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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hi, friends. This is John Guenter and you're listening to the Eagle Community Church of Christ podcast. This week, we are in the next to last, of our series on the story. We're in chapter 30 talking about Paul's final days. And, this being thanksgiving week, we kind of tie, some of what Paul does back to our memories.
John:He calls Timothy out to remember he was raised by his mother and his grandmother. I think we all have special memories of a loved one like that that has really impacted our lives. So hopefully this is something that hits home and, again, we just want to encourage you anytime you get a chance we'd love to have you in house. Come and see us anytime. Have a great week.
John:You know by how much stuff we could have covered in the last few weeks, this could have been a year study easy. But next week is our last one. And again, I tell you, if you are behind, don't feel the pressure to catch up. Just read for next week, and we'll all, end there together. And since we've covered all the Bible, in 31 weeks, that will be it for us.
John:We won't meet anymore. No. I'm just kidding. Katie's got a great aunt that said one time. She don't yeah.
John:I've had enough church. I believe I've been enough. Like, okay. She was teasing. She kept going, but, she just she just had to say that.
John:So just do your reading for this. This week, again, we talk about the life of the apostle Paul. And if you remember, when we met him and we talked about last week, that when we met Saul, he was persecuting the church. He was not the apostle that we know later on in his life. He was actually going around persecuting Christians, even getting letters of authority to go into other places, and on his way to Damascus to do exactly that, he met, on the road, someone he did not expect.
John:And Lord of the Rings fans, it was not Gandalf, it was Jesus. When Paul sees Jesus, he is impacted and we know that by the way he lived his life the rest of his life, don't we? This was so impactful for him, this Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? That he turned his life around. You remember, he was blind at first and Ananias came to him and told him, you know, about what had happened, and Saul was baptized, now he is Paul.
John:But one of the things that it said to Ananias remember Ananias was scared to go talk to him because he had been persecuting Christians. But God tells Ananias that I'm going to show him how much he is to suffer for My name or My sake. And I don't know how many of you, before you go out on a journey, think, alright. I think I am about to suffer a lot. That will be a good thing.
John:But it never seems to slow down Paul, does it? I don't know if it was out of guilt of what he had done before. I like to think it's because of the conviction that came from actually meeting Jesus. You, as you've read over the years or read during the the story, Paul continues to share his testimony over and over. This is who I was, this is what happened on the road to Damascus, and this is who I am now.
John:And so he continued to live his life in a very bold and courageous way. One of the things that happened in Paul's life that I hope doesn't happen in mine is this story in Acts 21. It says, after we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, the Holy Spirit says, in this way, the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles. Anybody happy about this at this point?
John:If it were your belt, how would you be feeling? I'm going to try and claim that Agabus is crazy or something, that this has never happened. But this is what Agabus says and earlier in Acts, Agabus had predicted a famine in the area as well. So, this was someone who they trusted to predict the future in this way, And so this is what he says. It says, when we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.
John:That's a pretty normal thing, don't you think? If your buddy was about to be persecuted in some way and you knew that, would you not try to stop them from going? Yeah. We we plead from him, plead for him not to go. But Paul answered, why are you weeping and breaking my heart?
John:I am ready not only to be bound not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the lord Jesus. And then we all get put back in our place real quick. That Paul has got a vision that everybody else doesn't have. How many of us try to avoid pain? Yeah.
John:If I know it's coming and I can get around that, absolutely. Right? Jim is saying, no pain, no gain. That's not real, you know, helpful for me. No, thank you.
John:Can I have the gain without the pain? We try to, don't we? We try to see how can I get around that? But Paul is saying, I'm not ready not only to be bound, but also to go and die. He said, when he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, the lord's will be done.
John:That Paul is so convinced, he is so convicted of what he has seen, what he has experienced, that he's ready to go even if it means to die. And this is one of those big things of that that goes into my faith. Because not only have we said, Jesus died and rose again, Paul says, and 500 people saw him, and you can go talk to most of them. Not only does Paul say, I saw Jesus on the road to Damascus, but what we see is a complete life change in him to persecuting to I will be persecuted for him. That's how much I believe in this.
John:And that brings me faith and comfort that these people weren't making this up. This happened and they would die because of it. This is Thanksgiving week. I know a lot of you have got a lot of big plans this week, don't you? How many of you are planning a big Thanksgiving feast?
John:Amen. Beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes, lamb, ram, hogs, dogs, chicken, turkey, rabbit, you name it. You're going to have it. Isn't it right? That's right.
