Guarding Our Legacy: Faith, Transformation, and Community

The sermon begins with a reflection on the community's recent celebration of 150 years of God's faithfulness and the unity displayed by volunteers from different campuses. The speaker transitions into the ongoing series on Legacy, drawing from the Apostle Paul's final letter to Timothy, emphasizing the importance of guarding one's legacy and the significance of baptism as a public expression of faith.

The speaker discusses the "deposits" in our lives—lessons and experiences that shape who we are. These can be cautionary tales or positive examples from influential figures in our lives. The Apostle Paul is highlighted as someone who recognized and maximized these deposits. The audience is encouraged to consider the significance of their own deposits and to take them seriously.

Personal testimonies are shared, illustrating the transformative power of encountering God. One speaker recounts a moment of desperation that led to a life-changing experience of God's presence, while another, m Chong, describes a journey from skepticism to faith through scripture and the realization of God's love and purpose.

The sermon emphasizes the importance of staying on the right path and following Jesus' patterns to produce positive outcomes. The Holy Spirit is presented as a helper and a security system for the "good deposit" of faith and teachings. The speaker warns against betrayal and the importance of integrity, urging listeners to trust that time will reveal the truth.

The speaker also touches on humility before God, the sacrifices made for freedom, and the importance of attention in preserving and passing down wealth. Personal experiences are shared, including financial decisions and lessons learned from parents about perseverance and consequences.

The importance of continually growing in faith is compared to technology needing updates. The congregation is encouraged to go public with their faith and to guard the deposit of faith given by God. The Holy Spirit is again emphasized as a helper against major threats to our faith: the flesh, the devil, and the world. The speaker calls for discernment and active faithfulness.

Key Takeaways:

- The legacy we leave is not just about the past but also about how we actively guard and shape it for the future. The Apostle Paul's letter to Timothy serves as a reminder that our spiritual inheritance is worth protecting and nurturing. Just as Paul encouraged Timothy, we too must be vigilant in preserving the truth and faith we have received, recognizing that our actions today contribute to the legacy we leave behind. [20:27]

- Life's "deposits" are the experiences and lessons that God provides, shaping our character and destiny. We must be intentional in how we respond to these deposits, whether they are cautionary tales or inspiring examples. Our daily choices determine whether we squander these gifts or use them to build a meaningful legacy, much like Paul did in his ministry. [25:53]

- Personal encounters with God can be pivotal, leading to profound transformation. The testimonies shared in the sermon reveal that moments of desperation can become turning points when we experience God's presence. These encounters are not just emotional highs but catalysts for lasting change, as evidenced by the speakers' journeys from despair to hope and from skepticism to faith. [49:32]

- The Holy Spirit is our divine helper and protector, safeguarding the good deposit of our faith. As believers, we must recognize the threats to our spiritual well-being—the flesh, the devil, and the world—and rely on the Holy Spirit's guidance and power to overcome them. Our faith is not passive; it requires active defense and cultivation to remain vibrant and effective. [39:51]

- Authentic faith requires both holding onto truth and expressing it with love. The speaker warns against the extremes of clinging to orthodoxy without compassion and seeking cultural approval at the expense of truth. Instead, we are called to embrace and live out the teachings of Jesus, balancing firmness in our convictions with a spirit of grace and love that reflects Christ's heart. [31:32]

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. 2 Timothy 1:13-14 (ESV) - "Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you."
2. 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 (ESV) - "For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."
3. Isaiah 53:5 (ESV) - "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed."

#### Observation Questions
1. What does Paul mean by "guard the good deposit entrusted to you" in 2 Timothy 1:14? How does he suggest we do this?
2. How does Paul describe his own journey and transformation in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10? What role does God's grace play in his life?
3. In the sermon, what examples were given to illustrate the concept of "deposits" in our lives? ([25:18])
4. How did the personal testimonies shared in the sermon highlight the transformative power of encountering God? ([49:32])

#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why is it important to "follow the pattern of the sound words" as Paul instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:13? How can this be applied in our daily lives?
2. How does Paul's acknowledgment of his past and God's grace in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 serve as an example for us in dealing with our own past mistakes?
3. The sermon emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit as a helper and protector. How can believers actively rely on the Holy Spirit to guard their faith? ([39:51])
4. What does the sermon suggest about the balance between holding onto truth and expressing it with love? How can this balance be maintained in our interactions with others? ([31:32])

