Andrew Johns – Examples of Youth in Service & Action – Class 6 – Timothy – Serving His Brethren in Youth

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Thanks for that reading, Andrew.
That chapter portrays the young

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man Timothy as a sensitive
person who instinctively thought

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of others, and so we look
forward to learning more of this

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young man and how he bore the
yoke in his youth.

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Timothy serving his brethren in
youth.

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Brother Andrew, my dearly love
to brethren and sisters and our

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dear young people.
Timothy’s name means valued of

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God, and indeed he was, and at a
very young age at that.

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In fact, I would go as far as as
to say at the commencement of

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our study tonight, young people,
that Timothy is one of the

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greatest characters in the New
Testament.

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Perhaps the evidence of that
will unfold as we go along, but

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his life basically is a
testimony to the power of the

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Word of God to change us so that
God can use us.

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Let me say that again, because
that’s the essence of his life.

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His life is a testimony to the
power of the Word of God to

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change us so that God can use
us.

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You know, we know of no words
that ever came from his mouth

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recorded in the New Testament,
and yet we see his character

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clearly imprinted in the
epistles and in the historical

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sections in the New Testament.
And we not not only see his

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character, brethren and sisters
and young people, but the

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powerful effect of his words and
his life amongst his brethren.

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It stands out in bold relief.
From the Epistles and from the

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Acts of the Apostles.
Though we don’t.

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Read of his name very many
times.

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He truly is one of the great
individuals that took up the

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yoke in youth in the time of the
1st century and that’s the

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essence of his life.
I believe that the truth was

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believed and manifested in his
life in youth.

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That’s bearing the yoke.
That’s what bearing the yoke is

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all about.
And we meet him in Acts.

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Chapter 16, first of all, and
it’s always very interesting to

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see how this how the scriptures
introduce us to various

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characters, and we’ve already
seen that in the past week, and

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this one is no exception.
Because in acts.

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Chapter 16 On Paul’s second
journey while he comes to

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Lystra, we find in verse one of
Acts 16.

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Then he came to Derby and
Lystra, that is, the apostle

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Paul, with Silas, who was his
companion at this stage.

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And behold, a certain disciple
was there named Timotheus, the

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son of a certain woman, which
was a Jewess and believed, but

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his father was a Greek, which
was well reported of by the

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brethren that were at Lystra and
Iconium and him.

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Would Paul have to go forth with
him?

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It’s a very interesting
introduction.

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Do you know this little incident
here that we read when he came

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to Derby and Lystra?
In fact, it was at Lystra that

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he picked Timothy up.
Is the only thing that’s

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recorded in any detail in Paul’s
second epistle until he gets

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right over into Philippi on the
other side of the Aegean Sea.

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There’s nothing recorded apart
from just a very summary comment

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in all his dealings all around
through, through Asia Minor,

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Syria and Silesia, except for
this one thing that he picked up

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into his party, the young man,
Timothy.

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But notice very carefully.
We’ve got to read our Bibles

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carefully.
Young people, look at this.

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Let me read this again, verse
one.

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And he came to Derby and Lystra
and behold, a certain disciple

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was there.
If you want a little exercise,

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when you go home, you get a
coloured pencil and you colour

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in the word behold in the acts
of the apostle.

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And you’ll find that on every
occasion Luke is using it to

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introduce something that we’ve
got to take notice of, something

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that’s either unusual or
surprising, something that ought

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to catch our attention.
And here, talking about going

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off onto the second journey,
they came to Lystra and behold,

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there’s a certain disciple
there.

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His name happened to be valued
of God, and he had a Jew for his

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mother and a Greek.
For his boy like that from a

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mixed marriage ever be valued to
God.

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So the Jews would have thought,
but.

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We’re already told here that
he’s a disciple already.

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Now that’s interesting.
His mother, we are told, already

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believed.
And the Apostle Paul, we know,

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came through this region on his
first missionary journey only

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about 18 months before this this
particular time.

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And we know this too, though
we’re not told it here, that he

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was young.
He must have been young because

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do you know 15 or 16 years
later, after this time, the

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apostle Paul wrote a letter to
Timothy near the end of his

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life, that is near the end of
the apostles life.

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And he said to him, let no man
despise thy youth, Timothy.

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Now, if we put him into his mid
30s at that stage, the very

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least he must have been is his
late teens at this point.

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And so if we take him at being
say 17 or 18 at this time, we

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ought to be fairly safe in
assessing his age, though we

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can’t pin it exactly.
There’s no question that at this

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stage he was young.
And at that young age, look what

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verse 2 says.
He was well reported of by the

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brethren that were at Lystra and
Iconium, not only his hometown

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young people.
And you don’t get a reputation

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like that overnight.
You don’t get a reputation like.

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That just because.
You happen to make a commitment

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to be baptized into Christ.
Here’s a young.

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Lad, who at 17 or 18 is already
already known to your own

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ecclesia in Lister and.
To the next town’s ecclesia.

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Does that mean that he went over
and helped them?

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I think it’s highly likely.
When we have a look at the

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character of this young lad and
him, Paul wanted to come with

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him.
Well, that was possibly because

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of the prophecies that went
before.

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Just make a note of it.
But in first of Timothy 1 and at

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verse 18, which we won’t look at
at the moment, the apostle

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speaks of the prophecies that
went before on him.

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And it could have been a
reference to a prophecy that

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that was made before Paul even
got Solystra on this occasion.

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We know that Silas, in fact, was
a prophet.

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And had the gift of prophecy
whether.

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It came through that means.
Whether in fact that had

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anything to do with this or not,
we do not know for sure.

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It may have been, but we know
this.

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That Paul.
Obviously had noticed this young

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lad as well.
If he was well.

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Reported of the brethren at
Lithgra and Iconium.

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The Apostle Paul in his, with
his astute mind, would certainly

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have picked up on talking and
seeing and hearing that young

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man.
There was some considerable

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potential in him.
You know, it’s never ever

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recorded in the rest of the Acts
of the Apostles that the Apostle

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Paul picked up anyone else on
any occasion like this.

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Now we know that he did.
We know that he had many

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followers.
We know that he had many very

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faithful individuals.
Who pursued the work of the

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truth in many places.
And did a great deal to extend

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the gospel to the far-flung
reaches of the empire.

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But this is.
The only time in all of Acts

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that it tells us that Paul
stopped and said, lad, I want

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you to come with me.
There was something about this

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lad that God valued and that the
Apostle Paul saw in him as well.

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Well, what do we know about him?
We know this, that he came from

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a divided family.
It obviously wasn’t a difficult,

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it was a difficult childhood
that he had because his father

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was a Greek and his mother
believed being a Jewess.

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And there was a conflict in, in
customs, in beliefs, in all

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sorts of things in that
household.

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There must have been, as
inevitably would have been the

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case when a Jew, Jewess married
a Greek.

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But he was of good reputation,
as we saw a moment ago amongst

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the brethren in that place.
I’d like you to come to 1st of

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Timothy, Second of Timothy,
sorry, chapter 1, because we get

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a little insight into some of
the characteristics of this

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young man by what Paul tells us
here.

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We’re no doubt very familiar
with these words, but let’s just

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glance our eyes across them
again.

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Verse 5 in what was in fact his
last letter, his final message

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to Timothy before his death, the
apostle says, when I called to

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remembrance.
Verse 5, The unfeigned faith

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that is in thee, which dwelt
first in thy grandmother Lois

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and thy mother Eunice.
And I am persuaded that in thee

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also.
It’s a strange word, isn’t it?

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This unfeigned faith in the
Greek.

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The word is an Hippocrates.
Sounds like hypocrite, doesn’t

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it?
It’s the word from which

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hypocrite comes.
But it’s got the Greek word for

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not on the front.
Hypocritical without hypocrisy.

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Without.
Pretense.

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And the apostle Paul remembered
his unfinded faith, his sincere

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faith that was without the
tense, without hypocrisy, which

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he said dwelt in his mother
Lois, and his in his grandmother

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Lois, and in his mother Eunice.
What is unfeigned faith, Young

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people?
We know what faith is, a belief,

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a belief in those things that
have been revealed or that are

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coming.
But here’s a faith, young

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people, that’s matched by
action.

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His life.
That’s what the Apostle Paul’s

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saying.
His life was consistent with his

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profession and his belief
absolutely consistent, and we

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none of us find that an easy
thing to do, do we?

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He was an in.
He was evidently a very

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impressive young lad and this.
Was a characteristic.

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That as soon as the apostle had
walked into that house, as he

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obviously did, maybe on his
first journey, but almost

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certainly here now on his
second, when he decided to take

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Timothy with him, it was a
characteristic that deeply

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impressed the apostle.
Now, we don’t find anyone else

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being called or being having
that called of them in the New

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Testament.
But here we have Timothy, his

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mother Eunice, and his
grandmother Lois.

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All.
Being told that they have

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unhypocritical faith.
Now what that’s saying to us

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parents is, is this that
unfeigned faith, faith that’s

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matched by action, can be passed
on from one generation to the

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next.
Because here was his mother, his

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grandmother first, who had that
same faith, that same character

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of faith, who passed it on to
her daughter, who passed it on

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to her son.
What a marvellous thing that is,

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to see that in that little
household, as difficult as it

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was to to to hang on tenaciously
to the truth, at least there was

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no hypocrisy there.
And his mother steadfastly

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holding on to the promises.
And once he came in contact with

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the apostles preaching and
understood that.

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Truth in Christ hung on
tenaciously to the hope of the

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Kingdom and her belief in
Christ.

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Their life matched.
There was no pretence.

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There was nothing that she
wanted to hide.

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There was nothing that anyone
else could know that wasn’t

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open.
If only our lives were always

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like that.
But we find that he was also

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timid, possibly rather retiring
in nature, because the apostle

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goes on to say in that same
chapter that we’re looking at

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here in Second of Timothy
chapter 1, he says, verse 6.

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Wherefore I put thee in
remembrance, that they’ll stir

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up the gift of God, which is in
thee by the putting on of my

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hands.
For God hath not given us the

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spirit of fear or timidity, but
of power and of love, and of a

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sound mind.
Be not thou therefore.

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Ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner.

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But be thou partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel,

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according to the power of God
you.

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Know there’s no indication
anywhere wherever.

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We look in the New Testament.
That Timothy was anything else

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but faithful to the apostle.
That he was faithful to his

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calling.
But he ever shield away from the

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functions which came his way on
many occasions.

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There’s never a hint of any of
that, and the.

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Apostle is not saying here that
he was often like that.

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He knew.
What his disposition was like.

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That’s all he’s saying.
God has not given us the.

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Spirit of timidity, Timothy, but
of power and of love, and of a

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00:15:24,760 –> 00:15:27,840
sound mind.
The Word of God has to put on

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top of your natural
characteristics.

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Don’t be ashamed.
Get out there and suffer the

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affliction.
If it comes, too bad, you’re a

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prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Accept it.

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And he did.
His faith was without hypocrisy,

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and if he believed young people,
his faith was so great that his.

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Actions matched it in every
respect and he stood up in

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circumstances that he didn’t
feel comfortable in.

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What a remarkable individual.
He was unassuming and we believe

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he was sensitive because in
verse four of second of Timothy

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1, the apostle says that he was
greatly desiring to see him,

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being mindful of his tears that
he may be filled with joy and on

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00:16:23,880 –> 00:16:28,400
their parting, obviously their
last parting, there were tears

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of affection and emotion.
The great apostle to the

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Gentiles.
That’s incredible intellectual.

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Who could bring the Jews down
with the the?

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Power of his mind and reasoning.
On the Old Testament himself was

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greatly desiring, mindful of the
tears of this young lad on their

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previous passing.
He was a sensitive boy.

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He didn’t have a strong
constitution because the apostle

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says in first of Timothy chapter
5 and verse 23, which we won’t

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00:17:09,400 –> 00:17:15,800
look at the moment, that he was
often sick, often sick.

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And that wouldn’t have made life
in Paul’s company very easy.

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A lad who would have had to
travel many hundreds, nay,

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00:17:27,599 –> 00:17:31,560
thousands of miles with the
apostle round and round in very

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00:17:31,560 –> 00:17:33,880
trying and difficult
circumstances.

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But he was sympathetic and
compassionate and encouraging.

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Wherever we find him.
We’ll come back to that

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characteristic of his a little
later.

