Good morning. Guess what? Yeah, so we're figuring it out. It came in this morning and found that neither of our chillers was on, and so we are going to work through it, man. I appreciate you coming and being here. I'm excited you're here. I think God has something planned. I literally told the office this past staff meeting, I said, "I don't know what has changed or broken, but the last three weeks have been incredibly intense. I said we have made the devil angry, and we're doing something right. Stick with it. Stick with it."
And so this morning we're going to be a little warm. Our HVAC guy is on the way, and he's going to come hopefully get us up and running and whatnot. But I'm excited because we have the opportunity to worship. I'm excited because we have the opportunity to hear the word of God today. And I'm excited about this message. I think it's going to resonate with us.
And so I just want you to prepare your heart and to prepare your minds and let the Lord. Let's keep the world out there and let's let His spirit reign in here. Amen. And just let Him speak to you this morning. If you feel the Lord stirring you, listen and obey. Let's honor Him in what we do and what we say and how we carry ourselves. And let's give Him praise. Amen.
We have coming up here pretty soon Sisterhood Sunday. Mary Gibson is going to be speaking. The theme is "Broken to Beautiful" on August the 11th from 12:30 to 3 in Common Grounds. There's a $25 cost to it. But the reason there's a $25 cost to it is that there's going to be a craft involved in it. So it helps purchase some materials that are going to be needed for that. But I want to encourage you to be a part of that.
And I have heard some of her teaching on this "Broken to Beautiful." Absolutely fantastic. I know you will enjoy it. So I want to encourage you to be there. Also, backpacks. Pastor Dustin has talked about that. $30 a backpack. And we are slowly getting there. As soon as we hit our backpack goal, we are going to turn the air conditioner back on. So I want to encourage you.
That's not true. That's not true. I do want to encourage you to give and be a part of this. And it's going to be a great time. Amen. Beautiful.
Let's all stand to our feet. And let's go to the Lord with a word of prayer. And even as I'm praying for you, will you pray for all of us today? And let's just ask the Lord to be with us, to move, to touch, to heal. God knows what you need. And God has it.
And so this morning, it's about us laying down the stuff, laying down the distractions, laying down the things, and focusing in on Him. He's the King of Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's not a God who is distant. He's a God who is close. He's a God who is touchable. And He's a God who is for you. And so let's receive that today.
Father, we just receive today what you want to do in us. We speak that out, God. We speak it out as a statement of faith. We speak it out, God, as an invitation to let your will be done inside of us today, Father. Don't let the distractions of the world, don't let the distractions of what's going on in our lives, God, get in the way of you saying to us and you doing in us what you desire to do.
Because we say our hearts and our minds are open and ready to receive. Let your will be done in us. If it's to correct, correct. If it is to heal, heal. If it is to build up, build up. If it is to tear down, tear down, Father. Your word says that you are the potter and we are the clay. And so let your hands be at work, God. Let your hands be seen on our lives, in our lives, and through our lives, Lord Jesus.
So that we can be what you call us to be, do what you ask us to do, and that, Father, that as we go, that people may see Christ in us. We thank you for being who you are. In your name. And everybody said, Amen and Amen.
And put your arms out like this. I want you to turn around and give somebody a big hug this morning. God bless you. We thank you for who you are, for what you do. And God, we say it, you are a holy God. You are a holy God.
Father, we as the people of God need to say that. We need to say that louder each and every day, God, because we live in a world, your word tells us in 2 Peter chapter 3, that in the last days, people will become lovers of themselves. Father, your word tells us that in Galatians, that you will not be mocked.
And so, Father, I come and I just pray that you will pour out your grace on us, that we as your people, Father, that we would go out and speak. Speak that God is holy, that we would go out and speak the things of the Lord, that, Father, in these days, it seems like they're getting darker, that we would go out and shine brighter so that everywhere that we go, God, the neighborhoods we live in, the homes, our coworkers, our jobs, our places, everywhere that we go, God, may there be in us a light that shines for the world to see that people may see Christ.
I thank you today that you are a holy God. I thank you today that you are who you say you are. Father, we love you and we give you praise and glory in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen and Amen. Come on, give Him a thank God for Him this morning. Let's praise Him. He's good. He's worthy. Amen.
You can be seated. Hallelujah. I want to, again, remind you, backpacks are coming up. $30 a backpack. It's not too late. Please join in. Be a part of that. Also, on August the 11th, there's going to be a Sisterhood Sunday. Mary Gibson, "Broken to Beautiful," $25 cost. And that is for the crafts. They're going to be doing some stained glass. It's going to be awesome. And I want to encourage you to be a part of that if you hear you in the ladies.
