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Redeemer College is now in PODCAST form! Just making a home for all of our teachings! We hope this will be a blessing to you as we grow in knowing and following Jesus together!
Redeemer College is a part of Redeemer Community Church in Birmingham, AL.
And as you guys are grabbing a seat, I, we were praying for you guys yesterday, and, we as we were praying, kind of this picture came into our mind. You know, whenever you get into your car early in the morning and there's this condensation, there's all this dew across the windshield, and our prayer for tonight was it would be like that first movement of your wipers, that you would be like be able to see again, that you would get to behold this Jesus who is like the Alpha and Omega, who is the beginning and the end, like is I say this all the time, but like he was before time and after time at the same time. And he is more beautiful and majestic than we could imagine. So I pray that even just the beginning of that worship was able to do that for you a little bit tonight. Well, if I haven't met you before, my name is Cole, and I would really like to meet you.
Speaker 1:Our whole team, Steven, Chase, myself, we are on campus whether at UAB or at Sanford every single week. If you see us, would you please please please come say hello. Like, please come, introduce yourself, and we would just like love for to to, like, get to know your name and a little bit about your, a little bit about your story. So second Timothy. I want to tell you guys about my senior year spring break trip.
Speaker 1:A group of friends of mine, about six of us, decided that we were going to be super spiritual and go on a cruise. So, we found the cheapest carnival cruise that we could find. So for $400, me and six friends were going to sail the seas and have unlimited food, like unlimited drink, unlimited entertainment for those five days. What started off as a group me of six people, slowly but surely every week someone else would get added. And then another group would get added, and then another group would get added.
Speaker 1:I still am in this group me to this day. It's called Jay Cruzen. There is a hundred and six people in this group me. A hundred and six of our friends from the University of Georgia went on what is now known as the Krusty Carnival. It was the oldest, grossest ship that they had, but y'all it was a blast.
Speaker 1:I mean, we floated from island to island. Like, y'all, it was like I mean, I was we were college students. Like, it was the premiers of comfort. Like like, it was convenient on each level, each deck. There was the the soft serve ice cream machine.
Speaker 1:For breakfast, I was having steak and eggs every day. Like whenever that chicken parm was really good at dinner, it was like, I would love to have another one. Like it was comfort, it was luxury, it was the most casual that I had been of all of my senior year. Like, it it was the picture of indulgence. It was a an amazing spring break.
Speaker 1:It was so much fun. So why do I start there tonight? Is that I am afraid that if we're honest with each other, and if we will be honest with ourselves, that this this spring break that was marked by comfort and convenience and indulgence and in just casual living is in fact some of the markers, some of the characteristics of our faith with Jesus. That I would be afraid to say that there have been many times in my life, and if you're honest with yourselves, maybe many times in your life, maybe you're living in it right now, in which you are embracing a cruise ship Christianity. A a a Christianity that is marked by spiritual gluttony of consuming, consuming, consuming, but never exercising those spiritual muscles.
Speaker 1:A Christianity that's marked by comfort. A Christianity that's marked by something that doesn't cost you anything, a Christianity that's that's casual even, that's nominal, that's like, yeah, I'm a I'm a Christian, but it's not really affecting my life at all, that it's a a Christianity that is marked by a convenience, That I think a cultural lie that we have bought into is this, that if something is hard, then it must be wrong. That that if it's challenging, then it must not be for me. But y'all hear the words of our Jesus, the one that we are beholding. Matthew sixteen twenty four.
Speaker 1:What does he say? If anyone would come after me, if anyone would follow after me, he would deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Or or Galatians two twenty, Paul says, for I have been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me. In this life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Or or Romans twelve one, it says, in view of God's mercies, present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.
Speaker 1:That that that this isn't like for like super spiritual people. This is like baseline Christianity that it is meant to cost us something. And so this semester, we're gonna walk word by word, line line line by line through second Timothy, as we hear Paul's last words, as he's telling Timothy, like, Here's how you can run this race well. Here's how you can finish the fight that you have begun. And like full cards on the table, here is like my this is what I have been praying my guts out for us as a ministry for this semester, that you and I would trade casual Christianity for costly faith in Christ, that we would trade casual, convenient, comfortable Christianity for costly and courageous faith in Christ.
Speaker 1:Because this is what our savior has called us to. And the beautiful thing about costly faith in Christ is the reward is so worth it, that the life that we are invited into is so worth it. So tonight, if I was to title tonight's message, it would simply be, this is the life. We're gonna walk through the first seven verses of second Timothy together, and to kind of give you a roadmap or kind of a game plan of what, these seven verses are gonna be, it'll be this. Is that we're gonna I'm gonna give you guys one invitation, one invitation, and two challenges from second Timothy chapter one verses one through seven.
