Letters: 2 Timothy 1

Fear loves to impersonate reality. It tells you you’re stuck, too broken, too tired, too far gone, and it keeps you from the life God is actually inviting you into. We lean hard into 2 Timothy 1:7 and get specific about what replaces fear when the Holy Spirit leads the way: power, love, and self-control, not as motivational phrases, but as a lived, daily practice of discipleship.

We also share what we witnessed through ministry connections in Bangkok and beyond, from baptisms to church planting efforts and practical projects that serve communities. Seeing students lead and serve is a needed wake-up call: our kids are not waiting to become the church someday. Their identity is already secured as sons and daughters of the Most High God, and that confidence helps them cross cultural lines and love people well.

Then we bring it home. We talk about praying for prodigals, honoring the legacy of generational faith, and refusing to give up when a loved one feels out of reach. We unpack why “fan into flame” is not poetic language, it’s survival language for spiritual life, and why Christian community and life groups matter if we want a sound mind and real self-control. We close with a clear invitation to say yes to Jesus and take a next step so no one has to walk alone.

If this encouraged you, share it with someone who’s fighting fear, subscribe for more, and leave a review to help others find the conversation. What’s one area where you need power, love, or self-control right now?

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Transcript

Welcome And Community Gratitude

Jason Brown 0:00

Amen. I'm going to ask you to open your Bible study, 2 Timothy 1. We're talking about power, love, and self-control. You know, I want to say thank you to all those who volunteered for all those that gave to Mercy House and our back to school event that we just had the week before. Want to say thank you for giving. Thank you for going and volunteering. I know there were hundreds of students that got a backpack that were blessed in that way. Many, many families that were blessed. And want to say thank you for all those that volunteered, all those that got involved. The scope of it partnered with Little Till and Elementary was amazing. And so we're very, very blessed to say thank you for all those that are participating in the community so that those who don't have what they need can get the things they need so they can have a successful education. Amen. So thank you for your generosity. Thank you for giving to Mercy House and thank you for using of your time in serving the Lord. Now we've been talking about this theme letters. How many people have been blessed by our different ones that have been sharing about letters? So very thankful. Thank you to Pastor Angus, to the voices that were in the weeks before while we were away

