Redeemer Fellowship Johnson County

Revival is a sovereign, supernatural work of God to powerfully visit his people to simultaneously awaken them to and satisfy their deepest need, which is the life-giving presence of God himself. We need and are begging God for more of his love, his presence, his power, and his grace.

In the final words of his letter, Paul takes one more opportunity before his impending execution to exhort his son in the faith. Set in the formality of a “charge”, Paul entreats Timothy to devote his life to the urgent, consistent, relevant, patient, intelligent proclamation of God’s word.

Paul anchors the need for faithful preaching of God’s Word in light of the human propensity to turn away from God’s authority and seek out teaching that affirms what we want to believe. As hearers we all must acknowledge and fight against our tendency to seek teachers that promises us the good life we long for on our terms rather than receiving the life giving Word of God that actually leads to the good life.

Second Timothy has opened up multiple conversations regarding “false teaching”, and forced us to parse out what constitutes false teaching in our own day. In this sermon, Kevin urges us to consider the ways in which popular contemporary teachers have more in common with what is commonly called “prosperity gospel” than any of us would think at first glance.

As we immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, we often find ourselves shocked by the God we encounter there. We encounter a God who defines reality, authority, the good life, and identity in ways that crowd and confront our own desire to be self-actualized selves. When we encounter God’s Word, we only have three options: 1) to submit to the Word; 2) to reject the Word; 3) to creatively and subtly resist the text in some fashion.

1) is the way of discipleship; 2) is the way of those who refuse the lordship of Christ or who apostatize; and 3) is the way of the false teachers whom Paul is condemning. 3) is the most difficult to detect, and the most dangerous in the life of the church.

In these verses, Paul contrasts Timothy’s life against the lives of the false teachers he has mentioned in the previous verses (3.1-9). In doing this, Paul exhorts Timothy in a very specific and personal way. Kevin helps us both to understand the personal encouragement Paul is offering Timothy — and to find general encouragement and challenge in our own lives.

During the Christmas season it is easy to opt for sentimentality, consumerism, or platitudes to medicate away our longings and our sense of brokenness. In the face of political pressure, political blunders, and the coming exile, the people of God are faced with the reality that there is no human being or human system that will be able to fix what is broken. The season of Advent is a reminder that we don't have to settle for any of those things. The promise of Advent is that God is coming in a worldwide display of his glory and power to redeem what is broken in this world, and to answer the longings of your heart. As the people of God our work is to behold our God and wait for him with expectancy.