2 Timothy 3:16-17 | Before You Opt Out

Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

Text: 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Big Idea: What reminder do I need from God's word before going into this series? 

1. Expect God will speak to you

2. Expect Scripture will profit you...because it will: 

a. Teach what is right and true     

b. Convict of sin and expose errors 

c. Straighten what’s bent and broken 

d. Form you in the good and the godly 

2. Expect God will perfect you

a. Equip you to live a life that pleases God 

b. Equip you for every work God 

Transcript

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Church is so good to worship together. As we go before the Lord, I'm gonna come out of Psalm chapter 1. Father, your word said, Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. In honest law, he meditates day and night. Father, help us to be this man. We recognize, Lord, that there is no man like this man who has done this perfectly, who has walked never in the council of the wicked, who has never stood in the way of sinners, who has never sat in the seat of scoffers. Lord, if we confess and we were honest, we're all those things. We have at one point or another, in many ways, shapes, and forms, walked in the council of the wicked, stood in the way of sinners, sat in the seat of scoffers, but there is one man who never did this. The man Jesus Christ. Our hope is in him. That our delight might be in the law of the Lord, would come through his Holy Spirit in us, causing us to delight in what we ought to delight in, causing us to love your word and to meditate upon it day and night. Make us those people. Not that we can be that by ourselves, but we can be that by grace through your spirit. Father, it says when we are that we become like these trees planted by streams of water that yield their fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In fact, in all that he does, he prospers. Father, this is what we want. We want to be like these trees that are fruitful and vibrantly cared for, provided for, yielding fruit in its season. Lord, make us these fruitful believers as we trust in and feast upon your word. For of course, the opposite is the path of the wicked. They don't meditate on your word, they don't lean into what your scriptures say. Therefore, they're like the chaff that the wind drives away. And therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the ways of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Father, what a what a blessing it is to know that in Jesus Christ, you know us, you know our ways. Again, apart from you, Lord, we are not righteous, but in Jesus Christ there is hope. Because by faith in him, being united to Jesus, his righteousness is credited to our account. Father, may it be not just that we enjoy his imputed righteousness, but we walk out in the power of the Holy Spirit, a hunger and desire for all that your word says, Lord. And so may you use it in great power in our midst today to do what I cannot do and to do what only your spirit can do by your word. Lord, cause it to bear fruit, bring conviction, bring encouragement, straighten what's broken. We entrust this to you and pray with big, bold faith that you can do these things, and we hope for it. In Jesus' name. And all God's people said. Amen. As we uh continue in worship, I want to have you stay standing for the reading of God's word as we come to a short passage in 2 Timothy chapter 3. So if you have your Bibles and you want to turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3, that would be what I would encourage you to do. If you don't have a copy of God's word, it's gonna be on our screens to my left and my right. Cat's out of the bag on the title. There it is. Let's flip that in the other services. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 and 17. As we read this, we're reminded we're not reading the mere words of man. This is the word of Almighty God. 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. Love ones, this short passage is the word of the Lord for this morning. May the Lord write these eternal truths on your hearts, and with that, you can be seated. Church, good morning. What a special day to be together on Mother's Day. Can we just give the mothers in the house a round of applause? You are gifts to us all. We celebrate you. We thank God for you. Isn't God smart to give us moms? Every once in a while, when I enjoy something, I just like to be reminded of the fact that God is really smart in the way he designs things to go. And for many of you, your story is that your mom is why you're here. Your mom is why you're a Christian as we get into Paul writing to Timothy. You know how Timothy became a Christian? His mom and his grandma. Two moms. Moms are such gifts, and we just thank you so much. And I pray, I pray, I pray last week we kind of, you know, got guys to remember it was happening this week, and I pray you got up and you were celebrated and you do something fun today just to honor God's faithfulness to you and the giving of moms. What