Stories From Bangkok And Thailand

Jason Brown 1:05

in Asia. But man, what a blessing to see what God is doing across the world. Our family and I just got back this week from Asia, and I could tell you that uh the jet rat lag is real. The jet lag is real. I'm singing words, and Amelia looked over at me and she's like, those are not the words. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know the words. You know, it's I'm trying to catch up as my mind, uh, mind goes. So have some grace on me today as I stumble over some things, maybe. Uh one of the things that we've been talking about is what you just saw in the video is the city of Bangkok. And we've been partnered with them for many, many years. Um, and they've been part of our life as they were mentors in Celeste and my life as pastors Dana and Bridget Metcalf, good friends of ours, the Pangelinans, Johnny and Dre, also there in the city, and actually going across Thailand now, across the place. And it's an amazing, amazing place to go and connect. I know for years uh that was a place that we would maybe go do medical when we were living in the Middle East, or we would go fly there because you could get everything done at one time. And it felt like a reprieve from living in the Middle East the way we did. But it was it's a place that's kind of dear to our heart. It also is absolutely chaotic and crazy. Uh, you know, we've lived in big, big cities like Cairo, Paris, these other places. I've lived in LA and fought the traffic on, you know, the 405. And so I understand like in the five and all those things, but you come to Bangkok, it's a whole nother level, my friends. It's a whole nother level. You think you might be able to avoid it if you take the train, but this is the traffic on the train. So yeah, you're gonna you're gonna be with people. So you gotta have your love for people guard all the way up if you're gonna live for Christ and walk around in a city where you're bumping into people literally every day. It's so much so that even the fruit has started to protect itself. No, I'm just kidding. That's just durian. So if you guys have never had it, uh some people love it, some people it's sweet. It's amazing. I'm looking at some of my people up there that take a taste in it. Um, some people are like, no, absolutely not. I'll tell you this, they won't let you have it in a hotel room anywhere in Bangkok because it smells like rotten eggs, which is an interesting thing all to itself. Uh we got to see our good friends Johnny and Andrea Pangelinin. They're good, good friends of ours. In fact, uh Dre was in our wedding. Uh, we love them. I was staying at their house and their flat with them, and they were posted up just we were having a conversation across from each other, and I'm like, my, I'm gonna take a picture. She starts voguing, doing her vogue moves. I'm like, that's it, girl. Snap, snap. They're amazing, folks. They are doing ministry with the Thai National Church, helping to plant the church in unreached areas. They've come alongside them doing water projects, building projects, and we want to be a part of that in this next year to partner with them, much like we've done in Botswana and Kenya and other places across the world. We want to do that same thing with them in Thailand and see the church go forward in unreached people. Would you say amen to that? One of the cool things is being a part of ICA Thailand, as you saw this uh video here where they were baptizing on last uh two Sundays ago, when we were there getting a chance to share. It was a blessing to be um to be someone who was given the opportunity to share with them. And as I know both myself and Celeste have had that honor in the past of being a voice there to teach at that church. And I got a chance to be at more than one location this last time. I spent some time with Pastor Dana. Uh, he and I actually flew to Laos for just a few days and backed to look at a project there with some partner friends of ours that we will want to show you in the future of what God is doing there as well. But man, just spending time with him, getting to see who his character is, who he is as a man of God, a deep thinker, a lover of people, and who he is as a shepherd. Very blessed to have him in my life. Uh spent some time as well with Bridget. We went down to Suratani and got to see her in action and leading the church service there. Really powerful. These are all the godparents of that little baby in the middle, by the way. That's how many people they had standing up for her, which was pretty awesome. Uh shout out to our Filipino delegation that, you know, they they roll deep, man. They roll deep. That's how it works. But man, it's such an awesome thing. Just like we do here, where we pray a blessing over the child, but also charge the parents, was the same thing that our church is doing worldwide, that we are doing collectively. And so as we prayed that blessing over her parents and prayed over baby Freya, it was something dynamic. It was something amazing to see it spark in the heart of those who were standing up saying, Hey, we're gonna come alongside her, we're gonna stand with her. Friends, the same thing that we believe, that each one of us has to come to our own faith in Christ, but at the same time, it's because of the support of the congregation, because of the support of those around us that we really can do that successfully for God. Amen. Now, I'm a little biased, but we went to actually pick up our daughter Shiloh, who had been serving a missionary internship in Bangkok all summer, and we're very, very thankful for her. And I'm actually gonna ask her if she would share with us in the coming weeks to be able to do that and kind of talk about her experience and being in Thailand for the summer. We got to see her in action. Actually, I was in Suratani, just about to walk up to speak, and suddenly they're playing the announcement reel, and there's Shiloh giving me announcements from Bangkok. And I'm like, what is going on? This girl's everywhere, which I loved. Uh, you know, she was the youngest of the interns. She was the only one that was left really in high school. Everybody else is kind of post-high school, even post-college. And we really saw it as a blessing of God, how God is using her own story, her own faith in God, and he's doing that with others of our students as well. That he wants to use that story. They are not the future church, they are the church. And so we stand with that just as our children are the church, and they have a relationship with the living God, and we want them to walk in that understanding of who they are in God, that their that their value doesn't come by their doing, it doesn't come by their status, it doesn't come by how much money their family has. No, their value comes because they're a daughter or a son of the most high God. And so their heart, their understanding about their value supersedes what other people might want to put on them. And so they can walk in a different confidence. They can connect with people across cultural lines, they can do all these things because the love of God flows through them. And that's what we want to see happen, not just in my daughter's life. I want to see in every single one of our students' lives, every single one, that they are the world changers, that other people will come to Jesus because of their obedience to him. You say amen. Man, we're gonna go to the word today and take a look. But one of the things that we've been talking about in this series, letters, has been the navigation and the talking of someone who was formerly the enemy of the church in Saul, who came to faith and became

