Standing Firm in a Secular World

Female: Hey, Porch. Join us as we read God's Word together from the book of 2 Timothy 3:10-4:8.

"You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra-which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing."

Now for our final message in our series on 2 Timothy.

Tyler Moffett: Porch, how are we doing tonight? Man! It's so good to have those words read over us. I'm so glad you're here in this room tonight. All of you who are watching online, we are so glad you're here. We want to give a shout-out to some of our Porch.Live locations in Greater Lafayette, Fresno, and Dayton. Can we give it up for the Porch.Live locations? If you have a Bible, go ahead and open your Bible to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 3, what we just read. We're going to dive in.

I just got back from a trip to London last week. It was so cool. Another pastor at Watermark and I got to go and see firsthand what God is doing in the UK. We hear about things like the Quiet Revival. This pastor and I got to see it with our own eyes. Guys, it's amazing. We talked to a pastor over there named Pete Hughes. He told us that for 20 years, the UK has been in what he called a post-Christian environment. He said there was literally like an oppression against the people who were trying to proclaim the gospel. It was like there was an oppressive force against them.

He said it was figures like Richard Dawkins, who didn't only argue against Christianity; they tried to prove that it was evil, that it was wrong. He said, "This is the environment we've lived in for the past 20 years." It espoused secularism, which the younger generation bought hook, line, and sinker. Secularism at its core is "You don't need God. You can just look deep inside your heart, chase your deepest desire, and when you find it, you'll reach utopia. You'll reach happiness. You'll reach pleasure."

He said what has happened over the past 18 months is there has been a shift. The younger generation has realized that the lie of secularism they bought into actually, rather than leading to utopia, pleasure, freedom, and life, led to panic attacks, anxiety, and suicide. So, you have a generation of people who are coming back into the church, and they're asking, "Is there any hope?" These pastors are going, "Yes. We know the way to hope. We know the way to peace. We know the way to fulfillment."

He said what's crazy is Richard Dawkins, of all people, over the past year and a half, would even call himself a cultural Christian. It's wild. He said, "Before we rejoice, cultural Christianity is not the goal. The goal we're so praying for in the UK is that God would raise up consecrated followers of Jesus who, in a secular age, are all in to the end."

When I heard him say that, I thought, "That is what Paul is praying for Timothy at the very end of his life in 2 Timothy." We just heard it. He's saying, "Timothy, everybody else is going a certain way, but as for you, I want you to be all in. I want you to stand out in a secular age." So, that's what we're going to look at today. There are actually four times in this section where Paul will say, "But as for you…" or "You, however…" We're going to look at all of those. So, look at 2 Timothy, chapter 3, starting in verse 10.

"You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra-which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…"

1. Embrace the promise of persecution. In this section, Paul says, "Timothy, you followed me." He goes, "Beyond just my teaching, beyond just my work, you actually know me." I started to think about how there are often times in life where someone influential… You follow their work. You listen to all of their songs. You watch all of their movies, and it creates this kind of relationship. It's kind of this codependent, one-sided, passive relationship with this person you don't know where you feel like you know them.

A couple of years ago, my wife got invited to the Eras Tour. She was not a Swiftie. She's not a huge Taylor Swift fan, but the tickets were amazing and free, so she was like, "I'm going." I remember watching the kids, and she came back. She had some glitter in her hair and stuff. I'm like, "What is going on?" All of a sudden, she got really fascinated by Taylor Swift.

Fast-forward to a couple of months ago. We're lying in bed, and she goes, "You know, Taylor was on the New Heights podcast." I was like, "Okay." She's like, "And she mentioned sourdough." I'm like, "Okay." She's like, "You know, Tyler, like Sourdough Sam." I'm like, "What are you talking about?"

She's like, "Sourdough Sam, the San Francisco 49ers mascot." I'm like, "You don't know that." She's like, "Yeah. And where is the Super Bowl being played this year? It's in San Francisco. So, Tyler, San Francisco, sourdough, Sourdough Sam… She's playing at the Super Bowl." I'm like, "What in the world?" This was a few months ago.