a blessing. So thankful. If you have a copy of God's word, we're gonna be in 2 Timothy chapter 3. As you know, my name is Scott, I'm the lead pastor here. It's great to have you with us. If you are new with us, welcome. Seriously, every week I say it. I'm so glad that you're here. And if this is a place that you uh could find a church home, we would love to have you. And so hopefully, as you come and uh stay a while, you get a sense for what we do. But one of the things we're committed to is we're committed to the word of God. We're committed to just preaching it as it stands and letting it bear its weight on people by the power of the Holy Spirit and see what the Lord does, because this is God's plan. This is how God works. Men can do what men can do, they can fill stadiums, they can get people interested in something, but only God can change hearts. And God chooses to do that through the proclamation of his word. I told you last week we'd have about three standalone messages. We just finished the book of Luke and we're moving into this new series on marriage. And I said this one's kind of everyone's kind of been wondering what's the mystery message for this week. And so I would just say if you have a seatbelt in your chair, just strap it on, and um, you'll need to, I think, button buckle up. Um let me give you the title, you already saw it. We're gonna switch that in the future services. Thank you. Before you opt out. I want to start by giving a little bit of a sneak peek into a preacher's life. Uh have you know that we just finished, I had to count them, uh, 45 sermon series at Doxa. Forty-five. Forty-five mostly, yeah, that's cool. 45 books mostly of the Bible, a few series in between, but we're just committed to preaching books of the Bible. One of the things that's been true from the very beginning, didn't understand it at the time, understand it a lot better. Now, every single time a series is about to start, people are trying to steer me in a direction. Every single series without fail. They are steering me. You ever seen a marionette puppet? People try to do that with your pastor before every single series starts. It's apparent, it's obvious, it's overwhelming. Some mean super well. Right? They'll send anecdotes, illustrations, give their little tidbit about how excited they are, maybe an insight comes in via email, encouraging me on something that I should read before we start a series. And let me just tell you, I don't want you to think all of this is bad, some of it I really thank God for. I thank God that you care, I thank God that you reach out, I thank God that you're thinking about things and you want to make sure that I'm considering something as we go into a series, and I praise God for that. Some are really well-meaning. And as you can imagine, some are what? Not so well-meaning. Warnings. If I say or do something, you are gonna say or do something, you won't be here anymore, you will get all your friends to do whatever you're gonna do, threats. Say this, don't say this. The upcoming marriage series is no different. There's been a good solid mixture, except in this way. Never in 45 sermon series have I ever received more feedback about a series than I have about this series. Never. Not even close. But specifically this. Here's my issue, and I'm thinking of opting out. See you for axe. That's wild. Let me just tell you something. Um surprised, not surprised. Surprised because I think you've been taught well enough to know all of scripture is profitable. Not surprised because I know the fickleness of man, and I know when it doesn't fit what you want it to be, you have an opinion about it. And they've ranged. Let me just be clear, they've ranged all over the place. Let me get uh some of those things on the table. First thing that I hear a lot, uh the series is just not for me. Here's how it goes: I'm not married, I won't be married, I won't be around anyone married, therefore this will be not for me. Truly. Second one, pointless. The series is pointless. You can't fix what we have. It's what where we're at in our marriage, where I'm at in my situation, it's just pointless, Pastor Scott. Don't don't even try, and you've already committed to this fatalistic belief about the series before it's even begun. It's pointless. It's just don't even series denied a benefit before it's even happened. Here's one that borders on the warning threat. You ready for this one? You're gonna make it worse. Yep. Yeah, you're gonna make it worse. You're gonna preach, and somehow the word of God is gonna make your marriage worse. Yep, that's what's gonna happen. I.e., if you could not do that or if you could say this or say that, this series is gonna do in the end more damage than has already been done. We're just getting started. You ready for more? Others that require, let me let me just say this. Uh, some require compassion. Marriages that have been sincerely broken, and my heart as a pastor goes out for you, I could cry for you, and I would in a counseling session. I I love you guys, I love your marriages, I want them to stay