All right, open your Bibles, if you will, to 2 Timothy here this morning, 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy is one of Paul's final books. He was in prison, and he was nearing the end of his life. He was about ready to die. And when you have an old man that has served the Lord for many years, and that man, his life is ending, well, he's probably going to have some pretty good advice to listen to. Amen? And that's what Paul is basically doing in 2 Timothy. I was gonna do just a quick overview of the whole book and try to cram that all into one service, but I realized there's no way that was gonna work. So for the next couple weeks, we're gonna be in 2 Timothy here. But this morning, we're gonna primarily be focused on 2 Timothy chapter one. And I titled this message very simply, Lessons for the Last Days. lessons for the last days. All right? So that's what we're going to be talking about here this morning, some things that you and I as Christians need to be aware of and need to have in our mind as you and I approach our last days. hopefully the lord's coming back here real soon to get us out of here right one way or another uh... we are we know we're in the last day so let's go and offer a word of prayer and then we'll we'll start off here this morning father we thank you once again for an opportunity to be here on a sunday morning you're a great god you're a holy god you're a mighty god and lord you have the ability to to watch over, to take care of us, to provide for us. Lord, you certainly loved us enough to send your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was God manifest in the flesh, who died for our sins, who shed his blood on that cross, and we're so grateful for the salvation that we can receive as a free gift just by believing on Him, who He was, who He said He was, and what He did for us. So, Father, I pray that you would minister to our hearts here this morning. If there's anybody here who's never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, I pray, Father, that while this is not necessarily a message on salvation, that they would be able to see the Lord Jesus Christ in it. that you would speak to their hearts and that you would show them their need for a Savior and for a salvation. I pray, Father, that you'd just bless the message here this morning. Set me aside. Let the words of your book minister to your people. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. uh... so second timothy chapter one like i said paul is uh... you know he's he's getting ready to die he's in prison he doesn't have long left we'll see that we get a little bit later on into the chapter but for this morning just uh... keep that in the back your mind and he's he's writing to timothy timothy's a young preacher uh... you know younger christian and somebody that obviously paul's trained and and help with the ministry and he winds up giving in some pretty good pointers is a pretty good advice About things, Timothy, there's some things that you need to keep in mind, some things that you need to have at your disposal as you enter in these last days. And that's what we're talking about. Take a look at 2 Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy. My dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God of whom I serve for my forefathers with a pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also, wherefore I put thee in remembrance. that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So Paul starts off this, this book, he starts in this introduction, he's talking to Timothy, and he's basically, in verse six there, he said, wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God. which is in thee. He's basically looking at Timothy, and again, just imagine yourself, Paul, an older gentleman. He has been years and years serving the Lord Jesus Christ in the ministry, and he's got some wisdom and some things to pass on to this younger preacher, and he's saying, hey, Timothy, I want you to think about these things that the Lord's given you. I want you to remember these gifts. I want you to be prepared for what's gonna be going on. And that's what I wanted to talk a little bit about this evening, is Paul's telling Timothy, hey, you need to be prepared, you need to be ready, you need to be set, and stir up that gift. And what are those gifts? What kind of things do you and I need to have in our life? What things do we need to watch as we enter the last days? Paul's getting ready to die physically, but here we are getting ready to die. Some of us are up in years. Maybe that day's not too far off. You don't know. It doesn't really depend on your age. You still don't know. But we're certainly getting to the end times where the Lord could come back at any moment. So we're in the last days. What kind of things do you and I as Christians need to think about and need to remember and concentrate on in those last days? Simple things, nothing that you haven't heard before, but things that you ought to be reminded of and keep in remembrance, like Timothy. And I'll tell you the first