1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:06,480 Unless the Lord Builds the House is the title of our series and we’re really looking at God’s 2 00:00:06,480 –> 00:00:14,880 design for a Christian family. Now, we focused last week on 2 Timothy 3 and verse 14, and we’re 3 00:00:14,880 –> 00:00:21,360 returning to the same passage today to focus particularly on verse 10, so I hope you’ll have 4 00:00:21,360 –> 00:00:28,719 2 Timothy and chapter 3 open in front of you. Last week, we looked at verse 14, where Paul 5 00:00:28,719 –> 00:00:35,040 says to Timothy, continue in what you have learned, why should a person continue in what 6 00:00:35,040 –> 00:00:43,040 they’ve learned? Why should a young Christian go on in Christ? Reason is what he says in verse 14, 7 00:00:43,040 –> 00:00:50,160 because you know from whom you have learned it. We saw that Timothy learned the gospel from his 8 00:00:50,160 –> 00:00:54,880 mother. She taught him the Bible, and she modeled an authentic Christian life, 9 00:00:54,880 –> 00:01:01,279 and Paul says to Timothy, now, here’s the reason for you pressing on as a Christian for 10 00:01:01,279 –> 00:01:06,959 the rest of your life, you continue in what you’ve learned because you know from whom you have 11 00:01:06,959 –> 00:01:12,639 learned it. You’ve seen the life-changing power of the gospel in your mother. You have seen it 12 00:01:12,639 –> 00:01:18,239 in your grandmother. You have seen it in me, Timothy. You have seen this, you know this. 13 00:01:18,320 –> 00:01:25,839 Now continue in what has been modelled for you. We saw last week that how you 14 00:01:25,839 –> 00:01:29,919 live will always speak louder than what you teach. 15 00:01:30,800 –> 00:01:35,680 Continue. Let me say this word of encouragement to older believers, 16 00:01:37,120 –> 00:01:40,000 to everyone in the congregation who is a grandparent, 17 00:01:41,199 –> 00:01:44,639 to folks who are looking at retiring in the next five years, 18 00:01:45,120 –> 00:01:49,320 to folks who are in the later years and stages of life. 19 00:01:49,320 –> 00:01:55,120 Your continuing matters to all of us who are younger. 20 00:01:57,360 –> 00:02:02,559 Those who learn the faith from you, your children and now your grandchildren, 21 00:02:02,559 –> 00:02:05,040 are watching how you continue. 22 00:02:07,040 –> 00:02:11,600 You are our examples of faith until the last breath leaves your body 23 00:02:12,240 –> 00:02:14,399 and you go into the presence of Jesus. 24 00:02:16,639 –> 00:02:19,119 We need you to finish well. 25 00:02:20,960 –> 00:02:22,639 We need you to keep the faith. 26 00:02:22,639 –> 00:02:24,639 We need you to finish the course 27 00:02:25,360 –> 00:02:31,759 and then we will have an example to look up to and to continue following. 28 00:02:36,160 –> 00:02:40,000 Alongside parents God has given the gift of partners. 29 00:02:40,800 –> 00:02:46,800 Friends, mentors, pastors, who will also, alongside the parents, build into the life 30 00:02:46,800 –> 00:02:51,199 of a younger person and Paul is a wonderful example of this. 31 00:02:51,199 –> 00:02:57,440 He mentored Timothy and in verse 10, which is going to be our focus today. 32 00:02:57,440 –> 00:03:03,839 We have a fascinating summary of what this mentoring looked like and so I want to draw 33 00:03:03,839 –> 00:03:13,039 your attention to verse 10, where Paul says to Timothy, you know all about, and then he 34 00:03:13,039 –> 00:03:18,360 gives a list of the things that Timothy knew about the apostle Paul. 35 00:03:18,360 –> 00:03:20,460 See, there was a relationship here. 36 00:03:20,460 –> 00:03:25,639 They traveled together, worked together, talked together, prayed together and this became 37 00:03:25,639 –> 00:03:32,360 a life shaping relationship for Timothy and Paul writes to him and said, now you know 38 00:03:32,679 –> 00:03:34,039 all about. 39 00:03:34,039 –> 00:03:40,559 Now, that raises a question before we go any further, a question particularly for parents. 40 00:03:41,759 –> 00:03:45,440 What do your children know about you? 41 00:03:45,440 –> 00:03:47,199 It’s a very important question. 42 00:03:47,199 –> 00:03:51,880 Now, I don’t mean, you know, do they know where are you were born and do they know your 43 00:03:51,880 –> 00:03:55,320 favorite food and do they know what school you went to and all this kind of thing? 44 00:03:55,320 –> 00:03:57,279 I’m asking what do they know about you? 45 00:03:57,279 –> 00:04:00,380 What do they know about your struggles? 