together. I recognize the fact that there are some serious issues. So, some require compassion, some of these things. I would also maybe suggest that some perhaps require a gentle rebuke as well, in a couple of these categories coming up. One category, um, again, along the lines of don't have a great marriage, sad, discouraged, I don't have a good marriage. This series will just rub salt in the wound. Really, that's all you think God's gonna do is just rub salt in the wound? Here's one that I totally have a heart for, but I hear a lot more than I feel like has been historically true. I I have been in or was in an abusive marriage, and this series will trigger me. Again, tons of compassion for that. I'd love a definition on the word abuse. I'm totally there that I think abuse happens. Want to compassionately come alongside you, not convinced every time we use the word abuse, we're using it in a way it should be used. But tons of compassion there. Here's another one. Um, and this is again total compassion from your pastor on this one. Fear that the series will be used against you in some way in your marriage. Hey, are you gonna talk about X thing? You're gonna talk about you're gonna talk about that? Because you know what's gonna happen is you're gonna talk about that, and my husband or my wife has already been berating me about it, and now when you say something about that, you know what's gonna happen behind closed doors when we get home? She's gonna beat me, or he's gonna beat me over the head with that thing that you shared about that issue that we have that we can't reconcile. So, needless to say, I just want you to hear that we've been praying a lot for this series. We've been wrestling over this as elders, but I will be absolutely crystal clear. Never have I been more convinced that a series must happen than that this series must happen. Something has hit, like it's like Satan's Hornets Nest has been unleashed. And that's when you know you're right over the target. We will absolutely be preaching this series. I'm excited for this series. Now, some series require pre-intros to the intro, if you will, right? I gotta set up a series and then I gotta give you the intro to my sermon message. Other series require pre-sermons to the sermon series. This is one of those. So, you have 2 Timothy in your hands, right? Why this passage? Well, Paul's addressing Timothy. Paul's on the tail end of his ministry, he's thinking about the next generation. He's trying to encourage a young Timothy in the ministry that he's going to do. And he's going, look, I know you're fearful of some things. I know you're intimidated about what you may face. I know there's going to be obstacles in your way, but here's what I want you to know, and here's what I want you to hold fast to without a shadow of doubt. God will accomplish his work through his word. The work of God will get done by the word of God. And so you keep preaching that book. Do not stop, do not shirk back, do not be intimidated, do not be fearful. You need to trust that the work of God is going to get done by the word of God. And listen to me, Timothy. The word of God is sufficient to address, to meet every single challenge head on. And so naturally, you can understand that I think this is the conviction that I need as your pastor to lean into this series, and what you need as people to hear again and to maybe solidify again the conviction about what we believe about the word of God, which stands at the very centerpiece of our sermon, of our gathering on a Sunday morning. So we're going to ask this question: What reminder do I need from God's Word before going into this series? This is kind of a big idea question. What reminder do I need from God's Word before going into this series? First thing you need to be reminded of. You need to expect that God will speak to you in this series. You need to expect that God will speak to you in this series. Now, I'm going to go somewhere else. I'm going to go where this series isn't being preached. No, you need to go where God's word is being preached. And if you're a member of a church, you need to belong amongst the people receiving whatever God's word is for this week. You go, I think God wants something else for me, or I'm going to track down the issue in my life and see who's speaking to it. No, no, no. You just need whatever God has for you through his word that particular week. I say, expect God will speak to you. What do I mean by that? I mean because, look at 2 Timothy 3, because all Scripture is breathed out by God. Which means, so long as we anchor this marriage series coming up in a few weeks in Scripture, and all Scripture, now, correct me if I'm wrong, but all would include the marriage verses, right? Come on, just to get a hearty amen out of you. Thank you. All includes the marriage verses. And do you think, are you confused as to thinking we're going to only do marriage verses as we talk about the marriage series? We're not going to only focus on marriage verses in the marriage series. There's going to be far more of a holistic view of