Let's pray over our message and pray over our offering. Father, we love you. We thank you. We thank you because you are good, you're worthy, you deserve it, and you are a holy God. And I ask that you will move today, God, that your will will be accomplished in us today, God.
Father, will you just help us see? Father, will you help us settle in our hearts that we're never going to fit in in this world because we're not of it. Light just doesn't blend into darkness. It just doesn't. And so, Father, help us instead of rather trying to find our way to fit. May we realize that we're called, we're set apart, and may we shine brightly, I ask, in your holy and precious name, Father.
Bless the offering that's going to be given right now, Lord God, and let it go towards furthering your kingdom. And we'll give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name. Amen and Amen.
Hallelujah. Well, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6. We're still there. We're going to kind of keep going in that. If you're watching online, Facebook or YouTube, I thank you for joining us and being a part of the service. They'll drop in a giving link if you want to be a part of giving. Also, for her here, we got the boxes, we got the plates.
There you go. Bob, you look like you're doing a great job there. Oh, my Lord, Bob. Hey, this is a PG-rated church service, my friend. But we can see you. And that's the problem. What? Stop. You got belly button lint. I don't know what's happening.
No, it is so good. So good to be with you. And we have been in a series on getting over yourself. Getting over yourself. Look at the person you're sitting beside and say, "Sometimes you just got to get over yourself." You got to do it. Because the life that we are called to live, that we are created to live, can be limited simply because we get in the way.
What I think and what I want. And here's what I'm going to do for God instead of doing what God asked me to do. We can get in the way. And it's very easy to be selfish in a world that elevates self over everything. And it's amazing to be prideful and lack humility in the way that we live and engage with each other.
To understand that pride has a way of blinding us to the process. Pride that is in us. And that's the struggle. And it's amazing. Because if you don't see the pride in you, it's hard to address it. And when someone else points it out in you, pride often causes us to resist it. So it's a very real struggle in our lives, I think, at times. So we can miss it in our own lives.
Now, this past week we took a little bit of time and we talked about how we can be pulled into focusing on the temporary in our lives. That we live in a world that is always trying to sell you something. It is always trying to sell you something. And no matter what you have, there's a better version of it out there. And you need it.
I appreciate you just brought the brand new 2024 Honda Accord. Well, guess what? The 2025s are right around the corner. And that's the one you really need. This is what our world is constantly doing. Like the Big Mac. You've got to have now with bacon. And they always are battering something. Always crying. Creating something new that you need to have. There's a better version of it.
And so it can be a challenge for us sometimes to not lose perspective in our lives that all of this is just temporary. That everything we have is temporary. The car you drive, the house you live in, the clothes you wear, everything is just temporary. The problems you even have, temporary. They're not going to last. They're not going to last forever. They're just not.
And so it's very easy for us to get lost in the pursuit of the temporary. And it can make us take our eyes off of things that really, really matter. Like understanding that Jesus is coming back. That one day, man, the clouds are going to split. And he's going to come. And every man, every woman, every child, every knee will bow. And every tongue will confess.
And that all of us. Look at your neighbor and say he's talking to you. All of us will be before a holy God one day. And those who know him as Lord and Savior will enter into heaven. And those who do not will spend their eternities in the lake of fire. It is real. Heaven is real. Hell is real. Can I get an amen on that?
See, and the thing is this. If we really believe this, it should affect the way that we live. Right? Come on, can we have church today? If I really believe that, it should affect the way that I live. Now, you've got to listen to what I'm saying. If I say I believe that, but it doesn't change the way I live. If it doesn't change the way I interact with people. If it doesn't change the things I give my life to, my time to, and my energy to. Do you really believe it?
Scriptures tell us that even the demons believe. Right? James 2:19, you say you have faith. You believe that there's one God. Good for you. James is getting a little sassy. Well, good for you. But he says this. Even the demons believe this. And they tremble in terror. So believing, okay, great. Hey, there's a God. There's a heaven. Great. Even the demons know that. Does it impact how we live?
And if I truly believe that one day he's going to return, I need to be ready for that. And that should impact how I engage in my relationships. That should impact how I handle my life. It should impact what I invest my life into. And the decisions that I make, not just on Sundays and Wednesdays, but daily. Every decision. Jeff, they're getting quiet on me.
It is amazing how much power the temporary has over us. And we can just let it control so much of who we are and of what we do. And so I asked you last week, do you live your life with eternity on your mind? Because that's what's going to last. Because you've got to choose either eternity or the temporary. That's going to be what motivates your life. Either the eternity or the temporary is going to be what is our driving force.
