The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 9: Poured Out and Worth It

Episode Date: March 3, 2019

A legacy of faith is left by those that pour themselves out for the gospel. Take a minute to say thank you to someone who has been a significant influence in your faith walk. Now, imagine being that kind of influence in someone else’s life.

Amen and amen. Thank you, Dr. Paul. Hey, if you got your Bible, by the way, he's right over here. Can we thank him one more time? Just got back from another mission trip to Africa, and he's 80-something. So shut up with your excuses and go on a mission trip. All right, so, hey, when you came in, you got this card, a little postcard. I hope you got it.

Get it out. What I want you to do, I was going to end with this, but I can't figure out how to do that. So I'm going to tell you now. grab this postcard and what you were going to do is write a thank you card to somebody that has that has poured into your life all right and you've got the whole sermon time to do it so you got a good two hours to get this thing done and i know there's only room for like two sentences or whatever but just just write it i know you can text them too but this is just better and you've got enough time to like figure out where their address is google that or whatever and write that down and then at the end of the service you're just going to drop this and one of the giving boxes on your way of out and then we will mail it for you. And so I'm going to write mine to Dr. Paul. Lars Peterson, another elder, has probably been the most influential man in my life over the last six years, but Dr. Paul has been the most inspirational man in my life in the last six years. And what we are talking about today is Paul's words to Timothy, and Paul is essentially going to say, I have

poured out my life and it is worth it. And as I look at the life of Dr. Paul, at least the last 10 years of his life, the part that I've known him for, and particularly the last six as we launched this church, I see a man who has poured himself out for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I don't know a man that disciples more people than our very own Dr. Paul. And so I'm going to say thank you in this. I know I just said it, but I'm going to write it to you too. And I want you to do the same thing. I want you to write that down to whoever it is that has been an influence in your life. And again, at the end of the service, we'll drop those off, and then we will send those out to you. we did this is because I got a letter that said thank you from Baker Correctional. It's my very

first, like, Baker Correctional letter from our campus there. It's really awesome, right? And so Michael wrote to all of us, really, just to say thank you, thank you for the volunteers that's showing up. He's saying at Baker Correctional, Monday has become everybody's favorite day because of our campus there. And then my favorite part, I just didn't have anything to do anything. I just think this is awesome. At the end, he says, he says all the guys, that his friends that are going to our 1122 campus at Baker Correctional, the way they greet one another now when they see each other in the yard and stuff is when they see each other, they say behold. Like if they're 1122ers, they say behold. Referencing when I talk about James the

brother of Jesus, you know, what would it take for you to convince your brother? You were God and James was convinced that Jesus was God and I have a brother. And if he came to me and said, Behold. I am, I'd be like, I don't think you are. But so now when they see each other, at our Baker campus, they say, behold. We have a greeting, an 1122 greeting, all right? Isn't that cool? So if I see you at Publix and I say, behold, that's what I'm talking about, okay? We're learning from these guys.

So we're wrapping up, we're wrapping up our study in Second Timothy here. We've been in it for nine weeks. And really, the whole reason we're doing this, because we're in this one initiative, and a big part of the one initiative is about reaching one more. generation. And Second Timothy is a letter from the Apostle Paul to young Timothy, and Paul is kind of passing the torch, passing the baton onto one more generation. It's a big part of what we're doing over the next two years. And in fact, if you want to be a part of passing on the torch here at the Church of 1122, there's some things you could do this year. You could sign up to go to family camp.

