Theological Status: Theologically Sound
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Philadelphia
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
🧐 Overview
Sermon Summary: This sermon challenges the 'try harder' mentality that leads to burnout, offering a powerful reminder that true Christian endurance is not found in our own strength, but in being strengthened by the grace of Jesus Christ.
Big Idea: As believers in Jesus, we need to focus on God's truth in His Word to be able to rewire ourselves and learn what we need to know. [00:06:57 ▶️ 📄]
Pastoral Analysis: The pastor faithfully applies 2 Timothy 2:1-4, correctly diagnosing self-reliant effort as a source of shame and fear, and prescribing reliance on Christ's grace as the only means of endurance. While the central 'boot camp' metaphor is effective, the sermon's nutritional density could be increased by grounding the points more directly in the exegesis of the text rather than the extended illustration.
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Philadelphia — The sermon presents a sound, grace-centered message of endurance and community, demonstrating faithful teaching and a warm pastoral heart.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Biblically Sound
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Soteriology | ✅ PASS | The sermon correctly distinguishes between sanctification by self-effort ('trying harder') and sanctification by grace, rightly identifying the former as a source of shame and the latter as the source of true strength. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | The sermon affirms the truth and authority of Scripture, using it as the foundation for Christian living. |
| Hermeneutic | ⚠️ WEAK | While the application is sound, the hermeneutic is weak due to a low text-to-talk ratio. The sermon's structure is built more on an extended secular metaphor (boot camp) than a detailed exegesis of the passage, making the Bible feel secondary to the illustration. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | God is presented as gracious, patient, and the one who strengthens believers for His purposes, consistent with orthodox teaching. |
| Sacramentology | ⚪ N/A | No sacraments were observed or discussed in the provided transcript. |
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
Primary Text: 2 Timothy 2:1-4 (Topical)
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 3 | Referenced: 1 | Alluded: 1
Passages Read Aloud:
-
2 Timothy 2:1
[00:08:15 ▶️ 📄]
"be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus"
-
2 Timothy 2:3-4
[00:08:30 ▶️ 📄]
"share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who has enlisted him."
Key References: 2 Timothy 2:1-4
Christological Connection: Thematic: The connection to Christ is thematic, focusing on pleasing Christ as our commander and relying on His grace, which He provides through His finished work.
🧱 Sermon Outline
- Introduction [00:06:23 ▶️ 📄] : Introduces the sermon series and the main text, 2 Timothy 2:1-4, framing it as Paul's encouragement to a young pastor in a chaotic world.
- Point 1: The 'Boot Camp' of Christian Life [00:10:19 ▶️ 📄] : Develops the central metaphor of military boot camp as a parallel for seasons of hardship where God strips away self-reliance to train believers for endurance.
- Point 2: Shared Suffering in Community [00:15:25 ▶️ 📄] : Explains that believers are called to endure hardship together, sharing their testimonies and encouraging one another like soldiers in a foxhole.
- Point 3: Strength from Grace, Not Grit [00:19:08 ▶️ 📄] : Contrasts the spiritual failure of 'trying harder' (which leads to shame and fear) with the divine power of being strengthened by God's grace.
- Conclusion [00:28:39 ▶️ 📄] : A final prayer summarizing the theme of relying on God's grace for strength and purpose, and a call to live in community as good soldiers for Christ.
🗝️ Key Topics & Themes
- Being a good soldier for Jesus [00:10:12 ▶️ 📄] : Paul uses the metaphor of a good soldier to encourage Timothy and believers to endure hardships.
- Grace of God [00:19:19 ▶️ 📄] : The pastor emphasizes that believers should be strengthened by God's grace rather than their own efforts.
- Community and Passing On Teachings [00:24:51 ▶️ 📄] : The pastor encourages believers to pass on the teachings and experiences of God's grace to others.
✅ Commendations
Soteriology | Clear Diagnosis of Self-Reliance
The sermon's strongest point was the clear and pastorally insightful connection between 'trying harder' and the resulting spiritual fruit of shame and fear. This is an excellent diagnosis of a common struggle.
Pastoral Application | Emphasis on Grace as the Solution
The pastor did not simply diagnose the problem but powerfully presented the biblical solution: being 'strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.' This keeps the focus on God's work, not man's.
Ecclesiology | Call to Shared Suffering
The exhortation for believers to 'get in that foxhole' with one another and share their testimonies of God's faithfulness through suffering was a powerful and biblical call to true community.
🧠 Questions for Reflection
Use these questions for personal study or small group discussion:
- The pastor described a cycle of 'trying harder' which leads to shame and fear. Have you ever felt trapped in that cycle? What would it look like to stop 'trying harder' and instead rely on God's grace?
- The sermon used the metaphor of a soldier who aims to please his commander. According to the message, who is the Christian's commander, and what does it mean to live to please Him instead of ourselves?
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:00:10] Faithfulness of God. We're here to praise you this morning, God. Come on, let's lift it up to him this morning, church.
[00:00:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:00:27] You're present. Witnessed it. You heal. You save. Witnessed it.
[00:03:34] Hey, good morning, Beulah Church family. We hope you are warm and safe and enjoying this Sunday morning.
[00:06:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:06:23] We're grateful to be able to broadcast and to bring you this message.
