling you. But there's an important realization. I want you to look at the last verse of this letter. Look at the last verse. Chapter 6. He's saying goodbye, verse 20, O Timothy, guard what's been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and have gone astray from the faith. And look at this last phrase. Look at the last word of this phrase. Grace be with, what's the word? Say it out loud. You, it's plural. It's plural. And that's significant. Paul is assuming that what he has written privately to Timothy, the entire congregation will hear. This is a personal letter that is to be publicly consumed. Now, with what you know about this letter and what's on the front of the envelope, I think we can say this. You might want to look at 1 Timothy and consider calling it 2 Ephesians. Because it is. And let me just say this, this letter, written to you, will finally answer questions you have about God, about church, and about yourself. It's gonna answer these questions about God. What is my New Testament relationship to the Old Testament law? Where do I fit in the church? Who is sovereign in salvation, God or man? Can God save anybody? Is Jesus God? What does God have in store for me in heaven? It's gonna answer those questions and more about God, but it's also gonna answer your questions about church. Questions like this. Is your church designed to be merely an add-on to your week, or is your commitment and connection to be something that overflows 90 minutes on Sundays? It's gonna answer that question. It's going to answer this question, is there really spiritual warfare in my church? He'll visit that three times. It's going to answer this, what is the relationship between the leaders and the congregation when it comes to the initiation of leadership, the examples of leadership, the correction of leadership, and submission to leadership? It's going to answer this question, what should be emphasized in corporate gatherings and what should be removed? It's gonna answer this question, who does the church assist with relief? And who do they not assist with relief? As a matter of fact, what is relief? It's gonna answer that. But it's also gonna answer questions you have about you, about life. Like this, this letter will answer, what content or topics or hobby horses must I avoid How can I give my salvation testimony powerfully? When am I allowed to fight, not just others, but myself? How can I finally move towards praying better, by myself or with others? Is modest attire for me a legalistic issue? Is the complementarianism, egalitarianism debate an important one for me to even care about? What's the secret for moving forward in godliness? And I chose the word secret to be provocative. There is a secret. He's gonna answer that. What is my relationship with both poverty in my life as well as riches in my life? Well, this envelope that you hold in your hands right now has Timothy's name, but it has your address. It's a pretty impressive envelope, isn't it? And so I end with the conclusion, with the challenge I gave you at the beginning. Run into every study, every paragraph, every line, every word, every topic, with the huge anticipation of growing deeper in godliness in the soil of this local church. You'll see plainly that it's his church. It's about his glory. And seriously, it's our stewardship, not just the pastor's. Welcome aboard. So, sometimes it is okay to read other people's mail. We'll open it up next week and get reading and get to work. Let's pray. Father, thank you for allowing us to embark on a new journey together through this very personal letter written, well, to us about your church and your glory and our stewardship. Help us to lean in hard and to grow in godliness. And may Calvary Baptist Church of Ypsilanti never be the same again by the time we finish chapter six. For your glory, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.