Good morning. Before we get into our time of teaching today, I’d like to ask a question to our church family and have opportunity to pray together. The question I want to ask is: are you hurting? Are you hurting? Are you here today — you came to church, but there are things going on in your life, things happening in your life that are difficult, they’re hard, and you’re present, you’re here, but you’re hurting, and you need prayer? We’re glad that you’re here, and we want to pray for you. And if that sounds like you, that describes you, we’re going to take time to pray right now — you just stand up. You’re here and you’re hurting and you need prayer; I just encourage you to stand right where you are. We’re going to take time to pray. We don’t need to know the details of why you’re hurting. God knows what’s going on in your life. He knows the pain you’re experiencing. He knows the trouble that you’re facing. He knows the difficulty — he knows all of that. But we have opportunity to care for one another and love one another and pray for one another. And so if you’re here and you’re hurting, just stand right now; we’re going to pray for you right now.

Father God, as I look out at my brothers and sisters standing before you, they’ve got something going on in their life; they’ve got something going on inside their heart; they’ve got something going on in their family, in their health, their finances, their career. And Lord, they’re here and they’re hurting. And so, God, I’m asking: Lord, would you help them? Would you help them right where they are? God, that you would minister to them. As Pastor Gordon prayed this morning, you’re the great physician. Lord, you’re the great physician. You know exactly — you’re the best heart surgeon, and you know exactly how to help us. And so as a church family we stand before you, Lord, that we might love one another well and care for one another well, and really seek you, that you might be the hand to touch our lives that we need. And we know, Lord, that it’s not just us; it’s not just those in this room that are hurting. We’re in a world that is full of hurt — like 67 families that are grieving because a plane and a helicopter hit each other. And so, God, we need you. We need you with whatever it is we’ve got going on in our lives. And we need you to help us be communicating your love to one another in our church, but also communicating your love to those who are hurting in our world. And so, God, may you be exalted and may you be glorified. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. And all God’s family said, “Amen.” Amen. You may be seated. Thanks for being bold, thanks for being brave, that you might allow us as a church family to be praying for you. And may God use our prayers for one another to build one another up and to equip one another to care for one another well.

There’s something that I’d like to say thank you to our church family about, and it’s regarding our Built to Last stewardship initiative. And what I want to say thank you for is: it was over two years ago we began to challenge our church family to make a commitment. And when we make a commitment, we make our commitments to the Lord. And when we make commitments to the Lord, it’s like saying this: “God, I’m making a commitment to you, but I’m going to need you to help me fulfill the commitment.” So we make commitments to the Lord, but we actually need the Lord’s help to fulfill a commitment. And there are lots of individuals, families, households in our church family that over two years ago made commitments to the Lord, and the Lord is allowing them — helping them — fulfill their commitment. And I know for my family, for my wife and I, for our household, as we’re experiencing the Lord allowing us to fulfill a commitment that we made to him, it’s bringing a lot of joy to our home, that we’re able to fulfill a commitment we made to the Lord. But we recognize the only reason we’re able to do that is because the Lord is allowing us to fulfill the commitment. So we say thank you to our church family, from my household in partnership with your household: thank you for making commitments to the Lord. And thank you to God for allowing us, as individuals and households, to fulfill our commitment. Because it’s pretty exciting what’s happening — and at the end of the month you’ll have opportunity to go see the building and everything. But all glory to God. All glory to God for what he’s doing in our church.

Purpose, Mission, and the God-Sized Goal

In fact, giving glory to God is what the purpose of our church is centered on. In fact, there’s a verse that describes the purpose of our church; it’s 1 Corinthians 10:31: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” And long before I became a part of Big Valley Grace Community Church, the leaders of this church determined: this is what the purpose of our church is going to be about. The purpose of our church is going to be about glorifying God. And that purpose has remained during the entire existence of Big Valley Grace Community Church. This has been our purpose: to glorify God.