thing that Paul mentions about Timothy here, is he told Timothy in verse 5, he said, hey listen, he talked about his faith. You know what you and I need as Christians in this last day? We need to make sure that we remember the faith. And for Timothy, his mother had it, his grandmother had it. He grew up in a family that obviously had faith as a part of their upbringing, their life. And Paul is saying, hey, listen, your mother had it, your grandmother had it. And you know what? I've seen it in you too. You got a bunch of you younger kids here, young adults and teenagers, and I know the younger ones are out there, but a bunch of you here today that your faith is something that you're gonna need as a foundation as you enter these last days in the world. I don't know how long we have, but you're gonna need to keep that like Timothy was told to keep it. You've seen it in your parents. Many of you have seen it in your grandparents. But you know what you need? You need to make it yours. Paul said, hey, I saw it in your mother, Lois. I saw it in your grandmother, Eunice. And you know what? I'm persuaded that I see it in you, too. You know what ought to be said about every one of you, especially younger gentlemen here, younger ladies? Listen, people ought to be able to look at you and say, you know what? I see your faith. Yeah, your mom had it. Yeah, your dad had it. Maybe your grandparents had it. But you know what? I'm seeing it in you. You need that. You need that. As a young man coming up, as a young lady coming up, even as old fogies like some of us, you need that. You need to keep in mind that faith. Listen, your faith, it needs to be planted. It needs to be watered and cared for. It needs to be grown. And then it'll get to the place where, and this is what people don't like, it'll need to be tested. Right? And that testing starts small, the Lord's understanding, the Lord's gracious, and that testing, you remember the Lord with the disciples out in the ship, and a couple of storms on the lake a few times, and one of the times he gets out there, and the disciples are all in the ship, and the Lord's back there, and what's he doing? He's kicking back on a pillow, he's asleep. And then the storm comes up, and you know, the disciples are all afraid, and they're terrified, and they're panicking, and Lord, don't you care if we perish? And he's sitting right there with them in the boat. Well, that's a test, right? It was kind of testing their faith. Time goes along, they experience a few more things, they grow a little bit stronger. Next time they're in a storm out there, guess what? The Lord's not in the ship with them anymore. That's a little more difficult. Now, the Lord, I mean, the Lord's gracious when He tests your faith. The Lord didn't take those disciples the first time out ever in a boat with Him and just send them out on their own and then bring up the storm. No, the first time, He was right there with them. Right? And he got them used to the fact that, hey, when the storm comes up, we can lean on the Lord. He's right there. And they learned that, and their faith grew, and their faith was strengthened, and their faith was encouraged. And then the next time when they hit that same type of a dilemma in their life, they looked around, all of a sudden they don't see the Lord, but you know what? They remember what happened last time. And your faith is gonna be tested and need to be strengthened. Paul saw that in Timothy, and that's something that Timothy was gonna need in these latter days. In the late 1990s, maybe some of you recall this, I don't know, but there was a couple over in Wisconsin, and they had been going to church, and they had raised their kids in the church and with the Lord, and they prayed together, and they served together. And the Lord called them to the mission field. The father and mother went to a mission conference one evening. And they were coming back from the mission conference. And they were just chatting on the way home, as moms and dads do, and just talking about things in the car. It's a great time to have good conversation. And the wife said to the husband, honey, there's something I wanted to talk to you about. He said, you know, there's something I wanted to talk to you about too. And well, you go first. No, you go first. No, you go first. Anyway, she decides to go first, right? She's a lady. Okay, you go first. And she said, you know, I think, I think the Lord's been calling us to the mission field. And his jaw kind of dropped. He goes, ah, that's exactly what I was going to say. And so they confirmed it. They realized the Lord's calling them to the mission field. And so they started making preparation for all that. They were in their 40s. Their children were grown up. They had one grandchild at the time. It was Warren and Donna Pett. And they were, like I said, they were from Wisconsin. They had been faithful servants. And Warren was the kind of guy, he was that kind of guy that could go out and witness to anybody. He was constantly witnessing to people. And they said he would wear