 Well good morning guys, it's great to be with you this morning. If you have your Bibles, you would open up with me to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4, and I want to draw your attention this morning to the first five verses. And the Apostle Paul writes, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. Reach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. And they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you, be watchful in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry. The book of 2 Timothy is believed to be the final letter written by the Apostle Paul just before his martyrdom, where he was beheaded for his faith. At that time when this letter was written, the church was in the midst of mounting persecution under the wicked Roman emperor whose name was Caesar Nero. Nero had a desire to rebuild Rome, but first he had a political priority of tearing it apart. And so he set the city on fire. When he needed a scapegoat for his criminal acts, history tells us that he blamed the fires on a growing number of people known as Christians. And at that time many believers in Jesus Christ died for their faith. Some were crucified, others were clothed in animal skins and thrown into the arena while wild animals would tear apart their defenseless bodies for the enjoyment of the crowds. Still others were placed in Nero's garden where he would use their bodies as human torches and he would ride through his garden screaming light of the world. It was during this persecution that the Apostle Paul was identified as a leader within the church and was arrested. He was then placed in a Roman dungeon waiting his execution. All those who had formally stood with Paul were nowhere to be found. Many of his enemies now sought to take advantage of the fact that he was in prison and began to corrupt the churches that he had planted. However in the midst of what appeared to be the darkest circumstances of life and one of the most difficult times in that known world, Paul's final words shine with powerful truth that consume the darkness. This is not a letter of defeat but rather of victory. One man called it the exultant cry of a dying conqueror. Men, we are living in dark days. Everywhere you look around the world politically, economically, globally, there seems to be one crisis after another and the sign of the return of Jesus are increasing with frequency and intensity. Jesus told us, as it was in the days of Noah, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Jesus exorted us to work while it is day for night is coming when no man can work. The question then becomes for us this morning, how are we to live in light of these days? What are men of God to be doing at the present time to make a difference within this world? And what is to be the motivation for that kind of living? The Apostle Paul begins by exhorting Timothy in verse one and he gives him a charge concerning his calling. He says, I charge you before God. When Paul charges Timothy, it is a military term that he uses. It is as if Paul were the commanding general and Timothy, his chief officer of battle operations. Paul is seeking Timothy's undivided attention to the priority at hand. It was Timothy's responsibility. It was his calling. It was a mandate as it were that was being placed upon him, a mantle that he had to pick up and we know from both letters that Paul wrote to Timothy that he was not a man that was naturally courageous. And so on more than one occasion, Paul would use strong words of exhortation. He told him to stir up the gift of God that was within him. He told him to be strong in the grace of God. He told him to be diligent to present himself a worker unto God. He told him to confront those who preached a false gospel and he said, let no one despise your youth. There was a charge given to this man and for some of you here this morning, this conference is about a charge being given to you. Perhaps you have become passive instead of passionate about your walk with Jesus. Maybe you have been tripped up where you were supposed to be standing fast. And now is the time. If ever there was a time, now is the time to heed the charge of Almighty God. We are in a spiritual battle and we do not have the time, nor do we have the liberty to entangle ourselves with the things of this world that will bring us to certain ruin and defeat. We can't afford to be divided in our hearts. Rather we must be determined in our will and fully dedicated to live our lives completely for Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. If we are going to be men that march under the banner of the cross, if we are going to be men that name the name of Christ, we must depart from iniquity, we must lay aside carnality and walk in full commitment to Jesus Christ. Now is the time to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, to cast off the works of darkness, to walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh. It's time to reckon the old life dead to sin but alive to God and Christ Jesus our Lord that by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left that we might fight the good fight of faith. It's time for men to pour it out and pour it on in the last days. Paul reminded Timothy of his calling and he gives him a sense of urgency. What is the reason that he should be so urgent to fulfill this calling? The respond to this charge, Paul says very clearly he said the Lord Jesus Christ is going to judge the living and the dead at his appearing and at his kingdom. The Bible is clear that one day Christ Jesus will come again. Within his first coming he came as a savior to the world but in his second coming he comes as a judge to the world. And we believe that the Lord Jesus will come for his church in the rapture before the ultimate judgment falls upon a Christ rejecting world. But make no mistake the Bible also says the day of the Lord will come. Peter told us clearly in his second epistle the day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with a fervent heat