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Salt + Light Community is a SOMA church plant in the heart of Fort Worth, TX. Here you’ll find teaching and discussions from our gatherings on Sundays.
All right, let me pray for us.
God, I thank you for your word and I ask
that your word would not return void.
Um, that we, our spirits would just be
attuned to you right now, um, to what
it is you are wanting to teach us.
Um, Lord, I just ask that we
would have postures of humility,
um, that we would listen.
To your spirit, the movement
of your spirit within ours.
And I ask this in your name.
Amen.
Okay.
So,
um, earlier this week, I got to go
on a field trip with my daughter
Kate, who's in fourth grade.
And, uh, we went to Bass Hall and
I've done a few field trips at Bass
Hall with my kids over the years, and
it's usually like to see Peter and
the Wolf or, um, you know, there was
like a Cinderella opera situation.
And, um, but this time she, their,
their fourth grade was going with a
bunch of local high schools and it
just by way of scheduling it ended
up being, uh, their elementary.
And then the rest of Bass Hall was
filled with high school classes.
And so I kept thinking, I had
no idea what we were there to
see, what we were going to see.
And I am trying to figure out what is
it that we're gonna see that is for
elementary kids and high school students.
Uh, and so what turned it turned out
to be one of the coolest field trip
experiences that any of us have had.
Okay, so what it was, it was
a concert from, uh, this group
called Black Violin, and it was two
violinists, two hip hop, violinists.
And so on the stage there's a dj,
um, someone playing drums, someone
on keys, and then two violinists.
And strobe lights.
And it was so much fun.
Everybody was having the best time.
It was like a bomb of joy just went
off in Bass Hall and I'm, I mean,
like literally every single kid was
just smiling and clapping and having
the best time, and the people on the
stage were having the best time, you
know, they loved what they were doing.
And so it, towards the
end, uh, one of the guys.
He says, he's trying to explain
a little bit about how they
got where they were today.
You know, he is, uh, trying
to inspire all these students.
And he says something, he says,
uh, figure out what you love and
then use that to change the world.
And I thought, well, that's a good word.
Uh, figure out what you love and
then use that to change the world.
And so I was thinking about that
and I was thinking about us, and I
was thinking how most of us in this
room would say, yes, I love Jesus.
Uh, and, and if that's not you,
like, I'm so glad you're here.
Uh, like that's a really, it's
really cool and, and brave of
you to show up and be curious.
Uh, but for most of us, we
would say, um, that that's us.
That we love Jesus.
And so this morning, what I want, I
want is to compel us to believe that
our love for Jesus is capable of
changing the world, and that we get the
honor of participating in that change.
And so we're in this series.
We've been looking at first and
second Timothy for, uh, the fall.
And last week Mike gave us
some context on second Timothy.
And second Timothy was also a letter
that, uh, Paul wrote to Timothy who
was leading the church in Ephesus.
And Paul writes this letter from prison.
And it's his final letter, and I think
it's his most personal letter that he
writes be before he's executed, you know?
And we don't exactly know like how, how
long it was before his execution, but
we know that this is his last letter.
He's in prison.
He's probably aware
that he's about to die.
So there's this weightiness to his
words and to his encouragement,
he's urging Timothy to be faithful.
But Timothy know that faithfulness
is costly, so be strengthened
in the grace of Christ.
So knowing the context of Paul and
what his life was looking like at
the time of writing this letter,
to me, this makes this feel like
a such a personal letter that we
get the privilege of reading today.
So what can we learn from it?
Then?
What can we learn from this letter?
What does a disciple of Jesus
take from this letter today?
How can we be encouraged in our
faith and how can we be challenged?
In the passage that Allie
just read for us, it, uh, it.
Has totally gripped me this week.
And I'll be honest, before, like when
I first was get, uh, looking at this
scripture, I was thinking, what are,
what are, what, what am I gonna say?
And then, you know, how scripture
just meets us where we're at,
and it does not return void.
And I'm so thankful for that.
Uh, but thinking about this passage
this week has gripped me specifically
the very end of this passage.
