As the people of God we are chosen by Him, holy to Him, and we are dearly loved by God. We are also commanded to clothe ourselves with 5 Chrisian virtures. Today we'll look at those 5 virtues.

As the people of God we are chosen by Him, holy to Him, and we are dearly loved by God. We are also commanded to clothe ourselves with 5 Christian virtues. Today, we are going to talk about those 5 virtues.

God wants people to make a decision about Jesus. No fence sitting, no 'I'll decide later". People are only given a window of opportunity to make this decision. For three years, the Lord had provided proof that He is Messiah through miracles, teaching, and the Word of God. Still, there were those who wnated to make Him into something He was not. Only a precious few saw Him as Messiah and Savior.

Paul was longing to see Timothy before he was called home. From the perspective of the Romans who would execute Paul-he was being defeated. From Paul's perspective, he was being rescued from this world and set free to be in God's heavenly kingdom. What we learn from these verses Paul writes to Timothy, is that even in the most profound moments of isolation and abandonment, the Lord is always with us

Paul instructs Timothy to be a living sacrifice that honors God and to face death with faith in God's promises.

Paul's charge to Timothy: Peach the Word, be ready for questions, practice discipleship,and practice faithful service.

Timothy received a clear command from his mentor, Paul - to continue in the things he had learned through sound teaching of the scriptures. Yielding to God' work in us through His Word and His Spirit under the authority of His revelation completely prepares us to serve God and others.

Many people groups, religions, people on the wrong end of a geopolitical difference and those of different socio-economic situations have faced terrible persecution for one reason or another. One group that stands apart from all of these is those who are persecuted for Christ. While all suffer persecution, only believers are persecuted for the Lord Jesus Christ and His glory. That causes us to stand apart – not because our persecution earns us salvation, but because our persecution is a response to our salvation and our decision to follow Christ our Savior. Our persecution points toward Him and considered precious to our God and our Savior.

The term "last days" encompasses the time from Christ's ascension to His return. With each passing day, the return of our Lord comes ever closer, As we await His return - the effects of sin on this world will become progressively worse. This decline is marked by some of the identifiers Paul discusses in this text.

Paul challenges us to devote ourselves to God and seek to be one who honors God! This morning we're going to see the importance of devoting ourselves to honoring God and get some directions we need to follow to do this effectively.