46 00:04:00,380 –> 00:04:07,679 What do they know about what God is doing in your life right now? 47 00:04:07,679 –> 00:04:15,880 I want to encourage every parent to cultivate a life-shaping relationship with your children, 48 00:04:15,880 –> 00:04:22,739 and that can happen in a thousand ways, but if you are serious about a life-shaping relationship 49 00:04:22,739 –> 00:04:27,619 with your children, it makes sense that you have a plan as to how you’re going to go 50 00:04:27,940 –> 00:04:29,600 doing this. 51 00:04:31,220 –> 00:04:34,940 I guess we’re all deeply thankful to others in particular ways. 52 00:04:34,940 –> 00:04:39,279 Here’s one way in which I owe an enormous debt. 53 00:04:39,279 –> 00:04:46,640 Some years ago, Ray Greene, a member of the congregation here, said to me, Colin, be sure 54 00:04:46,640 –> 00:04:53,559 you spend good time with your kids during their teenage years. 55 00:04:53,799 –> 00:04:59,720 Now, I have tried to follow Ray’s example as he outlined what he did, and over these 56 00:04:59,720 –> 00:05:05,640 last years, I’ve had the joy of spending an evening each week with one of our two boys. 57 00:05:05,640 –> 00:05:08,600 It started with Andrew. 58 00:05:08,600 –> 00:05:09,980 Now it continues with David. 59 00:05:09,980 –> 00:05:11,959 We spend a Wednesday evening together. 60 00:05:11,959 –> 00:05:15,820 We hang out in shops, we eat together, sometimes we play tennis. 61 00:05:15,820 –> 00:05:21,239 There’s no particular structure except that Wednesday is our time. 62 00:05:22,160 –> 00:05:28,480 David gets to know more about me, and I get to know more about him. 63 00:05:28,480 –> 00:05:35,559 I have to tell you, it is a wonderful joy for me to see multiple ways in which families 64 00:05:35,559 –> 00:05:41,000 are doing this kind of thing, not only with teenagers, but even with younger children. 65 00:05:41,000 –> 00:05:45,980 Pastor Greg Norwine was telling me that they have a thing going in their family. 66 00:05:45,980 –> 00:05:47,619 Greg and Marsha have two children. 67 00:05:47,739 –> 00:05:52,279 Emily, who is age 10, and Jonathan, who is age seven. 68 00:05:52,279 –> 00:05:56,640 When Greg takes them out, they go for donuts. 69 00:05:56,640 –> 00:06:00,540 And when Marsha takes them out, they go for muffins. 70 00:06:00,540 –> 00:06:05,619 So it’s donuts with Dad and muffins with Mom. 71 00:06:05,619 –> 00:06:07,299 I love that. 72 00:06:07,299 –> 00:06:12,000 I think Emily and Jonathan, when they’re 70 years old, will be looking back and saying, 73 00:06:12,000 –> 00:06:16,799 yes, when we were kids, we did donuts with Dad and muffins with Mom, and probably the 74 00:06:16,799 –> 00:06:24,320 next two generations will take it up, and it’ll become a great tradition. 75 00:06:24,320 –> 00:06:28,880 What do you want your kids to know about you? 76 00:06:28,880 –> 00:06:35,959 If you had 10 years of donuts with Dad and muffins with Mom, what would you want to share 77 00:06:35,959 –> 00:06:41,880 of yourself with your children or with your grandchildren? 78 00:06:41,959 –> 00:06:45,519 What would you want them to know about you? 79 00:06:45,519 –> 00:06:52,519 And when I counted up what Paul refers to in this verse 10 here, I noticed that there 80 00:06:54,119 –> 00:06:56,480 are 10 things. 81 00:06:56,480 –> 00:06:58,399 10 things. 82 00:06:58,399 –> 00:07:01,500 That sounds a little bit bland. 83 00:07:01,500 –> 00:07:04,359 10 principles, I thought. 84 00:07:04,359 –> 00:07:11,359 No, no, that’s far too high-brow, and then it occurred to me, these are 10 keys. 85 00:07:12,459 –> 00:07:15,279 10 keys. 86 00:07:15,279 –> 00:07:21,779 It’s amazing how the Scripture is ordered in this way, but there are, you count them, 87 00:07:21,779 –> 00:07:24,779 10 keys for effective parenting. 88 00:07:24,779 –> 00:07:31,339 And this one verse gives us a checklist of what you would want your children to know 89 00:07:31,339 –> 00:07:38,339 about you if you are seeking to cultivate a life-shaped relationship. 90 00:07:38,380 –> 00:07:43,640 What you will want to open up of yourself, obviously in an age appropriate level, and 91 00:07:43,640 –> 00:07:49,880 it will be more as they mature, but if they’re going to follow your example, they need to 92 00:07:49,880 –> 00:07:51,380 know what that example is. 93 00:07:51,380 –> 00:07:52,660 They need to know your life. 94 00:07:52,660 –> 00:07:54,779 They need to know you. 95 00:07:54,779 –> 00:08:01,779 Now, this verse not only gives us a model for parenting, it obviously gives us a wonderful 96 00:08:02,220 –> 00:08:07,880 model for mentoring, a Scriptural pattern for what mentoring can look like. 97 00:08:08,040 –> 00:08:11,579 Remember, this is Paul’s relationship with Timothy that is being described. 98 00:08:11,579 –> 00:08:18,579 So, for those who are not parents today, but who do want to have a life-shaping relationship, 99 00:08:18,600 –> 00:08:24,160 perhaps with another younger person into whose life you can build, you can switch the title 100 00:08:24,160 –> 00:08:25,880 and just think of it this way. 101 00:08:25,880 –> 00:08:31,279 You can call it Ten Keys for Effective Mentoring, because it’s the same thing that is applied 102 00:08:31,279 –> 00:08:33,280 in both circumstances. 