SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Is this not one of the best Palm Sundays you've ever been a part of already?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what an incredible morning of worship and scripture reading and prayer already.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so thankful that I'm here because this is my first Sunday to ever be here.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone else?
SPEAKER_00: It's your first Sunday to be here?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, lots of y'all.
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, welcome them.
SPEAKER_00: I've been here all weekend long.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful to Pastor Aaron and his staff and leadership team for having me here.
SPEAKER_00: We've been here for the Family Life Weekend Equip Friday night, all day Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: We've been hanging with the kids, with the youth, with the adults, with the parents, with the grandparents, everybody.
SPEAKER_00: It's been an incredible weekend of worship, fellowship, some disco dancing or something.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I skipped that part.
SPEAKER_00: But y'all know what I'm talking about, right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: We've had a great time, though.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole heart, as Pastor Aaron said earlier, has been celebrating ways that we can enjoy the gospel in our own hearts and in our homes.
SPEAKER_00: And on Palm Sunday, the Sunday that we remember Jesus on his way to Jerusalem, days away from dying on the cross for our sins and the crowds crying out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We have spent our weekend talking about how we can equip our kids, our grandkids, the next generation, so that they will always be part of that group, part of that crowd that cries out, Hosanna to King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We want worshipers of King Jesus, and we want that to continue for the next generation and the generations after that.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've been talking all weekend along about how we can be faithful to do our part to point them to King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles, you can open up to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: It might not be a typical Palm Sunday sermon, but I think it's gonna be a great culmination for our family life weekend while also continuing to look at ways that we can strengthen the foundation of our own lives, of the lives of our family, so that we are part of that Hosanna Palm Sunday crowd that worships King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I grew up in Louisville, Texas, just north of Dallas.
SPEAKER_00: That's home of the fighting farmers.
SPEAKER_00: That's our actual mascot.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't bring a lot of fear when you're playing a football game and they're like, Y'all are the farmers?
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: No, we're the fighting farmers.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that makes a difference.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: You know, nowadays, being in Texas, I wear boots pretty much every single day.
SPEAKER_00: But growing up, I only wore boots once a year.
SPEAKER_00: Once a year, my parents would take me and my older brother to the Mesquite Rodeo.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is not the Houston rodeo where they're selling fried butter, whatever that is, and fried Oreos.
SPEAKER_00: This is not the Fort Worth rodeo at the stockyards.
SPEAKER_00: That's where I live now in Fort Worth, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: But this was just a small rodeo, but we love to go because every year we put on our boots, we'd go to the rodeo, and at the end of the rodeo, all the kids would get in the dirt arena, and you'd have a hundred kids shoulder to shoulder.
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen this?
SPEAKER_00: And they get a little calf, a little cow, and they tie a ribbon to the tail, and then they shoot a gun in the air, because back then they didn't care about shooting guns around kids, and then the cow would take off running, and all the kids would take off running as fast as they can with all their heart, with all their passion, as fast as their little legs could take them, and whoever got the ribbon off the tail of the cow would win a prize.
SPEAKER_00: So every year, my brother and I, we put on our boots, we go to the rodeo, we do that, and every year we lost.
SPEAKER_00: So one day I'm getting ready for the rodeo, I put on my boots, and I go by my brother's room, and he's putting on his tennis shoes instead of his boots.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: We're going to the rodeo.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you gonna wear your boots?
SPEAKER_00: He says, This is my last year, my last chance, I'm catching that cow.
SPEAKER_00: Now we grew up in a generation that promised us that if we would wear Air Jordans, we'd be as athletic as Michael Jordan.
SPEAKER_00: It was a lie.
SPEAKER_00: I'm 5'8, there's no shoes in the world that's gonna allow me to dunk a basketball.
SPEAKER_00: But we believed it.
SPEAKER_00: And so on that night, I put on my boots, and my brother put on his Air Jordans, and we went to the rodeo.
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, at the end of the rodeo, they got a hundred kids in that dirt arena, shoulder to shoulder.
SPEAKER_00: They got a calf, they tied the ribbon to the tail of that cow, they shot a gun in the air, cow took off running, all of us kids took off frontin' as fast as we could with all of our heart, with all of our passion, as fast as our little legs would take us.
SPEAKER_00: I slip and fall immediately in my boots, facing the dust.
SPEAKER_00: But I look up through the cloud of the dirt there, and I see my brother and some other kids near the front.
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, on that night, wearing his Air Jordan's, my brother got the ribbon off the tail of that cow.
SPEAKER_00: It was probably the highlight of our whole family.
SPEAKER_00: It's been downhill since then.
SPEAKER_00: But that was a good night.
SPEAKER_00: He won a$25 gift certificate to El Chico Tex-Mex restaurant.
SPEAKER_00: You remember El Chico?
SPEAKER_00: So we all went out to dinner that night, and my brother being in fifth grade held it up in the air and said, guys, order whatever you want dinners on me.
SPEAKER_00: And we did.