Students Serving And Global Church

Jason Brown 7:40

who we know as the Apostle Paul. And in doing so, it changed everything in his life, but also the life of that modern world where they were at across the Mediterranean as the church was planted in all these places. If we haven't got a chance to connect, my name is Jay, and it's a blessing to be with you here today at Cornerstone. What we realize is that none of us is perfect. I'm the first to tell you. Every single one of us is in need of a savior. And so we use this imagery of walking with Jesus. I used it while I was in Thailand talking to them about it. I said, listen, this is how we are. We are people who are disciples following Jesus where he's leading us to go. Our ambition is to be more like Jesus. That's why we love God. It's why we make disciples, it's why we

Why Life Groups Matter

Jason Brown 8:25

reach the world. And in a few weeks, actually, we're going to be starting a new semester of life groups. And I want to encourage you to get involved. I want to encourage you to pre-decide to jump in and to be a part of what God wants to do through a life group. I can tell you, you can do this thing on the weekend and come to these gatherings and it's great and it's powerful, it can change your life. But there's something of another level when you get involved in a life group and start to build relationship. Because you can't keep a guard up, you have to start to let people in. You start to have to build that connectivity. That's what we say connect and then grow and then serve. Because as you grow in your faith with God, as you're connecting in relationship, you also can get involved and start to serve with your time and your talent. And in all those ways, you can really see the difference of what's happening as we serve alongside each other, we connect and we grow in the Lord. Amen? Now, letters, we're taking a look at what that means and and how we're going about it today. If you have a Bible, your tablet, your phone, we're looking

God’s Spirit Overcomes Fear

Jason Brown 9:20

at this. I want you to highlight it. Second Timothy 1, 7. It says this, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Lord, we pray over your word today, asking, Lord, for you to breathe upon it. Lord, that it would become Rhema, Lord, that you would challenge us, stir us to become more like you. We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, and the church says, Amen. You know, we've been talking about in these recent weeks some of these highlights. I pulled just a few scriptures from different places. One of those is from Proverbs 1. And uh actually I was dialoguing this with friend Gage this week as we were recording a podcast, and we were just talking about, you know, the our understanding of wisdom, it starts with our perspective of God. If we're flippant with our attitude towards God, then it will never help us and we will never walk in true wisdom. It starts in the beginning of Proverbs. It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Now, the fear of the Lord is a concept that is its high reverence in his holiness and who he is as our creator. It's that's the kind of understanding that we have. Now he calls us friend, which is an amazing concept. That the God of creation, the God of the universe, is the one that sits outside of time and space and all these other narratives, that that God would call us his friend is amazing. But it doesn't mean that we should treat him like he's our buddy, our pal. It means that we should come to him in reverence, we should come to him in honoring him in his holiness, that we are not holy and he alone is holy. And as we walk in that understanding, then we'll apply the things he tells us in a different way because it has authority in our life. First Corinthians 16 says, Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. I love this. As we brought this uh recently in this series letters, it talks to us in different levels. What is it saying? It's saying, be aware that the battle we fight is not one that's of flesh and blood, it's one in spiritual places. So be watchful, pay attention, be intentional, do not be drunk on wine, be filled with the spirit, the word says. That we would be those that walk full of that, standing firm in who our faith is in Christ alone. That it's not in anything else, it's not in a crystal, it's not in some kind of deity, it's not some kind of statue you bow down to. No, it's alone in Jesus Christ. And so we stand alone firm in our faith in Him, that we are strong, that we don't waver, that we have that courage, as we've seen before, that God says to Moses, God says to Joshua, be strong and courageous. We talked about what it means to have moxie, to be those that have grit, determination, tenacity to walk the way of God. That let all you be do be done in love. See, the first part of this feels like you have to be an attack person, that you have to be this person ready for no, no, it's saying all that you be doing be done in love as well. So it's that tension that we walk in and walking the way of God and the love of God as we do these things