Jesus shared some things about first and second importance, and what we should be actively doing. And I want to share a couple passages. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37–40: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” So Jesus is saying: this is first, most important — to love God. And the second most important, it’s like it — is to love your neighbor as yourself. And he’s saying all the Law and the Prophets depend on it. That’s like taking the left-hand side of my Bible — the Old Testament, because that’s the Scriptures that he’s referring to in that context — and he’s saying those two commandments, loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself… that’s like taking all of the Old Testament, and those two commandments depend on it. I put it this way: if you had two hooks hanging — one hook was “love God” and one hook was “love your neighbor as yourself” — you could hang your Bible on those two hooks. He’s saying all the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands: love God, love your neighbor.

He goes on in Matthew chapter 28 to tell us what we should then do with that information, with others. And in Matthew 28:18–20 it says: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So we’re to love God and love people — that’s first and second most important — and then we’re supposed to do something with that. We’re supposed to take that to others. That’s called making disciples — to where “love God, love people” is going to be in our life, and we’re going to help, in another person’s life — we’re going to help them become a disciple of Jesus also, so that they’re able to love God and they’re able to love people. And then they’ll do the same thing; they’ll be a part of making disciples. Which is where we get our mission. The mission of our church comes from that first and second commandment, and then what we’re supposed to do with it: love God, love people, and make disciples.

Well, if you hang out at Big Valley Grace for any length of weekends, you’re going to hear about a God-sized goal that we have. In fact, if you come and park in the parking lot over by Toly and you walk in those doors, it’s the first thing you see when you walk in. The God-sized goal for our church is like taking the purpose of our church and the mission of our church and putting it together. So the purpose of our church is to glorify God; the mission of our church is to love God, love people, and make disciples. So we put this God-sized goal together — it’s like saying, “God, how can we fulfill our purpose to the highest degree, glorify you as much as possible?” That’s what we want to do as a church. We want to have a God-sized goal to glorify you as much as possible as we fulfill our mission. So our God-sized goal is to glorify God through exponential discipleship — which is disciples making disciples making disciples making disciples — because we want God to be glorified as the mission he has for us as a church spreads. And so we continue to invite people into this God-sized goal.

The “Pass It On” Series

So here we come to a new series in February, and the series we’ve titled is “Pass It On.” And the point of this series — when we talk about passing it on — it’s about helping another person follow Jesus as a fellow learner. Helping another person follow Jesus as a fellow learner; we’re going to pass it on. The word “disciple” means learner. So when we talk about disciples making disciples making disciples making disciples, we’re saying: a person who is a learner of Jesus is now going to help someone else become a learner of Jesus. They’re learning about Jesus; this next person’s learning about Jesus; they’re going to help someone else learn about Jesus — they’re going to help someone else. We’re always learning about Jesus; we never stop learning about Jesus. So the process of being a disciple of Jesus means we are following him every day, because every day there is something he wants to teach us. There is a place for us to grow every day.

So in this series we’re going to look at disciple-making relationships. This weekend we’re going to be looking at Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others. And if you have a Bible, you can take your Bible and turn to Second Timothy, chapter 2. We’re going to be looking at verses 1 and 2 — two verses we’re going to look at this weekend. Second Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Next weekend, Lord willing — as you wear your favorite team gear to church next weekend — we’re going to be looking at Ephesians 5, where we see the disciple-making relationship between Christ and the church, and then an illustration is used to explain it with husbands and wives. So as we’re wearing our favorite team, we’re going to be talking about the home team next weekend. And we’ll also address division next weekend — division in the home team. Lord willing, on the third weekend we’re going to be looking at the disciple-making relationship of “love your neighbor as yourself” with the parable of the Good Samaritan, which — a major theme comes out of that parable, which is showing mercy. Mercy to people, and how becoming a neighbor means you show mercy, and the disciple-making relationships that are opportunities to start through acts of mercy. Then the last week, Lord willing, we’re going to be looking at the next generation; we’ll be in Ephesians chapter 4, looking at what it is to be mature in Christ so that you’re not tossed around like little kids. That’s also the week we’re going to be celebrating the first two years of what we’ve been able to accomplish with this building that is for kids and students. So we’re going to be looking at the next generation — disciple-making relationships for the next generation. So this is how our series is laid out.

