Continue In The Word - Pastor Mike Lane - 2.1.26

We are going to be in second Timothy, chapter three. Second Timothy Chapter three. I am so excited for this series that we've been in. If you missed last week we unveiled our 2026 vision. And the whole thing for us this year is we want to be a church that follows in obedience.

And in John 20 Jesus says that as the Father has sent me. So also I send you in the same way I send. This is supposed to be a one week series but I just got to thinking like, man, I don't want to just lay out vision and not get practical steps on how to get there. So we're going to take the next couple of weeks if you guys are okay with that. And I want to kind of lay out for us what it actually looks like for us as a church to live this dream.

If you guys are ready, say I'm ready second Timothy. You know, I'm just going to turn around and read this here because my translation is not here. Here we go. Let me go ahead and put this on the scre. We're going to read second Timothy 13 through 15 and it says this.

It says while evildoers and imposters look at everybody say imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. I want us to look at this with a level of grace because I think for us it is so easy and tempting for us to just throw accusations and like, hey man, that's just how they are. I do need, you know, the Bible gives us a window that man, those that are in power, those that are rulers, those that are doing corrupt things, it's not just that they are deceiving, but they're also being deceived, which in the same way we've been deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know that those from whom you learned it and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. The next one.

This is all scripture. Everybody say all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. My prayer for you today is that you would be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Let's pray. Jesus.

Lord, thank you so much for how you sustain us and also send us. Lord, we love you. We thank you for today. Even with weather, it reminds us that you are the ultimate comforter. So Lord, would you comfort us?

Would you Open up our eyes and our focus today. Holy Spirit, would you fill me in? Jesus name we pray nobody said Amen. Amen. Hey, high five your neighbor and say good morning.

Say good morning.

We are in second Timothy, chapter three.

And I want you to imagine this with me just for a moment. This is Paul's final letter. And Paul is writing from a prison in Rome. But unlike before, this is not house arrest. This is most likely a cold stone pit with thick limestone walls.

And these limestone walls were drooping. And if you could imagine where would he sleep at, he would be on a dirt floor and most likely there was the stench of sewer one off. And his conditions in this stone cold pit. He was chained at the ankles and he was bound to a wall. And Paul knows that the time is coming close.

Most likely he probably passed the contraption that would take his life. And so at the end of his life, Paul would borrow a writing instrument and he would borrow some parchment paper and he would begin to lay out sort of like a last will and testament. And unlike some of his other letters, this is not a letter that was meant for a crowd. This was not a letter written to a church board. It was not a public statement.

This was personal. This was pastoral. This was a letter that was written to his disciple. His disciple was someone that he loved. It was someone that he poured his life into.

And I want you to imagine this, I want you to go there with me because when someone knows that life is short, when you meet your 70 year old grandmother, you start having conversations with her, you know she is not going to mince words, she is going to tell it like it is. And so I want you to imagine this because Paul in this moment, he's not chasing trends, he's not trying to soften the edge, he's trying to focus on what matters most because he is living with the end mind. I want us to even pause, even just for a moment, just to ask the question. If you were at the end of your life and you only had a parchment paper and a pen to express the things that were most important to you, to the people that you most loved. We know that Paul didn't stop to have a family or kids.

And so if you can imagine Timothy is like his son, what would you say at the end of your life? What would you say at the end of your legacy? Would it be something like this, hey son, make sure you always take the trash out for mama. I mean maybe, maybe it's a motivation speech where you say, hey, hey son, hey daughter, I Want you to know that you can do anything in life as long as you put your mind to it. Don't let limitations stop you.

Rise up. Maybe that's an encouragement for you. Maybe you just let them know how you've taken care of them in this life. What would be your last will and testament? What we see as we look at this passage.

Paul is going to answer this question, and while it's not complicated, his response, it is weighty. Now, I want to switch lanes just for a quick second because I want us to bring context into this moment because it so applies to our moment in time. We are in a moment, and I want you to listen to me. We are in a moment where most of us can agree that something is off. I don't know about you.

Like, there's so many times where I'm in conversations with my wife and I'm like, yo, how in the world did we get here? Is anybody like this? Like, how in. Like, something. Like, something just feels off, and I can't put my finger on it.

And it's funny because you can get a conversation with 10 different people and have 10 different responses of how we get there. Because I think the thing that we are not able to admit within ourselves is that there's a part of us that is just blind. I want to bring to your attention just the thought that, is it possible that some of us, even in the room right now, although we have good intentions, there is a blindness. See, some of us, we look out and we're like, man, you know, culture around us, we got here because the culture is blind. And some of us, we look back within even our own selves.

And like, man, the reason why we got here is because the church is blind and has been blind. And some of us, we point to the government and institutions, like, man, like, they just don't know what they're doing. They're blind. And some of us are looking at the activists and what's happening right now like, oh, man, they're blind. And what I want us to see is that all of these things can actually be true.

