The Church of Eleven22 - Fight the Good Fight - 1 Timothy - Wk 12

Episode Date: March 23, 2025

In I Timothy 6:11-16, 20-21 Paul gives us 4 very specific action steps to help us endure to the end with our faith intact… Remember. Flee. Pursue. Fight. This Week's Deepen Podcast - https://youtu.be/LyhWn8UOSB4 - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

All right. All right. It's good to see everybody. Man, if you don't know how I am, my name's Matt Carter. I've been around back and forth, 1122 for a while. Priest that saturated, I think, three times maybe, and then a priest on Sunday morning. I'm officially on staff now here at this amazing church, and so good to be here. I'm on the teaching team. I'm going to be helping out with church planning, and so, man, I know I'm not Jobie Martin, but we're going to still have a good thing. time this morning, all right? So, once you open up your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy Chapter 6, and we're going to be in 1st 10 today, so 1 Timothy 610. So for those of you that may be this is your first time coming to 1122 to this church, here's what's going on.

The Apostle Paul, which was a famous Christian, a father in the faith, wrote most of the New Testament, is writing a letter to his younger brother. in the faith, Timothy. Now, Timothy was a pastor of a local church, and First Timothy, in many ways, is the Apostle Paul just exhorting this pastor, this younger pastor in the faith, how to finish well in the faith. And last week, Pastor Jobi preached on, it was one of the verses he preached on, on one of the most famous verses in the Bible, where it says the love of money is the root of all evil. and he was talking about living a life of generosity. He was talking about how that it's not so much that money is the problem as much as our heart's posture towards money is the problem, which I agree with.

And then kind of the last thing I'll tell you that, remind you you you said that, and you might have missed it last week, but he said that every single one of our hearts has a throne room on it. Would you all agree with that? and that someone or something right now as you sit in that seat is sitting on the throne of your heart. And what the Apostle Paul is saying, and what he's going to do today is he's going to warn us. He's going to give us a kind of a stark warning about the dangers of having anyone or anything on the throne of our heart other than the person of Jesus Christ. Because whoever sits on the throne of your heart,

that's what you worship. And the Apostle Paul is going to tell us today, look, if there is anything sitting on that throne, whether it's money, whether it's a relationship, whether it's a hobby, whatever it is, if it's not Jesus, then the danger is that you could potentially walk away altogether. And so let's read this together, 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 10. So Paul says this, for the love of money, is a root of all kinds of evils. And it's that context there that's going to launch us in

to what we're going to talk about today. Look what he says next. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith. Right? And so we're hitting the home stretch of 1stimony. Paul is kind of like writing Timothy his final thoughts. And he is kind of giving Timothy as he lands the plane on the letter a stern warning about the danger of letting anything other than Jesus sit on the throne of his heart. Why?

Because it has the potential to turn our hearts from Jesus. And so with the rest of First Timothy, the rest of the chapter, what Paul's doing is he is pleading with his younger brother in the faith, this pastor, not to be one of these folks that gets taken out. He's pleading with his little brother in the faith not to walk away from Jesus. Now, here's a question I want to ask you guys. It's like, is the idea, if Christians here, if you're a believer here today, and you raise your hand and go, yeah, man, I'm a follower of Christ, giving my life to Christ, is the subject of enduring to the end and not walking away from our faith. Is that something we even need to talk about?

Well, I believe the answer is yes, and I'll tell you why. It's because Paul thought we should. The subject of enduring in our faith, and I'll explain all this in just a second, but the subject of enduring in our faith and the possibility of somehow walking away from Christ is something that Paul dealt with a lot. I don't have the scriptures here. I just want to read you a couple. 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2.

He talked about in the latter times there's going to be people that abandon their faith and follow after deceiving spirits, he said. In Galatians 1, 6, and 7, Paul talked about how there's people that are deserting Christ, deserting Christ and following after a different gospel. At the very beginning of 1st Timothy, chapter 1, verse 19, Paul was telling a story of about two of his brothers in ministry, two guys that he was rolling with, and their names were Alexander and Hamaeus.

And he didn't say exactly what happened, but all he says is this, is Alexander and Hamaeus have ship wrecked their faith. Later on in Second Timothy, he talks about Hemaeus. There's this Hamaeus guy again. He must be a knucklehead. He's got Hamaus and Felidus, and they have departed from the faith.

And so you see it, I mean, that's not even all of them. I mean, it's just several times throughout the Bible. The Apostle Paul writes about people that have shipwrecked their faith. Now, y'all, can I just tell you from a guy that's been in full-time vocational ministry for 30 years. I've lost count. I've lost count of people that I personally knew, people that from all outward appearances were walking with Jesus. They went to church.