scripture. We're going to get a whole bunch of things built in there, but it doesn't matter either way because all scripture, which is essentially to say every scripture, is breathed out by God. No scripture unaccounted for. All of them. The whole is breathed out by God. Not breathed into. So listen, we didn't get some guys writing some stuff down, and God goes, you know what? I like what you got here, Paul. Let me throw a little inspiration on that. He didn't breathe into it, he breathed it out. Which is to say, when Scripture speaks, God speaks. It's speaking of its origin or its source. This book is God speaking to you. God's telling you right now, all scripture is breathed out by me. Now listen, he's not speaking to the process. You go, well, it was written by human authors. Okay, that's the process of inspiration. That's 2 Peter chapter 1. He's talking about the product when the human writer, superintended by the Holy Spirit, gave us the word of God. You can be absolutely sure all of it breathed out by the Lord. Expired by the Lord. So, if that's true. And let's just broaden this. Let's even broaden it beyond some of the categories we heard earlier. Let's just look at our own lives, wherever we are, wherever we stand. Who are we then that we should sit in judgment upon which parts of God's word we will receive and which parts we will refuse? Who are we to do that? Listen to me, I'm talking to everybody right now. Who are you to be like, this is what I need and this is what I don't need? No, no, no, no, no. The Lord knows what you need. All scripture is God breathed. All scripture is profitable. So if we start picking and choosing which parts of the Bible we'll sit under, you're essentially opting out of divine revelation. You're essentially denying what God is saying right now and God's speaking. God's saying, all scripture is, you know, and you're going, you know what? No, I don't need it. Those are the parts I don't need. I don't need to listen to this. You may be saying, well, you know, hey, come on. I mean, what can God's design for marriage teach me about anything other than marriage? Because you're just like, I don't want to hear anything about marriage. Okay, fine. You may be asking, what could this series teach me about God? Teach me about the Christian life? How about a lot? Let me just give you some categories. How about covenant love? How about repentance? How about sacrifice? How about devotion? How about humility? How about long suffering? How about self-denial? How about service? How about forgiveness? How about where history is headed? Your view is far too small. You go, okay, but but but for me, I mean, what's the word gonna be able to do with the magnitude of my marriage problems? Here's the answer: speak divinely to them. Speak sufficiently to them. Speak usefully to them. The Lord loves us. But sometimes we are of little faith. Praise God, though, that it's not the strength of our faith that keeps us. It's the sufficiency of the Savior, who, even when the wick is smoldering, loves us, leans into us, and goes, I've gotcha. Walk with me in this. First thing you can do is you can expect God will speak to you. Second thing you can do is this as we think about the question, what reminder do I need from God's word before going into the series? Expect scripture will profit you. Do you hear the hope language in this? This is faith, guys. So what you're saying as you're writing this down, I'd be careful, I wouldn't write this down unless you're like, okay, Lord, by faith, I'm gonna think about it like this. I'm going to expect these things. So so different than me saying, hey, uh, what you should expect. This upcoming series is this. I'm going, no, no. You are asking God, God, give me the faith to expect these things. First of all, expect that God speaks to you is true because His word's going to be preached. But second of all, expect that Scripture will profit you. Your heart needs hope. Expect that Scripture will profit you. Notice what it says here. This makes sense. If all scripture is breathed out by God, inevitably it's going to be what? Profitable. Inevitably it's going to be useful, is the word. Beneficial. Of value. The implication is that the right use of Scripture, this is so important to understand, must always tend to what is profitable. In other words, if you're using scripture properly, it will always profit you. Always. And how many scriptures? All of them. All of them. Now there's four ways profit comes to us, and Paul lays this out for Timothy. The first one is this profitable to teach what is right and true. The Word of God, all of it, will teach us what is right and true. It says it's profitable for teaching. Now, this term doesn't describe the process of teaching, it describes the content of teaching. Think about it as that which is taught. It's the body of truth to be believed and to build your life upon. Your attitudes, your actions, everything in your life. A.W. Tozer said something quite significant and helpful when he said this: Satan's greatest weapon is man's ignorance of God's word. I