But the problem that we have to address today is not necessarily our blindness. It's the fact that most of us are convinced that we see clearly. Listen, it's not just the headlines or politics. It shows up in every area of our lives. How many of you guys have been dating someone and you bring them to your friends, and all of a sudden your friends kind of like, close their eye a little bit, squint a little bit, like, yo, like, hey, like, I need to talk to you for a moment.

Like, you bring this person that you think, like, oh, man, this is like my dream boy. And then all of a sudden, like, you got friends that's coming up to you like, hey, like. Like, I don't think he's the one. I don't think she's the one. And you're like, but I love him.

And then your friends are like, but you just met him.

Okay, what about parents? Like, you think your little Johnny is the best thing since sliced bread? You think Johnny is a wonderful contribution to society, while all of his daycare workers are like, yo, this little kid.

Because as parents, there's a part of us that's blind. What about our moral choices? We. We live in places where, outside, we agree with everyone, but inside, there's these quiet compromises where we justify our positions in private. I want you to listen to me today, because blind spots, they don't mean that you're malicious.

They mean you're human. But here's the problem. Jesus says in Matthew that when the blind lead the blind, they all fall into ditches. I want you to hear me. When the blind is leading the blind, they both fall in ditches.

In other words, the most dangerous blindness is not that you can't see. The most dangerous type of blindness is believing that you can already see. See. Here's the tension that I want to bring to your attention, because last week we said, hey, we want to go out. And as the Father sent me, so as His Father sent me, so also he sends us as well.

And we want to be his hands and feet, and we want to be God's presence here on the earth, and we want to go and do and fulfill the Great Commission. I need you knowing today before we go out there. I want us to deal in here. I'm going to say this. There are a lot of us right now that are in ditches right now.

And I'm hoping that the church would actually wake up and rise up and actually go and be about the Father's business, as the Father has sent me. So also I send you. I'm praying that the end of this message. I'm praying that for some of us, instead of going out and making great petition, I'm praying that some of us would go into the quiet place, into the secret place to close the door, get along with God, and actually have a moment where we say, hey, God, just like we go off a long day's work and we throw off our clothes and we put on new ones, because we don't want the stench of the day. I'm hoping that for some of us, we'd actually be bold enough to actually get along with God and say, God, would you make me over again?

Like, I want for some of us to be a church where, like, you know, instead of just saying, hey, man, I'm just gonna go with this flow and that flow, I'm gonna follow this influence and that flow. I want us to understand that our whole world is trying to make us more blind than we realize. Jesus, make me over again.

Like, I'm praying that some of us would say, God, would you make me over take out all the things in me that are not of you? God, I want to be sent by you. See, the problem is not our blindness. The problem is that we're convinced that we can see.

Listen, for some of us, we are in a ditch because we climbed in, there was some false belief that we made into the mantra of our life. And for some of us, we're here because maybe you followed someone's influence that you trusted, and now you're stuck in this ditch. And I want us to be able to humble ourselves and open up our hearts again with no agenda, because it says that if we are blind in the ways that we cannot see, I want us to be a church that is always looking for vision correction. Do you see where I'm going with this? There is a world that will not convince you of your blindness.

But I want us as a church, I want us always looking and asking, God, where can I go for vision correction? And as we look at this passage, Paul answers, where do we go? And from a prison cell at the end of his life, counting breaths, he lets us know that the place that we go is not louder voices is not newer ideas. It's not trendier theology. He tells Timothy one thing.

He says, continue in the Word. Can we say that together? Continue in the Word. Say it with me. Continue in the Word.

Here's the sermon in a nutshell, Timothy. You don't need just louder voices from the outside. You need deeper roots that come from God's Word on the inside. Continue in his Word. Amen.

I see this is going to be a quiet sanctuary today. Continue in the Word. Amen. Okay, there we go.

This passage from 2nd Timothy 3, 13, 17. This is what is known as a ligament passage. And in order for us to really get the context into what's going on, we have to understand what is connected above and below. And so we gotta ask the question, why is Paul Riding with so much fervency and urgency. Here's the readers.

And starting in verse one, if you look at this with me, it says this, it says mark this. Everybody say, mark this. He says, mark this. There will be terrible times in the last days. Now, did anybody grow up watching the Left behind series?

Did anybody at all? You know, I think for some of us, we hear last days and we're like, man, it has been the last days for a long time. Like grandma used to say, like, if you don't get to church, it's gonna be the last days. You never know, you know. Now here's what we see.

The last days. It expands from Christ's resurrection. And now we're in the church age and the early church, when they heard that there was a sense of urgency. Cause we never knew when he was coming back. Now, Mike, do you really agree with Jesus coming back?

Listen, I believe that Jesus is gonna crack the sky and he's gonna come back for his church. I'm not going to get into pre trib mid trip, post trip. But what I do know is that Jesus says that he's coming back. Well, Mike, I don't believe that. Listen, listen, if Jesus died on the cross, was buried, rose again three days later, I'm going to trust him with that.

If I can trust him with this miracle, I can trust that at some point Jesus is coming back for his church. Amen. How many of you guys know that's a good thing, right? Jesus is coming back for his church. He is.