They attended Bible study. They worshipped. They served. And anybody could have looked at them from the outside and said, man, these people are stuzz. They're walking well with the Lord. But then something came into their life. Something entered into their life. And they were, you know, that it was contrary to what is.

God's best for their life, and they were put into a position where they were forced to choose between that thing or that person and following Jesus. And I saw it far more times than I could ever have the time to tell you about. They choose that thing, they choose that person, and they walk away from Jesus. Now, it's an important question for us to answer is, are those people losing their salvation. And the answer is a categorical no. Why? Because it's impossible for you to lose your salvation. If you have put your trust and faith in Jesus and you've been covered with his blood and you've been justified in your sight, there is nothing you can do to lose that. There is no sin in your life greater or more powerful than the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen? So there's nothing

you can do. I mean, you cannot, it's impossible, you know, for you to lose your salvation. And so what's, what's going on here? Well, I think these examples that Paul gives, and I think it's probably a group of people that Jesus was describing in the parable of the sower. In the parable of the sower, Jesus is describing how different people are going to respond to the word of God. And he told, a story about people that receive the Word of God with gladly, but then suffering comes into their life, and they walk away. Jesus talked about how there was another group of people, receive the word of God, but then he said, the cares of the world, and y'all know it, the deceitfulness of riches come in, and it's fascinating what he says, comes in and chokes the word. Like, it's a slow

cutting off of the oxygen of the word in their life, and it proves unfruitful. Now, there's some debate as to who these people are, but if you just pin me down, I would say these people are probably folks that were never saved to begin with. They had some kind of religious experience or whatever, and they thought they were Christians, but at the end of the day, they had not been covered with the blood of Jesus. Now, here's the thing. There's a lot of folks that I've seen walk away, that they come back. And if any of these people are truly saved, they will always come back, because nobody can snatch him from his end.

If folks are truly saved and they're going crazy and doing something crazy, they'll be a moment in their lives where they realize, man, I'm in a pig pin here, and they'll get up and they will come home every single time. So what we're dealing with here are probably folks that were never saved to begin with, But it brings us as believers to a reality that the Bible speaks you and I need to deal with. And it's this. And I'm speaking to Christians here. I'm speaking to the truly saved or people that believe they are.

It's this. There's a tension. There's two realities that are true at the exact same time that the scripture teaches over and over again. The Bible gives us a promise about our story. salvation and the Bible gives us a challenge about our salvation. Here's the promise about your salvation Christian. Scripture tells us that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. That's the promise of the scripture in your life, is that if you have truly, genuinely trusting Christ as your Lord and Savior, it doesn't matter what

you do, doesn't matter what you don't do, he will never let you go. And I am living proof of that, y'all. I've tried to run from Jesus. He won't let me. He will never let you go. That is a promise of scripture you can take to the bank. But at the exact same time, multiple times, the scripture gives a warning to those same group of people, to believers. Things like, hey, yes, you are saved by grace. through faith, it is not of works that any should boast. No, Jesus got hold of you. He'll never let you go. But at the same time, you see the scripture calling believers to work out their salvation with fear and with trembling.

You see the scripture over and over and over again, calling believers to endure to the end. Jesus said it. Over and over again, you see the scripture calling believers to fight with everything we've got to make sure that we're standing there at the end with our faith intact. Okay? And so that's what Paul is doing here to his pastor, little brother, that he believes with all his heart is saved. He's exhorting Timothy.

Timothy, endure to the end. Timothy, fight, the good fight of your faith with what you're going to talk about in the end. And he's screaming from the rooftops for Timothy to still be standing there with his faith intact when it's all said and what's all done. Now what he's going to do, and this is where we're going to camp out today, is of the next couple of verses, Paul's going to give Timothy four action steps, if you will, four very specific things that he wants Timothy to do to make sure that he's still standing there at the end of his life with his faith intact.

And that's what we're going to do. Go through them quickly. And if you're here today and you're a believer, what I encourage you to do is you listen to these four and see if there is any of them that, as you evaluate your own life, if there's any one of these four or two, these four, that you need to lean into and surrender to the Lord. All right?

So here's the first one. First one I'm just going to give to you. Step number one, if you will, of not being a person that shipwrecks your faith. Step number one is to remember who you belong to. Apostle Paul, is he's speaking to Timothy. The first thing he's going to tell him, is Timothy, brother, pastor, don't ever forget

who you are. All right? Let me show you what I'm talking about. It's actually a pretty cool little verse. Verse 10. He says, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pain.