SPEAKER_00: We all got fajitas.
SPEAKER_00: He threw down that$25 gift certificate, paid for the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: We had$12 left over.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the good old days.
SPEAKER_00: I want to put that image in your head as we're about to walk through 2 Timothy 3.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to keep that image of those kids and that rodeo in your mind because what I want to suggest to you this morning is that your kids, your grandkids, even you yourself, right now, are spending your life running with all your heart, with all your passion, as fast as your life could take you, chasing after something.
SPEAKER_00: All those kids, they just wanted to catch that calf so bad.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted that ribbon so bad.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even about the fajitas, it's just about being able to say they won.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you that you and your family and the next generation, you are spending your life chasing after something.
SPEAKER_00: And if that something is anything other than Jesus, you're on a path toward destruction.
SPEAKER_00: And the culture we live in today would do anything they could, and they are doing anything they can in order to draw them away from chasing Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And if we are not careful, and if we are not faithful, we will lose the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: I believe some of these things might have been on Paul's heart as he wrote one of his last letters to young Timothy, a young man that he had been mentoring and discipling for years, and that's what I'm gonna read with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's in 2 Timothy chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start there in verse 10 and go through verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: This is Paul writing a letter to Timothy, and Paul wrote, You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lysra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
SPEAKER_00: But as for you, continue in what you have learned, and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I do pray that as we open up your word, you would speak to our hearts, God.
SPEAKER_00: With all that we have going on, I pray that in the midst of all the busyness and all the full schedules and calendars and all the noise, that today you would slow us down a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: That we would have a spiritual Sabbath right now, sitting in our seats, in our hearts, that you would calm and quiet our souls in order to hear from you, to hear your still, quiet voice through your word.
SPEAKER_00: Because we believe, God.
SPEAKER_00: That not only do you know everyone here, that you made everyone in your image who is here, that you love everyone who is here, that today you have brought us here to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever word you have for each individual, child and teenager and adult here in the room today, God, I pray that we wouldn't miss it.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that we'd hear from you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And I do pray, God, that you would shure up the foundation of our lives, shure up the foundation of our homes and our families in the midst of a culture that would want to sweep us away downstream with the cultural currents of today.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you would give us an anchor of faith to stand firm and follow you.
SPEAKER_00: That we would not be chasing after the things of the world, but we would chase after you, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For you have come to seek after us.
SPEAKER_00: We praise your name, Jesus, for there is no one else like you, no other savior except for you.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So nearly 2,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And he's writing this from a prison cell in Rome.
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever read the end of the book of Acts, if you remember Acts 28, we find Paul under house arrest in Rome for two years.
SPEAKER_00: Well, he was eventually released from that house arrest.
SPEAKER_00: He continued to preach the gospel, continued to make disciples of the nations, and because of that, he was arrested again for preaching the gospel, put in prison again in Rome, and this time he will not be released.
SPEAKER_00: As he is writing Timothy this letter, he is on his way to martyrdom.
SPEAKER_00: The Emperor Nero was leading the Roman Emperor at that time.
SPEAKER_00: If any of you have ever studied Roman history or know anything about the Emperor Nero, you know just what an evil, violent, godless man he was.
SPEAKER_00: Under his leadership, thousands of Christians were killed for their faith, including Peter and including Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And that is why in chapter 4, verse 7, as Paul is getting near the end of his race, he tells Timothy, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Three things that all of us would hopefully long to be able to say before we go home to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Can you say it today?
SPEAKER_00: I'm fighting the good fight, I'm running the race well, I'm keeping the faith.
SPEAKER_00: And so knowing that his time is short, he's writing Timothy, and he wants to make sure that he has successfully passed his baton of faith down to Timothy, and that he's done it in such a way that it's going to continue to be passed down from generation to generation to generation.
SPEAKER_00: He's been discipling Timothy, but if you look at chapter 2, verse 2, you see that he has a heart for this to be a reproducing discipleship, a multiplying discipleship that would ripple out for generations.
SPEAKER_00: You heard Pastor Mike earlier praying for 10 generations.
SPEAKER_00: In 2 Timothy 2, 2, Paul says, What you've heard from me and trust to faithful men who will teach others also.
SPEAKER_00: That's four generations of discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Faithful men or Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you can think about those who have discipled you and mentored you, and maybe some of you even know the people who discipled them, and you know who you're discipling, so you can think of four generations.
SPEAKER_00: We celebrated a truth and a conviction all weekend long at Family Life Weekend, and that is this as we pray for revival in our nation, which I hope you are.
SPEAKER_00: We believe and we are convinced that if you want to see revival in our nation, you have to first pursue revival in the church.
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to see revival in the church, you have to first seek revival in the home.
SPEAKER_00: And if we would seek revival in the home, if we would bring the gospel in the home and pass that down, then we could see this sort of legacy ripple out.
SPEAKER_00: You know, my wife and kids and I, we're big fans of the Olympics.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody here like to watch the Olympics?