Paul’s Vision: Four Generations of Discipleship

So in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, Paul is writing, and he’s writing to Timothy. Paul’s in prison; Timothy is not in prison. And Paul is encouraging Timothy with what Timothy is experiencing in ministry, serving the Lord. And Paul says: “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Paul has been imprisoned because of his ministry of Jesus Christ, for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why he’s in prison. And while he’s in prison, he continues his ministry for the gospel of Jesus Christ in the way that he is able to. And in this instance, he’s writing a letter, because it’s something that he was able to do while he was in prison. And what he had access to was paper and ink. And because he had access to paper and ink, he used the method of communication of paper and ink — and writing a letter — to continue his gospel ministry even while he was in prison. I want you to consider: how many modes of communication do you have? I’m going to guess that we all have access to the same mode of communication that Paul had, which is paper and ink. I’m going to guess we all have access to that. I’m going to guess we have access to some other modes of communication as well. It’s likely we all have access to a phone, to texting, to email, to social media. We have access to video conference. We have access to all kinds of communication methods. My question would be: how many of our communication methods are we using to continue the gospel ministry? How many of our communication methods are we using to continue serving Jesus Christ — no matter what our circumstances, whether we’re imprisoned or not? No matter what our circumstances, how are we using the communication methods that are available to us right now to continue our gospel ministry?

In these two verses we see that Paul is a visionary. Paul had incredible vision. Paul was a servant of Jesus Christ whose vision for gospel ministry was massive. If you just flip through the pages of your New Testament, you’re going to see how many letters Paul wrote that are in our Bible. God used him in a massive way. He had huge vision for serving Jesus Christ. And in just these two verses, we see a vision that Paul has. Paul had a vision for four generations of discipleship. There’s actually more than four categories of people that are described in this verse, but we’re going to ignore a fifth for the purpose of just seeing the generations of discipleship. But Paul says this: “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you’ve heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Four different generations of discipleship: “me” — he’s referring to himself; “you” — that’s the person who’s reading the letter; “faithful men” — those are people who are showing themselves to follow Jesus and to be trustworthy; and then “others.” And Paul is able to write a letter to Timothy where Paul’s vision for serving Jesus didn’t stop with Paul. He didn’t see the ministry was all about himself. He didn’t see the ministry was about his name being known, his influence growing for the sake of him becoming famous and him being somebody that people would know and recognize. He said, “No — Timothy, it involved you too.” Paul had a vision that Pastor Timothy would be engaged in the ministry. And so, from prison, Paul doesn’t want the ministry to stop, and so he writes a letter to encourage Pastor Timothy: “You have ministry for Christ also.” But Paul’s vision for discipleship didn’t end with Timothy, because Paul was able to look at Timothy and see a vision for ministry that even went beyond Timothy — where Timothy was going to be able to identify faithful men, people who were trustworthy with Jesus. And Paul saw that the ministry for the gospel did not stop with himself and did not stop with Timothy, because there were faithful men that Timothy was going to be able to entrust with the message of the gospel. But Paul’s vision for discipleship did not stop with faithful men, because he was able to see, as he wrote this letter to Timothy, that Timothy was going to have the opportunity to entrust the message to faithful men, and those faithful men would have a job to do — and that job was, they were going to teach others also. And so, from prison, Paul has this vision for how ministry will happen, how generations of discipleship will occur. And he’s saying: it does not stop with me, and it does not stop with you, Timothy, and it does not stop with the faithful men you’re going to minister to, because there are others that are going to be reached.

When we think about this: the apostle Paul — he’s the first generation of disciple. Pastor Timothy — he’s the second generation of disciple. The third generation, faithful men — that’s like saying people in the body of Christ, people who are following Jesus; they’re followers of Jesus, they’re disciples of Jesus, they’re learning about Jesus — faithful men, faithful women who are a part of the body of Christ. And disciple number four, generation four, is “others” — that’s like talking about new believers, people who the message of the gospel is just now coming to; they are beginning to follow Jesus, or they just are about to follow Jesus; they’re at the beginning point. And Paul is saying: “I’ve got a vision for the gospel, and the vision I have for ministry — it doesn’t end with me, and it doesn’t end with Timothy, and it doesn’t end with the body of Christ, because there are still others out there. There are still others out there.”