Now look at verse 11. He says, but. As for you, O man of God, flee these things. Now listen, check us out. He says, Timothy, there's all these people that putting other things Jesus on the throne of their heart and they're wandering away from the faith. But then he makes a fascinating statement. He says, but as for you, oh, man of God.

Now, I, you know, I grew up reading my Bible, and I've read that verse, times and I never realized until I was studying for this sermon that that wasn't just him flippantly calling something Timothy different. He's being very intentional with calling him, oh man of God. He doesn't say, because he could have said a lot of things there. He could have said, hey, love of money is taking people out, but as for you, Timothy, flee those things. He doesn't. He could have said, love money is taking people out, but as for you, pastor, don't do that. Flee. He doesn't. He says, love money is taking people out. As for you, oh man. of God. And so I looked it up and I was like, why does he call him, oh man of God? And I found out,

it's the only time in the New Testament that somebody's called that, oh man of God. And then I found out, the reason is because it was actually a title. It was a title that was very often used in the Old Testament. And it was given to men that God, listen to this, that God had handpicked and set apart to do the work of God. And Timothy would have absolutely known that that's what Paul was referring to. He's like in the same way that God set apart and hand-picked men to live their lives for his glory.

Timothy, oh man of God, that is who you are. You are not some ordinary guy, but you are God's man. You belong to God. And listen, this is the example. exact same thing that the Apostle Paul was saying to the entire church in 1 Corinthians 6, 1st 9. Let's look at it real quick. He's making the same argument to the whole church, not just pastors. Let's watch what he does. And by the way, context here is that the church

in Corinth that Paul was writing to, they were dealing with some stuff. If you've ever studied or heard it preached, those people, they were a Christian church, but they were losing their dang minds. And they were just like, there was sexual immorality that was coming in the church, and Paul has to write them and fix them. Right? And so specifically what he's talking about, what I'm about to read to you, he was addressing the sexual immorality in the church. And look for what he says.

In 1st Corinthians 619, he says to them, he's writing his church, Christians. And he says, and do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? And so he's starting talking about, he's addressing sexual sin, and he's like, hey, the reason that that's not okay, first of all, is do you not know that your body is where the third person of the Trinity lives? You're not just some random person walking around? You're now, it's who you are, you're a temple of the spirit. of God. And then he goes on and writes the implications of that.

He says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? And then watch what he says. Therefore, you are not your own. You've been bought with a price,

he goes on to say. He's saying, look, you're no longer independent, doing whatever it is you want to anymore. One, the Holy Spirit is inside of you and too you now belong to God. It's the most important thing about you. It's your identity as you are his. You know, I'll give you a kind of a little bit of funny story how we we forget that at times and how, you know, we're no longer ires. We no longer, you know, we now belong to the Lord. I was, my son now is, my youngest son is 19. He's a freshman in college and

He goes to Techdneym University and a great kid. And when he was 16 years old, I decided I was going to buy him a truck. And so I bought him a truck. I paid for it, you know? Just thought, you know, I'm not going to make him pay for that. I'm not going to pay for it. And then on top of that, I just, I really don't know what I was thinking now in hindsight, but I paid for his insurance.

And I even paid for the kids gas, right? Yeah, I know. I know. Email Pastor Britt Britt at 1122. or whatever it was cold. No. But I was paying for everything, right? And one weekend, he and his buddies went out, and they went mudding.

It was a 2017, four by four, tundra. And they went muddy. And came back kind of late, and I was already asleep. And I got up the next morning. I walked outside, and this truck is just covered and just trashed. I'm like, what in the world? And then I thought, I want to make sure this kid's alive. And so I opened up the door and like McDonald's, you know, rappers and stuff came falling out of the door.

And I'm like, it's all trashed on the inside. And I'm like, look in the back in the bed. And there was a broken toilet seat in the bed. And I'm like, what did these idiots do last night? And so I go up into his room. He's asleep, obviously. And I kind of wake him up. And I'm like, Sammy, what in the world did y'all do last night?

It goes, oh, dad, we went mutton. It was awesome. I was like, okay. And I said, hey, man, probably ought to go clean the truck up, you know, today when you wake up. And he kind of mumbled something. And I said, what did you say? And he goes, dad, I don't really have time today to clean the truck. I don't really want to do it.

And I was like, hey, listen, whatever you got going on, before you go to bed tonight, I want you to clean your truck. I said, I want to clean the truck. And then he looked at me and he goes, Dad, it's my truck. I don't really care. And I started laughing. I was like, what did you say? I was like, I'm sorry, Sammy. Like, what, what?