And in Luke 12, Jesus was telling us, don't get caught up in stuff that's not going to matter in the long run. Don't get caught up trying to impress people and put all your energy into living this image that you want people to see and forget all about God. But be rich in God. That's what he was saying. Be rich in God.
We can plan and prepare for a lot of temporary things and sometimes fail to prepare for the main thing. And that's what this gentleman in Luke 12 had. He had a great harvest. And he wasn't spending it. He wasn't spending it on crazy things. He wasn't out living wild. He was planning. He was looking ahead. He was a saver. He said, man, I need bigger barns. And I can save this. And it's just going to provide for my life so much more. And I'll be able to relax a little bit.
There was nothing wrong with being a planner. There's nothing wrong with being blessed. There's nothing wrong with being a thinker. There's nothing wrong with any of this. Where he went wrong was he never asked God, "God, what would you have me do? What would you do with this?" He was focused on the here and the now. Nothing wrong with blessed. Nothing wrong with having nice things. Amen? Like air conditioning.
That was a bad joke right there. Just don't be poor in Jesus. Because I'm telling you, one day we're going to stand before him. And you could have stacks and stacks and stacks of the temporary. But if you're poor in Jesus, you're going to be broke for eternity.
So I want to start off this morning kind of playing a little game with you. And I need you to play along. I don't know. Has anyone ever played the game, "Would You Rather?" I heard one for "Would You Rather." So let me give you the basic layout. If you've never played it, I throw out two scenarios. Would you rather this or this? And you have to choose one of them. All right? You have to choose one of them. You can't say, "I don't know."
I tried to play this yesterday with someone close to me that I love. And their answer to everything was, "I don't know." I'm like, you, this is, this, why? So I'm going to try it with you today. And I hope that you do better. But you have to choose one. And what you can do is, I want you to kind of partner up with somebody so that when I throw out the questions, you can answer. You can tell the other person your answer. Everybody understand?
All right. Awesome. Question number one. Now listen, if you are, well, let me go. Number one. Would you rather find $1 million or find true love? I know some of you are thinking, I'll take the million dollars and ask somebody if they want to go out with a millionaire. I know what you're thinking. Would you rather find $1 million or would you rather find true love? Huh?
Well, I didn't ask you this one. I was afraid she'd take the money. All right. Now listen, if you were sitting by a significant other or a spouse, please answer that carefully. Okay. All right. Do you have your answers? Did you share them?
All right. Question number two. This is the one I asked my wife. Would you rather have legs as long as fingers or fingers as long as legs? Would you rather have legs as long as fingers or fingers as long as your legs? Huh? This is deep spiritual stuff today. What do you think? That's what I'm talking about. Legs as long as fingers. Okay. All right. That's good.
Number three. Would you rather win $1 million or have your best friend win $10 million? And again, if you're sitting by your best friend, answer carefully. There's a lot of wheeling and dealing going on. If you want, you give me some, right? All right. Last question. Would you rather always be 10 minutes late or always 20 minutes early?
Now, we see when some of y'all come into church, so answer this honestly. Exactly. So the whole purpose of this game is just to create scenarios, and you have to make a choice. You get to choose two options. You have to choose one. And here's the thing. It can be difficult when we are in a place that we have two really good options, that both answers you kind of want, but you have to make a decision.
Or maybe you're at a place that there are two really bad options, and it's really difficult to choose which one you should go with. And over the last couple of weeks, we've kind of been comparing two things against each other. Are we going to go with what the world says? Are we going to go with what God's Word says? Are we going to do what we want to do, and what God is calling us to do? And what God has called us to do?
And sometimes they're the same, and sometimes they're very different things. Sometimes what God asks you to do is not what you want to do. Are we going to live in this temporary world, or are we going to focus on the eternal? And this morning, are we going to walk in wisdom, or are we going to choose the foolishness of this world?
You see, throughout our day, we're often in a place that we have to make decisions, that we have to make choices. Every single day, you do it. How do I respond? What do I say? How do I handle this? And you and I, as the followers of Christ, are really called to take the road that is less traveled.
And we read about this in the Gospels. In Matthew 7:13 and 14, he says this, "You can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many that choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it."
So you get this picture in your mind, this image of this wide path with lots of people on it, and it's easy, and it's comfortable, and then there is this narrow path that is more challenging, and it doesn't have a lot of people walking it. And so sometimes when we are doing what God calls us to do, it can seem counterintuitive.