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But perhaps when Paul met him,
one of the dominant

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00:17:50,640 –> 00:17:57,600
characteristics was his deep
conviction in the power of the

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00:17:57,600 –> 00:18:01,600
Word of God.
Just turn the page to 2nd of

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00:18:01,600 –> 00:18:07,400
Timothy chapter 3 to words that
we can all recite, no doubt by

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heart, I hope in verse 14, the
apostle says, and this is his

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00:18:12,400 –> 00:18:19,840
last words to to Timothy says,
but continue thou underline that

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word.
Continue thou on the things

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which thou hast learned.
It wasn’t as if this is an.

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00:18:24,320 –> 00:18:26,760
Exhortation for him to start
doing anything.

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Continue thou on the things
which thou hast learned has been

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00:18:29,800 –> 00:18:34,080
assured of knowing of whom thou
hast learned them, and that from

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a child, from an unborn babe.
The word means thou hast none.

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00:18:39,760 –> 00:18:43,440
The Holy Scriptures which are
able to make thee wise unto

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00:18:43,440 –> 00:18:47,640
salvation through faith that is
in Christ Jesus.

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Because all.
Scripture says the Apostle.

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And the youth think Timothy
didn’t know this.

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00:18:54,520 –> 00:18:57,920
Why was he telling him?
Why did he tell him that all

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00:18:57,920 –> 00:19:01,520
Scripture Timothy is given by
inspiration of God?

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00:19:01,760 –> 00:19:06,680
It’s God breathed and is
profitable for doctrine, for

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00:19:06,680 –> 00:19:10,080
reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness,

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that the man of God may be
perfect.

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Truly furnished, properly
equipped unto all good works.

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Do you think Timothy didn’t know
that?

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00:19:20,200 –> 00:19:23,760
Having been in the company of
the Apostle Paul for 15 years

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00:19:23,760 –> 00:19:24,720
of.
Course, he knew it.

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00:19:26,560 –> 00:19:31,400
But he reminded him again of the
power that had already driven

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00:19:31,400 –> 00:19:33,480
his life.
That’s all the apostle’s doing

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00:19:33,480 –> 00:19:39,320
here, reminding him of the
driving force of his life, his

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00:19:39,320 –> 00:19:43,240
own life as well as Timothy’s.
It was a characteristic that he

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00:19:43,240 –> 00:19:47,720
saw in that lad at the age of 16
or 17 in the town of.

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00:19:47,720 –> 00:19:54,000
Lystra in that home where he
lived with his mother, where

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00:19:54,000 –> 00:19:59,320
faith had been born UN
hypocritical faith.

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00:20:02,760 –> 00:20:10,240
But the word that we find in
verse 15 there which are able is

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in the Greek.
A word which means powerful.

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00:20:16,560 –> 00:20:19,520
It’s the word from which we get
our English word Dynamo.

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00:20:21,320 –> 00:20:24,160
And he’d seen this effect in
this lad.

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00:20:24,840 –> 00:20:29,400
Paul had already seen it.
He’d seen it from a lad when he

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00:20:29,400 –> 00:20:34,200
picked him up in Lystra on those
15 or 16 years before this time.

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00:20:35,240 –> 00:20:40,520
And he’d seen it ever since.
He’d seen the Scriptures as a

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00:20:41,120 –> 00:20:47,040
Dynamo in the life of that lad
because he knew there was power

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00:20:47,040 –> 00:20:54,800
there, power to change the
natural characteristics that we

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00:20:54,800 –> 00:20:57,760
actually have.
Into something that.

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00:20:57,760 –> 00:21:04,280
God can use and didn’t notice
where it ends that the man of

294
00:21:04,280 –> 00:21:10,280
God may be perfect.
Truly furnished unto all good

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00:21:10,280 –> 00:21:17,800
works, young people, the
Scriptures are powerful, more

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00:21:17,800 –> 00:21:21,480
powerful than we give them
credence, because we don’t tap

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00:21:21,480 –> 00:21:24,840
that power very often.
And brother and sisters, we’re

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00:21:24,840 –> 00:21:26,360
all in this situation, aren’t
we?

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00:21:26,960 –> 00:21:30,200
Very often in our lives, we lack
power.

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00:21:31,040 –> 00:21:35,560
We lack power to push them into
the direction we know they ought

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00:21:35,560 –> 00:21:40,160
to go.
But it’s only because we don’t

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00:21:40,160 –> 00:21:43,920
give our minds to it.
But the scriptures will not

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00:21:43,920 –> 00:21:45,800
just.
Affect our minds, they’re.

304
00:21:45,800 –> 00:21:49,200
Powerful to fit, to affect the
whole man.

305
00:21:50,120 –> 00:21:54,320
The whole being character is
going to be affected if we allow

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00:21:54,320 –> 00:21:56,880
that.
Power to generate in our minds.

307
00:21:57,240 –> 00:22:00,400
And it will end up in.
Good works inevitably.

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00:22:00,840 –> 00:22:04,080
And if there’s no.
Good works in the end if we’re

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00:22:04,080 –> 00:22:08,720
not thoroughly equipped in every
good work in the.

310
00:22:08,720 –> 00:22:13,400
End The power of the Scriptures
hasn’t been working.

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00:22:13,880 –> 00:22:18,520
We can rest assured of that.
In the end, God is going to look

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00:22:19,240 –> 00:22:22,960
for.
Developed characters with faith,

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00:22:23,920 –> 00:22:26,800
with endurance, without
hypocrisy.

314
00:22:28,080 –> 00:22:34,760
Lives that have been changed by
the power that’s in this book.

315
00:22:38,120 –> 00:22:43,480
And upon that young lad who’d
known the Scriptures from a

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00:22:43,480 –> 00:22:50,760
babe, the Apostle Paul, at the
age of 16 or 17, laid a yoke

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00:22:52,160 –> 00:23:00,080
upon his neck, a yoke that yoked
him and Timothy together.

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00:23:02,840 –> 00:23:05,720
And if we think that Timothy
really didn’t understand at that

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00:23:05,720 –> 00:23:09,880
stage what that yoke meant, and
that when the Apostle Paul came

320
00:23:09,880 –> 00:23:14,560
to that town on that day,
totally unexpected to him and

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00:23:14,560 –> 00:23:18,240
said, lad, I want you to come
with me.

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00:23:19,400 –> 00:23:24,040
If we think that young lad
didn’t know what that entailed,

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00:23:25,240 –> 00:23:30,400
then we just have to think again
and read the Scriptures because

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00:23:30,400 –> 00:23:36,400
a couple of chapters earlier in
Acts chapter 14, we know that

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00:23:36,400 –> 00:23:39,800
the apostle came to that region
and we won’t look at it now, but

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00:23:39,800 –> 00:23:41,640
he came to that region, young
people.

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00:23:42,640 –> 00:23:46,320
And he was stoned and taken out
of the city to dead and left him

328
00:23:46,320 –> 00:23:48,400
in heat.
And you know what?

329
00:23:48,840 –> 00:23:52,640
Around him we’re standing.
All the believers have just

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00:23:52,840 –> 00:23:56,080
accepted the truth.
And we find when he came the

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00:23:56,080 –> 00:24:00,680
second time, that his mother.
And he are called disciples.

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00:24:01,000 –> 00:24:07,120
That means that that young boy
Timothy, maybe 15 or 16, watched

333
00:24:07,800 –> 00:24:10,760
those angry Jews stone the
apostle.

334
00:24:10,760 –> 00:24:15,000
To to almost to death.
Drag him like a piece of rag and

335
00:24:15,280 –> 00:24:18,360
dump him outside the city.
And he went with tears in his

336
00:24:18,360 –> 00:24:19,320
eyes and stood outside that
city.

337
00:24:19,320 –> 00:24:24,320
And what’s that problem?
Just heard?

338
00:24:24,320 –> 00:24:29,280
That man found the truth and his
heart burned, and he watched

339
00:24:29,280 –> 00:24:34,320
that man get up by the parallel
growth.

340
00:24:34,600 –> 00:24:38,880
He’s resurrected in front of his
eyes, and he went back and they

341
00:24:38,880 –> 00:24:43,120
bathed.
His wounds and he didn’t rest

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00:24:43,120 –> 00:24:47,800
there for three months.
There’s work to be done.

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00:24:47,800 –> 00:24:52,600
He’s got to sit around.
This man had work to do and on

344
00:24:52,600 –> 00:24:56,360
that first journey he moved on
to the next town and the next

345
00:24:56,440 –> 00:24:58,280
and then came back and followed
the same.

346
00:24:58,280 –> 00:25:03,360
Path again, And Timothy knew all
of that.

347
00:25:05,880 –> 00:25:08,080
And the apostle tapped him on
the shoulder, and he said,

348
00:25:08,640 –> 00:25:12,760
Timothy, I want you to come with
me.

349
00:25:14,320 –> 00:25:15,720
What do you think that did to
that?

350
00:25:18,840 –> 00:25:26,600
He knew what it meant to deny
self, take up the cross daily,

351
00:25:26,880 –> 00:25:31,680
and follow him.
And as the Apostle Paul was was

352
00:25:31,800 –> 00:25:39,520
Christ to the Gentiles, so now
the Christ to the Gentiles had

353
00:25:39,520 –> 00:25:43,920
yoked this young man to him.
And he said to.

354
00:25:43,920 –> 00:25:51,320
Him in effect, Timothy, bear
this yoke in your youth.

355
00:25:52,600 –> 00:25:56,760
Take this yoke upon me.
Remember from our study last

356
00:25:56,760 –> 00:26:00,280
Saturday night.
Take this yoke upon me, and

357
00:26:00,280 –> 00:26:03,240
learn from me and the.
Apostle was now saying just

358
00:26:03,240 –> 00:26:08,920
those words to this young lad,
because this man to whom he was

359
00:26:08,920 –> 00:26:12,840
now to be yoked.
Was able to say like no other

360
00:26:13,080 –> 00:26:18,680
could ever have said no history
be he follows of me as I also am

361
00:26:18,680 –> 00:26:24,360
of Christ and to walk in his
steps or to be LinkedIn yoke

362
00:26:24,360 –> 00:26:27,240
with him.
Was to be LinkedIn yoke with

363
00:26:27,240 –> 00:26:31,280
Christ.
And so began young people, the

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00:26:31,280 –> 00:26:34,040
greatest and most productive
partnership.

365
00:26:34,160 –> 00:26:36,880
In the history of the New
Testament, and that’s no

366
00:26:36,880 –> 00:26:41,960
exaggeration, during the next
eight years, the apostle Paul

367
00:26:41,960 –> 00:26:45,920
founded over the world, all over
the world.

368
00:26:46,120 –> 00:26:49,520
You know the story of Acts.
He cared and nourished with him.

369
00:26:49,520 –> 00:26:55,920
He travelled back, he stayed up
all night in prayer times on

370
00:26:55,920 –> 00:26:58,040
behalf of those Aquinas.
He recalled that he wrote

371
00:26:59,800 –> 00:27:06,120
messengers all over the world.
And every eight years Timothy is

372
00:27:06,120 –> 00:27:11,040
yoked to him.
Do you know that half of the New

373
00:27:11,040 –> 00:27:14,160
Testament?
Was written more than half of it

374
00:27:14,160 –> 00:27:19,760
was written by the apostle Paul,
but half of it also has Paul and

375
00:27:19,760 –> 00:27:27,800
Apostle and Timothy unto the.
Timothy, a young man at that

376
00:27:27,800 –> 00:27:33,280
stage, has his name as one of
the authors of half of the New

377
00:27:33,320 –> 00:27:38,760
Testament.
Because he’s yoked inseparably

378
00:27:39,320 –> 00:27:44,800
with the great apostle Paul.
Because that man tapped him on

379
00:27:44,800 –> 00:27:49,800
the shoulder and said, I want
you to learn in youth what it

380
00:27:49,800 –> 00:27:54,720
means to bear the yoke.
Now, the Apostle Paul was a

381
00:27:54,720 –> 00:27:59,520
unique individual.
He was prophesied right back in

382
00:27:59,520 –> 00:28:03,720
the times of Isaiah.
And he was called by gods to

383
00:28:03,760 –> 00:28:06,360
fill up the sufferings of
Messiah.

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00:28:06,920 –> 00:28:11,120
He was Christ to the Gentiles,
and he even used the language of

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00:28:11,120 –> 00:28:14,040
Messiah on occasions.
He was a remarkable man,

386
00:28:14,240 –> 00:28:16,600
absolutely remarkable in every
respect.