And I would ask you, as you think about just these two verses — how big that vision is, in just two verses in the Bible — how do you see yourself in these two verses? Maybe you’re like the apostle Paul. You’ve had the opportunity to follow Jesus for a long time. You’ve had the opportunity to go through difficulty, like imprisonment, and you followed Jesus through difficulty. And you’ve had the opportunity to have people in your life, like a young pastor, like a Timothy, where you’ve been able to invest in them. And you’ve seen how your investment in that Timothy-like person has then been passed on to others — to where they found a faithful man or a faithful woman to invest in, and that was passed on to others; they found some new believers to invest in. And you might be like the apostle Paul, and as we walk through these verses, you’re recognizing: wow, look how God has used my life. God has used my life to give me a vision — a vision for disciple-making. And I want you to know, that’s exciting. That’s so exciting. That there are going to be people who, when they are asked, “Who is the person that invested in you to help you be a disciplemaker?” — they’re going to look, and they’re going to point at you, because you’ve been like the apostle Paul in their life. That’s incredible.

Maybe you’re like Timothy. God has given you ministry; he’s given you leadership in ministry; he’s given you opportunity to serve him; he’s given you opportunity to lead other people in ministry. And you’ve had someone like an apostle Paul that’s been pouring into your life, and you’re super grateful. And God is giving you the opportunity right now to identify some faithful men and identify some faithful women, and you’re having the opportunity now to invest in them. And that is so exciting — because there are some faithful men and faithful women, they don’t know you’re coming for them, but you’re coming for them, because God’s given you an opportunity to lead in ministry. That’s an exciting place to be.

Maybe you identify with the people in the body of Christ, and right now you’re learning how to be faithful as a man who follows Jesus; you’re learning how to be faithful as a woman who follows Jesus. You are learning to open up your Bible and study. You are learning to pray. You are learning to worship the Lord with a whole heart. You are learning to give a gift to the Lord. You are learning to serve out of the gifts that God has given you. You are learning to connect with the body of Christ in fellowship. You are learning how to talk to others about Jesus. You’re learning. And I want you to know, anyone who has walked with Jesus for a significant amount of time is able to look back at the early days of when we followed Jesus, and we remember how exciting it is to learn how to follow Jesus and to do these things for the first time. It is exhilarating to start a relationship with Jesus and to learn how to grow with Jesus. And if that’s where you’re at right now, that’s amazing. That’s a super cool place to be. And there are some others who you’re going to share your story with, and you’re going to be able to use your experience to invest in them.

Maybe you’re here and you don’t know Jesus yet. You have not begun a relationship with Jesus. Or you are just now starting a relationship with Jesus; you’re just now getting to know Jesus. Or maybe you just started a relationship with Jesus — you just began to get to know Jesus, and you’re so new, you’re like, “I don’t know what everybody’s talking about. They use terms I don’t understand. Everyone’s got, like, a secret handshake here at the church. Like, what’s going on? There’s so many things I don’t understand; there’s so many things I don’t know.” And I want you to know, we are so glad you’re here. And there are some faithful men and faithful women that are a part of this church, and they are going to come alongside you, and they are going to help you learn. They’re going to help you learn how to follow Jesus.

Paul had a vision of four generations of discipleship. My question is this: when you look at a person — and you look at people all the time; you look at people that you live with, you look at people that you live nearby, you look at people that you work with, you look at people that you go to school with, you look at people in the community, you look at people that are driving (you don’t like them) — you look at all kinds of people. When you look at a person, do you see potential for multiple generations of Jesus’s disciples? And you look at them and you go: “I’ve got a vision. I’ve got a vision for this person that I live with. I’ve got a vision for this person that’s in my neighborhood. I have a vision for this person that I work with, go to school with, see in the community. I’ve got a vision for this person I’m on a sports team with, or I have a hobby that I do with. I’ve got a vision for this person, because when I look at this person, I see the potential for Jesus. And the potential for Jesus does not stop with them, because the potential for Jesus is multiple generations deep in their life.” So when you look at a person, do you see the potential for multiple generations of Jesus’s disciples?

Paul’s Strategy for How Disciples Multiply

The apostle Paul also had a strategy for how disciples would multiply, and the strategy is all tucked into these same two verses. Again, I’ll read the verses: “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you’ve heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

So it starts with: “Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” That is the starting point for every one of us. Every one of us needs to be strengthened by the grace that is in Jesus Christ. That is not just how our relationship with Jesus starts; that is how our relationship with Jesus continues every day. I need to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. There is never a day that I experience that I don’t need the strength of the grace of Jesus Christ. It’s the starting point; it’s the continuing point; it is the finishing point of our relationship with Jesus. It is all on the grace of Jesus. And Timothy, when he heard this, he was facing very difficult things. Paul was imprisoned. When you hear right now, in culture, about a pastor going to prison — what comes to your mind? Now, Paul was in prison not because he had done evil, but because other people had done evil. But consider the press of being associated with a pastor who’s imprisoned. That’s the pressure that Timothy had, because he’s associated with Paul, and Paul’s getting a bad name; he’s getting discredited because he’s in prison. And Paul’s saying to Timothy: “You need to be strengthened by the grace that’s in Christ Jesus for the things that you’re going to face.” So what are the difficulties that you are having? The difficulties you’re experiencing as a follower of Jesus, as a person who is trying to follow after Jesus — whatever the difficulties you’re experiencing as a follower of Jesus, you need the same message, and I need the same message, and that is: we need to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

He then says: “What you’ve heard from me in the presence of many witnesses” — which means he’s having conversations about Jesus as often as possible. That’s what that means. Paul is having conversations about Jesus as often as possible. This last week I was at my son’s sixth-grade basketball game at St. Stanislaus Catholic School. I have a very important role: I’m the scorekeeper. All right? Very important role for the team. So I go to the scorer’s table, and I’m getting the book out, and making sure my pencil’s sharp, getting it all ready, and my son’s going to play a game. And the referee is getting all ready, and the referee looks at me and says, “What’s your name?” And I said, “My name’s Joel.” And he says, “Joel Boon?” — he says, “It’s me, Joey Bido!” And he’s like, “I thought I recognized you.” And I’m thinking, “You recognize me? That’s great news. I don’t recognize me anymore.” So — we can’t pretend like we know each other, because it’s official business, a sixth-grade basketball game, right? So the game goes on. And afterwards I catch up with him, and Joey’s a kid I grew up with. And I said, “How long has it been since we’ve seen each other?” And he said, “Oh, it’s probably been 20-plus years.” Thinking: wow, it’s been 20-plus years and you still recognized me? That’s like one of the coolest compliments anyone’s given me in a while. And he said this: he said, “Do you have any kids?” And I’m like, “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’ve been at the gym, weightlifting. I’ve been training. I’ve just been waiting for people to ask me this question.” I’m like, “Yeah, I got nine kids.” And his mouth hits the floor — jaws open, heart’s ready to see what I’m about to say. And I said, “Let me tell you about how God has built my family.” And I began to very shortly share with him how the Lord has built our family — at a sixth-grade basketball game, with the scorekeeper and the referee, at St. Stanislaus Catholic School.

Paul’s saying: “I’m having as many conversations as I can, and you’ve heard me have as many conversations as I can, and I’m just going to keep talking about Jesus. I’m going to keep talking about Jesus. I’m going to keep talking about Jesus.” So: what you’ve heard from me in the presence of many witnesses — do something with it. Find somebody to entrust it to. Entrust what you’ve heard; entrust the message to faithful people — faithful men, faithful women. Find faithful people and entrust it to them. It was years ago — I was a young man, and there were some faithful men who decided to invest in me, and we would meet at Starbucks over by Barnes & Noble, the bookstore right over here. It’s not a Starbucks anymore; it’s something else, I don’t know. But it used to be a Starbucks, like, connected to the bookstore. And we’d meet really early in the morning, and we’d have coffee, and we would go through a book called Disciplines of a Godly Man. And Troy and Steve and Pablo would meet with me every week, and I was the younger of all of them; I was the young guy. And they all had a lot more experience following Jesus; they had a lot more experience walking with the Lord. I was just glad to be at coffee with them. I was just glad to be around some faithful men. But they acted like faithful men to me, and they shared Jesus with me, and they talked to me about Jesus. And I was able to receive the blessing from some faithful men taking some time for a young guy who didn’t really have his act together. And I was grateful for that.