Someone hurts you, God says, forgive. That feels counterintuitive to us because what we want to do is hurt them back. Someone lies about you, and they go out and tell their group of friends and everything. Our response is not to forgive and show grace and to pray for those who speak vile things against you. We want to go out and get our friends and build our team and talk bad about them, right?
Sometimes the things of God seem and feel counterintuitive. And it feels right to take the wide path. It feels right to take the comfortable path because how can so many people be wrong? Isn't there safety in numbers? That's what the world says. The majority of people, well, a majority of people can be wrong. Amen?
The same chapter, he gives us another image to see what he's talking about, the wise and the foolish builder. And he said there's a wise man who builds his house on the rock, on a solid foundation. And there was a foolish man that built his house on the sand, on the temporary.
Matthew 7:24 to 27, he says this, "Anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rains come in torrents and floodwaters rise, and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and the floods and the mighty winds come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash."
And so a wise man, a wise person, is someone that hears the word of God and puts it into practice. It's not just growing in knowledge and living the same. It's not just growing in knowledge. It's not just someone who has understanding of, but does not apply it to the way that they live. It's not just knowledge. It's not just learning something here or there, but it is the application of the word of God to our lives, building on that solid foundation.
And I want to be very, very clear. There are going to be things that you read in this book, things that you see in this book that you are absolutely going to love. You're going to read it. You're going to say amen. You're going to stomp around. You're going to have a Jericho march. And there are going to be some things that you read in this book that I'm going to tell you the truth. You don't like it. But so what? This is the word of God. This is the solid foundation. This is the standard by which everything is stacked up against.
And when I stand on the word, I will stand strong. Doesn't matter what the culture says. Doesn't matter what the culture does. I'm telling you this will stand and that will fall every single time. And we've been looking at 1 Timothy 6 and Paul is writing to Timothy, who was a young church leader. He's pastoring a church, really a first generation Christians. Isn't that amazing? First generation Christians, Christianity was kind of spreading.
And so these folks often, most of them, the majority of them did not have any kind of a spiritual legacies that were being handed down. They're first time, first time Christians, first generation Christians in a church. And it would have been challenging in that culture to learn and to live the faith because the people of Ephesus were very progressive and they were obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. Very self-driven, very self-driven, a little confused.
And what made them truly, they thought it was stuff and material to be someone that's wanting to build on the solid rock when the culture is constantly pointing you down other paths. They were going to have to make some choices between some things about how they were going to live their life and who they were going to be. And in the context of the church, there were some things that were going on. There were some false teachers that had risen up that were trying to kind of bring the culture into the church a little bit.
They had some messed up theology. They messed up some, they focused on religion rather than relationships. Others were kind of using the church and Paul is addressing these things. And he writes to Timothy like a father would write to a son. In 1 Timothy 1:2, he says, "I'm writing to Timothy, my true son in the faith." And so any parent can understand this tone. Paul knows what Timothy has been taught. Paul knows the seeds that have been sown into his life, planted into his life.
And Paul understands the culture and how challenging it is to live out the faith in the culture of Ephesus. And so Paul is giving Timothy some final instructions. And the verse we're going to look at today is a key transition verse in this chapter. It comes after Paul has warned him about the culture and everything going on around him. It comes after he's challenged Timothy on how to teach those of faith and how to teach them to follow and to live differently.
And so 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 11 says this, "But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness." Timothy, I've told you how to teach them. I've told you to guard yourself. Now listen to me, flee all of that and pursue these things.
I've said before, words mean something. And the words "but you" mean something here. He's saying this is the way that they have been living. But you are to live this way. This is how everyone else thinks, Timothy. But you are to think this way. This is how everyone looks at money and possessions and how they should live and think. But you, Timothy, are to think differently.
He's calling Timothy out. But you should live differently than the rest of the world is living. And if people can't see any differences in your life and in your decisions and how you handle what God has given you and how you handle the relationships that you have, if people can't see the differences in Timothy's life and then if they can't see the differences in our life, something's wrong.
I'm going to say that again. If people can't see a difference, something's wrong. One of the ways that we know we're choosing the path of God's wisdom over foolishness of the world can be this. The world will always call God's wisdom foolish. They question everything. The very thing that God calls wise, the world will call foolish.
Maybe in your walk of faith, you take a step of maturity and maybe you haven't been tithing or giving to missions and you say, "I'm going to take that step and I'm going to give to missions." Or you know what? There's a missions trip coming up and I'm going to take my week's vacation and I'm going to go on a missions trip and I'm going to go tell people about Jesus around the world.