Speaker 1:One invitation and two challenges. In front of you is actually, hopefully, you should have like an actual printout of these seven verses. The reason why we wanted to give this for you tonight is to give you an opportunity to truly meditate so we could meditate on God's Word together. So feel free. Mark that thing up.
Speaker 1:Circle, underline. If the Spirit brings something to light, like, make note of it. We want to give you permission to meditate on God's word together. So before we go any further in second Timothy, I would love for us to pray and ask for God's word to speak through God's, or God's spirit to speak through God's word. So let's pray together.
Speaker 1:Our father, I thank you for sacred moments like this, where our sisters and our brothers are gathered, not around like a good talk, but we're gathered around your word, Lord. And so we ask that you would speak to us now. God, what we know not, would you teach us? What we have not, would you give us? And what we are not, would you make us?
Speaker 1:And if you would, would you pray, for would you pray that tonight that God would speak to you? And would you, pray for the person on your right or your left? Pray for one of your neighbors. Pray that God would speak to them through his word tonight. And if you would, would you pray for me?
Speaker 1:That I would be clear and helpful to you. Father, we love you. We pray these things through the son and by the spirit. Amen. Well, last semester we walked through the story of scripture and we talked about the different movements.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go through all the movements tonight, but we talked about that the New Testament in particular has 27 books in it. There are four gospels. There's one book of history, which is the book of Acts, and then there's 21 letters to Christians and churches that talk about theology and Christian living, and then there's one book of prophecy, which is the book of Revelation. Tonight we're going to be in second Timothy. This semester we're gonna be in second Timothy, which is one of those 21 letters to Christians and churches.
Speaker 1:As I've mentioned, this is Paul's last words. So the Apostle Paul will be introduced to him in just a moment. These are his final words that we have recorded in scripture. He's responsible for almost three fourths of the New Testament, and these are his last words, and last words can be lasting words. So if you've got your Bible or if you have that print off, I'd invite you to join me in second Timothy chapter one starting in verse one.
Speaker 1:And I'll read all seven verses. Hey, Redeemer College. This is God's word for you tonight. It says this, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God the father in Christ Jesus, our lord our lord.
Speaker 1:I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power and love and self control.
Speaker 1:This is the word of the Lord. Alright. So let's look together starting back in verse one. We see Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. So what we know here is that the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul so Christ Jesus has an apostle.
Speaker 1:His name is Paul. Paul is writing by the will of God, AKA God does have a will, that God is the one who is orchestrating the affairs of the world, that he's the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. And so it's by the will of God that Paul is writing this letter, and he does it in particular according to, if there's anything you're gonna like underline bracket circle tonight, it may be this, is the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. That that Paul is writing as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to this promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. Now, specifically, that word life there is something I kinda wanna highlight if you wanna circle that.
Speaker 1:So in Greek, there are two different words that are used to, translate life. You have the word bios. Can everyone say bios? We got bios, and we've got zoe. Can everyone say zoe?
Speaker 1:Zoe. So you've got bios, and you've got zoe. This idea of bios is like this idea of, like, biology. Like, this is your physical life. This think about, like, existence.
Speaker 1:Think about breathing, like that you are alive is bios. But then you've got zoe. Now now zoe is not just about, like, are you alive, but zoe is about are you living. It's almost like to think of the idea of, like, man, when I was on that crusty carnival cruise ship, like, man, this is the life. Like, it's it's the thing that is not biological, but is theological.
Speaker 1:It's not the thing that's physical, but it's the thing that is spiritual. That it's not just existence, but it's that deep satisfaction. That zoe is the life that we are longing for. So whether or not you're a follower of Jesus or not in the room, I think we can all admit that we're chasing after zoe. That whether or not you're agnostic, atheist, like, unsure of what this all is, there is something in us that longs for zoe, that longs for this true life, this true living, this vibrancy, this idea of being truly living, not just alive.
Speaker 1:That this is the ache of the human heart, is this zoe, that we would experience life now and life forever. And so hear this, this is the claim of Christianity, that true living, that zoe is found under one name, and it's the name of Christ Jesus. That Paul is writing to the promise of the zoe, the promise of the satisfaction, the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. That the gospel is this, is that God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything, and you were created to know Him, love Him, live with Him, and enjoy Him, and glorify Him forever. It's what you were made for.