wonder if that's one of the greatest weapons in your marriage. Not understanding what God's word says about something, or maybe hearing something so often you thought God was saying that he wasn't actually saying the way you thought he was. But all scripture is God breathed and profitable. Built in to help us in ways that you may not directly apply in the I'm not married scenario, but in your life you could apply. So let me ask you a question. Could it be that for some of you the damage done in your marriage has been because of misunderstood or misapplied scripture? Is that possible? Could it be that your view of marriage has missed the mark? Because you've made marriage about you. We've like straight up Jerry Maguire to this thing. You were supposed to complete me. And you didn't. And the pressure you put on them to complete you has completely caved in on itself because your spouse was never meant to carry the weight that only God was meant to carry in your life. Could it be that your view of marriage has missed the mark because you've made it about you? When, according to the scriptures, marriage is actually a signpost. This is what's so surprising about it. I think too many people are seeing marriage ending upon itself. Guys, marriage is a signpost. Marriage is something that points to something greater. Marriage is actually directing us to the gospel. To say you don't want a series on marriage is to be like, you know what, I don't need the gospel for a while. Literally, the picture of marriage, and albeit not all of us have a great display of this, but the picture of marriage is ultimately about God's covenant love for his people. That Jesus Christ won you, saved you, drew you to himself. He's described as the husband and us the bride, right? God the husband and we the bride. Never to leave us, never to forsake us. To shower upon us his goodness and his grace, to enjoy the sanctifying effects that the church gets to enjoy in relationship with Jesus Christ as he changes us and conforms us ever increasingly into the image of Jesus Himself. To think about the freedom of the gospel, to think about your salvation, to know there's nothing you can do to save yourself, to know that God is love. To know that God is holy, to know that God is the maker of all of us, to know we were made in his image. This is good stuff. Dignity, value, worth, purpose, and yet to know we rebelled against him. We sinned against him. Our first father, parents, Adam, Eve, sinned against him, and we in Adam have sinned against him, and thank God, in Jesus Christ, he has saved us from the penalty of sin through his life, lived in accordance with God's law, the way we haven't, through his death, a substitutionary death on a cross for our sin, and then subsequently proving, vindicating the sufficiency of his sacrifice in his resurrection, conquering sin, death, wrath, by coming bodily to life again. And that we, by a sheer gift of God's grace, because the great love with which he loves us, are received by him. And we receive him by faith, trusting and turning from our sins and trusting in Jesus. Marriage is a signpost of the gospel. I mean, who among us is single or married or a widow that can't benefit from the signpost that points us to the substance of the gospel? Which one of us could go? You know what? I'm single, don't need the gospel. I'm a widow, never plan to get married again, don't need the gospel. Marriage is shadow. Gospel is substance. Marriage is temporary. Gospel love, covenant love, eternal. Marriage meant to point the way. Gospel is our reward. Scripture will profit you. It will teach you the gospel, especially when we cover marriage. Here's another way scripture will profit you. It'll profit you by convicting of sin and exposing errors. It'll profit you by convicting of sin and exposing of errors. Which means two different things. It can cover two different things: rebuke of someone's misconduct and also rebuke of false teaching. So you see them both there, right? Sin and error. Bad belief, bad behavior. Rebuke covers all of that. So one of the things we begin to see about the word of God is that the word of God builds us a solid foundation, but the word of God also is meant to, listen to me, tear down what's supposed to be torn down. God's word is trying to tear down some things. Now, don't worry, he's trying to tear down what should be torn down. That's why the picture of scripture is that it's a double-edged sword piercing the divisions we can't even get to. I mean, God is the master surgeon. He's able to get in there with the precision of his word like a scalpel and cut out the sin that will kill you in your life. That's how precise the word of God is. Now, don't get me wrong. Sometimes it may feel like you are being ripped open. You ever felt like that before? Like, oh my goodness, the word of God is flaying me right now. Hang on. There's more coming for you. Let me ask you a few questions. What error may God want to call you back from in this series through his word? What issue are you harboring in your heart that God may need to cut