 All right, so we have come to the session on walking in wisdom in your singleness. A topic I have never spoken on before, so this will be a good reminder for all of us. So turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4, 1 Timothy 4, we're gonna be looking at verses 12 through 16, 1 Timothy 4. When I was asked to speak on the topic of walking in wisdom as a single, my mind went scanning through the scriptures. What does the Bible have to say about people that are single? You know, it really doesn't have a lot to say. It says that young women should get married, and then in another place, Paul says, don't get married. And to stay single because you can serve the Lord with full out passion. And another place, it tells singles to avoid fornication. And after that, there really isn't a lot said in the Word of God about being single. But my mind went to the scriptures just in themselves, and I thought, you know, all of God's word is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness, so all of God's word is profitable to singles. But then my mind went to Timothy. Young Timothy, he was a single man, he was a pastor, and he had passions and temptations that would be familiar to singles. And so I thought, that's what I'll do. I'll go to this portion of scripture that gives mandates, eight mandates for this young single man. What will keep Timothy passionate about Christ and his kingdom? What was the charge for Timothy as a single man? What will keep single women and married women passionate about Christ and his kingdom to the end? Well, there are eight excellent mandates for this young single man that he would do well to pay attention to, and my sister, we would also do well to pay attention to these eight mandates, whether you're single, whether you're married, whether you're widowed. So let's read them together. 1 Timothy 4, 12 through 16. Notice what Paul writes. "'Let no one despise your youth, "'but be an example to the believers in word, "'conduct, love, spirit, faith, and purity. "'Til I come, give attention to reading, "'exertation, doctrine. "'Do not neglect the gift that is in you "'which was given to you by prophecy "'with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. "'Meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them, "'that your progress may be evident to all. "'Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. "'Continue in them for in doing this "'you will both save yourself and those who hear you.'" Now, as we look at these eight excellent mandates for this young pastor, this single man named Timothy, I've put them in an acrostic for you to remember, and the acrostic is mandates. And by the way, they are not in order, so just keep that in mind as you try to write them down. So let's look at the first one in verse 12. Let's discover the first two mandates. Paul says, let no one despise your youth. And so he begins by telling his young son in the faith that no one is to despise his youth. Timothy at this time was probably about 20 to 30 years of age, that's what they tell us. And in the biblical world, a man was not really coming into manhood until he was about the age of 40. In fact, most pastors or elders or bishops in the biblical world were usually, they didn't even become that until about the age of 40. And so many people would look at Timothy and they would despise him. They would think, you know, Timothy, he's too young to be a pastor. In fact, I recall my husband took his first pastor when he was 23, and now that I'm 64, I'm like, that's too young, what in the world was he doing in the pastor at the age of 23? And so people would not look too fondly upon Timothy. But Paul tells Timothy, live your life in such a way that no one will despise you because of your youth. No one will think down upon you because you're a young man. In fact, the Greek word look down means to be disgusted. To be disgusted or even hate you. Paul says, Timothy, act in a manner so that no one can despise your age. He must be exemplary in character. So ladies, the first mandate is this. It's the A on your acrostic. Act in such a manner that no one will despise you because of your age. Act in such a manner that no one will despise you because of your age. Ladies, no matter what age you are, if you're single, if you're married, you should behave yourself as a woman who's been called by God in such a way that no one would be disgusted with your behavior. Remember when John writes to the church at Ephesus and first John, and he talks to the fathers, he talks to the young men, he talks to the children, and he's talking about the different age categories as a Christian. And you know what he says about all of them? Whether you're young in the faith, whether you're middle-aged in the faith, whether you're old in the faith, you know what he says about all three categories? You all know the father. You all should know the father. Ladies, all of us in this room, whether we're single, whether we're married, whether we're new Christians, old Christians, we all know the father, and we all should act like the father's children, right? So we need to act in a manner so that no one would look down on us regardless of our age. Now, I will say this. Having, and remember, I'm gonna point out some things about singles, and I'm not picking on you as singles, so if you have a problem with this, take it up with the powers that be that ask me to speak on this. But I will say this. Having worked with women now for decades, that singles do sometimes have pitfalls or blind spots that married women do not have. Now, not all singles have these, but many do. Often single women talk excessively because they're alone, they don't have anyone to talk to. My husband, if