Speaker 1:That's like the true Zoe life. But each of us in our own way, as Isaiah fifty three six would say, that each one like sheep have turned his own way, and we have walked away from God. But God in his love and his mercy has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ, that he was fully God and fully man, and here's what Jesus did. He lived perfectly. He died sacrificially in our place, and he rose again victoriously, defeating sin, death, hell, and the grave, in order that we would experience right relationship with God again, that we would get a taste of that zoe now and the zoe that is to be for eternity.
Speaker 1:That this is the promise of the life that Paul is talking about here in second Timothy one one. So I would just begin to, like, begin to ask you tonight even, that Paul is writing according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. Over the past two weeks, who what promise of life have you been living into? Has it been the promise of the life that is in popularity? Is it the promise of the life that is in being the most beautiful?
Speaker 1:Is it the promise of the life that is financial security? Is it the promise of the life of academic success? Is it the promise of the life of a relationship? Is it the promise of the life of you fill in the blank? But we believe the claim of Christianity is that the God of the universe has made himself knowable, and has made himself for a relationship with him, that this zoe life is in Christ.
Speaker 1:I love, when smarter people than me talk about stuff like this. So, C. S. Lewis in his, like, master class book called Mere Christianity, he says this about Zoe and Bias. He says, in reality, the difference between biological life and spiritual life is so important that I'm gonna give it two distinct names.
Speaker 1:The biological sort, which comes to us through nature, and which like everything else in nature is always tending to run down and decay, so that it can be kept up by incessant subsidies from nature in the form of air, water, food, etcetera. This is bios. The spiritual life, which is God in God from all eternity, and which made the whole natural universe is zoe. Bios has, to be sure, a certain shadowy or symbolic resemblance to zoe, but only the sort of resemblance that there is between a oh, I love this. Between a photo and a place, or a statue and a man.
Speaker 1:That a man or a woman who is changed from having Bios to having Zoe would have gone through as big of a change as a statue, which be which changed from being carved to stone, is being made a real man. Last words. And that is precisely what Christianity is about. That the world is a great sculptor's shop where statues where there are statues and there is a rumor going around the shop that some of us are going to come to life one day. There's two, illustrations that I wanna borrow from CS Lewis in here.
Speaker 1:This idea of a statue and a human in a picture and a place. You see, what's true of statues, what's true of bios is that they look the part. That if you were to see David carved in stone, he's got a head, he's got arms, he's got legs, he's he's got all of the equipment of of being a human being, but there's no life. There's no vibrancy. There's no true living.
Speaker 1:Would you describe your faith? Would you describe your life that of a stagnant statue or a vibrant human? That it's got all of the equipment. It's got everything that, like, I I that you would expect, but are you actually living? Are you alive tonight, but not truly living?
Speaker 1:Or the second illustration that that CS Lewis gives us, I think, is so helpful here, is that is your life, is your spiritual life a picture, or is it a place? You see, a picture is a is a place that you've been. A place is where you are. You see you see a picture is a moment in time, but a place is a place that you live. I would just be wondering, for some of you, is your relationship with Jesus a picture of your high school self, but your college self has yet to experience it?
Speaker 1:Is it a picture of of your expectation of your parents faith, but it has yet to become your own? Is it a picture or is it a place? Is it a statue or are you a human? Or maybe even some of you are statues, and you are pretending so hard to be human, and you're exhausted. And the invitation of the gospel, the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, is that you can be made alive, and you can experience the vibrancy of true living.
Speaker 1:So first, application point from second Timothy chapter one verse one is this. It's an invitation. Right? An invitation for you to live the life that is in Christ Jesus. For you to live your UAB life that is in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:For you to live your Samford life that is in Christ Jesus. Not one that is filled with all of the other promises of this world, but the promise that is in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You may ask, Cole, how do I do that? What does that mean? It quite simply would be this.
Speaker 1:The first is for you to repent. Repentance isn't an apology. It's a choice to turn from the way that you are going and to head another, for you to reorient your life, not around the promises of this world, but the promises of Christ. So you need to turn from that, and then I would encourage you to lock eyes with Jesus and take a step towards him. For each of us, that may look differently, but for us to lock eyes with Jesus and to take a step towards him.
