This is Ann Graham Lotts. It's wonderful, good news. That's what the gospel means. It's good news. And if ever we needed good news, it's today.
It's the basis for salvation. Thanks for joining us and welcome to Living in the Light and the weekly Bible teaching message from Ann Graham Lotts this week in 2 Timothy chapter 2. what it means to be a gospel messenger here and now. In writing to Timothy, Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.6, For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God. It's where Ann begins in today's message.
Paul says to fan him into flame and I think he's referring to What took place in the old days when you know they didn't have a switch at the door where they could turn on a light and they didn't have a knob on the stove where you could turn on the heat. There was a central plaza, in every central plaza there was a fire that was kept burning 24-7.
So if you needed heat or light in your home, you went and took a firebrand from the central fire and you took it to your home and that's how you did that.
So that central fire was considered so vitally important to the life of the village that they hired a fire keeper. And if the fire, and it was firekeeper's job to keep the fire going 24-7, if for some reason he let it go out, you know, if the rain came along and drenched it and the fire went out, or if he just went to sleep and through neglect it went out, it cost the fire keeper his life. And Paul is saying, Timothy, you're the fire keeper. in your life, you to keep the fire burning in your heart. And you do that by just letting him loose and giving him control.
The Holy Spirit is on fire.
So, if you just let him loose in your life, you will have a passion. You will have a fire. Your heart will burn with love for Jesus, and love for a lost world and love for the scriptures and love for the gospel. Is your heart on fire for Jesus? Is your heart on fire for the gospel?
Is your heart on fire to win a lost world? No Then there has to be a disconnect between you and the Holy Spirit. That's what Paul is telling Timothy, fan him into flame. Don't grieve him for your sin. Don't quench him.
Don't neglect them. Turn him, Lewis. Surrender your life to Him. If you don't, you know, you'll never lose him. He'll never completely go out.
And never, because he says in Hebrews, I will never leave you. I'll never forsake you. If you've been born again and he lives in your heart, that's forever. but you'll think you've lost him. If you sin.
And you don't confess it, and you don't keep short accounts with God, and you just sort of clog up the artery, the spiritual artery, and And the Holy Spirit is confined to one small place in your heart, and He will become so silent. and so quiet. that you'll think he's not even there.
So if that's you, just get on your knees and tell the Lord. You want the fire to burn once again. You want your heart to be softened and tenderized, and you want to fall in love with Jesus all over again. And ask the dear Holy Spirit to point out if there's sin in your life that you don't even know about, that you haven't confessed, if there's something that you've done the last thing He told you to do, and you didn't do it, and you've been disobedient, or there's some habit, some attitude. I'll tell you.
Unforgiveness, bitterness. Meanness, selfishness, unkind you know, I mean I could just go on the list, but Ask him to search your heart. And whatever it is, you let it go, bring it to the cross, crucify it there. It's not worth the trade-off. Because you're holding on to that sin and what you're losing is the fire.
of the Holy Spirit in your heart. Paul says, Timothy, you have the power. Because you have the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to tell you: you have the power also because you have the Holy Spirit. If you've received Christ as Savior, you have the power. to make an impact in your world for Jesus Christ.
to share that message of the gospel, to be a messenger who's effective.
So turn the Holy Spirit loose, fan the fire into flame. And Timothy. Paul was saying, don't be afraid. Be courageous. And Timothy could look at the old Apostle Paul living in that same Roman world.
buried in a hole in the ground awaiting his execution. And saying, Paul, well, what about you? You know, you're safe underground in that hole. I'm out here on the streets with the crucifying people, throwing them to the lines and crucifying them. And, you know, what about you?
And he could look at the Apostle Paul's example. The first time I think Timothy met Paul was in Lystra, which was Timothy's hometown. And Paul was on his first missionary journey, and he'd come and preach in the synagogue. And the people had become so enraged that they rioted and they dragged Paul outside of the city and they stoned him, they thought, to death. In fact, some people think he was stoned to death.
And when the people went back into the city, they believed that Paul was dead. And the believers gathered around that pile of rocks, and I think that included Lois and Eunice and Timothy, and they gathered around that pile of rocks, and they were praying for Paul. And the rocks began to move. Paul came up out of the rocks, dusted himself off, went back into the city. Have no doubt that he finished his sermon.
The next day, it says, he went on his journey.
So. He was somebody Timothy knew. was never afraid. Always courageous.
So what does the young Timothy see in your life? The young Timothies who are watching you, and they're watching. You may not know it. But you're being watched. What do they see?
Do they see somebody who's not afraid? to be a messenger of the gospel. You've had the preparation, you have the passion, you have the prayers, you have the power of God in your life. And so you just do it. And can I tell you this?
doesn't mean when I say don't be afraid that you don't feel afraid. I'm sure Paul many times felt afraid. I can be up here and my knees can knock and my heart beating out of my chest and I feel sort of weak and wobbly, but I still come up here.
So I can feel afraid, but I don't be afraid. Do you see the difference?
So don't worry if you're doing something that God has led you to do and you're sharing the gospel and you think, oh my goodness, I've prayed that God would give me peace and I pray that God would give me the words and why is my heart beating out of my chest and why am I scared of death and why are my teeth rattling and I'm still sitting, you know, but that's okay. I love what Jill Briscoe says. She says, just do it scared. You know, great definition of courage. You just do it scared.
So you can feel afraid. And I expect Paul felt afraid, but he didn't act afraid. He didn't give into the fear. Do you see that?
So just don't be afraid. It's okay to feel afraid. We all feel afraid. That's perfectly acceptable. Just don't give into it.
Be courageous. Secondly. Don't be ashamed. Don't be embarrassed to share the gospel. And He says in verse 9 that it's through the gospel that God has saved us.
It's the basis for our salvation. Faith comes by hearing, hearing comes by the word of God. How are people going to know that they can be saved if you don't share the gospel? It's the basis for salvation. And so, all these people today who have their little boutique religions and they're going after this one, they're going after that one, and everybody has their own gods and they have their own religions.
And you know, you see these bumper stickers with all these different religious symbols, and the cross is just one out of many different religions, and as though you can pick and choose. How do they know there is one true living God who loved them so much that he created them to know him? And sin has separated them from him. He loved them so much, he sent his own son to die on the cross to be their savior, to take away their sin that they can know they can have forgiveness and reconciliation with God and peace in their hearts, and the hope of heaven when they die and purpose to live for in the meantime. How will they know?
It's the gospel that tells us. It's the basis for salvation. They can be saved from that judgment. Remember, we talked about the ark and the flood, and took everybody away who was outside of the ark? They can be saved from the wrath to come.
They can be saved from hell. They can be saved from an empty way of life. They can be saved from all this muck and this mire. It's the gospel that tells them. It's a basis for salvation.
It's wonderful good news. That's what the gospel means. It's good news. And if ever we needed good news, it's today. It's the basis for salvation.
It's the basis for what I would call sanctification. In verse 9, it's through the gospel we're called to a holy life. And when you receive the Holy Spirit, He begins to work in your life to make you holy. And that means to separate you from the sin in your life. And to be holy, the definition of holiness is just to be like Jesus.
And that means There are some places you don't go anymore. There are some ways you don't talk anymore. There's some things you don't do anymore. There's some magazines you don't look at anymore. And some movies and television shows you don't watch anymore.
And some people you don't go with anymore because you are holy. And you're separated from that world around you. Yes, we live in the world and we work in the world and we're sharing the gospel with the world, but I'm talking about for your own satisfaction and your own lifestyle. And there has to be a separation. Don't be ashamed of that.
Don't be ashamed to be different. It's okay to be different. In fact, if you have the Holy Spirit of the living God in you, you ought to be different. How can you be like the people in the world if you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you? The Bible says be holy.
As I am holy, says the Lord. Without holiness, No one will see the Lord.