103 00:08:33,719 –> 00:08:43,119 Here in this one verse, are ten things that you will want to share of yourself that will 104 00:08:43,140 –> 00:08:47,000 shape the life of another person. 105 00:08:47,000 –> 00:08:51,659 And just as a very practical suggestion, you may want to take these ten, you may want to 106 00:08:51,659 –> 00:08:57,119 focus on one of them each week for the next ten weeks in a life-shaping relationship that 107 00:08:57,119 –> 00:09:01,099 God is giving you the opportunity to cultivate and pursue. 108 00:09:01,659 –> 00:09:03,099 You ready for the ten together, then? 109 00:09:03,859 –> 00:09:04,359 Here we go. 110 00:09:04,479 –> 00:09:08,719 You’ll see it as we move through verse 10 of 2 Timothy three. 111 00:09:08,719 –> 00:09:15,599 Number one, you know all about, says Timothy, number one, my teaching. 112 00:09:16,820 –> 00:09:20,219 Now the important point here is that it’s personal. 113 00:09:20,219 –> 00:09:24,440 He doesn’t say, Timothy, you know all about the Old Testament teaching. 114 00:09:24,440 –> 00:09:26,900 He doesn’t say, you know all about the apostolic teaching. 115 00:09:26,900 –> 00:09:29,539 That was true, but that’s not the point here. 116 00:09:29,559 –> 00:09:34,380 This is the language of relationship, and so what Paul says is, you know all about my 117 00:09:34,380 –> 00:09:35,520 teaching. 118 00:09:36,260 –> 00:09:42,500 See, your children will learn what the church believes, but your kids desperately need to 119 00:09:42,500 –> 00:09:45,840 know what you believe. 120 00:09:45,840 –> 00:09:51,659 It is one thing for your kids to grow up knowing that the church believes in heaven and hell. 121 00:09:51,659 –> 00:09:57,619 It is entirely another thing for your kids to grow up and understand my Father believes 122 00:09:57,659 –> 00:10:00,840 in hell and heaven.” 123 00:10:00,840 –> 00:10:03,460 That has an altogether different impact. 124 00:10:03,460 –> 00:10:06,500 They need to know that. 125 00:10:06,500 –> 00:10:09,960 So what do your children know about what you believe? 126 00:10:09,960 –> 00:10:14,000 Your kids know what you believe about creation? 127 00:10:14,000 –> 00:10:18,520 About the effects of sin in the human personality? 128 00:10:18,520 –> 00:10:20,679 About the Bible? 129 00:10:20,679 –> 00:10:25,419 About who Jesus is, why he had to die, about the resurrection, about the power of the Holy 130 00:10:25,419 –> 00:10:30,179 Spirit in the life of a believer, the church, baptism, about communion, about the second 131 00:10:30,179 –> 00:10:33,719 coming of Christ, about the new heaven and the new earth. 132 00:10:33,719 –> 00:10:38,179 Don’t try and cover all that in one evening. 133 00:10:38,179 –> 00:10:44,700 But if you want your kids to follow in your path, they need to know what you believe. 134 00:10:44,700 –> 00:10:47,119 It will have a powerful impact in their lives. 135 00:10:47,119 –> 00:10:53,700 If you have not been motivated by anything else to learn, let this be your motivation 136 00:10:53,700 –> 00:10:58,739 because you do not want your kid to grow up saying, you know, my dad didn’t know 137 00:10:58,739 –> 00:11:02,400 what he believes. 138 00:11:02,400 –> 00:11:08,039 They might just follow your example. 139 00:11:08,039 –> 00:11:16,900 If your child was asked to write an essay, what my dad believes, what my mom believes, 140 00:11:16,900 –> 00:11:20,140 what would be the first thing they write? 141 00:11:20,140 –> 00:11:21,140 Suggestion. 142 00:11:22,099 –> 00:11:25,640 Why don’t you ask them? 143 00:11:25,640 –> 00:11:28,200 It could be a wonderful conversation to start. 144 00:11:28,200 –> 00:11:32,020 Why would you not want to ask them? 145 00:11:32,020 –> 00:11:35,239 When you think about what I believe, son, what’s the first thing that comes to your 146 00:11:35,239 –> 00:11:36,479 mind? 147 00:11:38,200 –> 00:11:42,900 Paul says, you know all about my teaching. 148 00:11:42,900 –> 00:11:47,260 Second, you know all about my way of life. 149 00:11:47,260 –> 00:11:51,000 See, it’s not just what you believe. 150 00:11:51,000 –> 00:11:54,080 It’s how you live. 151 00:11:54,080 –> 00:11:55,619 It’s how you spend your money. 152 00:11:55,619 –> 00:11:58,820 Your kids have a pretty good picture of that. 153 00:11:58,820 –> 00:12:02,580 It’s how you live within your means. 154 00:12:02,580 –> 00:12:04,919 Your kids have a pretty good picture of that, too. 155 00:12:04,919 –> 00:12:06,380 It’s about integrity. 156 00:12:08,739 –> 00:12:13,239 Just a few weeks ago, we had a guest in our home for Sunday lunch, an older Christian 157 00:12:13,239 –> 00:12:18,919 who took a particular interest, to our delight, in talking with David over the meal table. 