[00:06:27] And we're going to continue on in our service in the sermon series of Buttons, Triggers, and Truth.
[00:06:33] And we've been allowing 2 Timothy to teach us what are the things that really trigger us and set us off.
[00:06:40] What are the buttons that sometimes get pushed in our lives that cause us to be all out of whack.
[00:06:47] But really, as believers in Jesus, we need to focus on God's truth in his word to be able to rewire us and to teach us what we need to know.
[00:06:57] So 2 Timothy, if you can remember over the past several weeks, is Paul.
[00:07:01] He's the seasoned veteran pastor who is in the unfortunate circumstance of being in prison, and he is writing to his dear Timothy, someone that he has trained and poured into and loved.
[00:07:16] And Timothy is now a pastor in a place of chaos and confusion and sin and trying to figure out what to do and how to do it.
[00:07:26] And Paul is writing with his last bit of life that he has left saying, Timothy, these are the things you need to do.
[00:07:34] These are the things you need to watch out for because as your buttons are pushed, as your triggers are pulled, as life is crazy and chaotic around you, remember these important truths.
[00:07:45] And so this book is filled with passion and purpose and truth.
[00:07:49] And so we want to look at this today.
[00:07:50] So we're going to pick up in 2 Timothy 2, verses 1 through 4.
[00:07:57] Paul says, you then, my child.
[00:08:00] It's that passion.
[00:08:02] It's that commitment to say, this is just not a letter written to a stranger.
[00:08:07] It's written to someone who Paul loves dearly.
[00:08:11] Paul says, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
[00:08:15] and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Verse three says, share in suffering as a good soldier of
[00:08:30] Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who has enlisted him. Will you pray with me this morning? Father, we thank you for the truth that
[00:08:43] you bring us through your word. Father, I thank you for all those that are watching this video, either this morning or a later time, God, that you would meet all their needs according to your
[00:08:54] goodness in Christ Jesus. Thank you for loving us, keeping us safe, keeping us warm. God, we pray especially for those that are affected in our area that maybe don't have the adequate resources, God, that you would provide them warmth and electricity and just all that they need, God,
[00:09:11] to be able to eat and provide for their family, that you would bless and watch over them.
[00:09:16] Father, we pray that you would meet us here this morning wherever we're watching this.
[00:09:20] God, encourage us from your word, and we thank you for it.
[00:09:23] In Jesus' name, and all God's people, at home, on the radio, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, said amen.
[00:09:33] In anything in life, especially with this series, maybe you at one time pondered joining the military. And Paul uses this terminology frequently throughout all of his letters, but here explicitly to encourage Timothy on the idea of what a good soldier is in the
[00:09:55] military, but how our life as Christians is similar to that of this good soldier. Well, if you know anything about our military, you don't just get to pick the awesome, fun job you want, right?
[00:10:09] Somebody at home is watching this and saying, absolutely not.
[00:10:12] I got sold that I was going to be jumping out of helicopters doing the cool stuff, and I had to go do all this stuff beforehand.
[00:10:19] Well, if you already know where I'm heading with this, before you get the opportunity to go do all the fun stuff, you've got to go to something for the next eight to 13 weeks, and that is called boot camp.
[00:10:32] Anybody having flashbacks right now of maybe a boot camp experience that you had?
[00:10:37] Now, it's called boot camp because boots are essential to the life of a soldier.
[00:10:44] Boots are what are going to keep you prepared or what are going to keep you active.
[00:10:48] It's what's going to protect your feet.
[00:10:49] But when you go to boot camp, they're going to teach you how to think, how to feel, how to act, how to react.
[00:10:58] And in the military that is full of duty, honor, respect, self-denial, this boot camp is going to rewire you on how you're supposed to be. So boot camp really is the military's way of retraining you from the top of your head to your boots, the bottom of your feet
[00:11:18] on how you're supposed to be a good soldier in the United States military. And this boot camp is structured in such a way that when you get out of this and you get in a place where life is
[00:11:32] difficult. Life is treacherous. Maybe you're in a danger zone and pressure situations are there that you can be able to withstand that because everything points back to this is bad, but it's not as bad as bootcamp. You can think back, man, this is tough. I don't know what to do, but wait
[00:11:52] a minute. Bootcamp was tough too. And so you can recall back. In fact, if you've ever, if you have a loved one in the military, or if you've ever written someone a letter that is in the military,
[00:12:04] especially in boot camp, they tell you, please keep these letters encouraging. Don't try to fill these letters with things that are going to drag them down or take their mind off of what's going on, but it's to encourage them. It's to keep their mind and perspective on positive thinking,
[00:12:21] because what they're going through is so agonizing and so difficult.
[00:12:27] Well, Paul encourages us to say to be a good soldier for Jesus is that everything that we want, everything we know about life, is really going to be stripped away.
[00:12:40] And maybe in your life right now, you're going through a season of boot camp where things that seemed like assurances and the expectations you had, maybe for the new year and the new you and new job and new family situations, like it's going to go
[00:12:57] this way. God is actually saying, no, it's going to go a different direction. And you feel like you're in boot camp and you feel like you're all alone. You feel isolated. Could it be that God is
[00:13:10] in a season over the next eight to 13 weeks of preparing you to be a good soldier for him?
[00:13:16] that after this season in your life, you'll be able to look back and to say, I had everything that I knew about these particular situations stripped away from me.