We're going to host a couple weeks of family camp this summer. And the whole family's invited. I mean, it is for sure going to be aimed at raising up one more generation. But we need, we need, like, moms and dads with kids to come, but we also need grandparents and single moms and not married folks and people without kids. You know, we need, like, the whole church to be there. So you do that. And or you can sign up and do a family mission trip. We're hosting several family mission trips over the summer, and so you can sign up your

family and come and be a part of that. Because what we're trying to do is we're trying to embody what Paul is doing. here with Timothy. That faith is not just a thing that happens to you, but faith that happens through you. And that we are called, we are called to raise up one more generation. And so in Paul's final words here, the way I'm going to teach it, because we're going to start in chapter 4, verse 6, we're going to go all the way to the end. But I'm going to kind of teach it in a, like Quentin Tarantino movie. Okay, we're going to start in the middle, we're going to go to the end, and then we're going to end with the beginning. All right. If you've seen Pulp Fiction, which you should

but if you have then maybe you have okay so I'm going to read through it and I want to give some comments on verses 9 and following but the real meat of it is really six seven and eight so we'll start in verse 6 says this four for I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. So we'll come back to that part in about 30 minutes or so. Verse 9.

The reason I want to go over verse 9 and following is because the Bible says all scripture is God breathed. And all scripture is useful or profitable. And so sometimes you get to some places like this in the Bible, and it looks like throwaway verses. Because it just says, like the little header says, personal instruction. and final greetings, and it just looks like a bunch of list of random names, but there's a lot of really important stuff here. Verse 9. Do your best to come to me soon.

Why? Because he knows that his days are numbered. The Apostle Paul knows that this is it. He's not getting out of this one alive. Verse 10, for Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Remember week six that we live in a culture that is drifting towards godlessness, and the Apostle Paul says, well, demons drifted that way. That he fell in love with this world.

First John tells us this. It says, do not love the world or the things of this world. All this world has to offer is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That the enemy throws those lures in front of us, like a bass fisherman, throws a lure in front of a big billy bass, and tries to get him to bite. And the problem is every lure has a hook. Every temptation has a gotcha.

And the apostle Paul is saying, and Demus got got. And so he says, for Demas, love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Kreskens has gone to Galatia, Titus, to Dalmatia, to get a dog, apparently. I don't know what he's doing there. Verse 11, Luke alone is with me. Now, this is kind of neat, man. If you're in a Bible study, maybe you recognize this name Luke. This is Dr. Luke.

And Luke wrote two books of the Bible. The Gospel of Luke. they weren't very creative with the names of their books back of the day, but he wrote Luke in the book of Acts. And what Luke was doing, Luke was not an eyewitness. He was not an eyewitness of Jesus. And so what he did is he was trying to put together an orderly account of all that happened in the life, death, resurrection of Jesus,

and the spread of the early church. And he's writing it to a guy named Theophilus. And so what Luke did is he went around, and he would interview people to get the first-hand account of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and Pentecost, and the spread of the early church. And here we find Luke, and again, he's a doctor, so maybe he's taken care of Paul in his final days here, and he could very well be getting the information from Paul that he will be writing in the gospel of Luke in the Book of Acts. Really big deal. And he goes on to say this.

And he says, and get Mark and bring him. with you for he is very useful to me for ministry. Again, this is a really big deal. It's not just a random, this isn't just random Mark. You see, Mark and Paul used to be in ministry together. And then we find out in Acts chapter 15 when Paul's going to go on his second missionary journey, he's going to go with this guy named Barnabas. And Barnabas is like a, he's like a tenderhearted guy. His name literally means the son of encouragement. So he's like a give him an extra chance and three strikes, maybe four strikes, and the glass is half full kind of guy. And so when they're getting together their mission team to go plant some more churches, Barnabas says, well, let me go get

Mark, and Paul says, Mark ain't going with us this time. Because the last time they were out on the mission field, Mark kind of tapped out. He didn't disqualify himself morally, apparently. He just got tired. He was just kind of over it. He just, he went home, and Paul felt like Mark left him hanging. And if you know anything about the Apostle Paul, he's like a driven, high D, get it done, don't slow me down. I can't wait to meet the brother. You understand? And so as he's going on this next trip,

he kind of washes his hands and mark. He's like, look, dude, I ain't got time for you. If you can't keep up with his ministry, he's a grind. And we're going to sit around and sing kumbaya, you understand? So if that's what you're going to do, it's fourth and long, bro. You're off my team. And then the Bible says in Acts chapter 15 that Paul and Barnabas have a sharp disagreement over this.