158 00:12:18,919 –> 00:12:23,559 He wanted to know, particularly, what it was like for our son, David, to be a Christian 159 00:12:23,559 –> 00:12:25,479 in high school. 160 00:12:25,479 –> 00:12:31,880 And as the conversation progressed, this older Christian then said, you know, David I really 161 00:12:31,880 –> 00:12:36,840 struggled with Christianity when I was a teenager. 162 00:12:36,840 –> 00:12:46,479 And he said the problem was that people I looked up to didn’t really live the life. 163 00:12:46,479 –> 00:12:51,539 Then told a story about how he used to go on the train into the city where he lived. 164 00:12:51,539 –> 00:12:58,440 The fare was the equivalent, he said, of 10 cents for a child up to 10 years old. 165 00:12:58,440 –> 00:13:04,280 Then it was 20 cents for a child 10 years or over. 166 00:13:04,280 –> 00:13:08,200 My dad he said was an elder in the church. 167 00:13:08,200 –> 00:13:12,640 He always gave me 10 cents every time I went on the train. 168 00:13:12,659 –> 00:13:19,799 And after my tenth birthday I said to him, Dad it’s 20 cents now, but he gave me 10 cents 169 00:13:19,799 –> 00:13:23,140 and he said, don’t worry, nobody will know. 170 00:13:23,140 –> 00:13:33,219 He said, I think that was the beginning of my struggles all through my teenage years. 171 00:13:33,219 –> 00:13:36,700 You kids know your way of life. 172 00:13:36,859 –> 00:13:49,859 If you can think of a way in which your kids have seen a lack of integrity in you, I want 173 00:13:49,859 –> 00:13:54,900 to urge you today to confess it to them. 174 00:13:54,900 –> 00:14:01,700 It will give them hope if you do that. 175 00:14:01,700 –> 00:14:11,719 And you may well find that God uses your confession to further his work in their life. 176 00:14:11,719 –> 00:14:18,659 My teaching, my way of life, my purpose. 177 00:14:18,659 –> 00:14:20,099 Isn’t this a great statement? 178 00:14:20,099 –> 00:14:26,359 Paul could say to Timothy, you know all about my purpose. 179 00:14:26,359 –> 00:14:28,719 You know what’s important to me, Timothy. 180 00:14:28,719 –> 00:14:31,340 You know what I’m trying to do and what I’m trying to achieve in life. 181 00:14:31,380 –> 00:14:32,619 You know what I’m trying to become. 182 00:14:32,619 –> 00:14:34,140 You know about my purpose. 183 00:14:34,140 –> 00:14:38,739 Does your son or your daughter know your purpose? 184 00:14:38,739 –> 00:14:43,679 If your kids were asked, what matters more to mom, what matters more to dad than anything 185 00:14:43,679 –> 00:14:47,539 else, what would they say? 186 00:14:47,539 –> 00:14:50,419 Ask them. 187 00:14:50,419 –> 00:14:53,880 What do you think’s the most important thing to me in life? 188 00:14:53,880 –> 00:14:56,299 The answer might be very revealing. 189 00:14:56,659 –> 00:15:00,239 Fourth, my faith. 190 00:15:00,239 –> 00:15:04,919 You know, says Timothy, all about my faith. 191 00:15:04,919 –> 00:15:07,719 Now, notice again that it’s personal. 192 00:15:07,719 –> 00:15:14,020 He’s not talking about the faith, he’s talking about my faith. 193 00:15:14,020 –> 00:15:21,419 He says, you know my personal trust and personal confidence in God. 194 00:15:21,419 –> 00:15:24,960 So here’s the question that comes on this fourth key. 195 00:15:24,960 –> 00:15:27,919 Do your children see you? 196 00:15:27,919 –> 00:15:30,260 Do they hear you? 197 00:15:30,260 –> 00:15:39,679 Do they perceive you exercising faith in God through the tough passages of your life? 198 00:15:39,679 –> 00:15:44,679 Because your exercise of faith when you’re going through a struggle in life may just 199 00:15:44,679 –> 00:15:49,359 be one of the most powerful ways in which the reality of faith speaks to them. 200 00:15:49,359 –> 00:15:50,280 This is what they’re watching. 201 00:15:50,640 –> 00:16:03,659 I felt convicted about my own failure to do this one night just a few weeks ago. 202 00:16:03,659 –> 00:16:13,280 I had come home tired, worn out, discouraged, and over dinner I’d been talking on 203 00:16:13,380 –> 00:16:18,919 about difficulties, about frustrations, and this and that. 204 00:16:18,919 –> 00:16:27,380 All of which got me some sympathy, which is probably what I was looking for. 205 00:16:27,380 –> 00:16:31,119 But I didn’t sleep that night. 206 00:16:31,119 –> 00:16:34,880 And I have to say 207 00:16:34,880 –> 00:16:39,280 that somewhere in the early hours of the morning I found myself deeply convicted. 208 00:16:39,479 –> 00:16:47,919 Colin, you were talking in front of your own son as if you had no faith. 209 00:16:47,919 –> 00:16:53,640 You talked, as if there was no God. 210 00:16:53,640 –> 00:17:02,219 So the next night was my evening with David, and I said to him, 211 00:17:02,619 –> 00:17:07,619 David, I owe you an apology. 