Now here's the thing. When you with all of your ideas can do likewise and resurrect from the days, maybe I will listen to your perspective. But what we know is that the last days are here. And I don't know about you, but I feel them more than I ever have in my life.

He says there is the last days. And Paul is sharing that there's going to be heavy times and there's going to be confusing times. Even right now with the whole AI thing. Like right now, like, AI videos have gotten so good. Like, I'm like, how is this old man dancing like this?

I have no clue. How is this baby who cannot even talk right now, like, how is he making all of these moves? Like, there is something about this day. I don't know about you, but it is confusing.

Like, it is confusing. But this is what Paul says. He says there's gonna be times where it's gonna be hard to tell what's true. There's gonna be times where you won't know who to trust or where to stand. But I want you to notice this.

As Paul is writing this, he's not shocked. He's not panicking. He's not writing this as if it's breaking news. He's letting Timothy know that until Jesus cracks open the sky, it is what it is. It is the world that we live in.

This matters because I think for us, we're always trying to escape this world. We're always trying to escape hardship. We listen to the last days and we're like, hey, I want to move somewhere on Earth where it's not the last days. I do want to break our bubble, our American bubble.

We are always moved to urgency when it affects us. Oh, man, it feels like the last days. Can I tell you, there are places around the world that for centuries, it has felt like the last days. Don't talk to me about American persecution. Talk to me about the kid that's overseas, that's being sold into slavery.

Like, there is a last days that people have felt, not just now, but for centuries. Those that are around the world that have never heard the gospel, that breaks them free, that die in a life, that live a life of hell and then die in hell. Like, there's a part of us where we have to understand that, like, hey, the last days, it means more to others than it does to us. We're just now feeling it.

Paul, he lets them know. He's like, hey, Timothy, my aim for you is not just to set you up so you can escape this world. I'm not just gonna give you fake promises that if you just wait it out, it'll all get better. No, no. Paul says, hey, we are living in the last days.

Which, in other words, here's what he's saying. Timothy, my disciple, you have to learn how to live faithfully in the mess. I think that's even a word for us. You have to learn how to live faithfully in the mess.

What are the signs of the last days? Verse 2. If you're like, ma', am, I'm not convinced that this is the last days. What are the signs? Well, verse two, it says, and see if you agree with this.

It says people will be lovers of themselves. Do you agree with that?

He says they'll be lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents. Lord, I know that's true. Ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure. Than Lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying its form. Power can we raise?

Do we agree with that? Do we see that? Pastor Mike I don't see none of that. Like, well, what world are you living in right now? I don't have time to go through all of these.

But I want you to notice two things. Number one, I want you to notice how Paul starts. Paul says this. He says, for people will be lovers, lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud, arrogant. What he is throwing down is that there's something important that we have to admit.

It starts with love. The problem of the last days is not that people stop loving. It's that their love gets misdirected. The problem, say it again. The problem of the last days is not that they don't love.

It's that their love becomes self centered, it becomes self focused. It's not that they stop caring. It's just that they start caring inward. And this is not pointing to self awareness. It's not pointing to healthy boundaries.

It means that self has become the center. It's all about my feelings and my truth and my needs and my fulfillment. Everything else gets organized around who, me. And he says this. He says that people will become lovers of money, not because money is evil, but because money promises what only God can provide.

And then Paul stacks these words. He says not only are they lovers, but they're also proud and arrogant. Because here's what happens when you love yourself. When self is at the center. When self is at the center, humility disappears.

Is it I, Lord? Maybe teachability disappears. Correction. Feels offensive. Somebody calls you out and you're like, oh my gosh, like, how dare you?

Because what? It's all about me. Again, I don't have the chance to go through all here. But here's the second one. It says having a form of godliness but denying its power.

At the surface, Paul is describing a scenario where it looks right from the outside. It resembles faith. But when you peel back the lid just a little bit, what we see is that it's religion without surrender. When you peel back the lid, it's going to church, but God, I won't give you my life. He's talking about sincere people who have edited down faith to something that just fits their life.

These are people who keep the vocabulary but lose the authority. These are people who keep the routines but deny the transformation. This is comfortable, predictable. This is safe. It doesn't disrupt, it doesn't confront.

It doesn't cost much. And Paul says this. He says, avoid such people Avoid such people. Back in the day, if you wanted to avoid a bully, you would just switch classes, go home. But now there's something called the Internet.

Back in my day, it was called the intranet.

That thing wasn't wide at all, you know. But, man, there's something even for us avoiding these people. I want us to know. Like, man, our eyes, they give to influence. Our thoughts, our minds, they're given over to influence.

You don't even have to worry about the influence of your friendship circle. You have to worry about the influences of who you watch on social media and who you listen to in the news networks and who gets your attention, who gets your heart. Paul says, avoid such people. Why? Verse 6.

It says they are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women who are loaded down with sins and swayed by all kinds of evil desires. I want to slow down just for a second because this verse has been so misunderstood, misused. This is not an attack on women. Amen. Let me just say this.