387
00:28:17,320 –> 00:28:21,520
He was a man of powerful
intellects, of incredible

388
00:28:21,520 –> 00:28:26,680
conviction and determination.
We can scarcely imagine the

389
00:28:26,680 –> 00:28:30,720
determined will of steel.
That man had pushed him all over

390
00:28:30,720 –> 00:28:33,800
the then known world.
He was a man of vision, a man of

391
00:28:33,920 –> 00:28:36,960
incredible drive.
And you know, brothers and

392
00:28:36,960 –> 00:28:38,680
sisters and young people, anyone
that.

393
00:28:38,840 –> 00:28:39,600
Fell.
In.

394
00:28:39,800 –> 00:28:42,000
To that company with the Apostle
Paul.

395
00:28:42,240 –> 00:28:47,240
Was profoundly affected for the
rest of their lives, and no

396
00:28:47,320 –> 00:28:52,160
one’s ever stayed in his company
who was unprepared to put the

397
00:28:52,160 –> 00:28:56,360
truth before all personal
comforts, all personal

398
00:28:56,360 –> 00:28:59,440
considerations.
You couldn’t be in the company

399
00:28:59,440 –> 00:29:02,720
of the apostle and travel around
the world and be thinking of

400
00:29:02,720 –> 00:29:05,360
your own personal needs.
Couldn’t do it.

401
00:29:06,360 –> 00:29:10,160
That’s the sort of man he was.
He set very tough personal

402
00:29:10,160 –> 00:29:15,880
standards and with a great
inspiration to all those in his

403
00:29:15,880 –> 00:29:18,320
company.
You know, if anyone, it doesn’t

404
00:29:18,320 –> 00:29:21,000
matter who it was, came into
Paul’s company.

405
00:29:21,960 –> 00:29:25,880
They would very quickly learn
the meaning of self denial, of

406
00:29:25,880 –> 00:29:28,520
sacrifice, of the meaning of
service.

407
00:29:29,320 –> 00:29:33,600
They’re things that we really,
in this soft and savvy age, know

408
00:29:33,600 –> 00:29:34,880
very little.
About.

409
00:29:35,920 –> 00:29:40,840
And we ought.
To know more, they knew how to

410
00:29:40,840 –> 00:29:46,200
abound and how to suffer need.
They would very quickly learn

411
00:29:47,080 –> 00:29:51,840
what it was to suffer unjustly
for the name of Christ.

412
00:29:53,040 –> 00:29:58,920
They would learn what it meant
to be patient, to endure in well

413
00:29:58,920 –> 00:30:02,760
doing.
They would learn very powerfully

414
00:30:02,760 –> 00:30:04,960
how to rightly.
Divide the word of truth and.

415
00:30:05,720 –> 00:30:07,800
They’d learn the thrill of the
scriptures.

416
00:30:07,880 –> 00:30:11,320
Then you imagine sitting down at
night with the Apostle Paul as

417
00:30:11,320 –> 00:30:15,480
he began to sow his tent to make
some money so that the party

418
00:30:15,480 –> 00:30:20,920
that he was travelling with were
were cared for, as he began to

419
00:30:20,920 –> 00:30:27,360
talk about Isaiah, the visions
of of Ezekiel and the glory of

420
00:30:27,360 –> 00:30:30,880
the Kingdom.
Can you imagine the exhilaration

421
00:30:30,880 –> 00:30:35,040
of of that time, those times,
precious though they must have

422
00:30:35,040 –> 00:30:42,520
been to a young lad of 17 who
was soaking up all that he

423
00:30:42,520 –> 00:30:46,480
heard?
No one could be in the company

424
00:30:46,720 –> 00:30:54,120
of the apostle and not know what
it was to be committed to

425
00:30:54,120 –> 00:31:00,120
Christ.
At the end of the apostles life.

426
00:31:02,000 –> 00:31:05,640
He wrote to Timothy.
We’ve got the words open here,

427
00:31:05,640 –> 00:31:07,920
haven’t we?
Chapter 3 of Second Timothy.

428
00:31:08,280 –> 00:31:11,840
Let’s read them.
This is what the apostle said.

429
00:31:13,520 –> 00:31:17,480
Verse 10 of. 2nd of Timothy.
Three.

430
00:31:18,480 –> 00:31:20,720
But thou hast fully known my
doctrine.

431
00:31:20,960 –> 00:31:23,840
Look at the margin.
A much better translation.

432
00:31:25,200 –> 00:31:36,440
But thou hast been a diligent
follower of my doctrine, of my

433
00:31:36,440 –> 00:31:45,720
manner of life, of my purpose to
win Christ, of my faith, which

434
00:31:45,720 –> 00:31:49,160
is the same as yours, Timothy,
without hypocrisy.

435
00:31:49,520 –> 00:31:54,480
Of my long-suffering, of my
love.

436
00:31:55,360 –> 00:32:03,360
Of my patient endurance in well
doing, of my persecutions, of my

437
00:32:03,360 –> 00:32:06,640
pressures and afflictions that
came unto me at all these other.

438
00:32:06,640 –> 00:32:08,240
Places out of which the Lord
delivered me.

439
00:32:09,080 –> 00:32:14,160
Timothy, you’ve been a patience
and diligent follower of all of

440
00:32:14,160 –> 00:32:19,360
those things in my life.
What a testimony and eight

441
00:32:19,480 –> 00:32:23,000
years.
After leaving Lystra, the

442
00:32:23,000 –> 00:32:30,160
apostle Paul was locked in a
yoke with that young man, and

443
00:32:30,160 –> 00:32:33,680
Timothy went.
Through all the pressures, all

444
00:32:33,680 –> 00:32:39,640
the troubles, all the
sufferings, all the joys in

445
00:32:39,640 –> 00:32:44,120
founding new eccleses, and
seeing this spontaneous response

446
00:32:44,120 –> 00:32:46,920
of brethren who turned from the
world and come to.

447
00:32:46,920 –> 00:32:53,320
Christ, but the anguish of
those, the Jews particularly,

448
00:32:53,440 –> 00:32:58,520
who fought him at every step.
Let’s just follow the early part

449
00:32:58,520 –> 00:33:03,120
of the life of this young man
when he’s in his youth, probably

450
00:33:03,120 –> 00:33:06,960
still his teens.
Come back to Acts Chapter 17.

451
00:33:29,080 –> 00:33:35,280
They left the little town of
Lystra and moved across Asia

452
00:33:35,280 –> 00:33:37,840
Minor.
They were prevented of the

453
00:33:37,840 –> 00:33:40,080
Spirit.
We know the story of of these

454
00:33:40,080 –> 00:33:43,320
journeys.
No doubt they came across being

455
00:33:43,320 –> 00:33:45,640
prevented by the Spirit until
they got to Trois.

456
00:33:45,640 –> 00:33:47,440
Where they saw a.
Vision and they went across the

457
00:33:47,440 –> 00:33:53,120
sea and into Macedonia and came
to Philippi and there we know

458
00:33:53,120 –> 00:33:57,040
what happened, Paul and Silas.
Were put in prison.

459
00:33:58,800 –> 00:34:04,120
They weren’t just put in prison,
they were beaten with many.

460
00:34:04,120 –> 00:34:07,920
Stripes, the record tells us.
And I ask you.

461
00:34:07,920 –> 00:34:15,080
Where was Timothy in all that?
He was in that party, along with

462
00:34:15,080 –> 00:34:20,000
Luke and possibly others.
We don’t know, but Silas.

463
00:34:20,040 –> 00:34:23,560
And and Paul were taken.
Being quite clearly the leaders

464
00:34:23,560 –> 00:34:29,440
of that group and beaten with
many stripes, so much so that

465
00:34:29,440 –> 00:34:32,679
their backs were bleeding and
raw, and they went into that

466
00:34:32,679 –> 00:34:36,280
prison house that night.
And Can you imagine the this

467
00:34:36,280 –> 00:34:41,560
young lad, Timothy, only months
out of his mother’s home at 17,

468
00:34:41,560 –> 00:34:48,400
perhaps standing up to that and
staying awake all night

469
00:34:48,880 –> 00:34:51,679
wondering what was going to
happen next?

470
00:34:52,360 –> 00:34:57,000
What had he got himself into?
You know, I don’t believe he

471
00:34:57,000 –> 00:35:02,200
thought like that at all.
I believe that night he would

472
00:35:02,200 –> 00:35:08,400
have been praying earnestly,
praying earnestly for the

473
00:35:08,400 –> 00:35:12,600
apostle and Silas.
But he saw.

474
00:35:12,600 –> 00:35:18,280
It all and he saw the response.
When they eventually, after the

475
00:35:18,280 –> 00:35:19,840
earthquake, had come out of that
prison.

476
00:35:21,120 –> 00:35:25,760
He saw the the joy and.
Power in that ecclesia, the

477
00:35:25,760 –> 00:35:29,080
enthusiasm of that little
ecclesia that formed around

478
00:35:29,080 –> 00:35:36,000
Lydia’s house in Philippi, and
Paul and Silas, still with very

479
00:35:36,000 –> 00:35:42,920
deep wounds, still in very bad
shape, made their way on.

480
00:35:44,400 –> 00:35:51,200
They couldn’t rest for too long.
Verse 1 of chapter 17 And now

481
00:35:51,200 –> 00:35:54,520
when they had passed through
Anthropolacan Apollonia, they

482
00:35:54,520 –> 00:35:57,480
came to Thessalonica, where was
the synagogue of the Jews.

483
00:35:59,280 –> 00:36:03,040
And we find that in the next two
verses the apostle Paul goes to

484
00:36:03,040 –> 00:36:07,080
reason in the Sabbath and.
And with great courage and

485
00:36:07,360 –> 00:36:12,080
dexterity.
He out reasoned the Jews opening

486
00:36:12,080 –> 00:36:14,560
in alleging verse three that
Christ must needs to have

487
00:36:14,560 –> 00:36:15,800
suffered and risen from the
dead.

488
00:36:16,160 –> 00:36:17,320
Wouldn’t you like to have been
in that?

489
00:36:17,400 –> 00:36:19,640
Audience and nor was the young
Timothy listening to.

490
00:36:19,640 –> 00:36:21,240
All those words, these things
are the.

491
00:36:21,240 –> 00:36:25,680
Masterly handling by the Apostle
Paul of the Word of God in.

492
00:36:25,680 –> 00:36:30,200
Public divide in defence of the
truth, upholding Christ as being

493
00:36:30,200 –> 00:36:33,840
the center of all the prophets
and of all God’s revelation, in

494
00:36:33,880 –> 00:36:38,120
fact the center of His purpose.
Then the evidence of God’s love

495
00:36:38,120 –> 00:36:42,600
into the world and then there’s
an uproar starts because the

496
00:36:42,600 –> 00:36:45,720
Jews get word of it and they
come and try and looking for

497
00:36:45,720 –> 00:36:50,560
Saul and Silas, and they attack
Jason’s house in verse 5.

498
00:36:50,720 –> 00:36:52,760
And they sought to bring them
out to the people, but they

499
00:36:52,800 –> 00:36:54,280
weren’t there.
Verse 6.

500
00:36:54,280 –> 00:36:57,760
And when they found them not,
they drew Jason and certain

501
00:36:57,760 –> 00:37:00,040
brethren under the rulers of the
city crying.

502
00:37:00,720 –> 00:37:04,280
These that have turned the world
upside down are come.

503
00:37:04,480 –> 00:37:05,680
You know, hit her.
Also.

504
00:37:06,640 –> 00:37:09,200
Now who did they take?
Of course, there were some who

505
00:37:09,200 –> 00:37:12,000
had accepted the truth in those
in the little time that they’d

506
00:37:12,000 –> 00:37:15,120
been in personal like her, but
they didn’t find Silas and they

507
00:37:15,120 –> 00:37:16,960
didn’t find Paul.
That’s who they were.

508
00:37:16,960 –> 00:37:20,800
After we read it, we don’t even
read that Timothy was here, but

509
00:37:20,800 –> 00:37:24,240
we definitely know that he was
because just a little further

510
00:37:24,240 –> 00:37:26,040
down the column we find that he
appears.

511
00:37:26,320 –> 00:37:30,080
But he must have been around
somewhere, and perhaps brethren

512
00:37:30,080 –> 00:37:33,800
and sisters and young people.
Perhaps he was one of those

513
00:37:33,800 –> 00:37:37,480
certain brethren in verse 6
because they said to the rulers,

514
00:37:37,480 –> 00:37:40,120
listen to these words, these
that have.

515
00:37:40,120 –> 00:37:45,040
Turned the world upside down.
They didn’t find Saul, Paul and

516
00:37:45,040 –> 00:37:47,200
Silas.
So who were they talking about?

