Headlines and events of recent years have invited fear into our daily lives. This welcoming of an enemy has also introduced increased worry and anxiety into life, with no end in sight. Thank you for taking time today to listen to Dr. Michael Youssef on Leading the Way Audio. And up next, Dr.
Youssef brings encouragement through the words that Paul shared with Timothy: Biblical truth, putting fear in perspective as you journey through the challenges in 2025 and beyond. Welcome to Leading the Way with pastor and author Dr. Michael Youssef. You've joined him for the beginning of a practical series called Never Give Up.
So listen with me now as Doctor Youssef begins. Never give up on biblical truth. Never give up on the infallibility of the word of God. Never give up on the faith that once delivered. Never give up on the biblical orthodoxy.
And when you understand the backdrop to this epistle, second epistle of Timothy. And when you understand the importance of this message for our generation, Where The Apostle Paul, the aged. imprisoned apostle. Realize That his days are numbered, and that The day of his meeting Jesus face to face is approaching. He decides to leave this epistle as his legacy.
For future generation of church leaders. and church members. From the book of Acts. and from historical documents. We know that the Apostle Paul was imprisoned twice.
He was in prison twice. You remember when he had the shipwreck going from Jerusalem to Rome? there that his first imprisonment, was more like a house arrest. He was in a rented accommodation. Sure, he was under guard, but he was rented accommodation and he was able to receive visitors.
But then He was freed because of lack of evidence against him. Then There is a strong indication that he went from there to Spain. You remember when he wrote to the Romans and he said, I have longing to come to you so that you may send me on my way to Spain. The goal of his life, the desire of his life, the longing of his life was to go to Spain and preach the gospel there too. That way he would have covered the empire from side to side.
After he preached in Spain and came back, that he was arrested in Travas. This was during the time of the great persecution. You remember Nero burnt Rome and blamed it on the Christian. And a severe persecution began back then, and it was so severe that Paul himself. Was Arrested.
And he was placed in a dungeon. this aged, physically weak apostle of God. was languishing In a dungeon. We don't know exactly how long the Apostle Paul was in that dungeon, in that miserable place. But we know that from there he was taken to the place of execution on the Austin Way.
There he laid his grey head. On a great stone. And in a moment... The executioners axed decapitated him. And Paul Experience absence from the body and presence with the Lord instantly.
Sometimes, immediately before that horrible, violent act. The apostle took pen to paper. And he wrote. for the future generation. I am so grateful to the sovereign Lord for Preserving Such a document.
Also, I believe that the Apostle Paul wrote this epistle so that every person. Who's Defeated. may experience victory and triumph, that each one may know joy in the midst of their despair, that every one of us can experience encouragement in the midst of discouragement. The one thing that comes through again and again and again. Is that the Apostle Paul knew his spiritual son Timothy?
He knew him only too well. He knew his strength and he knew his weaknesses. He knew how prone Timothy was to discouragement and how he's prone to self-pity and how he's prone to the temptation of throwing in the towel and giving up. Timothy apparently was a timid soul. It was not assertive.
which made unscrupulous people Take advantage of him. And therefore, the Apostle Paul, as he contemplates his own departure, From this side. To heaven. He writes to Timothy, and basically, if I can put it in few words, saying to him, Don't ever give up. Can you say that with me?
Don't ever give up. And so look with me at the first seven verses. of chapter one, Second Timothy. In verse 1, you see the Apostle Paul asserts, as he does in all the epistles, he asserts. His unique calling in Christ Jesus, the unique call on his life.
Like all the other twelve. The Apostle Paul was qualified to be called an apostle because the main qualification for being called an apostle. is that they have seen the resurrected Jesus. And that is why the Apostle Paul called himself an apostle, because he not only saw the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus, but he was commissioned by the resurrected Jesus to take the gospel to the Gentiles. And that is why now he's not afraid to die in Jesus and for Jesus.
Look at verse 2. Paul addresses Timothy as son. Of course, he's not his physical son. He's his spiritual son. Timothy came to the Lord through the ministry of the Apostle Paul.
And Paul becomes his spiritual father. Look with me at verses 3 to 6. Here you find not some of the most intensely Personal words that you ever hear from the Apostle Paul. These are the most intensely intimate words that the Apostle ever expressed in all of his writings. Here He said to Timothy, I remember you.
In my prayers. Not just when I pray in the morning. not just on occasions, Not like he said to others, in remembrance of you. Every time I think of you, I pray for you. No, no, no.
He said, I pray for you day and night. What an encouragement, what a shot on the arm to Timothy to know that the great Apostle Paul praying for him day and night. Day and night. And he said, as I pray for you day and night, Timothy, I recall your tears. I recall your faith, your sincere faith.
I recall your godly heritage. I recall your godly mom and your godly grandma who have prayed for you and who have ministered to you, who have instructed you, so much so that you were prepared as soon as you heard the message of the gospel, you believed it.
Now beloved, I want to stop here for a minute and tell you, sowing seed in the minds and the hearts of your children at home and grandchildren will bear fruit. Trust me, I say it on the authority of the Word of God. You might not see the fruit right away. You might not experience that fruit immediately, but make no mistake about it.
Sooner or later, the fruit will come about. In Timothy's case, Obviously, his mom and his grandmother Have trained him well in the Old Testament and have showed him the prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament. They prepared his heart to be expectant of the coming of the Messiah. They obviously taught him to hope for the coming Messiah from the pages of the Old Testament. They taught him the importance of living expectantly of the coming Messiah.
No wonder that kind of preparation compelled him that as soon as he heard from the Apostle Paul that the Messiah came, that he lived, that he died, that he rose again, that he's ascended into heaven, and that he's soon coming back as judge. Timothy, put his faith in Jesus Christ. Amen. We don't know, but apparently Timothy's father was a Gentile and possibly a Greek. He's not mentioned here, so I'm not going to speculate.
But what Paul is doing here, he's giving us an example. of what I taught you when I preached through 1 Corinthians chapter 7. When Paul said that the children of a believing spouse one parent, doesn't have to be both, one, are sanctified in that believing parents, meaning that God has a plan for the children, if even one parent is a believer. I hope that you vividly Remember that. And here, what the Apostle Paul is doing, he's saying he's in exhibit A.
Here's an exhibit A of what I'm teaching about how the children of believing parents will come to Christ. Exhibit A is Timothy. Timothy. Because of his faith of his mother and his grandmother and the preparation and the seeds that they had planted in his heart and his life, now he became the successor of the great Apostle Paul. And Paul says, I remember how you received the Holy Spirit when we laid hands on you.
I remember how you got the gift of the Holy Spirit, like we all have the gifts of the different gifts of the Holy Spirit. And I remember how you exercised that gift of the Holy Spirit. And here he says, the great encourager, the Apostle Paul, is saying, I remember all of that, Timothy, and I thank God for you. Those are truly magnificent words. to a discouraged Timothy.
Now, beloved, probably The same devil who was working on Timothy to discourage him. The same devil who was trying to tempt him to give up is the same devil who's working on some of you. Today. No doubt it's the same devil. It's the same devil.
Probably the same devil who was tempting Timothy to throw in the towel and give up and slow down and give up the fight is that same devil who's tempting you today.
So I would do whatever it takes to encourage you to get up, get out the family album, get out the Word of God, and start remembering. Start remembering God's past blessings. Start remembering God's past protection. Start remembering God's past watching over you. Start remembering how He rescued you.
Sometimes you did not even know it. Start remembering how God used you in the past, how God worked in you in the past, and today that same God wants to bless you, encourage you, and use you again. Which brings me to the very heart. of what Paul is saying. to Timothy in this particular passage.
Here's what he's saying. Shake off. Your timidity Shake off your fear. Shake off your discouragement. Shake off your weariness.
Shake off the temptation to give up and take it easy. Look at verse 7 with me. For God did not give us the spirit of fear or timidity, it's really the same word. but the spirit of power and of love and of self-control. I understand from this That there is a specific spirit.
Evil spirit, not from God. has nothing to do with God. It's an evil spirit. And he specializes in fear. If you read my book, Conquer, I show you the hierarchy in the spiritual realm, Satan and his demons.
There are powers and authority, and they all have a hierarchy. And this evil spirit Who's not from the Lord, as I said, specializes in fear.
Now I don't know how many demons could be billions or trillions, we don't know. We have no idea how many demons he would have deployed, this particular evil spirit, he would deploy to work on God's believers. We don't know. We don't know how many of those demons are doing the bidding of that evil spirit. But it doesn't matter.
What matters? Is that we recognize aid that is not from the Lord? It's an evil spirit. The Bible says, He who's in us, that's the Holy Spirit, is greater than He who's in the world. That's the evil spirits, all of them put together.
He who's in us is greater than He who's in the world. World. Can you say that with me? He who's in us is greater than he who's in the world. The evil spirit of fear.
Has one overarching task. Oh yes, they're focused. I don't think the demons have A D D. Yeah. And I do, and I have to work hard on concentrating.
They are laser focused. What is it? What do they want to do? They want to paralyze your effectiveness. They want to neutralize your impact.
They want to numb your spiritual senses. They want to terrify you into a prison cell of your own making. I hope the irony is not wasted on any of us. Paul Is it a dungeon? of a Roman prison.
But he knew that if we live in fear, We are in a prison worse than his. If we live in fear, we're behind bars more powerful than steel. If we live in fear, we are in a prison more inescapable than Alcatraz.
Now, beloved, listen to me. Fear can destroy your abilities. Fear can hamper your drive. Fear can paralyze your commitment. Fear can stunt your spiritual growth.
Fear can destroy your marriage, your family, and your relationships. Fear can destroy your health and even can kill you. Which is a desire of the devil anyway. And that is why Paul wants Timothy and every one of us to know that because the devil controls the spirit of fear and because the devil is a liar, he will masquerade. He will not come and say, I am fear and I'm here to terrorize you.
