Well, good evening. Turn to your Bibles, to 2nd Timothy, Paul's letter. To Timothy, the 2nd letter and chapter 1. To Timothy and chapter 1. We're only going to read the first 5 verses of 2nd Timothy, chapter 1. I don't know about you, but I don't always get excited when I get to a new book or a new chapter because the opening verses don't often give us anything greatly exciting there. It's an introduction and a few introductory remarks, but the scriptures tell us that these things are written for our instruction. So hear the word of God. 1st 2nd Timothy chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my beloved son, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. For 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 is in you as well. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank you for your word that this is indeed your God-breathed word to us. Lord, grant that we would never be weary in coming to your word. Grant, O Lord, even this night that you would take the foolishness of preaching and speak to our hearts from your word. We pray this that Jesus Christ would be magnified That we, your people, will be built up in the most holy faith, for Christ's sake. Amen. Well, 2 Timothy was written, as we know, by Paul, and we don't dispute that. 1 Timothy, as well as Titus, was written by Paul as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit as all scripture has been written in that way. And as to the time and the place of writing of this letter, it's the first century AD and most likely 65, 66 or 67 AD in the winter and written from a dungeon in Rome during Paul's second imprisonment. We believe very soon, very close to his martyrdom there. As you know, Jerusalem was sacked in 62 AD, so that has taken place most likely. and persecutions of the Christians has been intense indeed. And then just very briefly, two main reasons for Paul writing this letter to Timothy. The first was to urge Timothy to come to Rome because of his possible closeness to death. If you read the last chapter of to Timothy. It seems almost certain that Paul knew that this would be his last writings of the New Testament. And secondly, to instruct Timothy to cling to sound doctrine, to defend the truth, to endure hardship as a good soldier, and to encourage Timothy to persevere in preaching the gospel, because Timothy was to become Paul's sub-apostle, if you like. a second in command, somebody to take his place when he would no longer be there. We're not going to look at the first two verses, but just concentrate tonight on verses three to five, and if you wanted, a heading for what we're going to discuss this evening could be the characteristics of a Christian leader, the characteristics of a Christian leader. So when Paul writes the second letter to Timothy, it's not in the comfort of his home, or even away from home, but surrounded by friends and fellow Christians to which he's ministering. Like his first imprisonment, he was under house arrest for a time. He could receive visitors. Not so now. No, Paul is shut up in a doomy dungeon in Rome, a prison most likely built underground with a dome in the ceiling to get some light in. Far from complaining as others in similar circumstances might do, Paul meditates on blessings past and present and sincerely desires to express gratitude in this position he finds himself in. Paul has spent the prime of his life, the last 30 years, taking the gospel to the Gentiles, as was his commission as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's established churches throughout Asia and even been down to Spain. He's been beaten and flogged many times. He's experienced famine, been jailed and persecuted for his faith. He's often been ordered to stop preaching the gospel, and that has just made him even bolder. He's run the race. He's fought the good fight. He has worked his fingers to the bone, and now he looks forward to a nice retirement somewhere before he dies. A well-deserved holiday like any good pastor should get after a life of service. No. He now, after all this, sits in the dungeon, in the ground, waiting what will almost certainly be death by hanging, or some other horrible cruel means that will come his way most likely by Nero. But in this condition his thoughts are not for himself at all, but for Timothy, and for the ongoing work of the gospel. and I can imagine Paul sitting there and thinking of Timothy and a smile comes across his lips and he lifts his head towards heaven and give thanks to God for Timothy as he does right here, his son in the faith, his fellow labourer for the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 3, I thank God whom I served with a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers, night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I might be filled with joy. For 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 is in you. as well. What makes great men of God? What makes great Christian leaders and defenders of the faith? We've seen many down through the ages. Well, it is God. by His sovereign grace who calls, who equips, and who thrusts forth fresh laborers into the harvest field to share the riches of His grace. It is God who makes great men for Himself. And perhaps God has called you to be a leader. Perhaps you're a young person here and you don't know it yet, but God has called you to be a leader, or a pastor, a laborer. A messenger to proclaim His word to those who are perishing without God and without hope in the world. To preach God's word and to explain it to God's people that they may be built up in the faith and may in turn be sent out to proclaim the gospel. What an awesome responsibility rests on us as a church, a church with leaders and pastors and fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers, laborers, all