And then something happened. And what happened is the sanctifying work of the gospel in Paul's life. Now by the time you get to the end of his life, he has reconciled this relationship with Mark and said, hey, don't you go get Mark. Why don't you go get Mark? This is evidence of the work of God, even in Paul's life and even up until his very last days. And the crazy thing is that if you read through Acts chapter 15 and 16, you find that Barnabas does go get Mark, and they go on a mission trip on one way, and then Paul goes and gets Silas, and then he picks up another guy for his next mission trip, and that guy's name is Timothy.

That Mark, when he didn't go, he opened up the spot for Timothy. And now you see here that they have been reconciled. It's a really big deal. Verse 12, Tickicus, I have sent to Ephesus. That's going to be for you, Timothy, to help you out. And when you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas. also the books and above all the parchments. Do you know why this is in here?

Because it actually happened. You see, this is not like two or three hundred years later. Somebody's making up a fairy tale about the way the church spread. Paul is just saying, hey, listen, man, last time I was in carpool, I left my coat in your truck at Troaz. So can you bring me in my coat? That's what's happening. And then he says, and I left some books in there too. Will you bring the books and especially, and this is conjecture, but it very well could be when he says,

and especially those parchments. He very well could be talking about some of the pastoral epistles that he wrote that are curled up in the dashboard in Troas. And he's like, could you bring those? I think I might publish those. There might be something to it. It's a really, really big deal. He puts this in there because it happened.

And he says, Alexander, the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, or he has strongly opposed to our message. here's just a veteran in ministry warning a rookie in ministry about the potholes he's like watch out for that guy he goes on to saying at my first defense no one came to stand by me but all deserted me may it not be charged against them you see ministry for paul has been tough at this point other than dr luke he's essentially alone and yet look at what gets him through verse 17 but the lord stood by me and strengthened me.

Paul wants everyone to know that Jesus in and of himself is enough, that Jesus plus nothing equals everything. And if the whole world would turn their back on me, but I still have Jesus, I have more than enough. And if I were to gain everything that this world has to offer me and I don't have Jesus, then I have nothing. And so he says, but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that, this is important, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.

This is so opposite of the way we live. You see, oftentimes we love to say, the Lord is going to stand by me and strengthen me, but most of the time we want to say so that I am strengthened and I am comfortable. But not the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul says the reason the Lord stood by me and the reason the Lord stood by me and the reason the Lord strengthened me is so that no matter the cost, no matter what it took, I would spread the gospel to the very ends of the earth. And then he says, so I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavily kingdom. Notice for him the rescue is not through pain, it's not from pain, it's through pain. that the rescue that he will experience will be when he gets to heaven. He says, to him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. And like any good preacher, amen is supposed to be the end, but he's like, hold on, I got one more point. Verse 19, Greek Prisca and Aquila, that's Priscilla and Aquila, and the household of Onesferus. Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophemus, who was ill at Miletus.

Do your best to come before winter. Ubulus sends greetings to you as to puddens and Linus and Claudia. By the way, it's a baby name list right here if anybody's looking. We need another puddings. And all the brothers, in verse 22, and the Lord be with your spirit and grace be to you. Something to hit me this week as I'm studying it. Paul starts almost all of his letters with grace and peace to you,

and he ends almost all of his letters with grace be with you. I think there's something to this, okay? I think maybe he's saying, okay, as you read through the the the theos noostas word of god then grace is here but it's coming to you he starts the letters with grace to you but then by the time you get done with it when you get to the end of the letter now the grace that has been poured out on you may you may you sit in it may you soak in it made it be with you may you meditate upon the word and may you not forget it and you see I think the reason that Paul is going to close this way is is I think Paul

in his last days. You see, Paul doesn't talk about Paul very much. He's like a good Puritan preacher. You can read 100 John Owen sermons, which I'm sure you had, and you can find almost nothing out about the dude John Owen. And yet here, what Paul is going to do is he's encouraging young Timothy to fulfill his ministry, which is to preach the word. Remember, that's what we did a couple of weeks ago. He's like, Timothy, whatever you do, man, fulfill your ministry. and his primary ministry was to preach the word. And Timothy, I know it's going to be tough for you. I know you have to overcome a lot. I know you have a whole bunch of things working against you.