And then he says: not only entrust to faithful men, but “that they will also be able to teach others also” — that this message we have will continue to impact; it will continue to go out; it will continue to be shared. This last week we experienced freezing temperatures in our town. If you park your vehicle outside, you know this, all right? Because you came out to your vehicle and your windshield was like a frozen tundra, right? And I see all kinds of people in my neighborhood getting the hoses out and splashing water and trying to use windshield wipers without any liquid — that’s not going to help, people; we need to have something change. But I came out on the first day to my jeep that had a frozen windshield. And on the first day that it was frozen, I started it up and I got the defrosters going, and then I went back into my house, because I need to get my seven-year-old ready and put her in the car and take her to school. So I do that. And when I get back, get her into her car seat, buckle her in, and then I get into the driver’s seat — now the windshield’s been defrosted — and I see in my windshield a crack starting to form, and it’s moving across the windshield as the temperature is changing in the windshield, going from frozen to defrosted. And I’m like, “Oh — that’s how that happens.” And I’m remembering back to a moment where I thought I heard something hit my window, but I never was able to find the place of impact. But during the temperature change, and the pressure that’s created in the temperature change, then it exposed that place of impact — and it spread. And that is what discipleship is like. Because the point of impact is the Word of God; it’s the Holy Spirit of God using the Word of God in our life. And it hits our life, and it hits our life deep, and sometimes we don’t see all of the ways that it hits our life. We don’t understand all of the ways that the Word of God and the Spirit of God is working in our life. But then we get into a situation, and the temperature changes — there’s pressure — and in a new place of pressure, that Word of God comes out. And it comes out of our life, and it comes out of our life, and it comes out of our life, and it spreads — because God’s been doing some secret stuff inside us, and then he gets us into the right environment where the temperature changes and the pressure changes, and the Word of God spreads. Church family, we are living in a culture right now that is a temperature change; it is a pressure change. And this is the moment for the Word of God to come pouring out of our life to others, because the Word of God has been impacting us, and it’s been doing some special things and some secret things in our life. And with the temperature change and the pressure change that we are all living in right now, this is the moment for the Word of God to come out. It’s right here and it’s right now, that the Word of God might spread in the midst of a culture that is going through a radical change. The culture is going through a change that none of us can keep up with. It is a radical speed and a radical pace of culture change that we are experiencing right now. And it’s time for the Word of God to come out.

When we think about being able to “teach others also” — you might be wondering, “Well, what’s, like, the first basic things we should teach somebody if we’re trying to talk to somebody about Jesus? What are, like, the first things that we should share?” Well — how we begin a relationship with Jesus. There’s a verse, Acts 2:37 and 38, and it comes after a bunch of people heard the gospel, and they just ask a question. It says: when they had heard this — when they had heard the gospel — they were cut to the heart, and so they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” That’s like saying, “How do I start a relationship with Jesus? What should we do? What are we supposed to do?” And this is the response: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In that little tiny verse, so much about the beginning of following Jesus is explained. It starts with repenting, because we need to be forgiven of our sins. And when we repent and we’re forgiven of our sins, God redeems our life, and he places the Holy Spirit in our life. And then we make a public profession through baptism. So — what should we do? Repent, be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is like the basic starting point. And so if you were trying to have a conversation with someone about how to start with Jesus, talk to them about repenting of their sin and finding forgiveness in Jesus, because he wants to redeem their life — and where they were spiritually dead, he wants to make them spiritually alive, place his Holy Spirit in them — and challenge them to go public and to be baptized.

Maybe you are beginning a relationship with Jesus, and you have just started to follow Jesus. You have placed your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin; God is redeeming your life; he is placing the Holy Spirit in your life; and it is time for you to profess your faith in Jesus through public believer’s baptism. And if that’s you, we want to help you take that step. Not after this gathering, but after the next gathering, we are going to have a baptism class. Today, right after the second gathering — through those doors, two doors down, there’s a classroom right there — we’ll have a baptism class. Last night we had two families in that class. One of the families: the mom and dad were baptized last month, and now their middle-school daughter, seeing their example, now comes to the class last night, because the middle-school daughter sees the example of mom and dad being baptized, and the middle-school daughter now says, “I need to be baptized too, as a follower of Jesus.” So don’t discount the ripple effect that can happen in you and in your family by being obedient to respond to Jesus and to be baptized. And we want to help you do that. After the next gathering we’ll have a class.