In the, uh, the very beginning
and the very end of this passage.
And so here's what I want
us to focus on this morning.
The thing I want us to consider is that
as disciples of Jesus, our faithfulness
is strengthened by his grace, which
leads us to have generational impact
and it challenges us to endure.
And if that is not good enough
news for us, the ultimate good
news is that when we stumble.
Or when we lose our sight, when we
struggle, Jesus is still faithful.
That's what I want us to
be encouraged with today.
So chapter two starts in a
similar way as chapter one.
Paul says, uh, you then my son, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
The ESV says, strengthened by grace.
And Paul knows that the ministry that
Tim, uh, the ministry tasks that Timothy
is doing, it requires this supernatural
strengthening that is given to him.
And you have to remember, you have
to think about this for a second.
You have to remember that this is the
very beginning stages of Christianity.
There's this transition that is happening
right now that Paul is made aware of.
Paul met Jesus, Timothy Denon.
And I never want topo impose
what is not in scripture.
Um, but I do like to imagine what's
going on in, in people's minds.
And after all, these are humans, right?
Paul was a human.
Timothy is a human.
So when I think about them, I think,
I imagine that Paul is feeling this
urgency to fill Timothy up, to help
him, uh, keep on the right path.
To speak truth over him so that
this gospel message will carry on.
They're at the very beginning
stages of Christianity.
It's like when I drop my kids
off at school and I try and like
fill, like give them like 10
conversations in 10 seconds, you know?
It's like, okay, bye.
I love you.
Show love, be kind.
You know, don't forget
to turn your homework.
Dad's picking you up.
And then I run off, you know, like we
know what that's like or you're just
like, I quickly need to give them
everything, um, that they need to know.
There's an urgency to Paul's words because
he wants and he expects, and he hopes that
the gospel will flourish for generations,
but they're at the very beginning.
So Paul Exhorts be strengthened by meaning
something else is meant to strengthen you.
You cannot strengthen yourself
in February of 2020.
Someone gave me a ticket to attend
this leadership conference for women.
Um, and it was really just a
time of encouragement for women
in ministry and it was great.
Um, it was, am I making a
lot of noise right here?
Is it okay?
It's just me hearing it.
Okay.
Just me.
Okay.
Um, okay.
Back to, uh, so, okay, so February,
2020, I'm sent to this leadership,
this women, women in Ministry
leadership conference, and, um.
Okay.
So now for those of you that aren't as
comfortable with these supernatural gifts
of the spirit, this story that I'm about
to share might stretch you a little bit.
Okay.
Um, so towards the end of
the conference we're singing,
we're having time at worship.
I'm there by myself and, uh, this woman
walks up to me and she gently places
her hand on my arm to get my attention.
And she says, I feel like the Lord
keeps prompting me to come over to
you to share something with you.
Do you mind?
Do you mind if I share now?
There is wisdom and discernment
to use in these moments.
Absolutely.
Uh, but I do believe that God
uses others to sometimes share
a prophet, prophetic word.
Uh, and I've had this happen to me
before, so it doesn't throw me off guard.
Um, but I do tread with careful
curiosity and that's important.
Uh, and when these moments happen,
I try to attune myself to, to God's
spirit so that I'm filtering through
whatever is said through his discernment.
I, I'm not interested in spiritual
manipulation, you know, and so we just
wanna make sure that we're discerning,
uh, whatever word might be shared
with us through, uh, through God.
So I tell her sure.
Uh, knowing that I'm gonna
take whatever she says to me,
I'm gonna take it to the Lord.
And prayer.
And as a side note, if anyone ever comes
up and has a prophetic ex, expresses that
they might have a prophetic word for you.
Um, anyone that is sincere about that.
They're gonna want you to do that.
They're gonna want you to
take that to the Lord too, uh,
and, and wrestle it with him.
Wrestle it out with him,
and listen to his spirit.
Um, if what is true and
right and good for you.
Okay?