And I know that you'll have a tendency to be filled with fear, but God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-discipline. And I think Paul's so smart, and he's inspired by the Spirit of God. I think he knows kind of the objections Timothy may have in his mind. And so Timothy, he says, Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, you can do this man. And the reason I know that you can do it is because I have poured my life out. And if I can do it with the power of God in me, then I know that same power lives in you. You see, I think the reason that Paul ends this way is because he wants Timothy's life to count.

Because the apostle Paul can look back over his own life and he can say, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have poured myself out for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And though I may never make it out of this jail cell alive, I will look back on my life and I have zero regrets because my story has been for his glory. And I think Paul wants Timothy's life to count. Folks, I want my life to count for the glory of God on the landscape of this earth. I mean, I want my life to count for something.

something. You see, the crazy thing is, man, we only get, we get one life, one life. And the crazy thing is everybody lives forever somewhere. You realize that? Everybody lives forever somewhere. And most of us spend all of our days thinking about the 80 or 90 years, if everything goes awesome, on this side of eternity. And we pay very little attention to what our impact is going to be forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and i want this one and only life that i have been given to count for eternity for the glory of god see this is this stupid saying now yolo you only live once that's dumb man you only live forever make this side of the equation count for everything it's made of

I want my life to count and I want your life to count I want your life to count I want your life to count for the glory of God. And the crazy thing is, is that we live in a world that spends billions of dollars a day to only get you to think about the things that are right in front of you. And what a waste of a life. You see, I hope and I pray that the gospel of Jesus Christ grabs a hold of your heart in such a way that your eyes would be open and you could get your eyes up off of just your current circumstances and see that God is raising up an army of men and women to declare his gospel and push back the darkness,

and we have been called to be a part of that. And yet there's a whole bunch of you, and you're just settling for normal. And God wants to rescue you from that ordinary life. But God would invite you to get off the merry-go round of normality, where you just do the same thing everybody else does. And you know, you know, you don't. know how dissatisfying it is. You wake up every day and you just do the same thing again. You eat something. You drive something. You go sell something. You come home. You watch something.

You eat something. You do it again. And the biggest prayer of your week is, thank God it's Friday. Man, if you're just living for Friday, you're not doing it right. But God has a call and a command on our life and he has invited us into the cosmic story of his glory. And I think Paul wants your life to count. And I think Paul wants your life to count and I want your life to count and I want my life to count. The Bible says from the days of John the Baptist until today the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing and forceful men and women take hold of it. I want to be one of those forceful men. I want to be like the apostle Paul that at the end of my days I can say I have fought the fight. I have finished the race. I have poured myself out for the glory of God and it is worth it. This is why Paul starts with

this. Four. He's saying, Timothy, I'm going to use my life as an example for you to encourage you so that you would spend your life for the glory of God. He says, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. You see, the gospel calls us to empty ourselves because that's what Jesus did for us. We live in a world that tells us to be full of ourselves. I mean, think about it. we invented the selfie. That's what we will be known as forever and ever and ever, that we are full of ourselves.

The majority of the money we spend is about us and our comfort. And yet we serve a Savior that poured himself out at the cross for us. Philippians chapter 2 tells us that our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature of God did not consider equality with God, something to be grass. But he emptied himself is literally what the Greek says. we live in a culture that wants us to be full of ourselves. And the crazy thing is, is that success according to God is not how much you accumulate, but success according to God is, at the end of your days, how much of yourself did you give away?

And Paul says he has poured himself out for the sake of the gospel. And then he says, in the time of my departure has come. Verse seven, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Years ago, I was reading the seven habits of highly effective people. I'm sure you all read it. You probably read it before I did.