SPEAKER_00: I think it's amazing that in our world today, with all the wars going on and economies failing and all the political uh back and forth, that every four years we all stop worldwide and we say, you know what we really need to do?
SPEAKER_00: We really need to see who has the fastest people.
SPEAKER_00: Every four years, everything just stops.
SPEAKER_00: We're like, enough about the wars.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just see who's the fastest, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we do that.
SPEAKER_00: We get all the fastest people from all the countries in one spot, and we just make home race.
SPEAKER_00: I love watching the basketball and the track and field.
SPEAKER_00: My wife and daughter, they love watching the gymnastics.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but one of our favorite Olympic events is a relay.
SPEAKER_00: Have y'all seen the relay?
SPEAKER_00: You know, for example, in the men's relay, you'll have four guys that got a baton, and one will run a lap around the track as fast as he can, and then he passes the baton to the next guy.
SPEAKER_00: He does that little kickback with his hand and gets it, and he passes it to the next guy.
SPEAKER_00: In recent history, the U.S.
SPEAKER_00: men's relay team has been horrible.
SPEAKER_00: Horrible.
SPEAKER_00: You can Google it.
SPEAKER_00: Going into the 2021 Olympics, remember because of COVID, we moved it to 2021.
SPEAKER_00: We we had been disqualified or lost in seven of the previous 11 major races, Olympics, World Championships.
SPEAKER_00: So in 2021, I told my kids, listen, we've had five years to practice.
SPEAKER_00: We got an extra year to practice.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure we figured this thing out.
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, I was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: We messed up the exchange on the second leg.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't even make it to the final race.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, we have found every which way to mess up that baton exchange.
SPEAKER_00: We pass it too early, we pass it too late, we run into each other, we go out of our lane, we drop the baton, we run into other racers.
SPEAKER_00: So then we got to the 2024 Olympics, and I was like, I know we only had three years to practice, but that still seems like a long time.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see how we do.
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, we made it to the final race.
SPEAKER_00: However, on the second leg, we again messed up the exchange.
SPEAKER_00: We passed it too late.
SPEAKER_00: We almost ran into each other.
SPEAKER_00: We finished seventh.
SPEAKER_00: First gets gold, second gets silver, third gets there's nothing for seventh place, but it didn't even matter because we passed it after the line, and so we are disqualified again.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know, wait for 2028.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see if we figure this thing out.
SPEAKER_00: We have found every which way to mess up that exchange of that baton.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a professor at the seminary in Fort Worth, and I get to work with a lot of our students, doctoral students, doing a lot of great research.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, every piece of research that I have seen tells us that in the American church, if we are to pass down our faith to the next generation, like Paul to Timothy, the faithful men to others, if we want to see that pass down for another generation, much less 10 more generations, right now in the American church, we are messing up that exchange.
SPEAKER_00: We are dropping the baton of faith.
SPEAKER_00: One author says we are all one generation away from losing the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Unless something changes, 30 years from now, most churches would be empty.
SPEAKER_00: Unless something changes, 30 years now, we will land in a Judges 2.10 reality.
SPEAKER_00: 30 to 50 years after Joshua died, and all the elders who led with them died, and Judges 2.10, one of the most heartbreaking verses in the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: In Judges 2.10, it says there arose another generation who did not know the Lord or the things that he had done.
SPEAKER_00: And the research says that's overheaded.
SPEAKER_00: Research says 65% of kids who go to church will leave the faith when they turn 18.
SPEAKER_00: Research tells us that 42 million youth who are in the church today will leave the church over the next 30 years.
SPEAKER_00: That's about 11 million more than the entire state of Texas.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the good news is that we believe that the Lord can turn the tide.
SPEAKER_00: We believe that the Lord can change all of that.
SPEAKER_00: We believe that the Lord could raise up faithful churches, faithful families who are all in on passing their faith down to the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, we said it this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: We can't save our kids, but we can do everything we can to point them to the one who can.
SPEAKER_00: And praise God for you guys who are here today with your kids, with your grandkids, because you're doing it.
SPEAKER_00: You're bringing them here, you're putting them in a place to hear the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I love that because our prayer is that God would bring revival to our nation.
SPEAKER_00: It would start in this church and it would start in your family, which means it would start in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And it starts with that conviction that Paul had toward the end of his life that we want our faith to ripple out.
SPEAKER_00: As we've been running this race well, we understand it is a relay race, and we have a baton of faith that we are to pass to the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I believe that every Christian should have an answer to this question.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you passing your faith down to right now?
SPEAKER_00: As Paul is writing Timothy, he has this conviction that as he is a disciple Timothy, he wants that to be a legacy of faith.
SPEAKER_00: That he would continue to run this race well, this relay race, passing that baton of faith down.
SPEAKER_00: But he also understands that Timothy lives in a very evil culture.
SPEAKER_00: So how do we stay faithful in an evil culture?
SPEAKER_00: How do we pass that faith down to our kids and grandkids with all that this world is throwing at them?