t-shirts that had something about the Lord just so he could strike up conversations. He was just one of those kind of guys. We all admire those kind of guys. We got a couple of them here in church. Amen? They're a blessing. But he was one of those kind of guys, and he had been doing that. And now here, up in their adult life, the Lord calls them to the mission field. And you know what they had to do? They had to, at 40-some years old, take this great step of faith. They had been on a family farm. They had been farmers, and their forefathers had been farmers. That family farm had been in their family for 92 years. And at the time, their sons weren't in a position to take over the farm and continue the farm, so they wound up, they gave it all. They sold it, headed off to Africa. I mean, that takes faith. You know, you and I need in our Christian life in these latter days, listen, the Lord's gonna ask of you some things along the way, and you're gonna have to have that kind of faith where, you know, there's not only faith, there's obedience. It's not easy to take everything that you've worked for, everything that you've earned, everything that you have, and to sell it all and just what? Leave everything and go serve God? But that's exactly what they did. What a blessing. See, some of you, that terrifies you to death. It shouldn't. It shouldn't. But they sold the family farm, and they just wanted to go to Africa. And they wanted to begin to impart to people not only the Lord Jesus Christ's salvation, but to help them in developing farms and learning how to make a sustainable farm. That was their expertise. They thought, hey, we can do that over there. At the same time, we can witness to people. So that's what they did. They headed off to Africa. Hey, what would you do if the Lord asked you to do something like that? Would you be willing? Would you at least consider it? See, we talk about faith all the time. We talk about, you know, having great faith in the Lord. Well, if you really have that great a faith, don't you think the Lord knows what He's doing if He asks you to do something like that? Yeah, it's quiet, isn't it? It's tough. It's one thing to stand on the sidelines and cheer. It's another thing to be on the field playing. there what are you gonna need what are you gonna need we get into these last times brethren the lord's the devil's gonna throw things at you the lord's gonna throw things at you the world's gonna throw things at you and you know what you're gonna need to navigate through all this stuff you're gonna have to have the kind of faith that is something a little more than just oh yeah i learned a faith in sunday school when i was a kid young men it's gonna have to be something that is yours It can't be your mama's faith. It can't be your grandma's faith. It's got to be your faith. And it's going to have to be planted. And it's going to have to be nurtured. And it's going to have to grow. It's going to have to have time to strengthen. And it's going to have to go through some tests along the way. That's the reality of the Christian life. Right? You're gonna need to be prepared for the last days by being full of faith. Real faith. Amen? Let me move on because I know we have to keep going. Here's another thing that you're gonna need. Take a look at, take a look at verse eight. Somehow I got to, the fan took me to chapter six. Second Timothy chapter eight, I'll tell you another thing that you're gonna need in the last days. If you're gonna be successful at all in your Christian life, you're gonna need to learn that you cannot be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Told you we got some in every crowd. Amen, appreciate that. It says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8, Listen, this world is going to put all kinds of pressure on you. God's not calling everybody to sell everything they have and go to Africa as a missionary. Because if he did, there'd be nobody at church left to support him. Right? I mean, let's just be real. Some of you folks, God is going to call to stay right here, work hard, be in a local church, support your local church, help your pastor, be involved in witnessing, hand out some tracts, and be involved with the ministry and the people around you, at work, your friends, neighbors, that sort of thing. Right? That's the base. That's the logistics of how this thing works. Some of you are going, I'm not saying you have to go to Africa. I'm just saying if the Lord calls you, is your faith strong enough to go? You say, oh, I'm confident the Lord's calling me to be a church member. Well, praise the Lord. Do that until the Lord gives you a different direction. Nothing wrong with that, by the way. Right? Some Christians have this idea somehow or another that, you know, that if somebody's called to be a missionary, somehow or another they're a greater kind of Christian than somebody else. That's not true. They may be a worse rascal than everybody at church. The Lord just may know, hey, I better get them out of the US of A or they're really going to make a mess of their