Then this week, the new Taylor Swift album comes out, and she goes, "Oh, only 12 songs. Only 12." I'm like, "What?" She's like, "Her favorite number is 13, so another one is coming." I'm like, "You don't even know. What are you talking about?" But we have this tendency. Right? We start following someone, and we're like, "Oh, I know him." "Oh, I know Joe Rogan. I know him." "Oh, I know the girls from The Toast. I've followed them. I feel like we're besties." You're not besties. You don't know them.

But what is Paul saying? Paul is saying, "Timothy, we don't have that kind of relationship. You actually know me." He said, "Not only do you know my teaching and my work; you know my conduct, and you know my suffering." He says, "So while I'm here in this prison, this should not be surprising to you, because this has been my life. Timothy, don't be surprised when it happens to you."

Look at what he says in verse 12. "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…" It's similar to what Peter says in 1 Peter 4:12, when he says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you."

In your life, do you see persecution, hardship, suffering, and difficulty as something wrong, like your Christianity went wrong, or when that moment happens, does part of you go, "Wow! I'm in the game; I'm a part of it"? See, many times we're the opposite. We live like, "Oh, nothing bad will happen. Okay, God. We're good because nothing bad is happening." Yet the reality is Jesus says, "No, in this life you will have tribulation." So, do you want to live a godly life in Christ? Then buckle up.

Some of you are starting a new job. You've started a job. In your role, your boss is asking you to lie and cheat. I was just talking to someone two weeks ago, and he was telling me how on his first day in his new consulting job, his boss said, "Hey, pull out your LinkedIn and change the number of years you've worked here to two years." On his first day. He's like, "It'll look better for clients. It'll look like you've been around." He was like, "Man, that's a lie. But if I tell him no, I may lose my job." All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

For some of you, in your relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend, God has put on your heart, "Maybe we're supposed to set up some physical boundaries so we don't cross the line." But you're nervous to bring it up around them, because what will they think? "What if they break up with me? What if our friends think we're weird?" All who desire to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted.

Some of you have a trip coming up with your friends, and God is laying on your heart, "Don't go on that trip," but you know if you don't go on that trip, all of the memories are going to happen, and you're going to miss out. You may feel ostracized from this community where you finally feel like you have some friends. All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

For some of you, God wants you to start a Bible study at your work, yet if you do that, then you know you're going to be known as the Christian weirdo, and everyone is going to start treating you differently. "Reverend, do you want to pray?" You know, treating you that way. Yet, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

For some of you, God has put on your heart you need to lovingly call out one of your friends who's walking toward a cliff of sin, but you know, if you do that, you may lose the friendship. They may talk bad about you behind your back. All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. The reality is… Do you want to stand out in a secular age? Then you have to embrace the promise of persecution. That's what Paul is saying here at the very end of his life. All right. Let's keep going. Let's look at 2 Timothy 3, starting in verse 13.

"…while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

2. Be anchored to the truth. Paul starts this section by describing secular culture with two kinds of people. He says there are evil people who are opposed to God and don't hide it, and then there are imposters who appear like they're for God but are fake. He says both of these kinds of people live in the secular environment, and both of them are deceiving and being deceived. Both. They're following their own truth into darkness.

Then he says, "Timothy, as for you, there's a different standard." He says, "As for you, continue in what you've learned." It's the Greek word meno, which means to abide, to remain, to stay steadfast. He says everybody else, whether they're fake or just opposed, are following their own truth. They're following their heart. He says, "You remain tethered, anchored into this Word, into the truth."

McKinsey, the consulting firm, did a study a few years ago about Gen Z. They were trying to tell corporations and business owners, "Here's who Gen Z is. We're going to label them in six different categories." The number one thing, when they gave this report out… They said Gen Z should be changed to the "Truth Generation." They said in the past, Millennials and Gen X… They were the whole trophy generation. You know, "Follow whatever truth you want," relative truth. They said Gen Z actually wants to know the truth. They don't want you to just give them a trophy for showing up; they want to know the truth.

I go, "Man, that's awesome." The question, though, is…What truth do they want to know, the real truth or some deceptive truth? The reality is if you're not anchored to the Bible, then you're going to be deceived by other voices. Jackie Hill Perry says it this way. She says, "If you don't know your Bible and if you don't love the Scriptures, then you are setting yourself up to be deceived. Because if you are esteeming the word of a prophet [a truth teller] over the Word of God, how will you know when the prophet is lying?" Man! Think about that.

If you are hearing from your favorite podcast or from even a pastor, a preacher, a friend who's saying, "Hey, I think you should do this," how do you even know if they're telling you the truth if you don't know this book? I mean, think about what happened in the first sin in the Bible. Genesis, chapter 3. Adam and Eve in the garden. They're naked. Everything is awesome. In chapter 3, the snake slithers up. His first words are, "Did God really say…?" Every sin starts with those four words: "Did God really say…?"

When the moment of temptation, struggle, and hardship comes, and the snake shows up in your life and says, "Does God really say…?" do you know how to fight back with the truth of this Word? Do you have to run to some anecdote or platitude or say, "Oh, I think…" or do you go, "No, I know the truth"? I believe God is calling you, as a generation, to know the truth.

There are so many hungry people in this generation among young adults, and they're hungry for spiritual things. On the train on the way from London to Oxford, I met a young guy. He was hungry for spiritual truth. I said, "Do you know the Word?" He went, "No, I don't know the Bible." I went, "Man, then how do you even know what spirituality is?" I think it's the same with you. There are two things. How do you anchor your life in the truth of God's Word? Two ways.

First, be equipped at a church where the Word of God is preached. Kylen talked about this last week, but it's so important. Don't settle for a weak church. Don't settle for a church where every time you go you leave feeling good about yourself. If you go to a church where you always feel good, then let me tell you, you're being deceived, because this Word has a sharp needle that goes straight into bone and marrow that pierces and convicts us from God.

If you're at a church where you're constantly being fed, "You're amazing. Everything is great. God loves you," and that's all you hear…nothing else…you're being deceived. You need to go to a church where they open up God's Word and you hear the truth. That's number one. The second is that you need to have a plan to get in God's Word regularly.

I remember reading an article years ago from John Piper, a pastor in Minnesota. The title of the article was "If I Could Start All Over." He listed six things he would do in his 20s if he could go back. The fourth thing he said was, "I would resolve to read my Bible every day for the rest of my life." Then he expounded on that.

He said, "Read your Bible every day. Every day of your life-no exceptions. Never say, 'I'll read it if I have time.' If you have time for breakfast, you have time for your Bible. Skip breakfast. Don't get your Bible-reading pleasure from the fact that your conscience is clear because you checked the Bible box. Get your pleasure from reading the Bible because of an encounter-a meeting, a fellowship-with the living, supernatural reality that you meet in the Scriptures." That is so good.

I went back and forth on whether to share this, but I want to encourage you, because some of you are going, "Man, I want to know the truth. I'm hungry, yet at the same time, I don't know if it's worth it to dive fully into this ancient book, because it's confusing, and I just don't know." I remember when I was growing up, both of my parents… They were not in ministry but would seek to read the Bible regularly every day. So, I have no excuse.

I know many of you come from backgrounds where that's not the case. I'm just saying, for me, as a young kid, I'd come down the stairs and see my parents reading the Bible. Yet it wasn't until my freshman year of college that I decided, "I'm going to try to read through this whole book." My freshman year of college, I read through the whole thing.

Guys, it was life changing, not because I understood it but because I did it. Literally, I got to the end of Revelation, and I was like, "Oh, praise God. I made it. I made it through Leviticus. I made it through Ecclesiastes. I made it!" At the end, I just felt like God said, "All right. Read it again. Read it again." I'm like, "Really? Again?" Sure enough, I read it again, grinding through Leviticus and Numbers. Every year since my freshman year of college, I've read through this book.

I tell you that not to brag but because, literally, there were times over the course of these 14 or 15 years, Christians… Not even non-Christians. Christians would come up to me and go, "Hey, man. That seems a little legalistic." "Hey, man. I'm not sure if your heart is really in it, if you're just daily reading the Bible, checking the box."

I would go to you marathon runners who run five to six times a week, "Man, it sounds a little legalistic. You people are crazy. Your heart had better be in it every time." Yet, why do you do it? You do it because you want to be equipped for the race. You want to be ready for what is coming. So you know, waking up at 5:00 a.m., cold, wet… You've got to run 10 miles. You're like, "I'm not necessarily feeling it. I'm not necessarily excited, yet I know the mission. I know what I'm about. So, maybe it feels legalistic, but I'm buying into something I can't fully see right now."

Some of you…I'm just saying…have never even tried. Maybe you don't have a Bible. You can go to the Welcome Desk. We want to help you find one. But if you haven't read the Bible, I dare you to start opening this book up. You're not going to understand it right away. Just start tethering your life, anchoring your life to this, because if you don't, when the snake comes into your life, you will be woefully unprepared and will rely on sinking sand.

Paul says, "In a secular age, Timothy, if you want to stand out, if you want to be all in to the end, you have to anchor your life in the truth of God's Word." All right. Let's keep going. We're going to go to chapter 4, verse 1. Paul says, "I charge you…" Charge means, "I command. I urge you. I'm begging you." Just hear his heart in this last chapter that he writes.

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

3. Preach the Word. Paul says, "Timothy, I'm begging you. With everything in me, I'm begging you. I'm charging you before God. He's watching. Preach the Word, man." Now, I've been dwelling on this, thinking about you. If you're a pastor in the room (I know there are some), preach the Word. Just like Timothy, preach it. Don't hold back. But most of you are not pastors. So, does this apply to you at all? I believe it does.

What is Paul saying when he says, "Preach the Word"? The word preach in Greek is just the idea of proclaim boldly, loudly, and publicly. Proclaim publicly. It's the idea of preach. I just want you to evaluate your life. Where in your life, at all, do you proclaim something publicly? For many of you, it's your social media page. You're like, "Publicly? It's, like, 57 people." Still public. Maybe it's your workplace, maybe it's your friend group, but there's some place in your life where you proclaim publicly. If you were to get engaged, where would you proclaim it? That's a good litmus test. Paul is saying in that place, proclaim the truth of Jesus.

I love the passage in Acts, chapter 4, when Peter and John have just seen the resurrected Jesus, and they're blown away. They were just fishing. They see Jesus, and they just start proclaiming publicly. "He's alive. He's alive." It gets them in trouble. They stand before the Jewish leaders, the religious leaders, and the leaders say, "You have to stop preaching. You have to stop proclaiming about Jesus."

I love what they say in verse 19. They say, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." I'm just curious. In your life, do you have this angst to proclaim about Christ at all? If I'm honest, as I was going through this text… I have a tendency (I'm talking about me) to itch ears here at The Porch.

For four years before I came here, I spoke to adults down in Houston. I love them, and if they're watching, you're amazing. They were not cool. Okay? So, I come up here, and you guys are cool. And here I am with no voice trying to be cool. I'm like, "Man, how do I fit in? How do I itch ears? How do I be culturally relevant? How do I talk about dating? How do I talk about mental health? How do I mention community? How do I do all the references?" There's a tendency to want to itch ears.

That even happens in the midst of coming up here until…I'm just being gut-level honest…I get on my face and start praying for you. When I start praying for you, it changes. I don't care about itching your ears anymore. I don't care if you think I'm cool or not. There's a Savior who's alive who you need to know. And it changes.