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on the "deposits" in your life. What are some positive examples or cautionary tales that have shaped who you are today? How can you be more intentional in responding to these deposits? ([25:18])
2. The sermon mentioned the importance of staying on the right path and following Jesus' patterns. What are some specific patterns or habits you can adopt to ensure you are on the right path? ([28:13])
3. Personal encounters with God can lead to profound transformation. Can you recall a moment in your life where you felt God's presence strongly? How did it change you, and how can you seek more of these encounters? ([49:32])
4. The Holy Spirit is described as a security system for our faith. What are some practical ways you can invite the Holy Spirit to help guard your faith against the threats of the flesh, the devil, and the world? ([39:51])
5. The sermon highlighted the importance of humility before God and the sacrifices made for freedom. How can you practice humility in your daily life, and what sacrifices might God be calling you to make for the sake of your faith? ([23:03])
6. The speaker encouraged the congregation to go public with their faith. Have you taken steps to publicly express your faith? If not, what is holding you back, and how can you overcome these barriers? ([48:27])
7. Authentic faith requires both holding onto truth and expressing it with love. Think of a recent interaction where you struggled to balance truth and love. How can you approach similar situations differently in the future? ([31:32])

Day 1: Legacy's Vigilant Stewardship
Our spiritual inheritance is a treasure that requires active protection and intentional cultivation. As stewards of this legacy, it is our duty to ensure that the truth and faith passed down to us are preserved and enriched for future generations. This stewardship is not a passive task but a daily commitment to live out and defend the principles of our faith. [20:27]

2 Timothy 1:14 - "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us."
Reflection: How are you actively protecting and nurturing the spiritual legacy entrusted to you?

Day 2: The Impact of Life's Deposits
The experiences and lessons we encounter are divine deposits that shape our character and destiny. These moments, whether they serve as warnings or inspirations, are opportunities for growth and reflection. It is through our responses to these deposits that we either squander God's gifts or use them to construct a legacy of significance, much like the Apostle Paul. [25:53]

1 Corinthians 15:58 - "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
Reflection: What recent experience has God used to shape your character, and how have you responded to it?

Day 3: Transformation Through Divine Encounters
Encountering God in moments of desperation can lead to profound and lasting transformation. These pivotal experiences are not fleeting emotions but are catalysts for a renewed life of hope and faith. Such encounters invite us to turn from despair and skepticism to embrace God's love and purpose. [49:32]

Psalm 34:18 - "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Reflection: Can you recall a time when you felt God's presence in a moment of need? How did that encounter transform your life?

Day 4: The Holy Spirit, Our Faith's Guardian
The Holy Spirit is our divine advocate, actively protecting the good deposit of our faith against the threats of the flesh, the devil, and the world. As believers, we must lean on the Spirit's guidance and strength to navigate these challenges and maintain a vibrant, effective faith. [39:51]

Ephesians 6:17 - "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Reflection: In what ways do you rely on the Holy Spirit to protect and strengthen your faith in the face of daily challenges?

Day 5: Balancing Truth with Love
True faith calls for a balance between holding firm to our convictions and expressing them with love and grace. This balance avoids the extremes of rigid orthodoxy without compassion and the pursuit of cultural acceptance at the expense of truth. It is a call to live out Jesus' teachings with a heart that reflects His love. [31:32]

Ephesians 4:15 - "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ."
Reflection: How can you better embody the balance of truth and love in your interactions with others today?

I well, good morning, Menow Church! So glad that you are with us today. Thanks for joining us this weekend.

I don't know about you, but last weekend would be one of those days that I never forget. It was just an incredible way for us to have a chance to share together this 150 years of God's faithfulness to this community here at Menow. I hope you had a chance to join us for it. It was great to see such a great turnout from all of our campuses, and a special welcome to you.

I think that for lots of us, right, maybe you had some part of it last week that was your favorite. My favorite part of last weekend was seeing volunteers serving together, but normally they're at different campuses. So even though they were from different campuses, I got to see the same heart, the same mission across multiple campuses as one church celebrating together. It was really, really special. Thanks for making space and changing your routine to be there with us.

Now, we are three weeks into a series where we are talking about legacy. And if you're like, "Oh, that was—did you guys plan that?" We did! It was on purpose to do it at the same time.