life. Let's get them over on the field where they can't mess up. You don't know. I'm not saying every missionary that went over to Africa is that way. No. The idea is, hey, the Lord's going to call you. The Lord's going to touch your heart. The Lord's going to give you a direction. And you're going to have to have a faith that's real. And the thing that you need to realize in that process is not only are you going to have to have that faith that's real, but you're going to have to get to the point where you're not ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about all He did for you. Think about what it cost when He hung there on that cross and bled and died to pay for your sins. He wasn't ashamed to do that for you. Right? Hey, don't be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ and His holiness. He's a holy God. He's perfect. Don't be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ and His power. Listen, there is no other God beside the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Right? Don't ever be ashamed when somebody starts talking about, yeah, well, Allah's just as much a God as Jesus. No, He's not. You don't have to cower and be ashamed of political correctness and think, oh, I need to respect their gods, too. No, you don't. I went to China. I did a karate trip. Went to China back in 95. And we toured a lot of things. And of course, when you're there, they toured several of the monasteries. And inevitably, you walk across this thing, and there's a statue of Buddha out there. And I was chewing gum an awful lot there, and I just. I did. I really did. You say, that's disrespectful. No, I don't think so. Now I wouldn't recommend all tourists do that, poor Buddha would be... Which would actually be kind of funny, but you don't, listen, God is God, Jesus Christ is God, and listen, you don't have to cave into the world and be ashamed that he's the only one true God. Amen, don't be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be ashamed of his holiness. Don't be ashamed of his power. Don't be ashamed of the fact that he's the only God. Don't be ashamed of the methods that he uses. Sometimes he does things that I don't understand either. And people will look at you, oh, your God let those kids die. And I'm going, yeah, he did. Well, don't you think that's, no, that's above my pay grade. I can't explain it. He knows what's going on, not me. Talk with the boss. Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be ashamed of your God. Paul said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. You know what we struggle with? We struggle with somebody. You use the example all the time, but you can't help use it. You got a track in your pocket, and there's some 14-year-old girl sitting behind the cash register. And you're going, oh. And there's this little, why is that? This little, maybe I shouldn't give her a track. Like you're, what, scared of a 14-year-old girl? Come on. You have to fight that. You have to overcome that. You have to tell yourself, that is the most ludicrous thing I've ever thought of. Break it out and hand it to her. But why would that even cross your mind? But it does. You don't have to be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul told Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Stand up. stand-up don't be ashamed of jesus christ they listen don't be ashamed of jesus christ's servants you know those guys a shout a man although i i'll are allowed and service all the time and everybody wants to look back and go who said that eventually go oh yeah i know who said that praise the lord and say it right don't be ashamed of that you invite somebody to church and they sit down next to you and then that you know That guy. Brother Dan's old enough, he doesn't care if I pick on him. Brother Dan sits in the back and he goes, amen! And you get embarrassed. You go, oh, I was hoping it would be kind of easy on my visitor. Don't be ashamed of the servants of the Lord. You say, yeah, but some of them are kind of odd. They're kind of weird. They're kind of a little bit off. Yeah, they are. Amen. And so are you. Or you wouldn't be here. You're a little, you know, off kilter. Right? Tu estas loco. For my Spanish-speaking friends in the back. Right? What? That's a good thing. Hey, don't be ashamed of that. People aren't ashamed of it if they go crazy at the football game. They paint themselves all up, dye their hair, and they stand out there in the winter with no shirt on. All the fat guys, no! They're not ashamed of that. You know, as these last days come down, you know what you need to learn? You need to learn, hey, you got to have that faith. Man, you also have to adopt this attitude and this mindset, hey, I'm not going to be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was what was said about Warren. He was just one of those guys that he just, he didn't care, man. He was out there, he'd witnessed anybody. What a blessing. I'll tell you another thing not to be ashamed of, I gotta hurry, but don't be ashamed of this book. It says in verse 13, Paul told Timothy, hold on to sound words. That King James Bible that you have in your lap, that King James Bible, don't ever be ashamed of that. More and more churches are getting away from it. More and more churches, they used to use it all the time. That used to be the centerpiece and the foundation. More and more churches are getting to the point where, oh, it's not that big of a deal anymore. Yeah, it is. God used that book. God gave us that book. There's something special about that book. You can go into all the arguments, and at times we do that, and that's not for this morning. You can go all the manuscript stuff. You can talk about all the lines of Bibles and the different families of Bibles. You can get into all the details, but the bottom line is the Lord took that book and did something special with it, and you know it. It's different than all the rest. Right? There's power in that book. You say, it's got archaic words. Not that many. Not that many. I promise you this. I'm in the middle of taking my EMT course. You say, why? Just because. Never mind. Just let me go. I had to learn far more words than there are archaic words in that book. Some of them I still can't keep straight. But hey, don't be ashamed of that book. Stand up. That book got many a Christian through many a deep valley. Took many a Christian through a storm that was worse than you and I have ever been through. That book kept those Christians and sustained those Christians and kept them close to the Lord when the hour was dark. You never need to be ashamed of that book. Now, Make sure that you have grace with those that don't particularly hold that opinion. Because some of them are still saved. Amen? But I tell you what, have grace with them, but don't let them talk you out of it. You talk them into it if you can. And if you can't, well, praise the Lord, at least they're still saved. In heaven, Lord will fix it all. Amen. Fix it all. Don't let them change you. If you wanna be prepared for those last days, you're gonna need that faith. You're gonna need to get to the place where you're not ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're gonna need to be ready for affliction. Take a look at verse eight. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. You know what you're going to have to be able to do, ladies and gentlemen? You're going to have to be able to stand up and take some affliction. The Christian life is not always easy. It's not always smooth sailing. You know what stops most people from following the Lord's will for their life? Oh, it's too difficult. It's too inconvenient. The cost is too high. It's just too much to ask. I mean, God wouldn't want me to work that hard at it, would he? Hey, hard work is an affliction to some people. Well, if that's the case, be thou a partaker of the affliction. You know what? You need to learn how to be a partaker of the afflictions of the Lord. because they're gonna come your way. And if you don't learn how to navigate through them, if you don't learn how to partake in them, if you don't learn how to operate in them, you're gonna fall by the wayside as a Christian. Paul told Timothy, hey, these last days, you need to keep your faith up, don't be ashamed of the Lord, and guess what, Timothy, there's some afflictions that are coming your way. And you need to be a partaker in them. Expect them. Go after them. You know, in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament, there was, it was kind of a guideline, a principle, a rule that if somebody was a man of faith or if somebody followed God, God would then bless them physically, right? Wealth, riches, prosperity, health, that sort of thing. And then if they fell away, God would take those things away. You know there's nothing like that promised in the New Testament? And sometimes Christians think, well, I'm doing everything I can for God, but I just can't get ahead. And they fall into this trap, and they think, well, what's the use of serving God if it's not gonna profit me? And many Christians fall by the wayside. Why? Because the Lord sends by a little bit of affliction in their life, and they can't understand, hey, if I'm doing right, how come I have to suffer affliction? How come God doesn't just bless me and give me plenty of money? The prosperity gospel, right? Name it and claim it. If you're right with God, God will bless you. You'll have plenty of money in your bank account. You'll marry a beautiful woman or a handsome husband who will have lots of money, who will treat you well. He'll never leave his socks on the bedroom floor. Why are you laughing, honey? You need to repent. And we get in this mindset, Christians get in this mindset and they think, well, if I'm serving God and if I'm doing well, then God's gotta bless. And the first time affliction comes along, you give up and you quit because why? Well, I tried to do right and I had to go through this affliction. God's not there, it's not worth serving God. Paul told Timothy, he said, hey, listen, endure affliction. It's coming. Be ready for it. You know, you look at somebody else and you say, well, why can't my lot be like their lot? It's a dangerous thing. You know what you're going to have to face, folks? You're going to have to face affliction. You're gonna have to face some pretty some hard work. You're gonna have to face just grueling and grinding day in day out work to try to get measure any kind of success in this life Like I said, you're not promised it just because you're quote saved Right Be ready for affliction I'm just I always struggle with this, but I'm going to go ahead and do it this morning. I'm going to use myself as an example, not to brag or not to whatever, be puffed up, but to show you, just to give you an example. You look up here and you say, you know, well, pastor's a fat old guy. What are you laughing at, Michael? You say, he's got the easy life. If I serve God, that's Brethren, it's not like that. Right? We were raising our kids. I work 10 hour days. Right? With another hour and a half or so drive time, we're talking 11 and a half hour days, you know, rotating shift. Right? You get home from work, there's a quick dinner. Then there's a karate school three days a week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. From 5.30 till about 9.30 or 10 at night. Right? I purposely didn't schedule karate class on Wednesdays or Sundays. Then there was church every Wednesday. Then there was, you know, and we wouldn't get out until just kind of like here, 9.30, 10, sometimes 11 o'clock at night. And then you get up the next morning, you get up and go, you know, I had to be to work at 6.30 in the morning. Work all day, get home, eat real quick, hit the karate school. If you've not done the karate school till 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock at night. Right? Then there's visitation, street preaching. I've kind of tried to be nice to you guys. I told Pastor Jim, and much to his dismay, I said, I know you'd like to do it every Saturday, but let's not do that. Because we did it every Saturday. For years. every single Saturday, so there's Saturdays. Then there's Sunday. Sunday morning, Sunday morning Sunday school, Sunday morning church, Sunday night service. The nice part about Sundays is in the afternoon, you could go home and take a quick little nap, that was heaven. Except for the Sundays when you had nursing home, then after church, I would go and preach at the nursing home on Sunday afternoon. Right? That was my schedule for about 20 years. Oh, and let's not forget about the year, the two or three years that I decided to finish my degree and go to college at night in the middle of all that stuff. And then let's not forget about the three years I decided to spend in Bible Institute in spite of all that stuff. You say, oh, he's just an old fat man sitting up there. Yeah, I've earned it. Right? That was pretty much it. Talking 20, 25 years. Now, towards the end, we had younger guys coming up. And some of those things, after many, many years of doing it, after many years, some of those younger guys coming up. And you know what? They needed that experience. Why? Well, because, what, am I the only one that's capable of doing that? So some of those things kind of got offloaded to some of the other guys. Some of those younger guys began going to the nursing home and preaching at the nursing home. And we kind of had a transition. And I would help train and pretty soon turned it over to them and let them go. Why? Because I didn't want to do it? No, because they needed to do it. Same thing even with visitation. Some of these younger guys came up, and it wasn't necessary. But then Kyle had the stroke. And then on top of all that, I was all of a sudden now During the church, I had to offload my Sunday school class as well. Until he recovered. That took three plus months, three or four months before he recovered. And then, and then, you know, in 2015, I came up here. And it was heaven. Because all I had was a 40-hour-a-week job at the airport, rotating shifts, 10 hours a day, an hour drive back and forth, so that's 12 hours a day, plus pastoring a church full-time. Piece of cake! That was like heaven. I didn't have to teach karate Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights anymore. It was a big relief not to have to go teach karate three nights a week. You're saying that that was an affliction? No, we did that, we chose to do that. Why? Well, why? Because it takes that if you're going to succeed. You got to put forth that kind of effort. Paul told Timothy, hey, this little buddy, there's some afflictions are coming along. You're going to have to endure them. You're going to have to go through them. You're going to have to battle through them. Why? Well, because that's how it operates. It took a lot of work for Warren and Donna to get to where they were in the ministry in Africa. The Lord wanted them to be to Africa, Africa. I'm sure there were plenty of doubts along the way. I'm sure there were times where they felt like quitting. I'm sure there were times where they didn't know what the Lord was doing with them. They originally went to