I have noticed this a few years ago, oh, man, they talk so much. He goes, because they don't have anybody at home to talk to, so when they get out of the house, they talk nonstop. And sometimes that can be very burdensome. Also, singles sing to complain about the situation they're in, the fact that they are single, their discontent that they are single. Many single women struggle with jealousy and envy towards those who are married women. Also, I've noticed that single women, at least the ones that I've shepherded through the years, they use their singleness as an excuse not to come to church, and they avoid activities where there are married couples. And what they say is, I feel awkward. I feel awkward. Or they fail to be hospitable to others. They don't want to have people in their home again because they feel awkward. Ladies, these are all sinful responses to being single. All singles should act in such a way that no one would think wrong of you. Now, having said that, I have known several women who are single that serve the Lord with full out passion. One of them is walking in right now, she's late, but I won't point her out. She knows I'm going to. But Debbie's single has been for quite a while. She lives with full out passion. She doesn't struggle with those issues. She has people in her home. She bucks up whether she feels awkward or not. And ladies, do you know what a wonderful opportunity you have as a single woman? Paul says you can give all your energies to the Lord. A married woman cares how to please her husband. Verse, Corinthians seven says, but a single woman can what? She cares about pleasing the Lord. Her whole life can be devoted to the Lord. Ladies, stop and think about what a pleasure this is for you and a privilege as a single woman that your soul passion can be Christ alone. What a blessing. Well, to avoid the issues of others looking down upon him because of his age, Timothy's to set an example. Notice how Paul puts this. Be an example to the believers. Timothy, this is the last letter on your acrostic, the S. Set an example for other believers. Set an example for other believers. The Greek word for example means a pattern. Ladies, is your life a pattern for someone to follow? Would someone wanna follow you as you follow Christ? And especially you as singles. Single women is your life in such a way, are you living in such a way that someone would wanna trace after you? Are you setting example for other single women to follow? Ladies, it's important for us to have people to follow, right? That's what discipleship is. You follow me as I follow Christ. And you as singles have a great responsibility. Now, Paul goes on to tell Timothy that he should set an example in six ways. Now, these six ways don't follow under the mandates, but this follows under setting an example. So you might wanna put these out to the side. These are not the only six ways that singles should follow be willing to set an example, but it's a pretty good list. The first way in which Timothy must set an example is in word. This means our speech. Ladies, our words should be in accordance with the child of God. Words should not be idle, gossip, slander, flattery, improper, crude. Our speech should be encouraging, edifying, pointing people to the Lord. Sometimes that means admonishment. Sometimes we need to admonish, speak the truth in love, which we are fearful of many times. It would be like asking the question, what would Jesus say in this situation? What would Jesus say? Our speech should be God honoring whether it's private or public. Now again, I'm not picking on single women, but remember, I was asked to speak on this, okay? I will say this does present a problem with one's speech. And the reason I say this, especially to singles, is when you live alone and you're a single woman, you don't have a husband as an authority figure. So you can run amuck often with your speech. There's nobody there to confront you. My husband is very gracious when I am out of line. Even my daughter, I remember one time came home from college and I was on the phone with a lady in our church and I got off and she said, mother, do you think what you just said to that lady was necessary? And I'm like, when are you going back to school? No, I didn't say that, but there's accountability. I mean, children are great accountability partners. And so when you as a single are living alone at home, there's nobody there. You might think, well, I can be free as I want with my speech because there's no husband or anyone else. But ladies, we really would be wise. If you're a single woman, I would encourage you to be discipled and have somebody that you can share your real struggles with, somebody that'll hold you accountable because you wanna be an example as a single woman, right? In the area of your speech. Secondly, Timothy is to be an example in his conduct. This means how he behaves. Ladies, this is much needed with all of us. We need to set an example in how we behave, but again, some singles might need extra help here. Paul tells old women and Titus too, teach young women to be self-controlled. This includes her behavior, her emotions and her passions need to be under control. And this is certainly a pitfall for single women. They need to be taught how to keep their emotions under control. And again, if a lot of it is, there's no authority figure in the home unless they're living with their parents. Thirdly, Timothy is to be an example in love. This will be loving man and loving God. Ladies, if we don't love God more than anything or anyone else, we would be wise to examine our faith. This is the greatest commandment in scripture, right? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and then love your neighbor as yourself. And so if you're not loving God as you should, you maybe need to examine yourself. And again, some singles might have more struggles with this than others because, and I've seen this through the years, singles will use their singleness as an excuse not to reach out to others. I know single women, they're more prone to be idle because nobody is watching them. But my friend, we must remember God is watching all of us, right? His eyes are searching to and fro to find ever who is devoted to him, right? He sees everything and we will give an account to him. Ladies, again, remember if you're single, you have a wonderful opportunity to be sold out to Christ. What an opportunity, what a delight. The fourth area he must set is in spirit, spirit. This is the manner in which he does things. Humility, gentleness, forgiveness. Timothy, be an example in spirit. Be forgiving, be humble, be gentle. Again, this might be more challenging for singles or young people because do you know pride is a huge pitfall of young people? It really is. Pride is a huge problem. Usually as I've known people that grow in the Lord, gentleness, forgiveness, and humility grows as we grow in Christ, right? It should, if it's not, then something's wrong, right? And so this often can be a pitfall to singles. The fifth exemplary thing he must set before others, an example, a pattern is faith, faith. This is not faith in God, but it's more faithfulness, faithfulness. Ladies, we must be faithful in our responsibilities. Each of you in this room that knows the Lord has a spiritual gift, at least one, maybe more. We are to be faithful with those. We should be faithful in our homes as we've just already talked about. We should be faithful in the church. Now, I actually did a survey in my mind. I went through our church directory. I hope, I don't know how many ladies in my church are listening to this because they know it's on live stream, but oh well, this is how I'm speaking the truth in love to you wherever you are. But they'll see if they're at church tomorrow. I've observed this as a pastor's wife. I noted that, and we have a pretty good group of singles in our church. I noted half of the singles in our church that are not faithful. And what I mean by that, they're not faithful to be at church or Bible study, they're kind of 50% of the time. And it's a puzzle to me because they have more time, I think they have more time on their hands in married women, maybe they don't. But this would be a discipline, I would ask those of you who are single to prayerfully consider, God is looking for faithful men and women, right? And this includes you that are single. Last but not least is number six. You must set an example in purity. This means you must be chased. This is very important to the church that Paul is writing to because Ephesus was a city that was known to be given over to sexual immorality. Timothy, don't succumb to sexual pressures. Keep yourself pure, flee youthful lust. That's why in chapter five, Paul tells him when he's talking to an older woman, treat her as a mother. To a younger woman, treat her as a sister. Ladies, singles must be above board here. You would be wise as a single woman to not be left alone. And even as a married woman with a member of the opposite sex. I am very guarded even with my own husband as far as watching the singles in my church that they don't get too close to him. Do you know that a recent survey of pastors said that 30% of them have committed adultery with someone in their church? That's a shocking statistic. 30% of pastors surveyed have committed adultery with someone in their church. And we as singles should be very careful. If you need to talk to your pastor as a single woman, even a married woman, if you need to talk to one of the elders, make sure you have somebody present with you. Don't go alone into a pastor's office or an elder's office. And this is especially needed for singles if you have the gift of singleness and why? Because the temptation to be sexually impure is far greater for you as a single woman. I would encourage you have strict guidelines. Even my husband and I, who are married, we have a rule. We never get alone with the opposite sex. We are never, I'm never in the loan house with another man, let's just my son or grandson. He's never in the house alone with another woman. That's just one of our rules. And you as a single would be very wise to do that. And ladies, while we're on the topic of purity, especially you as singles, watch what you read. Watch what you put into your mind. I know singles that just sit and watch Hallmark movies all the time. That is damaging to your purity. Damaging to your purity. Watch what you read. Watch what you put into your mind. And that's for married women too. But again, singles I think have less accountability in that area. And you'd, again, I cannot reiterate, find someone to hold you accountable. Find a godly older woman to hold you accountable. Well, Paul moves from exhorting Timothy regarding his personal life to now regarding his public life. Look at verse 13. Till I come, give attention to reading, exhortation, and doctrine. So Paul begins by saying, till I come, he wasn't there yet obviously, but he hoped to come soon. And he says, until I get there, until I can see how things are going, Timothy, there's three things I want you to do. And ladies, this is the A on your acrostic. Attention is needed to three things. Attention is needed to three things. Reading, exhortation, doctrine. Reading, exhortation, and doctrine. First of all, he says, Timothy, give attention to your reading. Now he's not telling Timothy to go down to the library and check out some books. I don't know about you, but our library is still closed in Tulsa. He's not saying go to the library to check out books. He's talking about reading the scriptures. Timothy, give attention, pay attention. Read the scriptures. Now you might say, why does he tell them that? Well, ladies, in biblical times, there would not be a lot of believers that would have personal copies of the word so they were dependent on it being read in the synagogue or in the temple. And so they must pay attention to the reading of the word. It'd be like today, if I got up and read to you first Timothy, you don't have a Bible there with you. You need to listen to what I'm saying. You need to pay attention to what I'm reading because that's all the time you're gonna get the word of God. Can you imagine that? So you leave here this afternoon and you don't go get to home and check out the things I've said or you don't have first Timothy at home. And so that's why he says, pay attention, Timothy. Pay attention. When the reading of the word is being read, pay attention when you gather for public worship because believers could not go home and read the scriptures. Ladies, there are many references in God's word to where to pay attention when scriptures are being read. And I hope you do that. When your pastor gets up and reads the word of God, pay attention. Pay attention to reading. Now, the context here is the public reading of scripture, but ladies, in our day, we have a availability to read it for ourself. And what a blessing. Do you know what a privilege it is for you to have a Bible? My Bible's in the shop right now. This is my second Bible. My first one's worn out, but it's being rebound. But do you know what a privilege it is to have a Bible? What a blessing it is. And singles, listen up, listen up. This could be a struggle for you. Why? If you live alone, there's nobody in your home, then you think no one's watching, right? So instead of getting up early to read the word of God, you sleep in. Or instead of reading the word at night, maybe that's your reading time, you binge on your favorite TV show, right? Ladies, we all, whether we're single, whether we're married, we need daily time in the word of God, right? Pay attention. Pay attention. Read the scriptures. Secondly, he's to give attention to exhortation. Exhortation. This would be similar to the preaching of the word. When people are preaching, when your pastor preaches tomorrow morning, pay attention. Listen up. Also, it might be encouragement, or comfort depending on the text. Ladies, if you're single and you have the gift of teaching, you need to be using it to the glory of God. In fact, I would say whether you're married or single, if you have the gift of teaching, you need to be using it. But I will say this, as a woman, you need to have a safeguard in the sense that you should have somebody probably reviewing your material to make sure it's doctrinally correct. I don't publish my studies until they are, well, my husband used to critique all my studies doctrinally, but since he had a stroke, my son now does it. He's a pastor and I trust his doctrinal beliefs. But you need to have someone older and wiser than you that can make sure your material is doctrinally accurate. Thirdly, he has to give attention to doctrine. This is a common word in 1 Timothy, which Paul has used eight times. Doctrine would just be the teachings of the Christian faith. Ladies, this is such a rebuke to our age. Do you give attention to doctrine? You know what the average church service is? Now I'm not talking about this church and I'm not talking about my home church. But you know what the average church service looks like? 30 to 45 minutes on music and trivialities, skits, and maybe even eating. Some churches you can go through the buffet line and then bring it in. So they get 30 to 45 minutes of that and then the pastor might get 10 to 15 minutes for his sermenet for Christianettes. That's what it is. That's about what it's like. Just think, what would happen today if Paul was alive and he preached like he did in Acts 20, past midnight, you know? We'd have more than Utica's falling out of the window and falling half dead. If I started preaching, you know, if I said, well, I've decided not to go home tonight. I think I'll just keep preaching all afternoon and tonight and into the night. I'm sure some of you say, I'm out of here, I'm leaving. And we'd have people walking out so they could get, especially on Sundays, they gotta get to the restaurant and go home, watch their favorite sport event. No wonder Christians are anemic and weak in their faith. Ladies, we've talked about this already. The Bible is very clear. Women are the most targeted by the evil one in this area because we're most easily deceived. I hope you study doctrine. I hope you study theology. And ladies, those of you that are single, you have an advantage over us who are married because your time is probably not as limited as our time. But ladies, we all should be growing our spiritual muscles. We should not be content with the milk of the word. If you as a single woman are not carving out time to do in-depth study of God's word in theology, I would highly encourage you to do that. Paul goes on to say in verse 14, do not neglect the gift that is in you. This is the D on your acrostic. Don't neglect your spiritual gift. Don't neglect your spiritual gift. The word neglect means don't make light of it. Don't be negligent. Oh, I know I have a spiritual gift but I'm not gonna use it. No, in fact, he says in another place, stir up the gift that is in you, rekindle it, set it to fire. Ladies, God has given you a gift, at least one, a spiritual divine endowment he gave you when you bowed the knee to his lordship and he expects you to use it. Now, I don't know what Timothy's spiritual gifts were but as a pastor, I imagine it was preaching, teaching, exhortation, those were probably some of his gifts. My friend, don't neglect your gift. Everybody in here should know what their spiritual gifts are. If you don't know, you need to find out. Ask your husband, ask people around you. They can tell you, usually I can be around somebody for three or four or five months. I say, oh, you've got the gift of mercy. You've got the gift of giving. Just by watching their life, you can kind of tell what their gifts are. And again, singles might need a special encouragement here. I have seen many who come to church. I'm talking about single women. They pew sit. You know what that means? They pew sit. They don't get involved in the body life of the church. They don't. I don't know why. They excuse themselves. I feel awkward. I'm not married. I just feel weird when I'm around. Well girls, I sit alone every Sunday morning on the front row by myself. So come sit with me. But my husband gets up to preach and there I am by myself. You just get over it, right? This awkwardness, it's an excuse. We're commanded to not neglect our gift. But before we go on, I would say if you're single, you would be very wise to have an authority figure to get counsel and advice from. Again, this is a pitfall of singles. I've seen it in our own church where singles make all these decisions without ever talking to a pastor, an elder, a father figure. They just make decisions on their own. This is for your spiritual protection as a single woman. So a lot of times Debbie will say to me, she's, I need to ask Doug a question and so she'll come over and make sure I'm there. But that's just a safeguard, right? But we should be asking pastors and elders for wisdom on these areas. Well, Paul goes on to give two more mandates in verse 15. He says meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them. So the question comes to mind, meditate on what things? What things do you want me to meditate on, Paul? Well, give careful thought to what you've been called to, Timothy, the work of the pastorate. Don't be slothful. Don't be negligent. Give deep consideration to this. Ladies, Timothy must remember he's gonna give an account to the chief shepherd on that day, right? The Bible is very clear about that. 1 Peter 5 talks about all pastors are gonna give an account to guess what, the chief pastor, right? The chief shepherd. And in Hebrews 13, 7 it tells us to obey them that have to rule over us. Why? Because they're gonna give account on that day for us and let them do that with joy and not with grief. That's unprofitable for you. So Paul says, Timothy, you better meditate on this. Meditate on this, because you're gonna give an account on that day for how you have shepherded. So ladies, this is the M on your acrostic. Meditate on your calling. Meditate on your calling. For those of you who are single, is this something you've done lately? Have you meditated on your calling to be single? Do you believe God is sovereign over the fact that you are single? Do you know what God wants you to be and do as a single? Ladies, you should be giving some thought to this. Meditate on it. God's called you at this time to be single. I know when COVID-19 happened and life shut down and I quit traveling and speaking, I thought, okay, Lord, I know you've given me the gift of teaching. Everything Bible study had stopped at church because it had ended for the year. And I was like, now what do I do? 50% of my life had been freed up. I'm like, what do I do? So I was asking the Lord, I still wanna be used by you, but how do you wanna use me right now during this time that we can't go anywhere except for anything that's essential or they think is essential. Church wasn't essential, but everything else was. And I was asking the Lord for guidance. Lord, I know you've given me these gifts. How can I use them during the time that I can't get out and about to teach? So meditate on your calling. What does God want you to be and to do? Now, if all Timothy did was meditate about his calling and not do anything about it, that would be ludicrous, right? So Paul gives a mandate which follows and that is, he says, give yourself entirely to them. Ladies, thought must lead to action. Give yourself entirely to it. This is the T on your acrostic. Totally give yourself to your calling. Totally give yourself to your calling. Give yourself completely to it. We might say, her life is all wrapped up in her kids, her life is all wrapped up in sports, her work, but ladies, wouldn't you love to be known? Her life is all wrapped up in the Lord. She may be a homeschool mom, she may be single, but you can look at her life, whatever it is she does, it's all wrapped up in the Lord. Ladies, Christianity is not a religion for lazy people. We must do it with excellence. We must totally give ourself to our calling. Those of us that are called by God, we are to give ourself completely to him. Well, there's a reason Paul gives these two mandates to Timothy and this is so his progress may be evident to all, he says. Interesting word for progress here. It's a military term that means a pioneer advance and what they would do in the biblical world when the soldiers would go out to battle, they would have other soldiers that went before them to clear the way of any obstacles or any traps that might be there to kill them and so that they could make a clear way for the army to advance. And so Paul says, watch your life, Timothy. Watch your life through the years so others can see that you are progressing. You're getting away through all these obstacles and things that Satan trips you up with. Timothy, let your progress be known to all, let them see that you are growing. Single women, let me ask you, have you given yourself entirely to your calling as a single? Is your spiritual progress evident to those within the body of believers? Do they see you growing? Are you more like Jesus today than you were last year? Now, ladies, this should be true for us as married women, true, but single women in my humble opinion, again, they tend to isolate themselves more than married women. Ladies, we need to be open, we need to be transparent, we need to be available, we need to be teachable so that we can move on towards Christ-likeness. Well, Paul finishes up with two more mandates in verse 16. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them for in doing this, you will save just both yourself and those who hear you. Paul seems to repeat again the need for Timothy to take heed to his calling, to himself, to his doctrine, as he also mentioned in verse 13. So, ladies, this is the end on your acrostic, notice is needed to yourself and to your doctrine. Notice is needed to yourself and to your doctrine. Now, we aren't gonna elaborate on this because he's already just talked about it, but ladies, anytime something is repeated in scripture, it means it's very important. This is very important. Watch yourself, watch what you believe. Take notice of yourself and watch what you believe. Ladies, make sure you know yourself, make sure you know your temptations, make sure you know your propensities for sinning, watch yourself, make sure you're remaining steadfast and growing in the truth. Don't be led away by the novel ideas that are out there for single women. Do not buy into the world's view on what the single woman should look like. But ladies, do buy into what the word of God says a single woman should look like and what she should be doing. Well, Paul gives a final mandate and that is this. He says, continue in them, which means stick to them, stick to them. This is vital for Timothy, for you, for me and it's imperative, stick to them. Why, because it means your eternal life, right? That's what true believers do, they endure to the end. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, 14, continue in the things that you have learned, stick with the stuff. In fact, Paul goes on and says, by doing this, you will both save yourself and those who hear you. Now, ladies, listen up, Paul is not saying that Timothy can save himself. This is, again, one of those words, salvation, which we've had already this weekend. He's not talking about saving himself in the sense of saving himself from hell. He's talking about, because we know, we're saved by grace through faith alone and Christ alone. But it's very similar to what Peter says when he says, make sure that your calling and your election is sure. And how do you do that? Well, you add to faith, love, love, you know, brotherly love, kindness, and those lists of things. Make sure, or Paul says in Hebrews that those who are truly God's children, they what? They endure to the end. If you are God's child, you will remain steadfast to the end. You will continue in those things. Ladies, our salvation is secure, but our salvation is proved genuine by our perseverance to the end. We continue in the faith. This is really important. Why do I say that? I don't know if you've noticed, if you're reading anything about what's going on in Christianity today. I'm not talking about the magazine Christianity Astray, but how many people have apostatized, you know, in the faith? I mean, it's like one a week we're here. I'm talking about people that are in the speaking world or the music world. They're denying the faith. They're denying the faith. Ladies, this is the E on your encrostic. Endure to the end. Endure to the end. We already know from this epistle we don't have time to look into it, but Heimanias and Alexander departed from the faith and they took many with them. They denied the resurrection. They made shipwreck of their faith and they took others with them down. Ladies, that's a very dangerous thing. The blind lead the blind. They both fall into the ditch. Make sure, make sure you endure to the end. And again, we can't save anyone. Paul's not saying that, but our example is a Christian in public and private can have such an impact on the church that it could save them or they could flee because they say, if that Timothy's a Christian, are you kidding me? I don't want anything to do with that. Timothy's not an example in any of these things. I don't want to have anything to do with Christianity. That causes us to ask our question, are we hurting the cause of Christ? In fact, I had a woman tell me one time about another woman. She said, if she's an example of a Christian, I'd rather go to hell than spend eternity with her. She told me that. It's like, do you know what you just said? Ladies, I hope no one's looking at her life and saying, I don't really want to be in heaven with her, so I'd rather go to hell if that's an example of a Christian. Ladies, would others look in and see your growth and your sold out passion for Christ in his kingdom as a single and say, wow, I know she's single, but I want what she has. Her life is exemplary. I want to follow her as she follows Christ. So what are the eight excellent mandates for Timothy and for you? Number one, I will put them in order this way. Meditate on your calling. Meditate on your calling. Timothy used to give careful thought to what God has called him to do. What about you? Have you given careful thought to what God has called you to do as a single woman? Do you take your calling seriously? How much thought do you give to it? Are you upset with God that he's made you a single woman? A, act in such a manner that no one will despise you because of your age. Timothy was to act in such a way that no one would even consider that he was a young pastor. Are you young like Timothy? Are you old like me? Doesn't really matter. Doesn't really matter what our physical age is, but it does matter that we would act like a child of God. Would others look at you as a single woman, whether you're young or old, and would they stand in awe at your maturity in Christ Jesus? In. Notice needed to yourself and to your doctrine. Timothy, pay attention to yourself. Pay attention to what you believe. Do you as a single lady take time to pay attention to yourself? I'm not talking about narcissism. We have enough of that around going around, right? I'm talking about looking at yourself seriously, making sure that you are who you profess to believe, that you are growing in the grace and knowledge of God, that you're different this year than last year in the sense that you're more like Jesus. Included in this, taking notice, take notice to what do you believe? What do you believe? Do you really believe in the fundamentals of the faith? And are you growing and sound doctrine? D, don't neglect your spiritual gift. Timothy was not to neglect his spiritual gift, but use it. What are your spiritual gifts? Are you sharpening your spiritual gifts? Are you using your spiritual gifts? Are you fearful of using your spiritual gifts? If you are, then you need to listen to the online conference next week, Tuesday morning, I'll be speaking on that. So are you fearful of using your spiritual gifts? How are you using it for God's glory? A, attention needed to three things, reading, exhortation, and doctrine. As a young pastor, Timothy must publicly read the word, exposit the word, and teach the word. Do you have a steady diet of the word of God, and are you passing it on to others? Are you growing an understanding of God's word? Are you in any way using your singleness as an excuse for stunted spiritual growth? T, totally give yourself to your calling. Timothy was known as a pastor, not a golfer, not a sports fanatic, but a shepherd of people's souls. If I were to ask your closest friends what comes to mind when they think of you, what would they say? Would they tell me, when you come to mind, they think of you as a single woman who is faithful to her God-given calling? Or would they tell me you're faithful to watch your favorite TV show every night, or you're faithful to make sure you wear the latest fashions? Would they tell me you are passionate about the word of God, and about your walk with God? Or would they tell me that you are passionate about the latest hair product, or makeup product you wear, or the current diet you're on? Would they tell me that you think of others as more important than yourself? E, endure to the end, continuing these things. Timothy is to be examining himself. Make sure he's continuing the things that were taught him from his mother, and his grandmother, Lois and Eunice. He's to hold fast to the faithful word he was once taught. What about you? Are you more passionate today about the gospel and about your life as a single believer than you were last year? If not, something is amiss. We should be growing towards Christ, not away from Christ. And lastly, the S. Set an example for other believers. Timothy, set an example. In word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, purity. Ladies, we also, whether single or married, we are to be exemplary in these things. Do you taste your words before you speak them? Is your conduct becoming a daughter of God? Do you love God and others, even those who are unlovely? Is the manner in which you do things attractive? Are you faithful to all of your responsibilities? Are you feeding your mind anything that is tainted with sexual immorality? Would anyone wanna follow you as you follow Christ? Indeed, these are eight excellent mandates for young Timothy, but my dear sister, they are eight excellent mandates for you too, single or married. And so as we close, what I wanna do is pray for the singles that are in this audience today and pray for them that they would take heed to these mandates written by the apostle Paul. So let's close in prayer. Father in heaven, I thank you for every single woman that is represented here this afternoon. I thank you for the married ones too, but Lord, we especially pray for our single women because they have some difficulties and challenges that we as married women do not face. I'm sure at times they feel alone, they feel especially during our recent shutdown of our nation, I can only imagine the difficulties that they had. I pray for them, Lord, that you would give them strength of heart, that you would give them a passion for you and your word and for others that is like none other. I pray that you would mold them into the image of Christ. I pray that they would develop relationships with other women who can challenge them and encourage them and disciple them. I pray they would be pure in their thoughts and in their hearts and in their mind and in the things they do. I pray they would be wise with their time, Lord. They, most of them I'm sure have more time than we do as married women or women with children, but I pray, Lord, they would be wise in that and help us as married women to love them and nurture them and care for them and realize the difficulties they have as being single and being alone at times. So Lord, may we be sensitive to them and their needs. So Father, we commit them to you, we commit ourselves to you, Lord, thanking you for those in our path that are single. We ask these things in Christ's precious name. Amen.