You know, and I just started laughing. I'm like, what did you just say? And he said, it's my truck. I was like, hold on just a second. And so I walked downstairs and I went and found the title of that bad boy. I brought it up. I was stuck in in his face and I said,

whose name's on the title of this truck? He's like, yours. I was like, yes, exactly. And I was like, by the way, son, now that we're on the subject, you need to get, you need to let something sink into your soul. I'm like, bro, kid, I let you live in my house. This is my house. I let you live here.

I don't make you pay rent. I let you live here. I'm like, I let you eat my food. Like, I let you enjoy the air conditioning. You're now currently enjoying, and yes, knucklehead, this is my truck that I let you drive. So go, go clean it. He's like, yes, sir. All right.

Right. Parents, that's for free if you needed parenting advice today. Y'all, that's literally exactly what Paul's saying. That's exactly what he's saying. He's like, cute. This is your body, yeah, in one sense. But when you trust it in Christ, then somebody else came and made their home. Called the Holy Spirit of God.

He says, because of that. you are not your own. That's what Paul is reminding Timothy when he says, hey, people are falling away, but as for you, oh, man of God. He's saying, you've got to remember the first and foremost, you are God's man. That's key for you to remembering,

for you to endure to the end is remembering who you belong to. And look, is I like back on my life? Every single time I've ever failed, messed up, done something stupid is because I forgot who I was. Forgot my primary identity. Y'all with me on that? I'll do a little analogy here quickly because it's funny, but I coached high school football for four years.

When my oldest son was in high school's long story, but me and a buddy of mine, something hell got roped in, and I was the offensive coordinator of the Veritas defenders for four years. And a little side note that you might care about, we won state three out of four years. That's right.

I got rings, y'all. And, no, it's like, why is he saying that? It's because the only thing I ever brag about is that at one state, I'm like, I'm Coach Taylor, basically, you know. But during that time, I was the senior pastor, the lead pastor of a church

called the Austin Stone Community Church. I planted it in 2001. It exploded, grew up, had like 8,000 people, five campuses. People knew about the church, and yet I'm coaching football. And so I only got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty one time in my four years. I'm proud of myself. I only happened one time. And it was 15-yard penalty.

Thank God it was not an important game. but the ref just would not call holding. And this team, it was actually when we were on defense, their offense was, it looked very intentional. They were grabbing our team's jerseys, their offensive linemen, and pulling them the ground. So obviously they had been coached to do that. And you can't do that.

Offensive players can't grab the jersey of a defender and pulling them to the ground. And so it just kept happening over and over again. They never called it. Finally, I was getting frustrated, offensive coordinator. I walked up to the ref and I was really sweet and kind, and I said, Mr. Ref, can I ask you a question?

And he's like, yes. And I was like, isn't it legal for the offensive players to grab the jersey of a defensive player and pull him to a ground? And he goes, no, that would be a penalty. And I was like, yeah, but it keeps happening every single play. And yet you never call a penalty. I did it just like that. And he goes, I'm calling one now. Threw it up and there.

15 yards. My head coach just looked at me like I lost my. mind. After the game, this is so funny looking back on it, after this game, this older lady who must have gone to my church or had been there before, she walks up to me, she's kind of looking at me funny, and she goes, aren't you the senior pastor of the Austin Stone Community Church? And I went, no. I was like, no. And I was like, but I must look just like him, because I get that all the time. Man, I lied like a day. I'm going to head. y'all like I need the blood of Jesus in my life you want to but that's it you just when you

do something stupid it's because you forget your identity and so he starts there reminds him look first and foremost you're a man you're a woman of God that's number one remember he blanchee number two he's going to tell us to flee from sin now this is this is something that's important and is very specific in his words in the next couple of things he's talking about all right, Timothy, number one, you got a memory I did. Number two, there's a certain way I want you to handle sin. I want you to flee from it. Look at verse 10. So for the love and monies the root of all kinds of evils, it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But watch this. He goes, but as for you,

oh, man of God, flee these things. He's like, if you want to endure to the end, Timothy, when there's a sin there, he goes, you got to flee from it. And the key to understanding what he's saying is the word flee. Okay? Flea. There's a difference, big difference, actually, between running and fleeing. And I'm sure Pastor Jobi's told you guys this before, New Testament was written in Greek. A lot of times when you've got the Greek language and you translated in English, it loses some of the punch and some of the power.

of the original word. This is one of those words. That word flee, it means to run away with urgency. Big difference in running. Like you run to the grocery store, right? You run a marathon. You flee when something's chasing you, right? And trying to kill you.