Maybe you commit to doing a fast with our prayer ministry and limiting what we eat and something that we do and taking that time and giving it to prayer and to spending time with God for God to speak to us. And you know what? Someone who's in your life that doesn't know the Lord might call that foolish.
"Why in the world are you giving the church your hard-earned money? Why in the world would you take your vacation to go on a missions trip, go on a cruise? Why are you going to go serve somewhere around the world when you could go on a cruise and be served? Why are you going to do that? Why are you going to do a fast? I mean, it seems like such a waste of vacation and such a waste of time."
And even though you know that you were walking in wisdom, there are going to be some people in your life that think you're being foolish and think you're being ridiculous. "You're engaged. I'm happy for you. But you're going to get married without living together first?" Wait. Some giggles. "Why would you do that?" Because God's ways are different. That's why.
Yeah, but the culture... What does God's culture say? What does... Why does the culture of heaven have to speak to this? See, things can happen in a lot of different areas that the wisdom of God can be labeled or called foolishness by the world. But there should be something different about us.
And you see this. Paul, in his writing to Timothy, he says, "But you, man of God." This is a way of reminding Timothy of who he is and that he has been called out of the world and to the world. To live differently. "Hey, hey, Timothy, your identity is this. You are a man of God."
And I'm going to tell you today. I'm going to tell you this afternoon. And I'm going to tell you tonight before you go to bed. And I'm going to tell you in the morning when you first wake up because you're going to hear it from me. That is who you are. I don't care what the culture calls you. I don't care what label they try to put on you. You need to know who you are.
And Timothy, you are a man of God. And I think sometimes, church, we've got to remember who we are. Because behavior flows from identity. When I remember who I am, it's going to help me live out what I'm called to live. I don't wake up in the morning and not know who I am and what I'm called to. I know it.
And you know what happens is when you know who you are in Christ and you know what you're called to in Christ, when opportunities or things come your way, you can look at them and go, does this help me fulfill what God has said I am? Does this help grow in what God has called me to do? Yes or no? If it's yes, consider it. If it's no, pass it on. Because it's not who I am. It's just not who I am.
Our lives need to be different. And we can miss this because sometimes we can become so focused on the behavior. On the behavior that we, what I can do and what I can't do, what I can talk about, what I can't talk about. And we don't talk enough about who we are.
Behavior flows from identity. "Timothy, you are a man of God, and that is who you are." And when you know who you are, then you'll know who you are and you'll know what you need to do. And the people of Ephesus identified themselves in a lot of different ways. They identified themselves in social status. They identified themselves in financial position. They identified themselves in materialism.
"Timothy, that's not your identity. It's not about what you've got. It's not about how much you have. It's not about how many people know your name. Timothy, you're a man of God. That is who you are."
And so Timothy's identity was established early in his life. And Paul makes reference to this in 2 Timothy 1:5. He says this, "I am reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also."
See, in the early days, most people of faith were first generation. See, we've grown up with a culture that's always had churches. They did not. This was becoming. This was something that was beginning to spread and it was growing. But Timothy's story is a little bit different because he had a grandmother and a mother that had both come to faith.
And we can assume from a pretty early age that they had let him know who he was. "Timothy, you are loved by God. Timothy, you are called. You are loved by God. And Timothy, you are a man of God." We need to speak that into our kids today.
So Paul's reminding him of that. Because often how other people label us is how we identify ourselves. And it's such a big deal because there are so many times that we start to struggle with a behavior and other things we're trying to stop and I just can't stop them. I just can't seem to get free. I can stop for a while. Am I talking to anybody?
I can stop for a while, but then I trip up again. I do good for a little bit, but then I stumble back into again. And then there's things that I'm trying to start that I know are going to help me and grow me, but I just can't seem to get momentum in them. And so much of this is rooted in our identity and our identity so often comes to us from what people have said to us about us.
And there are layers to this. One is the early information factor. What people say, what people have said to us about us early in our lives has a significant impact on our lives. That's why when I say parents, speak life into your kids. Speak life into your kids. I'm not saying lie to them. I'm not saying tell them you can fly. Nope, nope, they can't. They're going to jump off a roof somewhere and land and you were wrong, mom.
But I am saying speak life about who they are in Christ. Speak life about how God has wired them and gifted them and the gifts that you see in them because I'm going to tell you something and you've got to listen to me. If you don't, the world is. And the world's not going to say the same stuff you're saying. It's not going to do it.
So much of this is rooted in our identity. We are unsure and they seem confident about it and their words really took root in us. You can probably sit here this morning and think back of times that someone shared something to you, be it encouraging and building, that you look back and go, "I really, something clicked in me that day. They believed in me. They saw something in me that I didn't see in myself and I remember that."