SPEAKER_00: I believe we see how to do it in this passage today.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I believe there's going to be three truths that Paul highlights with Timothy that I think still applies to us today.
SPEAKER_00: Three truths that show us how to stand firm in the midst of the culture we live in today.
SPEAKER_00: So let me give you these exhortations.
SPEAKER_00: The first is simply this in a culture of persecution, let us be found faithful.
SPEAKER_00: In a culture of persecution, we are to be found faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 10, 2 Timothy 3 10.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness.
SPEAKER_00: Over and over again in Paul's letters, he always calls the people, he disciples, to follow his example.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not him being arrogant or boastful, he's not bragging, saying, I'm the best Christian, so be like me.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in other passages, he calls himself the chief of sinners.
SPEAKER_00: He knows who he is.
SPEAKER_00: He understands it's only because of the grace of God that he's anything.
SPEAKER_00: But he also understands that if you're gonna run this race well, you need someone to look to.
SPEAKER_00: If your kids are gonna run this race well, if your grandchildren are gonna run this race well, they have to be able to look to you to know how to run.
SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't mean you have to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: That just means that you are to set an example in faith and love and patience and steadfastness.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul had done that for Timothy, and now he's encouraging him, saying, You have been running well, you have been following my example.
SPEAKER_00: And not just in those characteristics.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: In my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Elytra, Paul met Timothy on his second missionary journey in Acts 16.
SPEAKER_00: And as they traveled together from all these different cities, Paul was persecuted, and he says, Timothy, you even have followed those examples.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, when Paul talks about suffering, he has a lot of street cred.
SPEAKER_00: This guy was well acquainted with suffering, more than just about anybody we've ever met.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there's a passage in 2 Corinthians 11, 23 through 28, where Paul lists his sufferings.
SPEAKER_00: Here's some of Paul's sufferings from 2 Corinthians 11.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote, I have far more imprisonments.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody have so many imprisonments you can't even count them?
SPEAKER_00: I've been thrown in prison for my faith so many times I can't even count them.
SPEAKER_00: That's Paul's first thing about his sufferings.
SPEAKER_00: I have far more imprisonments with countless beatings.
SPEAKER_00: Beaten so many times for the gospel that you literally cannot count how many times.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, how many times have you been beaten for the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember.
SPEAKER_00: Countless beatings, often near death.
SPEAKER_00: Five times I received at the hand of the Jews the 40 lashes less one.
SPEAKER_00: They were allowed to whip him on his back with the braided leather whip with bones and sharp pieces of metal woven into the whip.
SPEAKER_00: They were allowed to beat him 39 times.
SPEAKER_00: You couldn't get to 40, that would be too much, they said.
SPEAKER_00: So they went.
SPEAKER_00: Went all the way to the 39 times, and they did that five times against Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Three times I was beaten with rods.
SPEAKER_00: Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked.
SPEAKER_00: A night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys.
SPEAKER_00: In danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, that's a lot of danger.
SPEAKER_00: And toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, and cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there is a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
SPEAKER_00: If suffering were an Olympic event, Paul would get the gold medal.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Timothy, seeing all of that, you continue to run the race well, to follow my examples.
SPEAKER_00: None of those things that you saw me suffer made you shy away from the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: None of those things made you turn back.
SPEAKER_00: So often it takes very little to make us shrink back from what God has for us.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we'll wake up on a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: If we feel tired, we don't go to church.
SPEAKER_00: If it's raining, we don't go to church.
SPEAKER_00: If it's too cold, we don't go to church.
SPEAKER_00: If it's too hot, we don't go to church.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it takes very little to keep us from being faithful.
SPEAKER_00: But Timothy saw that all that Paul had endured and he continued to run the race well.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just for them.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: We see this is for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: This is the normal Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 12, all who desire to live a godly life.
SPEAKER_00: Is that you?
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you desire to live a godly life.
SPEAKER_00: Ain't by?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a promise for you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the promise you will be persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: That you know, a lot of us like to put scriptures on the wall, and our favorite promise from the Bible we kind of sew into a pillow.
SPEAKER_00: I've never seen this verse hanging on a wall.
SPEAKER_00: This is a promise from scripture we like to kind of skip over.
SPEAKER_00: But there it is right there in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture of persecution.
SPEAKER_00: And like Paul, like Timothy, we are to be found faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says in 1 Peter 4 12, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.
SPEAKER_00: This is the normal Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we should expect.
SPEAKER_00: We got to stop expecting that the unchristian, godless world around us is going to cater to us and celebrate our Christian values.
SPEAKER_00: That's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: They hate Jesus, they're not gonna love us.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus said, right?
SPEAKER_00: In John 15, 20.
SPEAKER_00: If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, Jesus is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was never prideful once in his life.
SPEAKER_00: He was never ugly to people just to hurt their feelings ever.
SPEAKER_00: He was the most loving, gracious, merciful person who's ever walked the face of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: He healed people, he loved people, he served people, and you know what they did?