We are not just talking about God's faithfulness over the course of the last 150 years, but really anticipating what God wants to do next through this special community here at Menow. We've been in the first few verses of a letter that is widely believed to be the Apostle Paul's final letter that he wrote in his life. He writes it to a young pastor that he's been mentoring named Timothy, and he's giving him encouragement specific and personal for what it looks like in his life to guard a legacy.

He knows his time is short, he knows the stakes for Timothy's life, and he wants to leave him with some really, really important final instructions. I also want to make sure that you know that people at all of our campuses are going to go public with their faith in Jesus today by being baptized for the very first time. You want to say thank you to them for maybe taking that step with you today. It's amazing! If you sense God calling you to do that, maybe you didn't sign up beforehand—it's not too late! We are ready for anyone to take that step at all of our campuses, even if you didn't come expecting to. We were expecting you!

So if that's a step that over the course of our time together you've decided to follow Jesus and you're ready to make that decision public, we have everything that you'd need, and we'd love to make it possible for you today.

Now, before we get started, I'm going to pray for us. And if you've never been here before or never heard me speak, I pray kneeling. The reason that I do that is because God says He gives grace to the humble. So even if you're not kneeling in your own heart, even if you're not a follower of Jesus, just humble yourself before God. Who knows what He might have in store for you?

Would you pray with me?

God, thank you. Thank you that you are with us, that your grace and your goodness are with us every moment of every day, no matter what we are enduring, no matter what we're facing, no matter how massive the obstacles in our life or certainly in our world are. God, we are so thankful that we can bring them before you and trust you to work.

And God, certainly on a weekend when we talk about guarding legacy, we do thank you, God, and we give honor to the men and women who have given up freedom many times to put themselves in harm's way, to take on orders, to go to places and fight to defend and protect our freedom. Help us to live in light of that legacy as well that allows us to freely pursue you, worship you, grow in you, take steps with you.

God, we love you. Would you be with us now? It's in Jesus' name, amen.

Now, I'm guessing that some of you can relate to what I'm about to talk about, which is attention. I am living in the middle of it. I have little kids who are really just now beginning to think about the implications of money, right? No one tell them that 25 cents is not a lot of money! Nobody tell—okay, they're on that end of the spectrum.

And then on the other end, for most of this year, I have served as the executive of my mom's estate. I'm seeing the very beginning and the very ending of people's financial reality at the same time.

Now, my parents were never rich, but after my dad's passing a few years ago, my mom became very interested in trying to preserve something to hand down to her kids. And the problem for her is the same problem for lots of us, which is the longer you wait to do that, the harder it is to do it. Really, the time to make that decision is pretty early on.

Both my parents came from difficult family backgrounds and experienced their entire careers without the benefit of college degrees or the pedigree that you would normally associate with the type of jobs that they did. And even though in my life I didn't get some of the same traditional childhood experiences, and some of it was really difficult, there are things that I received as well.

I was given a deposit, just like you were. I learned how to persevere through very difficult situations and circumstances. I learned that the things I did had consequences and the opportunities that were in front of me were not guaranteed or permanent. I needed to show up well or they would likely disappear.

We all have deposits like that in our lives. They're a part of our legacy, whether they're connected to church or not. God's responsible; He is providing opportunities for you and me to learn even the difficult lessons. Some of them for you, like me, might have been deposits of what not to do.

Anybody get any of those deposits? The cautionary tales in your life? I saw drugs destroy one of my brother's lives, and very early on, even as a child, I knew I wouldn't ever touch that stuff. It was this costly deposit and lesson that I got to learn from my brother.

For some of you, you watched the way your parents treated one another or the way you felt as their child, and you knew you didn't want to live or lead in a home that felt like that as an adult. That's a deposit.

Others of you, you have a great example of a parent, coach, teacher, boss, or friend who made an impact in your life that you are so thankful for, and you're committed to making the same kind of impact in others. The example that others have made by investing in you is a deposit.

What you do with that deposit is the choice that you will make, and you won't make it once. You will make that choice every single day of your life.

The Apostle Paul, he had been invested in his entire life, first in the Jewish faith and then by Christians. Imagine the first time that someone from this new group of Jesus followers took an interest or cared for Paul. Paul, who had been a religious leader within Judaism and was actively persecuting Christians, and now somebody extends hospitality to him, kindness to him, helps solve a problem in his life or ministry. Can you imagine how that must have felt?

Paul knew how deeply he needed God's grace as a result of that. And even with all of his boldness and all of his ministry impact, he would admit this: he says, "For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and you believed."

See, Paul knew the deposits that had been made in his life, and he wanted to make the most of the time that he had left in light of the deposits that had been given to him, which is really what he's trying to leave with Timothy. He's basically asking Timothy to consider regularly, and I think God's asking you and me to consider: are you interested in your deposit? Are you taking it seriously that God, up to this point in your life, has given you experiences and opportunities—good things that you're trying to follow, bad things you're trying to avoid—on purpose and for a purpose?

And here's what's hard, especially if you're younger: legacy feels like one of those problems you're going to solve decades down the road, doesn't it? But what you'll see in this passage is that patterns create pathways, and course-correcting down the road of your life for your legacy gets more difficult.

As a matter of fact, there will never be a day, no matter how old you are, there will never be a day where it will be less costly or less difficult to course-correct your legacy than today. It's worth paying attention to.

We never really got on airplanes as a kid growing up. Everywhere that we went was a long road trip. And before you think, "Okay, I have an idea of what road trips in 2023 are," let me just dispel some of that for you and let you know about the road trips I experienced, okay? Some of you, you can relate; you just shout amen every time I say something you can relate to, okay?

The first thing was, it meant that we were in a large station wagon. Anybody even know what those are now? Right? Just a big station wagon. In that, it meant that we had books on tape, which are like—it's like streaming but on small rectangular devices that you just kept putting in. And I never wanted to listen to the books; they were books my parents wanted to listen to.

And then my mom, she had this really big map, which is like an app, but it's on paper, and there's only one of them. And she would comb through the details of how to give directions to this map, and she was regularly navigating my dad about where to go to get to our preferred destination. Well, he simultaneously applied just as much effort to completely ignore her. That was what road trips were for me.

And the problem was that they were doing all that, and I'm sitting quietly in the back seat. I'm using a coloring book. Let me make sure you heard that—not a coloring app, a coloring book! And I'm waiting for the tension to resolve one way or another.

What made it more difficult is that the longer the trip went on, the more my mom and my dad were equally convinced of their competing thoughts about where to go. And we went further and further off the route that would get us to our destination. That's what my road trip life was like.

Eventually, it meant that we would inevitably stop at a gas station for directions, which I'm just saying as a 2023 person feels wild to me that we ever—this is how desperate we were. We were like, "You know what? This random gas station attendant will help me know how to make my interstate travel effective." I can't imagine doing that today, right? But that's where we were without smartphones, without the solutions of GPS. What a different world we live in today!

But all those patterns took us somewhere. Those patterns meant that our path was going to be less direct than we wanted it to be. Paul, he knew the power of patterns. God knows the power of patterns in your life—road trip or life trip.

Some of his final words to Timothy were about patterns. He said it this way: "Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." Paul had been investing in Timothy for years, and he didn't want him to forget.

See, this pattern that we—this phrase that we translate "follow the pattern of the sound words" can also be translated "hold on to the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me." Paul knew that there would be so much pressure for Timothy to drift over time. So much pressure! All he would have to do is just kind of let go of the patterns that he had heard from Paul.

All he had to do was let go of the patterns that he had seen in his mom and his grandmother—these God-honoring truths—in favor of something that felt more culturally compatible. And we all feel the same, don't we?

Paul, he had spent time with Timothy, and I'm sure there was lots of time for sharing, lots of time for praying together, lots of time studying together. I'm confident that letters like this from Paul and whatever else Timothy could get his hands on, he was pouring over it every day. He was memorizing it, he was making notes about it, he was processing it over and over and over again.

Imagine if you only had a few books from the entire New Testament as your entire library of the scriptures. See, without the full New Testament assembled—which wouldn't be done, by the way, for hundreds of years—these patterns were even more important because they were more difficult to make sure you had a comprehensive understanding of. It would have been so easy for these things to get distorted.

But Paul also wanted to make sure that Timothy was hanging on to the Orthodox theology—right living, right believing, right understanding—in the spirit of faith and love that flowed from Jesus. It's easy to slip into one of the two extremes, and Paul wanted to make sure that Timothy didn't, and God wants to make sure that you and I don't slip into one of these extremes.

One of the extremes is that we hang on to the truth at the expense of people. We're so interested in being right that we're right with information and wrong with people. On the other side, we can slip up and out of a genuine concern and love for people; we abandon truth to find their approval. Neither of these is what Paul's advocating.

He's charging Timothy to hang on to the truth with the love of Jesus driving him. That's what God's calling you and me to do—that the deposit He's made in you should grow that kind of faith.

Timothy had been headed down a pathway from Paul's pattern for a number of years, but it wouldn't have taken much change for that pathway to head off track. One of the things about legacy is that it has in its mind the long term. If you're a couple degrees off course and you're going from one side of your house to another side, you'll still get to the other side of the house.

But if you're on a flight to the East Coast and you're a couple degrees off at the beginning of your flight, you're going to end up in the wrong state. See, that's the power of patterns creating pathways.

The longer we're off course, the further off course we become. But the same thing works the other way. If you stay connected to the patterns of Jesus over the course of your life, you stay faithful in pursuing Him and walking with other people trying to do the same, your life will produce outcomes that would have been impossible without God.

Some of you, you grew up in homes like mine, and the idea that you could have a different legacy or live a different life that would have different outcomes—sometimes you wonder if it's true for you. It is! It is absolutely true for you if you will turn from your ways and follow the patterns of Jesus for your life.

See, all of our lives are like long road trips, and while information has never been more accessible than it is today, it may be that wisdom has never been more rare. The sooner that you course-correct your patterns, the sooner you can get back on the right path. But you have to decide if the work is worth it.

It will never be easier than it is today. If you think, "I'll do that. I'll do that in a few months. I'll do that in the New Year. I'll do that when this resolves itself at work or with this relation," I'm telling you, it will never be easier than it is today.

You have to ask yourself: are you interested in your deposit? Are you interested in growing it? Are you willing to watch it continue to shrink? Will you live in such a way that recognizes God has placed people and situations in your life for a reason, that He actually wants to grow you through them?

The second idea that we find in the passage from Paul is that deposits require security. See, the most valuable things in our lives are things we take the best care of, right? Maybe for you, it's an alarm system for your house or a safe to keep documents or special family keepsakes. We take care of them differently on purpose.

Paul knows the patterns that he has set up can really help him, but he also wants Timothy to understand the need for guarding the deposit of God in his life. The deposit was bigger than just what Paul had done, and it would take more than just Paul's words to guard it.

He says it this way: "By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you." See, the Holy Spirit is the security system for the good deposit that God is trusting Timothy with, and it's the good deposit guard system for you too.

The deposit was Paul; it was his teachers, and specifically, Paul calls out his mother and his grandmother, which I can absolutely relate to and be thankful for. They are just people over and over again who have invested in Timothy. Timothy was carrying on the faith of people who had gone before him—people who had sacrificed their way of thinking for the sake of following the patterns of Jesus.

And now Timothy was leading a church to help others discover the hope of Jesus too. You're a part of a community today, even if this is your very first day, of men and women who knew that they loved you without knowing your name. Their faithfulness is a deposit we continue to honor today.

But in your life, in your specific circumstances, what is your faith deposit? Is it the faith that was handed down to you from your parents? Maybe it was a bold friend that risked relational status quo with you in order to share what their faith in Jesus meant to them. Maybe it was a pastor or a ministry that has invested in you for years. These are all deposits that we hopefully live in light of.

One of the first places that Alyssa and I lived was Fort Worth, Texas, where I did grad school. While we were there, we lived in a nice little place downtown, and there was an alarm system that was a part of this little kind of townhome thing that I was very faithful to set before we left our condo or our townhome.

The reason was because if somebody broke into our place while we were gone, I hoped that the sound, the beeping that the system would make, would scare them away. The reason that I hoped that the beeping would scare them away is because that is the only possibility that the system could achieve. It wasn't hooked up to a service. Did I mention that I was a seminary student? All it could do was bark; it had no bite.

And that's some of our security systems for the deposit of sound teaching and the investment of faith in our life. We've never personalized it; we've never incorporated it into our daily decision-making. It's just the way we sort of think has been sometimes shaped by rooms just like this one.

We might make some noise early on, but without something more serious, without integrating it into our life, we will often give up. We will let go of the sound teaching, just like Paul is warning Timothy not to do.

What are the threats to your faith, do you think? Do you live in light of these—not out of fear, but out of fortitude—to understand that you actually have to take intentionality to walk in the faithfulness of who God is?

How can the Holy Spirit help you? Well, He can help you see them. John Mark Comer, an author and pastor, highlights three major threats to the deposit of God's work in our life that I think can be helpful.

The first, he says, is the flesh. And by that, he means the sinful condition that we have as people. Even trying to follow Jesus with a renewed spirit, we live in fallen flesh that is working against the choices that God wants for us.

There's the devil, which is a real spiritual enemy with a real spiritual force working for our destruction, trying to take us out. And then there's the world, which are the systems that are all around us all the time that the devil and his demons are constantly manipulating to hurt you and me.

And if you're like, "That got very serious very fast," if you don't live in light of those, it's very easy for your and my faith to be sabotaged. John Mark Comer goes on to highlight just how dysfunctional the approaches of surrendering our good deposit are and not asking the Holy Spirit to guard it.

He says, "Amid the revolution, the questions nobody seems to be asking are: Is this sort of the moment we live in culturally making us better people, more loving people, or even happier people? Are we thriving in a way we weren't prior to our liberation?"

Isn't that an important question? That even if you're not a Christian in here, would you say that you have found the purpose you're looking for? That you found the satisfaction you were hoping to gain in your job or your family relationships or in your accomplishments or in your acquisitions?

The Bible says that the only place we can find that is in the creator of our souls. For some of you, the best way to ask the Holy Spirit to guard your spiritual deposit is to start by asking Him in prayer, admitting that you've been trying to do it on your own, and saying, "I need you to give me discernment."

And then when you show the things and the people and the situations that are undermining my faith, give me the power to do something about it. For others, it may be that there's a step of faith that God is calling you to take, and guarding your deposit means investing it in a step of faithfulness with integrity to grow in some area of your life.

God doesn't want our faith to be stagnant. Sometimes, church, I think we position our faith as a transaction for heaven, not a true trajectory for eternity. It's not about where we'll go someday; it's about the fact that God wants to have control of our life today and every day.

Paul's telling Timothy, and God's telling you, that your legacy involves a good deposit—a deposit that offers you patterns to follow, patterns to hold on to, and a resource worth God's security system. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the helper; He wants to help us walk in faithful truth together. We're supposed to do it in relationship.

And finally, in what feels like a pretty strange turn, Paul reminds us that people keep receipts. We might not. The dirty laundry of who has wronged or functioned outside of integrity with us. Paul wants to make it clear to Timothy that he remembers, and he is warning Timothy about the dangers of betrayal.

It'd be one thing for your social media following or for you to throw something—somebody in your life—under the bus on your social media platforms or maybe a text thread that gets screenshotted and shared. But Paul, he went to another level. The people he's criticizing, we're talking about 2,000 years later.

I believe that God inspired the Bible and that He used specific personalities of its writers to do it, and there is no doubt that He used Paul's specific personality in this passage right here. Paul says, "You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom were Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day, and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus."

Paul, he was keeping receipts. He knew who had helped him and who hadn't. He was confident that even when things didn't work out in the moment, they would work out in time. He was confident that even if someone had functioned in foolishness or was evil in a situation, that time would tell the truth.

And I just encourage you, for you, you may find yourself feeling discouraged. You may find yourself feeling betrayed, and you feel like, "You know what? Who's going to finally reveal that?" Time will reveal that. Time always tells the truth.

As difficult and as painful as it might be, as much as you might want to inappropriately put somebody on blast, you can trust God with the truth. Maybe for you, it's a warning that part of guarding a legacy in your life is staying true to who you are in Jesus and maintaining integrity with others.

When we face pressure, it's often people who get squeezed out of our thought process for what they need rather than how we can escape the situation. We're ready to take a shortcut; we're ready to cut a corner because ultimately we feel like it's an easier way than dealing openly and honestly with what is happening in our lives.

On the other hand, maybe you have those friends that you've kept your whole life—friends you've had for decades, people that you're referring to. But when you talk to them, even after years of not talking to them, it's like no time has passed at all. Friends where you can have the conversation that includes everything from the kind of deepest level of loyalty and belief in one another to the fun you can have with each other.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've connected with friends in other parts of the country, and part of my legacy of faith and the way God has grown me is in these friendships. In the same conversation, we talked about casual topics—our family, work environments—and then the heaviest stuff that you can imagine that we're carrying in this moment of our lives.

If you can't think of people like that in your life, it's probably connected to a pattern that you have of being scared of the conflict, the loyalty, and a fear of betrayal that comes with it. If you want to grow in this part of lifelong legacy, maybe grow some relationships you currently have into faith-filled relationships.

I'd recommend a book to you called "Made for Friendship" as a possible resource for you to think about what it would look like for me to take a step—not just to have acquaintances that I see sometimes or people that I can give the highlights to, but people I can be really honest with.

For some of you, it's going to take a step, and we're going to talk about that in just a minute. We don't often think about our faith as a deposit that we're living with or stewarding, but what's funny is we do that with other stuff, don't we?

For our first several years of marriage, we were renters in the city of Seattle, and we lived with an everyday awareness that the way we treated where we currently lived was directly connected to a security deposit. If we didn't take care of the house, whatever it took to fix it was going to come out of that deposit.

As a matter of fact, to this day, when I go pick up a rental car, I just take a quick video with my phone of the condition of the car before I take it so I won't be held responsible for pre-existing damage.

Don't you wish you could do that in relationships? Like when you meet somebody—don't do that—but don't you wish you could see? We're really intentional with those kinds of deposits in other areas of our life, but I think what Paul is challenging us to do is bring that kind of intentionality to the deposits that we've been given in our faith.

One of the best ways to guard the legacy of faith that God has placed in us is to keep growing. Faith is like the technology that we use every day, and sometimes we can hang on to a device or use a piece of software long beyond it continues to get updates and support, and we feel like it might work, but it's actually getting worse and worse every day. It's getting more vulnerable, more susceptible to threats every single day.

Your faith is designed for updates all the time—for you to keep growing all the time, every day. And one of those that you're going to see in just a minute is people going public with their faith by getting baptized for the very first time.

And maybe for you, you sense the desire to do that same thing—that God's waking you up to be able to go public with your faith. That may be the thing that God's going to do to help you guard that deposit in this next season.

In a moment, you'll hear instructions on how to do that very thing. For some of you, it's filling out a connect card or going to Info Central. For some of you, it's checking out First Step Sunday right up here right after service and joining the team—finding somebody shoulder-to-shoulder and beginning friendships with people.

Menow Church, don't settle for an end-of-life faith that might still look functional on the outside but is featured less and less in your decisions every day. God wants us to guard the deposit of faith He's given us so that it can grow—not just for us to coast through life.

Let's pray that He does that right now.

God, you want to do something in each and every one of our lives. No one in this room is designed to be a spectator. And so, God, would you give us a fresh perspective right now about the step you want us to take, about the areas of our life that we've let ourselves stay open and susceptible to dangers and threats without the protection of your Holy Spirit?

And God, would you help some of us that are going to take steps even right now, even in this room, even over the next few minutes, to be examples for the rest of us that you're not done? And God, there's a path in front of us if we follow you. It's in Jesus' name, amen.

So now we get to spend a little time in celebration of people that have come forward today to take this next step of baptism—to say that they are following Jesus with all of their life forward.

And today, we're going to have them come up and share a little bit of their testimony and their story about what brought them here, and then they're going to go over to our lovely little pool here and go through baptism.

And here at our church, we don't think that the pool is magic or anything special happens, but what we do believe is that it is this beautiful symbol and physical marker within our life that we are dying to our old ways of life and being raised to new life in Jesus and a new way to flourish here.

So I just want to invite those that are coming forward this morning to go ahead and come up here and join me on the stage. Come on up! Don't be shy!

Okay, ready?

Okay, say your name.

"My name is Jarcia, and I've been coming to church since I was about 11. Growing up, I never went to church, and even though I always had a feeling that God was real, I didn't really think much about my faith. When I first came to Menow Church, I didn't really feel a connection with God because everything was so new and unfamiliar that I didn't understand what was going on. But then when I was 13, there was a day we went to church just like any ordinary Sunday, but this time felt different. Something about the music playing during worship hit me differently. I felt God's presence in that room, and it felt like I finally had an understanding and a need of strength in my relationship with God. It was like a feeling of relief. I cried a bit during that sermon, not because I was sad or grieving, but because I felt joyful and safe. Since that day, I've been growing and learning about my faith. Not only did this help me with my relationship with God, but it also made me a better and happier person. I became much more active and social than I ever was, and I don't believe that was just a coincidence. I want to get baptized as a way of showing my commitment to Jesus. It marks a major milestone in my faith journey and how far I've come."

Good morning, y'all! I hope you're having a good weekend.

Good morning, family! My name is Ryan Blake Lima. I'm a grateful follower of my King, Jesus Christ. I've been attending Menow Church on and off for the previous eight years, most recently the last five months. I have moved back to Sonoma County, and I'm ready to call Menow home again.

Before coming to Christ, I served in the U.S. Army for six years, and this is where I was first baptized at 19 years old, mostly out of fear of my upcoming combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. This is why I want to recommit today. But to be real, I had no idea what I was committing to and was unaware of exactly just how much my entire life was going to be changed.

The moment I truly began to believe in Yahweh and follow our Lord was at a time for me where my life felt so broken. I was so sad, and I was so angry at the world to the point of where I was very seriously contemplating suicide. But with one last hope, I hid my knees and I bowed down, put my arms outward, my face touching the floor, and I began sobbing to our Lord. I cried out my entire heart to Him, and then I said, "Okay, God, if you're real, please, please help me. I need you."

Then I waited. After a few moments had passed, still bowed down, I felt a huge warm energy sensation come up from behind me and hug me, giving me a euphoric body high for about 30 minutes. Since that moment in 2016, my whole life began to change for the better. I've had too many encounters with Jesus to want to number, and even more with the Holy Spirit, and I'm just so very blessed to be given such a beautiful purpose within this broken world.

Before Jesus, I never truly knew what love looked like, but thanks be to God Almighty, I not only know what it looks like, but I'm also able to give it away. May God bless all of your beautiful souls in Jesus' name. [Applause]

Amen! Wow, that really blessed me. Thank you!

Good morning, everyone! My name is M. Chong. I've been accompanying my wife to Menow Church for over 12 years. During that time, I appreciated the psychological truths of Christianity while being certain of a random and purposeless universe. And yet, objective morality confronted me at every turn, and the fine-tuned beginning of creation left me without excuse.

Amazingly, God actually makes known the end from the beginning, fulfilling all of scripture. The day I read Isaiah 53, I wept with joy and relief, peace and gratitude, realizing that after all this time, my life didn't have to be sustained by a series of contrived purposes, but that God is real, His purpose is perfect, and He loves me more than I could ever imagine.

I became a follower of Christ on May 12th of this year, and since then, I've overflowed with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing that in everything—the mountains and the valleys—God promises to work for the good of those who love Him. And as I sit on the potter's wheel, I can see day by day that He is shaping me into the vessel for blessing that He has always willed for me.

So my baptism today proclaims from the biggest stage I can that I am God's redeemed and justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. [Applause]

Amen!

So this is a community celebration that we're about to participate in. And so in just a minute, as we go down, you're going to stand and sing in celebration of what has happened in these three gentlemen's lives.

I just invite you to pray for them, to celebrate with them, to cheer them on. But then also remember that as we're doing this, that I'll be right down here at the front, and if you want to come forward and talk about baptism in your life and taking that next step, I would gladly be happy to talk with you right down here at the front.

So would you stand with us as we go down and prepare for baptism?

"We've been in the first few verses of a letter that is widely believed to be the Apostle Paul's final letter that he wrote in his life and he writes it to a young Pastor that he's been mentoring named Timothy and he's giving him encouragement specific and personally for what it looks like in his life to guard a legacy he knows his time is short he knows the stakes for Timothy's life and he wants to leave him with some really really important final instructions" [21:31 ]

"What you do with that deposit is the choice that you will make and you won't make it once you will make that choice every single day of your life." [26:26]

"Paul also wanted to make sure that Timothy was hanging on to the Orthodox theology right living right believing right understanding in the spirit of faith and love that flowed from Jesus." [32:42 ]

"The holy spirit is the security system for the good deposit that God is trusting Timothy with and it's the good deposit guard system for you too." [37:08]

"Amid the revolution the questions nobody seems to be as even asking are is this sort of the moment we live in culturally making us better people more loving people or even happier people" [40:23]