So Let the Holy Spirit do his work in your life. Separates. The world's Paste and pattern and priorities and pleasures, they're not ours any more. And when the Holy Spirit comes in, if you let him loose in your life, he's going to take away your appetite for those things. And you may still be with those friends, but they make you uncomfortable.
You'll still hear them talking the way you used to talk, and it's going to be offensive. And you'll begin the separate you if you let him.
So it's the basis for our separation and putting it all on the table. is the basis for suffering. Verse 8 and verse 12, Paul says, That's why I'm suffering as I am. And When you share the gospel, when you're a messenger of the gospel, I'll just tell you flat out: you're going to suffer for it. There'll be people that will be offended, there'll be people that will come back at you, there'll people who ostracize you, criticize you, marginalize you.
That's okay. Jesus said in Matthew that when you're persecuted, not if.
So persecution is part of the normal. Experience of a messenger of the gospel, so you can just expect it. I think we have to be careful that we don't deserve it in the sense that we're not being persecuted because we're self-righteous. or judgmental. Or somehow lording it over them, or you know how Christians sometimes can be.
Obnoxious in their self-righteousness. Nobody would want to be a Christian because of the way they see us.
So we want to be loving and winsome and kind and helpful and good.
So you win people by the way you love them.
So you really can't pass the baton, I guess. You know, you can extend it, but the other person has to receive it.
So we're the gospel messenger, but they have to receive the message. Our responsibility is just to give it out. And it's God's responsibility. And that's a wonderful thing in John 16 when it says that the Holy Spirit, it's his responsibility to convict them of sin and the need to get right with God and judgment if they don't, so that you and I are free to love them and share the gospel is the Holy Spirit's responsibility to convince them on the inside of the truth of what you're saying.
So sometimes we take the burden on ourselves and we need to relieve ourselves of that burden. It's the Holy Spirit's job. to work on the inside of that person.
So Don't be ashamed of the gospel and don't be ashamed of God's grace. And I'll just touch on this, but it says in verse 9: because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. Just the gospel of grace. And I think we can be embarrassed, if we want to call it that, by God's grace because it's so easy.
It's so simple. We want to make it complicated. And several years ago, Daddy sent Mara and I to Rome to be his emissaries at Pope John Paul's funeral. Very interesting experience. And when we were in Rome, everywhere we went, people were saying, The Holy Father is in heaven.
The Holy Father has gone to heaven. And so I would ask them, Well, why is the Holy Father, why do you think the Holy Father is in heaven? And they say, Oh, he's such a good man. He did so many wonderful things. He's head of the church.
And I say, Well, and this was cab drivers and people in restaurants and people we met in the different people and meeting people around us who had gone. And so, well, Do you think when you die you'll go to heaven? Oh, I don't know, you know. And I said, Well, why?
Well, well, I haven't done as many good things as the Holy Father. I haven't done, you know, I haven't been that good a person. I try, I hope I'll go to heaven.
So then when I share the gospel, they look at me with a blank face. Mm-hmm. And I say, you know, it's not about what you've done or not done. It's just because Jesus died on the cross and Jesus paid it all. He's finished.
All you have to do is put your trust in Jesus. And they just don't get it because they've been trained that you have to earn heaven, you have to deserve heaven, you have to work for heaven, and not just the people there, but people in other religions. It's just so hard to think that all you have to do is put your faith in Jesus. Paul says Timothy. Don't be ashamed of the gospel.
And then Paul says in verse 12, he says, I'm not ashamed because I know whom I have believed. I'm convinced he's able to guard what I've entrusted to him for that day. What did Paul entrusted to him? I think his ministry. He's getting ready to exit life, and he has entrusted his ministry to God first of all, and then he's tapping Timothy to take over.
And he's confident that God is able to keep it.
So I thought, what am I entrusting to God in my life? And I entrust to Him my family and my ministry and my very life, and God is able to keep it. And the verse that my mother wrote in the first Bible she gave me was Jude 24 and 25: that God is able to keep me from falling and present me one day faultless before his throne. God is able.