212 00:17:07,619 –> 00:17:17,880 When I was droning on last night, I was not speaking with faith. 213 00:17:17,880 –> 00:17:21,219 And you know, that led to the most marvellous discussion that the two of us shared about 214 00:17:21,219 –> 00:17:27,560 what it actually means to exercise faith when your own back is against the wall. 215 00:17:28,380 –> 00:17:36,500 And I said to him, David, if you hear me speaking like that in a way that doesn’t show any faith 216 00:17:36,500 –> 00:17:42,920 again, I want you to call me on it. 217 00:17:42,920 –> 00:17:52,119 Because, you see, I want to be able to say with the apostle Paul to my kids, you know 218 00:17:52,119 –> 00:17:54,599 all about my faith. 219 00:17:55,239 –> 00:18:01,160 And that means I’ve got to show it. 220 00:18:01,160 –> 00:18:05,800 I’ve got to live it. 221 00:18:05,800 –> 00:18:10,880 Here’s the fifth thing, my patience. 222 00:18:10,880 –> 00:18:14,180 You know all about my patience. 223 00:18:14,180 –> 00:18:16,380 Yikes. 224 00:18:16,380 –> 00:18:18,239 This is a hard one. 225 00:18:18,719 –> 00:18:26,119 I can’t imagine that patience came to the Apostle Paul easily, can you? 226 00:18:26,119 –> 00:18:31,180 Timothy knew about the times evidently when things did not move forward in the way that 227 00:18:31,180 –> 00:18:34,800 the Apostle Paul would have wanted, and he had to be patient. 228 00:18:34,800 –> 00:18:40,140 Patience is tough in an instant society. 229 00:18:40,140 –> 00:18:46,800 We plant the seed, and we want it to grow now. 230 00:18:46,800 –> 00:18:53,579 We take an initiative with our children, and we want our lives to be reshaped now. 231 00:18:53,579 –> 00:18:56,420 After a few weeks, a few months of doing the same thing, what happens? 232 00:18:56,420 –> 00:18:59,199 We get discouraged. 233 00:18:59,199 –> 00:19:09,160 Don’t expect someone else to learn in 10 weeks or 10 months what it took you 10 years 234 00:19:09,160 –> 00:19:16,520 to learn before the Lord, and it’s going to be three steps forward, and it’s sometimes 235 00:19:16,520 –> 00:19:24,199 going to be two steps back, and Paul’s able to say to Timothy, you know all about my patience. 236 00:19:24,199 –> 00:19:29,660 Thank God for that. 237 00:19:29,660 –> 00:19:33,640 Number six, you know about all my love. 238 00:19:33,640 –> 00:19:38,959 Here’s another dimension that we want to be clear in our communication. 239 00:19:38,959 –> 00:19:40,959 What a marvelous statement. 240 00:19:40,959 –> 00:19:44,160 Notice he does not say who this love is for. 241 00:19:44,839 –> 00:19:48,359 He doesn’t tell us whether he’s referring to his love for Timothy or his love for the 242 00:19:48,359 –> 00:19:50,219 church or his love for the Lord. 243 00:19:50,219 –> 00:19:58,219 In fact, he doesn’t need to because of course love is indivisible and if it is in you, it 244 00:19:58,219 –> 00:20:00,760 will radiate from you. 245 00:20:00,760 –> 00:20:04,260 Paul is filled with the love of Christ. 246 00:20:04,260 –> 00:20:08,160 He is living and pursuing a life of love. 247 00:20:08,160 –> 00:20:12,060 When Timothy comes to know Paul, he thereby experiences that love. 248 00:20:12,060 –> 00:20:16,420 If you had come to know Paul, you would have experienced it, too. 249 00:20:16,420 –> 00:20:24,040 Now, your kids will come to know your love not just by you telling them or showing them 250 00:20:24,040 –> 00:20:28,319 how much you love them, but they’ll come to know your love by what they see of your love 251 00:20:28,319 –> 00:20:32,900 towards other people, especially the folks who are most difficult in your life. 252 00:20:32,900 –> 00:20:39,739 See that’s the real test, easy to tell your kids you love them. 253 00:20:39,760 –> 00:20:45,920 Try and live so that your kids or anyone else looking at your life could say, you know, 254 00:20:45,920 –> 00:20:49,599 I see in him love consistently. 255 00:20:49,599 –> 00:20:54,180 You know about my love for you, son. 256 00:20:54,180 –> 00:20:57,119 You know about my love for you, mom. 257 00:20:57,119 –> 00:20:58,719 You know about my love for the Lord. 258 00:20:58,719 –> 00:21:00,640 You know about my love for the gospel. 259 00:21:00,640 –> 00:21:02,079 You know about my love for the church. 260 00:21:02,079 –> 00:21:07,880 You know about my love even for the person who’s most difficult in my life. 261 00:21:07,880 –> 00:21:10,199 You know all about my love. 262 00:21:10,199 –> 00:21:14,160 It’s indivisible. 263 00:21:14,160 –> 00:21:18,160 Seven, my endurance. 264 00:21:18,160 –> 00:21:23,819 You know all about my endurance. 265 00:21:23,819 –> 00:21:26,540 You know Timothy I’m not a quitter. 266 00:21:26,540 –> 00:21:30,979 Now, there may be times when it’s right to quit. 267 00:21:30,979 –> 00:21:35,800 The problem with quitting is that it is habit-forming. 