And that's what he's saying. Hey, he goes, look, you want to endure to the end. When you're dealing with sin, you need to flee. one time just to give you a mental image of what I think it looks like several years ago it was like 10 years ago I was taking a sabbatical took a month off during the summer from being a pastor and there's a guy in my church that had a house in the Virgin Islands his good friend to half and so he he let us stay me and my family in this house in the Virgin Islands for a month it was amazing went to church there on this island we were on and became friends with the

pastor there of that little local church on this tiny island. And pastor calls me one evening and he says, hey, me and a couple buddies are going out tonight, lobster hunting out on the south part of the island, certain cove. I don't remember the name of it. And I'd been lobster hunting before, but I'd never done it at night. And so just give you a concept here. The south part of the island, North part of the island is facing U.S. South part of the island is just facing ocean.

It's just like, they're the last part of land until you hit Antarctica. And so we went out, drove out to the south part of the island, huge cove. Imagine, you know, probably rocks all the way around it. And we put on these headlamps and our snorkeling gear. And with the headlamp, I learned something that night, swimming at night in the water, is that if you have a headlamp standing here, we turn the lights off, that light would spread out all over the place. But in the water, it doesn't do that.

It just makes a singular cone. And so you can see wherever you're pointing your head, but everything else around you is pitch black. And so I'm out there. I probably swim out about 150 yards. I was out there a ways. And it's hit me, like, I am out near the open ocean. It's at night. And I can only see right in front of me.

And it started weirding me out. And so I'm like, I think I'm going to go back now. And I come up out of the water. and I look around and I can't see any of my buddies. That's how dark it is. And I can turn around and I can see the lights of the houses near the beach. I'm like, okay, that's the beach. And right about the time I'm going to turn and start swimming, something hit me.

Guys, is a true story. And when I say hit, it knocked the fire out of me. It was one of the most violent, just like, felt like I'd been hit with a slage. Bam! Just nailed me in the side. and I thought to myself, self, that felt like maybe something higher on the food chain than me. And let me ask you a question. When that happened, got just nailed.

Do you think I just casually did the breaststroke back to the, no, man, no. Listen, y'all, I swim as first as I could move my legs and my arms as I could back to the beach. survived the next day. I was talking to this local fisherman and guy that free dives out there, grew up in that area, and I was telling him the story, and he goes, oh, brother, don't ever do that again. And I was like, why? And he said, there's a school of tiger sharks that live in that cove and they feed at night. Important safety tip. Don't swim with tiger sharks at night, right? And if you do, if one's acting like it's going to munch you, what do you do? You flee. Right?

You don't swim, you flee. That's what Paul's saying. He's like, you've got to look at the sin in your life, not like something that you play with or that you tolerate. You certainly don't pick it up and pet it. When you realize, okay, that's sin right there, I'm tempted to engage in that, the calling on our lives is to turn around and you and you get away from it as fast as you possibly can the way you would a tiger shark. So, but that's not what we do, is it? It's not what we do.

You know, for a long, long time, man, when it came to sin, I was in college and dating girls, and I started walking with Jesus, I wasn't so much thinking about how can I turn from sin and get away from it as fast as I can, as far as I can. I was more like, where's the line of sin? Because I want to get as close as I can to it without jumping over. Anybody relate to that? Paul's like, if you're going to make it, you've got to start looking at sin as something that's going to kill you,

and you run from it. So number one, it says you've got to remember who you belong to. Number two, you've got to flee from sin. Now, number three is actually really important. Number three is he calls Timothy and us to pursue godly character. Now you hear that and you go, well, yeah, of course. We're supposed to pursue godly character. But again, it's one of these words that Paul uses that has a very specific meaning,

and this is something that I got convicted in when I looked it up. I encourage you guys listen to all four, and if there's one or two maybe that you need to lean into and ask God to change in you, then be aware of that. This is mine, y'all, check it out. And so let me read it to you because there's something very specific, Paul's saying with the word pursuit. Verse Timothy 611. He goes, as for you, O man of God, flee these things.