Or maybe you can sit back and think of a time that someone spoke the wrong words to you and it stuck into your mind. But these things make a difference in our lives. Maybe it was a parent or a coach or a teacher or a sibling or a friend and what you heard had a way of establishing an identity about yourself for better or for worse.
And so in order to understand why you do what you do, you've got to understand how you see yourself. Identity is a powerful thing and you may need to embrace it. This morning when there have been people that spoke life to you and you just, I don't know, embrace that. Or maybe this morning somebody's been speaking negativity. Somebody's been speaking death to you. You need to reject that and find your identity in Jesus Christ.
So the early, what you hear early is important. The second thing is this, what you hear often. What you hear often has a way of shaping who you are. The things that you hear often become a significant part of how we see ourselves. And so for Timothy, this was established early in his life by his mother and his grandmother.
Now I don't know who that is for you. I don't know if you're here today and there were people that, you know, relatives or friends or neighbors or whoever, that took a love to you and just spoke life into you and spoke, you know, promise into you and encouraged you. But someone that spoke into your life in a way that it affected your identity and how you see yourself and how you understand who you are in Christ.
And I would really encourage you, if you have someone like that, take some time, think about those folks that have poured into your life in a significant way. Maybe pick up the phone, maybe send them a note and just say, "Thank you for investing in me. Thank you for loving a kid that just kept throwing his ball over the fence into your yard. Thank you at church when I didn't have anybody to sit with, you came over and invited me to sit with you and you just kind of became my friend and I've learned so much from watching you live and watching you do life."
Take some time, church, and thank the people that have influenced your life and a part of your life in a positive way. Because it's easy to miss or not to pay attention to those who took the time and the effort to pour certain things into your life and that is a legacy that we should all embrace.
But it had to be something that stopped being their faith and Timothy took ownership of it, right? He didn't pursue God in saying, "Well, I'm following my grandmother's faith. I'm following my mom's faith." Timothy had been poured into and at some point it switched over to where it was his. "I am a follower of Christ. I am a man of God. My identity is in Christ and in Christ alone."
So it's got to stop being a heritage and it's got to become something that defines our lives. Now again, I realize we probably got some first generation Christians in this room today. Some first generation Christians. Some first generation folks that are watching online. I understand not everyone has that legacy that was passed down to them that this has been your journey and you're finding your way and you're making your way and I am so excited that you are here and I just thank God for you that you're walking this journey with us and we just want to help you along.
And I want to encourage you something. The journey that you've been taking, you heard the gospel, it changed your life. You had to embrace that new identity and I'm so glad that you did and I'm so glad that you realized you could make a difference and I'm not going to do this, you know, this way anymore. I'm going to choose to do it differently. I'm going to live my life differently.
And again, it's not just about behavior. It isn't just about how I speak or the things I do or about where I go. It's going to be my identity. It is going to be who I am that I'm going to live a life of pursuing Christ and I'm going to live a life of passing the faith down to someone else.
I pray every Paul in here has a Timothy and if you don't, you should. Who are we pouring our faith into? Who are we pouring our lives into? Some of you need to start doing this intentionally. See, far too long, we've allowed what someone else said about us to define us. And if you are a follower of Jesus, the truest thing about you is that you are loved by God and that today you are a man of God or a woman of God.
And everything that we do, everything that we say, everything that we give time to flows out of that identity that we have in Him. What's that old saying? It's not what they call you, it's what you answer to. The world's going to call you all sorts of stuff. It's not what I answer to. I know who I am in Christ. I know how God has called me to live and I know what He has called me to do.
And everything that we do flows out of that identity. 6:11, "But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness and godliness and faith and love, endurance and gentleness." Paul says that everything else that the culture is running towards, "Timothy, you need to run from."
Everybody's pursuing money. Everybody's pursuing position. Everybody's pursuing material things. Everybody's living for the temporary and the temporary. And that is what everyone else is chasing after. But Timothy, I want you to run the other way.
And so the challenge for Timothy is the challenge for us. How do you flee something that surrounds you? Because it's not just one or two places out there. It's the culture, isn't it? It's everywhere. Everywhere you go, there it is. If you would have walked into Ephesus back in the day, you would have been struck by the city. It actually had the temple of Diana, the goddess Diana. She was a false god.
And it was actually one of the seven wonders of the world of the ancient times. You would have been struck by the amphitheater in Ephesus that sat 25,000 people. It was a culture that was obsessed with entertainment. There was a marketplace. Ladies, there was a mall. It was huge. You could buy anything you wanted.