517
00:37:48,040 –> 00:37:52,240
Had they grabbed?
Luke and and possibly young

518
00:37:52,240 –> 00:37:57,440
Timothy well on bail.
They let them go, and the

519
00:37:57,440 –> 00:38:01,840
brethren in verse 10 went away
and to Berea after that narrow

520
00:38:01,840 –> 00:38:05,080
escape like you to remember that
they were just in Thessalaika.

521
00:38:05,080 –> 00:38:08,440
And that was a close shave for
Timothy, because we’ll come back

522
00:38:08,440 –> 00:38:10,800
to that in just a moment.
And they come to Berea.

523
00:38:11,080 –> 00:38:15,200
And there, as we well know in
verse 11, they were more noble

524
00:38:15,200 –> 00:38:17,840
than those in Thessalaika in
that they received the Word with

525
00:38:17,840 –> 00:38:20,720
all readiness of mind and
searched the Scriptures daily

526
00:38:21,000 –> 00:38:24,000
whether those things were so.
And you can just imagine young

527
00:38:24,000 –> 00:38:26,720
Timothy in his absolute.
Element here was not the.

528
00:38:26,720 –> 00:38:28,640
Rough and tumble crowd.
Because he wasn’t.

529
00:38:28,920 –> 00:38:34,800
He wasn’t a boisterous and and
strong and dominant character at

530
00:38:34,800 –> 00:38:38,400
all.
He was rather the reverse.

531
00:38:39,400 –> 00:38:43,920
And here in Berea he sat down
quietly and searched the

532
00:38:43,920 –> 00:38:45,360
scriptures daily.
The.

533
00:38:45,360 –> 00:38:47,760
Scriptures that had been
inculcated.

534
00:38:47,760 –> 00:38:51,360
Infused into his mind since he
was a young lad were.

535
00:38:51,360 –> 00:38:55,120
All now being put into place and
he’s finding that he’s teaching

536
00:38:55,120 –> 00:39:00,280
already at.
The age of possibly only 18, but

537
00:39:00,280 –> 00:39:06,040
you know that didn’t last too
long and we find that though

538
00:39:06,040 –> 00:39:09,640
many believed in that place and
it must have been a thrill to

539
00:39:09,640 –> 00:39:14,040
his heart to see those turning
from from idols unto the living

540
00:39:14,040 –> 00:39:16,280
God.
Yet the disruption of those

541
00:39:16,280 –> 00:39:20,400
fanatical Jews from Thess and
Alaika soon bursting on that

542
00:39:20,400 –> 00:39:21,640
town.
They followed them down the

543
00:39:21,640 –> 00:39:24,760
track and eventually they got
there and they were asked to

544
00:39:24,760 –> 00:39:30,160
pull and we find in verse 14 and
then immediately the brethren

545
00:39:30,160 –> 00:39:31,880
sent away.
Paul to go, as it were by.

546
00:39:31,880 –> 00:39:35,920
Sea, but Silas and Timotheus
abode their still.

547
00:39:36,520 –> 00:39:40,000
Aha, here he is.
This is the second occurrence of

548
00:39:40,000 –> 00:39:43,560
his name in the record.
Now why was it left out and why

549
00:39:43,560 –> 00:39:45,240
is it now here?
Brethren and sisters.

550
00:39:45,520 –> 00:39:48,640
Surely.
Something has changed.

551
00:39:48,880 –> 00:39:51,440
Now he’s being called in the
record.

552
00:39:51,560 –> 00:39:55,080
He’s being named in this record
as one that’s staying back here

553
00:39:55,080 –> 00:39:57,240
with Silas.
Clearly, these Jews were.

554
00:39:57,240 –> 00:40:00,600
After the head of the Apostle
Paul, he was their number one

555
00:40:00,600 –> 00:40:07,520
target, but now he’s mentioned
Notice as a partner in the.

556
00:40:07,520 –> 00:40:10,560
Work.
Up until now, it’s only been

557
00:40:10,560 –> 00:40:15,560
Paul and Silas, and even though
we know that there were others

558
00:40:15,560 –> 00:40:17,160
in that party, they’re never
mentioned.

559
00:40:17,440 –> 00:40:20,440
But now, once Paul’s taken out
of the way the record.

560
00:40:20,440 –> 00:40:24,080
Tells us that.
Silas and Timotheus are standing

561
00:40:24,080 –> 00:40:25,480
there.
They’re left.

562
00:40:25,480 –> 00:40:27,680
There to hold.
The foot to stand up for the

563
00:40:27,680 –> 00:40:30,000
truth.
To be a witness in that place

564
00:40:30,560 –> 00:40:33,560
and Paul was taken off, as we
find, down to Athens.

565
00:40:34,480 –> 00:40:38,160
And how long he was there, we
don’t know, but it doesn’t seem

566
00:40:38,160 –> 00:40:41,080
as though it was very long
before he called Silas and

567
00:40:41,080 –> 00:40:43,920
Timothy back to him.
And though he.

568
00:40:43,920 –> 00:40:46,760
While they were absent, went up
on to Mars Hill and gave the

569
00:40:46,760 –> 00:40:50,320
speech that we find in Acts 17.
Let’s turn straight over that

570
00:40:50,320 –> 00:40:53,440
and come to chapter 18 where we
pick up the thread of the story

571
00:40:55,200 –> 00:40:59,240
because here we find that after
these things, but from Athens

572
00:40:59,760 –> 00:41:03,280
and came to Corinth, Paul
departed from Athens.

573
00:41:03,560 –> 00:41:06,120
Where’s Silas and Timothy?
He had.

574
00:41:06,120 –> 00:41:11,720
When he was there in in Corinth,
oh sorry, in Athens had called

575
00:41:11,720 –> 00:41:16,040
for them to come up to him.
And now we find that he’s moving

576
00:41:16,040 –> 00:41:19,960
on alone down to Corinth.
And there he met Aquila and

577
00:41:19,960 –> 00:41:27,200
Priscilla, we find in verse 2.
But verse 5 And when Silas and

578
00:41:27,200 –> 00:41:32,520
Timotheus were come from
Macedonia, Paul was pressed in

579
00:41:32,520 –> 00:41:35,480
the Spirit and testified to the
Jews that Jesus was Christ.

580
00:41:35,800 –> 00:41:39,040
So they obviously hadn’t got
there, or so it seems.

581
00:41:39,520 –> 00:41:42,360
That Paul had moved on.
Already before they got there,

582
00:41:42,360 –> 00:41:45,160
you know.
That’s not actually the.

583
00:41:45,280 –> 00:41:50,120
Case because we’re told in
Thessalonians that Paul called

584
00:41:50,120 –> 00:41:54,560
them back when he was still
there in Athens.

585
00:41:55,080 –> 00:41:58,320
To give them a Commission to go
back into Macedonia, into the

586
00:41:58,320 –> 00:42:01,240
region of Thessalonica and
Philippi, to strengthen the

587
00:42:01,240 –> 00:42:05,480
president there because he was
deeply concerned that the

588
00:42:05,720 –> 00:42:07,800
fanatical.
Jews who had chased them all the

589
00:42:07,800 –> 00:42:11,680
way down to now he’s being at
Corinth had chased him all the

590
00:42:11,680 –> 00:42:17,160
way down the Aegean Peninsula
would likewise be putting great

591
00:42:17,160 –> 00:42:20,120
strain and pressure on the
brethren who had only just newly

592
00:42:20,120 –> 00:42:22,600
accepted Christ.
You know, the apostle Paul had

593
00:42:22,600 –> 00:42:26,160
this enormous breadth of vision
and concern.

594
00:42:27,120 –> 00:42:32,160
It’s a tremendous spirit to to
emulate brethren and sisters and

595
00:42:32,160 –> 00:42:34,880
young people.
A concern for his brethren,

596
00:42:34,880 –> 00:42:38,200
wherever they were.
If they didn’t belong to the

597
00:42:38,200 –> 00:42:39,600
equation that.
He was in.

598
00:42:40,200 –> 00:42:41,720
It didn’t mean that he had
nothing to do.

599
00:42:41,720 –> 00:42:43,000
With them, that didn’t mean that
he didn’t.

600
00:42:43,000 –> 00:42:45,160
Pray for them.
He was always.

601
00:42:45,160 –> 00:42:48,040
Concerned for his brethren
wherever they were, and the

602
00:42:48,040 –> 00:42:51,560
breadth of his vision was
astronomical.

603
00:42:52,080 –> 00:42:56,520
You know that young lad Timothy
learned to view the whole

604
00:42:56,520 –> 00:43:00,560
ecclesial world in the same way.
It’s a remarkable thing that we

605
00:43:00,560 –> 00:43:05,080
find Timothy eventually having
the same spirit as this great

606
00:43:05,080 –> 00:43:07,280
apostle.
The apostle didn’t.

607
00:43:07,720 –> 00:43:09,360
He could hardly.
Think this was fair?

608
00:43:09,360 –> 00:43:12,400
This Timothy ended.
Only picked up six months

609
00:43:12,480 –> 00:43:14,640
before.
Taken him through and seen all

610
00:43:14,640 –> 00:43:17,760
these horrendous events down
through the track and he calls

611
00:43:17,760 –> 00:43:21,200
him through here to Athens and
he says to him now Timothy, I’ve

612
00:43:21,200 –> 00:43:24,040
got an assignment for you 6
months in.

613
00:43:24,680 –> 00:43:29,840
He’s 18 young people and he says
I’ve got assignment for you too,

614
00:43:29,840 –> 00:43:31,720
Silas.
Silas, I want you to go back

615
00:43:31,720 –> 00:43:35,560
into Macedonia and to strengthen
the ecclesias up there in

616
00:43:35,560 –> 00:43:37,160
Philippi.
You remember where we got

617
00:43:37,160 –> 00:43:40,040
beaten?
I want you to go right back into

618
00:43:40,040 –> 00:43:44,280
the lion’s mouth.
And Timothy, do you know where I

619
00:43:44,280 –> 00:43:46,840
want you to go?
I want you to go to

620
00:43:46,880 –> 00:43:53,720
Thessalonica, where the
opposition was its fiercest and

621
00:43:53,720 –> 00:43:58,600
Timothy would have weakened at
the knees, but and especially

622
00:43:58,600 –> 00:44:00,600
alone.
And the apostle must have said

623
00:44:00,600 –> 00:44:03,800
to him.
Timothy Silas will accompany you

624
00:44:03,800 –> 00:44:07,280
there and then go on.
And I want you to gather up the

625
00:44:07,280 –> 00:44:09,360
Ecclesia.
You have a look at what he says.

626
00:44:10,160 –> 00:44:12,280
About this lad in First of
Thessalonians.

627
00:44:12,480 –> 00:44:16,080
In chapter Chapter 3.
The apostle himself couldn’t go

628
00:44:16,080 –> 00:44:18,080
back.
We’re told that in

629
00:44:18,080 –> 00:44:21,520
Thessalonians, first of
Thessalonians, chapter 3.

630
00:44:24,160 –> 00:44:28,880
Suppose first of all in chapter
2 and verse 18 he says there

631
00:44:28,880 –> 00:44:32,920
that even I Paul once again
we’re just going to come under

632
00:44:32,920 –> 00:44:35,040
them, but Satan hindered.
US.

633
00:44:35,400 –> 00:44:37,280
The Jews, that’s who.
Satan is there.

634
00:44:37,280 –> 00:44:40,080
Those fanatical Jews had
prevented him going.

635
00:44:40,160 –> 00:44:42,040
He knew that he’d lose his wife
and.

636
00:44:42,240 –> 00:44:46,040
Possibly he’d been given a
vision to to say not to go, but

637
00:44:46,040 –> 00:44:48,200
he knew that it was very
dangerous for him to go.

638
00:44:48,440 –> 00:44:51,600
But he could send Timothy and he
could send Silas.

639
00:44:51,600 –> 00:44:55,720
Silas.
And in verse 1 of chapter 3, and

640
00:44:55,720 –> 00:44:57,800
this is a letter written not
long after.

641
00:44:59,000 –> 00:45:02,320
He says, Wherefore, when we
could no longer for bear, we

642
00:45:02,320 –> 00:45:03,440
thought it.
Good.

643
00:45:03,440 –> 00:45:06,400
To be left at Athens alone.
The Apostle Paul never ever

644
00:45:06,400 –> 00:45:09,360
wanted to be alone, never ever
wanted that.

