The earth all around me is sinking sand. Oh Christ, the solid rock I stand. When I need a shelter, when I need a friend, I go to the rock. Where do I hide? Till the storms have all passed over, where do I run to? When the winds of sorrow threaten, is there a refuge? In the time of tribulation, when my soul needs consolation, I go to the rock. I go to the rock of my salvation, go to the stone that the builders rejected, run to the mountain, and the mountain stands by me. The earth all around me is sinking sand, on Christ the solid rock I stand. When I need a shelter, when I need a friend, I go to the rock. When I need a shelter, when I need a friend, I go to the rock. All right, men, this will be our last one. No, it won't be. Let me invite you all back tomorrow. Dr. Goetsch will be preaching here in the morning, and we'll be taking an offering tomorrow as well. Feel free to be a part of that. But it's been good to have you all here at our church. Let me just thank you. It's been an honor for us to host you men here. You all have been very gracious to all of the folks from my church that are here helping and working and serving, and we just thank you so much for that. Dr. Goetsch, would you come, please? Thank you, Pastor McPhillips. And I want to say, personally, thank you to Pastor McPhillips and his church for allowing us to be here. These things don't just happen, do they? And some of you have hosted things in your church and been involved with that kind of thing, and the meals, and just cleaning the building, and the restrooms, and having everything ready takes some work and takes some effort. And I'm sure long after we're gone today, there'll be some things that have to be done for tomorrow. to ready the services, ready the church for services tomorrow. So thank you, Pastor McPhillips, and appreciate the hospitality toward me. And thank you, Pastor Nelson. I have known Brother Nelson for a long time and certainly appreciate his faithfulness and love for the Lord. And I thank the Lord for the good times we've had in the past, and it's so good to see him again. And many of you, it's been a joy to see you getting old. And that's been a real encouragement to us young guys to see some of you older guys hanging in there. So it's just been good. Well, let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy in chapter 3. As we discovered in the first hour, being consistent is probably one of the most difficult things we do. It's not hard to make a decision, but keeping that decision is much harder, isn't it? I've often said we could have revival today if every Christian would just make one more decision. If every Christian would make one more decision, we'd have revival. You know what that decision would be? The decision would be to keep every decision we've already made. Because the truth is we've made enough decisions to have revival. We've made all kinds of decisions. But keeping those decisions, being consistent throughout our life in those decisions is a very difficult task. Believing is easier than behaving. Learning is much easier than living. Starting is easier than staying. And we saw in the early session this morning Some characteristics or reminders as Paul gives them to Timothy about being consistent in a changing culture Now, why do we struggle with consistency? What's the big deal? Why is it so hard? Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but God said a faithful man who can find In other words God sees all kinds of people saying here's what I'm gonna do. This is what I'm gonna do I got this vision. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna lead this way or I had my family be this way God sees that every day, but He has trouble finding somebody that's being faithful at it. But may I remind us today that only consistent Christians are going to change their culture. Only consistent Christians are going to make a difference in this world. You have to be different to make a difference. And if we're going to make a difference, if we're going to make an impact on our generation, we're going to have to be consistent because the Bible says the hypocrite's hope shall perish. We can have vision. We can say, well, we're going to have revival. We're going to change the world. We're going to do something about all these problems. And we can have a great hope, a great vision, but the hypocrite's hope shall perish. No one listens to an Eli. No one listens to a Lot. No one listens to a Demas. So if we're going to make a difference if we're going to if our life is going to impact our family or our church or our community We've got to figure out how to be consistent and I believe in second timothy three the apostle paul lists seven enemies of consistency So let's look at them. First of all In the first two verses we see the enemy of selfish pragmatism In verse one. He says this know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Our biggest enemy is self. D.L. Moody used to say, the man I fear the most is the one who walks underneath this hat. When Abraham Lincoln was running for president, they asked him one day, do you fear any of your opponents? He said, yes, one. They were surprised because he was doing well in the campaign. They said, who do you fear? He said, a man named Lincoln. He said, if I'm defeated, I'll be defeated by Lincoln. That's pretty wise. And the truth is, we can look back in our life, and most of our failures are self-caused. Oftentimes, our enemy is ourself. And it's interesting here, this know also, in the last days perilous times shall come. We look at our culture and we go, whoa, this must be the last time, because this is getting weird. This is getting perilous. But you know what he says? Men shall be lovers of their own selves. When God points to the sign of the last times, he doesn't say, oh, look at the crime, look at the gangs, look at the same-sex marriage, look at, no, no. He says, men will be worshiping the creature rather than the creator. And we're living in those days. Self is constantly at battle against God's plan for our life and we change the truth of God into a lie and Worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator We start making decisions based on what the creature wants rather than what the Creator wants Guys the eye of our life has to die every day The middle letter in the name Lucifer is I I Lucifer was a gifted angel, a very powerful angel, one of the three most powerful. Ezekiel 28 says he was in charge of the worship in heaven. And yet we know the story, Isaiah 14, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also in the mount of the congregation of the sides of the north. I will rise above the clouds. I will be like the Most High. The I didn't die. And the middle letter of pride is I. And I is also the middle letter in sin. And pride is sin. Everyone that is proud at heart is an abomination unto the Lord. The I has got to die. By the way, I is the middle letter of revival. See, God wants to use us. But the I has to be crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I. But Christ liveth in me see the eye of the old man the eye of the old flesh it has to die So that the new man in Christ controlled by Christ can live for him and make a difference Romans chapter 12 teaches us that God desires a living sacrifice Now I'm sure when the people at the church at Rome first read that verse they must have thought They must have thought that Paul forgot to take his meds that day What are you talking about a living sacrifice? I mean, up until that time, every sacrifice was dead. When you brought a lamb, or you brought a heifer, or you brought a piece of wheat or something to put on an altar, it was dead. You took that animal, you slew it, the blood was shed, you put it on that altar. That lamb, that heifer, it wasn't going anywhere, it was dead. Now, God commands us to be a living sacrifice, and the problem with a living sacrifice is that it's always trying to crawl off the altar. We make decisions. We say, God, I give you this area of my life. Lord, I want to serve you in this area. And I give you this sin, or I give you this obedience. And we put ourselves on that altar. But the problem is, when you wake up tomorrow morning, the old I is going to try to crawl off that altar. And that's why Paul said, I die daily. Have you had a funeral for self yet today? You better. We better have a funeral for self. We better die to the old man. The Bible says in Proverbs 25, it's not good to eat much honey. In other words, that table over there with all that stuff on it, you can't do that every day. It's not good to eat much honey. It's not good to eat too much dessert. So, for men to search their own glory is not glory. So oftentimes, I gets in the way of what God wants to do in our life. Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, but he that humbles himself shall be exalted. We may think our selfless life is going to keep us from the blessings or keep us from the glory that we desire, but so oftentimes we let that selfish agenda keep us from serving God in some way. We get so many things to do on our to-do list that we forget that God owns us and God wants to use us, and we've got to be surrendered to Him. Secondly, we see the enemy of sensual pleasure. He goes on in verse 3 and says, "...without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures." more than the lovers of God. You know, our flesh didn't get saved when we got saved. Our flesh is still our flesh. And the flesh doesn't want to obey the Spirit. And we are constantly in a battle every day between the flesh and the Spirit, and we're not alone in that battle. Paul said, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I would, I do not, and that which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For a will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, and the evil that I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. You see, Paul was in this battle. Here's this great apostle, here's this great preacher, this great church planter, this great missionary, evangelist, he can wear all the hats, and yet Paul was in this battle between the flesh and the spirit. And he instructs us in the book of Galatians, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are the contrary, the one to the other, so you cannot do the things that you would. Often what keeps us from doing the will of God in our life what keeps us from being consistent is that old flash Well, how do we actually walk in the spirit? How can we make that our practice How do we know if we're walking in the spirit and not in the flesh? Well Colossians 3 verse 17, I think it simplifies things for us. It says whatsoever you do in word or deed Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. I giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Everything we say, can we say it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Everything we do, can we do in the name of the Lord Jesus. If we have to say, you know, I can't do this for the glory of God, then we're living in the flesh, and not in the spirit. We should ask ourselves, would Jesus text this? Would Jesus post this? Would Jesus watch this? What kind of music would He listen to? What would He wear? If Jesus were here today, He wouldn't wear what He wore when He was here before. He wouldn't wear a robe. But what would He wear? What would he listen to? What would Jesus do on vacation? Suppose he'd go to church? If Jesus were in Las Vegas, what would he do? By the way, he went to places much wickeder than Las Vegas when he was here. We have Christians doing all kinds of things, not stopping to think, does this glorify God? How would Jesus spend his money? the flesh. It's an enemy. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. Paul says mortify, put to death, crucify, mortify your members that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts and your ignorance. But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, even as I am holy." People say, well, I just think the church is too old-fashioned. I just think we have too many rules, too many standards. We just need to live in our grace, our liberty. Book of Titus chapter 2 talks about the liberty that we have in grace. It's just interesting to me that after he talks about that, verse 11 and verse 12, he says, teaching us. What should the grace of God teach us? Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, godly in this present world. You say, well, this is 2016. It's not like the 50s. Well, no matter who reads Titus 2.12, it's this present world. And God, I think, knew when He wrote it that we would live this long. That we would live in this kind of a culture. And God says we're to be holy even as He's holy. You can't have too many standards when God says be holy even as I'm holy. People say, well, you're too narrow-minded. About as narrow as that book right there. Sensual pleasure. Thirdly, I see substituted power. In verse 5, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Substituted power. I got some homework for you. Go home. When you get home, I want you to walk through your house real slow. Have your wife help you if you need to. Just walk through your house real slow. And I want you to look at the walls, look at the shelves, Maybe maybe get a piece paper and a pen and I want you to count all the picture frames that you have on your walls without pictures in them Just count all the frames No picture just just a frame hanging on the wall or sitting on a shelf count them up. See how many you have They really guess I don't need to do that. We don't have any Well, I would guess you probably don't unless you're a picture frame maker. I you probably do not have frames hanging on your wall without pictures but I bet you could go home today and I bet you could pull out a drawer you could pull up with a scrapbook or something and you could find some pictures without frames you see what's important is the picture the frame only enhances what's inside however today we have substituted power and we have the frame but no picture We have the outward appearance of God, but nothing on the inside. And while it would seem that we're consistent because we show up at church on Sunday and we have a semblance of godliness and we look the part, But on the inside, we're hollow, we're empty, because we do not have the power of God working in us on a daily basis. We're like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. These men, they had memorized the law. They kept 638 commandments according to the law. They didn't dare break one of them. In fact, the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee before he got saved, and in Philippians chapter 3, he said, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. That's an amazing phrase. Paul said, you show me one of the 638 commandments in the Old Testament. I have kept it. That's a strong statement. Pharisees did not break the law. They kept it to the letter. But Jesus said, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You're like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within they're full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you appear outwardly righteous unto men, but within you're full of dead men's bones. You're full of hypocrisy and all iniquity. He said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees! You may clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but the inside is full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee! Cleanse the inside of the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also. Oh, so often we have this form. But gentlemen, we've got to remind ourselves, Christianity is not a form. It's not a formality. When Christianity becomes a form or a formality, it leads to formalism. And we've got nothing. We must not rely upon ourselves, for we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything is of ourselves. Our sufficiency is of God. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, that maketh flesh his arm, Listen, if we preach in the flesh, we sing in the flesh, we serve in the flesh, we are wasting our time. We've got to stop relying on ourselves and start relying upon God. It's the Spirit that quickens us. The flesh profits nothing. You can have a fabulous outline, you can have a wonderful delivery, you can have the best illustration in the world, but if it's not preached in the Holy Spirit's power, it has no effect. Paul said, And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with enticing words of man's wisdom. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with excellency of speech and of wisdom, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. You know, when they heard Paul preach, they didn't go out and say, Wow! What a sermon! They didn't say, man, can that guy preach or what? You know what they said when Paul preached? His bodily presence is weak. His speech is contemptible. That's what they said. Everywhere Paul went, there was a trail of souls. There was a church planted. Lives were changed. Why? Paul had learning. He had sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Paul had a knowledge, an ability, spoke more languages than anybody in the church at Corinth. But Paul didn't come with excellency of speech and wisdom. He came in a demonstration of the Spirit of God. Now I'm afraid that some of our ministries today have been reduced to a frame. We have a form, but nothing inside, which leads, fourthly, to scholastic pride. In verse 7, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now we're commanded to know God's Word. We're commanded to study. We're commanded to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus said to them that believed on Him, if you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed. However, there's a danger to knowledge. Because 2 Corinthians 8-1 says, knowledge puffeth up. If any man thinketh he knoweth anything, he says in the next verse of 2 Corinthians 8, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. Knowledge, scholasticism, academia can lead to pride. In fact, in Isaiah 47 and verse 10, thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, thou hast said, none seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee. And thou said in thine heart, I am, and there is none else beside me." Gentlemen, there's only one I am, and he's not in this room. He's not one of us. There's only one I am. Boy, if we're not careful, the longer we live and the more that we study God's Word and the more knowledge that we obtain, there's a danger there because pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. You can get too big to serve God. You can never get too little to serve God, but you can get too big to serve God. Scholastic pride. Then we see scorned principles. In verse 8, Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be made manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. scorned principles. Here were men that had heard Paul, here were men that had studied as Paul did, and here were men that had once perhaps been in the ministry with him, but now because they had turned their back on the Word of God, or had scorned the Word of God, were no longer being used by God, in fact cast aside, put on the shelf. Proverbs says, remove not the ancient landmark. Gentlemen, can I tell you this? Before you tear a fence down, ask yourself, why did they put this up in the first place? I know especially younger men, you want to do things differently, and that's fine. Every generation does. When we were young, we thought we want to do things a little different too. But look at those fences that have been put up by your forefathers. Look at those fences that were put up by your pastor, or those that you admired as you were coming up in the ministry, and make sure you don't tear something down that was put there for a reason. Rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft. Sometimes I think in our quest as a new generation to do things for God, I wonder are we doing it because we want to be right or are we doing it because we want to protest the old? You show me somebody in the Bible that rebelled against proper authority and won. Find somebody in the Bible that rebelled against proper authority and came out of success. Lucifer? Adam? Cain? Achan? Absalom? Saul? Rehoboam? Herod? Ananias and Sapphira? Go down the list. But I can show you some people in the Bible who submitted to wrong authority and won. Joseph. Jacob. Laban was flat out wrong. But Jacob submitted. Daniel. David and Saul. Remember David? He wouldn't touch the Lord's anointed. Saul was wrong. And even when Saul, when David cut off that little part of his garment, he was smote in his heart. He said, I shouldn't have done that. submitting to wrong authority, and yet God blessed them. Be careful about scorn principles. It is arrogant for us to think that we're smarter than the people God has placed over us as authorities. It's arrogant for a teenager to think he's smarter than his parents. It's arrogant for us as church members to think we're smarter than the man of God that he's given us as our pastor. Obey them that have the rule over you. They have to give an account. One day, Pastor Chappell is going to give an account of John Getsch. He's not going to be able to lie. You might say to Dr. Chappell, how's that Getsch guy doing for you? Oh, great. I love Brother Getsch. He can lie about it now. He can't lie about it to him. We need to submit to authority, scorn principles. Then I see Sixley's spurned preparation in verse number 10. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of all of them the Lord delivered me. In all who live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Paul is telling Timothy, look, you've seen my life. You've looked at it up close. You know what we've been through to serve God. And so many people today, they want to spurn the preparation that's required to be a blessing and to be a man of God or to serve God in some way. Listen, everything that's happening in your life is happening for the purpose of training you for something more. All things work together for good to them that love God. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. By the way, Job said he numbers our steps. Kind of like those old dot-to-dots we used to do in school. All those dots, little numbers by them. I don't know if you were like me. When I got those, I wanted to be the first one done because I wanted to announce what the picture was. It's a chicken. It's a chicken. So you have to find number one, you know, you put your pencil on number one, then you had to find number two, and you draw a line number two, and then the three, and I'd look over and some girl next to me, she was way ahead of me. And I wanted to be first, so I'd skip three. I'd go from two to six. Two to twelve, and now I'm ahead of her. Good, good. Hey, it's not going to be a chicken. You can't skip numbers, guys. You might not like the number you're on right now. You might be in a trial right now. But it's all working together. Your steps are ordered for His purpose, for His glory. Don't spurn the preparation. I grew up on a dairy farm, and I don't remember learning to drive a tractor. I don't remember my dad saying, OK, son, here, I'm going to teach you how to drive a tractor. It just kind of came second nature. I can remember sitting in my dad's lap as a little kid with my hands on the steering wheel of the tractor, thinking I was driving along before I was. He was in control, but I thought I was driving that tractor. When I was six years old, I drove the baler all summer, baling hay, you know, six years old. That old Oliver 66, I had to get out of the seat and jump on the clutch to get it to stop. I wasn't tall enough to, you know, jam the clutch in when it came to those big clumps of hay, and boy, we sheared a lot of pins that summer on that old baler. I grew up driving, you know, tractors. My dad, when I was about 11, bought a Willett Jeep. I don't know if he got it from the post office, where he got it. Man, that thing was awesome. It was like a four-wheeler