SPEAKER_00: They beat him and killed him.
SPEAKER_00: This Friday is Good Friday.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about that.
SPEAKER_00: They killed him, they crucified him.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't just kill him, they used the worst means of execution that's ever existed.
SPEAKER_00: A hundred years before Jesus was crucified on the cross, there was a Roman politician, a senator, a lawyer named Cicero.
SPEAKER_00: And a hundred years before Jesus died, Cicero stood on the Senate floor and he debated against the use of the cross as a means of execution.
SPEAKER_00: He pleaded with them to stop using the cross to kill criminals.
SPEAKER_00: He said it was a cruel and most disgusting punishment.
SPEAKER_00: The pain you would endure on the cross was so awful that they had to invent a new word to describe the pain you would endure on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It's a word we still use today.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know the word?
SPEAKER_00: Excruciating.
SPEAKER_00: Literally, it means out of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, if they persecuted me, they did all that to me, what do you think they're gonna do to you?
SPEAKER_00: Matt Carter reports that the annual number of Christians killed as a direct result of their faith is estimated to be as high as 8,000 today.
SPEAKER_00: 8,000 of our brothers and sisters in Christ will be killed for their faith this year.
SPEAKER_00: There are about 111 countries that are hostile to Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: More than 100 million Christians are suffering persecution around the globe today.
SPEAKER_00: In North Korea alone, we have about 50 to 70,000 of our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ who are currently being held in detention camps just because they follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: People who love the darkness hate the light.
SPEAKER_00: The persecution is all around us.
SPEAKER_00: And yet it's not to make us shrink back, it's not to make us be ashamed of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of persecution, we are to stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: The second piece of application we can draw from Paul's example and Timothy's example for us today is that in a culture going from bad to worse, we are to stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there's persecution, let's stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, it's going from bad to worse, let us stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: While evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that sound a lot like our culture today?
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of evil around us, a lot of deceivers around us, a lot of deceit.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to even know what's true.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture that says there is no such thing as truth.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture that says you can decide what is true.
SPEAKER_00: That's true for you, this is true for me, and if it sounds foolishness, well, it is.
SPEAKER_00: I doubt youth, you could find an adult in this room that wouldn't agree with the statement that in their lifetime it seems like things have gotten worse in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: How do we respond to that culture?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's see what Paul had in mind for Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: He says, but as for you, right out the gate, those four words tell us something about this response to culture.
SPEAKER_00: What it tells us is that he has something different in mind for Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: What it tells us is that we are not going to conform to culture.
SPEAKER_00: He says the culture is evil and deceitful and it's going from bad to worse, but you're not going to be like that.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to conform to culture, you're not going to match the world today.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to chase after the world today.
SPEAKER_00: As for you, you're going to live differently.
SPEAKER_00: The theological word for that is sanctified.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to be sanctified, set apart, look more like Jesus, less like the world.
SPEAKER_00: So, what does he have in mind for Timothy that's so different?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.
SPEAKER_00: Continue in what you've learned and firmly believed.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to picture for just a minute a mighty rushing river.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone ever here been whitewater river rafting?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was over by y'all's Cypress Creek yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all got a beautiful town, by the way, a lot of beautiful areas.
SPEAKER_00: I know y'all got rivers around here, and sometimes people like to float down those rivers.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about those calm rivers you float down.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about a river with mighty rushing currents.
SPEAKER_00: Picture that.
SPEAKER_00: Now picture you and your family, your kids, your grandkids in the middle of that river.
SPEAKER_00: And if we just stood there in the middle, we would be swept away downstream.
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm here saying today is that your family, your spouse, your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids right now are in the middle of these cultural currents that want to sweep us away downstream.
SPEAKER_00: And I said earlier, unless something changes, we already see the writing on the wall that that generation will be indeed swept away.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul tells Timothy, in the midst of these cultural currents, I want you to have an anchor.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: And that anchor, the only foundation that will allow us to stand firm, that will keep your kids from being swept away, is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that, how desperate are you to get the word of God in their hearts every day?
SPEAKER_00: Knowing it's the only chance they have to not be swept away.
SPEAKER_00: It's the only foundation, it's the only anchor, he says in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to continue in what you've learned.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll see here in a second that what he's learned is these scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: You have firmly believed them.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing from whom you learned it.
SPEAKER_00: Who did he learn it from?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you might say, Paul, you told us that he's been discipling him.
SPEAKER_00: Well, he was not the first one, though.
SPEAKER_00: Flip over to chapter 1, verse 5, and you'll see who first discipled Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: Who did Timothy learn the scriptures from?
SPEAKER_00: This anchor, this foundation.
SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 1, verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, I am reminded of your sincere faith, of faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well.
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you're a mother.
SPEAKER_00: Raise it real high.
SPEAKER_00: Give them a hand, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Give them a hand.
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you're a grandmother.
SPEAKER_00: Give them a bigger hand.
SPEAKER_00: What about this?
SPEAKER_00: Do we have any great-grandmothers?