away? Let me ask this as a general question. Would you say, on average, that you are just as eager to be reproved by the word as you are to be instructed by the word? Would you go, yep, give me either one? I'd just as likely prefer to be reproved by the word than instructed by the word. What do you do when God's word leads you somewhere you don't want to go? What do you do? Think about it. What do you do when God's word leads you somewhere you want to go? Here's one of the things that I notice people have. They have just these off-limits categories. Can't touch that, God. That's just off-limits. I'll give you this part of me, I'll give you this part of me, I'll give you this part of me, but if you open that, God, I'm out. I think what the series is revealing is that there are some areas in some of our lives that we're saying, this is off-limits to you, God. You can't touch this. And so if you're gonna go after that, I'm gonna go somewhere else, protect myself. So you're gonna choose self-protection over the scalpel of God's word. That's what's being implied there. You're gonna choose. So, so again, the picture, John 15, here's a great picture. You are a branch. Jesus Christ is the vine dresser. He's lopping off the branches, the sucker branches in you that cause and zap so much of your energy. The Lord, because he loves you and because he wants you to bear fruit, goes in there like a master vine dresser and lops off the sucker branches that suck so much energy but bear zero fruit. How much time do you spend in your mind and your life thinking about things that waste your energy? And God wants to go in there with that scalpel and just that precision and slice that thing off. It's one of the profitability pieces, elements of the Word of God. Praise God, He doesn't leave us there, though. Remember, I said, hang on a second. He doesn't leave us there. Third thing we see that profits us, straightening what's bent and broken. This is what our Lord does. He straightens what's bent and what's broken, guys. So he's not just reproving us with sin and error. Listen, God's word's meant to restore us. Some of us are too scared for that process. He's meant to restore us. The word literally, I love this word, it's so great. It's the word for correction. It means to lift and to straighten you up. God's word is profitable in a way that once it has made the incision, once it is cut out and reproved what needs to be reproved, then he restores you. He lifts you up, he thoroughly restores you to an upright position. So here's the good news: He doesn't just leave you on the operating table. He strengthens you. He doesn't just slice you and leave you, he puts you back together again. And listen, some need that conviction desperately. Your story is not Humpty Dumpty. But you run that story and you go, tell me, some of you don't believe that. That all the king's horses and all the king's men, you've tried it, right? I've tried it, I've listened to it, I've done all the things. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. This isn't gonna work. That's how you're viewing it. You can't provide something for me. It reminds me of the woman in Luke where she had had those hemorrhages, right? And she had gone and seen all those doctors, and there was nothing that could help her, and she had tried a bazillion things, and then she met the Lord Jesus, and everything changed. All scripture is breathed out by God. Some of you are crippled and bent over because you're afraid of the scalpel, and you're afraid of the subsequent straightening of a loving God who wants to change you in a way that will last, in a way that will be enduring, and in a way that will be for your good and your growth and your fruitfulness. And he wants to do it every single time his word is preached. He wants to bring you back to it every single time. He wants to bring you back to the grace of God that there is a savior and there is a God who loves you and is for you, and his name is Jesus, and he came for you and he died for you and he rose for you. So you don't do anything to earn your salvation. You trust in him. He carries you, he empowers you, he strengthens you, he covers you, he pays the penalty for your sin, he severs the power of sin. Yes, sin's presence is still remaining, and we very much walk in it. In some places it is dark, but in the darkest and worst, say of marriages, there is hope beyond where you're at. And then he finishes this fourfold. Walk through the profitability of the scriptures by saying this: it will form you in the good and the godly. It'll form you in the good and the godly. Look what God's word does. It's gonna teach us that teaching's gonna bring conviction. You've got some things. You've got some beliefs that are bad, you got some behaviors that are bad, it's gonna slice at those things. Welcome it, church. Welcome it for your good. He's going to go after those things, but he doesn't leave you there. He will straighten you up, he will lift you up, he will restore you, and then by this point, he will rebuild you. This is what the word of God does. It