Good evening. It is good to be in the house of the Lord. Good to be here with you. The Reformed Presbyterian Church, College Hill. I bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters at the Mount Olive Baptist Church in Rankin, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh, on the way to Kennywood. Anybody ever been to Kennywood? We're somewhere right around the corner. Thank you to Pastor Titus for this opportunity to break the bread of life for the flock that God has given you a charge over and to Pastor and Professor York and his beautiful wife who have just so graciously opened up their home an hour before we came here. It's good to be with you, my father's children. Amen. And so good to have my wife Denise with us. Babe, will you stand up or wave and say hello? She took the wave option. And so let's get right to it, amen? Amen. Father, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Give me the anointing that makes preaching easy, powerful, and effective in the lives of your people. I pray that you give your people ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. This is our prayer, that we would not only be hearers of your word, but doers, that we leave here, Lord God, we would advance your kingdom, you would get the glory out of our lives. This we pray in the strong name of Jesus, and everyone who loved him said amen. where the Lord is found today in 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verses 1 through 12. 2nd Timothy 1 verses 1 through 12. And at verse 1, well, when you get it, say amen. Anybody there yet? Pages are turning. Amen. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 1, you find these words. Paul, an apostle to Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, as I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I'm sure dwells in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifest through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know in whom I have believed. And I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God's word will never pass away. I'd like to talk to you from the subject, Five Virtues for Victory. We were walking and the tide was coming in late into the evening on the beach at Virginia Beach. We had just had a long trip and it was one of the first nights we got to get out and just enjoy what Virginia Beach had to offer. We had just come out of a long season of hardship in our early marriage and we were on our first real vacation. You know, sometimes when you're early in marriage, you make a vacation. But it really is more work getting on that vacation because you can't really afford to take a vacation. But there's other vacations where you can actually afford it and you can enjoy it. This was Denise and I's first opportunity to really enjoy ourselves on vacation. And as we traveled down to Virginia Beach, I would drive at certain points because we were just enjoying our time and enjoying our drive. I'd press the cruise control button on our car. And so as we were walking on the beach one day, that day, I asked Denise, I wonder where the cruise control button is in life. I keep looking for cruise control, and I feel like I can't find it. And to which she chuckled and said, baby, I don't think there is a cruise control. Brothers and sisters, there is no cruise control button in life. You've got to drive it the whole way through. And I think this is even more so in the Christian life. There are proclamations about Christianity that it will lead you to a life of bliss, a life of ease, but that is not what the scripture teaches us. No, the Christian life is not a long, luxurious vacation. The Christian life is a fight. It is a battle against our great enemy, Satan, sin, and the world. We will fight that fight all of our lives in Christ. This is why Paul tells us in other places that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. The Christian life is a fight. But that does not mean that the Christian life is not a life of victory. I came to encourage you today, College Hill, this year, 2018, and in your life in Christ, you can live a life of victory. In fact, the Christian life, though it is a battle, it is a life on the winning team. It is a life of victory. But it is not victory without trial. It is not victory without adversity and adversaries. We learn this all throughout scripture, don't we? Eve had the serpent. Adam had Eve. Brothers, don't use that when you go to the pastor for counseling. Noah had years before God would fulfill his purpose. Abraham was well into old age before God fulfilled the promise. Joseph had brothers that hated him. Moses had to stand against the most powerful man in the world, and he had a speech impediment. Prophets had to deal with the doubt of the people. David, he had Goliath, he had Saul, and he had problems with his own son and in his own house. Israel was God's prized possession, but they still had to deal with the Persians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. Jesus had to deal with the Sadducees, the Pharisees, with Herod, with Pilate, and I don't know if you remember, but he had a cross that he had to deal with. He had nails in his hands that he had to deal with. He had a grave and even death