Becoming a Trustworthy Disciple

You might be asking: how do I become a trustworthy man? How do I become a trustworthy woman? How do I become someone who is trustworthy as a faithful disciple of Jesus? Because, you know, Timothy is supposed to entrust to faithful men — so how do I become someone who is trustworthy? Well, Paul writes to Timothy about how he can be a trustworthy person, and we can learn from it. In 2 Timothy 2:15: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” How do I become trustworthy? I got to read my Bible. I got to understand what my Bible is saying, and then I got to figure out how I can obey what I’m learning in my Bible, and then how can I share that with someone. What does it look like to become trustworthy as a follower of Jesus? It looks like: I got to open up my Bible and I got to read my Bible, and I got to ask, “What is my Bible saying? What does obedience to Jesus look like? What am I supposed to do as a follower of Jesus?” And then, “How can I talk with someone else about that? How can I share that with them?” Every person who’s a follower of Jesus should be able to identify this next blank I’m going to say: “I’m learning to rightly handle this word of truth from the Bible about ______.” Every person who’s a follower of Jesus should be able to fill in that blank. I’m learning to rightly handle this word of truth from the Bible.

And Lord willing, next week, when we talk about Christ and the church — the disciple-making relationship between Christ and the church, and then the metaphor of husbands and wives — Lord willing, I’ll share with you a whole bunch of subjects that my wife and I have had to learn as a married couple and as parents of nine children, and the things that our kids have experienced. A bunch of subjects that we have had to learn: how do we rightly handle the word of God so that we can lead our own lives, our marriage, our kids, our family? But not just “I’m learning to rightly handle this word of truth from the Bible” — but “I will do my best to serve God and pass it on to ______.” And pick a person, and a date, and a time. Who are you going to pass on what you are learning? Who are you going to share it with? Pick a person, a date, and a time.

It was yesterday morning — I was in my Bible study, reading in Psalms, and something hit me so deeply. I took a photo of it, and I sent it to my four adult sons — they do not live with me — and I sent them a prayer, to each one of them, about how I was praying this passage over them. Because it talked about a person who was in the word of God who was going to be like a tree that was firmly planted by streams of water. And I prayed: “I’m praying that God is going to make you a man who is firmly planted. I’m praying for you today, my son. I love you. I’m proud of you, as you interact with the Word of God.” Who are you going to pass it on to?

The Baton

When I was 40 years old, my parents gave this to me as a gift. It is a baton. And the baton says “2 Timothy 2:2” — it’s the passage we’ve been looking at today. And connected to the baton is a cord, and then a significant number of papers have been rolled up like a scroll and attached to the baton. And they shared with me: “Now that you’re 40, we’re passing this baton to you — the baton of handling the word of God in our family. And we have attached all these verses to the baton, of places in the word of God that God has used as we have sought to be a faithful man who follows Jesus, a faithful woman who has followed Jesus, a faithful couple who has followed Jesus. And we are passing it on to you, because it is your turn to hold the baton in our family.” What is the word of God — the word of truth — that you are learning to rightly handle, and who are you going to pass it on to?

On the count of three, I want you to say the first name of the person who shared Jesus with you. Think back — the first name of the person who shared Jesus with you. On the count of three, we’re going to say it out loud. It should be loud in here. So on the count of three, we’re going to say the first name of a person who shared Jesus with you. Okay — the first name of a person who shared Jesus. On the count of three: one, two, three —

“Troy!”

What we’re praying is that God would make us a church to where, in the next generation of followers of Jesus, the names that are yelled are yours. That is what we’re asking God to do in this church — that in the next generation of followers of Jesus, when people are asked, “Say the first name of the person who shared Jesus with you,” what fills the room is your names.

Father God, Lord, we need your help. We need your help to fulfill our purpose, and we need your help to accomplish our mission, and we need your help to go after our God-sized goal. So, Lord, would you be glorified and honored in our lives? Help us become the church you want us to be. Help us to be about loving you, loving people, and making disciples. And would you be honored and glorified in our lives. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. And all God’s family said, “Amen.”