of us to hold forth the word of life to a world in darkness while we are to live lives that glorify God so that what we preach and what we profess matches up to the way that we live and that these two would not be in conflict with each other. From this passage tonight, let's look at some of the things in the life of Paul and Timothy that characterize good Christian leader, and you may say, I'm not a leader. Well, if you're not a leader, you're going to be a leader in some small way only. Perhaps you'll be a leader, perhaps a leader in your home, perhaps a leader in your work situation, perhaps a leader in the church. Look at verse 3 here, I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience. The way my forefathers did, I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day. As William Hendrickson points out, Paul adds to the words of introduction an expression of sincere and humble thanksgiving to God and he's actually following a custom here, a custom that was used in the first century, in starting a letter you would give your introduction and then you would thank some deity, a Roman god or whoever it is that you worshipped at the time, and so he follows That tradition, the pattern after his word of introduction where he says, I or we thank God or I acknowledge with gratitude, I thank God as we find here in 1 and 2 Timothy or blessed be the God and Father as we find in 2 Corinthians and Ephesians. But this is not just merely a custom that Paul is following, to add words of thanksgiving and praise. Paul, sitting in that dungeon, facing death, is meditating on blessings, past and present, and sincerely desires to express his gratitude. This is the background of his words here in verse 3. I thank my God, whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers, night and day. If we are to succeed in our Christian lives, if we hope to succeed as leaders, or as pastors, or whatever your vocation may be, as messengers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to be a people of prayer. Following on from this morning, first characteristic of a Christian leader is that he is a man of prayer and that we are to be people of prayer. The less we pray in our church's ministry, the more we depend on our own efforts for success. And the more we pray, the more we come to realize that without God we can do nothing. If His Spirit does not take hold of our lives, then our preaching and our efforts are in vain. My friends, the busier we are, the more we should spend time in prayer. Paul wrote in his letter to Ephesians 4 and verse 6, and I quoted these words this morning, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests. to God. And when is the time that we are most anxious? It's the time when we are most busy, and when everything is happening, and particularly when things are going wrong. And that is when we should be spending more time in prayer. If we think of our Saviour Himself, the Son of God, very God Himself, in His short ministry on earth, found it necessary over and over again to withdraw himself and to be found praying to his Father in Heaven. We often read Jesus withdraws to a quiet place to pray. The Son of God found it necessary to go to the Heavenly Father, to His throne, and to pray. At one time Jesus withdrew to pray and we heard even this morning his temptation right after that for 40 days and 40 nights until his body was weak and frail from the lack of sustenance. When last did you and I, when last have we fasted in order to devote ourselves to God in prayer? Before Jesus faced his greatest trials, he was found in prayer. He was found in prayer. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed until drops of blood fell like sweat from His body as He wrestled at the Father's throne. greatest saints in the Old Testament were prayer warriors Moses and David and Daniel and many many other heroes of the faith. These great men of God would humble themselves frequently in prayer for those who accomplished the most for God will know so well that without God's hand They can do nothing. Friends, if you're a Christian leader, if you're the leader in your home, we need to be men. We need to be women of prayer. 2 Chronicles 7 14. If my people will call by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven. Forgive their sin. and heal their land. Perhaps the reason why we in the 21st century don't see God's hand move in great ways as he has down through history at various times is it because we are no longer a praying people. Now the Apostle Paul's life, it's very clear from his writings, were always seeped in prayer. And as he indicates here in our passage, as night and day, I remember you, Timothy, in my prayers. And note that despite his circumstances, Paul's prayer isn't for his own safety or comforts, or even a prayer for deliverance from prison, which would be a legitimate prayer. But his prayer was a prayer of thanks for God's people and God's goodness. Christian leader must be a man of prayer. In our ministry and all of us as God's people must pray for God's work all the time. Notice also here how Paul thanks God who serves with a clear conscience. He says, the way my forefathers did. Paul stresses that he has not introduced a new religion here. What Paul believes now is what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Isaiah, and all the previous ancestors also. William Hendrickson points out that the forefathers believed in the resurrection. And so does Paul. They look forward to the coming Messiah. Paul proclaims that Messiah who has come, who had actually made his appearance. Paul is saying that whenever he thinks of Timothy, he views him as a man who likewise serves the true and living God with a clear conscience. And how is it that Paul recollects by