This is not an attack on women. All of us, we find ourselves being gullible at times. This is Paul not calling out women as gullible, but he's exposing a strategy of false teachers. In this context, what would happen is that many of the women that was in this society, they were uneducated, they were underserved, they were overlooked. And Paul is so intentionally using this language because these false teachers, they wouldn't confront publicly, they wouldn't challenge openly.

What they would do is they would just kind of slip on in. You ever know somebody just kind of slip on into the conversation, and they would use their quiet influence and their subtle authority to kind of sway these women. And so what they would do is, like, someone would come and the lady would have an issue or whatever, and they would kind of come in and they would listen to them. And what they would do is they would affirm them and they would offer insight. And slowly they began to shape people.

And they say things like this, like, hey. And maybe this sounds all too familiar. Hey, I'm dealing with such and such. Like, man, I see you. I see you.

Oh, man, this is what happened. Man, that person made me mad, man. I understand that. And then they would say something like, hey, for $9.99, you could take my course because I've discovered the way of life. Now I'm joking.

Maybe not. I have no clue how that worked. But, man, there are false teachers all around us. We see this between every YouTube commercial. There's somebody's like, hey, you're not strong enough.

Try my diet and it'll change your life. What these false teachers were doing, they were sliding in and they were creating harm. They had the intention to restore. They had, the people thought they had the intention to correct and uplift, but really they were using their influence not to bring freedom, but to bring slavery. And so Paul is addressing this.

He was like, hey, man, watch out for these people that worm in and try to deceive these women. Let me just tell you, when the gospel is not preached in any country, you know who suffers most? Women and children.

When there's another gospel that is preached, the people that tend to suffer are women and children. It's the neglected. It's those that are overlooked. And Paul is bringing this out. We know this is the case because the Bible says there is a way that seems right to man, but in its end, it ends in destruction.

Paul is calling out this tendency even in us, because there's a part of us where we just want to go to everywhere else, every other source except going back to God. And then it goes to verse 8 and 9. I'm just walking us through. And it says, just as. And I'm going to make these names up.

Janus and hombres. That's it. That's what it is. Don't look it up. Don't look it up.

It says, just as Janus and hombres or hombres oppose Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. He says they are depraved minds who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. I want us to focus in just a little bit right now because there's some good news here. It says, but they will not get very far because as in the case of those men, their folly will become clear to what everyone. Can we say that everyone.

What's happening here? Paul is in his last letter, he is reaching back into Israel's history. Jannes and Hombres, they are the names associated with the magicians that stood before Pharaoh. When Moses comes on the scene and God wants to send Moses and Moses, like, I got a stuttering problem. And God says, hey, go and let my people go.

He equips him, he gives him a staff. He goes in front of Pharaoh. And all of a sudden you have these two magicians who are starting to play tricks and to make it seem like Pharaoh is that guy. And what happens is it starts off strong. It starts off powerful.

Like, oh, man. Pharaoh's like, yo, like these my guys, like, look at what I got. And God is not phased in this moment. But what happens is the longer this plays out, don't miss this. The longer their tricks, which are false authority, as long as those things get played out, the longer it goes.

Moses just. He upstands them. Moses comes with real authority. They present false authority.

And when Moses says, let my people go, he does something that they could not do. Why? Because their authority was based off of imitation.

But God's authority was based off of authenticity of who he is. We look at influencers, and I keep saying influencers because this is where our world is going. Everybody wants to have a voice, man. I was listening to something the other day because last week, one of the things I shared is that I believe that some of the things that's happening in our world, specifically the way that we are handling human rights and immigration, all this, I believe that it is a big injustice to how we're doing this. We're stealing the imago DEI out of people.

Like, there is worth. There is value in people. And so regardless of where you stand on the immigration issue, listen, we all know that there needs to be some immigration. We work in our society. Amen.

But we always want to give people value. And I was listening to someone who's like, man, we got to do something about immigration. This was an influencer. I said, yes. And we got to do the work of justice that the Bible says, like, yes.

And then he says, God, he values the imago dead. I'm like, yes. And he's like. And then he ends with this. He's like, and if you won't listen while you're in the place of authority, then I pray that in the next life when you're reincarnated, that you would be in a position of no authority.

I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I was like. I was like, hold on, hold on. I was with you for a moment. I was like, yo, let's go.

You know, Come on. I was like, whoa.

Like, have you ever had a moment like that? You're like, yo, I thought we was, like, saying the same thing, but we are. We not right now. Like, you know. You know, you tried, you tried, but this is kind of what this looks like, right?

When we base our influence on. On influencers, we always get disappointed. These influence, they can start strong, but watch how they finish. This is why we have to have our heart set on something that is stronger. I even just want to pause for a moment, because if you think the world we live in is set up by accident, if you think Our world right now is like, oh, man, it just got like that.

Like, no, I need you to know there is going to be a point where the foolishness of the world is going to become obvious to everyone. Scripture has been writing Cliff Notes on this for some time. Matthew 24. Jesus says this. He says, because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.