Speaker 1:So we know that there is an apostle named Paul who's writing or an apostle of Christ Jesus who is writing to Timothy by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the will of God, according to the promise of the life, the promise of zoe that is in Christ Jesus. And we see in verse two that he's writing it to Timothy, who's his beloved child, and he gives this beautiful blessing to Timothy. He says grace, mercy, and peace from God our father in Christ Jesus our lord. Lord, y'all, that there is a threefold stream of grace, mercy, and peace that finds its source in God the father and Christ Jesus our lord. Maybe tonight you are in need of grace.
Speaker 1:It is to be found in one name, and it's under God the father and Christ Jesus our lord. Or maybe tonight you are in need of mercy, and it is gonna come from God the father and Christ Jesus our lord. Or maybe, and I can almost guarantee, you're in need of some peace tonight, and it's gonna come from God the father and Christ Jesus our lord. This is part of the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. This is what is available to you.
Speaker 1:So invitation number one, live the life that is in Christ Jesus. Let's keep reading together, verses three through six. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well.
Speaker 1:That Paul expresses thanksgiving to Timothy for the way that he's been a gift to him. He he he draws his attention to the generational faith of of Timothy's family, that Timothy's grandmother Lois, his mother Eunice have had this genuine faith that they've passed down to Timothy, and and and he's thanking God for them. And then verse six, this is where we're gonna camp out for a little while here. It says this, for this reason, because of this faith that's dwelled in you for so long, for this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God. That Timothy, like you're a third generation faith holder, May you fan into flame the gift of God.
Speaker 1:You could you could translate this fan into flame as kindle afresh or to to rekindle. So hopefully, right now, you're getting the picture of, of a bonfire. You can hear the crackling of the wood, the hot, coal beds underneath. And Paul is this is the very first command in the entire book of second Timothy. And his first command is for you to kindle afresh, for you to fan into flame this gift of God.
Speaker 1:That we want for this faith that you have, Timothy. We don't want it to die out but instead, man, we want it to explode in growth. We wanna see it fan into flame. Y'all full transparency here. I had, the biggest, like, Bible freak out moment reading this.
Speaker 1:I talked a lot about zoe. Right? The Greek word for fan into flame is Anna Zoe Perian. Like like, it literally is in the heart of this fan into flame. It's like zoe.
Speaker 1:Like this thing that is in you, Timothy. Like this promise of the gift of God, fan it into flame. Don't let it die out. Like, this is the promise of life. It's why I write to you.
Speaker 1:And friends, like, I'm, like, getting off here already, but, like, this is my desire for you. But, like, some of you have experienced and tasted and seen the goodness of the gospel, and I want you to fan it into flame. But I don't want for the coals to go cold living on a cruise ship Christianity, but I want it to be fanned into flame. That Timothy that Paul's first command to Timothy and our first command for us to receive, the first challenge for us is to fuel the fire of our faith. For us not to let it go cold, for us not to to put a fire extinguisher on it, on it, not to dump ice cold water, but to fan it into flame.
Speaker 1:This reminds me this is like a family story that lives in lore in the Ragsdale household. It was the time that four of my neighbors called the police on my grandfather at once. So Hugh Emery Ragsdale referred to as pop. Pop is like a born in the depression, like do things your own way. I don't know how your family takes care of leaves or extra sticks in the yard.
Speaker 1:Ragsdales, we burn them. That was like a huge part of this, so like you can just imagine, like this is 75 year old pop has gotten his giant tower of leaves, and he lit them on fire. Not that bad. Feels pretty normal. But then, Pop decided, need the leaf blower.
Speaker 1:That my grandfather began to inject oxygen into this smoke bearing, like, humongous pile of fire, and there are flames for miles to be seen. And then, like, obviously, the fire department shows up, and I mean, there's like, I mean, the neighbors are showing up like, Hugh, what's going on? He's like, I'm just burning my leaves. And because here here's what you need to know about fire, this is known as the fire triangle. There are three elements to any kind of fire.
Speaker 1:You have heat, fuel, and oxygen. Heat, fuel, and oxygen. And what pop was doing, what my grandfather was doing that day was he was injecting oxygen into the fire of his faith, that he was seeing it come alive. But then those firefighters showed up, and they began to inject something else. You see, whenever we whenever you take out a fire, you remove one of the elements of the fire triangle.
Speaker 1:That essentially, this extinguisher, which is much heavier than I was anticipating, it is going to eliminate one of the things from the fire triangle. And so I would just ask you, and I know this may be, like, cheesy, but for me, it's like I have to see it. Is this semester going to be one in which you fan into flame the gift of God? That you inject oxygen, you inject fuel into your faith, or will this be the semester that you eliminate one of the pieces of the fire triangle? And I know for many of you, you have no intention of putting a a fire extinguisher on your faith.