work at an agricultural school in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Civil war happened force them out of the Democratic Republic of Congo They didn't quit. They didn't go home They stayed they began to figure out okay, Lord. What do you want me to do? They wound up going to Kenya. They wound up being in Kenya for a while and helping out with an orphanage there and helping out with some other ministry stuff there and with a mission organization. And not exactly what the Lord called them to do, but they endured through it. And those afflictions came and plans changed. And, okay, well, Lord, I thought you called me to be an agricultural to teach these people agriculture. But here I am. I'm working in the orphanage. And they just kept plugging away and kept at it. Not exactly what they felt like they were called to do, but they just endured. Then in 2002, they heard of an opportunity to teach agriculture. They were opening up an agricultural school in Uganda. So now they changed locations again. And they go to Uganda, and they open up, and there were teachers at this agricultural school pretty much directing it, and they were teaching the people there. In Uganda, they say it's about 85% quote Christian. I'm sure that includes Catholic and everything else. You know what? You know, air quote Christian. And the rest are Muslim. Well, in the particular part of Uganda that they were in, it was the reverse. It was about 85% Muslim. And here they were, and opened this school, and they actually, one of the Muslim leaders sold them the land to open the school because they thought it would be very profitable for the agricultural part of things, and so everything looked like it was going well. So here they are, doing the will of God, they've been through all these trials, these ups and downs, and in 2004, so they spent all this time from the early nineties until two thousand two in two thousand two they finally get to go to uganda and begin begin teaching agriculture in march of two thousand four some men come into the compound they just finished up a uh... a meeting and they were back in their they were back in their room and they heard uh... they heard a noise they heard a gunshot they shot a kid They came out to find out what was going on. They were looking for them, the leaders. They grabbed them. They made them kneel down next to each other and shot them both. They say, well, that's a real encouraging story for following the will of the Lord. Yeah, but would you follow if the Lord asked you to do that? See, in the Christian life, sometimes afflictions come along. And they're tough to deal with. That's why you need that faith. It's gotta start. It's gotta be real. It's gotta be something substantial. You're gonna need to not be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because afflictions are gonna come along, and brethren, you can't quit just because afflictions come along. Obviously, this affliction hit the family very hard. One of the sons said this, he made this statement, he said, in America, we think Christianity should make our lives easier and better. There, talking about in Uganda, most times Christianity makes their lives harder. And they choose it anyway. And he said this, he said, that is something we don't understand here. See, sometimes we get this mindset, we get this mindset that we're gonna serve God because it benefits us. Brethren, that's the wrong reason to serve God. You serve God because it's God. You serve God because it's right. You serve God because that's what He asked you to do, and you let Him worry about the consequences. Finally, I need to hurry because we've got kids out there. Finally, If you're gonna be prepared for the last days, you're gonna have to be ready for disappointment and desertion. Take a look at verse 15, and I read this verse as I was going through, and for whatever reason, it stood out to me more this time than all the other times I've read it. I don't know, I don't remember this part before, but look at verse 15. This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. Do you know how much time Paul spent in Asia? And here he is at the end of his life giving advice to this young minister, and he's talking to Timothy, and he tells Timothy, oh, by the way, all those people in Asia, they've turned away from me. See, as a natural man, the old man that we talked about last week, as a natural man, you sit there and you look at that and you say, you tend to ask yourself, well, what on earth is it, what's the point then? If I'm gonna spend all these years serving the Lord, if I'm gonna spend all these years trying to preach the gospel, if I'm gonna spend all these years trying to be a good Christian, and then in the end, everybody turns against me anyway, what's the point? But I promise you, that's not how Paul looked at it. We'll see that later, not today, but we'll get there. Paul's trying to warn Timothy, hey, listen, no matter what happens, no matter what you do, you gotta build up your faith. That's a starting block. You gotta make sure you're not ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're gonna have to be able to endure and face afflictions. They're gonna come along. Just normal, hard work of life, right? But you're also gonna have to be able to handle people leaving you. Amen. You know what's sad? When a Christian gets to one of those steps and they, for whatever reason, the afflictions get too big and they leave church. They quit on God. That's true. Or they walk away from the Lord. Man, that's tough to see. So you have Warren and Donna over in Africa, and now they're in Uganda, and now they've been there for a little over a year in the school, and things are going great. They're finally doing what the Lord's called them to do all these years ago. The thing that they sacrificed everything in the world for, they sold their farm, put everything into it, and here they are, and now all of a sudden they're dead. For less than two years. And so their sons, back in Wisconsin, get word of this. And you know what both of them did? They got mad at God. Well, if God's going to treat me like that, if God's going to take my family like that, I don't have time for Him. Why? Because, hey man, the Christian life, the Christian life is not only the afflictions, but it's also that, you know, that desertion. That disappointment. It's, things are not gonna go the way you planned, and if you let that get to you, if you let that eat at you to the point that you get mad at God, you turn away and walk away, But it happens all the time to Christians. Why? Because they don't understand what God's doing. And those two sons, those two sons for years didn't want anything at all to do with God. Mad at God because he, hey, God took our parents who did nothing but serve the Lord as long as we can remember, who were zealous for the Lord, my dad was a witnessing machine, and he loved the Lord, and they gave up everything they had, they sold the farm, they gave up everything to dedicate it to the Lord Jesus Christ, they get over there, and now the Lord just lets them get killed? So yeah, they were angry with God for a while. That was in 2004. In 2022, one of the brothers was talking to the other brother. Happened to mention, hey, you ever consider going over to Uganda? No. Absolutely not. You know, just to see what was left of our parents. No. They began talking a little bit more, and I've gotta hurry. Before you know it, the two brothers, who are both, they're well diggers, they're working in well now, in the well industry. Before you know it, the Lord touches both of their hearts. They take a trip to Uganda, where their parents used to be. And they begin to meet a bunch of people, 18 years later, that still remember their parents. And their parents had a huge impact on their life. And their heart begins to melt. And the two of them began working on well products, well projects and water projects in Uganda to help the Ugandan people. You never know. Things look bad on the surface sometimes. When you get to those afflictions, when you get to those disappointments, yeah, they're tough to go through. And you have that natural tendency to quit because you can't see the bigger picture. But I promise you, when all things are said and done, when all things get worked out, mom and dad are going to be thrilled that they were able to have the impact they were able to have. Amen. And now, the sons, 18 years later, finally, get to the place where they're not bitter at God. And they can finally look back, and even though they don't understand why it happened, there's still that doubt, but they can finally look back and be thankful that their parents were what they were, and they can finally appreciate the work and the sacrifice that their parents gave, and they're finally walking with the Lord again. Lessons for the last days. I gotta close down. Folks, you gotta be faithful. Don't be ashamed. You have to be ready for afflictions. And you need to be ready for disappointments and desertions. Because they'll happen along the way. But you know what, the Lord will see you through it. Amen? Lord will see you through it. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, we thank you again for a chance to be here. You're a great God, a holy God, and Lord, we don't understand why and how you do the things that you do all the time. But that's not our job. But Lord, I know that Paul was trying to warn Timothy, this young minister, of just some things that he was gonna have to be careful of in the last days, in the last times. And Lord, we need every one of these things as well. Help us to fortify ourselves in all of these areas, in our faith. Help us not to be ashamed. Help us not to be a sidetrack by afflictions, and help us to realize that sometimes there are gonna be disappointments and desertions along the way. But Lord, in spite of all those things, we need to keep going. Help us to remember that, help us to realize you've still got everything under control, you're a great God, and you do all things well. I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Let's all stand and turn to number 458.