15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

I think another John Wooden quote is appropriate here: “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

People are watching, but most of the time, they are not paying much attention. We do all the right things, most of the time, by wearing appropriate clothing, styled for the occasion, and at some level, we want to be noticed. We want to be admired. We want people to acknowledge us, but most of the time, they actually pay very little attention. You can test yourself in this: Yesterday, you spent some time with other people - people you work with, people in the grocery store, in the restaurant, at school, whatever. Most likely, they were all wearing clothes. Unless it was a uniform of some kind (like at McDonalds), you may remember what one or two were wearing, but probably not much more than that. You may remember someone's hair if it's really unusual, or a tattoo caught your attention, or a T-shirt that was really out there, but chances are, you don't remember much. And guess what? They probably don't remember much about you, either.

There's a lot of truth in the quote, "Too many people buy things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like."

However, there are people who are paying attention. They are the ones who see potential in you, who can see leadership and influence in you, who one day will look back and say, "I knew her when…" When Paul says "so thar everyone may see your progress," I think he really means everyone who cares. After all, they are ultimately the only ones who matter, aren't they?

15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

John Wooden is the greatest NCAA basketball coach, having won 10 championships with his UCLA Bruins over a 12 year span. That's incredible!

One of Wooden's best known quotes is that “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” When the players arrived for a new season at the university, he began with the most basic of routines - how to put on your socks. He demonstrated, and had the team practice, until they got it right. A little detail that matters, when blisters can take a player out of a game. Putting on your socks the right way can make the difference between winning and losing as a team, so Coach emphasized it.

And the team would do dribbling drills, lay-up drills, free-throw drills, offensive drills, defensive drills. And the players would work out, do laps, run, lift, jump - all of the little things that can make a championship team. Wooden said that if the team practiced well, he didn't need to worry about the games - he could relax and enjoy the competition. Because he knew they were prepared, and that was all he could do.

When a player would be having a bad day, Coach would ask him what was going on. It wasn't unusual for a player to say, "My girlfriend just broke up with me," or "my mother's sick" or "I'm having trouble with calculus." And so often, they would say something like "I'm sorry, coach, I'm only giving 80% today, but tomorrow I'll give 120%!" And Wooden would respond with "No, you won't. All you can ever give is 100%. If you give 80% today, today will be gone, and so will your ability to give 100%. Tomorrow, all you can give is 100%. You can't make up for it. So give me 100% today."

Timothy, all you can give today is 100%, so today - give 100%! Give it all you've got.

15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

"Watch yourself!" And "Jesus is watching!"

Being diligent means being attentive, paying attention, because it seems everything is on a slippery slope.

If you drive a car, you know that you have to constantly adjust the steering wheel according to the lay of the road, the traffic around you, and sometimes the weather conditions. You are constantly touching the accelerator or the brakes, again depending on the circumstances. We wouldn't be able to get from here to there without making adjustments. Pay attention!

These days, of course, we're getting close to having self-driving cars. My car is 7 years old, and has a warning beeper and light if I turn on my signal while there is a car beside me in the blind spot. And it warns me if I put the car in reverse when there is someone behind me. That's it. A few years ago, we rented a car in Florida that had cruise control that automatically detected when the car in front slowed down. At first, I found it kind of annoying - before I figured out what was going on. Now, cars self-park, have automatic braking, and more features are being developed all the time. In North America, Tesla seems to be leading the way, but don't be surprised, Amazon has Zoox, a robotaxi, and you know more are on the way.

Don't you wish we had some kind of early-detection navigation system for life? Maybe we do.

For everyone, it's a conscience. What we do with it is up to us - no one is forced to use their conscience, and we know that some are so calloused and seared that the nerve endings have lost all sensation. Once a cat sits on a hot stove, a cat will never sit on a hot stove again. In fact, a cat will never sit on any stove again. Once bitten twice shy - you get the idea. You know the story of the frog in the kettle that would jump out of hot water, but if it jumps in when the water is cool, and then it gets heated up, it will boil to death. So many warnings!

For the believer, it's also the Holy Spirit, who nudges and encourages, but who occasionally shouts, "Hey! That's out of bounds! Don't go there! Don't you see the cliff? You're heading for disaster!" And sometimes our response is, "It's okay! I'm being careful! I'll be fine!" And then we fall off the cliff. The Holy Spirit doesn't force anyone to accept his guidance, but we reject it at our own peril.

What do you know about spiritual gifts? And what do you know about YOUR spiritual gifts?

Once upon a time, I knew next to nothing about spiritual gifts. I knew about the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon humanity, along with a hurricane, with tongues of fire coming upon each head (which sounded strange), and then all the people praising God in all their native languages. But I certainly didn't understand what that was all about.

Then, I started to hear about speaking in tongues as a modern-day phenomenon, and how the Spirit of God was bringing things to bear that many thought belonged in the annals of history. And then people I knew began talking about this new manifestation of the Spirit, about the Pentecostal and charismatic movements and then the Vineyard. In fact, when we had our music store, we supplied and ran the sound system for a Catholic Charismatic Conference at the Kingston Memorial Centre, for about 4,000 people, who were singing, speaking and praying in tongues, prophesying, laying on of hands, and healing. I honestly didn't understand any of it.

When we were in college, we learned a lot more about it. Along the way, we read books, studied it, and took Peter Wagner's Modified Houts Spiritual Gifts Inventory questionnaire. We were learning that Jesus had organized his church much like a body, with different gifts being represented by different parts of the body.

This was a lot bigger than being able to speak in a new language, the tongues of angels, a heavenly language, or a prayer language.

One of my fondest memories of my Dad is the many times that I would walk up the stairs to

My Dad was a tool-maker. When he finished high school at 17, he took a job as an

But tool-making was never his passion. The Bible was. My Dad loved to read it,

In the 1990's, we visited Willow

On one visit, I purchased one of

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Timothy is in a position where he is

11 Command and teach thesethings. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

Command is not a word we use much these days.

But many are aware of C:\. It's called the Command

A command is something that is to be done immediately.

Why do people work?

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The reason you do things is

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There are a lot of saying out there.

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"Practice makes perfect."

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So here Paul says: "This is a

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