Paul says it in Romans 1. He says, they knew God, but they did not honor him as God. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worship created things rather than the Creator himself. Peter adds this in second Peter 3. 4.

He says, in the last days, scoffers will come, following what their own desires. Jesus in John 3, the whole chapter opens up where he says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. And the Word was with God. He was in the beginning with God. All things was made through him, right?

And it says that he was the light of men. Here's what Jesus says here. He says, hey, light has come. I have come into the world. But everybody say, but people, they end up loving darkness rather than light.

Light. So I need you to know this is not random. This is humanity being left to their own devices. And sometimes the problem isn't just rebellion. It's not just always straight up rebellion.

Sometimes the problem is that we are faced with disorientation. What do I mean by disorientation? One of the things I would think about was like, flight time. I was talking to someone in high school. I was a part of a magnet program that had a flight school associated with it.

So if they didn't cancel the program due to lack of funding, your boy could have had a private pilot's license by the time I graduated. But there was this moment where when pilots are flying, they always gave this warning that there's this thing called spatial disorientation. And what would happen is that when a pilot was experiencing this, they could actually think that everything was going great and fine. But when they're flying through fog, they can't see the up from down. And so it's possible when you're flying through storms where you cannot see, you're flying through fog, that isn't as clear.

What happens is that there's a moment where you might think you're upside up, but you're really upside down. And you call this spatial disorientation. Because this is the most likely case for flight crashes and planes going down and helicopters getting spinned. Like, this is the moment where you have to have, in your moment where you understand this Whole ideal of spatial orientation and how to get over it is that you're not necessarily in that moment trusting your feelings. You're not necessarily looking on the outside.

When you disorient it, what do you have to do? The pilot has to do one thing. He can only trust his instruments. Let me make this clear. When you're in a spatial disorientation, you can't trust your feelings.

You can't trust what's out there. You have to trust what's inside. And these are the instruments. And Paul is letting Timothy know that you are about to fly into some fog. You're about to fly into some pressure, some opposition, some competing voices.

And Paul says, do not trust the noise. Trust the instrument. And the instrument is not public opinion, is not cultural momentum. It's not even our own emotions. Paul lets us know the instrument, the one instrument that we need is the Word of God.

Amen. It is the Word of God. I was talking to my friends earlier. They're part of navigators here in our city. And I'm like, man, if there's one thing navigators are known for, it is getting in God's Word.

We used to mess with navigators back in the day. It's like, hey, man, their trinity is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Bible. Like, it's just like. Like there's something about God's Word that they're getting college students equipped to get in His Word. When there's a bunch of Noahs around, they're getting college students say, hey, man, if you would devote yourselves to the Scripture, here's what I want to do for the remainder of our time.

I want you to take out your notes, and hopefully you're writing this down. Hopefully, you've been writing notes. I want to give you three anchors that Paul gives us to face the fog.

Three anchors, three things that will help us to continue in the world in the Word, when the world is foggy. Reminder number one. He lets us know that you need spiritual authority above you. You need spiritual authority above you. Verse 10.

It says, you, however, know all about my teachings, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, patience, love, endurance, persecution, suffering. What kinds of things are happening to me in Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions that I've endured. This is Paul talking to Timothy. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life.

What happens? They will face what. Say it with me. They will what persecution? While evildoers and imposters will go from Bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

I want you to notice where Paul starts. He doesn't begin with a command. He begins with a memory. He says, you know my teachings, but not just that. You know my life, you know my purpose, you know my faith, you know my patience, you know my love, you know my endurance.

Paul is saying here, he's in Timothy, before you ever could ever handle the word of God, you were able to watch someone else live it. Because when visibility is low, God often stabilizes our life with credible witnesses who can give weight to God's word. Paul is letting Timothy know, like, you didn't just hear sermons, you saw suffering, you didn't just hear servants, you saw perseverance. You saw a man that was able to absorb the pain without letting go of Jesus. How many of you guys know that's important?

You were able to absorb the temptation and the persecution and still keeping your heart soft for Jesus. One of the reasons why we're gonna take this trip to Jackson, Mississippi, because we're gonna follow Dr. John Perkins, who is literally a civil rights hero who got thrown into jail, who got rejected, be all the different things. And somehow at 89 years old or 90 years old, his heart is still flaming for Jesus. That's who you wanna follow. You wanna get people in your life who do not burn out in their 30s or their 20s.

You want people that can look at it and say, hey, I've been through some things and I still love them. I've had some heartache, I've had loss, but he still touches my heart.

Paul says here, he's like, man, like you need someone that is above you, that is investing in you. This is why I love microchurches so much. My heart for you on Sundays is that every single person here what belong to a life changing microchurch, the way we do, our movement here is not based on Sundays, it is based off the real expressions with Jesus. How many of you guys know that's good? And as we interact with Jesus, we are also interacting with other people.