Persevering Through Persecution And Victory

Jason Brown 12:35

as unto him. Would you say amen to that? Romans 6 tells us who we are. It says, so you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Friends, that's who we are. That's what we talked about as we baptized a few weeks ago. That that's our public declaration saying, I am dead to sin. I'm alive in God. We talked about what it means to be those experiencing persecution, that and that the persecution of the church is real. Even in this past week, we've seen that happen in different places in Nigeria, in Kenya, as our brothers and sisters in faith went to see their maker because they would not deny Jesus Christ. Friends, we need to be praying for the church worldwide to stand with the joy of the Lord despite their persecution. As we lived in the Middle East, we experienced it firsthand with the bombings, beheadings, attacks on all sides, and what we had to do is decide every single day we're not playing church, we're playing for keeps. And if we're playing for keeps, then what are we better act like it and not just phone it in in our faith? But be real as unto God. We talk about this, we talk about the understanding that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. That it is we are more than conquerors because of what he has done for us. We walk in victory because of what he has done for us. And that's that next point is that we walk in victory. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Friends, we're not fighting for victory, we're fighting from victory. Jesus is already victorious. He has already overcome death, hell, and the grave. He has already conquered every power and every situation. He is already victorious. So as those who walk as children of God, we walk from a place of victory, from a place of victory, not fighting for victory, fighting from victorious standings. Today we go again into the

Praying For Prodigals And Family Faith

Jason Brown 14:45

scripture, looking this time at the second letter to Timothy and 2 Timothy. And we're going to be starting in verse in chapter 1. I love this. I almost skipped this in verse 5. And what it does is starts to speak to us. It's obviously a personal letter first and foremost. Remember our context that it's Paul writing to Timothy. He's writing about things that are happening, he's giving instruction, but it goes beyond that to speak to us today. But what I picked up here, I love this. It says, I'm reminded of your sincere faith, and a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and now I'm sure dwells in you as well. Now, friends, we don't believe that you can pray your children into heaven. We don't believe that every we believe that every person has to make their own decision. But what I know is that God honors the prayers of parents. And we believe in praying parents, they make a difference. We intercede on our children's behalf. I am an example of parents that did not quit praying for me. When I was a long way from God, when I knew better and ran into the darkness, my parents didn't give up praying for me. I'm here to tell you your children are not outside of the hand of God. Wherever they are right now, God wants to reach them in their circumstances. They can be in their happiness place away, living for themselves at 100%. They could be on the street. It doesn't matter. God sees them, He loves them, He knows them and wants to draw them to Himself. Friends, we believe in a God who answers prayers. I've seen, man, the testimony of parents that would not give up. Even as our 250th anniversary, our friends were sharing with us how they prayed for their children, prayed for their children, their grown children in their 40s came back to know Jesus. As I was there in Bangkok two weeks ago and saw a woman in her 80s who was the height of everything. She had all control over her whole professional life and her family. She realized it wasn't enough. She was in need of a living God who is her savior. That it wasn't enough going to the shrine and making sacrifice. It wasn't enough trying to be good and try to earn your way in. You can't earn your way into the presence of a holy God. That's why He came all the way to us. And Jesus gave his life for us. I want to encourage you today, grandmother, grandfather, father, mother, the one that's praying for your child, that you keep praying for them. You don't give up on them. Even whenever they profane the word of God, even whenever they rebuke and they rebel, and it's as witchcraft, we know, but what we know is that greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. And we know that we're already victorious. So what we are doing is fighting for the soul of every single one of those people. And what we know is that they we're not gonna give up, we're gonna pray and intercede until they come to a decision to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. And I'll tell you, friends, God doesn't make things happen, but he will utilize the things that happen to bring people into an understanding of who he is. You know, he doesn't cause these evil things to happen. What he will do is he will become the one that takes it and turns it for good. So what we're standing and praying is praying for every single soul of every lost child, of every lost daughter and son, every prodigal that's out there. In fact, let's just stop and pray right now for it. Lord, we just join our hearts together, Lord, asking, Lord, for your impartation, Lord, for your power and your spirit, Lord, your anointing, Holy Spirit, Lord, to fall on every single one, Lord, that's out and away from you, Lord that has an understanding maybe from their childhood, but what lives away from you, Lord, I pray draw them back to yourself. Some that have never had an opportunity to have that witness, Lord, that you would draw them to yourself, that they would make a decision to follow you. Lord, I pray that you would encourage and build up every grandparent and parent, every sibling, Lord, every friend that's praying in this room right now. Lord, that you would encourage them, Lord, that they would not give up, but they would have a tenacity to stay the course and to pray, because we know that miracles are happening every day, and you're a God who answers prayer. We thank you for this. We pray in the name of Jesus