reproves, then it restores, and then it begins to rebuild you. That word training in righteousness. It's to speak into the proactive side of correction, but it's actually an interesting word. It's the word pidea, which means to train a child. You could be insulted by that. How dare they speak of that? How dare Paul say that about my marriage, about my situation? What do you mean I mean you need to be trained like a child? Which is actually an awesome word. This word is hard to find an English equivalent for. It's more than educating a child. I would say the best word to define what training in righteousness is is really enculturating you into something. It's more than education, it's enculturation. Stay with me here. It's building up that forms the whole person. This is what God's word does. Building up that forms the whole person. Not all done yet. Building up that forms the whole person. What do I mean by the whole person? I mean it's gonna shape your worldviews, your worldview, it's gonna shape your habits, your patterns, your character formations embedded in this. It's gonna order your loves, it's gonna shape your affections, it's gonna dominate the culture of who you are. It's gonna form the whole person, bringing you to maturity. And I love this. God's word is meant to gradually deliver you by growth into the good life that God has intended for his people. The end of this training is this idea of the good life. That you would walk in what is true and good and beautiful. What a picture, isn't that? And yet I hear, you know, what about my junior high kid? You you really want my junior high kid to sit through an entire series for the summer on marriage? Yes, I do. Yes, I intend him to be here. Yeah, you really want my high school kid here? Yes, I do. I intend him to be here. Oh, you really want a widow to be here? A hundred percent. I intend them to be here. Here's the thing that's funny about junior high school and high school uh junior high and high school kids, by the way. I hear this classic Christian line, right? Parents are like, oh, I've been praying for their spouse from the day they were years old. Right? You you gotta say that, right? Ironic, ironic. Pray for their spouse, but when a marriage series comes, you go, I don't know, buddy, I'm not sure this is gonna apply to you. Huh? What? What? What? Oh, but I sit by his bed and I have ever since he was 18 months all the way praying for his house. It's so ironic. Follow the logic, logical flow of thought. You absolutely need to be here. Can I help you out? Why? Come. How about so your kid can come hungry, learning to come hungry every week, expectant for the word of God to feed his soul? How about to come learning what marriage is and God's design for it? How about to come so that you might learn how to become a God-honoring man or woman for for regardless if you never get married? How about just to grow to become godly? How to grow to become the kind of person that's marriage material, regardless if the Lord gives you that gift or not? How about learning to repent? We'll talk about that a lot. Because I'm telling you, repentance is far more important than your successes. You'll tell me far more about your godliness, not by how you try to button yourself up on a Sunday and make yourself look good. You'll tell me far more when I see you fail, how you fail. How about an identity rooted in Jesus Christ? You go, well, this whole thing's gonna be about marriage. Well, most of the problems of marriage have to do with your identity not being rooted in Jesus Christ. Your misplaced expectations, what's marriage is supposed to do, we'll deal with that. How about how to submit to God? How about dealing with misplaced expectations in general? How about following the flow of God's redemption, a redemptive narrative through the gift that marriage is to the design and end that marriage was intended for? How about just encouraging the body? Okay, it's not your thing. That's insane. Okay, this doesn't apply to you directly. It does to the body. Aren't you in the body? So the shocking thing is, could you imagine the hand going, man, a whole summer on the brain? I don't need that. Get me out of here. I'm gonna go find somewhere else to go. That's insane. That's what we're saying. That's what you're listening. I love you. I love you, I love this church. I I I'm so thankful for this church. Hear me fired up because I want more for you. I'm not angry. I'm fired up because we're leaving so much on the table. Didn't think we had this in us, but it's okay. No, we're sinners, see this in myself. Even wrestling with Lord, how do I bring this about? I'm probably not bringing it away. That's I but I prayed, I'll tell you what, I prayed about my tone for this so much this week. So if I'm failing, I'm sorry. Because I'm holding like self-control with what I need to say and what I need to restrain and how I need to say it, and how I hope it gets across. And listen, I'm sorry, we're both struggling here, but I'm leaning in because this is so serious. Last thing is this. Expect God will perfect