There's people putting other stuff on the throat of their heart. Look, that's sin. You're the man, you're God's man. You flee. But then watch what he says next. He says, but pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. Okay, the word pursue there is key, right? Saying don't just run from sin, but you need to then turn and pursue godliness, righteousness,

faith, love, stepfass, the keys in the word righteousness, listen, here's what it means. The word pursue has almost the exact same meaning as the way. word flee, but just in a positive connotation. So in other words, what Apostle Paul is saying is that, hey, Timothy, fleeing means you run from something with passionate urgency, but you don't just do that. You turn and actually you run to something with that same level of passionate urgency. And can I just tell you all that that's where I struggle? I love Jesus with all my heart. And when I was, when I first started walking with him, you know, and just gave, and really and truly,

probably my, end of my sophomore year, gave my life to Jesus. And it was like, man, I'm going all in. I just, I could not get enough of Jesus. Anybody relate to that when you first started walking with the Lord? It's like your first love face. I carried a Bible around with me everywhere. because I just couldn't get enough of the word. Every chance I got, I was in the word, just soaking it up.

Praying, I prayed. It was like a non-stop conversation with God just because I loved him so much, and was so thankful for what he had saved me for. Sharing my faith, I did it just because I knew that Jesus had completely changed my life. And I want to tell as many people as I could. Then I woke up one day, and I was a senior pastor of a church. And praying was something you did because you didn't want the church to fail.

And reading the Bible is something I found myself doing because, well, Sunday's coming, and I got another sermon. And witnessing was something I found myself doing. It wasn't completely this, but there was a nugget of it in my heart. It was something you did because that's what good pastors do. And one day, man, I think just completely transparent, there have been seasons of my life where I am, I get the sin thing, like I get it, it's trying to kill me. I'm fleeing from it, but instead of pursuing godliness and faith and gentleness, I probably pursue with a little more passion hunting and fishing and golf and that sort of thing.

and I'd say just, you know, whatever it is, your thing, Paul's like, look, if you want to endure to the end, it's not enough to urgently get away from the sin in your life. You have to take that same urgency and then turn and run towards Jesus. So step number one, remember who you belong to. Step number two, you flee from sin. Step number three, turn and you pursue passionately. Godly character. Here's the last one. Number four, you fight for faith. Fight for faith. To me, this is a fascinating one. Fight for faith. What does he mean? Let's read it. Last time, land in the plane here. First Timothy, 6-11, but as for you, old man of God, flee these things.

Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. And then he makes an interesting statement there, he says, fight the good fight of faith. He says faith is a fight. It's interesting to me. He could have easily said, fight the good fight of purity, right? Young men, sometimes purity feels like a fight for us. So we're fighting for purity. That's not what he says. He didn't say fight the good fight of godliness. He didn't say fight the good fight of steadfastness. Fighting the good fight of gentleness. All those are amazing things. He says, here's the deal. If you want to finish, if you want to run the race and endure, he goes, you have to fight for faith. You got to fight for faith.

And to understand what he means there, you've got to understand those two words. That word fight and the Greek is literally the Greek word agonozomi. It's where we get the English word agonize. It's a much more intense word than fight. to agonize, it basically means that you are in a life or death struggle. Probably one of the more common uses of the word agonize, like I was describing when a woman gave birth to a child. Any mothers in here could testify?

It's agony. I saw my wife 13 hours on my firstborn child in labor. I mean, it was so tiring. I had to take a nap. I mean, it was crazy. So get your picture of what he's saying here. So now look at the word faith. Let's bring that up.

The word faith is the Greek word Pestuos. And here it is. Listen carefully. Matter of fact, if you don't hear anything, I'd love for you to just get this concept right here. Pestuos, it's word faith. We translate it as faith, a better understanding of the concept is it means to believe God.

To not believe in God, but to believe God. It carries with the idea of trusting God. That if God says something is true, then you believe it with all your heart. It means to trust into something. best place I think in the Bible that really defines what faith is and I'll do this super fast is the Roman centurion Jesus is walking along he's got his disciples with him they're hanging out big crowd around him because everybody's fired up to Jesus healing people and this Roman centurion fights through the crowd kind of taps Jesus on the shoulder and says Jesus my servant is

sick and he's going to die can you heal him and Jesus said yeah take me to where he is I'll follow you and then I'll heal him. And the Roman centurion said this. He said, Jesus, you don't have to go where my servant is. All you have to do is say the word and I know it's going to happen. And you remember what Jesus did? Jesus was cruising along when that dude said that. Jesus stopped and turned around and looked at him.

And the scripture says Jesus marveled. Powerful word. marveled. That statement blew Jesus' mind, jaw dropped. And Jesus stops and get everybody's attention and points at the dude and goes, hey, everybody, did y'all hear what that dude just said? He didn't say dude, but he's like, y'all hear what he just said? He's like, I have not seen faith like that in all of Israel.

And all he did was say, Jesus, If it comes out of your mouth, I know what's going to happen. That's faith. So literally, Paul says, listen, fight the fight of faith. He's literally saying, if you want to finish, you have to agonize life and death to believe God's promises in your life. You have to fight, agonize to trust in God. I was preaching at a last week.