SPEAKER_00: Come on! Come on.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if we'll get this one.
SPEAKER_00: Let's try though.
SPEAKER_00: Do we have any great, great grandmothers?
SPEAKER_00: I'm checking.
SPEAKER_00: Back there?
SPEAKER_00: Give her a hand.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of Lois's and Eunices.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy had a mom and a grandmother who loved him so much they did not want him to be swept away in the cultural currents of their day.
SPEAKER_00: And so they brought God's word into the home and they discipled him.
SPEAKER_00: We saw this weekend that we are all commanded to do that.
SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 9, what we call the Shemal, God tells all parents to hide God's word in their heart, to bring it into their home, and to teach it to their children.
SPEAKER_00: It says that we are to teach it diligently, to chisel it into stone, to impress it into their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just for pastors, it's not just for some parents.
SPEAKER_00: Every parent is commanded to bring the Bible into the home and to teach it to their children in their home.
SPEAKER_00: We call that family worship.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what that looks like might be different for every family.
SPEAKER_00: We spent the whole weekend teaching one another how to do that.
SPEAKER_00: I know you have a whole staff here that would love to teach you how to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Just go and ask them.
SPEAKER_00: Say, all right, we see in the Bible I'm supposed to do it.
SPEAKER_00: How do I do it?
SPEAKER_00: Teach me how to bring the Bible in the home and teach my children.
SPEAKER_00: We are to all do that.
SPEAKER_00: Grandparents, teach the Bible to your grandchildren.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Timothy had.
SPEAKER_00: What a blessing to have a family that does family discipleship, family worship that just brings those rhythms into the home.
SPEAKER_00: And look, they seem so easy on Sunday morning, don't they?
SPEAKER_00: They seem so natural.
SPEAKER_00: On Sunday morning, it seems so natural to read the Bible together.
SPEAKER_00: We've read the Bible many times together at this service.
SPEAKER_00: It seems so natural to talk about scripture together, to share prayer requests together, to even confess sins with one another, to pray together.
SPEAKER_00: I saw a group in the lobby earlier just praying together.
SPEAKER_00: It seems so natural to sing praise songs and share testimonies, but then we get into the house on a Monday night or on a Thursday evening or a Saturday morning, and it seems so challenging sometimes to bring those same rhythms through the front doors of our homes.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the calling we see in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Over and over in Scripture, we see that God's heart for our homes is that we would bring those beautiful gospel rhythms into the home and just add that to the normal schedules of our days.
SPEAKER_00: Reading the scriptures together, having faith talks together, sharing testimonies together.
SPEAKER_00: I asked this question this week, and let me ask you do your kids and do your grandkids know your testimony?
SPEAKER_00: What an easy place to start.
SPEAKER_00: Over lunch today.
SPEAKER_00: You could share your testimony.
SPEAKER_00: Kids, ask your parents today at lunch, what's your testimony?
SPEAKER_00: Tell me again.
SPEAKER_00: Even if you've heard it, ask them again.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pass down those stories of God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Timothy had.
SPEAKER_00: Because look at verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: We see how they discipled him.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 15, he says, From childhood, you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: From childhood, he knew the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: We know what our kids and teenagers are up against in our culture today, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: We know the world is coming from.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, the average American kid and teenager today spends 3,000 hours a year on screens.
SPEAKER_00: YouTube, social media, video games.
SPEAKER_00: There's 2,000 new apps every day.
SPEAKER_00: There's 12,000 new video games every single year.
SPEAKER_00: There's 34,000 new young adult novels published every year.
SPEAKER_00: There's 3.7 million new YouTube videos uploaded daily.
SPEAKER_00: And we post 95 million new pictures and videos to Instagram every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Our kids and grandkids are saturated with culture and voices, competing for their hearts, vying for their affections.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, they're not spouting out the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: They are bringing those lies and that deceit that we read about earlier.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're not careful, they will be swept away with the culture.
SPEAKER_00: And knowing that, and knowing that this is the only anchor that could be their foundation so that they could stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: This is the only chance they got to not be swept away.
SPEAKER_00: We should be doing everything we can to bring this into the home and give this to them.
SPEAKER_00: It would have been great if we did it day one with our kids, but we can do it today.
SPEAKER_00: We can start today.
SPEAKER_00: Be encouraged by the opportunity you have now with your kids, with your grandkids.
SPEAKER_00: Bring the gospel in the home and teach them the whole gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Let them know that there is one true living God who created the entire world.
SPEAKER_00: Let them know that he created them in his image and that he loves them.
SPEAKER_00: Let them know, though, that Adam and Eve, the first humans, they sinned, they rebelled against God.
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, we are now all sinners separated from God.
SPEAKER_00: Our sin separates us from the God who loves us.
SPEAKER_00: Even on the day that Adam and Eve sinned, there was good news, there was hope.
SPEAKER_00: The first gospel proclamation in Genesis 3.15, God said, one day someone would come through the seed of the woman who would crush Satan.