So she says to me, she says she,
since that God wanted me to hear three
things, don't tiptoe into your gifts,
to God is inviting you to run with him.
And three, don't be timid.
So she steers those things
with me, and that was it.
She gave me a hug and she went on her way.
I honestly, I don't know her name,
couldn't point her out to you, would
never be able to guess who she was.
Um, so I sit down real quick and I grab my
notebook to write it down because I, you
know, I didn't wanna forget what was said.
Um, and I was like, okay, I'll
circle back to that later.
So I think later that evening,
uh, I think about this, I
write it down in my notebook.
I'm showing you right here.
It's written down my notebook.
Um, so I get home, I take out my
notebook to remember what she said
and to ask God if there's anything
that he wants me to take from it.
Now, the notebook that I was using
right here, it was a gift from a
friend and at the bottom of each page.
There's a, a scripture that, uh, they
write, it's like a different scripture for
each page, but it puts your name in it.
So for example, so on this page it says,
be still Nicole, and know that I'm God.
So each page, it's a different verse,
um, that has put my name in it.
Um, so I'm reading over what she wrote
or what she said to me, and it says
right here, don't tiptoe into your gifts.
Run with God.
Don't be timid.
And for whatever reason, when
she said those words, the word
timid really jumped out at me.
And so it's underlined a few times.
And so I'm, I read that and then I
look down, and the verse at the end
of my notebook right here says, for
God did not give you Nicole, a spirit
of timidity, but a spirit of power,
of love, and of self-discipline.
And I thought, okay, Lord, I'm listening
now.
I didn't have anything going on at
that time that felt like that was
like specific to something, you know?
Um, and so there was nothing that I
could immediately connect those words to.
So I just ask God, you know, would you let
me know when I needed to remember this?
Would you bring this back to
mind when I need to remember it?
And a few weeks later, the
world goes into lockdown.
And then that summer, uh, we spent
countless evenings in our backyard with
Ben and Jess and our kids running around.
And as we began to start talking
about planting a church, those
words came rushing back to me.
Don't be timid.
God did not give you a spirit of timidity,
but of power, of love and self-control.
And Paul wrote those words to Timothy
back in, uh, the first chapter, and
those words were spoken over me at
the beginning of a new ministry.
And those words are for us today to
enable us to fulfill the calling that
God has for each one of us in this room.
But here's the other side to it.
The degree to which we are able
to walk out in faithfulness, the
degree to which we are able to live
faithful lives is directly related
to where we receive our strength.
You cannot strengthen yourself for
the work of Faithful Discipleship,
but we have access to the one who can.
Paul kept the faith and he's wondering
now is Timothy going to keep the faith?
So he reminds him of his resources.
The source of your strength is from
God, and that's I, that's why I love the
ESB translation of that verse because
it uses the phrase, be strengthened
versus be strong and be strong.
I mean, that's good, right?
Be strong is a verb, and
it's an adjective phrase.
It is a state of describing
who we are to be.
Be.
That's not untrue.
We are to be strong.
But what I love about the phrase be
strengthened is that it is in the
passive voice, meaning the subject
receives the action through an outside
force, meaning we can't look inside of
ourselves for the strength that we need.
It is coming from something outside of us,
and it's coming from the grace of Jesus.
There's this powerful reminder
that it is God and his grace that
keeps us on this faithful journey.
What do we require?
The strength that is outside of us.
Strength, so that we don't quit.
He is the one who strengthens us.
He's the one that gives us the
mental courage we need to keep going.
Before Paul tells Timothy what to do,
he tells him how he's going to do it.
By the grace that is in Christ
Jesus church, whatever we are up
against, and this seasons will
ebb and flow for each one of us.
Some seasons are simple.
Others seem to take us under every season.
Though your strength is found in the
grace that is in Christ Jesus, and we need
that because following Jesus is not easy.
Sometimes it is.
A lot of times it's not.
But like I tell my kids, just because
something is hard does not mean you're
doing it wrong, but because it's hard, we
need the grace of Jesus to strengthen us.
So, uh, here's the effect
of our faithfulness.