John:One of my big memories of my life is every Thanksgiving growing up, we would go into Tennessee, to my granny's house, and we would have Thanksgiving and Christmas together. So when we showed up on Thanksgiving, we already had the Christmas tree up. So if you are wondering about that, yes, it is okay. But every year, and I can still experience it, how many of you, like Granny is gone, but I can still experience her house, or that loved one's house. Right?
John:You can walk in there right now. I can walk into my granny's house right now, and that's been sold for a long time, and I can smell she's cooking chili, and my mom has probably started making some chocolate fudge. Only time of the year we ever I mean that rich milk chow. But those memories, those experiences do not go away. You can channel them right now, or did a tear come to my eye right now.
John:You can do it too. Those things stay with us, don't they? They impact our lives. They help guide us. I think at times at our lowest moment, you think back to those special times, you think, Man, I can't wait to see them again.
John:And as Christians, we know because of the faith that we have, because of the faith we see in people like Paul to change his life. This is very serious. This is very this is something that he would die for and I will die for. And I could go and experience that, that God has has created this place, that Jesus is gonna prepare a place for us in God's house to live with Him and to be with all of those who have gone before us. Amen?
John:I love it. I love thinking about it. I love thinking about all the ways that, all the things I would like to talk to my granny about again. We grew up in Southwest Arkansas, so the middle of Tennessee wasn't easy to get to, so those trips yearly were nice. Those are my memories.
John:Those are the things that I can hold dear to her. My other grandparents, my dad's parents, passed away when I was really young, and so I don't have all the memories that I did with her. But you think about those, and those things guide us. When Paul gets old, that's kind of what he does. He's coming to the end of his life.
John:He writes to his friend Timothy, and he kind of stirs up the same kind of ideas and thoughts in Timothy's head, because Timothy was raised by his mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice. He says to remember those things. He says to remember them, fan them into flame, bring them to your memory to help you as you go. His ministry is not always easy. Paul has experienced that, hasn't he?
John:Last week, we talked about him being in prison. Can you imagine being in prison and your thought is, what do I do now? Let's sing. Let's sing that 4th verse that Jordan left out, because we have all the time in the world, right? Let's sing and praise God.
John:Listen to the words that Paul writes here in 2 Timothy 1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, in keeping with promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my dear son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve as my ancestors did. You you hear that? As my ancestors did with a clear conscience as night and day.
John:I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and then your mother, Eunice. And I am persuaded now lives in you also. Paul, when he writes to Timothy, doesn't write of a Jesus past, a Jesus who is dead in a grave somewhere.
John:Paul writes to Timothy in a way that Jesus is alive and well, And his encouragement to Timothy is to remember, to remember Lois, to remember Eunice, to remember the ways that they impacted your life, remember all the tears that you had when we were together. To call those back and to remember those times. Because, again, ministry is not easy, is it? Life is not easy. It's kind of weird to even think about because when I think about the Thanksgiving time, I think about my granny's house.
John:But I am looking at my 2 sons, going, that's not going to be their memory. Their memory is going to be my parents' house, or Katie's parents' house, or maybe our own house. But those go away, those change, but we keep them with us to drive us forward, because I can gather strength from thinking about those things. And Paul says when he looks at Timothy, I am persuaded that this sincere faith now lives in you also. Sincere faith that, as we see in other scriptures, that is not about just saying I believe, that is living a life that follows Jesus, even to the point of being persecuted, being killed.
John:For this reason I remind you to fan and to flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self discipline. I think a lot of times, all the the avoiding pain or avoid trying to avoid what we might even see as persecution, though I doubt it is, really gets around the thought of what the spirit has given us. This is a this is a big if you've got your bibles open, this is one of those highlighted verses. Right?
John:For the spirit god gave us does not make us timid but gives us power, love, and self discipline. All the tools to live the life following Jesus Christ. I have a on my soccer team this year, I had a very timid boy that I am trying to work with. And he is one of those who wants to play every position and goes out there, but he gets near the ball and he just backs up, you know. And one of my last practices that I had, he had a penalty shot, which just means, those of you who don't like soccer, that, he was all alone, the ball was close to the goal, and he had a shot to score.
John:And I walked over to him and I said, Put it in the net. And he passed it. Didn't shoot it, he just passed. Timid, kind of afraid to to go after it. And I wonder how many of us are like this.