SPEAKER_00: If you've never read the Bible before, after you read Genesis 3.15, every page after that, you're waiting for the one who's going to crush Satan.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of that story, God did for Adam and Eve what they could never do for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: You see, after they sinned, they try to cover their shame, cover their nakedness with fig leaves.
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of that passage, God covered their shame.
SPEAKER_00: God covered their nakedness not with fig leaves, but with the sacrifice of an animal, preparing our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And not only is one gonna come who's gonna crush Satan, but one's gonna come who will be a sacrifice to cover our shame.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel.
SPEAKER_00: Cain didn't crush Satan, he crushed his brother Abel.
SPEAKER_00: God gave him another son named Seth, and through the lineage of Seth, we got to a man named Noah.
SPEAKER_00: During the days of Noah, we saw the sin that separates us from God on such a massive level that God sent the flood and destroyed the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: But in his mercy, through the wooden ark, he saved Noah and his family, just like we and our families can be saved through the wooden cross today.
SPEAKER_00: After the days of Noah and the flood, the people gathered together and in Genesis 11, they tried to exalt their own names and make a platform for themselves, building the Tower of Babel.
SPEAKER_00: So God confused their languages and scattered the nations.
SPEAKER_00: And in Genesis 12, he chose one man from one of those nations, Abram, and said, Through you, one will come who will bless all of these nations.
SPEAKER_00: And so now we're waiting for the one who's gonna crush Satan.
SPEAKER_00: We're waiting for the sacrifice that's gonna cover our shame.
SPEAKER_00: And we are waiting for the one who will come and bless all nations.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, God changed Jacob's name to Israel so that all of his descendants are called the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: Through Jacob's family, through Joseph, God moved that whole nation to Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And in Egypt they became slaves for 430 years, but then they cried out to God for deliverer, and he gave them Moses, and through the ten plagues he delivered them.
SPEAKER_00: And the tenth plague was a plague of the Passover lamb.
SPEAKER_00: You had to take the blood of a spotless Passover lamb, sacrifice the lamb, and put the blood over your house so that your family would be saved by the blood of the lamb.
SPEAKER_00: So now we're waiting for the one who's gonna crush Satan.
SPEAKER_00: We're waiting for the sacrifice that's gonna cover our shame.
SPEAKER_00: We're waiting for the one who's gonna bless all nations, and we're waiting for the spotless, blameless, sinless Passover lamb of God who would sacrifice himself for us and our families so that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: God used Joshua to lead his people into the promised land, and then they cried out and asked for a king after the days of the judges.
SPEAKER_00: God gave them a king, he gave them Saul, David, Solomon, and during the days of the kings, he gave them prophets.
SPEAKER_00: And the prophets told us more promises about this one who would come.
SPEAKER_00: We were told that he would come through the lineage of David and be king forever.
SPEAKER_00: We are told that he'd be born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: We are told that he would be the suffering servant who would die for us, and by his wounds we would be healed.
SPEAKER_00: The Old Testament closes and we wait 400 years.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus is born.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is born of a virgin, he's born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who came to crush Satan, he is a sacrifice who covers our shame.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one that comes to bless all nations.
SPEAKER_00: He is a sinless, spotless, perfect Passover Lamb of God who dies on the cross for our sins, and by his blood we can be healed by his stripes, we can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who rose from the dead, will celebrate that Sunday, and because of that, he has conquered sin, conquered death, conquered hell, so that us and our families don't have to fear any of this, but we can be saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In the culture we live in today, we are in a desert drowning, dying for water, and this good news is the water that will quench our soul's thirst for hope, for salvation, for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Your kids and grandkids, they hear the world's junk and mess and lies all day, every day.
SPEAKER_00: And it is up to you to give them that gospel message.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy had that in the home, and because of that, he can stand firm in this godless culture.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, looking at these last verses, we see that in a culture of deceivers, God's word is indeed our foundation.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 14, continue in the word.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, your mom and grandmother gave you the word from childhood.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, he just explodes in celebration about God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, all scriptures breathed out by God, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Are those things your kids need?
SPEAKER_00: Are those things you need?
SPEAKER_00: It says that we so that the man of God would be complete, equipped for every good work.
SPEAKER_00: I have so many parents come to me and they say, My kids are struggling with this, my kids are struggling with that, they got these attitudes and they're not grateful and this and that.
SPEAKER_00: And I say, How much time do you get in the word of God with them?
SPEAKER_00: They say, Not that much.
SPEAKER_00: And I say, Well, that's the only thing that's going to change anything.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the thing that could change everything.
SPEAKER_00: It says equip them for every good work.
SPEAKER_00: If you really believe that this book is like no other book, that this really is the word of God, that this really does have godly wisdom, that in the culture of lies, this is truth.
SPEAKER_00: That this brings encouragement, that this brings hope, that this can bring joy in the face of depression and peace in the face of anxiety and salvation in the face of all the sin in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: If you truly believe that, then wouldn't you do everything possible to get this into the hearts of your kids and grandkids?
SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: If you do nothing else this year, forget all the sports and the academics and all those goals for just a second.
SPEAKER_00: If you did nothing else this year, what if this year was a year that more than ever before you hid God's word in your heart, you brought God's word into your home, and you passed God's word down to your children, your grandchildren, and the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Mike prayed earlier for the next 10 generations.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if you brought the gospel into your home and you discipled your kids, your grandfather, Grandkids, your grandkids, grandkids, and you pass down the gospel for the next 10 generations, your one family over the next 10 generations, which is about 200 years, you would impact with the gospel 59,000 people in your family tree alone.
SPEAKER_00: A church this size, if every family in this church did that, you would impact more than 12 million people with the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we mean when we say revival starts in the home.
SPEAKER_00: Bring it in the home, and you will see a legacy of faith spread throughout the generations, throughout the centuries.
SPEAKER_00: 30 years from now, we won't be saying there arose a generation who didn't know the Lord 30 years from now who will say, Look at this revival.
SPEAKER_00: And it started in your living room, it started at your kitchen table.
SPEAKER_00: Why couldn't it start with you?
SPEAKER_00: What if it started this morning, right here in this room?
SPEAKER_00: What if it started with prayer?
SPEAKER_00: I saw this bumper sticker one time on a car, and it said, When all else fails, pray.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, that's stupid, right?
SPEAKER_00: Why would we wait till everything else failed?
SPEAKER_00: And then be like, I guess I could pray.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you know.
SPEAKER_00: I've done that before, but it was stupid.
SPEAKER_00: One author says, prayer is the first thing, the second thing, and the third thing.
SPEAKER_00: So if we're gonna talk today about bringing the gospel into our heart, bringing the gospel into home, passing it down for the next 10 generations, so that one day they are like that crowd on Palm Sunday, crying out, Hosanna to King Jesus, worshiping him.
SPEAKER_00: What if we started right here in this room simply with prayer?
SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean the kind of prayers where we say, Hey, I'm praying for you, brother, and we never think about it again.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever done that?
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all did it this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the prayers we read about in Colossians 4.
SPEAKER_00: In Colossians 4, Paul's ending his letter and he says, Hey, Epaphras says hi.
SPEAKER_00: Epaphras was a man that they knew and loved.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one that planted that church and first shared the gospel with them.
SPEAKER_00: And so at the end of Paul's letter, he says, Oh, yeah, I send you greetings from Epaphras.
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't just say that though.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, hey, he's been praying for you.
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't just say he's been praying for you.
SPEAKER_00: Depending on your translation, he says, he has been striving for you, wrestling for you, listen, fighting for you in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: If Pastor Aaron came up to me and said, Jonathan, I've been praying for you, I love that.
SPEAKER_00: That means the world to me, I need all the prayers I can get.
SPEAKER_00: But if he came up to me and said, I want you to know something.
SPEAKER_00: This past Sunday morning, I went to the altar and I fought in prayer for you, that hits a little different, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, what if it started right here in this room?
SPEAKER_00: And what if it started in prayer?
SPEAKER_00: So as we sing, I'm gonna ask you go find your family, your husband, your wife, your kids, your grandkids.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you, it's been a long time since you moved during the invitation.
SPEAKER_00: But today is the day to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Today's the day to move.
SPEAKER_00: Today is the day that we say, no more just floating through this life.
SPEAKER_00: We are losing that generation.
SPEAKER_00: The culture is winning no more.
SPEAKER_00: Today is the day that I start to fight for my family, and I'm starting in prayer today.
SPEAKER_00: And you bring your family here to the altar and you fight in prayer for them, you fight that your home would have that anchor, your home would have that foundation, that your family would not be swept away downriver.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you are sitting there and you're saying, Jonathan, I want to fight in prayer, but I got a prodigal in my home.
SPEAKER_00: I got an adult child or a grandchild, and they have punted the faith, they have drifted from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Do not give up praying for those prodigals.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, there is no one so far gone that God can't bring them back and save them.
SPEAKER_00: I got a friend, he fought in prayer for his prodigal son for 25 years.
SPEAKER_00: After five years, people told him it's hopeless.
SPEAKER_00: After 10 years, they said, Why are you still praying?
SPEAKER_00: After 20 years, people thought he was crazy.
SPEAKER_00: 25 years he fought in prayer, and about three months ago, his prodigal son came home.
SPEAKER_00: He gave his life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's in church today.
SPEAKER_00: So as we sing, come bring your family to the altar.
SPEAKER_00: Let's fight in prayer for our families, let's fight in prayer for our prodigals, and let's believe that revival starts in our home and revival starts in prayer today.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand with me?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we give you our families, we give you our prodigals because we know that you are the one that can move mountains, you are the one who can do the impossible, you are the one that can give us the foundation we desperately need in this evil dark culture.
SPEAKER_00: So we give you our families, and we pray that you would bring radical transformation, salvation to our homes.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's move today, let's fight for our families.