And Stephen Covey, in that book, early in the book, says, what everybody should do, you should go through this exercise, and you should imagine you're at your own funeral. Okay? Have you read the book? You should read it. And usually when I get to those parts of the book that say, step away from the book and do this exercise. I never do it. Do you ever do it? I never do it.

Because the point of the book is not to learn is to finish. And I'm just trying to get finished. All right. So I can get to the next book. Not do what it says either. So. But about that time when I was reading through seven habits, the guy that led me to Christ had just passed away. And so I did what the book said. And again, he says, Stephen Covey says, imagine you're at your own funeral. and you get to invite three or four people from different areas of your life, and write down what you would like them to say about you at your funeral. And listen, you should really do this. And you know why you should do it?

Because you're going to have a funeral. I know it seems like it's never going to happen, but the death rate in America hovers right around 100%. And so it's cancer or a car wreck. It's all coming. I mean, we're all gone, you understand? And unless the trumpet blast, then glory, whatever. We won't have to worry about it.

And there will be a day, I'm telling you, there will be a day when they're going to dig a hole, put you in a box, put you in it, throw dirt in your face, come back here to the church, eat potato salad, talk about how good you look. And you ain't going to look good, you'd be dead, okay? And people are going to say stuff about you. What do you want them to say? And Covey says, he says, the things that you want people to say about you at your funeral, that is your true definition of success. and then the key question to ask is, so are you aimed at that as your goal in life or are you caught up in just a merry-go-round of normality? You see, what do you want people to say? Because I'm telling you, I've thought about this. So I sat down and I thought about it,

and I was really inspired by the guy that led me to Christ. I've talked to you about 100 million times that coach Bullie, the football coach, that taught me about Jesus and led me to Jesus when he passed away. I mean, he lived his whole life for the glory of God. He led more kids to Christ than I can't even count. And never at one point in his life did he talk to this many people just in this room. He was just a football coach, man.

But he just spent his life for the glory of God. And so at his funeral, another football player that he led to Christ a long time ago, a guy named Johnny Rickenbacker, who's a pastor in Florida now, was doing Coach Lee's. eulogy, and he used Acts 1124 as his text. And he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. This is what this is.

That's why I put it there, okay? That's what all that says. It's the cross, it's crown of thorns. It's that verse. And then on this side, I've got some, my family's name. And my hope and prayer, and I'm not there. I've got a long way to go, a long way to go. Hopefully God will give me 40 more years, but he might not.

It may give me four more hours. But I hope and pray that one day when they dig a hole and put me in it, and you better show up too, okay? Somebody's going to say some stuff. It would probably be one of our pastors here. I don't know. Bread or stone or Adam, somebody will be burying me. Probably not Adam. He's older than me.

Be doing my other guys. And I hope and pray that I live my life in such a way that you could, with great integrity and character, say, he was a good man. He was a good man. And here's what I mean, man. I hope I'm a decent preacher. I mean, I know that it is moderately delivered, exceptionally received, but that is not the ultimate goal of my life. That I want them to be able to say, even before this whole, like, you know, pastor thing,

that he's a good dad. He was a good dad. He loved them babies. In fact, I give up a lot of speaking opportunities, so I don't miss very many ball games and gymnastics meets and all of that kind of stuff. And I hope my adult children will be sitting there. saying he was a good dad. We have a better picture of who our father in heaven is because of who our father in our home was. That's what I hope. And I want them to know. I want them to know because

I pursued their heart. They would have a better understanding of the way Jesus pursues our hearts. And I love them, man. Climbing to bed with them and hug them. 13 year old boys don't like to be hug. Did you realize that? So we just call it jujitsu. It's really a dad hug. That's all it. is. He just, don't tell him. And I want to be a good husband. A good husband. I want people to have a better picture of what Jesus did for us because I, by the power of the spirit, could love my wife like Christ's love the church and gave himself up for her. I hope I get to take care of that girl every day of the rest of her life and care for her well as a picture, as a picture of Christ caring for his bride. I want to be a good land. And I want to be full of the Holy Spirit, full of the Holy Spirit, not just a little bit.