I was preaching at a revival. Like, the first time in my career, if you will, that I preached like an old school revival. Any of ever been to those or heard of those? They make, and they slave you, man. They make you preach like eight times over the course of four days. It was this kind of old school Baptist church. It was pretty cool.

I enjoyed it. But kind of at the end of the week, it was the morning. I was exhausted. I was working on this sermon, and I got to this line. I'm like, man, what is that mean? What does he mean? Fight the good fight. Agonized the good fight of faith.

Like, why did he choose faith? He could have said a lot of things right there. And right about that time, I was hanging out, the current pastor, like 38 was in their study, and I'm studying. And this older pastor came walking in. He was the original pastor of the church that had passed there for like 20 years. and he was 92 years old. Here's a picture of him.

I took a picture with him because he said something that I was like, that's it, Pastor. But I said, Pastor, can I ask you a question? And he goes, yeah. I was like, I have a Bible question. He's 92. And here's this guy that's finishing the race. Amen?

He's coming down the home stretch, and he's still got his faith. And so I wanted to ask him. I was like, Pastor, you remember in 1 Timothy where Paul was talking to Timothy and he tells him to fight the good fight of faith. Agonize, it says, for faith. I said, Pastor, what do you think that means? And why do you think he said that? And this guy got kind of a, kind of a rise smile on his face.

It kind of looked just like that. And he said, this way he said, I wrote it down, so good. He said, son, I'm 92 years old. He called me son. He said, son, I'm 92 years old. And my entire life, Satan has tried to get me to question the goodness of God. Here's a pastor. Still teaching Sunday school at the church he pastored back in the day, which tells you everything

you need to know about his heart. Ninety-two years old, and he says, my entire life, Satan has tried to get me to question the goodness of God. And then he said, it's so important. He said, faith is it. is the linchpin that holds everything else together. He said, Satan comes at your godliness and you fail, you repent, you get back up, you keep going. Satan comes after your kindness and your gentleness.

You repent and you get up and you keep going. You survive. He said, but if Satan can get you to stop trusting God, everything else will fall apart. I said, Pastor, that's it. I'll end with this. I started, I told you, I started walking with Jesus when I was in college and there's only been one time in my life that I was, I was struggling in my faith. And looking back, like, it was a fight. And I got diagnosed with cancer.

When I was 31 years old, some of you are in here right now and you know what that phone call is like when you find out you have cancer. You know, I was 31. I was pastor in this church that God was using. I had three little babies. And I just, man, it was like a gut punch. And it was kind of cancer that they cut it out and it hasn't spread. Then you're good. You're fine.

You'll never see it again. But they cut it out and they make you wait three months. Look at the lymph nodes after three months in a CAT scan. And if the lymph nodes are still swollen, they know it's spread and you go from there. But the problem is, if it's spread, there's no cure. Chemo doesn't work. And so, you know, they cut it out. And they're like, look, here's the deal.

We've got to wait three months. And after the three months, you basically, they didn't say this, but they're basically saying after three months, you'll know whether you're going to live or going to die. I'd love to tell you guys that I walk through that three months with just this incredible courage. eyes on Jesus and worshiping him. And there were moments I did, but the truth be told, I was just, I wasn't doing well. Scared to death. Didn't want to imagine my children growing up without me. I didn't want my wife to be a widow.

And I'll just be honest with you. I never thought I deserved anything from God, but I was just at a place that so wrecked me out. but I was just hanging on my faith by a thread. And I got to the place where I just decided I'm going to carry the word of God around me wherever I go because I just, like, I am so scared and messed up. I started carrying the Bible. And whenever I was getting to a bad place, I'd open it up. And three months went by.

I go to my appointment at the CAT scan place. I'm sitting in the waiting room and there's people just all over. They're just dying. And I was just overwhelmed, scared, just fear messing me up. And I prayed. I was like, God, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to open up this Bible. And I'm just going to open it up.

And I'm going to start reading. And Lord, I need you to speak to me. Anybody ever done that? And so I opened it up and started reading. And it was a book of lamentations. I was like, we're going to do this again, God. So I was open it up. And it was, I didn't have enough faith to believe God could speak.

me through lamentations and so I opened it up and it was the cross and there's that scene where this guy is yelling at Jesus on the cross he's hanging there on the cross paying for our sins shedding his blood so that we could become the righteousness of God and this guy cries out to Jesus and Jesus I thought you trusted God I thought you trusted God if you trust God Jesus trust him to get you off the cross trust him to get you down from the suffering and y'all as clear as I've ever heard anything in my life from the Holy Spirit crystal clear. Holy Spirit whispered to me

sometimes trusting Jesus means you don't get to get off the cross. Y'all with me? He was right. Jesus was trusting God on the cross. He was saying to me, son, I need you to trust me. And something in me broke. Did my cat scan, went home, didn't actually went to the office.