you. Expect God will perfect you. All of Scripture is profitable. But it's meant to produce a kind of end product. It's meant to first equip you to live a life that pleases God. Now he's speaking to Timothy here, and he says that the man of God may be complete or equipped. It's actually together, two words, same sort of cognate, which puts them together as super equipped. That the man of God, speaking of Timothy, by the way, this is speaking to the minister, but by extension, it'll benefit you, right? The minister is going to be equipped to handle every obstacle, every circumstance. But he's speaking to Timothy. You are going to be thoroughly equipped to meet every obstacle. Not just to live a life that pleases God, but to equip you for every good work. Both of these things are embedded into this. Notice it doesn't say some good works, right? Equipped for some good works, but can't guarantee, you know what, your situation, that's right, you, there's an asterisk for your thing in the back of the Bible where this doesn't apply to you. You know, one of the things about counseling, and I think one of the fears of our elders and pastors, is that this series is gonna unleash mass amounts of counseling. But one of the things that you find about counseling is that counseling, uh, there's there's a number of things, but one is that uh I want you to fix my thing right now. I just need a fix. And it's usually if you could bring comfort or ease, I'll take a I'll take a symptom fix too. And scripture's promise isn't to fix your marriage, even. Do you hear that? Scripture's promise is not to fix your marriage. I'm not saying your marriage will be fixed after this. What I am saying is that scripture does promise that you'll have everything you need to glorify God in your circumstance. That's what Scripture promises. I don't know if your marriage is gonna change. Some of you, the only thing you can do is change you, right? And again, you need the Holy Spirit to change you to be clear. But I mean you can only bear responsibility for yourself. No matter what your circumstances, you'll have what you need through the scriptures to glorify God, to live a life that pleases God, and to do the work that God wants you to do. And you'll do that through the teaching and reproof, correction, and training and righteousness that comes through the Word of God. Church, I I know so many of us that you're like, this isn't even me. Right? I don't know where you got this, this isn't my heart. I totally get that. But I think it was a moment just to have a word. It's a moment to lean into some things today. Church isn't about consumption, church isn't about your comfort. Sundays aren't merely about consuming a sermon. You don't like the sermon, so you go somewhere else, that's wild. Church is about the honor of Jesus Christ. Church is about the witness of Jesus Christ, that we on one day a week astound the world and all get together in one place to show that Jesus Christ is King. Church is about the building up the body, church is about encouraging one another, and so when you know the body can be built up and you're a part of the body, you lean in and go, yes and amen, giving myself fully to that, to be a fully participant, help in the body to see that those who are in this situation, aspiring to the situation, or working through the grief of the situation, are cared for. And so God help us. I'm I'm at the place where I'm like, we just need to pray. So we're gonna pray. And and I'm just gonna ask you, you pray. You can grab a few people around you, don't have to. We are going to pray right now. And here's how the transition's gonna work. We're gonna come to the communion table, but not before we pray. Because what an awesome thing it is to think about a message like this and then be able to come to the table of grace, to the table of forgiveness, to the table wherein we experience via the power of the Holy Spirit the real presence of Jesus Christ in the body and the blood, represented in the bread and the cup. What we're gonna do is we're gonna pray. We're gonna just ask the Lord to sift our hearts. You've got some things. Confess maybe fears about the series, committing to coming. Lord, strengthen me for that. But even now, sifting and searching your own heart about where you are with the Lord, have you received his forgiveness for something maybe you need to ask for? And then what's gonna happen is the band is gonna come out, and as the song begins, that's the time, church. At that point, prayer will transition to a time of coming to grab the elements, we'll sing a song, and then Pastor Tyler will lead us and we'll take together. Again, as we come to the table, this is for believers. So if you're under discipline, in unrepentant sin, the table's not for you. It's a sign and a symbol and a seal to you of the covenant that God has made to us, his church, because of what Jesus Christ and his love has done for us by living, dying, and rising again. So let's go before the Lord. Let's ask him, let's seek him. And then when you hear the song play, commentate the elements.