645
00:45:09,880 –> 00:45:12,520
But he thought it good to be
left alone, and he sent

646
00:45:12,520 –> 00:45:15,200
Timotheus.
Our brother and minister of God,

647
00:45:15,200 –> 00:45:18,520
and our fellow labourer in the
gospel of Christ, to establish

648
00:45:18,520 –> 00:45:21,080
you and to comfort you
concerning your faith, that no

649
00:45:21,080 –> 00:45:23,720
man should be moved from these
afflictions for yourselves.

650
00:45:23,720 –> 00:45:25,560
Know that we are appointed
thereunto.

651
00:45:25,880 –> 00:45:28,760
For verily, when we were with
you, we told you before that you

652
00:45:28,760 –> 00:45:31,800
could suffer tribulation even
even as it came to pass.

653
00:45:31,800 –> 00:45:35,440
As you know, what an amazing
thing.

654
00:45:36,840 –> 00:45:41,960
Did you notice what the Apostle
Paul says about this 18 year old

655
00:45:41,960 –> 00:45:44,040
lad that he’d picked up six
months before?

656
00:45:44,880 –> 00:45:53,880
He calls him our brother, the
minister of God, and our fellow

657
00:45:53,880 –> 00:45:57,240
labourer in the Gospel of
Christ.

658
00:45:58,560 –> 00:46:05,040
What an incredible testimony.
And he sends this young lad of

659
00:46:05,040 –> 00:46:10,960
shy and timid disposition right
back into one of the worst areas

660
00:46:10,960 –> 00:46:14,160
of persecution and.
Uproar in order to gather up.

661
00:46:14,240 –> 00:46:19,920
The brethren and to do 2 things
to establish we find here to

662
00:46:19,920 –> 00:46:22,360
establish.
You or to establish.

663
00:46:22,360 –> 00:46:24,760
You in the.
Faith in your faith, as the RSV

664
00:46:24,760 –> 00:46:27,840
says, and to comfort.
You that no man should be moved

665
00:46:27,840 –> 00:46:35,880
by these afflictions, and he
sent Timothy, but all to comfort

666
00:46:35,880 –> 00:46:37,960
and exhaust them, that they
shouldn’t be moved by

667
00:46:37,960 –> 00:46:40,320
afflictions.
And here’s the poor young lad

668
00:46:40,560 –> 00:46:47,120
skating in his boots.
No, it wasn’t an easy thing for

669
00:46:47,120 –> 00:46:48,280
Timothy.
Did you go back there?

670
00:46:48,920 –> 00:46:52,520
Not an easy thing at all.
He was often sick and the

671
00:46:52,520 –> 00:46:55,080
Apostle Paul told him to take a
little wine for his stomach.

672
00:46:55,080 –> 00:46:58,520
So just settle his stomach.
And here his stomach must have

673
00:46:58,520 –> 00:47:00,920
been an absolute NOx as he
trudged out that ring.

674
00:47:00,960 –> 00:47:02,880
He didn’t argue with the
apostle.

675
00:47:03,920 –> 00:47:08,080
He had a faith that believed so
implicitly in God that he’d.

676
00:47:08,600 –> 00:47:10,640
He’d go the road that the
apostle had told him.

677
00:47:11,840 –> 00:47:14,800
He was yoked with that man, and
though he had to stay back there

678
00:47:15,560 –> 00:47:18,360
and the apostle was unable to
go, he would go himself alone

679
00:47:18,880 –> 00:47:22,360
and would go he did.
And despite his natural

680
00:47:22,360 –> 00:47:28,240
reticence and and natural lack
of courage and boldness, he goes

681
00:47:28,240 –> 00:47:31,800
to that little ecclesia.
Why did the apostles send him?

682
00:47:32,200 –> 00:47:34,600
Why did he send one of the other
companions that were there?

683
00:47:34,600 –> 00:47:37,920
Oh, for a very good reason,
rather than sisters and young

684
00:47:37,920 –> 00:47:39,800
people.
For a very good reason.

685
00:47:40,600 –> 00:47:47,920
He sent him precisely because he
was timid, because he was

686
00:47:47,920 –> 00:47:51,440
naturally scared.
Of those circumstances.

687
00:47:51,800 –> 00:47:54,080
Because he wasn’t a as bold as a
lion.

688
00:47:54,440 –> 00:47:56,920
He wasn’t going to March into
that ecclesia and say, now

689
00:47:56,920 –> 00:48:01,960
listen, don’t worry about them,
God will deal with them.

690
00:48:01,960 –> 00:48:04,440
And some time later, he.
Didn’t March in and say that.

691
00:48:04,640 –> 00:48:07,640
He came in, knees knocking back
into them, and gather that

692
00:48:07,640 –> 00:48:11,040
little.
Group together and he opened the

693
00:48:11,040 –> 00:48:16,880
scriptures and he got excited by
what he saw and it gave him

694
00:48:16,880 –> 00:48:22,240
courage and he said, brethren.
This is what God has for us to

695
00:48:22,240 –> 00:48:26,560
develop our characters.
We have to overcome our natural,

696
00:48:26,920 –> 00:48:30,080
our natural fear of those awful
faces out there.

697
00:48:30,080 –> 00:48:33,080
Don’t be afraid of them.
I’ve come all the way back here.

698
00:48:33,320 –> 00:48:36,200
Brethren, lift your eyes onto
the Kingdom.

699
00:48:36,760 –> 00:48:40,000
If they took your next moment
will be with Christ.

700
00:48:40,680 –> 00:48:42,440
And so he continued to exhort
them.

701
00:48:43,680 –> 00:48:45,440
And they knew that he was
terrified.

702
00:48:46,240 –> 00:48:50,080
They knew he was terrified in
that place, but it didn’t stop

703
00:48:50,080 –> 00:48:52,560
him going there and it didn’t
stop him encouraging him.

704
00:48:52,880 –> 00:48:55,800
It didn’t stop him opening the
word of God and being excited by

705
00:48:55,800 –> 00:48:57,800
that.
You know what that’s saying,

706
00:48:57,800 –> 00:49:01,400
young people, the word of God
has power to change us.

707
00:49:01,400 –> 00:49:06,000
It’s got power in to change our
natural behaviour.

708
00:49:06,160 –> 00:49:11,080
Never ever let it be simple.
We can’t do this or that that.

709
00:49:11,080 –> 00:49:14,120
It’s not in our makeup wasn’t in
his either.

710
00:49:14,240 –> 00:49:17,640
And the apostle Paul marched him
into that city and said.

711
00:49:18,680 –> 00:49:21,840
Timothy do this for me, and he
did it.

712
00:49:24,480 –> 00:49:26,800
And the Apostle Paul is sitting
on the edge.

713
00:49:26,800 –> 00:49:30,200
Of his seat.
All the time pacing up and down

714
00:49:30,200 –> 00:49:33,560
in Corinth, wondering what to
do, how things are going.

715
00:49:33,840 –> 00:49:36,160
Were there any brethren left in
any of those centres?

716
00:49:36,440 –> 00:49:40,040
How was Silas?
Managing And what about Timothy?

717
00:49:41,040 –> 00:49:45,000
And every night and every
morning, he was on his knees in.

718
00:49:45,000 –> 00:49:52,680
Prayer for their safety.
Come back to Acts 18, Acts 18

719
00:49:52,680 –> 00:49:56,800
and verse 5 and when Silas catch
the.

720
00:49:56,800 –> 00:50:00,520
Spirit of this When Silas and
Timotheus were come from

721
00:50:00,520 –> 00:50:07,320
Macedonia, Paul was urged on in
the Word, as Rotherham says, and

722
00:50:07,320 –> 00:50:10,000
testified to the Jews that Jesus
was Christ.

723
00:50:10,200 –> 00:50:14,400
He’d been waiting anxiously, and
when they arrived invite his

724
00:50:14,400 –> 00:50:18,760
spirits because he saw them
again, His beloved companions

725
00:50:18,760 –> 00:50:21,480
who had faithfully carried out
his will, and they brought with

726
00:50:21,840 –> 00:50:25,800
with them a message of joy and
hope that the desert had

727
00:50:26,120 –> 00:50:29,120
tenaciously hung on and held the
faith and they.

728
00:50:29,160 –> 00:50:35,120
Weren’t weren’t being pushed
around by those wretched Jews

729
00:50:35,560 –> 00:50:42,360
and being afraid by them.
And it inspired him to greater

730
00:50:42,360 –> 00:50:46,120
efforts.
But they were in Corinth for 18

731
00:50:46,120 –> 00:50:50,240
months and moved across to
Ephesus, across the sea.

732
00:50:51,440 –> 00:50:55,160
And then Paul went to Jerusalem.
We don’t know whether Timothy

733
00:50:55,160 –> 00:50:57,440
actually went to Jerusalem.
Paul had a vow.

734
00:50:58,960 –> 00:51:02,280
And he went back to the feast.
We don’t know whether Timothy

735
00:51:02,280 –> 00:51:06,880
was left in Ephesus or not.
Paul left Aquila and Priscilla,

736
00:51:06,880 –> 00:51:10,400
who he took with him there in
Ephesus and.

737
00:51:10,680 –> 00:51:13,520
We do find Timothy appearing
again in Ephesus.

738
00:51:13,680 –> 00:51:16,880
On the 3rd journey, whether he
went with Paul all the way and

739
00:51:16,880 –> 00:51:20,200
back through to Ephesus, we
don’t know, but that’s where he

740
00:51:20,200 –> 00:51:22,920
ended up with him in Ephesus
again.

741
00:51:23,120 –> 00:51:28,520
Because Ephesus in the third
journey of the Apostle was the

742
00:51:28,520 –> 00:51:33,040
centre of a tremendous campaign
throughout all Asia, a

743
00:51:33,040 –> 00:51:37,440
tremendously a successful
campaign that saw the truth

744
00:51:37,440 –> 00:51:41,440
going all directions.
So much so that.

745
00:51:41,640 –> 00:51:43,640
Even the opposition could say
that.

746
00:51:44,720 –> 00:51:47,000
All.
They in Asia have heard the

747
00:51:47,000 –> 00:51:52,640
truth, and there for 2 1/2 years
or three years, the Apostle,

748
00:51:52,840 –> 00:51:57,200
alongside many faithful
brethren, laboured to extend the

749
00:51:57,200 –> 00:51:59,040
Word and the Apostle.
Wrote to the.

750
00:51:59,040 –> 00:52:02,120
Corinthians and he said about
this time.

751
00:52:02,280 –> 00:52:04,440
He said a.
Great door and effectual has

752
00:52:04,440 –> 00:52:09,320
been opened unto me, and there
are many adversaries.

753
00:52:11,000 –> 00:52:12,600
You know, if we just.
Read Acts.

754
00:52:13,280 –> 00:52:17,160
We get the impression that it
was a time of great expansion

755
00:52:17,440 –> 00:52:21,080
and great happiness amongst the
Eccleses, but when you read the

756
00:52:21,080 –> 00:52:25,000
Epistles you find that it was an
absolutely.

757
00:52:25,000 –> 00:52:28,120
Terrible.
Time for the apostle, poor a

758
00:52:28,120 –> 00:52:32,800
draining time for him, because
he said on another occasion

759
00:52:32,800 –> 00:52:34,160
concerning that same.
Period.

760
00:52:34,440 –> 00:52:39,560
All we fought with beasts.
At Ephesus he said, and this was

761
00:52:40,040 –> 00:52:45,160
written under the pen of not
only Paul but Timothy as well.

762
00:52:46,240 –> 00:52:49,640
And these words come from the
RSV of Second of Corinthians

763
00:52:49,640 –> 00:52:51,480
chapter 1.
Don’t turn to it now.

764
00:52:51,640 –> 00:52:54,040
Second of Corinthians chapter
one, verse 8 and 9.

765
00:52:54,520 –> 00:52:57,000
The apostle said this about his
time in Ephesus.

766
00:52:58,120 –> 00:53:06,120
He said we were so utterly and
unbearably crushed that we

767
00:53:06,240 –> 00:53:09,160
despaired of life itself.
Why?

768
00:53:09,160 –> 00:53:12,760
He says we felt that we’d
received the sentence of death

769
00:53:13,040 –> 00:53:19,960
in us, but that was to make us
rely not on ourselves, but on

770
00:53:19,960 –> 00:53:26,960
God, who raises the dead.
And the we there included the

771
00:53:26,960 –> 00:53:32,280
young lad Timothy.
They were so utterly and

772
00:53:32,280 –> 00:53:35,280
unbearably crossed that they at
times.

773
00:53:35,280 –> 00:53:39,560
Despaired of the life itself,
great apostle, with this

774
00:53:39,560 –> 00:53:43,880
indomitable spirit was almost
crushed to death.