There's something about being in a group, especially like last year when all of this stuff in our country was happening. Like, man, there was something about like one of the microchurch, they got together and they just said, hey man, like let's get in God's word and let's be able to talk about what's going on. They didn't just say, hey, let's just go talk about what's going on. They said like, hey, let's go talk about everything. That's going on, but let's anchor it in God's truth.

You don't just need a Kumbaya, a Kumbaya group. You need people around you that can anchor you in the word of God. There's something about having people that's above you that can say, hey, we're going to make this together. Follow my way of life. If you're not in a microchurch, man, I want to help you get in one.

We have six microchurches that are meeting all throughout our city. We got something that's special popping up in Brandon, you know, in a few months. Like, man, I'm so excited about this season, man. Listen, you need people above you, but you also need wisdom before you. That's my second point.

You need wisdom that comes before you. And this is what I mean by this. It says in verse 14, it says, but as you continue in what you have learned and have been convinced on, because you know that those who learned it and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which you are able to make wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We know earlier there was a wisdom that did not lead to anywhere, but there was a wisdom here in this Holy Scriptures where it's wise and it makes you wise for salvation through Christ. This word continue matters.

Paul is tracing Timothy's endurance not just to a moment, not just to Paul himself. He's letting you know this formation that happened in Timothy, it began in the home. It began in the home. Everybody say home. Second Timothy 1:5.

It says, I am reminded of your sincere faith. What does he say? He says, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And now I am sure, dwells in you parents. Would you, if you're a parent, could you just wave your hand at me real quick?

I just even want to just tell you, like, this is my dream. Greenhouse Kids is not supposed to disciple your kids. But I also understand the tension because some of us are trying to follow Jesus the best we can. We're like, man, I just don't know how. This week we are gonna send you a resource.

If you have checked in your kids, we have your information, if that's okay. And we're gonna send you a resource this week that you begin to walk this out with your kids. Because our church, we're passionate about helping ordinary people become passionate followers of Jesus Christ. And I said it last week, it's not just for Those that are 18 plus. I want our littlest ones.

And also I want you Leading the way, doing this. How many of you guys know that's a good thing? Check this out. In Deuteronomy, it says this Deuteronomy 6, 6, 9, it says, and these words I command to you today shall be on your heart. It says that you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk to them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they should be on the front list between your eyes.

And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Here's the thing. Wherever you go, we are in the disciple making business. When you lay your kid down to sleep, you are in the disciple making business. Every night.

Like, we would have my moment with our kid, whether it's Danny or I or both of us together. But like at an early age, before he could even say words, we would sing songs over him that would relate to scripture. There was a moment where, even with kids, I was like, hey, man, we would love the Lord our God with all of our heart and all of our mind and all of our soul and all of our strength, and we will praise the Lord. Like, I want that in him. The other day, Dana was singing a song with him and he's like, mommy, I need you to know God is on my side.

God is on my side. Even if they don't understand it yet. I want to build God's word in them to one day when they are faced with the pressures that I face. That God's word wouldn't be something that is far over there. It'd be something that's inside, that's getting built up inside of them.

Maybe you're here and you're like, man, Mike, I don't have mentors above and I don't have parents that love the Lord. I'm out here on these streets alone trying to figure this thing out. What about me? And this is the third point. You don't just need leaders above you.

You don't just need wisdom beside you. But here's the last thing you need. The breathed out word of God, verse 16. It says all scripture is what? Say it with me.

Say that with me. Say it like you mean it. This is gonna be very awkward when you listen to the recording. But all scripture is God breathed. The uniqueness of our God opposed to other so called gods is that our God speaks over 3,000 times in the Old Testament alone.

You read the phrase Thus saith the Lord.

Scripture is not merely men writing about God, but scripture is the recording of the words of God towards man. This is how Jesus fights Satan in the wilderness. He says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every breath that precedes what the mouth of God. All scripture is God breathed. And here's what we're gonna unpack.

And it is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and what, training in righteousness. Some of you guys are stuck. You know how you get unstuck? You get unstuck with the word of God. What is it about scripture that does something that no thing else can do in our life?

Four things. Number one, it teaches you. Everyone say teaching. This is where God tells us what is true. Friends, hear me.

We are living in a day where truth has been customized. We're living in a day where it's like, hey, man, you got your truth over there, and I got my truth over there, and you share your truth over there, and I'm gonna share my truth right here. And it's like this. All this, like, little post of like, hey, man, whatever you feel, however you think about a situation, whatever, whatever is your truth, go ahead and live it. But listen, I need you knowing that Jesus, when he comes on the scene, listen, I believe in honoring people.

I believe in listening to people's stories. I believe in compassion. But when it comes to the truth, truth is not democratic. Truth does not take a vote. Truth is not being because culture is loud.

Jesus does not say, hey, everybody's opinion matters. No, no. Here's what Jesus says. He says, hey, I am the way. I am the truth, and I am the life.

Which means truth is not an opinion. It's not a mood. It's not something you discover by looking within yourself. Truth showed up in the flesh. Truth walked among us.