No, no, no, no, no. He will come to you something like, being super cautious. You know what I'm talking about? Just be careful. I'm just Want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.
Let's not take risk. Let's not do crazy things. Let's not trust God with things that we're not sure He's going to do or not. It's being incapable and feeling inadequate or insecure or lacking in confidence. False humility.
Oh, others can do better. Of course I can. But God's calling you. Beloved, I know what I'm talking about. I have experienced raw fear.
within inches of my face. of facing death. But the Holy Spirit of God breathed in me and said, Fear not. In fact, that is why those two words are repeated by our Lord Jesus again and again and again. Fear not, fear not, say it with me, fear not.
Fear not life. Why? Because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Not a life, the life. Fear not death.
Why? Because Jesus said, I am the one who lives, was dead, and behold, I'm living forevermore. Fear not the unknown. Why? Because Jesus said, I'm the alpha and the omega, I'm the beginning and the end and everything in between.
The one thing the great apostle has learned in over thirty years of walking with the Lord. Serving the Lord, preaching the gospel of the Lord. The one thing he understood That there's only one antidote to fear, beloved. Listen to me, there's only one antidote to fear. What is it?
What is it? What is it? The God who is in total control of your life can banish fear. Out of your life. It might not happen in an incident, but it's a daily thing.
Ask yourself the question: what is stopping your effectiveness? What excuse do you have for not serving and giving and doing? Is it fear of failure? I know all about failure. I've experienced it in my life many times.
But I would rather try to do something and fail than succeed at nothing. Listen to me. You cannot be defeated unless you accept defeat in your heart. Let me repeat this. You cannot be defeated unless you accept defeat in your heart.
Please hear me right, I'm about to finish. Falling down does not make you a failure. Staying down does. Did you get that? Falling down does not make you A failure.
But staying down does. Failure. is never your undertaker. It's only your teacher. Failure is never a dead end street when you are in Jesus.
It's only a detour.
Sometimes I hear people say, Well, Michael, my past sins are just haunting me. Not if you place them under the blood of Jesus. Amen? God buried your sins in the deepest sea. And there he put a sign, Fishing is not allowed.
Is it the fear of the unknown? The Bible said, No weapon is formed against you will prosper. It may look like succeeding, but it will not prosper. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?
And so the word of God to us today. All of us. Regardless of where we are. The word of God is He spoken to Timothy. It's spoken to every one of us.
We need to know That God is in control of every aspect of our lives, no matter. How much the devil might bark, we already have received the victory. Because he has given us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit gives us power, gives us courage, gives us strength, gives us the ability to love the unlovable, gives us all that we need to be faithful soldiers of Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen?
Will you bow your heads? With me, please. Father, I lift up my brothers and sisters, I lift up. every discouraged person. I lift up every timid individual.
I lift up every fearful Person. Father, I pray. that you today visit every trembling heart. with the power of your Holy Spirit. that each one would rise up And bless your name.
And rise up. and do some great things for you. Because you are a great God. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.
I can't help but reflect and find comfort in the biblical words that Dr. Youssef shared. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? This is leading the way with doctor Michael Youssef.
And if fear is wreaking havoc in your life and family, you might find it helpful to have a conversation with a leading-the-way pastor or counselor. Visit ltw. Slash Jesus to get in touch with us. You can also scan through lots of encouraging FAQs about life and living. That's ltw.org slash Jesus.
And you know, when you stand in prayer and generosity with Dr. Yusuf and Leading the Way, you're participating in taking the gospel encouragement to people all around the world, many living their faith in very difficult areas. You see, in addition to this area, Leading the Way has teams and locations where being a Christian goes against the culture, and places where following Christ invites danger, even death. Abandoned by families, dismissed by employers and communities, people often find themselves with nowhere to turn. But when you support leading the way, the international team is equipped to coordinate assistance with trusted partner churches and organizations to minister to the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual needs of brothers and sisters.
Now is a great time to partner during the giving challenge. Give us a call. We are at 866-6666-6666666. or online ltw. That's ltw.org and 866-626-4356.
Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef is a listener-supported, gospel-centered ministry impacting the lives and eternities of people across six continents in 28 of the world's most spoken and understood languages. There are several ways you can stand with Dr. Youssef and support Leading the Way's Gospel Impact Around the World. 1.
Consider a generous one-time gift. 2. Become a frontline mission partner. This can easily be automated with an automatic gift with a credit card or bank account generally each month. Or three, join the community of Cornerstone Partners who give in and through their estate.
No matter how you express your generosity, you are impacting this generation and generations to come with the transforming power of the gospel. Learn more at ltw.org. ltw.org. We thank you for listening to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth across six continents.
Learn more about Dr. Youssef and the worldwide impact of leading the way at ltw.org. Or call us. Speak with a friendly ministry representative at the ministry call center. 866-626-4356.
This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Usack. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org.