775
00:53:44,480 –> 00:53:48,680
By the opposition that they
experienced there in Ephesus.

776
00:53:48,880 –> 00:53:54,160
Ah, and there’s the young lad.
Locked with this apostle in the

777
00:53:54,160 –> 00:53:58,680
yoke of his youth.
And then, across the sea, Paul

778
00:53:58,680 –> 00:54:01,760
heard of all the problems that
were arising in the new

779
00:54:01,760 –> 00:54:03,600
ecclesias.
That he’d established on the

780
00:54:03,600 –> 00:54:07,200
Grecian Peninsula.
There was a Corinth party

781
00:54:07,200 –> 00:54:10,000
factions the the Ecclesia.
Was putting itself a glass

782
00:54:10,960 –> 00:54:13,880
fighting in the midst.
What a crazy thing to do for a

783
00:54:13,880 –> 00:54:14,680
new.
Ecclesia there were.

784
00:54:17,000 –> 00:54:19,040
What did he?
Give you all against the police.

785
00:54:19,520 –> 00:54:21,320
There were brethren taking
others to court.

786
00:54:21,720 –> 00:54:23,680
There was idolatry in the midst
of the ecclesia.

787
00:54:23,680 –> 00:54:25,840
Can you believe it?
There were problems with the

788
00:54:25,840 –> 00:54:27,320
Spirit gifts.
There were problems with the

789
00:54:27,320 –> 00:54:30,040
status of women.
There were problems of all.

790
00:54:30,040 –> 00:54:33,000
Kinds in moral areas.
And you know what?

791
00:54:34,320 –> 00:54:38,120
The Apostle Paul said they need
a visit, and you know who he

792
00:54:38,120 –> 00:54:40,200
picked?
I’ll tell you who he had with

793
00:54:40,200 –> 00:54:42,880
him.
He had Aquila and Priscilla.

794
00:54:43,200 –> 00:54:44,640
He had.
Titus he had.

795
00:54:44,640 –> 00:54:46,440
Digitus.
He had Erasmus, he had

796
00:54:46,440 –> 00:54:51,240
Trephemus, he had Apollus.
An eloquent odor and you know.

797
00:54:51,240 –> 00:54:59,320
Who he sent come to 1st of
Corinthians chapter 16.

798
00:55:00,040 –> 00:55:04,360
What an amazing thing this is
that he sent Timothy, and look

799
00:55:04,360 –> 00:55:07,360
at what he said to the
Corinthians when he was sending

800
00:55:07,360 –> 00:55:10,560
him.
First of Corinthians 16 verse

801
00:55:10,560 –> 00:55:15,160
10.
He says Now, if Timothy has

802
00:55:15,160 –> 00:55:22,000
come, see that she may be with
him without fear, don’t you make

803
00:55:22,000 –> 00:55:27,000
him frightened, for he worketh
the work of the Lord, as I also

804
00:55:27,000 –> 00:55:29,440
do.
And let no man therefore despise

805
00:55:29,440 –> 00:55:32,240
him, but conduct him forth in
peace, that he may come back to

806
00:55:32,240 –> 00:55:35,400
me, for I look for him with the
brethren.

807
00:55:36,240 –> 00:55:40,160
What an amazing thing, the
testimony to the to the natural

808
00:55:40,160 –> 00:55:45,320
timidity and and lack of
forthright boldness of this

809
00:55:45,320 –> 00:55:47,760
young man.
He wasn’t a man to put himself

810
00:55:47,760 –> 00:55:50,120
in front of the ecclesia.
He wasn’t a man to go around

811
00:55:50,120 –> 00:55:53,480
lauding it over other people.
It wasn’t his nature, young

812
00:55:53,480 –> 00:55:57,840
people and brethren and sisters,
but the apostle Paul picked him.

813
00:55:59,160 –> 00:56:03,560
Why send Timothy?
Well, the apostle tells us, come

814
00:56:03,560 –> 00:56:07,480
back a few pages to chapter 4
from first of the Corinthians

815
00:56:07,800 –> 00:56:16,160
chapter 4.
And at verse 14 he says, I write

816
00:56:16,160 –> 00:56:20,800
not these things to shame you,
but as my beloved sons, notice

817
00:56:20,800 –> 00:56:26,800
that phrase my beloved sons read
carefully as my beloved sons, I

818
00:56:26,800 –> 00:56:30,520
warn you, for though you have
10,000 instructors in Christ,

819
00:56:31,400 –> 00:56:35,000
yet have you not many fathers.
For in Christ Jesus I have

820
00:56:35,000 –> 00:56:39,040
begotten you through the gospel.
Therefore, wherefore I?

821
00:56:39,040 –> 00:56:41,600
Beseech you be.
Followers of me and so has our

822
00:56:41,600 –> 00:56:43,920
father.
He appealed to them as His

823
00:56:43,920 –> 00:56:49,760
beloved sons to follow him as
the Father, because He generated

824
00:56:49,760 –> 00:56:52,720
their life in Christ when he was
there amongst them.

825
00:56:54,240 –> 00:56:59,400
But the next verse goes on to
say, for this cause, for this,

826
00:56:59,720 –> 00:57:05,200
’cause I am sending as the RSV
margin says, I am sending unto

827
00:57:05,200 –> 00:57:10,320
you Timotheus, who is my beloved
son.

828
00:57:10,360 –> 00:57:12,320
Notice the link back to verse
14.

829
00:57:12,800 –> 00:57:18,000
And faithful in the Lord, as
some of you are not, who shall

830
00:57:18,000 –> 00:57:23,160
bring you in into remembrance of
my ways, which be in Christ, as

831
00:57:23,160 –> 00:57:26,320
I teach everywhere in every
ecclesia.

832
00:57:26,760 –> 00:57:30,360
What an amazing thing that was,
you know, because he couldn’t go

833
00:57:30,360 –> 00:57:32,040
himself.
Brethren and sisters, he picked

834
00:57:32,360 –> 00:57:35,760
Timothy, who was his beloved
son, to go to his other beloved

835
00:57:35,760 –> 00:57:40,200
sons for the very ’cause.
That he himself could not.

836
00:57:40,200 –> 00:57:41,840
Go.
And he knew that that.

837
00:57:41,840 –> 00:57:45,080
Son would so faithfully
represent him.

838
00:57:46,680 –> 00:57:49,120
That it was as if he was there
himself.

839
00:57:50,760 –> 00:57:52,440
But it’s, there’s more in it
than that.

840
00:57:53,760 –> 00:57:55,600
You see what he says in verse
17.

841
00:57:56,040 –> 00:58:02,920
Who shall bring you into
remembrance of my ways.

842
00:58:03,880 –> 00:58:07,520
He wasn’t just going to remind
the Corinthians of all the

843
00:58:07,520 –> 00:58:12,040
things that Paul had taught.
Of all the doctrines, of all the

844
00:58:12,040 –> 00:58:15,840
moral issues, he said this man
when he comes.

845
00:58:16,400 –> 00:58:21,160
We’ll put you in remembrance or
we’ll remind you of my ways.

846
00:58:24,560 –> 00:58:29,280
The problem generally wasn’t in
Corinth, wasn’t that they didn’t

847
00:58:29,280 –> 00:58:33,120
have a knowledge of the
fundamentals of the truth.

848
00:58:33,560 –> 00:58:35,600
The problem was the practice of
it.

849
00:58:36,280 –> 00:58:38,760
And now the.
Apostle Paul sought out of all

850
00:58:38,760 –> 00:58:43,560
his companions to send not one
with boldness of speech.

851
00:58:44,480 –> 00:58:50,880
But to send a living
demonstration of how to live the

852
00:58:50,880 –> 00:59:00,240
truth, unassuming, unfeigned,
sincere, unhypocritical and

853
00:59:00,240 –> 00:59:03,760
devoid of all self-interest.
You know, brothers and sisters

854
00:59:03,760 –> 00:59:11,560
and young people, that it is
concern for self that’s at the

855
00:59:11,560 –> 00:59:16,720
root of most of our own personal
problems and ecclesial problems.

856
00:59:17,080 –> 00:59:20,320
You think about that, it’s.
Concern for self.

857
00:59:20,920 –> 00:59:25,560
That’s that the root very often
of very many family problems and

858
00:59:25,560 –> 00:59:27,560
of very many.
Problems that occur in the

859
00:59:27,560 –> 00:59:31,680
equator of God not all.
But that’s at the very root.

860
00:59:32,520 –> 00:59:36,720
And the apostles sent into their
midst a young lad who was yoked

861
00:59:36,760 –> 00:59:43,080
with him, who had learned what
it meant to give up his own life

862
00:59:43,680 –> 00:59:49,040
in service to others.
Timothy had been so changed by

863
00:59:49,040 –> 00:59:53,760
the truth that he could now be a
witness of how to live it.

864
00:59:54,760 –> 01:00:04,280
And he’s only 21 years old.
The apostle Paul knew very well

865
01:00:04,280 –> 01:00:07,040
that if he sent an Apollo into
their midst, and and with

866
01:00:07,040 –> 01:00:08,760
mighty.
Oratory He’d got up on the

867
01:00:08,760 –> 01:00:11,640
platform and told them what they
had to do and outlined.

868
01:00:11,760 –> 01:00:13,600
This Scripture and that
Scripture put it all together

869
01:00:13,960 –> 01:00:15,960
that it wouldn’t have made any
difference in Corinth.

870
01:00:16,200 –> 01:00:18,680
It would have gone straight over
the heads.

871
01:00:21,160 –> 01:00:25,720
But they’re putting the young
man Timothy, who would behave

872
01:00:26,320 –> 01:00:30,320
and react exactly as the the
apostle Paul himself would have

873
01:00:30,320 –> 01:00:34,720
in those circumstances.
There was power indeed, because

874
01:00:34,720 –> 01:00:40,000
they could see the power of the
Word of God to change lives, to

875
01:00:40,040 –> 01:00:44,920
fix behaviour, to mould it to
Christ.

876
01:00:46,560 –> 01:00:52,480
What a marvellous man of insight
the apostle was, but what a

877
01:00:52,480 –> 01:00:58,560
tremendous testimony that was to
the character of this young 21

878
01:00:58,560 –> 01:01:01,880
year old.
You know the might the the yoke

879
01:01:01,880 –> 01:01:05,400
of Christ was mightily at work
in Corinth there on that

880
01:01:05,400 –> 01:01:07,800
occasion.
You know what we need brethren

881
01:01:07,800 –> 01:01:14,560
and sisters and young people.
Is a spirit like that a spirit

882
01:01:14,560 –> 01:01:19,680
young people that can learn in
Co operation yoked together with

883
01:01:19,760 –> 01:01:23,960
older experienced brethren?
Who know what it means to have

884
01:01:24,480 –> 01:01:28,240
to have borne the heathen burden
of the day, who have their lives

885
01:01:28,240 –> 01:01:33,480
down to a fine art who are not.
Seeking self anymore, as the

886
01:01:33,480 –> 01:01:36,960
apostle himself was not seeking
himself anymore.

887
01:01:38,680 –> 01:01:42,840
But Timothy very quickly learnt,
and he’s only 21.

888
01:01:43,920 –> 01:01:46,640
He learnt the meaning of living
the truth.

889
01:01:47,000 –> 01:01:50,560
Oh yes, he had his head in the
Bible, young lads, he had his

890
01:01:50,560 –> 01:01:54,920
head in the Bible.
He didn’t spend his Saturdays

891
01:01:54,920 –> 01:02:03,280
surfing or playing sport.
His life was devoid of self and

892
01:02:03,280 –> 01:02:09,120
now devoted to others.
That’s real leadership, real

893
01:02:09,720 –> 01:02:15,440
leadership and in an age that’s
devoted to self worship because

894
01:02:15,440 –> 01:02:19,240
there’s nothing else that this
generation around us all about

895
01:02:19,240 –> 01:02:23,800
is doing but worshipping the God
of self and the God of Mammon.

896
01:02:24,360 –> 01:02:27,480
In an age where they’re
worshipping their own lusts and

897
01:02:27,480 –> 01:02:30,800
their own desires and doing
everything for themselves.