his supplication day and night. Paul was a man of prayer and he urges Timothy and he urges the readers by his letters. What about us? Is our service for God steeped in prayer? Are our personal devotions saturated in prayer? Fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers for our lives, our corporate prayers, our private prayers. We read this morning from Matthew 6 the importance of private prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself stresses. The Christian leader is to be a man of prayer. Secondly, the Christian leader is to be a man of passion. Christian leaders are to be men of passion. Look at verse 3 and 4. Thank my God whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayer, night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. Paul was indeed a man of great passion and drive. It seemed that this characteristic was embedded in his very nature. Do you remember when Paul was still Saul? And before his conversion, he was a persecutor of the church. He was present when Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned, there giving his approval to that. He used to go from city to city with great vigor, breathing murderous threats against believers. This was a man of passion. Then God took a hold of Saul's life and the risen Christ appeared to Saul on that Damascus road when he was on the way to imprison Christians for their faith and Saul became Paul after his conversion. And when Ananias the priest laid hands on him the Holy Spirit came upon Paul and from that day Paul's only passion was for the Lord Jesus Christ and for God's glory. Paul was passionate in his work for Christ. Paul had a passion for the lost souls of men to bring them to Christ and he pleaded with them Paul was the man who said, for me to live is Christ. That letter in Philippians, that to die is gain. During that first imprisonment, even there he didn't care. For me to live is Christ, and if I were to die, if they were to take my body and kill me, that would be gain. These verses we see a man passionate to serve God with a clear conscience, a conscience purified by the Holy Spirit, a man passionate for God's people and their continual work for the gospel. Here, facing death, his passion is, I can't do much more. Timothy, Take it, take the flame, take the word, and may the work go on. My friends, these are the marks of good Christian leaders. We should have that mind in us, that mind that was in Christ Jesus, that mind that doesn't consider others better than ourselves, that mind that looks not only to our own interests but off the interests of others, as Paul says also in Philippians chapter 2. My friends, is the Lord Jesus Christ and His work your great passion in life? Can you say with full, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain? He is everything to me. Are you passionate for God's glory? Is it your passion to see God's church grow and those in darkness and despair come to Christ, who is the light of the world? Pray that God would again give us a vision of the cross, a vision of the life work that he has for us, that we may be passionate as Paul and Timothy were as they wept together with tears of joy because of their labors in the gospel. Wept so that God's word may indeed prosper. Let's look at our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. The God-man, in his three years in his ministry here on earth, our Lord Jesus Christ was a man of passion, whose passion was to do the will of his Father. Remember the Garden of Gethsemane, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but your will be done, whose passion was to seek and to save the lost. We had a passion and a love for people that came from the Father when He said that night to Nicodemus, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Whose passion to do God's will and love for sinners was such that He passionately set His face towards Jerusalem, knowing what awaited Him there. Beyond the physical pain, He allowed God to make Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might have the righteousness of God in Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ was passionate for us. He was passionate for His Father's will. He was passionate. I ask you, what is your great passion this night? If you were to ask me in the week, my mind is all over the place, it would probably be that I become the greatest salesman, that I bring so much fish into America that they can't eat it all. But what is your great passion, young people who sit here? I want that white Mustang with chrome wheels. I want that good job. I want a nice wife and I want to have a family. This is my passion. Perhaps your passion tonight is, I'm tired. I want to retire comfortably. I want to go and tour the world. Perhaps I just want to get that promotion to get those few extra bucks. Perhaps your passions are bigger than that. Perhaps your passion is to see your children grow up and marry well in the Lord. It was your passion to do the will of your Heavenly Father. It was your passion to give glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was your passion to be constrained by the love of Christ, to develop a love for the lost. It was your great passion for the glory of God and of Christ. Christian leaders are to be men of passion. And thirdly and finally, Christian leaders must be men of faith. Christian leaders must be men of faith. Look at verse 5. For I am mindful, says Paul, of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that is in you as well. Paul thanks God for Timothy and the reminder of his sincere faith, or literally his unhypocritical faith, In other words, Timothy was a man who not only preached the gospel, but he lived the gospel. His faith was unhypocritical, literally in the Greek, he lived by faith in the Son of God. Paul is convinced that Timothy is not a fair-weather believer like so many of us are sometimes. There is only a believer when things go well and life is good and God seems to be blessing us. But the faith of Timothy is the faith that was in his grandmother Lois and in his mother Eunice. And in Acts chapter 16 verse 1 we introduce to Timothy's mother a believing Jewish woman. And these two women, his mother and his grandmother, were converted probably during Paul's second missionary journey. They were believing Jews. They saw in Christ the fulfillment of the promise of the Old Testament. They placed their trust in him. And these two women cooperated with Paul in the work of the gospel, in that glorious work of grace which resulted in Timothy's conversion. Isn't there a great lesson here for us? You may be a lady sitting here today, a woman with children, saying, well, I'm not ever going to be a leader. Well, if it weren't for Eunice and if it weren't for Lois, Timothy would never have been instructed in the faith. He would never have had the scriptures which he learned, the Bible tells us, at his grandmother's knee. What a challenge here to our mothers and to our grandmothers. You may not be able to preach the gospel from this pulpit, but your influence for the gospel on your children and on your family is invaluable. Let us never undermine the work of ministry of the woman in the home and the ministry of woman to younger woman in the church and in the home. Grandmother Lois, perhaps living with her daughter, and Mother Eunice had been converted, most likely, as I said, around Paul's first missionary journey. These women saw in Christ the fulfillment of promises, placed their trust in Christ. These two women, in turn, cooperated with Paul and taught little Timothy from young. Just a few pages on in Titus chapter 2, All the women likewise are to be reverent their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young woman to love their husbands to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Friends, we need to pray for our wives, for our children, for our mothers, and for our grandmothers. James says, without faith it is impossible to please God. The result of true and sincere non-hypocritical faith will be faithfulness. Galatians 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These things are proof that we are men of faith and women of faith. My friends, does this faith This sincere, non-hypocritical faith that was in Timothy, does it live in you today? Have you trusted in Christ and Him alone for your salvation? then let your faith be evident to all. Let it be obvious, let it be clear to everyone in your work and in your home and in your neighborhood that you have faith in God in the face of any and every circumstance that faces you in our prayer meeting tonight. How many difficult circumstances face so many of our people and I know Everybody here has heartaches and difficulties and trials not even mentioned. In the face of all these, we need to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Timothy was facing persecution in the church. He's about to lose his spiritual father, his teacher and his dear friend and apostle. People in the church were forsaking their faith. People were forsaking sound doctrine. Yet Timothy is remembered for his faith. Are you ready to give up because all the odds are against you? This life of faith is too heavy a burden for me to bear. Ministry is difficult. People seem to be forsaking their faith. There doesn't seem to be interest in the gospel. Trust in God. Ask God to strengthen your faith. God is on our side. Christian leaders must be men of faith. Faith doesn't come from within us. It comes from God. It is a gift of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. May God give us greater faith. that we may labour and be faithful to our calling, whatever our circumstances, whether you're a young person, or an older person, or a mother, or a father, or a grandfather today. Friends, let's resolve. Let's resolve by the example of men like Paul and Timothy, other great men down through the ages who've been taught, starting with their mothers and at their mother's knee, Let's be people of prayer. Let's be people of passion. Let's be people of sincere, unhypocritical faith. Amen. Let's pray together. Mighty God, our Heavenly Father, how we thank You for Your Word. which is indeed your power unto salvation. How we thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness down through the ages, as we think of the Apostle Paul and Timothy in this discourse so many years ago. How we thank you, Lord, for faithful men. How we thank you that you have been a faithful God to continue to raise up men to take that torch to take over that light of the gospel and to pass it on. O Lord, may each one of us here be found faithful this very night. May we delight ourselves in you. May we indeed be people of prayer. O Lord, make us prayer warriors. Teach us, O Lord, what it means to close our doors and to meet with you in secret. Lord, make us people of passion, passion for the lost, passion for those who are perishing without Christ, without hope in the world. Lord, give us a passion for your work throughout the world and grant that we would always pray for your people everywhere and for your kingdom to come as it has come in our hearts. O Lord, be merciful to us. Make us people of faith. Grant that no matter what our circumstances, no matter what we have to face in this life, whether illness or disease or death, Lord, that our faith may look to Thee. Lord, that our faith may be evident to all. Lord, do this, we pray, that we may be to your glory. We pray these things in the name which is above every name, even the name of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.