[00:13:28] I felt so empty.
[00:13:29] I felt so helpless.
[00:13:31] I felt just so burdened and I didn't know what to do.
[00:13:34] And in those moments, God met me there.
[00:13:37] And maybe you're there now.
[00:13:38] And God is, you're asking God, please meet me where I am.
[00:13:43] God, please encourage me where I am.
[00:13:45] The Bible says that God will never leave us nor forsake us.
[00:13:49] We're encouraged from God's word that he who began a good work in you will not finish until it is completed.
[00:13:57] God wants to work all things for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes.
[00:14:05] So be encouraged, believer, that when you're in a situation, maybe that situation is brought on by the sinful choices of someone in this world and the heartache of this world.
[00:14:16] But maybe God is allowing something to happen in your life because later on, he wants you to be able to look back and to say, you know what, what I'm going through now doesn't compare to what I was going through then.
[00:14:30] And I can endure this hardship now as a good soldier for Jesus because of what I went through then.
[00:14:37] If you can recall back in verse four of this, if you got your Bible open, you got your Bible app open, if you're taking notes somewhere on something, verse four says that a good soldier
[00:14:47] is not gonna become entangled in civilian affairs, but is going to be able to endure.
[00:14:54] What you're going through, when you're so focused on Christ and on him picking you up and getting you through, you're not gonna be involved in that petty drama that maybe is enticing to you when you're not going through a hardship.
[00:15:07] But you're setting your focus and your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
[00:15:13] Because I hope you know, believer, the only way we can make it through this world and this side of eternity is by focusing our attention on Jesus.
[00:15:22] And I hope you're saying amen where you are.
[00:15:25] But I love verse 3 because the promise is that we are going to share in our sufferings.
[00:15:31] We're going to share in our sufferings.
[00:15:33] That gives us the mindset.
[00:15:35] It gave Timothy the reminder, you're not going to go through the hardships of trying to be a Christian in a secular place alone, but you have to share together. If you're a believer and you've
[00:15:48] gone through hardship, what God is saying is, hey, don't bottle up what I've done in your life.
[00:15:54] I want you to share it. I want this to be your testimony. I want this to be the thing that you use to be a blessing to somebody else. Maybe what you're going through, you're scrolling through
[00:16:05] social media, as you're sitting there, you're bored over the next few days as you're snowed in and iced over, and you're waiting on the scraper, and you're wondering, am I ever going to get out
[00:16:16] of here? You're scrolling, and you're seeing somebody on social media, or you're able to text somebody in the free time that you have, and that is going through something difficult. Man, I want to encourage you, believer. Send them a message and a word of encouragement. What better time
[00:16:32] to call them on the phone and to say, hey, I just wanna let you know, I wanna pray with you on the phone.
[00:16:38] I don't know if you know this, but I also went through that diagnosis.
[00:16:42] I also lost that person.
[00:16:45] I also myself have felt the sting of that job situation.
[00:16:50] Oh, your family's crazy?
[00:16:52] Let me tell you about my family drama and how God brought me through.
[00:16:57] We're supposed to share in it together, in loving community, building up one another.
[00:17:04] The military, if we can go back to this metaphor that Paul is using, this military is this built-in shared camaraderie and community.
[00:17:15] This duty honor code forges an alliance together of soldiers that as they work together, they build each other up.
[00:17:24] We have an alliance together by the cross of Jesus Christ.
[00:17:29] Jesus has bled. He's died. He's given it all for you and for me so that this shared bond that we have, we have in faith in the son of God who loved us and sacrificed his life for us. Somebody may be
[00:17:46] in the foxhole of life and the bullets are whizzing by and they're crouched down and they don't know what to do. I just want to encourage you, brother, sister, as a good soldier, sharing the suffering,
[00:17:57] Get in that foxhole of life, put that arm down and say, follow me as I follow Christ.
[00:18:03] You think it's over, but God is not done with you yet.
[00:18:09] And if you're there as a believer today or just you're searching and you're trying to find answers and you're like, I need somebody, I'm in the foxhole, I just wanna encourage you now to send a message
[00:18:18] through our social media, because we wanna contact you, we wanna encourage you, we wanna speak life into you.
[00:18:24] We have so many here that wanna build you up.
[00:18:27] That's why we take the time to record this because we want to reach you where you are But knowing that god wants to reach you where you are He doesn't want you to be isolated and alone in despair. What good is a soldier?
[00:18:40] Isolated and alone we are better together We are better together So so paul has given this reminder to timothy. Hey, we're better together We suffer together as soldiers, that our aim is to please the one who's enlisted us.
[00:18:58] Our Lord, we serve the commander of angel armies, Jesus Christ.
[00:19:03] Don't worry about it.
[00:19:05] Just keep going, keep fighting.
[00:19:08] But really, it goes back to verse 1, because it's like, how are we going to find the strength?
[00:19:13] How do I, Timothy's there in the foxhole, how do I find strength?
[00:19:18] He's reading this letter.