Speaker 1:But if I had to guess, it would look something like this. Well, honestly, like, the first month of school was just, like, so crazy, and so I just kind of, like, drifted away from, like, being at church every Sunday. Like, Redeemer College wasn't doing anything until, like, obviously, I didn't have time to read my Bible. And then, like, February came, and there was, like, semi, and, like, I had to catch up on all my schoolwork. And so, like, there was just like I just I just never, like, really found the time, like, it wasn't like intentional, it just kind of happened.
Speaker 1:And then and then March is here, I mean, that's spring break, people are going places, I've got to go home, like, there's the big test before. And then by the time that we get back, it's basically gone. Like, the semester is basically over. And it and it's that, like, unintentional passivity amongst your faith that is going to eventually eliminate that fire. So my challenge to you for, like, this semester is as Paul would say to Timothy in second Timothy chapter one verse six, fan into flame the gift of God.
Speaker 1:Now I love this, that for thousands of years, the church has relied on three things and three things only. This is our own little fire triangle that the church, followers of Jesus, have relied on God's spirit, they have relied on God's word, and they have relied on God's people. God's spirit, God's word, God's people. You can imagine the fire of your faith, that the spirit of God is the spark. The the spirit of God is that initial flame that comes to be, and the fuel is the word of God, and the fireplace, the context is the people of God.
Speaker 1:In this semester, would you continue to put fuel on it? Would you continue to read your Bible? Would you continue to pray and see oxygen injected into your faith? This semester, would you fuel the fire of your faith as though your life depends on it? Because it does.
Speaker 1:There are two things that I hope, like, what does this actually look like to fuel the fire of your faith? Here's what would be my prayer for you, that this semester, you would meditate on God's word. Not just read it, but you would chew on it, that you would meditate on it day and night, like Psalm one and Joshua one eight says, that you would meditate on it day and night. And that second, you would plead for God's power in your life. That you would pray and you would plead for God's power in your life.
Speaker 1:Like, a a question that haunts me, is this ministry marked by meditation on God's word and pleading for God's power? Is your life marked by meditation on God's word and pleading for God's power? Because it is the fuel that will allow for our faith to grow. So second Timothy chapter one verse six, now verse seven, and we'll finish out with this. It says, for God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but one of power and love and self control.
Speaker 1:Verse six and seven go together, so I'm gonna read them together. For this reason, I remind you, Timothy, I remind you, college student, to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but one of power and love and self control. No pastor talk, just being, honest with you guys here. There has been no verse that has ministered to my soul more over the last six months.
Speaker 1:I have a propensity, towards fear, specifically towards people pleasing and towards insecurity, towards indecision, of not knowing what to do because I wanna make everybody happy, that that there is this part of me that when I read a spirit of fear, I mean, I can tell you specific moments, specific seasons in which that has been my reality. That I have lived out of a spirit of fear, that I was paralyzed by indecision, paralyzed by fear, paralyzed by this people pleasing. And I'm grateful to know that my, brother Timothy struggled in the same way. Then first Timothy chapter four, verse seven, we actually see that that, like, that Paul encourages him the first time of, like, hey, like like, you are not to be timid. Like, don't let people look down on you because you're young.
Speaker 1:But, like, we have this timid Timothy, and he needs a reminder that the God who has saved him has not given him a spirit of fear, but instead has given him a spirit of power, and of love, and of self control. That that if you walked in here tonight with a spirit of fear, unsure of what to do or where to go or who you are, like, be rest assured that if you are in Christ, you do not have a spirit of fear, but you have a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a spirit of self control, and you get to live in that. That we get to live in an empowered existence because we are in Christ. Now I have experienced the pain of living out of a spirit of fear, but I also have gotten to experience the joy of living out of a spirit of power, love, and self control. I wanna take you guys back to, 02/2016.
Speaker 1:I just moved to Dallas, Texas, was in a seminary class, and I had this old professor. They're all old for some reason. And it was literally like he was like, listen. There's no women and men in the church anymore who listen to the spirit and have guts. Like, no one does.
Speaker 1:No one listens to the spirit. No one has guts anymore. So I made a little mark, like, I'm gonna listen to the Holy Spirit and have guts. So there's this little, three by five card that sat in my apartment in Dallas, Texas. Listen to the Holy Spirit, have guts.
Speaker 1:Listen to the Holy Spirit, have guts. This is gonna be semi embarrassing for me to admit some of this. Part of my fear really played into relationships, and specifically dating relationships. So fear that it wouldn't work out, fear that I wouldn't be good enough, afraid of like that initial ask out, and being like, this is gonna be so weird. This is gonna ruin the front, that whole deal.