both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore since all of these things he said will be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and the hastening of the coming day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire and the elements melt with a fervent heat. This is not a popular message today. This is not a topic that many like to consider nor proclaim but the truth of the coming judgment of God must be declared and that truth must be shared in love. The Bible says when we share this truth that we are sharing it in such a way as though God himself were pleading through us for men to be reconciled to God. There is a coming judgment for believers where every person is going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ not to be judged for our sins but to receive rewards. There is a coming judgment for the nations Jesus said where he will take the sheep and the goats and divide them. There is a great white throne judgment where the non-believer will stand before God and if his name is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life he will be cast into outer darkness in a place called hell for all eternity. And I think to myself should not the reality of the coming judgment upon a Christ rejecting world light a fire in my heart that will consume my indifference toward people who are lost. I believe as the church there is the need to repent of apathy and to have it replaced with urgency and with the Lord to break our hearts for people that are going to hell and judgment is their future. We need to ask God to forgive us. Someone said quote we live in the shadow of Christ's return and our lives should be governed by an attitude of anticipation. The man, the man who is gripped by this perspective finds it difficult to squander the precious hours on earthly trinkets while millions of eternal souls lie in the balance. It was Robert Moffat who said this we have all eternity to celebrate our victories but we have one short hour before sunset in which to win them. Paul said Timothy heed this charge judgment is coming the living and the dead are going to stand before Almighty God and a kingdom will come. I can only imagine when Timothy read this letter from Paul the ideas the thoughts that were being conveyed must have seemed overwhelming to him. Paul had told him earlier perilous times were coming men are going to be lovers of self and a pleasure and haters of God, unloving, unforgiving, brutal, headstrong, lovers of sin. He wrote of a false religious system and ideologies that would increase with more and more imposters. Men would rise up having a form of godliness and they would deny the power thereof. False teachers would take advantage of the weak and the unsuspecting. Furthermore persecution was coming to all those who desired to live godly and as Paul lists these things in his day we see the scope of evil and the momentum in our day as it surges with speed like a runaway train that can't be stopped and wrecks everything in its path and we say to ourselves what are we to do? What can we do? Is there anything that can hold back this flood tide of evil that is seeking to presently drown humanity and the answer is yes. What are we to do? Paul tells us, he told Timothy in verse two, preach the word. Men this is the answer. This has always been the answer. We must preach the word of God. We must echo the words of the apostles in the book of Acts when they said we cannot help but speak the things which we have seen and heard. We must preach the word. The word preach means to proclaim. It means to speak like one who has a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord and we're not to preach just any message nor we to soften the message to make it more palatable to the masses. There is only one message that has the power to change a life and that is the life giving message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are not called in this day in which we're living to preach psychology. It does nothing for man. We are not called to preach self-help and personal reformation in order to discover our best life today. Nor are we called to preach politics. We are called to preach Jesus and Him crucified and risen again from the dead. The amazing thing to me is that in light of the current situation that Paul was in and the political climate that the church had to deal with at that time, Paul was preaching nothing else but the gospel of Jesus. Paul was unwilling himself or an instructing Timothy to exchange the purpose of the church which was to make disciples and to glorify God for some other message that would make an attempt to moralize a godless culture. There is no legislation that can be lobbied that can change the hearts of men and women only the gospel has that power. Within the book of Acts, the apostles turned their world, the Bible says, upside down because they were preaching and teaching the Word of God anointed by the Spirit of God. And when they were told you can no longer preach in that name, in this place, they did it anyway. They did it anyway. Paul said, I am under compulsion in 1 Corinthians. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. J.C. Ryle said this, quote, the brightest days of the church have been those when preaching has been honored and the darkest days of the church have been when those who are treated preaching as something that was unimportant. Listen men, the task has always been and the task will always be till Jesus comes again to preach the Word, period. That's what we're to be doing at the present time in which we are living, preaching the Word. Amen. And if we're going to preach the Word, we need to live the Word and we need to know the Word. Timothy was exhorted earlier in this letter to be diligent to present himself, a worker unto God who didn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 3 that we are to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts and always be ready to give a defense and apologetic to everyone who asks for the reason for the hope that is in us with meekness and in fear. And in the midst of this exhortation to Timothy to preach the Word, Paul then gives to him some of the elements that were to be found within his preaching. He says for one thing you are verse 2 to convince the people that you're preaching to. The word convince is also translated reproved. It is a word meaning to present the truth in such a way that those who are listening are compelled to see and to admit the error of their ways to confess their sin. It's a proclamation that brings to light the hidden things of darkness which will result in the conviction of sin and the repentance of sin. The Bible tells us in the book of Acts chapter 24 when Paul stood before Felix and his wife Drusilla that he reasoned convincingly about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come. There are some places sadly where the life giving message of the gospel is being watered down. There is no offense of the cross. There is no talk of the effects of sin or coming judgment. There is no cry for repentance but simply a positive pep talk to make people comfortable on their way to hell. But the Bible reveals that when preaching is anointed by the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is the one who will bring conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment to come. And if the message that we are proclaiming today is all comfort and no conviction, then what are we really preaching? We're not preaching the gospel. We're not giving people the whole story. It's not so much what people, what they are preaching but what they're not preaching, what they're not telling you. And we are accountable for the whole truth, the entire truth of the gospel message. Paul said there has to be convincing. He said also an element of this preaching is rebuke. This is not necessarily one of the highlights of the enjoyable task of preaching, but nonetheless there are times when correction is necessary. It was Charles Spurgeon that said, quote, give the ungodly no rest in their sins. There is rebuke, there is convincing, there is also exhortation. A time to encourage those who are broken down, a time to lift them up, strengthening the hands that are weak. At other times it is pleading with people and whether we are convincing, rebuking or exhorting, it is all to be carried out, Paul said, with long suffering and with teaching, with patience. We are told by Paul the reason that such is necessary. This kind of preaching we're brought to an awareness of why it is so critical. Look at what he says in verse three. He tells us very clearly that the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. If ever there was a time when people are turning away from the truth, not listening nor enduring sound doctrine, it's right now, it is right now. Biblical illiteracy has become an epidemic and the Bible has been replaced with stories and anecdotes, worse than that, it's been replaced with a new spirituality in various forms coming from the East here to the West and what has been classified as Western theology or Western spiritual kind of ideas and ideologies. It came from the East but it has been embraced within the West and people are buying into it. Paul says they are turning away from the truth and here's why they have itching ears. To have itching ears simply means that people are looking for that which appeals to the fleshly carnal nature of man, wanting to listen to something that will tickle their ears, not make them feel uncomfortable but comfortable. Something that isn't challenging but something that is soothing, something that appeals and pacifies the sinful nature and doesn't challenge me to walk with God wholeheartedly. They wanna hear things that appeal to their own felt needs and desires as opposed to God's word and his desire. Warren Wearsby said it so well and we are seeing this today. He said, quote, there are those who want religious entertainment from Christian performers who will tickle their ears and the man who simply opens his Bible is rejected while the religious entertainer is a celebrity. The church doesn't need entertainers guys. The church needs men of God who will proclaim the word of God anointed by the spirit of God, living it out in this day and age. It says they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. Paul is saying that not only do they turn their ears away from the truth but in addition, they make it a point to keep their ears away from the contact of the truth and ignorance of the scripture becomes the root of all error in view of this tragic condition that we're facing right now. Paul once again exhorts Timothy, here's what I want you to do as you preach the word. Here's what you're to be about. He says in verse five, I want you to be watchful in all things, number one. It means to have your eyes open. Another translation says to be sober, literally to abstain from wine. Of course here metaphorically meaning to be free from every kind of mental or spiritual drunkenness from excess passion and rashness and confusion. It means to be well balanced and self-controlled. It means guys, we need to be vigilant as we've been saying up to this point and awake not falling asleep as it were in the days that we are living. Not only are we to have our eyes open but Paul secondly says here, we are to endure affliction. Eyes to be open but also endure affliction. The word for endurance here is the figurative idea of enduring under discomfort to hold out in spite of persecution, threats, injury, indifference or complaints and not to retaliate. It conveys a sense of putting up with others, exercising self-restraint even in the midst of trials. There is no doubt that there are men here today that are going through difficult times. There are some men battling cancer here in this place today. We heard one man preaching the gospel, our first speaker today, battling cancer and yet standing and enduring. There are other men going through all kinds of hardships in the home, prodigal children walking away from God and the list goes on. What are we supposed to do in this day? Here it says we must endure. We must endure. The writer of Hebrews said in chapter 10, you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. Guys, we gotta hold on. We gotta endure. We can't stop now. We're getting closer to the return of Jesus. This isn't the time to back off, to slow down, to just sit down and do nothing. This is the time to be active in the kingdom of God. We have to endure these afflictions because the glory that is coming, guys, the glory that we get to share with Jesus throughout all of eternity, it can't be compared to these light afflictions that are but for a moment, the Bible says. If we only knew how glorious heaven was going to be, if we only knew how wonderful eternity is going to be, I do not believe that we would be giving in or giving over, we would be enduring. May God give us endurance. Furthermore, Paul says not only have your eyes open and do afflictions, but in these last days, evangelize. Do the work, he said, of an evangelist. Some are planting, some are watering, some are harvesting, but now is the time for evangelism. Speaking the word of God, presenting the gospel. Listen, people are giving way, even Christians, giving into the privatization of Christianity. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to offend anybody. I don't want to do anything that would cause them not to like me. And I don't want to give something off at the office or share the gospel because it might hinder me from progressing further in the company. Does that really matter? What really matters? What matters are people's souls. What matters is where they're going to spend eternity. Paul says it's time to evangelize, not fossilize. Furthermore, he said, Timothy, you need to fulfill your ministry. Timothy was to carry out his ministry to the end. He was to finish well. He was to finish strong. I believe that we are living in a day and age when men of God are to be men of God. This is our time to live for Jesus. This is our season. Guys, I don't know if you understand this, but church history is still being written right now at this moment. It's being written. We look back and see what God did in the past and we marvel at the revivals and we marvel at how God worked in the Welsh revival and all the rest of the revivals that you can study about. But what about now? We can go back and observe even in our own movement that we've had the pleasure of being a part of the movement of Jesus moving and people coming to Christ. And we look back and we see all of the things in the past. We have these wonderful stones of remembrance, but those aren't to be worshiped. We are not to worship the stones of remembrance. We are to look back and be reminded of the faithfulness of God and see what does God want to do in this day and age? Is there not, is this not a time for one more great outpouring of the spirit, one more revival in this day? Don't you want to be a part of it? I love what God did, but I want to be what God, what are you doing? What are you doing right now? I want to see revival in my generation. I want to see revival in this day and age. I don't want to just look back. I want to look right now. God, would you please, would there be one more outpouring of the Holy spirit in this country, in this world, one final harvest before Jesus returns? Lord, we just want to see it. We just want to be a part of it. Would you light us on fire, God, for you? Someone says if you get on fire for Jesus, everybody will come and watch you burn. May it be so amongst the men gathered here today. May there be a fire that can't be quenched. Men, God loves you. He has proved his love for you and for me, when he gave his only son, and he is coming again, and he is going to receive us unto himself in light of that fact. I am humbled, I am honored, but I am also compelled to live for Jesus. Not through my own strength, but through the power of the Holy spirit. Amen. Finally, look what Paul said here, guys. If you look down in verse six, he said, I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I've kept the faith. And finally, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing. Guys, we want to be able to say, with absolute confidence, that we fought the fight, that we've finished the race, that we kept the faith, so that we may one day receive our crown. I want to close with this story. It ministered to me, and it was this. On April 21st, in the year of 1519, the Spanish explorer, whose name was Hernando Cortez, he sailed into the harbor of Veracruz, Mexico, and he brought with him only about 600 men. And over the next two years, his vastly outnumbered forces were able to defeat Montezuma and all the Aztec warriors in that empire, making Cortez, interesting, the conqueror of all of Mexico. And the difference for Cortez, he had gone and failed twice already, up to this point. He had failed twice, but the difference on this particular day, as he had faced incredible odds, is he knew the road before them would be dangerous and difficult, and he knew that his men would be tempted to abandon their quest and return to Spain. And soon, as Cortez and his men had come ashore, what they did is they unloaded all their provisions and he ordered the entire fleet of the 11 ships burned, destroyed. And all of his men, they stood and they looked from the shore and they watched their only possible way of retreat being burned and sank into the sea. And from that point on, they knew there was no return, there was no turning back, nothing lay behind them, but an empty ocean, there is only one option. And that is to go forward to conquer or die. That's the kind of commitment that we need in this day. I wonder, men, have you burned the ships? Have you burned the ships? You still looking for a way out? If this gets too hard, are you gonna jump back in the boat and go and run away? No, that's not the time for that. This is time when men are fully, completely committed to Jesus Christ, preaching the word, living the word, anointed by the spirit of God. May God bring revival in our day and age, in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you guys.