[00:19:19] he's reading it from someone that loves him he knows cares for him and he says you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus I don't know about you but a lot of times
[00:19:32] when I'm in a pressure situation and and life is life is lifing okay life might be lifing for you right now and it's difficult the one thing that I don't do is depend on his grace I depend on
[00:19:46] something else. I depend on something called trying harder. And I got a little analogy for us right here, okay? I got this, I got this 100-pound dumbbell right here. It says trying harder. This is much how we deal with the difficulties of life, the things that come
[00:20:03] against us, isn't it? That when life is lifing, we say, no, no, no, just let me do it. I would pray about it, but man, just, I can do it. I got this. Don't worry about it. Uh, yeah, y'all can,
[00:20:16] y'all can be praying about why y'all praying. I'm going to be working. I'm getting this worked out and maybe our intentions, uh, we think are to please God, but really it's, man, I want that
[00:20:26] glory for myself. I'm posting that on social media because I want the recognition. I want the honor that is due, but friends, can I tell you this trying harder? Oh, need to, Pastor B, I need
[00:20:40] to get in a gym, brother. This trying harder is really just a veiled way of saying, I just want to be perfect. My trying hard is just want to be perfect. And if we're just trying harder and we
[00:20:52] got to be perfect, that really brings out two things in us, this trying harder mentality.
[00:20:57] That brings out something called shame. And shame, as we're trying harder, exposes in us the reality that we cannot do, we cannot go through hardship on our own, that we can't endure suffering on our own. And what shame, when it manifests in our life, is that we wanted to go
[00:21:18] to church, but we can't, so I'm not going to go at all. I'm so ashamed of myself. I said I would never do that, and I did that again. I said I'd never go back to them, and I went back to them
[00:21:31] again. I never thought I would say that. And I said that again, and it's trying to muster up and the shame and the brokenness of trying to live the Christian life on your own. It was never
[00:21:43] meant to be lived that way. The shame will cause you to go off the grid. Shame will cause you to fall out of community. Shame will say, if I walked into that place, or if I went to coffee with that
[00:21:55] person, if I showed my face there again, I just can't bear the weight of it all. I can't bear the weight of it. So trying harder really breeds shame, but it also breeds fear. And fear is what
[00:22:09] causes us to say, if I dare do it, what would they say? What will they say if I try again?
[00:22:16] What will they say? Remember, I was going to read the Bible. I was going to change. I was going to clean up my life. I was going to stop this. I was going to do this. And I didn't. And now guess what
[00:22:27] they know about it. And the fear causes us to run and hide and equip with shame. We're just right back where we were. We tried to be a good soldier, but we were strengthened by ourselves. God never
[00:22:41] wanted you to be strengthened by yourself. He knows your limitations. He knows you can't. God instead says, hey, I want you to be strengthened by something else. I want you to be strengthened by my grace, by my grace, because by my grace, you're going to be able to do more than you ever
[00:22:59] thought you could because you're not doing this for your approval. No, no, no. You're strengthened by my grace and my purpose. Grace is God's unmerited favor. The old saying is grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. So as you're suffering, as you're going, as you're doing,
[00:23:22] you're not doing it just to try harder for your benefit. You're saying, no, no, no. The only way I can make it through this is by the grace of God, by what God has done for me. I can't walk
[00:23:38] into that place and show my face again by my standard, but because I know who my Jesus is.
[00:23:45] I know how he's changed my life. I know that I've gone through boot camp the past eight to 13 weeks and life has been absolutely crazy, but I'm pledging my allegiance not to my sin, not to my
[00:23:58] shame, not to my fear, but to the God who gave his life for me. And if he's strengthening me, who can stand against me? What accusation could come against me that my Jesus has already nailed
[00:24:11] to the cross and forgiven? Believer, wherever you are today, just know God wants to strengthen you by his grace, but you don't, you should not do it alone. Timothy, again, he's this pastor, he's in Ephesus, he's trying to figure it out. Chapter one of 2 Timothy, Paul says things like
[00:24:33] in verse seven, I didn't give, God didn't give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. I want to work in you. God wants to work in your life. And as you're working, as God's grace
[00:24:45] is doing, you're not supposed to, as we're reminded, we're not supposed to hold it by yourselves.
[00:24:51] Paul tells Timothy, hey, what you've heard in me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others. Don't hoard this all for yourself and have this hero complex. You're supposed to take what God has done, teach others to teach others. It kind of
[00:25:10] makes me think about like a relay race, okay? The biggest part of a relay race is the passing of the baton. One person may be faster than four people, but one person has a really hard time running
[00:25:25] around an entire track more faster than four people passing the baton. God wants you to pass the baton of what you have learned. Maybe what you've learned is through suffering. God wants you to pass that baton and to trust and to encourage other people. I find the greatest
[00:25:45] teaching moments in my life is not when I'm operating in his grace, but the greatest way that I can teach others is by really through my failures. By the times when I've tried to do it
[00:25:58] on my strength, instead of going to God in prayer and saying, Lord, I don't know how this situation is going to resolve itself. I've done made a fool. Will you please work in me to, to, to encourage
[00:26:12] someone else? Because I know that there's three other people that I know that are going through this. God, God, please forgive me. Please help me. But in a race, the hardest part is the baton
[00:26:23] pass. Have you ever tried to teach or train somebody at your job? Maybe right now you're trying to, you're trying to train your kids to do something specific. And if you've ever had to train somebody, teach something, let me ask you, you can nod your head. Okay. You can press the
[00:26:37] like button. Do they do it as good as you? Come on. Do they do it as, as, as well as you do it the first time you train them? No. It kind of takes a while. You might find yourself saying,
[00:26:50] did I not tell you to do this? Did I not tell you don't do it that way? And you thought you had a shortcut. We tried that six months ago. That's not a shortcut, right? You maybe have gone
[00:27:01] through seasons of trying to train people. It is not easy. In the same way, guess what? It's not easy for God to train you and train me on how we're to live. But thankfully, because of his grace,
[00:27:13] he is so patient with us. He's so patient with you. God wants you to take what he's entrusted to you and share it with people. Not just anybody, right? But people that are faithful, faithful to love,
[00:27:26] faithful to hold up the grace of God, faithful to encourage other people. Friends, as our buttons are pushed, as our triggers are happening all around us, and we're trying to figure out, how do we react and respond? I want us to respond in grace, in truth, by what God has done in our
[00:27:48] life. Don't allow trying harder to derail you from what God wants to do in your life. Allow his grace to draw you back into truth, that you are loved, that you have value, that he died for your sins,
[00:28:05] that you have worth in Jesus' name.