I can still remember it. I opened the door, closed it. I fell on my knees, and I just surrendered all of it to Jesus. I said, Lord, I don't want to die. I want to raise my kids. I want to be a husband to my wife, but I said this. I said, Jesus, if you want to take me home, I trust you. And I meant it.

In church, a peace that passed all understanding. begin to guard my heart in Christ Jesus. Good news is, test came back totally normal, I'm still here. That's a great thing, but that, but the, and thank you. But what God was trying to accomplish in me happened on my knees when I was fighting for faith. Now listen, in that season of life, it felt like this huge fight for me to hold on to Jesus. But y'all, years later, looking back, it's crystal clear. I wasn't holding on to Jesus.

He was holding on to me. He was holding on to me. He was holding on to me. Two groups today. one, you're here, you're walking with Jesus. This is your response. Your response is to take a minute today. We don't know we got lunch.

I know we got stuff going on, but you don't miss the opportunity to get on your knees, to lift your hands in the air and just beg Jesus to endure you to the end. Just tell him, Lord, I believe your promise. I put my faith in your promise that you're never going to let you. me go and I'm going to claim that in my life today. Thank you for your blood that cleanses me white as snow in your sight and you just, you just beg him to hold on to you. And then there's another group of people that maybe tonight or today, you're this morning, you're just like me then, you were holding on your faith with just a thread. I'll just tell you this.

If that's you, number one, I'm so glad you're here today. Thank you for coming. But I want to tell you all, my experience is a Christian. It's been walking with Jesus for a while. Every time a son or daughter of his runs away to the faraway land of sin, he is not sitting there with his arms folded, scowling, waiting for you to get your act together before he'll let you come home. That is not what the scripture says. Instead, the scripture paints a picture that when you and I run away to the faraway land of sin,

that he is scanning the horizon looking for you to come home. And then if you'll just take that first step back to him, he will hike up his robes, and he will run as fast as he can to you and put his arms around you and say, my son or daughter has finally come home. That's our God. And so we're about to sing.

We're going to sing that song again that we just sang a minute ago. Listen to the words. I know who I am because I know who you are. The cross of salvation was only to start. Now I'm chosen, free, and forgiven, and I have a future, and it's worth to live it. Because I wasn't made to be ten in a grave. Amen?

I wasn't made to be ten in a grave. I was called by name, born, and raised back to life again. I was made for more. So why would I make? a bed in my shame. Here's why, when a fountain of grace is running my way, I know I am yours. I was made for more.

I don't care what the enemy is whispering in your ear. Child of God, that is your story. Come home today. He'll be waiting for you. Let's pray. Let's pray. Listen, here's our response. number one we're going to sing if you're here and you're old like me and you look back at your life

and you're like man he has been faithful my whole life i've never walked alone he's had his hand on me a thousand times i've let go at him a thousand times but he's never let me go just let's praise god let's sing let's worship him today if you want to come down front and just just as a way of say thank you you let's do that if you're here and you're believer and there's one of those areas one of those four You're like, man, I need to lean into that. Remembering who you are, fleeing from sin, pursuing righteousness, fighting for your faith. Just come do business with God. There's people over here to my right and left.

They're going to have a blue little lanyard. If you're here and you need somebody to pray for you, you do not hesitate. Let them pray for you. There is power in it. And then finally, if you're here today and maybe you think, man, I've shipwrecked my faith. Listen, just talked about it. You come, you turn, you take that first step, and he will run to you. Father, you thank you for your word.

Thank you for its power. It's clarity, it's anointing. And Lord, I thank you that you are a God that promises those who have been saved by grace through faith, that you will never let us go. And, Lord, it's true. or Jesus, I pray the power of your spirit that you administer

and speak deeply today to these amazing people, Lord Jesus. If there are any that's been running from you, Lord, give them the strength and the power to come home, Lord. Lord Jesus, we love you and we praise you. We thank you for all that you've done through the cross, through the resurrection,

and send your mighty name that we pray. Amen. The reality is everything already belongs. to God. And when we give financially, we're acknowledging that we trust him. If you just watch this and feel led to make a donation, text the word donate to 441122, or visit COE22.com slash donate. Your generosity is not only an act of worship, but an investment so all people can discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ.