A sermon by Adam Barcott
October 6, 2019
Beloved in the Lord! let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God our Father, beseeching Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness. Our help in in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. I said , I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen. And almighty God in his mercy has given his son to die for you. And it’s for his sake. He forgives you all your sins. Father, allow us to take a deep breath and believe that that we are forgiven. Thank you. It’s in Jesus’ name. Amen.
So we’re gathered to sing praises to God, recognizing everything’s a gift from him. And he calls us to gather around his word because his word is good. It’s true. It’s life-giving. So let’s read Luke chapter 17 verse one through 10 found on page 511.
And Jesus said to his disciples, temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him. The apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this Mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea and it would obey you.
Well, any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him, when he is coming from the field, come at once and recline at the table. Will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink? And afterward you will eat and drink. Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded. So you also, when you have done all that, you were commanded. Say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty.”
This the reading of God’s word. Thanks be to God.
So we let the gospel just weekly get folded into our minds and the way we think about life. And then the passage we’ll speak about today is found in Timothy. Second Timothy chapter one verses one through 14 and that’s found on page 578 if you’re using the Bible provided.
So Paul wrote two letters to his beloved partner and friend in the ministry, 2nd Timothy chapter one verse one
Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy and peace from God the father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors with a clear conscience. As I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day as I remember your tears. I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. I’m reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power and love and self control.
Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who saved us and called us to a Holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which has now been manifested through the appearing of our savior, Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher, which is why I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. So follow the pattern of the sound words that you’ve heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy spirit who dwells within us. Guard the good deposit and entrusted to you.”
This is the reading of It’s God’s word. Thanks be to God.
So it’s kind of a long and a powerful section by Paul. Every letter he writes seems to be wow. Packed with a lot of ideas. But today’s idea continues to unfold the idea and power of the faith. The faith that the HOly spirit has given you is a working faith. Faith always produces works it’s two sides of the same coin. So whenever you have faith it will produce an action. Whatever actions you take, come from a faith, something you believe, they are together. And so faith is what is gifted to us. And what this faith has for us when it works in you today is power.
I don’t know if you feel very powerful. Do you feel the power of the gospel working through you all the time? In fact its common to feel the opposite. We often feel more shame than powerful, right? We feel more powerless over our own decisions, over the things we’ve done. We feel powerless to what’s going on outside of us and around us. I don’t know if you feel that today, but if you live in this world at all you will feel it at some point.
So what God wants to say to us today is the faith that I give you is powerful. It’s powerful. Here’s what it’s powerful over. It gives you freedom. It’s freeing you. It’s not inprisoning you. It’s empowering you from death to life. And that’s giving you power in life. We are the people who happen to the world. We’re not the people that just let the world happen to us. He will give you power over life. He will give you and continues to give you power over the future, power over death, all the old stuff. Power over right now and life and power for the future. And so what we want to do is fan this gift of faith and whatever power you’re talking about, Adam, I would like. Power over sins that continue to debilitate you and paralyze your mind or your heart or your body. I want power over that. I want power over loving people. I need this power. You have it in the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s the faith that he’s given to you. So let’s unpack that and explore that a little bit. So we get to the point where we kind of believe it and we start to look for it. The power of God in our lives through our faith.
Timothy is scared. You know why Timothy’s scared, the same reason you would be scared if you were planting a church in New York city or LA. There’s a culture, a pervading culture that is against Christ. So it’s scary. And specifically for Timothy, he has like three big problems. The three biggest problems Timothy has are; number one, he’sin a culture where Caesar is Lord.
That’s the phrase, Caesar is Lord, which means Caesar protects Caesar, provides Caesar, saves you. And so Timothy is preaching and told to preach. Jesus is Lord. Jesus provides Jesus saves not Caesar. And in this culture it’s honor and shame based. So the higher you are in power or fame or money or even age, the more respect you get. And then it’s all a by association. So you’re honored by association. If Caesar likes you, you’re honored and you are worth something, you have value in this culture. If Caesar doesn’t like you, you’re dishonored. So Timothy is supposed to preach about Jesus, who’s a dishonored criminal who died. Jesus was killed like a common criminal. And here’s Timothy saying, Jesus is Lord. So there’s no honor in that. You’re not aligning with the right people if you want your life and your ministry to grow.
But then also he has a problem because Paul is writing this letter and Paul is out of kind of a suck up society that it was. Paul is a bottom dweller. He’s in prison, he’s been kicked out of this society. He’s so low. And yet Paul is the one saying, Timothy, you’re my beloved son. And almost like a middle schooler being dropped off at a football game when I grew up. You’re like, mom, just drive away. Don’t be with me. You don’t want to be a nerd by association. And so Timothy is going, okay, people are starting to wonder about you, Paul. If you’re a man of God, why are you in jail? I thought, God, when he comes into your life, He bring success, he brings bounty, he brings all these things, but you’re in jail.
I don’t want to be associated with you. Timothy is not saying that, but he’s feeling it. And then he’s supposed to talk to people in a culture where if you’re older, you’re more wise and there’s honor codes and you’re not supposed to be a young guy talking to an old guy telling them what’s up. And so Paul is writing him saying, Timothy, trust me, the gospel that’s been given to you is power to move from the fear of the culture into this faith of the cross. And I want to move you. I want to make sure, Timothy that you understand that you are a person of faith now and we’re under the culture of the cross, where the weak things are strong, where it’s a totally different idea. And so Timothy is like, okay, all right, tell me again how that works. And so this is why this verse is so great.
Verse 7 if you have been around church for a while you may have memorized this one at one point in time cause you were scared. And the verse is… “For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self control.” These are interesting little three words. Power and love and self control. So the world likes power and selfishness and greed, self interests. But in our our kingdom, its power and love and self control. And when you think about God, the spirit of God, the spirit of God that raised Christ from the dead, that spirit, the spirit of God is all power. He creates all things, he saves all, he can do anything. But with that power, he’s all love. This is what makes God so great. He’s all love and all power. If you’re all power, we’re all done. We’re the throwaway art project. Failed, start over, throw away. But he’s all love. And so he says, Oh no, I love you guys. I made you special. I’m going to keep you. And then self-control, prudence, self-control. That God is patient and kind and he’s waiting for things to happen. He’s using his power and his love for good to recreate humanity. And so you’re part of this faith now and you don’t have the spirit of fear. You have the spirit of faith, the spirit of God, which works power and love and self control, Timothy. So you can get moved by that. You fan that into flame. Why? Because what else are you going to do?
If you follow the world, you’re gonna suffer with the world. You’re going to die one day. It’s never going to be enough, or you’re going to suffer with Christ. See, when you suffer with Christ, you suffer upfront. That’s what baptism is. You die. You’re giving up yourself. You’re giving up and you said, die with Christ. And I’m raised with him. So you’ve already died. That’s what we’re always working out of. The world is waiting to die. They’re scared, they’re fearing death. Every corner, every turn we’re fearing we’ve already died, so you might as well be with Christ. So Timothy, I need that to be straight so that you can move into the gifting. And the gifting the Timothy had was he had a mom and a grandma who loved the Lord. So he learned from early age the scriptures. And Timothy has this gift of preaching the gospel from the old Testament, but he is starting to water it down a little bit because he’s getting all this heat from the culture. And so that’s why Paul says don’t have a spirit of fear. Have the spirit of the Lord, which gives you power and operate out of faith. Now here’s how it works.
He says in verse 9 the power of God who saved us and called us to a Holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. That’s what I really wanted to say right there. Abolished death brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. We’re going from being victims to being victors.
We live in a culture where we’re victims. Don’t you want to move from being a victim to a Victor? That’s what faith does. It realigns your mind. You start to see the whole picture. You know, you get power when you see everything. You have power when you’re driving and you’re able to see what’s ahead. Like if you could just see the traffic jam, that’s power, right? So then you take a side road. So we use our little phones to help us because if you can see things, you have power to make decisions. And now Christ has given us this power to see things. So things don’t just happen to us. We’re victors its past, present, and future. So he’s abolished death. All the ways that you could die, he’s abolished. So you have power over death. You have power over life. Cause it says he brought life. So we have power to make decisions now to breathe life into every place we go. And we have power over the future because we are in Christ and he’s gained inmortality for us. He’s given us a new creation. He’s given us the promise of salvation.
Here’s what it looks like for Paul. It’s kinda cool. So this is why Paul is in jail writing letters and encouraging people.
If I were in jail for preaching the gospel, well I dunno, I might be like Paul, it’s the same faith. But why would we be like Paul if we were in prison? Instead of writing letters of complaint saying this is so unfair. I did everything right. God hasn’t done anything for me, where all the people who said they were going to help me out. Those could easily be the letters, but Paul is saying, rejoice in the Lord always. Again. I say rejoice, give thanks for all things. Anchor in the Lord. Don’t fear.
He’s saying this from prison because the faith works power and it doesn’t matter if you’re in prison or you’re in a mansion. This is what the faith does and now Paul is bringing something to that little room where he’s been sanctioned. He brings victory. He brings Christ there and so he does what he’s going to do in this cell or what he’s going to do out in his mansion. I’m going to pray for the people I love. I’m going to praise Jesus. I’m going to walk into life and I can do it anywhere no matter what you do to me. So he’s not a victim of Rome. I mean we’re still talking about the letters of Paul. That’s the power of the gospel in you to become a victor, to take life, you start to see, Oh, I can live anywhere. The culture can’t take that from me. My sin can’t take it from me. An accident in nature can’t take it from me. It’s been given to me. Life has been given to me. I’m the Victor in Christ because Christ is the victim.
[inaudible]
We happen to the world and so with this faith that works, the kind of power that can forgive. This faith will move to this last idea where Paul says so don’t be ashamed. I mean, we’re in a culture now where it’s easy to be ashamed of what the Bible says. The Bible says some things, they’re hard, but Paul’s saying, don’t be ashamed because you don’t need to be ashamed. You’re approved by Christ. Your faith has given you the power of authority. Not shame. Don’t be ashamed of Christ who looked like a failure. Don’t be ashamed of Paul who is in prison looking like a failure. Don’t be ashamed of each other when we mess up or it doesn’t look like things are going well, and all around us say I guess God didn’t show up. No, we’re not ashamed. Just like Paul says, I know whom I believe in and I’m convinced that he is able to keep that which he’s entrusted, the faith which he has put in me works the power now, to not be ashamed but to speak with authority, where God says, I approve that message. You speak with approval and so the power looks like this.
We see things differently. The power works out first in repentance. You know you have the power. Whatever plagues your mind with shame, you’ve wasted time, you’ve wasted money, you’ve just wasted. You’ve made huge mistakes. When that shame comes back into your head and it will over and over again, you have the power to say, Lord, forgive me. I already asked for forgiveness for that. That’s power. And then you hear the Lord say, I know I forgive you. You have the power to ask for repentance and it will be granted in Jesus name. Do you believe it? That’s part of your faith. So when you’re plagued by shame and guilt, repent, when someone offends you 70 times seven times in a day, what are you supposed to do? Jesus says, you’re not a victim to them constantly hurting you. You’re empowered to say in the name of Jesus Christ, I forgive you,
This is great power. It takes faith because essentially you’re saying, God, will you give me back the love that this person stole? Will you give me back the money they stole? Will you give me back the health they stole? They stole from me and it really hurts. So we don’t just say, Oh, I forgive you. Who cares? No, it really hurts, but I’m trusting that God can replenish what’s been taken. That’s power. You’re no longer imprisoned by that person. You’re free now and you give, that’s power. The third power is wherever you go, you speak healing. You can walk into a place and say, Lord, be here. Cleanse it of all negativity. Bless these people. We pray for our friends who aren’t saved. We pray for countries where people don’t know Jesus, yet we pray. We are powerful agents of healing. We are forgiven, we forgive others, and now we heal. This is the power of God. So when Paul says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel, I don’t care what the world says, I don’t care how small the ministry gets. I don’t care how much in debt I get for the ministry, how hard it works, how it’s not working. I’m not relying on what I do to feel good about God. I’m relying on God’s word. Man does not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God
and for me, I say, Pastors do not live by attendance alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. I do not live by my bank account alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. I do not live by how much affirmation I get from people. But by every word we receive from God, I’m not going to be ashamed because the gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. First the Jew, then the Gentile for from it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. The righteous shall live by faith. So all we’re doing here is receiving cause we believe it. You might believe it. It’s hard to believe. It might be small, it might be great. It doesn’t matter. Believing is what makes you righteous and the faith that you receive from God. I just trust God that this is true is powerful. Now you walk this earth with power, the power of God, power over the demonic power over anything. You have the power of God, but Jesus says you’re going to do this with self control and with love. You rejoice that your name’s written in the Lamb’s book of life. Don’t be ashamed for one second. You’re the agents of good. You’ve been given the authority.
And just like Paul, I say to all you fan into a flame, the gift that’s been given you. We all have different gifts, but how do we fan this into flame? How do I gain this power? Well, Paul just says in verse 13, follow the pattern of sound words that you’ve heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. So cling to the words say them over and over again. God, you forgive me. I have to forgive others. Who should I forgive? Help me. How can I bring your life to my place of work, to the roads as I drive to church, to my home, to my marriage? How can I do that? And the Holy spirit will guide you and lead you into life. You are not powerless.
It’s funny. Paul says, I have a clear conscience. Think about that. Paul says at the beginning of this passage, the faith that’s been given to me, I have a clear conscience. This is the guy who when he was too young, was holding the coats as they were throwing rocks at one of the first deacons until he died. A pivotal age. Like when my son was 11, the Seahawks won the Superbowl. He’s like loving the Seahawks forever. You know, it’s a pivotal moment in time for him. So there’s the little Saul beore being turned into Paul, pivotal time for him, and the Pharisees and Sadducees win the Superbowl by killing a Christian and he’s holding the coats.
Just doing that. I’ll hold your coat, get him good. Then he grows up killing Christians, persecuting them, separating families, getting authority to go do that, and then God saves him. Paul says, I have a clear conscience. Whoa, that’s a powerful gospel. If you can be forgiven for killing the people you love, and believe to the point where you say, I have a clear conscience, that’s power. You’re no longer in prisoned by your sinful life or the horrible things you’ve done. You’re forgiven.
This last Wednesday , we were in the car. I was driving with the kids and on the radio, they played a clip from a cout scene. I don’t know everything about it, but I can tell you this, a man was killed in his own apartment by a lady who was a police officer off duty. There was a horrible crime, but the brother was in court and the brother gets a chance to speak to the lady who killed his brother. She just got sentenced to 10 years and he says,, I speak for myself, but I forgive you. He says, I forgive you, and if you go to God, he will forgive you. Then he kind of goes on a little bit more about who his brother was and the nature of God to forgive, but that’s it. And then he says, can I give her a hug? And so the judge says, okay. So he goes up, gives her a hug. The woman who’s about to go to jail, probably receiving her last real hug for 10 years, sobbing. Everybody’s sobbing. The judge is crying, she gets a hug. I just heard it on the radio and I was so moved because this was the perfect presentation of the gospel in a court of law. The gospel breaks in to the point where the judge says to this boy, thank you, and the boy is just boy who has lost his brother, he had something to give. You know, the world may not understand. They’ll go, Oh, he’s a lot stronger than I am, or forgiveness is just helping himself. And I’m like, no, no, no. He’s just doing what Christians have always done. That kid wasn’t special. He just knew the gospel. Cause it goes all the way back to Paul. And when Paul goes in blind to Annanias and Annanias is so scared, saying who you’re the killer of Christians, what does Annanias have to say? Paul I forgive you for separating the families and killing Christians. Everywhere Paul goes, people say… You’re the guy who hurt us. We forgive you.
It’s beautiful picture. But this is the power of our faith. We forgive, we heal, we restore and we can go into the places of pure law and change it. So she’s going to jail, but she’s been changed. She’s going to spend the next 10 years forgiven and was presented with the most beautiful gospel presentation you could ever hear, not by a great speaker, just a sad, broken kid who knew Jesus.
Yes, I love it.
That’s the power you and I have. That’s the power our faith is working and begins by receiving God’s forgiveness. You have power. Get rid of that shame and guilt. Give it, leave it at the foot of the cross. Yeah, you deserve punishment. We all do. Christ took it.
You will feel powerless in this world but when you walk in praying. You walk in with the Lord of life through the lens of the living Christ, your powerful.
Let me pray. Father, thank you for your word. Holy spirit continue to work this kind of power in our lives we so quickly concede. So forgive us.
Thank you for forgiving us. We receive your power.
You’re the God who overcomes death. You bring wisdom to life and you promise eternal life. Thank you Jesus Christ for your death and resurrection, for your Ascension and for your promise to come again. We are your people. And I ask that you would, heal our hearts and our minds and our bodies in Jesus’ name. Amen.
So pray with me the prayer found on page E.
It’s for spiritual growth, for the power of Christ to be unleashed and restored in us. So let’s pray. Saying, I humble myself and pray to the father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from your glorious unlimited resources, you empower us with inner strength through your Holy spirit. I pray that Christ will make his home in our hearts as we trust in him so that our roots will grow down into God’s love and keep us strong. I pray that we may have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Christ’s love is. I pray that we may experience the love of Christ that is too great to understand fully so that we will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. I give all glory to God the father who is able through his Holy spirit at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to God in the church and Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever. Amen.
So, take this time to continue to pray and can write prayer requests, um, will also a chance to respond by giving to the work of God’s word on earth as it is in heaven. So give your prayers, give whatever you need to, to the Lord. Guilt, shame, prayer, requests, money, whatever it is, he, he takes it all and he gives back much more. Father, bless our time of responding to you by giving ourselves to you. Thank you in Jesus name.
So the night that Jesus was betrayed. He’s with his friends. They’re going to take the Passover doing what they knew to do. And Jesus says, I’m changing and I’m taking the need for constant sacrifice. I’m becoming the lamb of God who is slain. I am the lamb who was slain. And he says, this bread is my body which is being broken for you.
And the same way he takes the cup gives thanks. He pours it out. He says, this is my blood given for you. Do this as often as you get together for the forgiveness of sins. Know that you’re forgiven. And so, you have the word, you’re forgiven and it’s put on us. So we are forgiven. The word of God is put on the bread and the grape juice and the wine. And it does what God says it will do because his word is on it. And it just reminds me of the story I just told. It’s almost like this is, this is His hug which says you’re forgiven. Now can I hug you? Can I eat with you? Can I have you at my table so that you really know this is true? So come to the table, be nourished, be empowered to go to God. The father. Be empowered and take a deep breath. I’m forgiven. If God forgave me. I can’t keep holding this against myself. If you’re not forgiving yourself, how dare you? God’s forgiven you.
Give it to him. Come to the table, be nurtured. Be nourished, be strengthened and know that you’re forgiven and you’re empowered. Father, we pray that you bless this and actually I want to do a family prayer. Hear us as we all come to the table to eat with you Lord. We know everybody here. We’re your family. And so we are going to pray the Lord’s prayer. We’re going to pray the prayer that you taught us to pray before we come to eat with you saying our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
Amen. Thanks Lord. And all the babies said amen. All right, so, um, let me bless everybody and then pray. We’re going to pray for Bree for the trip that she already took because God’s was and is and always will be. So time doesn’t matter. We’ll pray for more trips, but we’ll also pray for the trip that already happened and thank God for it and for more trips. So God, thank you for Bree who has given her life and her talents to spreading the gospel in these places in Africa especially. And I thank you for protecting her and blessing her and for your word going out with great power through her and many others just like her who are just giving what they have. And so we thank you for that and we pray you continue to bless her, continue to protect her and continue to bless the ministry through her that many people all over the world would meet you, Jesus, because you are worth knowing. And then Lord bless us now as we look to you. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord look upon you with favor and grant you peace now and forever. Amen.
Pastor Adam was born and raised in Seattle Washington always sensing God’s call to pastoral ministry. While attending Christian College he met Val, a nice girl from Orlando.