268 00:21:35,920 –> 00:21:41,619 Once you walk away from pain once, there will be a strong impulse within you to do it again 269 00:21:41,619 –> 00:21:47,219 and again and again and again and eventually, that undermines character. 270 00:21:47,219 –> 00:21:51,000 Well, Paul was no quitter. 271 00:21:51,000 –> 00:21:54,599 He stuck with what God was calling him to do even when that was difficult. 272 00:21:54,599 –> 00:21:57,560 He could say to Timothy, you know about my endurance. 273 00:21:57,560 –> 00:21:59,739 You’ve seen this. 274 00:21:59,739 –> 00:22:02,300 you know that I don’t walk away when it gets tough. 275 00:22:02,300 –> 00:22:04,099 You’ve seen it in me. 276 00:22:04,380 –> 00:22:09,520 Now, you want your kids, you want your grandkids, you want someone whose life you’re trying 277 00:22:09,520 –> 00:22:14,939 to build into to see that and to know it, and to hear the story, and to understand what 278 00:22:14,939 –> 00:22:16,180 it meant. 279 00:22:18,160 –> 00:22:23,119 Number eight, my persecutions. 280 00:22:23,119 –> 00:22:26,920 You know all about my persecutions. 281 00:22:27,920 –> 00:22:34,739 Now, persecution of course is what it costs you to follow Christ. 282 00:22:34,739 –> 00:22:41,000 And so this raises a very important question, do your kids know what it has cost you to 283 00:22:41,000 –> 00:22:46,680 follow Jesus Christ? 284 00:22:46,680 –> 00:22:53,640 My own father’s life has shaped me in many ways. 285 00:22:53,699 –> 00:22:59,079 But none moreso than what it cost my dad to be a Christian. 286 00:22:59,079 –> 00:23:08,959 Dad was a policeman, he served in the city of Edinburgh as a detective, he worked preparing 287 00:23:08,959 –> 00:23:14,060 evidence for presentation in court. 288 00:23:14,060 –> 00:23:18,400 There was a case early in his career in which his boss told him to say something about a 289 00:23:18,400 –> 00:23:23,599 piece of evidence that wasn’t actually true. 290 00:23:23,599 –> 00:23:32,239 It wasn’t a big deal, it would not have changed the outcome, it was a technical point about 291 00:23:32,239 –> 00:23:35,880 who had actually worked on a particular piece of evidence, but what he was being asked to 292 00:23:35,880 –> 00:23:44,219 say was not true, and he wouldn’t do it. 293 00:23:44,219 –> 00:23:55,579 So he was branded as uncooperative, and there is no doubt in his mind, or in mine, that 294 00:23:55,579 –> 00:24:04,380 that significantly affected and impeded his career. 295 00:24:04,380 –> 00:24:12,079 Bottom line, if my dad had shaded the truth, we would have had more money when I was growing 296 00:24:12,079 –> 00:24:16,160 up. 297 00:24:16,160 –> 00:24:20,680 What I had instead was a father I admired. 298 00:24:20,680 –> 00:24:32,599 I still remember in my early teens when he told me that story, the pressure, the ridicule 299 00:24:32,599 –> 00:24:41,300 in the office, the cost. 300 00:24:41,300 –> 00:24:48,359 And it was the cost that captured my teenage imagination. 301 00:24:48,359 –> 00:25:01,060 I felt, as I picture it now with him telling me as if I had just heard something heroic. 302 00:25:01,060 –> 00:25:10,439 Loyalty to Jesus Christ matters more than money, than popularity. 303 00:25:10,439 –> 00:25:19,859 It matters more than getting your foot on the next rung of the ladder. 304 00:25:19,859 –> 00:25:24,119 And that is with me still. 305 00:25:24,119 –> 00:25:30,219 See, our kids know that integrity is costly. 306 00:25:30,219 –> 00:25:34,000 What they need to know is do you think it’s worth it? 307 00:25:34,000 –> 00:25:43,119 Then they’ll have something to follow. 308 00:25:43,119 –> 00:25:48,140 But if your kids never see you paying a price, why would they think that what you have is 309 00:25:48,140 –> 00:25:55,359 of any value? 310 00:25:55,359 –> 00:26:04,599 So I do want my kids to know what it costs me to follow Jesus. 311 00:26:04,599 –> 00:26:13,439 And most of all, I want them to know I’m convinced it’s worth it. 312 00:26:13,439 –> 00:26:16,119 My persecutions. 313 00:26:16,119 –> 00:26:21,319 Nine, my sufferings. 314 00:26:22,040 –> 00:26:26,560 Now if persecution refers to the cost of following Jesus, then suffering obviously refers more 315 00:26:26,560 –> 00:26:30,000 widely to things that are common in this life. 316 00:26:30,000 –> 00:26:35,280 The experience of suffering is common to all, but of course in a special way it tests the 317 00:26:35,280 –> 00:26:37,959 faith of a Christian believer. 318 00:26:37,959 –> 00:26:42,160 And so there will be some aspects of your life that have not come particularly because 319 00:26:42,160 –> 00:26:45,479 you’re a Christian, they’re just part of life, they would’ve happened anyway, the loss of 320 00:26:45,479 –> 00:26:50,939 a job, the collapse of a business, the death of a loved one, the experience of an illness, 321 00:26:50,939 –> 00:26:53,300 the battle with depression, or whatever it is. 322 00:26:53,300 –> 00:26:58,060 But do your kids know about your suffering? 323 00:26:58,060 –> 00:27:01,380 Wouldn’t you want them to know that? 324 00:27:01,380 –> 00:27:04,780 Wouldn’t you want them to know how your faith has been tested and tried, and how you have 325 00:27:04,780 –> 00:27:08,859 proved it and come through? 326 00:27:08,859 –> 00:27:13,239 As they’re growing, why would you not want to bring them into your struggles, let them 327 00:27:13,239 –> 00:27:17,780 know that your faith has been tested! 328 00:27:17,859 –> 00:27:21,420 And now it has stood the test. 329 00:27:21,420 –> 00:27:26,699 You’re suffering is part of your testimony to Jesus Christ! 330 00:27:26,699 –> 00:27:33,400 Your journey through it can provide a map for somebody else. 331 00:27:33,400 –> 00:27:40,339 When a soldier is wounded on the field of battle, he or she is awarded a purple heart, 332 00:27:40,339 –> 00:27:45,239 and the purple heart, of course, is a mark of great honour, you were wounded in the field 333 00:27:45,239 –> 00:27:50,439 of battle, you stood under fire. 334 00:27:50,439 –> 00:27:52,079 The purple heart. 335 00:27:52,079 –> 00:28:00,140 Now listen, spiritually there are many, many, purple hearts in this congregation. 336 00:28:00,140 –> 00:28:03,760 Your faith has been under fire! 337 00:28:03,760 –> 00:28:08,260 You have been tested in the crucible of suffering. 338 00:28:08,260 –> 00:28:12,920 And here you are, you’ve been wounded, but you’re still standing as one who loves and 339 00:28:12,920 –> 00:28:14,680 worships Jesus! 340 00:28:15,680 –> 00:28:19,839 Now, you’re not always going to wear your purple heart, you’re not going to flash it 341 00:28:19,839 –> 00:28:25,040 around as it were, but there will be times when you should share it. 342 00:28:25,040 –> 00:28:29,160 There will be folks in your life now and in the future. 343 00:28:29,160 –> 00:28:33,260 And it is part of the purpose of God that you will be able to minister strength to them 344 00:28:33,260 –> 00:28:38,900 through the testimony that has come from your sufferings. 345 00:28:38,900 –> 00:28:47,180 God has given you a testimony, and it is part of the example that you are able to share 346 00:28:47,180 –> 00:28:52,540 with someone whose life you have the opportunity to shape. 347 00:28:52,540 –> 00:28:54,260 Number 10, my deliverance. 348 00:28:54,260 –> 00:29:00,540 You know all kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, verse 11, the 349 00:29:00,540 –> 00:29:02,339 persecutions I endured. 350 00:29:02,339 –> 00:29:06,140 Yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 351 00:29:06,140 –> 00:29:07,140 That’s the last point. 352 00:29:07,140 –> 00:29:08,300 The Lord rescued me. 353 00:29:08,500 –> 00:29:10,579 Now, Paul says, you know about my deliverance. 354 00:29:10,579 –> 00:29:12,619 You know about how the Lord has brought me through. 355 00:29:12,619 –> 00:29:17,260 Do your kids know how the Lord has helped you? 356 00:29:17,260 –> 00:29:21,540 If your kids were asked to name three ways in which the Lord has really helped Dad in 357 00:29:21,540 –> 00:29:26,060 the last year or so, or one way in which he has really helped Dad in the last year or 358 00:29:26,060 –> 00:29:28,859 so, what would he or she say? 359 00:29:28,859 –> 00:29:32,339 They need to know how the Lord has helped you. 360 00:29:32,339 –> 00:29:37,619 This is a living thing into which you are trying to bring them as you seek to shape 361 00:29:37,900 –> 00:29:39,079 another life. 362 00:29:39,079 –> 00:29:47,920 Now, the more I’ve looked at this, the clearer it’s become that this is a most marvelous 363 00:29:47,939 –> 00:29:52,979 and helpful grid for parenting and for mentoring, isn’t it? 364 00:29:52,979 –> 00:29:55,219 So is there a cost in your life to following Christ? 365 00:29:55,219 –> 00:29:59,819 You’ve got your sufferings, your love, your patients, your way of life, your teaching. 366 00:29:59,819 –> 00:30:01,619 You have all these things to share. 367 00:30:01,619 –> 00:30:06,140 Why are you not seeking to share that with your kids? 368 00:30:06,420 –> 00:30:07,800 Make a plan to do it. 369 00:30:07,800 –> 00:30:09,060 Use this as a grid. 370 00:30:09,060 –> 00:30:14,060 Here are 10 areas of life at least that I would want to bring my children into, bring 371 00:30:14,060 –> 00:30:19,780 my grandchildren into as they grow so that there’s an opportunity of a meaningful life-shaping 372 00:30:19,780 –> 00:30:21,199 relationship. 373 00:30:21,199 –> 00:30:24,939 If you belong to Christ, you have a testimony. 374 00:30:24,939 –> 00:30:26,500 Open that up to your kids. 375 00:30:26,500 –> 00:30:30,260 Bring them on the inside of your Christian life. 376 00:30:30,260 –> 00:30:35,739 That is one of the most marvelous things you can do for them as they grow up into adulthood. 