Speaker 1:So I go to Saint Simons Island, Georgia. This is the story of how I met my wife, by the way. So I go to Saint Simons Island, Georgia. We go to this wedding, and I meet one of these one of these people who's like in our extended friend group. Her name is Jamieson Kinnerly, and she's awesome.
Speaker 1:We're talking. It's great. The wedding ended. The bride and groom flew away in an airplane. So sick.
Speaker 1:So we're standing next to, like, on the tarmac, on the little air strip. This is going somewhere, I promise. And the wedding is basically over, and Jameson turns to me and says, I didn't get a piece of wedding cake, and I really wish I had gotten one. And in my head, I was like, Cole, go get her a piece of wedding cake. Like, go.
Speaker 1:But in me, there was this, like, oh, this is gonna be weird. Like, the spirit of fear came up in me, and then I thought about that three by five card. Holy spirit and guts. Holy spirit and guts. And I went and got that cake, and now I'm married to her.
Speaker 1:It's amazing. That's great. Yeah. Wow. Wow.
Speaker 1:Wow. Wow. Wow. Silly story. I cannot that was not how I expected that to go.
Speaker 1:I'm being full of blood, let's be honest with you here. But it began the process of me stepping into the life that I was made for. See, fear will lead you down roads that you never have an intention of going down, but the spirit of power and love and self control will take you down the road that God has created you for. So whether or not it's fear around a test, it's a fear around your future, seniors, what are you doing after this? If it's fear around dating, if it's fear around an interview, if it's fear around your sport, if it's a fear around coming to church, may you be reminded that you have not been given a spirit of fear, but one of power and love and self control.
Speaker 1:And here is why Timothy is given this instruction by Paul. It's the reason why I told you a silly story, is that this costly faith in Christ will require courage. That that cruise ship Christianity, you can do on your own strength. Costly faith in Christ is going to require the Holy Spirit of power to empower your life. You will not be able to do it alone, because cowardice has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity.
Speaker 1:To live in fear has nothing to do with following in the way of our rabbi, Jesus. So this semester, in challenge number two, this is as much for me, is I want you to pick a fight with fear. I want you to pick a fight with that thing in your life that pushes you away from being who God created you to be. I want you to pick a fight with fear. And here is how as a ministry, I'm like putting all my cards on the table for us to do this.
Speaker 1:This semester, I want for us to begin picking that fight by memorizing second Timothy one verses six and seven. That every single small group, if you're in one or if you're not, like, we are going to memorize together second Timothy one verses six and seven, which states, 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 God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self control. And then, so when those moments of fear come, it's an invitation not to cower, but to claim the promises of God. To say, I do not have a spirit of fear, but I have a spirit of power, and of love, and of self control.
Speaker 1:So we started tonight talking about cruise ship Christianity, and the challenge to trade casual Christianity for costly faith in Christ. I actually had a conversation with one of you on campus this week, and I cannot if this is you, would you please come tell me, that that that you grew up on a mercy ship. That a mercy ship is a is a ship that is is literally locked and loaded, basically like a floating hospital. And this hospital is going to the coast around the world to provide medical care, to provide surgeries for people who would never be able to have them instead. And so I the challenge to kind of the maybe the image to leave you with is y'all like, let's debark the cruise ship Christianity, and let's get on the mercy ship.
Speaker 1:Like, let's start to, like, get on here and, like, have a role to play. Like, are you spiritually unemployed? Let's get a job. Like, are you spiritually retired? It's time to get back in the game.
Speaker 1:Like, let's be on this mercy ship together where we're not, like, waging war with the world, but instead we are bringing the hope and the beauty of the gospel everywhere that we go. So last question. Last two weeks. Cruise ship, mercy ship. Today, before you got here, cruise ship, mercy ship, which one describes you?
Speaker 1:And for this reason, I remind you to fan and to flame the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given you and you and you and you a spirit of fear, but he has given us a pow a spirit of power and of love and of self control. Let's pray together. God, we call upon your name tonight and we plead with you that you would rescue us from, like, casual, comfortable Christianity, God. And I pray, for every woman and man within the sound of my voice that this would be the year that they embrace their calling, their holy calling that they've received from you.
Speaker 1:So Lord as we worship and response, may our attention be set on you and may our affections be stirred for you. And Father we pray all of these things through the Son and by the Spirit. Amen.