I'm telling you, in your life, there are so many people, if you analyze and are honest, whose ears you want to itch. On your social media page, you just want to be liked by everybody. You antagonize yourself. You analyze back and forth, "How are people going to feel about this? Is this going to be taken the wrong way?" because you so badly want that post to go out and everyone's ears to itch. "Oh, I like that. I like that."

At work, you want to dress a certain way, you want to be a certain way, because you want to itch everyone's ears. I'm not saying those things are wrong. I'm just saying, have you ever gotten on your face in prayer for your coworkers, for your family, for your friends, for your social media followers, and said, "God, I am a herald filled with your Spirit, a herald of your truth, and I want to leverage the platform you've given me to preach the Word"? Have you ever had that conviction?

Some of you, when we have prayer time here in a little bit, need to get on your knees up here in front of everybody, because you don't care anymore, and go, "God, help me leverage my platform to preach the Word. I don't want to be scared. I don't want to itch ears. I want to be used, not just let the professional Christians do it. It's me."

Last week in London, I had the chance to talk to a guy named Ken Costa. Ken is an author, a businessman, highly influential there in England, but knows about The Porch and has been to the States many times. I asked him, "Hey, what advice would you give me for those in their 20s and 30s?" What he said shocked me. It shocked me. He said it so bluntly. He was like, "Tell them to get on TikTok and talk about Jesus." I was like, "Get on TikTok? Really?" He was like, "Yeah. Get on Instagram and talk about Jesus." I was like, "Well, I just got off all social media." He was like, "I don't care about you. It's them. It's them."

I mean, think about the people in this room and watching online. How many spheres around you…? We have 3,000 people in a room. Praise God. But how many of you, if you go back to your sphere of 50, 100, 75, 20, or whatever, and proclaim this message… This is how revival breaks out. What happens in here is great, but when we "ready, break," and you go and preach, that's when revival breaks out.

Some of you are so nervous, because you go, "Man, I don't want to sound pretentious. I don't want to yell at people. I don't want to preach at people." But you'll tickle ears all day long with all kinds of other things. What would it look like for us to go… Not, "Let me tell all of the people around me why they're wrong and going to hell." That's not what this says.

What did Peter and John do? When they told them to stop, they said, "Look. You judge if it's right or wrong. We can't help but speak of what we've seen and heard. Our eyes are opened to the beauty of Jesus, and we can't help but speak about it." Do you have that in your life? It's the third thing. Lastly, look at 2 Timothy 4:5. He says, "But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

4. Fulfill your ministry. I've been dwelling on this. Fulfill your ministry. Paul says to Timothy, "Timothy, stop comparing yourself to everyone else, me included. Stop comparing yourself and start fulfilling the ministry God has for you. Fulfill your ministry." The truth is every single one of you here… If you're a follower of Christ, you are filled with God's Spirit, and God has given you a ministry, a service to the body, to the world, that he wants you to do.

Ephesians 4:11 says, "And he [God] gave [the leaders of the church,] the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers…" To do what? To preach? To do all the ministry? No. "…to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…" Did you know that? Did you know you're a minister?

Sometimes people go, "Hey, Tyler, how did you know you were called into ministry?" I'm like, "Because I read this book, I'm alive, and I'm a Christian. That's why I'm called to ministry." They're like, "No, no, no. Like, standing on stages and preaching the Bible." I'm like, "Okay, vocational ministry. That's different."

We are all called to ministry. I mean, this is a pastors' conference in here. You're like, "What? I came to the wrong thing." It's true. If you have the Holy Spirit of God, God has given you a ministry he wants you to do. So, how do you figure out what your ministry is? I think there are two things we get from this verse. If you go, "How do I figure out what my ministry is?" there are two things.