And what I mean by this is, I want to begin to, I want to continue to understand it. Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And when the Spirit of God moved into my life, I became His very temple. And I want to be so tuned in to the Spirit of God that God never has to yell at me. All he has to do is gently nudge or gently whisper. and I would be so easily moved and directed by the Almighty God. You see, Jesus in the sermon on the mount says, Blessed are the meek.

Most of us don't want to be meek, because we think it means weak, because it rhymes with weak, but it doesn't mean that. In Greek, the word for meek is a bit that you would put in the mouth of a horse, that you would have this thoroughbred with all of this power and all of this energy, and yet with just the slightest little tug on the wrong. brain, you could direct him right or left or stop or go. That's what I want to be in the kingdom of God. I want to be a third of bread. God, all he's got to do is just tug a little right, tug a little left, and I would go where he says go. And I want to be full of faith, full of faith.

And again, the opposite of faith does not doubt. The opposite of faith is fear. And I refused, I refused to be ruled by fear. We talked about it a few weeks ago because fear is a liar. And I refuse to listen to the lies of the enemy and I get the whispers as bad as anybody I know that the enemy whispers in me you are unfit for use and I every time every time he whispers I've got to remind myself that God did not give me a spirit of fear but a power and of love and of self-control and I refuse to be led by fear because I want to be full of faith people ask me all the time when we're planting campuses and launching new stuff and planting churches around the world and people go you think it'll work I have no idea if it's going to work

I mean, we're launching Fleming Island in just a little while. People are like, spending millions of dollars. Will it work? I don't know. I don't know. But here's what I do know. We're going to find out. Because we're going for it with everything that I am made of.

Man, fear will paralyze you. You let fear rule you. You'll never do anything big for the kingdom of God. And I hope God uses me that a great number of people would be brought to the Lord. And you guys know around here a great number. It's just one more. It's just one more. That I would pour my life out, that just one more person would come to know Jesus.

I want to do it publicly. I think God has given me a gift to be able to preach the Bible, and people seem to be into it. I'm preaching like 15 times over the next seven days. Why? Because I am pouring myself out for this thing. And then do it privately, too. Is that I pray to God that he would use me with just one-on-one with individuals, that he might use me to introduce just one more.

person to Jesus. And I hope somebody can say that about me. I want to live my life. I want my life to count. C.S. Lewis said this. My hope is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight. That's what I want. I hope when I die, there are two parties going on.

There's one in heaven because I'm coming, and there's one in hell because I'm out of their hair. That's what I hope. An old dead missionary says this, oh God, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who. who I am. Folks, does your life count? I mean, does your life count?

Or are you just kind of caught up in just a normal, ordinary life? God has so much more for you than that. I told you about it earlier this year, but man, I was at two ministry events this year that shaped me. I watched Pastor Ryan Stone and Pastor Ryan Britt, each bury their father. And as I'm sitting there, I'm thinking about these verses. At Pastor Britt's dad's funeral, it was up above the cast. They had this verse.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the face. Think about this, man. I think my definition of success in ministry is changing. Because almost every month now, some super successful, uber talented pastor takes a nosedive in immorality. And here, as I'm sitting there this last summer, watching two of my dearest brothers,

Stone and bury their dad. And I'm looking and I'm listening to these sons give the eulogy for their father. Both of them were led to Christ by their dads. Both of them learned the Bible because their dad taught it to them. Both of them have brothers, and both of their brothers are also in ministry. In fact, we hired Stone's brother. He works here now. And I look at these two men, Billy Britt and Craig Stone.

You've never heard a sermon from them. In fact, they weren't even the primary teaching pastors at their churches. Billy Britt worked at a relatively large church, and Craig Stone, relatively small churches. And in fact, they didn't travel the world. They weren't known. Around Georgia, they were experts in Sunday school. We don't even do Sunday school. And yet, and yet, every single one of us that are a part of this church

have been heavily influenced by the life and legacy of these two men that you have never even met. Maybe success in the kingdom of God is not what you do, but maybe it's in who you raise. And as I listen to them, these boys talk about their dads. I just thought this is the goal that at the end of it, you could look back over your life, lay your head on the pillow and be utterly exhausted and have zero regrets because you have fought the good fight, you have finished the race, and you have kept the faith. So what do you want people to say about you? What do you want people to say about you?

And are you living to that end so that they actually could? You see, and again, man, I think when you get here, you get all fired up, and you're like, I got to do some things different, man. I got to do some things different. I want my life to count. And again, when you wake up in the morning, you are going to wake up to an alarm that is calling you to buy into the lie of this world. That it's all about you, and the goal of your life is your own comfort. We, as a church, we've got to get our eyes up off of our current circumstances and fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfect, of our faith.

To say there's more to this life than just driving something and selling something. But there's more to this life than just day after day after day of the same old stuff, watching the same old shows. It basically had the same story. We just kind of interchange the characters. There's more of this life than just where are we going to go on vacation next? What would it look like in our lives if you poured out your life for the gospel of Jesus Christ? I'm telling you you would never, ever, ever regret it.

That's the kind of life I want to live. So this is why Paul, I think, says henceforth, what he's going to say is, all right, Timothy, fulfill your ministry, preach the word, for I've done it. I've poured myself out. But the only way to do it, Timothy, is you've got to keep your eye on the prize. And so he's instructing Timothy to lift up his eyes to the prize. He says, henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. This word crown is not like a Burger King crown. it's like a prize.

It'd be like a gold medal. If you've ever seen like the Kentucky Derby, you know, they put that winner's wreath around the horse. That's what it is. And it's the crown of righteousness. I think it's kind of hard to tell what exactly what he means by it. And so most theologians say it can be one of two different things. And I think it means both of these things.

I think the crown is righteousness. That's what it is. that the prize is that you and I have been imputed with the righteousness of God, and when we step into heaven, we will step into a glorified version of ourselves, and we will be perfectly righteous. How many of you know that for anybody that surrenders their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that when we step out of this earth and step into heaven, that we get a glorified body? Can I get an amen?

I heard an amen from over 40 right over here. I mean, all of your aches and pains and all the problems, I mean, look, man, I had to take Advil this morning. And all I did yesterday was riding an airplane. You understand? And I'm like, ugh, all right? And praise God. We get a crown of righteousness, which means that we will be glorified in the same way that Jesus was in his resurrected body. But we also know when we studied the book of Romans that righteousness means a right standing with God.

And that's the prize. That you and I will be able to stand face to face with him in a perfect love relationship that you and I are created for. That is the crown of righteousness. He says henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will a to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Did you know every single one of us were created for that very moment right now? For that very moment. You see in the beginning, God created everything that is.

He speaks everything into existence. But when it comes to his image bears, he does something different. We talk about this all the time. He gathers together the dust of the ground. and the Bible says that essentially Adam was not yet a living being not until God breathed the breath of life, the rule of life until the nostrils of Adam

and Adam opens his eyes and he is face to face with his creator and that's what every single one of us were created for which by the way that's why this world doesn't satisfy you that's why no matter how much money you make I mean making money is awesome it's just not fully and finally satisfying. It's why no matter how cool the vacation you go on, you still have to come home and rest. It's why no matter how many friends like you on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, there's still something missing because the thing that is missing is what you have been created for, that we have been imprinted from our very first father,

that when we open our eyes, what we want to see more than anything else is the very face of our heavenly. Father, and that's what we've been created for. And then sin separates Adam and Eve from the Almighty God. And because of his justice, he judges them and he kicks them out of the garden. But because of his grace, he does not squish him or kill him. Because of his grace, he makes a garment to cover over their sin and shame. And for the very first time in human history, blood is shed for the forgiveness or the covering of sin. and then a couple thousand years ago

after thousands and thousands of years of a sacrificial system and temples and prophets and all of that in the old covenant in the Old Testament about 2,000 years ago standing in the Jordan John the Baptist proclaims behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sand of the entire world and Jesus the Christ the Messiah shows up on the scene the heavens crack open

God speaks out loud, behold my son in whom I am well pleased. The spirit of God descends on him in the form of dove. He's baptized, and his public ministry begins. And Jesus teaches and preaches what it's like to be in that right relationship with God so that we can understand who he is. And 189 times in the Gospels, Jesus refers to him, not a sovereign judge of the universe, which he is, but he refers to him as heavenly father. Why?

Because every single one of us have that deep, desire for his appearing to see him again face to face. And then Jesus goes to the cross and he pushes up on his nail pierced feet and he says these words, it is finished. What is finished? What is finished is he put death to death and the thing that separated us sin, he has put that in the ground forever. And then three days later is just to prove his point.

He is resurrected from the grave. And then he tells us, so go and tell everybody about it. Go and tell everybody that we can be reconciled to God. And that, I think, is what Paul is telling Timothy. Timothy, live your life for that. Live your life for that. So that when you step out of this earth and you step into eternity, when you breathe your last here and you breathe your necks there,

the only thing you can take with you to heaven is people. The only thing that you can take to heaven with you is people. And I want to live my life in such a way that when I get there, I look around and I see a whole bunch of you. And I know that God used us and our church for generations and generations and generations so that people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation could experience what they were created for. Their sins forgiven, they received a crown of righteousness and they stand face to face with their heavenly father forever and ever and ever. And that is a life well lived.

You see, here's the point. A legacy of faith is left by those that pour themselves out for the sake of the gospel. I hope you've written this. I hope you'll do it. I hope you'll take just a couple of minutes to just write a couple of lines to somebody that has shared the gospel with you. Some of you need to thank your mom and dad. You need to be like, Mom and Dad, thanks for the drug problem. You drug me to church every time it was open, and I made it.

Okay? And just imagine. imagine where your life would be without that person. You know what's crazy? Can you imagine, maybe not next week, but maybe in a couple of years, can you imagine going to your mailbox and opening it up and getting a thank you card from somebody else that says the reason that I know Jesus is because of you?

Thank you. I can promise you this. No matter what it costs you, No matter how hard it is, you will look back on that life and you will say, I have poured myself out, I have fought the fight, I have finished the race, and it is worth it. But for some of you, in order to live that kind of life, the race begins for you right now. The way I want to wrap up Second Timothy is I want to invite you. Maybe for some of you, you've never surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. maybe today for the very first time, not because necessarily anything I've said, but for whatever reason, today it made sense.

The light came on, the scales fell off your eyes. And for the very first time, you are ready to admit it that you're not a bad person trying to be better. You admit, I am spiritually dead and I need new life. And that today you would be ready to put your faith in Jesus. You would be able to put your trust in Jesus. That simply means that you would believe at the heart level that when Jesus died on the cross, Somehow that counted for you. And in this moment, right where you are, you would confess him as your Lord.

Which just simply means, okay, God, I surrender. I'm not the boss of me anymore. You are. And the Bible says, for anyone who would call on the name of the Lord, it would be saved. That just means for anyone that would admit it, hey, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. For anyone that believes that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me, for anyone that would confess Jesus is Lord, then he rips your old heart out

and he replaces it with a new heart, his heart. He fills you with the spirit and he adopts you as his very own son or daughter. I want to give you the opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make in all of eternity to claim Jesus as your Lord. Would you bow your head and close your eyes?

And if you would say that's me, I am ready for the very first time to admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe somehow that when you're not, Jesus died on the cross, that counted for me. And I'm ready to confess him as my Lord and Savior. If that's you, just raise your hand where you are. Say, Father, here I am. Save me. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you because you first loved us. God, we thank you for the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And God, we thank you that not only did you save us and redeem us

and adopt us as your very own, but you called us into the forceful advancement of your kingdom. to declare and demonstrate the gospel to the very ends of the earth. And God, I prayed for a renewed strength. That, God, as we pour ourselves out, that we would be filled up by you, and we would live a life of no regrets because we live the life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.