[00:28:08] As you're sitting at home, maybe in ice, you're trying to figure out, or however you're watching this, at whatever time you're watching it, know that you have value, not because of what you've done, but because of what Jesus has already done for you.
[00:28:26] And if you're in that foxhole, or you're maybe trying to pick somebody up out of the foxhole, be strengthened in the grace that is in Jesus, knowing that he loves you he knows you and he sees you right where you are will
[00:28:39] you pray with me Lord I thank you for your grace that strengthens us God may we turn from ourselves and turn to you God pick us up God push us and motivate us as our ultimate example of a good soldier God you laid down your life for
[00:29:00] us, you're full of sheep. God, may we in community, God, love and build up others like a good soldier.
[00:29:08] Knowing that we may be going through a period of training right now, but looking ahead, knowing that you're going to use what we're going through now for a good purpose. Lord, we love you and we
[00:29:19] thank you and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Hey, we'll see you here, Lord willing, next Sunday and we pray God would bless you.
[00:29:27] Thank you.
[00:29:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:29:31] If you identified with today's message and are encouraged by it, we want to hear from you.
[00:29:36] Our email address is worship at BeulahSVL.com.
[00:29:42] For all our resources, visit us at BeulahChurch.com.
[00:29:47] You may also contribute to this ministry on our website under the Give tab.
[00:29:51] Please join us again next week.
[00:29:53] May the Lord bless you greatly.
[00:00:10] Faithfulness of God. We're here to praise you this morning, God. Come on, let's lift it up to him this morning, church.
[00:00:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:00:27] You're present. Witnessed it. You heal. You save. Witnessed it.
[00:03:34] Hey, good morning, Beulah Church family. We hope you are warm and safe and enjoying this Sunday morning.
[00:06:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:06:23] We're grateful to be able to broadcast and to bring you this message.
[00:06:27] And we're going to continue on in our service in the sermon series of Buttons, Triggers, and Truth.
[00:06:33] And we've been allowing 2 Timothy to teach us what are the things that really trigger us and set us off.
[00:06:40] What are the buttons that sometimes get pushed in our lives that cause us to be all out of whack.
[00:06:47] But really, as believers in Jesus, we need to focus on God's truth in his word to be able to rewire us and to teach us what we need to know.
[00:06:57] So 2 Timothy, if you can remember over the past several weeks, is Paul.
[00:07:01] He's the seasoned veteran pastor who is in the unfortunate circumstance of being in prison, and he is writing to his dear Timothy, someone that he has trained and poured into and loved.
[00:07:16] And Timothy is now a pastor in a place of chaos and confusion and sin and trying to figure out what to do and how to do it.
[00:07:26] And Paul is writing with his last bit of life that he has left saying, Timothy, these are the things you need to do.
[00:07:34] These are the things you need to watch out for because as your buttons are pushed, as your triggers are pulled, as life is crazy and chaotic around you, remember these important truths.
[00:07:45] And so this book is filled with passion and purpose and truth.
[00:07:49] And so we want to look at this today.
[00:07:50] So we're going to pick up in 2 Timothy 2, verses 1 through 4.
[00:07:57] Paul says, you then, my child.
[00:08:00] It's that passion.
[00:08:02] It's that commitment to say, this is just not a letter written to a stranger.
[00:08:07] It's written to someone who Paul loves dearly.
[00:08:11] Paul says, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
[00:08:15] and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Verse three says, share in suffering as a good soldier of
[00:08:30] Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who has enlisted him. Will you pray with me this morning? Father, we thank you for the truth that
[00:08:43] you bring us through your word. Father, I thank you for all those that are watching this video, either this morning or a later time, God, that you would meet all their needs according to your
[00:08:54] goodness in Christ Jesus. Thank you for loving us, keeping us safe, keeping us warm. God, we pray especially for those that are affected in our area that maybe don't have the adequate resources, God, that you would provide them warmth and electricity and just all that they need, God,
[00:09:11] to be able to eat and provide for their family, that you would bless and watch over them.
[00:09:16] Father, we pray that you would meet us here this morning wherever we're watching this.
[00:09:20] God, encourage us from your word, and we thank you for it.
[00:09:23] In Jesus' name, and all God's people, at home, on the radio, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, said amen.
[00:09:33] In anything in life, especially with this series, maybe you at one time pondered joining the military. And Paul uses this terminology frequently throughout all of his letters, but here explicitly to encourage Timothy on the idea of what a good soldier is in the
[00:09:55] military, but how our life as Christians is similar to that of this good soldier. Well, if you know anything about our military, you don't just get to pick the awesome, fun job you want, right?
[00:10:09] Somebody at home is watching this and saying, absolutely not.
[00:10:12] I got sold that I was going to be jumping out of helicopters doing the cool stuff, and I had to go do all this stuff beforehand.
[00:10:19] Well, if you already know where I'm heading with this, before you get the opportunity to go do all the fun stuff, you've got to go to something for the next eight to 13 weeks, and that is called boot camp.
[00:10:32] Anybody having flashbacks right now of maybe a boot camp experience that you had?
[00:10:37] Now, it's called boot camp because boots are essential to the life of a soldier.
[00:10:44] Boots are what are going to keep you prepared or what are going to keep you active.
[00:10:48] It's what's going to protect your feet.
[00:10:49] But when you go to boot camp, they're going to teach you how to think, how to feel, how to act, how to react.
[00:10:58] And in the military that is full of duty, honor, respect, self-denial, this boot camp is going to rewire you on how you're supposed to be. So boot camp really is the military's way of retraining you from the top of your head to your boots, the bottom of your feet
[00:11:18] on how you're supposed to be a good soldier in the United States military. And this boot camp is structured in such a way that when you get out of this and you get in a place where life is
[00:11:32] difficult. Life is treacherous. Maybe you're in a danger zone and pressure situations are there that you can be able to withstand that because everything points back to this is bad, but it's not as bad as bootcamp. You can think back, man, this is tough. I don't know what to do, but wait
[00:11:52] a minute. Bootcamp was tough too. And so you can recall back. In fact, if you've ever, if you have a loved one in the military, or if you've ever written someone a letter that is in the military,
[00:12:04] especially in boot camp, they tell you, please keep these letters encouraging. Don't try to fill these letters with things that are going to drag them down or take their mind off of what's going on, but it's to encourage them. It's to keep their mind and perspective on positive thinking,
[00:12:21] because what they're going through is so agonizing and so difficult.
[00:12:27] Well, Paul encourages us to say to be a good soldier for Jesus is that everything that we want, everything we know about life, is really going to be stripped away.
[00:12:40] And maybe in your life right now, you're going through a season of boot camp where things that seemed like assurances and the expectations you had, maybe for the new year and the new you and new job and new family situations, like it's going to go
[00:12:57] this way. God is actually saying, no, it's going to go a different direction. And you feel like you're in boot camp and you feel like you're all alone. You feel isolated. Could it be that God is
[00:13:10] in a season over the next eight to 13 weeks of preparing you to be a good soldier for him?
[00:13:16] that after this season in your life, you'll be able to look back and to say, I had everything that I knew about these particular situations stripped away from me.
[00:13:28] I felt so empty.
[00:13:29] I felt so helpless.
[00:13:31] I felt just so burdened and I didn't know what to do.
[00:13:34] And in those moments, God met me there.
[00:13:37] And maybe you're there now.
[00:13:38] And God is, you're asking God, please meet me where I am.
[00:13:43] God, please encourage me where I am.
[00:13:45] The Bible says that God will never leave us nor forsake us.
[00:13:49] We're encouraged from God's word that he who began a good work in you will not finish until it is completed.
[00:13:57] God wants to work all things for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes.
[00:14:05] So be encouraged, believer, that when you're in a situation, maybe that situation is brought on by the sinful choices of someone in this world and the heartache of this world.
[00:14:16] But maybe God is allowing something to happen in your life because later on, he wants you to be able to look back and to say, you know what, what I'm going through now doesn't compare to what I was going through then.
[00:14:30] And I can endure this hardship now as a good soldier for Jesus because of what I went through then.
[00:14:37] If you can recall back in verse four of this, if you got your Bible open, you got your Bible app open, if you're taking notes somewhere on something, verse four says that a good soldier
[00:14:47] is not gonna become entangled in civilian affairs, but is going to be able to endure.
[00:14:54] What you're going through, when you're so focused on Christ and on him picking you up and getting you through, you're not gonna be involved in that petty drama that maybe is enticing to you when you're not going through a hardship.
[00:15:07] But you're setting your focus and your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
[00:15:13] Because I hope you know, believer, the only way we can make it through this world and this side of eternity is by focusing our attention on Jesus.
[00:15:22] And I hope you're saying amen where you are.
[00:15:25] But I love verse 3 because the promise is that we are going to share in our sufferings.
[00:15:31] We're going to share in our sufferings.
[00:15:33] That gives us the mindset.
[00:15:35] It gave Timothy the reminder, you're not going to go through the hardships of trying to be a Christian in a secular place alone, but you have to share together. If you're a believer and you've
[00:15:48] gone through hardship, what God is saying is, hey, don't bottle up what I've done in your life.