Fan Into Flame Spiritual Passion

Jason Brown 19:05

Christ. Amen. Verse six picks up and says this 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. What we believe in is praying, impartation, praying, anointing. It says, have the elders of the church come and pray. And that's what was done for Peter, from Peter to Paul, as they brought Paul in and him and Barnabas, and they prayed over them, sent them out. Later, we'd see the same situation as Paul would pray over Timothy and send him out. And we would see that same pattern even to us today, as we see those that step up in their ministry credentials. We pray over them in those times and send them out to do the work of God. What I love about this is that flame is a passion for God. Fan into flame, that faith, that encouragement to do the things after God. Don't give up. Fan it into flame. Remember the impartation that God has prayed over your life. Friends, that's what we do as we come to this altar, is we're agreeing together with you. It's not the magic of any one person that's praised. What it is is the anointing and alignment with the scripture. We say, if two or more agree on any one thing, I will be there. So as we come to the altar, which we should normalize, coming to the altar, by the way. You don't have to be in the dregs, you don't have to be distraught. I've had people come to me, they're like, you're at the altar. I'm like, yeah, yeah, the pastor needs to be at the altar too. Everybody needs to be at the altar. And so we want to seek more of God, more of his impartation, more of what he's doing in and through our lives. Want to fan that into flame. You know, I think so often, I'm one of those kind of people I grew up as an outdoors, outdoorsman with my dad teaching me to hunt and fish. My mom also, she was, man, she's lethal. If you don't know my parents, man, you've got to watch out. If you're, you know, you're an elk or a deer, she has a tag, you better run. You know, that's how it goes around my house, man. We all of our tacos, all of our enchiladas, everything was deer and elk meat growing up. So it was funny. I was a city slicker kid who actually was going out, hunting, fish, all this other stuff. But so because of that, you know, I'm a late night person, I'll throw on something. And I found this show called Alone. I don't know if you guys have seen this show, but they drop these people off and they have to fight and make their make their way with kind of rudimentary elements they're given. And the number one thing they have to have is fire. If they don't have it, they are in big, big trouble. Because they can't purify water, they can't keep warm, they can't cook any kind of protein, they're just in a big, big trouble. And what I thought of so many times is the people that they got so exhausted that they they fell asleep and they fell asleep so long that the coals went out on the fire. And I thought about that because they wake up and they are in a panic because their coal is out. And now they know that I have to fight for this flame. I have to fight to keep if I don't have it, I'm dead. Spiritually speaking, friends, it's the exact same thing. That we have to fight for the flame in our lives, the passion for the Word of God, our walk with Him. It's a daily thing. You can't sit it on the back burner from last week and hope it's still gonna be okay. No, we have to fan into flame. We have to every day, Lord, even as I'm making mistakes, God, forgive me for my attitude. Forgive me for the thing I said right here. Lord, help me that I want to fan into flame. I don't want to give up. I don't want my coal to go out. No, I want to be someone who has that flame that's burning so hot and bright that other people take notice and they're like, hey, where'd you get that flame from? What's going on in your life? And that's the testimony we get to share about what's happening. I love this encouragement that Paul writes to Timothy and fan the flame that let it continue to burn in and through your life.