that he had to deal with. But as Christians, as followers of Christ, we are people of victory because Jesus Christ conquered the grave. Jesus Christ, on the third day, rose in the morning. He got up with all power in his hands. And though we have adversaries in this life, we also have victory as followers of our Lord. This is what Paul's message is to Timothy, his son, who is green in ministry in Ephesus. Paul is in prison dealing with his adversaries in Caesar's jail. Timothy is dealing with heresy in his community, and Paul is writing Timothy in these first 12 verses and telling him to fight the good fight of faith. Timothy, don't throw in the towel. Timothy, do not give up because you will have the victory if you remain faithful to your Lord. Five virtues I would like to lift to you in the time remaining that will give you the victory in 2018 as you stand even in the face of your adversaries yet still following your master. Number one, you've got to see yourself as a servant of the Most High God. I've learned in life at this point that there are some lessons that are better caught than taught. And in the first four verses of our text, Paul demonstrates for Timothy, not didactically, not teaching him as in a classroom, but Paul demonstrates what it means to be a pastor, what it means to be a man of God. And Paul defines his vocation, his calling, his ministry in Christ as an apostle of Jesus Christ. according to the will of God. He is a servant of the Most High God. Paul says he is an apostle, a messenger, one who is sent out to speak what has been spoken to him through by the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul has been sent out to spread the message of the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. And Paul says, Timothy, I don't see my calling as some ministry guru who's teaching you how to never have any struggle in life, never have any problem and to grow a large church. No, Paul says, Timothy, I am simply a messenger of God. I am simply a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't come to do my will. I come to do his will. And many of us may have written down some resolutions for 2018. Maybe some of us plan to go back to school. Maybe some of us plan to start a business. Maybe some of us want to go on that vacation this year. But the question before us is, do you see yourself as a servant of the Most High God? And the only way you can truly have victory in your life in Christ is not through self-fulfillment, but through fulfilling the will of God for your life. So before you write your resolutions this year, brothers and sisters, you must bow your knee, open God's word, and allow him to bend the direction of your heart toward his will and not your will. It is Jesus who taught us to pray, right? Father, not my will, but thine will be done. If you will have victory in 2018, brothers and sisters, you must see yourself as a servant of the Most High God. And then Paul goes in verse 5 and he says, I am reminded, Timothy, of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you. Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, I'm a servant of the most high God and I'm praying for you, I long to see you, I'm encouraged by you, I give God thanks for you, but I primarily give God thanks for you because I know you operate from a place of sincere faith. See, some things are better caught than taught, but there's other things that are better taught than caught, amen? If you're gonna fix my car, I hope you've gone to mechanic school. If you're gonna defend me in a court of law, I want you to have gone to law school. And Paul says, you have been taught, Timothy, through the years by your mother and your grandmother about how to truly trust in God. He says, I'm encouraged about your ministry. I give thanks to God for you because I know when you walk into the midst of God's people, when you go out to be an evangelist and to share the gospel in Ephesus, I know you're going to walk with faith that God is with you and God can do, you can accomplish whatever God calls you to do. One of my heroes of the faith in scripture and one of the models I think of sincere faith in scripture is the warrior Caleb. You remember Caleb, don't you? One of those spies that Moses sent to scout out the land that God promised his chosen people, Israel. And the other spies came back with a bad report. They said, no, no, no, there's giants in the land. We cannot go and take that land. But Joshua and Caleb alone came back and gave a good report. They said, we can take this land. We will be successful. They saw through the eyes of faith that God could defeat the giants in the land. And so Caleb and Joshua were the only ones in that generation that were allowed to enter the promise because they, in faith, saw past their adversaries and saw the promise of God. The reason why I love Caleb, though, is that his faith not only was fresh at the beginning of his journey, but it was fresh to the very end of his journey. He had a sincere faith that lasted to the very end of his life. See after they had taken the taken the land after they had had many conquests Caleb goes to joshua and he says yes, you guys are going into your conquest You're going to settle your land But but but what god promised me and what god promised my tribe there still yet remains adversaries in our territory And at the with this at 80 years old with the strength of a 40 year old caleb led the people of god to go Possess what god had promised them because he had Sincere faith. What about you? Will you faithfully trust God with this year? Will you faithfully trust Him that what He's promised for your family, what He's promised for your ministry, what He's promised for this church, what He's promised in your heart and in His Word, that He will complete it. And if He spoke it, He can bring it to pass because you faithfully trust that God is not a man that He should lie. Brothers and sisters, there will be adversaries that seek to keep us from the good things that God has promised us. But Paul says to Timothy, and I say to you, operate from a place of sincere faith in God, knowing that it is not my self-will that will accomplish what needs to be done in my home, in my job, in my schooling, in my career. No, it will be the in the power of God, in the grace of God, in the kindness of God, empowering me to be who he called me to be and do what he called me to do. I want to operate this year from a place of sincere faith, genuine faith, faith that will endure to the end. Some things are better caught than taught. Other things are better taught than caught than other things you just gotta learn on your own self-discipline. This is what I think Paul is getting at with Timothy in verses six through verses seven. Paul says in verse six, for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, you must see yourself as a servant of God. You must operate from a place of sincere faith But also Timothy, you must reinvigorate the gifts given to you by God. Let the church say reinvigorate. It's a cool word, it's a cool word. Paul says, Timothy, God gave you a gift. God gave you a gift, and he rewinds back to the day of Timothy's ordination. He says, at the laying on of my hands, Paul says, Timothy, God gave you a gift to pastor God's people. He imparted you all that you needed to preach God's word, to be an evangelist, to lead God's people, and to love the flock of God. He says, Timothy, God gave you the gift, but by the grace of God, it is your responsibility to develop the gift. So he says, fan into flame the gift of God that was given to you by the laying on of my hands. You know, Paul gives the image of starting a fire, doing work outdoors. He says, you've got to keep that fire going. You've got to keep that fire hot. You've got to add some kindling to that fire. You've got to fan into flame so that fire of the gift of God that God has given you will not be dampened, will not go out. Timothy, you must fan into flame the gift of God. Given to you because it is the gift of God that is going to open up the progress of God in your life in Christ and the enemy will come in many various ways into the church to seek to dampen our fire for God and to seek to Take away the sweetness and the joy of using our gifts in the body of Christ that came when we that was there when we first began to live for the Lord and to follow the Lord and But Paul says, fan it into flames. Simply put, Paul says, this year, Timothy, as you go into your ministry, you've got to get better. You've got to keep your gift hot. You've got to keep it going. You've got to do what you need to do to keep your gift fresh because your gift is going to help you deal with the adversary that is before you in the church. That if you're a preacher, you've got to preach with all your heart. If you're a singer, as the people of God come to sing, we must sing God's praise with all our hearts. If you're a mother, you must serve and love your family with all your heart. And don't only focus on the difficulties of what a family life looks like, but focus on the joy that God has given you in raising your families and supporting your husband. If you're a husband, focus on the... Be fresh in giving that love that your spouse needs and that love that your children need. Take every gift that God has given to you and get better at it this year. Get sharper at it this year and use it for the glory of God. Paul says, you've got to get better this year so you've got to fan and to flame. For some of us that may mean we need to go back to school. For some of us that may mean we need to find a fresh approach to the gift of God that God has given us for the growth of the church and the growth of our lives in Christ. But he says, number one, you've got to get better. And then he says, you've got to stop walking in fear. because you can't get better if you're controlled by fear. God has not given you the spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control. If you're afraid, you can't walk in the power of God. I don't know if I've got any guys who played football growing up, but football is just one of those great sports that as long as you're controlled by fear, it's only gonna get worse for you. I remember, I didn't like getting hit, I didn't like being pushed down and getting shoved around, If I was going to stay on the team, I had to learn how to get hit and to want to give a hit. And as I let go of my fear and began to participate in the sport, I began to have power as I played because I stopped walking in fear and started enjoying the game. It's like that in Christ. As long as we keep walking in doubt and fear of the unknown, fear of the past, fear of the other people around us, we will not be able to walk in the power that God has ordained for His people to walk in in the church. Then Paul says, you've got to stop walking in fear. You're not cut from that fearful cloth, Timothy. You've got to walk in power and you've got to walk in love. See, when an animal is backed into a corner, often it will lash out because it's afraid. Even if it's a smaller animal, it will lash out at a larger animal because it's fighting for its life. And often that is how we are as believers. Fear will cause us to walk in bitterness. Fear will cause us to walk in anger. Fear will cause us to hold on to hatred. But Paul says, God has not given you the spirit of fear, but he's given you the spirit of power and love. That the love of Christ, Christ's ministry, Christ's life was not motivated by fear, but it was motivated by the love of God for him and the love that he had for his people. Brothers and sisters, we are called not only not to walk in fear, but we are called to walk in love. And some of us, I would suggest, would see God's power in a fresh way, would see God's joy in a fresh way in our ministries if we walked with love and not out of anger and bitterness. says, not only should we not walk in fear, but we should walk in self-control. That God's people are led by the spirit of God, not by the spirit of fear. And that's the spirit of power, love, and self-control. Other translations will translate that word that is translated self-control in the ESV as a sound mind. That's because both of those words are in the frame of interpretation for that Greek word. And that makes sense, though, doesn't it? That I can't walk with control in my body and in my life if I don't have soundness of mind in my thinking. Paul is saying that God has not called you to live in confusion. He's not called you to live just making rash decisions. He's called you to live controlled by the Spirit of God. Walking into the will and the purposes of God for your life. Brothers and sisters, some things are taught rather than taught. Some things are taught rather than caught. Some things you must learn by your own self-discipline. But there's other things that you learn best in a shared experience. Anybody ever did a ropes course? trust falls and you know you learn the lesson that you're supposed to learn during those things by everybody taking part in the process. In the next verses, Paul calls Timothy to come on in the suffering ropes course of Christian life with me, Timothy. Paul is in prison as he writes this letter and he says, Timothy, you need to suffer unashamedly for the gospel of God. Paul says that in verse uh... i believe we could pick up inverse says therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been made manifest through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality. through the light, immortality to light through the gospel. Paul says, Timothy, don't be ashamed when you're suffering for the sake of the gospel. And that you must enter with me as I am suffering in prison. You must suffer even as a pastor for your proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord. He says, don't be ashamed. See, all of us have those friends, those family members who we love, but we really don't trust. Okay, just me, maybe. All right. So I've got some family members, right? Say amen if you can identify. I've got some family members who I love them, but I don't trust them. And if they asked me to invest $5,000 in a shady business that they were starting, and I invested that into that business, and then that business went under in two weeks, I would feel ashamed, because most likely, some of the people I've got in mind, everybody would have been telling me, don't give them that much money. Don't invest in that business. So I'd be ashamed for investing in their business. But if there was a multi-million dollar investor and he said, give me $5,000 and I'll make you 50. And then he asked me and he did that. And then he asked me to give him 50,000 and he made me 500. I would not feel ashamed of that investment because what I put in, I got out of that investment more than what I put into that investment. Paul says to his son, Timothy, never, ever, ever, Timothy, be ashamed of the investment of your life and the suffering you must go through for your faithfulness to the gospel of God in Jesus Christ. Paul says to Timothy, what you get from the Lord is far greater than anything you will ever invest in this life. That's why Paul can write the sufferings of this world cannot compare in Romans to the glory that is yet to be revealed. Paul understands that what we suffer is just our reasonable service for a God and Christ who gave us everything. So Paul says in Timothy, Timothy, don't be ashamed. Why? Because in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you get life abundantly, life as it is supposed to be lived in this world, but you also get immortality, life to its fullness, unseparated from God