Truth hung out on a cross and backed up with all of his power in his hand. If Jesus is the truth, then the question isn't, does my truth align with how I feel? The question is, does my life align with his? Somebody say amen like his word is true. But then all of a sudden, it says the word rebukes us.

This is where it's a lot less fun, because Paul says it here in chapter four. He says, the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

Notice what he says. He says, not that they won't understand. Not that they won't be available. They won't be able to endure. Endure it.

Because sound teaching isn't just hard on the mind. It's hard on the heart. Sound teaching it costs you something. It presses on places in us that we'd rather not touch.

This time, Paul says the time will come. I need you to note that the time has come. Because today, when the word starts to confront us, we don't sit with it. We scroll past it. We go to social media and profiles that we like.

We go to counselors that will tell us what we want to hear. We accumulate voices. A podcast here, a clip there, a quote that sounds spiritual. We'll do all these different things, and we won't actually wrestle with God's word.

Some of you guys like, man, like, hey, I want you to speak on this. I want you to speak on that. You know what I did? I say, hey, man, I went to the Lord and said, lord, what do you want me to say? God, I don't trust anybody timings but yours and his perfect timing.

He works all things together. Paul calls it these itching ears. These itching ears where they want to hear their preference and they want to be told things that they already agree with. I want you to be honest, man. Some of you guys, last week you were like, man, like, yeah, way to go.

Awesome. Let's be that church in three weeks. I'm probably going to offend you.

I am. Because my heart posture is not. Let me go and make you happy. Let me go and make you happy. I want to please the Lord.

And in a world that is so dialed into confusion, I want there to be clarity that comes from God's word. Does the word of God have authority over your life? When you're angry and you want to respond petty, can the word of God actually sit you down and say, hey, wait a minute. Do you allow God's word to have authority in your marriage? Do you allow God's word to have authority in your parenting?

Do you allow God's word to have authority as you're interacting with bad bosses, do you allow God's word to have authority when you're dealing with estranged parents? Like, listen, the word of God, it should have the ultimate authority, authority in your life. When you wake up in the morning, you should be like, hey, God, what is your will? Let me get in God's word. The third thing is that the word corrects us.

It doesn't just teach us. It doesn't just rebuke us. It corrects us. Everybody say, correct. To correct means to set up to restore to proper position.

Last April, my mom, while she was at work, she. There was a kid that bumped into her and she ended up falling. And she goes to the doctor and she says, doctor, everything's fine, right? Like, you know, I should just gotta ice it, gotta deal with it, and it'll be okay. And the doctor's like, hey, do you want me to tell you the truth?

And she's like, yeah. And she's like, hey, your wrist is broken in two places.

What was that? That was the teaching. Hey, this is what. I thought that was the rebuke, but now comes the correction. What do you want me to do about this?

Well, you're gonna need to go and do some pt, and you're gonna need to wear this cast, and we'll evaluate this in a few months. Well, a few months go by and she follows the regimen. She goes back in. She's like, hey, Doc, I'm okay, right? Like, I can take this off.

I feel like it's getting stronger. I feel like I can kind of do it. It's like, no, actually, what we found is that while you were doing PT and you were doing your thing, it healed, but it did not heal right. And so now we're going to need to actually go in and do some surgery. And the surgery is important because she gets put under.

And now her whole thing is to get corrected by a surgeon that she cannot see. And to trust a doctor, despite what she thinks in her mind, is the solution. Let me say this. God's word does not just teach. It does not rebuke.

But God's word, it wants to set you up right again. This is why when I say, like, hey, sometimes we just need to close the door in all the noise and say, God, like, make me over again. This is what this is. It's to restore. But then the last thing is also to train us.

Teaching informs, rebuke stops us. Correction reorients us, but training disciples, us and meek. If I could just have you just on the keys just to come back up, man, because I want to end like this, because I need us knowing that every single day, you are being trained. Every single day. Podcasts are training you.

Music is training you. Therapy is training you. Combos with your girls and your boys, like they're training you. Algorithms are training you. But the word is the one voice.

The word is the one voice that does what nothing else can do. Isaiah 48 says, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God will stand forever. What I need is knowing is like, hey, here's the sermon. Like, Timothy, you don't just need other voices. You need deeper, deeper Roots and what I've seen from experience.

Guys, listen to me. You will not regret when you open up God's Word. You will not regret a single moment in His Word. You come home angry, you've got a disagreement with your spouse, you're upset with your kids, you're upset about the injustices of this world, which there are injustices.

Before you go post something, open up God's Word and allow God's word to do something that nothing else in the whole world can do. When you hear one thing from God, it quickens your spirit.

When he says, peace be with you, it really does add peace. Everything else can be in chaos. Even at the beginning of the year, there were some things that hit our family was like a bunch of stuff like boom, boom, boom. And I'm like, man, like God, like, what are we doing right now? The fast was so good for me because every moment I got focused on the world word, it just did something to me.

As I was focusing myself on the world and the things around me and the circumstances that happened to just pop up in my life. Every time I opened up God's Word, it was doing something in me. Over the fast, man, over and over again. As you guys were practicing this thing, man, testimony after testimony where people were like, man, like, man, Mike, I gotta tell you, man, like this fast was so good to me. Why?

Because, man, I haven't opened the scriptures like this since I was in college. And His Word speaks and it does something in my heart. And we got 13 year olds and 10 year olds that are opening up God's Word and they're like, man, it's doing something to my heart. Why? Because Jesus is in the business of changing lives.

Not just for your salvation, but for your good.

Here's what I want us to do as the Father has sent me. So I send you in order to do this. I want us to roll out these everyday practices. These are everyday things that I want our church to be known for. They're not to be there to defeat you.

But this is something where if somebody believes the gospel and belongs to Greenhouse Church, I want them to be known for three things. Number one, worship, mission and community. Here's the big thing with worship. Here's the practice that I want to lay out to you. Starting today, every single day, get in God's Word.

That's the practice that I want for us. Could all of us, could 100% of us commit to his ways where we say God every single day, day, I'm going to pray. I'm not going to judge the. The time. You can.

You can have five minutes, but five minutes in God's words, it changes everything. Amen. If you. If you're here and you're starting new man, start in places like Mark or John or Romans. Maybe it's.

It's reading the. The Psalm of Proverb of today. What's today's date? The first. Right.

So today, if we got home, we read what? Psalms 1 and Proverbs. Maybe that's how you start your day. And Tomorrow is Psalm 2 and Proverbs 2. Like, maybe that's your rhythm.

But as we close the day, I want us to ask this question. What is it about God's Word? This book is not just something you read, but it's something that reads you. God's Word will feed you when life drains you. It'll wash you when life stains you you.

It'll light your path when you don't know which way to turn. The Word will be a shield when the enemy attacks your mind. A sword when he'll come too close to your soul. It's a fire burning on what doesn't belong. It's a hammer breaking hearts that have been hard for years.

It's not just ink on a page. It is breath in your lungs. It's not old news. It's a living voice. And if you open it, and if you choose to sit under it, and if you choose to obey it, the Word will steady you.

It will shape you and it will save you. The Bible says that heaven, earth will pass away. But the Word, this Word, it will stand forever. Why? Because the last thing is this.

The Word, it points to Jesus. Can we say that? The Word, it points to Jesus.

As we end today, I need you knowing this book, it is valuable. It is gold. I pray that you would dig for it like you're digging for treasure. And yet, although this book is great, it will not save you, but it will lead you to the one who will see the Bible. What it does is it exposes our blindness.

It exposes our blindness. But the one thing the Word can't do is it can't die for you. But here's what we see in the Bible. Scripture says that the Word, Word became flesh. Jesus became flesh.

The living Word which is ascribed to Jesus, he becomes flesh. And Jesus lives with perfect clarity. Where we live with confusion, he obeys. Where we resist it, he submits. Where we edited and at the cross, he took judgments.

He takes judgment for our blindness and what it deserved. Listen to me. If the problem was merely a lack of discipline. I would tell you, man, you better go try harder. You better go hustle.

You better go get the plan. If I told you that it was a lack of knowledge, I would say, hey, man, you better study more. If it was a lack of consistency, I would say, hey, man, you better go get a plan. But the problem is, is that we are so blind that we resist being told that we're blind. Which means the sermon cannot end with just great advice.

It has to end with a great rescue. It has to end with a great rescue. The call of the gospel is not to be better informed, but to be humbly rescued. Not to be proud in our way, but to humbly admit that God, unless you come and save the day, where am I? As we end today, would you just even just open up your hands as a posture to receive it?

Because I just want to pray a blessing over you. What I want for us in this church is I want us to seek the Lord while he may be found. I want us to give ourselves to the word of God. We want to go and transform the Word where the word needs to go and transform us in our hearts and where we are. I'm praying right now, even right now with your hands open and your eyes closed.

Jesus, would you make us hungry for your word, God, make us hungry for your word that gives life. God, give us the ability, Lord, to lean in, open up our hearts, Lord, that we may receive your word with kindness and jubilation. God, I pray right now, Lord, that you would be the one thing, the one desire that we search for in this world in this season, Lord. I pray for our focus in this season, Lord, let us not look to other things, our other tools, our other advices, our other people. But we know that one day it is coming where those things are going to get exposed.

Lord, we know that one day every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess. Every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that you are king, that you are Lord. God, I pray right now that you would move this body in such a way that we would not find this out in eternity. But God, we begin to discover this right now. God, would you use us?

Would you use us, Lord, but connect us to the living word, to the living word, God, we repent. We humble ourselves, God, repent of ways that we tried to rescue ourselves through our knowledge, through what we think is right, God, we submit to you and we say, lord, you are the thing that is right, Lord. Prone to wonder Lord, we feel it. Prone to lead. Leave the God we love.

But here's our heart, Lord. Take and seal it in Jesus name. Amen. Come on. Can we just praise the Lord right now?

Come on. Praise him for his word.