“Pass It On”
June 26, 2016
2 Timothy 2:2
“The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”
I am a blessed man. God seems to just keep pouring His goodness out on me in so many ways. Last week it was Father’s Day and I felt so much love from my kids and grandkids and Julie. Julie’s Birthday was a couple of Saturdays ago and we had a barbecue for her and, again, there was just so much love. God just seems to keep pouring His blessings on us. I won’t go into how many ways – but my heart rejoices at His goodness. I will tell you one blessing was when my cousin, Dave, used his air miles to get me tickets to fly home to Minnesota in a couple of weeks. I’m going to stay for about 3 weeks and do some writing there – when I am not visiting. It’s been 3 years since my Mom died and since I have been to Minnesota, so I am looking forward to seeing my brothers and sisters and the hundreds of other relatives that live there. I miss them. God called me into an occupation where I had to leave family and friends to serve him – and I have been doing that for over forty years.
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30
I had to leave my family decades ago – but God has given me another family! Really He gave me two more families. My wonderful wife, my kids and their families and my grandkids. We are very close. There is a lot of love in this family unit. I feel so blessed by my family.
But God has given me another family with many brother and sisters and spiritual children. It’s my Church family. And I feel such a closeness and love for, and from, each one. I am a blessed Pastor. I total understand and relate to John’s words in his third letter and Paul in his letter to the Philippians.
“Some of the brothers traveling by have made me very happy by telling me that your life stays clean and true and that you are living by the standards of the Gospel. I could have no greater joy than to hear such things about my children.’
3 John 1:3-4
“Dear brother Christians, I love you and long to see you, for you are my joy and my reward for my work. My beloved friends, stay true to the Lord.”
Philippians 4:1
I have no greater joy than to see you, my spiritual children, doing well. I watch on facebook as you minister to one another and share your faith. When a brother is stumbling and hurting another brother or sister lifts him up and ministers to them. That makes my heart happy. When you share a Scripture or Bible teaching – it makes me happy. I am so proud of you.
I have been getting ready for my trip to Minnesota this last week and have been getting speakers for the Sundays I will be gone. We have a fine group of men from our church who are going to share a message from God. For some, this is their very different from what they normally do, but I have every confidence in them. I know them to be men of God.
In our Scripture this morning the Bible instructs us: “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2:2
That is kind of what I am doing. As I have thought about this I believe there are three things these men and all of us, needs. First, they need to be a believer. You would think that would be a given – but I have heard many televangelist that I question their faith and their motives. See, if you are believer you will produce certain kinds of fruit. The first being obedience. The Bible says,
“If you love me, obey me” John 14:15
“The one who obeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will love him; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him.”
John 14:21
“Jesus replied, “Because I will only reveal myself to those who love me and obey me. The Father will love them too, and we will come to them and live with them. Anyone who doesn’t obey me doesn’t love me.” John 14:23-24
A man can be a gifted speaker – but not a believer. He can be charismatic and attractive and know the Bible inside and out – not be a believer. See, a Believer walks the walk. He believes - so he does those things he believes. Only the very immature can be sinning saints. (1 Corinthians 3:1) The rest are saints or sinners. If you are a saint you will be striving to walk in the light God has shed in your heart. In other words – you walk in obedience. Men who are entrusted to teach others need to be believers who walk in obedience and use their gifts in service to the King daily.
Secondly, A man who is entrusted to teach others needs to be a man of Hope. The writer of Hebrews says,
“What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.” Hebrews 11:1
I think that definition is closer to hope than faith. Hope is defined as “the trusting expectation God will do as He says”. A man of hope is a man who expects to see Jesus in heaven. There is an expectation; there is a trust in God’s Word and it is expressed in faith and action.
A man of hope is a positive person. He expects things to work out – if not immediately – eventually. Can you imagine a pessimistic person teaching people? He would probably make everyone fearful and afraid. “Nobody like us! We are all gonna die!”
People need hope. Some people need hope to face another day. Some need hope that God is gonna restore their marriage. Some need hope that God still heals. Some need hope that God still leads and will direct their path.
So how do we get hope? Let me share what the Bible says,
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” Romans 15:4
The Scriptures provide us with hope – hope to endure; hope to live. I feel like one of my jobs is to inspire you to place your hope in God. My sermons and messages ought to create an expectation that God’s promises will all come true – at lease that is my desire. When a man of God speaks it ought to make us stand a little taller; feel a little stronger; believe and trust a little more. If a person is entrusted to teach others they need to, first, be a believer and secondly, be a man of hope.
The third thing a person who is entrusted to teach others needs is to be a man of faith. The Bible says,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
Without faith we can’t please God. That is pretty important – wouldn’t you say? And yet most of Christendom has no idea what it is. They couldn’t define it for a million dollars. They don’t know exactly how it relates to them – but they think they must have it. They are Christians, after all.
Many do believe the Gospel Story. They believe Christ lived, died and was resurrected again. But believing isn’t enough. James wrote,
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” James 2:19
Faith is more than belief. Belief is a part of it but there is more. Belief + trust + action = faith. I said earlier that obedience was an expression of believing. If you truly love the Lord you will obey Him. That is also true of real faith. Since believing is a part of faith – obedience will follow. Faith is built on hope so if you have faith you will expect God to do what He says.
A couple of weeks ago I shared with you the test of whether you are in the faith or not. Remember 2 Corinthians 13:5? It says,
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
So what is the test? It is simple. Do you trust God? Do you believe?
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Malachi 3:8-10
Do you see when we don’t tithe we show we don’t believe God’s promises. We don’t really trust Him. And we are under a curse. Do you ever feel like this?
“You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty.
“Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.” Haggai 1:6,9
We are under a curse when we don’t tithe. It is a sign of a lack of faith.
Another expression of faith is our prayer life. If we really believe God loves us; that He cares about us; that He hears us – we will pray. A man of faith is a man of prayer. James says,
“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” James 5:13-18
Do you believe that? They show it by the way you pray.
We need men and women who are able to teach others. We need to pass our faith on to our families; our neighbors; and our communities. To do that we,
1. Need to be Believers; 2. Need to be people of Hope; 3. Need to be people of faith.
Our church is blessed with great men and women who are faithful. I am going to have a great time while I am gone knowing the Church is in good hands.
And don’t just KEEP the faith – pass it on!