of today, you know. And we did everything with that Jeep, and I got to drive it. Got to drive it on the road. I mean, we had two farms, and there was about a mile and a half between the farms by way of the road, and my dad said, let me take that Jeep with a wagon behind it or something and drive on the road. You know, I didn't have a license. So I grew up around all this stuff, you know, driving and learning stuff. And one of the tasks that my dad was very patient with me in letting me learn was backing the manure spreader into the barn. In the old days, you didn't have barn cleaners. You had to back the manure spreader all the way through the barn. And of course, you had gutters on both sides, and you got about maybe a foot on each side of that manure spreader. You got to get that thing down the middle, because if that wheel goes in the gutter, you got a mess. You've got to jack that thing up in the midst of the manure and everything else, and so you don't want to get off in that gutter. It's not like bowling, where the ball just keeps going and you get it back. If you go in the gutter, back in manure spreaders, you've got problems. And my dad, we'd back the manure spreader in, and he'd let me do that, and you'd get a little bit crooked, and he'd say, stop, stop. And he'd get up in the tractor, and he'd get it corrected, and then he'd let me try again. I'd get off a little bit, get close to that. He'd say, stop! And he'd get back on the tractor, and he'd straighten it out for me. And boy, it was painstaking to let me back that manure spreader day after day after day. And I did it until I could have done it in my sleep. In about 1990, I was scheduled to preach a revival at the Calvary Baptist Church in San Francisco on Mission Street. And the pastor called, and he said, Billy Goetsch, we've got a little parking lot. It's very small. We've got a little parking lot right next to the church. It's gated. It's got a fenced gate. And he said, that's where we want to park your trailer. I was pulling a 16,000 pound fifth wheel at that time. And it was about 35 feet long, I think it was. And they said, we got a spot there. He said, the gate's kind of narrow. But he said, we could get it in there. And that way it'll be locked up all week. You won't have to worry about the crime and stuff. And he said, now I'm not going to be there Saturday night. I'm out of town preaching. But he said, the key will be under the mat, you know, wherever it was. And he said, just park it in there and lock it up. And I'll see you Sunday morning. Well, we got to that church. It was pouring rain. It was raining. And what he didn't tell me was the church was located on this intersection. It was a three-way intersection, streets coming in, and the church was just off that intersection. So you got three lanes of traffic merging together, kind of into this intersection. It's raining like crazy. Saturday night, people everywhere. It was the night before the NFC championship game between the Rams and the 49ers. And there was just, everybody was out. I get to the church. I went and got the key. I unlocked that gate, and I looked at that opening, and I thought, man, this is going to be narrow. In fact, as it turned out, I had three inches on each side of that trailer. It's pouring rain. We got traffic. And I said to my wife, I said, you're going to have to get out and stop traffic while I back this in. That was the night I almost started my second marriage, but she says, you want me to do what? I said, you're going to have to get out and stop the traffic. Because I've got to back this thing in there. And I don't have much room, and I don't have much time, and there's traffic. You've got to stop the traffic. She said, I don't want to go out there in the rain. I said, well, you either do that, or you back the trailer in. And I'll stop the traffic. She got out. She went out there, and she's trying to stop this traffic. Well, in California, people don't care about some woman in the middle of the street. I mean, that's normal. You know, just somebody out there, you know. And so, she goes out, she's trying to stop traffic. I pulled out into that intersection. Cars are zooming around me and honking and yelling and cursing. And I got that trailer and I backed that thing in and I hit it on the first time. Three inches on either side of the spare, put it in there. You know why? Because my dad, over and over and over and over again, prepared me for that very moment. Sometimes we think when life's in the gutter, we're saying, But listen, God's preparing you. Don't spurn that preparation. You may be going through a tough time and a difficult time, but hang in there, because all things work together for good. And then, finally, we see shifting priorities. And in verse 13, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, but continue thou. Continue thou, and he goes on to talk about the value of the Word of God, and keep the Word of God as your foundation, your premise. And we've covered that already, but thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Guys, we've got to put our faith in the Word of God. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. No one of these shall fail. You can read these books up here, and I hope they'll be a blessing. For some of you, my next one's a coloring book, so hang in there. The point is you can read all this stuff, but this is the book that doesn't fail Some of this in here might not work in your church. It might not work in your preaching It might not work in your ministry but this book will never fail you and Get in this book and stay in this book as the rain cometh down in the snow from heaven and returneth not thither But watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void. I It shall accomplish that which I please, and prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Paul said this book is inspired, and it's profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished. That word means thoroughly rigged out for the journey. Like they would rig out a ship and make sure everything was there for that journey. It's like when I pack to leave home, my wife says, have you got everything? And I always say, if I don't, Walmart does. But I'm always glad when I get to wherever I'm going and my suitcase is thoroughly rigged out. Everything I need for those days is there. And God wants to truly furnish us. He wants to rig us out for the journey of life. There's a lot of things that we can read. There's a lot of things we can study. But stay with the Word of God. Did you know that John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, he wrote a trilogy of works that are considered to be classic literature today. Pilgrim's Progress has been ranked as the number one piece of literature other than the Bible for hundreds of years. Did you know that John Bunyan never read any other book but the Bible? And I hear people today say, well, I've got to read this. I've got to read what this guy's saying. I've got to read what this guy's thinking. I've got to read this blog. And I've got to follow this New Evangelical. And I've got to see what this liberal's saying. You know, this group over here, they're a little different than us, but I'm going to study them. Hey, just stick with this. I'm not saying don't read. I'm not saying, you know, don't get some ideas. I'm not saying don't let iron sharpen iron. But guys, this is what we need. This is what will thoroughly rig us out for the journey that's ahead. There are enemies to a consistent Christian life. We're not to be ignorant of Satan's devices. And remember, there is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, and he will not suffer us to be tempted above we are able. Will with the temptation also make a way to escape. We've been chosen to live in 2016 and sometimes it seems it's more than we can handle. But God promises he won't give us something we can't bear, we can't handle in our journey for him. And he charges Timothy here to be aware of these enemies of consistency. And then as we saw earlier, he goes into chapter four and teaches them how to be consistent. And I hope as we leave this men's retreat, we would say, you know what? I can be faithful. Can I tell you something? You'll never know how fruitful you are. But you'll always know how faithful you are. You don't know if that tract you gave somebody bears fruit or not. You may never know. You don't know if that sermon you preach did any good or not. You may never know. You went and made that visit. You thought, that was a waste of time. We don't know how fruitful we are. Have you ever been surprised that years later you found out that that sermon did some good? That somebody got saved in that sermon? A guy come up to me a few years ago at camp, family camp, and he said, well, yes, do you remember preaching in River Falls, Wisconsin in 1979? I said, yeah. I remembered it for two reasons. I bought a dog that week. It was a good dog. Thirteen years I had that dog. Good dog. And I remembered it because they had a choir in that church. The choir sang every night. The choir loft, it had a modesty rail that went all the way across. You couldn't get into the choir loft from the auditorium. You had to go out the back door and go around. And the choir would come in, they'd sing every night, and then they'd leave, but they never came back in. And I got curious about this. There's about 30, 40 people in the choir every night. They sang wonderfully. They never came in the service. So one night during the offering prayer, I climbed over the monastery rail. They had already left. I climbed over the monastery rail, and I went out through the door. And I found them. They were in the fellowship hall playing cards. So we had two sermons that night. And I never got invited back. Sure, I remember 1979. Yeah, I remember that meeting. That dear man with tears streaming down his face, he said, I got saved that week. Saved? You can't get saved in a church like that. I wasn't preaching the law, I was preaching the choir. He said, well, yes, I'm just an old truck driver. He said, I've driven over five million miles since then. I'm still listening to your sermons on tape. I said, buddy, you need some new tapes. Those are bad sermons. You don't know. He said, no. Well, you've been fruitful now, but you can pillow your head tonight saying, you know what? I was faithful today. I didn't get everything done on my to-do list. I don't know if I did any good with that sermon. I don't know if I made a difference at that hospital today. I don't know whether anything come of that or not, but I was faithful. you can be faithful, you can be consistent. That's what God asks. Well done though, good and faithful sir. If you get that at the end, that'll be enough. I was consistent. Let's bow our heads. And as our heads are just bowed a minute, maybe at the close of this retreat, there's a need for us to make a decision. And I'll just have our organist come, if he would, and maybe play a stanza or so. I know it's time to go, and we want to get on our way. But I don't know that you need to come forward. I just want to give you an opportunity. If you want to come forward, you sure can. But maybe right there in your heart, before the Lord, say, you know, Lord, I'm not the best preacher in this room. I'm not even the best Christian in this room, but Lord, I want to be faithful. I want to be consistent. The pastor hasn't asked me to teach class yet, but Lord, I can be faithful. Maybe you're a pastor and you're toiling away there in a small area or difficult situation. You can be faithful. You can be faithful. Jeremiah preached and never saw any results. When it was over, he had been faithful. Ezekiel preached to a crowd that was hard-hearted, yet God allowed him to be faithful. Jonah didn't want to be faithful, but the minute he was, the whole city got saved. Just ask the Lord, God, help me to be consistent in a changing culture. Everything around me is different than it was when I started, but I can be faithful, I can be consistent.