377 00:30:36,540 –> 00:30:38,380 Continue in the faith, Timothy. 378 00:30:38,380 –> 00:30:39,380 Why? 379 00:30:39,380 –> 00:30:43,660 Because you know from whom you have learned it. 380 00:30:43,660 –> 00:30:46,180 You’ve seen it. 381 00:30:46,280 –> 00:30:49,359 You’ve shared it. 382 00:30:49,359 –> 00:30:55,420 You know it from me, you’ve seen it in me. 383 00:30:55,420 –> 00:31:01,400 10 things you would want your children and your grandchildren to know, 10 things that 384 00:31:01,400 –> 00:31:07,880 you would share with someone you’re trying to mentor. 385 00:31:07,880 –> 00:31:10,300 The last thing is simply this. 386 00:31:10,300 –> 00:31:14,439 Some folks at this moment may be feeling discouraged. 387 00:31:14,439 –> 00:31:16,880 And here’s the sort of thing that might be going through your head. 388 00:31:16,880 –> 00:31:21,619 I wish I’d heard this 20 years ago. 389 00:31:21,619 –> 00:31:27,560 What we’ve seen here in the Bible isn’t what my kids saw in me. 390 00:31:27,560 –> 00:31:36,560 And so you look back on what you see as wasted years, a sense of regret over missed opportunities. 391 00:31:36,560 –> 00:31:43,160 So many folks who have come to Christ later in life wish that they had come to Christ 392 00:31:43,160 –> 00:31:49,579 earlier and could have these years back again. 393 00:31:49,579 –> 00:31:53,520 Maybe you read these scriptures and you say, oh, I’d like to be that kind of man. 394 00:31:53,520 –> 00:31:55,099 I’d like to be that kind of woman. 395 00:31:55,099 –> 00:31:56,199 Patience, love, faith. 396 00:31:56,540 –> 00:31:58,739 It sounds great, but I can’t do it. 397 00:31:58,739 –> 00:32:02,459 It’s not in me. 398 00:32:02,459 –> 00:32:04,800 Here’s the very last thing this morning. 399 00:32:04,800 –> 00:32:07,959 Consider the source. 400 00:32:07,959 –> 00:32:13,319 Who’s talking here? 401 00:32:13,319 –> 00:32:25,800 Who is it who’s saying, Timothy you know all about my teaching, my way of life. 402 00:32:25,800 –> 00:32:40,260 He said, Paul, this is the man who was once known for two things, anger and blasphemy. 403 00:32:40,260 –> 00:32:47,839 Check it out, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 13, I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent 404 00:32:47,839 –> 00:32:52,020 man. 405 00:32:52,020 –> 00:32:55,319 But Christ changed him. 406 00:32:56,319 –> 00:33:10,800 And that same Lord Jesus Christ, who changed the angry, blaspheming Saul into the mentor 407 00:33:10,800 –> 00:33:19,859 apostle Paul, that same Christ can change you. 408 00:33:19,859 –> 00:33:29,060 And what your kids didn’t see five or 10 years ago, what they didn’t see last week, 409 00:33:29,060 –> 00:33:33,560 they could begin to see now. 410 00:33:33,560 –> 00:33:39,459 For that Christ can change you. 411 00:33:39,459 –> 00:33:48,560 And those who know you will see the difference. 412 00:33:48,760 –> 00:33:54,920 Believe her testimony of that this morning. 413 00:33:54,920 –> 00:34:01,900 Why should that not be true for you? 414 00:34:01,900 –> 00:34:10,719 Let’s bow in God’s presence in prayer together. 415 00:34:11,139 –> 00:34:31,100 Father, we bow before you as mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, mentors, teachers, 416 00:34:31,639 –> 00:34:35,719 every one of us looked to by someone else. 417 00:34:41,560 –> 00:34:45,000 And we want that our life will shape another life. 418 00:34:47,899 –> 00:34:50,800 And we know that that can only happen as you shape us. 419 00:34:54,860 –> 00:34:57,300 Thank you for the power of the risen Christ 420 00:34:57,300 –> 00:35:00,300 to take an angry blasphemer 421 00:35:01,879 –> 00:35:05,379 who was nothing really except destructive 422 00:35:07,699 –> 00:35:10,159 and make him into the kind of man Paul was 423 00:35:10,159 –> 00:35:13,239 who built into the life of a youngster 424 00:35:13,239 –> 00:35:15,699 whose whole life and ministry was shaped 425 00:35:17,100 –> 00:35:19,540 by this mentoring, modeling and example. 426 00:35:19,540 –> 00:35:23,620 Risen Lord Jesus Christ, work by your power in me, 427 00:35:33,000 –> 00:35:36,000 that by your grace I too may live a life 428 00:35:36,000 –> 00:35:39,959 that shapes the life of another, 429 00:35:42,340 –> 00:35:45,520 that the risen Christ and the reality of the Gospel 430 00:35:45,520 –> 00:35:50,419 may be seen in me in a way 431 00:35:50,419 –> 00:35:55,120 that makes someone younger really want to follow. 432 00:35:58,719 –> 00:36:01,639 And we pray that not only as individuals in this moment. 433 00:36:01,639 –> 00:36:06,219 We pray that as a church and we ask 434 00:36:06,219 –> 00:36:10,899 that it will be for your glory in Jesus’ name, 435 00:36:10,899 –> 00:36:13,399 God’s people together said, Amen.