John:And when it really comes down to it, if you were asked or if you knew God was telling you to go and do and to make this happen, would take the chance and go and do and be convicted in that way, just like Paul is, just like Timothy is, or how many of us would shy away, not me, Lord. Can I pass this on to someone else? Because I don't think I can do it or maybe I don't want to do it. But Paul says, the Spirit God has given you does not make you timid, it gives you power. And maybe we ought to walk out of our houses with that in mind, That the spirit is with us and it gives us power to go and do, to have this love and to have a self discipline that helps us to live the life we want to live.
John:He says, so do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Again, Paul writing from jail. And, of course, that could be looked on as God doesn't want you to succeed. Right? Paul has not only spent time in jail, he's been on a ship that was ship shipwrecked, and if that wasn't bad enough, they got off and they thought, hey, we found a great place, everybody is nice to us, Let's build a fire.
John:And the first thing that happens is they build a fire, and a viper comes out, a snake comes out, and grabs on to Paul. That's 3 things. That's jail, that's a shipwreck, that's a snake biting. How many of you are done at that point? Yeah.
John:I'm thinking at that point, all those visions I thought I saw, I didn't see. Or God, you know, I miss we got some wires crossed or something. Something has happened because it keeps happening, it seems like all negative things and I I like how Scripture paints the picture of after Paul just kind of shakes off this snake. How many of you just shake off the snake? No.
John:No, it's a very memorable thing that happened, right? Not just nonchalant. Paul ended up in the fire, shaking off the snake, that kind of thing. But everybody kind of watches him because he's surely going to die, right? God wants him to die or something.
John:You can imagine all the things going through their head. God wanted this to happen. How many of us do we talk like this? Everything that happens, God wanted it to happen. I don't know if that's the case.
John:But Paul just shakes it off and they kept waiting for him to swell up and die or something, and all of a sudden he didn't, and they thought, Well, maybe he is a god. They didn't know the life he had lived and all that he had done, did they? But Paul lives this way and he's in jail even at this point, but he is still convicted of what God wants him to do and who God is for him in his life. So he can tell Timothy, do not be ashamed of both the testimony of our Lord or of me his prisoner. Don't be ashamed of me because I'm in jail.
John:This is not some kind of shameful thing that I've done some, atrocity to other people. This is just because of my faith in God, and I'm okay with that. He says, rather join with me in suffering for the gospel. How many of you like that idea? Don't be ashamed of me, but what I want from you to to do is to join me in suffering.
John:You may got friends close enough for that. Yeah. Those close friends that you can do anything with, that's the only the only people that happening with. Right? Okay.
John:I'll join you. Where is the shovel? Where is all that stuff? Let's hide the dead body, right? No.
John:He says, Rather, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. This is how Paul is able to move forward. By the power of God. The spirit that has been given to Paul that empowers him to go. He said, He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace.
John:This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our savior Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And Paul is convicted of this because he saw it. Right? He was there. He knows the stories.
John:He knew Jesus had died, but yet he met him on the road to Damascus. He said, in the end of this gospel, I was appointed a herald and an apostle, a sent one, and a teacher. This is why I'm in I am suffering as I am. Yet, this is no cause for shame because I know whom I have believed and I am convinced I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
John:Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us. An encouragement to a fellow friend that you don't have to avoid the pain, that pain does not mean shame, that pain does not mean God doesn't want you moving forward, that pain does not mean all of these things, But if you are convinced in your faith that you have a sincere faith to follow Christ Jesus, it may mean through good times, it may mean through rough and stormy seas. Some of you have experienced all of that in the last short amount of time. Don't let anything throw you off course.
John:Come back to the main tenets. Come back to those impactful moments in your life. Come back to grandma's house. Come back to the pew you were sitting by that family member or that good friend just hearing them sing one more time. That friend that you can't talk to right now, but you will.
John:Let that guide you. Let that encourage you. Go forward in the power of the Spirit that God gives each and every one of us. Us. Draw strength from that.
John:Can you feel it this morning? We want to encourage you if your life is taking a different path to come back. I know we, we focus on this when someone passes away, but I want us to be able to draw on that right now that there's gonna be a time that we are together again. And it's only if we decide to stay on the path, as it not. We know that God wants us to be with him, that Jesus has prepared a place for him, but if we tell him no, well, that's our decision to make.
John:So I want to encourage you if your life has left the path to come back this morning, we'd love to pray with you about that. We'd love to see you, again begin that walk with him. If you haven't been baptized into his name, like the apostle Paul, have that moment this morning where your eyes are open. You are convicted and onward you are. Jordan's got an invitation song picked out.
John:We'd love to pray with you at anything we can.