Here's what is so beautiful and why.
Like I could hardly get past
the first couple chapters.
The effect of our faithfulness is
that we get to impact generations.
I want to read verses one
through three again to us.
Uh, and I'm gonna read it from
it's, this is the NIV now.
Okay?
One through three says you then my son,
be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus and the things you have heard me say
in the presence of many witnesses entrust
to reliable men who will also be qualified
to teach others endure hardship with
us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
The hope and the expectation of our
faithfulness is that we pass it on.
In this passage we have Paul
in, in just these verses we have
Paul, who was discipled by others.
He's discipling Timothy.
Timothy is charged to pass on
the message to others who will
pass on the message to others.
Our faithfulness to the gospel is meant
to have this ripple effect, recognizing
that God is the source of our strength.
We are equipped to pass on the gospel to
those around us and to future generations.
And that can be challenging and
it can also be immensely joyful.
This past week at Alpha, uh,
we talked about why sharing
our faith, uh, with others is
important to the Christian faith.
It was such a great video,
really great conversation.
And for me it, I, I just walked away and
I was just so encouraged, uh, by these
stories of faithfulness, our words and
our prayers and our actions of love.
They make a difference.
I think we forget that, but it adds
up and it makes a huge difference.
But the reality that, uh, sharing
our faith can make us really nervous.
Or we can be afraid or uncomfortable.
We can think that we're supposed to
just read from a script or a track.
Um, they're supposed to have all the right
answers, that we can't even engage in
the conversation until we feel confident
that we have understood everything.
Um, we're afraid of rejection.
That's how many of us feel when
we think about sharing the gospel.
Um, that initial call to follow Jesus,
the explanation of who Jesus was,
his death and resurrection, that he
defeated death, he's setting us free.
Uh, that conversation makes
us feel really nervous.
A lot of times we shy away from that and
we hope that someone else will get to it.
It's like, uh, when my kids continue
to like, walk around their piles
of shoes on the stairs, you know,
instead of thinking someone else is
gonna grab them instead of themselves.
Um, but listen, when a relational
opportunity presents itself, that's
for you, that's for you to engage in.
And what you do in that moment is you
remember that you are strengthened.
By the grace that is found in Jesus,
but there's also this comprehensive
nature to the gospel, okay?
This continual transformation
that comes when we follow Jesus.
That Jesus doesn't just save us once
and move on, but he is saving us,
shaping us, transforming us by his
power and through his people and
with his word and in his spirit, and
that's how discipleship plays out.
Oh, we're in this together.
So this week I, uh, just kept getting
swept up in these first couple of
verses and I could barely move on.
And, and the thing that moved me
was seeing this generational impact,
uh, because of faithful believers
from Paul to Timothy, to others, to
others, to others, to others, to all
of us who are in this room today.
Someone has gone before you.
Someone has walked alongside you,
someone has prayed for you, someone
has opened the scriptures with you.
Someone has born witness to your
wrestling and your questions,
and they have sat with you.
None of us got here alone.
Not one single person got here alone.
So who are you inviting on this journey?
And how are you showing up
for others in this room?
Because I could not stop thinking about
this massive ripple effect, I started
thinking about the ripple effect in my
life and the experiences that I've had,
meaning the people who helped disciple me.
And there's this one woman
who kept coming to mind.
Her name's Becky.
She was a mom at my church growing up.
Uh, she volunteered with the youth group.
She drove like kids home afterward.
She participated the events.
She would sit and take my questions.
She would invite people over for dinner.
She would be patient with
me when I was uninterested.
And when I think back on that time,
what I realized is that she was always
available and she made herself present.
She had this safe presence to her, you
know, so I could not stay focused this
week because I just kept thinking about
her and I lost touch with her probably
I, I don't know, at least 15 years ago.
And, uh, but I tracked down her number
and I texted her and I said, I know
this is outta the blue, but can we talk?
And I gave her a heads up.
I said, it's just good.
And so we got on Zoom a couple days later
and I said, I just need to say thank you.
What you did for me mattered so much
the way that you just walked alongside
me in a loving and sincere way.
Gosh, that changed so much for me.
I got to tell her that the Bible
that I actually teach out of
is the Bible that she gave me.
Back in 2000,
we both just cried.
We just sat there on Zoom and we
cried together as we marveled at the
impact that a faithful life can have.
I got to tell her about the ministries
that I've been part of and that I
get to be part of, and so much of
it I can say it's because of you.
It's because of the effort
and the attention and the
gentleness that you showed me.
There were, there were people that
came before her, and there were people
that will come after, people that will
come after me and will come after you.
And the point is, is that we're simply
trying to be a faithful disciple.
And make faithful disciples
on the on the call, I asked her, how
did you know any of this would stick?
And she said, I always had peace
because I just trusted God.
And you know what, that's
a picture of to me, a woman
strengthened by the grace of Jesus.
So practically speaking, what
does that look like for us here?
It's a lot of the stuff that
we're already doing in this room.
Um, have good conversations, engage in
thoughtful questions of one another.
Don't shy away from sharing about
the work of Jesus in your life.
'cause you know what draws people
to Jesus is seeing him in action.
So don't shy away from those
stories model faithful living.
It's that it's a concept
of caught not taught.
Meaning so much of our life lessons
are learned through observation and
example rather than instruction.
Serve and love others with
your time and your attention.
Be present for one another.
It's all pretty simple,
but it is also intentional.
And at salt and light, we believe
that discipleship flows both ways.
Meaning we value that everybody
is discipled, and also that
everyone is discipling.
But I do wanna take a moment real quick
and challenge us in this room to be
especially mindful of the children and
youth that are part of our community.
Because there, there are programs
and methods and structures to
discipleship and a lot of that can
be really great and really helpful.
Sending kids to camp is awesome
and fun and a lot of, uh, a lot
of fruit is developed there.
But you know what they
need when they come home.
All pumped for Jesus, people who are
walking alongside them in the journey.
Adults modeling faithful living.
I went to this, uh, training last year
on reaching Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and you
know what they learned through surveys
and research that the next generation
isn't very interested in big church
programs and they tend to be suspicious
of leaders, but you know what they
are drawn to and what they do crave.
Relationships with authentic adults,
and it was that word, authentic,
that they really emphasized
relationships with authentic adults.
That's what faith modeling
faithful living looks like.
That's what they want, which, that's
one reason why we've created a youth
DNA and why we're serious about not
separating our kids and our youth,
uh, from us adults on Sundays.
When it comes to discipleship, we
expect collaboration that we're all
giving and that we're all receiving.
We want the gospel message to
carry on for generations to come.
Someone once entrusted it to you,
we get to entrust it to others, and
it's not based on your skills or
your ability or your giftedness.
It's based on your faithfulness.
So I wanna move us to the end of this
passage and listen to these last words
starting in verse 11.
Here is a trustworthy saying if
we died with him, we will also
live with him if we endure.
We will also reign with
him if we disown him.
He will also disown us
if we are faithless.
He remains faithful for
he cannot deny himself.
Here's the reality.
We won't always be faithful.
Our reliability and our determination
to remain faithful, it's going
to waver from time to time.
Suffering will come,
hardships will knock us down.
Sometimes we might find ourselves weak
or weary, but our hope does not lie
in our ability to remain faithful,
but in Christ the always faithful one.
So we get to clinging to the
promise that even when we are
faithless, Jesus remains faithful.
He cannot deny himself, meaning that
he cannot act contrary to his nature,
unlike ourselves, he is faithful.
He is the same.
Yesterday, today, and forever,
our faithlessness will never compel
God to abandon his faithfulness.
God's love for our world has
opened up a new hope through the
death and resurrection of Jesus.
So with that truth, we get to
pause and take communion together.
Now, communion is this act
that makes us remember Jesus.
It reminds us of his faithfulness.
We remember that the
one who conquered death.
And gives us grace so that we can
endure hardship, so that we can be
faithful to carry on his message.