So don't be ashamed. Be confident of the gospel message. Timothy could look at Paul and say, Well, what about you? You know, have you ever been ashamed of the gospel? And I think of the Apostle Paul.
I can't ever imagine Paul being ashamed of the gospel. And even on this Trip to Rome. He had appeared before governors and kings, Festus, Felix, King Agrippa. And when he stood before King Agrippa and he was sharing his testimony, King Agrippa said, Paul, your great learning has driven you mad. And Paul, who was manacled, lifted up his arms, and you know his chains were dangling from his arms and they rattled as he lifted them up.
And he said, King Agrippa, I wish that you were like me, except for these chains. I would wish that you could be like me. I would give my life if you would put your faith in Jesus. And Paul. Cared that much about those who are lost, he would say, I would give my life if you would come to faith.
And King Agrippa said, Almost you persuade me to be a Christian. Almost. But he walked away lost. But Paul was never ashamed. To share the gospel, never ashamed to be a messenger of the gospel.
In fact, every time he went into one of these. Trials instead of thinking about, oh, how can I defend myself? How can I get out of it? What can I say that they'll let me go? Instead, he just saw it.
As a platform, that was his transfer zone. That was his passing zone. That's when he was going to share the gospel with all sorts of people he otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to share the gospel with.
So the passing zone for you may be when you're suffering. It may be when you're in a hospital bed. It may be when your spouse walks out. It may be when your child rebels. And that's your passing zone, people watching you.
people looking at how are you going to handle this. And that's when you have opportunity to give reason for the hope that's within you.
So don't be ashamed and Timothy could look at Paul. And he was never ashamed.
So, when the young Timothies are looking at you, what did they see? They see that you have that opportunity in the passing zone and you don't take it. You send a message to them.
So be like Abel, so convinced of the gospel. that he had the courage of his convictions and he laid down his life for what he believed in. Don't be ashamed, be that confidence. that you would risk your reputation, your friendships, your Job, whatever it is, to just Share the gospel. Be a messenger of the gospel.
Thirdly, and very quickly, don't be apathetic. In verse 13, He says, What you have heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. And what did Timothy heard from Paul? I expect he had heard what we have read in Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, you know, all the books that we think of in the New Testament that Paul has written, that was the pattern of sound teaching that Timothy had heard.
So he's saying, Timothy, don't be apathetic towards the Word of God. And I want to challenge you, don't be apathetic towards the word.
So when you leave the cove, just even before you leave, decide what time of day you're going to spend with the Lord and how much time you're going to give him and where your prepared place is going to be. And have your materials there.
So when you spend time and you've got 15 minutes, you've got 30 minutes and you draw aside and you're just picking a paragraph. Decide where you're going to start. Maybe in Mark and start with Mark chapter 1 or maybe go back to 2 Timothy and start with the first verse or maybe go back to Genesis and you can start there. But just a paragraph, what does it say and you list your facts and what do those facts mean and you draw a lesson from the facts? And what does it mean in your life and you turn the lesson in the form of a question and what you take away and date it and live it out?
Don't be apathetic towards the word. When you keep the word, it doesn't mean that you keep your Bible up on a shelf and once a week you dust it off and you take it to church. It means you keep it in your heart, and you keep it on your mind, and you keep it in your lips, and you keep it ready to give out. How many times after my devotions in the morning, and I've been in the Word during the day, there's somebody that comes across my path and they need the very word that I got that morning in my devotions. And I have it right on my tongue, right on my mind to share with them.
So, if you're not spending time with the Lord in the morning and somebody comes across your path, what do you give them? Don't be apathetic towards the words. And don't be apathetic towards the work. In verse 15, he says, Everyone has deserted me, including Phygellus and Hermogenes. And I don't know who these two men were, they were co-workers with Paul, but I know they quit.
They walked away from their work. And I don't know why. Maybe they went on vacation and just never came back. Maybe they thought they could make more money in a secular job. Maybe they were tards.
Maybe, you know, I don't know what the reason was, but I just know when it was a critical time, they walked away from the work. There's somebody here. He was thinking about walking away. from serving the Lord. And you know, when we reach retirement age, we retire from our jobs, and sometimes we just think, well, You know, I'm going to retire from serving the Lord also and just spend the rest of my days.
I see so many people my age, when they retire, they're so self-centered. And they live their lives for their own pleasures, their traveling, their pastimes, doing things they didn't have a chance to do when they were working in a secular job. Forget all about. the mission of sharing the gospel and making an impact on other people's lives. One of you asked this morning the impact of my husband on my children, and let me tell you, my husband was seventy eight when he went to heaven And when he was 50, he came down with adult 1 diabetes, just hit him very suddenly.
He went on insulin dependency immediately. By the time he retired from 40 years in dentistry at the age of 65, three months after he retired, he was having difficulty with one of his eyes. Ended up going blind in one eye. And then, because of his diabetes, it began to take over. He had heart disease.
He had five stents in his heart, went through multiple heart catheterizations. He was on dialysis three times a week, five and a half hours each time for six years. He was on dialysis three times a week. Had, I won't even go into some of his other issues. It was incredible.
And my husband, until the day he went to heaven, he was still serving the Lord. He had the Friday morning Bible study with about 100 guys that he lit every Friday and he would be on his walker and they would get him to a seat and he would sit down and then the guys would let me know afterwards. And as soon as he sits there and he starts to lead, the Holy Spirit comes on him and it's just fabulous. His Bible study grew while he was that feeble. And then he had a Bible study on Thursdays that he did in Chapel Hill and he met with those guys on Monday.
The Monday that I found him, he had just gone to lunch with some of the guys that he has in that Bible study. He was continuing to disciple them. They called him God's gladiator. And if ever anybody had an excuse to walk away from the work, my husband did, but he never did. And I looked at his father, 80 years old, preaching in the Bronx.
Last time I saw him preaching, he was almost blind and he would have a bright light on his Bible and he would lean right down, he'd read the scripture, then he'd rare back and he'd just preach his heart out, you know, until he couldn't stand anymore. I think of my daddy, as long as he had strength, as long as he had breath, he was serving the Lord.
So don't be apathetic about the work. And Phagellus and Homogenes, they go down for all eternity as two men who walk, they're saved. I'm sure. But they just walked away from the work when it was a critical time to share the gospel with a lost and dying world. Don't walk away from the work.
And then he names Anesaphorus. And he's a man that may the Lord show mercy to the household of Anesaphorus because he often refreshed me, was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord have mercy on him. Anesthorus was somebody.
I don't know that he was a preacher, but he came alongside Paul to refresh him. Be committed. every day that you have breaths. Don't quit. You don't retire.
You continue serving the Lord until you see Him face to face at your death or until He takes us in the rapture. Timothy could look at Paul and say, Well, Paul, what about you? And Paul gives this testimony when he says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, he's run the race. And Paul finished strong. never was apathetic about the work.
still preaching his heart out through these letters until they dragged him out of that hole and took off his head.
So what does your young Timothy see about you? Do they see you working for the Lord when it's not convenient, when you're tired, when things are going wrong, things are falling in on you, but you're still making it a priority to serve the Lord? And I don't know what the work is. Remember, we talked about that. You're not going to know what the work is until.
You start walking with God and let Him show you what He has for you. I know He has a work for you to do, something outside your home as well as inside your home.
So ask him what the work is, but I know the overarching thing is that we're to be a messenger of the gospel. taking that gospel message to the world that's between our own two feet.
So As you take the gospel, Don't be afraid. Be courageous and don't be ashamed, be confident, and don't be apathetic, be committed. until you see Jesus face to face. And you receive his well done, good and faithful servant. You've been listening to Living in the Light, and when you go to AnnGrahamLots.org, there are free resources to help you in your study of God's Word.
Ann's desire is that you embrace a God-filled life step by step, choice by choice. Living in the light.