[00:15:54] I want you to share it. I want this to be your testimony. I want this to be the thing that you use to be a blessing to somebody else. Maybe what you're going through, you're scrolling through
[00:16:05] social media, as you're sitting there, you're bored over the next few days as you're snowed in and iced over, and you're waiting on the scraper, and you're wondering, am I ever going to get out
[00:16:16] of here? You're scrolling, and you're seeing somebody on social media, or you're able to text somebody in the free time that you have, and that is going through something difficult. Man, I want to encourage you, believer. Send them a message and a word of encouragement. What better time
[00:16:32] to call them on the phone and to say, hey, I just wanna let you know, I wanna pray with you on the phone.
[00:16:38] I don't know if you know this, but I also went through that diagnosis.
[00:16:42] I also lost that person.
[00:16:45] I also myself have felt the sting of that job situation.
[00:16:50] Oh, your family's crazy?
[00:16:52] Let me tell you about my family drama and how God brought me through.
[00:16:57] We're supposed to share in it together, in loving community, building up one another.
[00:17:04] The military, if we can go back to this metaphor that Paul is using, this military is this built-in shared camaraderie and community.
[00:17:15] This duty honor code forges an alliance together of soldiers that as they work together, they build each other up.
[00:17:24] We have an alliance together by the cross of Jesus Christ.
[00:17:29] Jesus has bled. He's died. He's given it all for you and for me so that this shared bond that we have, we have in faith in the son of God who loved us and sacrificed his life for us. Somebody may be
[00:17:46] in the foxhole of life and the bullets are whizzing by and they're crouched down and they don't know what to do. I just want to encourage you, brother, sister, as a good soldier, sharing the suffering,
[00:17:57] Get in that foxhole of life, put that arm down and say, follow me as I follow Christ.
[00:18:03] You think it's over, but God is not done with you yet.
[00:18:09] And if you're there as a believer today or just you're searching and you're trying to find answers and you're like, I need somebody, I'm in the foxhole, I just wanna encourage you now to send a message
[00:18:18] through our social media, because we wanna contact you, we wanna encourage you, we wanna speak life into you.
[00:18:24] We have so many here that wanna build you up.
[00:18:27] That's why we take the time to record this because we want to reach you where you are But knowing that god wants to reach you where you are He doesn't want you to be isolated and alone in despair. What good is a soldier?
[00:18:40] Isolated and alone we are better together We are better together So so paul has given this reminder to timothy. Hey, we're better together We suffer together as soldiers, that our aim is to please the one who's enlisted us.
[00:18:58] Our Lord, we serve the commander of angel armies, Jesus Christ.
[00:19:03] Don't worry about it.
[00:19:05] Just keep going, keep fighting.
[00:19:08] But really, it goes back to verse 1, because it's like, how are we going to find the strength?
[00:19:13] How do I, Timothy's there in the foxhole, how do I find strength?
[00:19:18] He's reading this letter.
[00:19:19] he's reading it from someone that loves him he knows cares for him and he says you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus I don't know about you but a lot of times
[00:19:32] when I'm in a pressure situation and and life is life is lifing okay life might be lifing for you right now and it's difficult the one thing that I don't do is depend on his grace I depend on
[00:19:46] something else. I depend on something called trying harder. And I got a little analogy for us right here, okay? I got this, I got this 100-pound dumbbell right here. It says trying harder. This is much how we deal with the difficulties of life, the things that come
[00:20:03] against us, isn't it? That when life is lifing, we say, no, no, no, just let me do it. I would pray about it, but man, just, I can do it. I got this. Don't worry about it. Uh, yeah, y'all can,
[00:20:16] y'all can be praying about why y'all praying. I'm going to be working. I'm getting this worked out and maybe our intentions, uh, we think are to please God, but really it's, man, I want that
[00:20:26] glory for myself. I'm posting that on social media because I want the recognition. I want the honor that is due, but friends, can I tell you this trying harder? Oh, need to, Pastor B, I need
[00:20:40] to get in a gym, brother. This trying harder is really just a veiled way of saying, I just want to be perfect. My trying hard is just want to be perfect. And if we're just trying harder and we
[00:20:52] got to be perfect, that really brings out two things in us, this trying harder mentality.
[00:20:57] That brings out something called shame. And shame, as we're trying harder, exposes in us the reality that we cannot do, we cannot go through hardship on our own, that we can't endure suffering on our own. And what shame, when it manifests in our life, is that we wanted to go
[00:21:18] to church, but we can't, so I'm not going to go at all. I'm so ashamed of myself. I said I would never do that, and I did that again. I said I'd never go back to them, and I went back to them
[00:21:31] again. I never thought I would say that. And I said that again, and it's trying to muster up and the shame and the brokenness of trying to live the Christian life on your own. It was never
[00:21:43] meant to be lived that way. The shame will cause you to go off the grid. Shame will cause you to fall out of community. Shame will say, if I walked into that place, or if I went to coffee with that
[00:21:55] person, if I showed my face there again, I just can't bear the weight of it all. I can't bear the weight of it. So trying harder really breeds shame, but it also breeds fear. And fear is what
[00:22:09] causes us to say, if I dare do it, what would they say? What will they say if I try again?