Power Love Self-Control In Practice

Jason Brown 22:50

Verse 7, we're talking about today. It says, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. We know that first part, fear, it's so daunting. It's something that starts to really get us if we let it. I know many of us have fear of all sorts of rational things, right? Like fear of heights. It's fairly rational. You know, we happen to be on one of the tallest buildings in the world last week in Taipei 101 in Taipei. And, you know, like for us, because we lived atop of a building and we lived in Alexandria, and I've just been around a lot of that. I think it's great. I'm like, this is awesome. I'm like leaning against the glass. Other people are doing the shimmy shake, trying to get up there, you know, do one of these small steps, small steps. I mean what I'm leaning on the glass like this, and they're trying to just peek, trying to peek, trying to get up there like this. And it made me laugh because I'm like, man, that fear is real. We are in a steel building. You're not gonna fall down, you're gonna be okay. But the fear is real, and the fear will overcome the reality. In fact, our fear will keep us from so many things that God has intended for us. If we can just overcome the fear, and it's not us doing it, it's exactly what we're talking about today, is that we give that fear over to God. And whatever it is, many people, it's intimacy in the relationship because they took steps early and made mistakes in their relationships and they got burned, and so now they're holding their heart back from a real relationship, someone who's actually committed to them, and it's everything is right before God, and and and maybe that's where they are. But the fear is intimacy. And maybe we, because of our hurt on earth, we churn that same relationship back to God, and we're afraid of getting hurt here, too. I'm just being real about what I experienced, and so because of it, we keep God at a distance thinking he'll hurt us the same way these other people hurt us. Friends, that's not who our God our Father is. That's not who God is for us. God is a good God, He's the one who is love. And so, whenever we come to Him, He's the one that has that love for us. It's a different thing. So that's why when it talks about overcoming fear, it's not of your own doing, it's not of a best, you know, self-help book as much as I appreciate tools to live victoriously for God. It's not from that, it's from walking with God every day. That's how we overcome these fears. And so the Lord help us. What we're talking about today is power, his authority on earth, love. God is love and self-control, intentional living. It continues here in this next verse. It says in verse 8 and 9, therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, meaning Paul, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. Wow. There's a whole lot of theology in that one little set of two verses, a lot of things that are tied together there. What is it saying? One, that the power is not of ours, it's his power that we're talking about. It's not because of what we have done, it's what because he has done. And our alignment saying, Lord, I believe you are who you say you are. We come right alongside him in alignment. And it's our faith in God. That's the power that we have to overcome fear. That's the power that we have to be someone who sticks it out in the middle of persecution when they say, deny your faith or it's your life. Deny your faith or it's your family's life. And they say, No, I believe in God and I will not bow down. That's not from their own tenacity or something like that. It comes from a power in having a daily walk with God. That's the strength we're talking about. We see what it says here in the testimony that God has given us in being bold enough to use our testimony when Holy Spirit prompts you. See, because it's not that you're going to talk someone into believing in Jesus. That's not a real thing. Someone else can talk them out of it if that's how they decide it. But what happens is whenever they're presented with the real true facts of the gospel, and then they wrest with it, and then they make a decision to follow Jesus. That's what it really means to have power. That's what it really means to be those who walk in the calling that Jesus has given to us because of what he has done on our behalf. His power is his authority on earth. It's given to us. What is he sent out the disciples and he empowered them by his doing, by his name, he empowered them to do these things. It wasn't of their own doing. In fact, later we saw examples of people trying to buy the power, right? They tried to go in and buy, how do you baptize in the Holy Spirit? I want to buy this power. He said, No, no, no, no, no. Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh. This is not for sale, my friend. You can't buy your way into the holy presence of God. You can't earn your way into it either. It said it right there in that verse that it's by his doing that's where our power comes from. It continues in the scripture here today, in verse 10. It says, Now which for which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Friends, that is what love is that Jesus came all the way to us, and he abolished death by giving his life for us on the cross. So when we talk about love, we're talking about that God is love. That all the characteristics of love, of being committed and being long-suffering and being one who does all these things that we talk about with 1 Corinthians, as we read that list of what love is, that's who God is. And we so often fall short of that. Our character doesn't go up to that level. No, but friends, God's does. And He is consistent. And so as we talk about, as we first read, being those who do these things, but we do them in love, and the tension of walking in that, we have to understand it's only by the power of Christ that we'll operate in love. You know, personally, I turn to the five-fold ministry too often. That's where I want to go. You know what I'm talking about? It's naturally inside of how I'm geared. You know, I'm married to a wife who's very like, she's very forgiving, is very, man, her compassion is awesome. And I'm like, great. Does someone need to get slapped? Because I'll volunteer. Is that a ministry? He's like, you probably you. I'm like, you're probably right. I'm gonna unvolunteer for that ministry right now. Because I'd be the first one in line, right? They'd be like, cool. Would you sign up for the slap? I'm like, yes, I did. They're like, cool, you're the first one to get slapped. I'm like, I was not counting on that. But spiritually speaking, that's the truth. Is that each one of us, man, needs a smack in the face if we're gonna operate without love. That we need to be those that are operating in the love of God. That he can walk through us. And when we fall short, we can come to the Lord and say, Lord, help me. Forgive me. I want to have a different way that I'm living this life for you. I can't do it in my own power, I know that. So, Holy Spirit, I need more from you today, less of me. And he is always available, 100%. And so it's really our own frailty that keeps him back. It's our own fear that keeps him back out of those closed-off portions in our heart. Friends, let's open the doors all the way open. Let the love of God all the way in. See what will happen when we don't operate from fear, but we operate from power and from love. We come and we look at this scripture, it continues forward here in verse 13. It says, Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, and in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted in or to you. I love this. Is that God has already done a work in you, so walk out those things in the way that He has done it for you. That's what self-control has, or some places say a sound mind. That's having the mind of Christ. In walking in self-control, what are we talking about? We're talking about being those people who come alongside and live with intentionality in the character of God. That's what self-control means to us as Christ followers, is that we live with that intentionality in an intentional living for Christ. If we could do it in our own power, then we wouldn't need to come and worship together. No, we need each other. We need our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need this community. You can't go and live this life alone and think you're gonna do okay. That's not how it works. No, we have to walk this thing together. That's why so often the scripture says that it's the sharpening of one against another. And sometimes that takes off our rough edges. Is that when someone who we love and trust can come alongside us and be like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Like, I know you. This person's not you. What are you doing? I love you enough to tell you, like, I don't I don't know what you're doing. And friends, that helps us in our self-control because then we start to come in alignment. You're right. I am out of alignment here. What am I doing? Why am I going back into being sarcastic? Or why am I going back into saying malicious things, trying to cut others down to make myself feel better? What am I doing? No, I don't need to do that. Instead, I can go and understand that my value comes from God, my self-control can come from God. And in each part of that, the Lord help us, man, to do our part in every aspect of our life to be those that give that over to the Lord. I can tell you, I've been successful in more of these things than not. And in times I've been more successful, and then other times I slouch and I'm like, God, I need your help in all the things. Even my addiction to tortillas, God, I need your help. Some of you guys know what I'm talking about. Some of you guys are also addicted, you're like, preach, I'm gonna give an offering. But Lord help us. Power, love self-control. Power, love, self-control. Say it with me. Power, love, self-control. Power, his authority on earth. Love. God is love and self-control, intentionally living in the way of Christ. Friends, that who is who he's called us to be, that is who we are, is those who follow after Jesus. And I think today we're gonna have this opportunity to come to this altar. Maybe you're someone who just needs more of that in your life. You need God's power to walk through a difficult season. Maybe you need God's power just to face tomorrow, just to face today. That you would come and ask for an impartation of that Spirit of God to be with you. For more of his love in your life, that maybe you are battling fear, and some of it is because you've closed off parts of who you are. Friends, we've all been there. And so we want to ask for the love of God to penetrate our heart and our mind, that we would be those that live according to his way, which is the love of God running through us. That we wouldn't be those that try to go and smack whenever we're gonna get the smack. But instead, what does it say? Plank eye, right? Be paying attention to the plank in our own eye before we go after the speck in our brother or sister's eye. But that we would live in the love of Christ. And in the same way through self-control, the Lord help us that our actions will line up with our values, that we will be those that live as unto God in every aspect of everything that we're walking

Invitation To Follow Jesus

Jason Brown 34:20

in, and that we give those things over to God. Today, maybe you're here, you're under the sound of my voice, and you've never accepted Jesus in your heart and life. Your question that you have to answer is have you embraced Jesus? See, for each of us that's a Christ follower, a Christian, we've said yes to Jesus. And the symbol of the cross is one that's profound. Because the cross is a place that was meant to terrorize. That's what the Romans used it for. But Jesus, he comes and he takes all of our place. He takes all of our sin and all of our brokenness and all of our ugliness and our mistakes. He takes it upon himself. And as he went to his death on the cross, he did that for you and me. And as he gave up his life, he did so in all of the sin of the world, it died with Jesus on that cross. But friends, the good news is that he is not dead, he is alive. And so our faith and trust is placed in Jesus. I say, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. And I invite you into my heart and life today. The scripture says this in Paul writing to the church at Rome in Romans 10. It says, Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Friends, today is your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. It's your day to invite him into your heart and life. I'm gonna ask you if you're here in the room, if you just stand to your feet right where you're at. Or if you're online, prepare your heart for what God wants to do. As heads are bowed in the room here, as Christians are praying, and people are making decisions to follow Jesus. Friends, don't pass up this moment. For some, there are parents, friends, loved ones that have been praying for you. That you would make a decision to follow Jesus. For each one of us, friends, that's the best decision we've ever made. Is to connect back to our Creator. To be in relationship with a loving God. As heads are bowed here in the room, if that's you, you say, Pastor, I just want to be included in that prayer today. I want to make a decision to follow Jesus. Maybe it's for the very first time. Or maybe you have made it in the past, but you need to recommit your heart and life to Christ. If that's you, if you just raise your hand wherever you're at today, I just want to indicate and see that you're making a decision for Jesus. We see the hand that's there. There are other hands that are here. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, as hands. People are making decisions for God, friends online as well, wherever you are today. I'm gonna ask everyone to pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. Friends, we rejoice with you. Those that made a decision to follow Jesus today, praise the Lord.

Next Steps And Altar Prayer

Jason Brown 37:45

Man, we want to encourage you to take a moment, take a snap of this QR code and follow it. We just want to put some resources in your hand. If you're online, message us. You we don't want you to do this life alone. Friends, today, as we come to this altar, we have this worship song that we're gonna play and worshiping the Lord. And then during that time, I just want to open this altar, every single one of us. Even if you're in the balcony, you'd come on down and just make an altar with God. That you would be someone that says, Lord, I need more of your power in my life. I need more of your love in my life. Lord, I need more of your self-control, your guidance, Holy Spirit in my life. That each and every one of us would be those that give more of ourselves over to God, that we ask for more of who he is in our life. We come and have an altar with God here today. Lord, we thank you for this word. We thank you, Lord, for the encouragement of Paul riding to Timothy. Lord, we thank you that us, we, we as us as the church, all these years later can be encouraged as well. Lord, as we come to your altar, we do, we seek more of you, more of your presence, more of your anointing. Lord, that we would walk in the power that you intender us to walk in. Lord, that we would be victorious from a place of victory in our life because we are more than conquerors. Lord, that we come asking for more of your love to flow through us and out to others. And Lord, that we would be those that walk with you, Lord, listening to you, Lord, in self-control. In all these areas, Lord, we ask and we seek you and more of you as we come to this altar. We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. We

Announcements And Blessing

Jason Brown 39:15

ask you to stand for the blessing today.

Celeste Brown 39:17

Next week, we will be having party with the pastor immediately following both services. So if you've been a guest of ours over the last three months, we'd love to meet you and get to know you in our and you get to meet our team as well. Also, um, pray for our students. They're headed back to school. We want to have a fantastic season for our teachers, all the leadership in each of the local schools that are around here. We want to just believe for an outpouring of God on our campuses. Amen.

Jason Brown 39:44

Amen. Before we go, I want to pray his blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Or lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, we pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you would empower us by your Spirit to live your love to those around us. We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.