First, you need to analyze your life and go, "Where have I suffered?" That's the first one. Paul says in verse 5, "But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." Paul says to analyze where you have suffered, because the very thing that for so long has been a problem in your life, an issue, a struggle, is the very thing God wants to use as a platform. Always.

A few years ago, when my son was in the NICU (the neonatal ICU), a ton of people showed up for us. The people who showed up the most were those who had also had a baby in the NICU. Why? What does 2 Corinthians 1:4 say? "[God] comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

A few years ago, my family had someone we love who committed suicide. It was detrimental, heartbreaking to our family, yet do you know how many times, because of that, I have been able to minister to someone else? My siblings and my parents have been able to minister to other people.

See, so many times, we're so navel gazing, so narcissistic, that we think, "Oh, I've just got to get through this pain, and then everything will be good." God wants to get your eyes up and go, "Don't you realize what I'm getting you through right now? Take note, because for the rest of your life, you will be a minister to others in the same situation."

Some of you are struggling with pornography and sexual sin, and it's all about you and your sin. God wants to go, "Hey, part of your sanctification working through this is you, for the rest of your life, will be a minister to others who are struggling." Some of you have gone through terrible breakups and being backstabbed by friends, and you think it's so worthless, so in vain. Yet God goes, "No, I want to use you in other people's lives." You can say, "I understand. I understand. Here's what God did for me."

Others of you have gone through parents going through divorce or addiction or struggling with alcohol or being unemployed…all of those things. God says, "It's that very place of suffering that I want to use as your story." Your problem becomes your platform. That's the first thing.

Then, secondly, how do you know your ministry? Ask, "Where has God called me to be obedient?" Notice Paul says in verse 5, "But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." It's interesting he says, "Do the work of an evangelist," not just, "Go out and be an evangelist because you're good at it." He goes, "Do the work of an evangelist."

What is the work of an evangelist? It's the work of a Christian. It's the work of somebody who's digging into God's Word, who's listening for him, and then rather than just eating a bunch of steak, they are running; they are doing things with it. Paul says the life of a Christian, the life of an evangelist, is to listen ("God, what do you want me to do?") and be silent, to take his Word and go, "What are the commands in this book? What do I need to obey?" As you begin to work out simple obedience, he will reveal your calling.

Last week, I met a guy named Wole. Awesome name, by the way. He was born in the UK, but his parents are Nigerian. He was telling us his story. He has a crazy story. He said that when he was in his 20s, he had a dream. He's a really creative guy, a really charismatic guy. He had a dream that he was supposed to gather up in the middle of the city and put on a showcase, like a drama, of the story of Jesus. He's like, "Wow! How do I do this?"

So, he found a venue, reached out to some friends, and started inviting people. They were like, "What's a showcase of the story of Jesus?" He was like, "I don't know. We'll figure it out." They just gathered up, and hundreds of people came as they gave this kind of drama and experienced these different creative gifts, and a ton of people came to know Jesus. He was like, "I found my calling. This is great." So, he started doing these around London.

A few years later, he has another dream. This time in his dream God says, "I want you to become a vicar," which is a pastor, a pastor in the Church of England. He's like, "The Church of England? I'm an African charismatic, creative guy. The Church of England is white and not creative." He literally said this. He said, "God, you are ruining my life." That's what he said. He said, "But I trust you."

So, he goes into the Church of England. He shows up, and he's like, "I think I'm supposed to be a pastor." They're like, "Okay." So, they put him through the thing. He goes to seminary, and they assign a church, a parish to him. He gets assigned St. Mary Woolnoth Church. Now, St. Mary Woolnoth Church, 220 years earlier, was pastored by a guy named John Newton. John Newton is the man who wrote "Amazing Grace."

If you know his story, years before his conversion, he was a slave trader whom God rescued and redeemed. He ended up spending the rest of his life working to abolish the slave trade and then became a pastor at St. Mary Woolnoth. Wole is telling us this story, and he goes, "How cool is God that 220 years after his life, an African man is the pastor of the church he was the shepherd of." We were just like, "What?"

See, God can do so much more through your simple obedience than you could ever ask or imagine or think. It starts with analyzing your suffering. "What have I gone through? God, maybe that's a painful wound to step into, yet I'll do that for the sake of what you want to bring to other people." Second is "God, I want to do the work of an evangelist. I want to do the work of a Christian. I want to sit with your Word and say, 'God, what do you want me to do?' As I hear little things, I want to obey." That's the last thing.

How do you go all in in a secular culture? How do you stand out? You embrace the promise of persecution, you be anchored to the truth, you preach the Word, and you fulfill your ministry. The last few verses are some of the most powerful verses Paul ever wrote, some of his last words before he was beheaded and died as a martyr for Jesus. Look at verse 6. You can just hear Paul's angst, his comfort to Timothy in these words.

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing."

Paul says at the end of his life, "I did it." His first phrase to encapsulate a life of faithfulness to God after his conversion is "I fought the good fight." For some of you tonight, life has felt a lot like a fight lately for you. It hasn't felt easy. It hasn't felt like a walk in the park. It doesn't feel like you and God are tight right now. It feels like a fight.

It's a fight to remain faithful. It's a fight to say no to addiction. It's a fight to be single in the midst of hookup culture and yet go, "God, I'm going to wait." It's a fight to keep pressing on in the midst of your mental health. It's a fight to wake up another day. It's a fight. But just because your life is a fight does not mean you're doing something wrong. It does not mean you're walking far from God. It might. Maybe you need to come up here and pray. But for some of you, I think, like Paul, it's a fight.

In the midst of the fight, in the midst of the wrestle, notice who the reward goes to at the end. He's like, "I fought the good fight, and there's a reward waiting for me." He says, "It's waiting for me," and he says at the end, "Not only to me." He doesn't say at the end, "But to all who won" or "To all who conquered" or "To all who beat pornography" or "To all who finally got married" or "To all who didn't commit suicide." He says, "To all who have loved his appearing."

Who gets the crown? It's the one who sees the day drawing near, because we don't know. We want to live 80 to 90 years, but heaven forbid, you could leave today, get in a car accident, and die. In a room this size, not every one of us will be here a year from now. It's just the reality. Life is fleeting. It's like a vapor. It's here today and gone.

The thought of standing before your Savior… Does that freak you out or do you love his appearing? You go, "Jesus, you're the one I want. So, if you have me here on this earth, let's work, but the day you call me home, I love you. I love you." Little glimpses of Jesus are enough. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, to those who are fighting, "Come to me. Come look at me. Come take your burden to me." He says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

I believe tonight that some of you need to hear you can receive a God who's looking at you in the midst of the fight and loves you. We love him because he first loved us, who sees you, who's aware of what he purchased on the cross and is telling you, with tears in his eyes, "Keep fighting. Keep fighting. Keep going." So, here in a minute, I'm going to pray, and we're going to have some time for you to pray. Let's not rush out of this room, and let's not rush past this moment, but let's seek the presence of God together. Let's pray.

O Lord, we just say, "Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit." More than anything else we need in life, we need you, your presence in our lives. Lord, thank you for the beautiful truth of the gospel that there's nothing we do to earn the crown in heaven except see Jesus as beautiful and love him. That's all some of us can do today. All we can do is have the eyes of our heart open, see Jesus, and go, "I love what I see. I love it." Whether we're singing or praying or whether it's the time in your Word, we love you.

So, Lord, help us by your Spirit to realize and understand, like Paul said, how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God; to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God; to not only know your love and be filled with it but to say, "I love you back."

Lord, what is it you're calling us to do in this season to embrace whatever persecution is waiting for us, to be tethered and anchored to your Word, or to preach the Word with boldness, and then, God, at the end, to fight the good fight, to keep the faith, to run the race well, fulfilling the ministry you've called us to. O God, we love you. We need you. We invite you here in this moment. In Jesus' name, amen.