[00:22:16] What will they say? Remember, I was going to read the Bible. I was going to change. I was going to clean up my life. I was going to stop this. I was going to do this. And I didn't. And now guess what
[00:22:27] they know about it. And the fear causes us to run and hide and equip with shame. We're just right back where we were. We tried to be a good soldier, but we were strengthened by ourselves. God never
[00:22:41] wanted you to be strengthened by yourself. He knows your limitations. He knows you can't. God instead says, hey, I want you to be strengthened by something else. I want you to be strengthened by my grace, by my grace, because by my grace, you're going to be able to do more than you ever
[00:22:59] thought you could because you're not doing this for your approval. No, no, no. You're strengthened by my grace and my purpose. Grace is God's unmerited favor. The old saying is grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. So as you're suffering, as you're going, as you're doing,
[00:23:22] you're not doing it just to try harder for your benefit. You're saying, no, no, no. The only way I can make it through this is by the grace of God, by what God has done for me. I can't walk
[00:23:38] into that place and show my face again by my standard, but because I know who my Jesus is.
[00:23:45] I know how he's changed my life. I know that I've gone through boot camp the past eight to 13 weeks and life has been absolutely crazy, but I'm pledging my allegiance not to my sin, not to my
[00:23:58] shame, not to my fear, but to the God who gave his life for me. And if he's strengthening me, who can stand against me? What accusation could come against me that my Jesus has already nailed
[00:24:11] to the cross and forgiven? Believer, wherever you are today, just know God wants to strengthen you by his grace, but you don't, you should not do it alone. Timothy, again, he's this pastor, he's in Ephesus, he's trying to figure it out. Chapter one of 2 Timothy, Paul says things like
[00:24:33] in verse seven, I didn't give, God didn't give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. I want to work in you. God wants to work in your life. And as you're working, as God's grace
[00:24:45] is doing, you're not supposed to, as we're reminded, we're not supposed to hold it by yourselves.
[00:24:51] Paul tells Timothy, hey, what you've heard in me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others. Don't hoard this all for yourself and have this hero complex. You're supposed to take what God has done, teach others to teach others. It kind of
[00:25:10] makes me think about like a relay race, okay? The biggest part of a relay race is the passing of the baton. One person may be faster than four people, but one person has a really hard time running
[00:25:25] around an entire track more faster than four people passing the baton. God wants you to pass the baton of what you have learned. Maybe what you've learned is through suffering. God wants you to pass that baton and to trust and to encourage other people. I find the greatest
[00:25:45] teaching moments in my life is not when I'm operating in his grace, but the greatest way that I can teach others is by really through my failures. By the times when I've tried to do it
[00:25:58] on my strength, instead of going to God in prayer and saying, Lord, I don't know how this situation is going to resolve itself. I've done made a fool. Will you please work in me to, to, to encourage
[00:26:12] someone else? Because I know that there's three other people that I know that are going through this. God, God, please forgive me. Please help me. But in a race, the hardest part is the baton
[00:26:23] pass. Have you ever tried to teach or train somebody at your job? Maybe right now you're trying to, you're trying to train your kids to do something specific. And if you've ever had to train somebody, teach something, let me ask you, you can nod your head. Okay. You can press the
[00:26:37] like button. Do they do it as good as you? Come on. Do they do it as, as, as well as you do it the first time you train them? No. It kind of takes a while. You might find yourself saying,
[00:26:50] did I not tell you to do this? Did I not tell you don't do it that way? And you thought you had a shortcut. We tried that six months ago. That's not a shortcut, right? You maybe have gone
[00:27:01] through seasons of trying to train people. It is not easy. In the same way, guess what? It's not easy for God to train you and train me on how we're to live. But thankfully, because of his grace,
[00:27:13] he is so patient with us. He's so patient with you. God wants you to take what he's entrusted to you and share it with people. Not just anybody, right? But people that are faithful, faithful to love,
[00:27:26] faithful to hold up the grace of God, faithful to encourage other people. Friends, as our buttons are pushed, as our triggers are happening all around us, and we're trying to figure out, how do we react and respond? I want us to respond in grace, in truth, by what God has done in our
[00:27:48] life. Don't allow trying harder to derail you from what God wants to do in your life. Allow his grace to draw you back into truth, that you are loved, that you have value, that he died for your sins,
[00:28:05] that you have worth in Jesus' name.
[00:28:08] As you're sitting at home, maybe in ice, you're trying to figure out, or however you're watching this, at whatever time you're watching it, know that you have value, not because of what you've done, but because of what Jesus has already done for you.
[00:28:26] And if you're in that foxhole, or you're maybe trying to pick somebody up out of the foxhole, be strengthened in the grace that is in Jesus, knowing that he loves you he knows you and he sees you right where you are will
[00:28:39] you pray with me Lord I thank you for your grace that strengthens us God may we turn from ourselves and turn to you God pick us up God push us and motivate us as our ultimate example of a good soldier God you laid down your life for
[00:29:00] us, you're full of sheep. God, may we in community, God, love and build up others like a good soldier.
[00:29:08] Knowing that we may be going through a period of training right now, but looking ahead, knowing that you're going to use what we're going through now for a good purpose. Lord, we love you and we
[00:29:19] thank you and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Hey, we'll see you here, Lord willing, next Sunday and we pray God would bless you.
[00:29:27] Thank you.
[00:29:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:29:31] If you identified with today's message and are encouraged by it, we want to hear from you.
[00:29:36] Our email address is worship at BeulahSVL.com.
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[00:29:51] Please join us again next week.
[00:29:53] May the Lord bless you greatly.