898
01:02:31,000 –> 01:02:35,040
What we desperately need is the
spirit of this young man who,

899
01:02:35,040 –> 01:02:38,160
when the apostle said the
brethren, needs something over

900
01:02:38,160 –> 01:02:44,480
here, in timidity he went to.
Endeavour to encourage and his

901
01:02:44,480 –> 01:02:49,240
very example of selflessness in
their midst fixed many of their

902
01:02:49,240 –> 01:02:54,000
problems.
That’s bearing the yoke and it

903
01:02:54,000 –> 01:02:59,320
could be born in youth.
Young people and the ecclesia’s

904
01:02:59,320 –> 01:03:05,960
need desperately need young
people bearing that yoke in

905
01:03:05,960 –> 01:03:09,600
youth.
Come over to Timothy, First of

906
01:03:09,600 –> 01:03:14,760
Timothy chapter 4. 1st of
Timothy, chapter 4.

907
01:03:27,720 –> 01:03:30,480
The Epistles to Timothy.
Were written very late in Paul’s

908
01:03:30,480 –> 01:03:35,920
life.
And we find his advice, the

909
01:03:35,920 –> 01:03:39,720
apostles advice to him in verse
12 of chapter 4.

910
01:03:39,760 –> 01:03:45,520
He said, let no man despise thy
youth, Timothy, but be thou an

911
01:03:45,520 –> 01:03:50,000
example.
And he was a tremendous example,

912
01:03:50,840 –> 01:03:54,200
a leader in many ways, though he
never, ever put himself forward

913
01:03:54,360 –> 01:03:58,080
and never felt confident to take
a lead.

914
01:03:58,080 –> 01:04:02,440
In many respects, he was one of
the greatest leaders in

915
01:04:02,440 –> 01:04:06,360
Apostolic times.
But be thou an example, he says,

916
01:04:06,360 –> 01:04:14,640
to the believers in Word, in way
of life, in love, in faith, in

917
01:04:14,640 –> 01:04:17,760
purity.
And he’s talking to a young man

918
01:04:19,720 –> 01:04:23,360
be an example, young people and
till I come, he says give

919
01:04:23,360 –> 01:04:25,680
attendance to reading through
exhortation to doctrine.

920
01:04:26,160 –> 01:04:28,680
Verse 15 meditates upon these
things.

921
01:04:30,160 –> 01:04:32,560
Give thyself wholly to them.
It’s.

922
01:04:33,600 –> 01:04:37,360
Something that few people do.
In this age, give themselves

923
01:04:37,360 –> 01:04:42,960
wholly to them.
Be habitually in them is what it

924
01:04:42,960 –> 01:04:46,960
really means, that thy
profiting, profiting may appear

925
01:04:46,960 –> 01:04:49,240
unto all.
And take heed unto thyself, and

926
01:04:49,240 –> 01:04:50,960
unto the doctrine, continuing
them.

927
01:04:50,960 –> 01:04:55,120
For in doing this, thou shalt
both save thyself and them that

928
01:04:55,120 –> 01:04:57,840
hear them.
You know, devotion to spiritual

929
01:04:57,840 –> 01:05:03,040
things, young people will make
progress or profiting apparent

930
01:05:03,040 –> 01:05:07,200
to all.
It’s very apparent.

931
01:05:07,720 –> 01:05:09,680
You know, I could name.
I could name.

932
01:05:09,680 –> 01:05:11,760
I’m not going to.
And there are many other older

933
01:05:11,760 –> 01:05:15,560
brethren and sisters in this
hall who could name the young

934
01:05:16,760 –> 01:05:20,520
sisters and the young brethren
who are serious about the truth.

935
01:05:20,880 –> 01:05:24,800
Within our young.
People’s Group, It shows young

936
01:05:24,800 –> 01:05:27,680
people.
It’s seen in Ecleses.

937
01:05:30,680 –> 01:05:33,600
Take note.
Give thyself wholly to them,

938
01:05:33,600 –> 01:05:36,680
said the apostle.
He’s only encouraging that this.

939
01:05:37,080 –> 01:05:40,000
This mighty young man to
continue doing what he’d always

940
01:05:40,000 –> 01:05:44,120
done, that the property might
continue to grow and continue to

941
01:05:44,120 –> 01:05:47,160
appear.
But he says in verse 16, take

942
01:05:47,160 –> 01:05:49,880
heed unto thyself and unto the
doctrine.

943
01:05:49,880 –> 01:05:53,680
There’s two things there.
You empty yourself, Timothy, as

944
01:05:53,680 –> 01:05:56,560
you have done, and take.
Hand to the doctrine, to the

945
01:05:56,560 –> 01:06:00,240
attention to the service of God
and the service of physicalism,

946
01:06:00,600 –> 01:06:03,080
to the service of one another.
Take heed to that.

947
01:06:03,080 –> 01:06:06,200
And in so doing, he says, you’ll
save yourself.

948
01:06:06,320 –> 01:06:10,240
And those that hear you and see
you, you know that’s the essence

949
01:06:10,280 –> 01:06:12,000
of the atonement.
Brothers and sisters.

950
01:06:12,000 –> 01:06:15,040
And young people, it’s the
essence of the truth.

951
01:06:15,040 –> 01:06:20,960
If we can only take 10 here to
our own selves and to get rid of

952
01:06:21,040 –> 01:06:26,000
self and fill ourselves with the
doctrine, the doctrine of God

953
01:06:26,440 –> 01:06:31,800
that’s out to manifest his
character in US, that will be.

954
01:06:31,920 –> 01:06:36,040
Outgoing to others.
For God so loved the world that

955
01:06:36,080 –> 01:06:38,880
he gave his only begotten Son.
God didn’t sit in heaven and

956
01:06:38,880 –> 01:06:43,240
say, now fix yourself.
It’s not the spirit of our God.

957
01:06:44,160 –> 01:06:48,840
And that doctrine working in
him, would outwork a spirit of

958
01:06:48,840 –> 01:06:55,160
service, selfless service.
Oh, sometimes young people, we

959
01:06:55,160 –> 01:06:57,080
ask the wrong questions about
life.

960
01:06:57,120 –> 01:06:58,640
We say why?
Can’t we do this?

961
01:06:59,320 –> 01:07:01,960
Why can’t we go there?
Why shouldn’t we do this?

962
01:07:02,560 –> 01:07:06,920
Instead of asking.
What should I do to give more

963
01:07:06,920 –> 01:07:12,400
glory to God, and will this or
that activity or this action

964
01:07:12,400 –> 01:07:14,440
develop the Spirit of Christ in
me?

965
01:07:14,640 –> 01:07:17,680
Will this help my brethren and
my fellow young people to get to

966
01:07:17,680 –> 01:07:22,400
the Kingdom?
That’s the spirit of this man,

967
01:07:23,440 –> 01:07:29,160
it’s the spirit of the apostle,
and it’s the spirit of his true

968
01:07:29,160 –> 01:07:32,680
yoke fellow that was bound
together with him.

969
01:07:34,440 –> 01:07:36,760
Come back to Philippians chapter
2.

970
01:07:37,680 –> 01:07:41,360
Because when the apostle got
into Rome in prison during his

971
01:07:41,360 –> 01:07:46,160
first imprisonment, Timothy came
to see him.

972
01:07:49,000 –> 01:07:51,440
He’d been separated from him
probably for some time.

973
01:07:52,120 –> 01:07:56,280
He’d been for two years in
Caesarea in a prison, and now he

974
01:07:56,280 –> 01:08:00,360
was two years in Rome.
And at about the age of 27 or

975
01:08:00,360 –> 01:08:07,520
28, Timothy seeks Paul out.
And the apostle speaks in a

976
01:08:07,520 –> 01:08:09,480
letter that he wrote for the
Philippians.

977
01:08:11,120 –> 01:08:15,000
And he says in verse 2, verse
three, Sorry, let nothing be

978
01:08:15,000 –> 01:08:17,399
done through strife and
Vainglory, but in loneliness of

979
01:08:17,399 –> 01:08:19,080
mind.
Let each esteem other better

980
01:08:19,080 –> 01:08:23,800
than themselves.
And look not every man on his

981
01:08:23,800 –> 01:08:26,560
own things, but every man on the
things of others.

982
01:08:28,279 –> 01:08:32,399
And let this mind, the very
epitome of those characteristics

983
01:08:32,399 –> 01:08:35,080
be in you which was in Christ
Jesus.

984
01:08:35,279 –> 01:08:40,000
Because verse 7 He made himself
of no reputation, and he took

985
01:08:40,000 –> 01:08:43,920
upon himself the form of a
servant, and humbled himself in

986
01:08:43,920 –> 01:08:45,520
verse 8 and became.
Obedient unto death.

987
01:08:45,880 –> 01:08:48,000
That was the Spirit of Christ
and he says.

988
01:08:48,439 –> 01:08:52,240
This mind be in you.
That’s essentially the essence

989
01:08:52,319 –> 01:08:55,000
of a yoke, is it?
Remember the spirit that we were

990
01:08:55,000 –> 01:08:56,040
talking about last Saturday
night?

991
01:08:56,600 –> 01:09:01,439
That’s essentially the point of
the yoke of Christ of.

992
01:09:01,439 –> 01:09:06,080
Lowliness of mind.
Of humility that God might raise

993
01:09:06,080 –> 01:09:09,040
us up and use us.
Usefully to bring forth the

994
01:09:09,040 –> 01:09:13,040
fruit to the glory of His name.
And then the apostle gives 2

995
01:09:13,040 –> 01:09:15,760
living examples, many of these
in Philip.

996
01:09:15,760 –> 01:09:20,120
I had never, ever seen Christ.
They’d only heard about him, but

997
01:09:20,120 –> 01:09:21,399
he gives.
Them two examples.

998
01:09:21,399 –> 01:09:25,080
That they knew one from their
own ecclesia and one who was

999
01:09:25,080 –> 01:09:27,880
there when the ecclesia started
and had been back many times

1000
01:09:27,880 –> 01:09:29,720
before.
And it’s not other than Timothy,

1001
01:09:29,720 –> 01:09:33,240
he says in verse 19.
But I trust he says in the Lord

1002
01:09:33,279 –> 01:09:35,200
Jesus to send Timotheus shortly
to you.

1003
01:09:35,920 –> 01:09:39,359
That I may be of good.
That I may also be of good

1004
01:09:39,359 –> 01:09:43,640
comfort when I know of your
state, for I have no man like

1005
01:09:43,640 –> 01:09:46,920
minded who will naturally care
for your state.

1006
01:09:47,120 –> 01:09:52,040
For all seek their own, and not
the things that are Jesus.

1007
01:09:52,040 –> 01:09:56,120
Christ’s see the powerful.
Link with what he’s just been

1008
01:09:56,120 –> 01:10:01,120
saying about the mind of Christ
not seeking his own things.

1009
01:10:01,840 –> 01:10:06,360
And here he holds up Timothy at
the age of 27, a man they knew

1010
01:10:06,360 –> 01:10:10,040
amongst them whom had seen on
many occasions and he says I

1011
01:10:10,040 –> 01:10:17,080
have no man like minded.
The Greek is isosukos 1 sold.

1012
01:10:17,440 –> 01:10:21,160
There was no other man that he
felt so much at one week as if

1013
01:10:21,160 –> 01:10:26,880
it was the same person as this
man who he says will genuinely

1014
01:10:26,880 –> 01:10:31,080
care or anxiously care for your
welfare.

1015
01:10:31,400 –> 01:10:33,600
What an amazing thing Timothy
had so.

1016
01:10:33,840 –> 01:10:36,240
Carefully followed the apostle,
that the apostle.

1017
01:10:36,440 –> 01:10:38,200
Himself now.
Could completely.

1018
01:10:38,640 –> 01:10:43,760
Identify with this young man as
if he was the same person, and

1019
01:10:43,760 –> 01:10:47,080
if he sent him he could have
complete confidence that he

1020
01:10:47,080 –> 01:10:49,280
wouldn’t.
Sit his own if he wasn’t a man.

1021
01:10:49,960 –> 01:10:51,640
That was out.
For everything that he could

1022
01:10:51,640 –> 01:10:53,640
get, or for any glory in.
Himself.

1023
01:10:53,880 –> 01:10:59,240
That had all been worn off by
the yoke of Christ that had come

1024
01:10:59,240 –> 01:11:03,440
upon his neck at the age of 16
or 17, and now he’s quite

1025
01:11:03,440 –> 01:11:06,480
content 1.
Soul.

1026
01:11:06,560 –> 01:11:10,440
In that yoke to go forward with.
With Paul and with Christ.

1027
01:11:10,960 –> 01:11:13,520
And it didn’t matter where’s
Paul sent him around the Roman

1028
01:11:13,520 –> 01:11:14,400
world.
He could have.