The city didn't just tolerate sexual immorality. They celebrated it. They pursued it. And actually, in some of my reading, I discovered that some of the oldest advertisements found was discovered in the city of Ephesus. This is crazy. And here's what, I'm not trying to be weird or anything, but it was for a brothel.
And they had a stone carved out and the brothel was hidden, but it was certainly no secret. All right? And the advertisement showed this. There was a carving of the figure of a woman, a heart, a foot carved into the stone, a money purse, a library, and there was a hole dug in a rock.
Now, the interpretation of it was this. Up at the crossroads on the left, you'll find women whose love can be purchased, but please only if your foot is at least this big. And literally, you can go home and Google it. Don't do it here. Don't do it here. But literally, on the stone, they have a carving of your foot. If you're this old, all right?
If you've got money, you can buy the love of a woman, but the hole in the stone, if you have enough coin to fill the hole. So if you can fill the hole with coin, your foot is this big, this old, then you can come to the brothel. If not, if not, there's a library on the right. Look it up yourself. Not now, sister.
It's first advertising. First advertising. It's right. And is our day, isn't it amazing? Is our day really different? Because we hear these same things. We see these same things. The foolish get celebrated and the wisdom of God is called foolish.
I watched the opening of the, or part of it. I didn't get all of it, of the Olympics and the last supper scene. And I just thought, God will not be mocked. You can't mock God. You can't mock God. It's amazing.
So Paul tells Timothy, listen, don't pursue these things, but pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. And I think that we miss this sometimes, that we aren't called just to flee, but we're called to pursue.
All right. A lot of us grew up in faith. And I can tell you, I felt like a lot of my faith as a younger man was it was all about what you run from. It was all about, oh, don't do this and don't do that and don't do this and don't go there and don't talk to them and don't do this.
And we were known by what we didn't love and by what we hated more than what we loved. And it was all about staying away from things and staying away from things and don't go here. And as a Christian, you had to run. You had to run. You don't, just don't let sin catch you.
And it was like playing a game of tag that never ends. Don't let sin touch you. Keep running, keep dodging. But Paul is telling Timothy to make sure that he's not just running from, but that he's pursuing, going towards. Don't just run from sin, run to righteousness. Don't just run from the culture, run to the things of God. Pursue something.
You see, the life of faith just is running away from things or avoiding things. You're going to get tired, hit a wall, and you aren't going to want to do it anymore. And I think this is a big reason why a lot of people fall away from faith. Because we tell them growing up, you got to run, got to run, don't do this, don't do that.
We don't teach them what to go towards. We don't teach them, you run towards. It's just not the absence of that. It's fill your life with this. It's not just don't go there. It's about being the presence of God. And if we live our lives running and running and running and can't do it, eventually you're just going to say, "I'm sick and tired of running from everything."
It's not just running from, it's running towards. It's amazing. People get burned out running from stuff. We are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. It is running to something.
I read an article that talked about when people go on diets. If you're dieting here, don't raise your hand. But people that go on diets often define their diet by restrictions. They say, "Oh man, you look like you're losing weight. Yeah, I'm doing a diet." Well, what are you doing? "Well, I can't have carbs. I can't have simple carbs. I can't have, I can't have sugars."
We define what we're doing by the restrictions. And what they found out with studies was this. Studies have shown that if the way you define your diet is by restrictions, you are more likely to fail in it. And that people become so focused on what they can't have that they develop more of an appetite and a desire for it.
"Well, I can't have pizza." Well, what do you want now? Pizza, right? "Well, I can't have ceviche on my diet." There's going to be some stumbling in my house. I can just tell you the truth. That they develop more of an appetite and a desire.
So you don't define it by the restrictions. You define it by what you're chasing after and what you're working towards. And in faith, as followers of Jesus, I think this is a big deal because if I can shift my thinking from I'm always running from the world, I'm always running from things instead of what am I running towards.
"God, I'm coming after your presence." Because when my focus is His presence, when my focus is growth, when my focus is the fruit of the Spirit at work in me, I focus less on what I'm running from because that doesn't have my attention. I'm not over here going, "I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. Oh, wow. No, not going to do that," right?
It's not just running from, it's what are we running towards? Because what you chase, what you chase after becomes what you desire. And that can start to displace and replace the things that I was running from. That there's a path of wisdom and a path of foolishness. Remember, it is more about who you are than what you do.
And that identity matters and behavior flows from identity. Because this is who I am. This is the path I take. That is how we need to think. And that is how we need to love. Choosing a path of wisdom isn't just running away from something, but running towards something.
And the word pursue in verse 11 has in it the feeling that something is at stake. Like there's a prize to be won. You know, when you pursue love and find it in Christ, it's life changing. When you pursue faith and you find it in Christ, it changes us. There is a prize. And there is a purpose.
And I pray that we as a church and as a people will be known as people that passionately pursue Him. And the world might look and think it's silly. And the world might look and think it's foolish. And the world might look and call you names and call us names. But I know what I am pursuing and it is worth giving my all for.
And I'm going to close with this and the worship team can come. Luke 9:23 says, "Then He said to them all, 'Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Me.'" It's less what I'm running from. It's more about what I'm running to.
Let's go after Jesus. Amen. Can I get you to bow your heads this morning? Listen, can you just take a minute and maybe ask yourself, have I been running from things or towards things? Maybe there are some things in your life, you're trying to break. And maybe there are some things in your life that you're trying to shake free from.
And are you trying to run from that? Or have you set your heart and your mind and you're focused on running towards Him? Because what we need is Jesus. That's what we need. What we need is His touch. What we need is His presence. What we need is His power. What we need is His anointing.
What we pursue matters because there are some real things at stake. And I don't need to tell you this. You know, as parents, they're raising kids that how you live and what you do, they're watching and they're learning and we are creating in them how to handle things. There's stuff at stake.
And when you go to work and people know you're a Christian and you find yourself in those moments that temperatures rise a little bit and you get frustrated or angry, but you kind of go, "No, no, no, there's stuff at stake. I can't always say what I want to say. I need to say, what would God have me say? What would God have me do?"
Because we're different. We're not like the culture. And maybe this morning, you know, you might need to choose a new identity. Maybe this morning, you've listened a little too much to what the world has said you are. Maybe there were some people that spoke some things into your life early and often or in vulnerable moments that just left wounds and left scars, left some marks.
And even though you want to be different and wish you were different, you see those scars and you think that's who I am. That's not who you are. Christ has a new identity for you. Now, I'm not making small what you experienced. What you experienced was real. You don't have to look at that scar and think that's who I am. You can look at that scar and say, "That's what they tried to tell me I was. I've survived it. They tried to kill me, but they didn't do it."
You see, Jesus has scars. And maybe this morning, you just kind of need a fresh start. Just a new beginning. Just, "Father, I need you in my life. I need you to heal me. I need you to make me whole. I need you to help heal. I need you to pull away the labels of this world, what others have said. And will you speak unto me who I am? Will you tell me who I am, God? Because I can work my fingers to the bone trying to fix my behavior and not do this and not talk like that, not think like that. But if it's how I see myself in my spirit, I'm literally fighting myself."
So, Father, will you come and just renew my mind? Transform me by renewing my mind. Hallelujah. Just speak over you that you are a man of God. That you are a woman of God. So pursue righteousness. Pursue godliness. Pursue faith and love and endurance and gentleness. And watch what God will do.
Let's pray. Father, as we have been looking at getting over ourselves, it can be tough. Because, Jesus, we develop habits and just ways that we naturally react and respond and handle. But I thank you, God, that those things can be broken and changed. That new identities can come. Your Word says you take hearts of stone and you give us a new heart. One that hears and one that knows and one that can receive.
And so, Father, today, if there are those that are watching or those that are here that just need that kind of moment, God, would you do that? Would you just touch us? Would you make us whole? Would you just transform our spirits and our minds? And I know our flesh is strong. But, Father, we surrender.
Father, I speak to every tired person that feels like they want to love Jesus and they've spent so much of their life just running from stuff. That are tired. Sometimes just, "Why am I running all the time?" Father, will you help us not see we're running from, but will you give us something to run to? I want to run to you. I want to run to you. Because you're my hope. You're my joy. You're my strength.
I run to you this morning, God. I pray your Holy Spirit would speak to us about who we are. And that you will begin to correct some of the things that we're, that you've spoken over us or to us that we have received as our identity. And when you help us to see who we are in you. Your word says that you fashioned us. You made us fearfully and wonderfully. That you, oh God, have planted inside of us purpose and gifts and reason and meaning.
We look to you, Father. Father, again, if there are some that need a fresh start, you're here and you are ready. May our hearts be softened. And give us clarity, oh God, to see some things about ourselves that you are trying to show us. And I pray for strength to make right decisions this week. And to pursue wisdom. To pursue you.
I thank you in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen and Amen. May God bless you. May He keep you. May His face always shine upon you. You guys have a great week. And tell somebody about Jesus.
on Aug 02, 2024