in the world to come. Paul says, never be ashamed. In College Hill, as you go out into your world this year, never be ashamed what you have to go through. You may not get the promotion because of your faithfulness to Christ. Family members may no longer want to deal with you because of your faithfulness to Christ. People may walk away from you, and you may even suffer hardship for your faithfulness to Jesus Christ. We do not know, but what you invest is never more than what you get in Christ Jesus. There's some things better caught than taught, right? There are other things better taught than caught. There are some things you've got to learn on your own self-discipline. There are other things you learn in a shared experience. But there are some things you can only learn through a lifetime. Paul says this in the final verse. I believe Paul teaches Timothy this in the final verse of our text. He says in verse 12, which is why I suffer as I do. But I'm not ashamed, Timothy, for I know whom I have believed, and I'm convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me." Paul is in prison, church. But yet he's encouraging Timothy that God will take care of him until the very end, until Christ's return, if Timothy will faithfully persevere. I just want to encourage someone this year, don't give up because God's got your back. This is what Paul says, but I don't know about you, this seems kind of contradictory to Paul's experience. Paul, you're in prison. Paul, you're suffering. Paul, your ministry has been confined to a jail cell. Paul, you can only write letters. How can you tell Timothy that God is able to keep in guard what has been entrusted to him, his life, his ministry, until the day that Christ returns? I was thinking about this thing so I just called the jail that Paul was incarcerated in two thousand years ago and I said, can you have Paul call me collect? The jailer said he'd give Paul the message and Paul called me the other day guys as I was preparing to come see you. I said, Paul, I don't understand, Paul, I don't understand why you feel you have the right to tell Timothy when you're in a jail cell that God's going to give him the victory in his suffering. Paul says, well, William, I don't know if you know my story. I can tell you over the phone today, but you could just have read the book of Acts. And in the book of Acts, William, in the book of Acts, I used to be a persecutor of the church. But God, one day, Jesus Christ, the Lord, the risen Lord, came and knocked me off my horse, blinded my eyes. And as I cried out and asked him who he was, he said, Paul, I am the Lord, Jesus Christ, who you are persecuting. And Paul said, William, he used me, one who used to persecute the church, to be a preacher in the church. And that's why I can tell Timothy, I know in whom I have believed, and that he is able to guard to that day. what has been entrusted unto me. I said, yeah, Paul, but that was at the start. That was great, but what about some other, give me some more examples. He said, well, William, I was one day doing ministry in Lystra with my boy Barnabas, and we were sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and one day I had been stoned within an inch of my life because the gospel of God did not make people flock to me, but it made people hate me and I suffered for this gospel and I was stoned within an inch of my life and left for dead. But as the saints surrounded me, I got up from that experience and was able to go on further in ministry and I know that no matter what the adversity, no matter what the trial, even if I'm in a jail cell, I know God can deliver it and he will use my life for his great and glorious purposes. That's why I can say I know in whom I believe. that he is able to guard to that day. What day? The day of Christ's return, the day of salvation, the day of his second coming. I know that he can guard to that day what he's entrusted to me. Paul says, I was in jail at another point, and me and Silas were suffering for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we began to praise, and we began to sing, and we began to praise, and we began to sing until an earthquake rocked the jailhouse. And I was able to witness to my jailer, my guard, about the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. I've been in a jail cell before. I've seen and felt confined before. I've been persecuted before. I've gone through before, but God has brought me out of every danger, toil, and snare. And so I can encourage Timothy, I know in whom I have believed, that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Do you know him, brothers and sisters? Has he brought you through before? Has he been faithful in years past to your family as you've served him out in the world in your work? Has he been faithful to this great church? Has he provided you everything that you need for life and for godliness? Then you should be able to say with Paul, I know in whom I have believed and that he is able to guard unto that day what has been entrusted to me. And I'm not going to give up in this present suffering because I know in all of my sufferings, God's got my back. Brothers and sisters, five virtues for victory in 2018. God bless you.