1029
01:11:14,400 –> 01:11:18,320
Complete confidence in his, in
Him, and you know what he said

1030
01:11:18,320 –> 01:11:23,880
in verse 22, He said, But ye
know the proof of him, that as a

1031
01:11:23,880 –> 01:11:29,240
son with a father, he hath
served with me in the Gospel.

1032
01:11:30,960 –> 01:11:32,800
You know.
Philippians.

1033
01:11:32,880 –> 01:11:37,920
You know, experience that what
I’m saying is true.

1034
01:11:38,160 –> 01:11:43,960
This man does not sink himself
and he has a genuine concern for

1035
01:11:43,960 –> 01:11:49,520
all the brethren, not only in
all around the world because the

1036
01:11:49,520 –> 01:11:53,120
gospel of God has lodged in
their hearts and that is all

1037
01:11:53,120 –> 01:11:56,520
he’s concerned about and he
loves them because of that and

1038
01:11:56,520 –> 01:11:59,360
he won’t seek his seek his own.
Oh.

1039
01:11:59,680 –> 01:12:01,280
He is a man who’d borne the
yoke.

1040
01:12:01,280 –> 01:12:04,640
That’s the essence of the yoke.
Who’d lost his identity and

1041
01:12:04,640 –> 01:12:08,280
service to Christ and.
It was visible.

1042
01:12:09,200 –> 01:12:11,720
Evident to all.
What a marvellous.

1043
01:12:11,720 –> 01:12:13,280
Picture, that is, of ecclesial
life.

1044
01:12:13,520 –> 01:12:17,360
Young and old yoked together,
labouring in the service of the

1045
01:12:17,360 –> 01:12:19,520
truth in the.
Service of the.

1046
01:12:19,520 –> 01:12:25,360
Brethren, young people, get
alongside some of the precious

1047
01:12:25,480 –> 01:12:29,640
older brethren and sisters in
your ecclesia and yoke yourself

1048
01:12:29,640 –> 01:12:32,320
to them.
It’s a spirit we need to

1049
01:12:32,320 –> 01:12:36,480
cultivate this self thinking,
godless age.

1050
01:12:36,480 –> 01:12:40,120
And there’s nothing of that.
And we are so easily distracted

1051
01:12:40,120 –> 01:12:41,760
by it.
We go to work or school or

1052
01:12:41,760 –> 01:12:45,560
wherever and we come back
thinking like that, wanting

1053
01:12:45,560 –> 01:12:48,880
things ourselves, making
ourselves the centre of

1054
01:12:48,880 –> 01:12:53,160
attention, but not this.
We’ve got to pull our eclizes

1055
01:12:53,160 –> 01:12:56,360
together and between the Cleeses
young people and brethren and

1056
01:12:56,360 –> 01:12:59,840
sisters, young and old, all
together, we’re the deep and

1057
01:12:59,840 –> 01:13:03,560
caring concern that was seen in
this 27 year old.

1058
01:13:04,560 –> 01:13:09,640
We’ve got to learn to encourage.
It’s easy to pull down.

1059
01:13:10,280 –> 01:13:13,440
It’s easy to criticize.
There’s plenty to criticize.

1060
01:13:13,680 –> 01:13:18,240
But it’s so difficult to build,
so difficult to encourage.

1061
01:13:18,240 –> 01:13:21,640
And we all desperately need each
other, don’t we?

1062
01:13:21,720 –> 01:13:24,280
We all desperately in this age,
need each other.

1063
01:13:25,280 –> 01:13:28,240
We’re not going to get into the
Kingdom as individuals who stand

1064
01:13:28,240 –> 01:13:31,120
on our garden and fail on our
own path in the Kingdom.

1065
01:13:32,200 –> 01:13:35,400
We’re going to get there
together because we’ve served

1066
01:13:35,400 –> 01:13:38,000
the brethren, because we’ve lost
our own identity.

1067
01:13:38,360 –> 01:13:42,720
We need to foster a feeling of
of fellowship amongst us.

1068
01:13:42,720 –> 01:13:45,760
What a wonderful opportunity we
have in this city that we ought.

1069
01:13:45,760 –> 01:13:48,760
Never to throw away.
Never to throw away.

1070
01:13:49,160 –> 01:13:51,440
That’s the words of the.
Apostle over the page in chapter

1071
01:13:51,440 –> 01:13:56,200
3 and verse 17, he said,
Brethren, be followers together

1072
01:13:56,200 –> 01:14:00,000
of me, and mark them, which so.
Walk as ye.

1073
01:14:00,440 –> 01:14:06,040
As ye have us as an example.
Oh, what a spirit.

1074
01:14:07,880 –> 01:14:13,120
Mark them out, he said.
In your ecclesia, who’ve got the

1075
01:14:13,120 –> 01:14:17,520
same spirit as me, who are
walking the same path as Timothy

1076
01:14:18,200 –> 01:14:21,240
and as I have?
The same spirit as of our Lord,

1077
01:14:21,720 –> 01:14:26,560
who came not to be ministered
unto, but to give his life a

1078
01:14:26,680 –> 01:14:30,760
ransom for many.
Do we think it’s one thing to

1079
01:14:30,800 –> 01:14:32,560
the Master and another for your
servants?

1080
01:14:34,160 –> 01:14:39,160
No, mark them out.
There are truly great examples

1081
01:14:39,160 –> 01:14:41,880
in our midst.
Truly great brethren and sisters

1082
01:14:42,280 –> 01:14:46,400
whose stature is enormous in our
midst, and they don’t have to be

1083
01:14:46,400 –> 01:14:48,240
on a platform, and many of them
are not.

1084
01:14:50,200 –> 01:14:54,000
Because they’ve got their eyes
fixed on the interests and needs

1085
01:14:54,000 –> 01:14:57,720
of others, and their lives are
totally bound in the work of

1086
01:14:57,720 –> 01:15:00,160
Christ devoted to the
ministering of the.

1087
01:15:00,160 –> 01:15:04,000
Saints for whom the truth is
more than words on a page, but

1088
01:15:04,000 –> 01:15:08,240
living power because it’s
changed their natural.

1089
01:15:08,240 –> 01:15:11,040
Characteristics into something
that God can use.

1090
01:15:12,000 –> 01:15:16,640
He says and it’s all worthwhile.
Mark those men out and women out

1091
01:15:16,800 –> 01:15:20,760
in your ecclesia, he said and
follow them verse verse 20 for

1092
01:15:20,760 –> 01:15:23,920
our conversation for our
citizenship is in heaven for

1093
01:15:23,920 –> 01:15:25,720
once.
Also we look for the Saviour,

1094
01:15:25,720 –> 01:15:29,200
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile bodies that.

1095
01:15:29,560 –> 01:15:32,400
May be fashioned like unto his
glorious body, according to the

1096
01:15:32,400 –> 01:15:35,760
working where money is.
Able even to do subdue all

1097
01:15:35,880 –> 01:15:39,280
things unto himself.
We’re not playing around with my

1098
01:15:40,560 –> 01:15:43,960
insignificant things.
If only we can bear that yoke

1099
01:15:43,960 –> 01:15:47,400
for a little time.
What an enormous vision we had

1100
01:15:47,400 –> 01:15:49,520
before us.
As he went on to say to them,

1101
01:15:49,520 –> 01:15:54,680
isn’t it all wet?
Sisters and young people, who of

1102
01:15:54,680 –> 01:15:58,600
you or I deserve any of that?
They have these vile bodies,

1103
01:15:58,600 –> 01:16:02,640
which is what they are, bodies
of humiliation that pull us down

1104
01:16:02,920 –> 01:16:07,520
every day.
Who of us deserves the honour of

1105
01:16:07,520 –> 01:16:10,640
having that transformed into a
spirit body forever?

1106
01:16:11,280 –> 01:16:13,480
Who?
Yeah.

1107
01:16:13,480 –> 01:16:18,000
That’s what God has held out.
The love of God has been shed

1108
01:16:18,000 –> 01:16:20,760
into a shed abroad into.
Our hearts as a powerful

1109
01:16:20,760 –> 01:16:24,320
motivating force in our lives
with faith that can make that

1110
01:16:24,600 –> 01:16:28,480
real faith unfeigned.
Who will separate us, said the

1111
01:16:28,480 –> 01:16:31,480
apostle.
From that will the pressures of

1112
01:16:31,480 –> 01:16:35,280
this large young people.
I say no, they will not.

1113
01:16:36,000 –> 01:16:40,800
Will this stress or persecution
will the difficulties of an age?

1114
01:16:40,960 –> 01:16:43,360
Where do they stand in relation
to all of that?

1115
01:16:43,640 –> 01:16:49,280
If God be for us, said Paul in
Romans 8, if God be for us, who

1116
01:16:49,280 –> 01:16:53,720
can be against us in all things?
We are more than conquerors.

1117
01:16:53,720 –> 01:17:00,040
Through him that loved us and
gave his life, we’re bound

1118
01:17:00,040 –> 01:17:03,400
together.
There’s not a distinction

1119
01:17:03,400 –> 01:17:06,040
between young and old, between
male and female.

1120
01:17:06,040 –> 01:17:11,080
We’re one we’ve got to see each
other as heart of that beauty

1121
01:17:11,280 –> 01:17:17,080
with one marvellous hope.
And by God’s grace all changed

1122
01:17:17,080 –> 01:17:20,800
one day.
Oh, we desperately need each

1123
01:17:20,800 –> 01:17:22,000
other.
Brothers and sisters and young

1124
01:17:22,000 –> 01:17:25,640
people.
To encourage and to inspire by

1125
01:17:25,680 –> 01:17:29,400
example and word, by little
things and big.

1126
01:17:31,600 –> 01:17:39,000
And to take the spirit of this
marvellous young man, the

1127
01:17:39,000 –> 01:17:46,520
caption of whose life would have
to be selfless service of his

1128
01:17:46,520 –> 01:17:53,320
brethren, motivated by an
unfeigned faith and the love of

1129
01:17:53,320 –> 01:17:59,200
God, if only we could all.
Cherish.

1130
01:17:59,360 –> 01:18:03,240
That same spirit there would be
none lost.

1131
01:18:03,640 –> 01:18:06,600
None.
Let us stir our hearts.

1132
01:18:06,600 –> 01:18:10,160
Therefore, and enliven our faith
and widen our vision.

1133
01:18:10,360 –> 01:18:13,600
To incorporate all the household
of God encourage each other

1134
01:18:13,600 –> 01:18:17,800
young and old and everything you
have opportunity and rejoicing

1135
01:18:17,800 –> 01:18:20,640
the joy of the truth.
What that has put into our hands

1136
01:18:20,640 –> 01:18:23,200
and in the fellowship of the
Saints.

1137
01:18:23,200 –> 01:18:27,040
It’s a great thing that we’ve
that we have.

1138
01:18:27,400 –> 01:18:31,880
And patiently bear the yoke of
Christ, young and old, together,

1139
01:18:33,080 –> 01:18:37,160
the yoke of selfless service.
That will bring.

1140
01:18:37,240 –> 01:18:38,760
Fruit to the glory of God, What
do?

1141
01:18:41,880 –> 01:18:58,260
We say
that we should make the Word of

1142
01:18:58,260 –> 01:19:04,460
God our daily delight as the
young man Timothy, but unplain

1143
01:19:04,460 –> 01:19:11,220
faith without hypocrisy, change
our natural characteristics, and

1144
01:19:11,700 –> 01:19:13,780
have a powerful influence on
others.

1145
01:19:15,280 –> 01:19:18,200
That our devoted attention to
the Word of God and the service

1146
01:19:18,200 –> 01:19:24,160
of others, especially in youth.
We’ll save ourselves and others,

1147
01:19:26,000 –> 01:19:29,960
always be an example to the
believers, and learn to look

1148
01:19:29,960 –> 01:19:32,720
outside of our own interests and
minister to the needs and the

1149
01:19:32,720 –> 01:19:36,080
concerns of others and young
people.

1150
01:19:38,640 –> 01:19:48,480
Youth is the best time, the best
time to bear the yoke of self

1151
01:19:48,480 –> 01:19:56,920
denial and service.
Take up the challenge and I’d

1152
01:19:56,920 –> 01:20:06,760
like to leave you with a prayer
of the apostle when he said, now

1153
01:20:06,760 –> 01:20:13,320
the God of patience and
consolation grant you all that.

1154
01:20:14,320 –> 01:20:19,360
You be like minded one toward
another, after the example of

1155
01:20:19,360 –> 01:20:29,040
Christ Jesus, that she may with
one mind and one mouth glorify

1156
01:20:29,040 –> 01:20:33,400
God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ.