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- Hi, this is Pastor Tom Holliday, and we are starting a study in the book of
Second Timothy today, an incredible book of God's word, all about how you and I
can last, how you can last in faith, how you can last in serving others, how you
can last in seeing how Christ is making a daily difference in your life.

Let me just begin by reading for you Second Timothy, chapter one, verses one and
two. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the
promises of life that are in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my dear son, grace,
mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

As we begin this incredible book, reading these first couple of verses, this is
a book about how to last. When you think about how long things last, just think
for a minute with me about the longest lasting piece of candy you've ever eaten.
There are some pieces of candy like some chewing gum.

You can chew on it and chew on it and chew on it forever. Or you can put one of
those big jawbreakers, you ever had one of those, put it in your mouth and it
just lasts. I just want to say that sometimes in our faith, in our service, in
our hope, our lives are more like cotton candy.

You know that pink fluffy stuff that you get at fairs sometimes and you put it
in your mouth and it just melts away immediately. There's no substance, it
doesn't last. While other times our faith, our belief, our service for God, it
is like that jawbreaker.

We've learned the secret of how to last. And we've all met people in life,
people who have genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, who didn't seem to last
with that faith. They were in church for a while, they were excited for a while,
they were serving for a while, but it just didn't last.

It was a season of life rather than the whole of life. I don't want that for me,
I don't want that for you. How can you last in your faith, in your service, in
not just making it a season of life, but seeing the whole of life committed in
faith to Jesus Christ?

Well, here is Paul telling us how. He's talking to his son in the faith,
Timothy, about how to last. And Paul is a man who lasted in his faith, through
troubles, through struggles, through difficulties, through disappointments,
through imprisonments.

He's writing this letter from a prison, he lasted. He knows what he's talking
about. Now, as we begin today, I just want to give you a quick introduction to the
entire letter as we look forward to what God is going to say to us the next four
weeks and the four chapters of this letter.

And as we think of just an overall introduction to this letter of 2 Timothy, you
might think of the letter in military terms, general, major, and private. The
general theme, the major verses, and the fact that it's a private letter. The
general theme of this entire book is assurance.

How do you last? You last because you have assurance in Christ. You last not
because of your own self-confidence, yet you last because of Christ's confidence
and the fact that he can carry you through anything.

And we're going to see again and again and again and again in these verses how God
gives us assurance for daily life. That's the general theme. The major verses, 2
Timothy 1, 12 is a major verse.

I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I
have entrusted to him for that day. That sense of assurance in belief, in faith,
and the fact that my life is now in Christ's hands. That is a major verse in 2
Timothy.

2 Timothy 4, 7, and 8 are also major verses. Paul writes there to his son in the
faith Timothy, "I have fought the good fight. "I have finished the race.

"I have kept the faith. "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness
"which the Lord, the righteous judge, "will award to me on that day. " In that
verse, you see the confidence of Paul that was in Christ, but you also see the
battle that was the reality of life.

And that leads us to a third major thing about this book. General theme,
assurance, major verses. We just looked at them, but also remember it's a
private letter.

It was written from a lonely prison in Rome. And this is Paul's final and in
many ways his most personal letter. You see in this letter more of Paul's
thoughts and feelings than maybe in any other letter that he wrote.

And that's inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit inspired him to bring out
these thoughts and feelings so that you and I could see some things about the
reality of a life that lasts, of a faith that lasts. It's Paul's last letter.

It's just before his martyrdom in Rome. And in this letter, we get to see into
the heart of the Apostle Paul. And as you see into his heart, you get to see his
heart for people.

There are many, many people mentioned in this book and not always in a positive
way. There are some mentioned in a positive way because they served well. There
are some mentioned in a way that recognized they did not last.

They did not last in the way that they served Christ and they didn't last in the
way that they served the Apostle Paul. Just a quick list. You have Timothy
obviously mentioned in a positive way.

But you have men by the name of Phalagius and Hermogenes mentioned in a negative
way. We're going to see later this week. Anisophorus is named in a positive way.

Hymenaeus and Philetus in a negative way. Demas in a negative way. Luke
positive, Mark positive.

Alexander in chapter four, that's a double negative. As we walk through these
verses, we're going to see that some people serve Christ well and some people fell
away. Some people didn't last.

It's important to note that not all of Paul's friends came through for him. And
there were times when he felt down. There were times that he felt that no one
cared.

There were times when he felt that he was all alone. How was he able to keep
going? We're going to find through this letter that he based his assurance not on
his friendships with people, but on his love for Christ.

But he didn't allow that to keep him from having friendships with people. He
continued to have friendships with people and some people didn't let him down.
Let me just ask you this.

As we begin this letter of 2 Timothy, what is your picture of the apostle Paul?
Maybe you've never thought about this. Maybe the apostle Paul is someone new to
you.

And just now you're beginning to learn that he was a man who was a Pharisee, a
great Jewish leader. He kept all of the law, but he came to find out that that
was not enough. Not enough for him to have confidence.

Not enough for him to last. So he began a relationship with Christ on a Damascus
road because he had a vision of Christ appearing to him. And began to follow
Christ for the rest of his life.

Went on many missionary journeys, started many churches. That's the picture of
the things that Paul did. What's your vision of Paul, your picture of Paul as a
man?

For many, it's just sort of he's very old and like apostle-y. He was an apostle.
So he's just sort of like somebody who is very hard to connect with.

Inaccessible. Hard to understand sometimes when I read what he writes. Instead,
I'd like to give you I believe a truer picture of who Paul really is, really
was.

Here is this man who, because of his love for people, became a mentor to
Timothy. That's why he's writing this letter. This is a man who loved Jesus and
who loved others.

This is a man who gave his all because of his faith in Christ. The apostle Paul
is the kind of guy that you would have loved to spend time with 'cause he would
have poured out his heart for you. He would have helped you to grow in your
faith.

And that's exactly what we're going to have the opportunity to do together during
these next four weeks as we read together what Paul has to say to Timothy and to
us, to me and to you in this book of 2 Timothy. Now, let me share with you where
we're headed. What's the outline of this book?

Where are we headed? I'd like to put it all into the theme of at last. How do I
learn to last?

How do I learn to last in life? Last in faith? Last in service?

And there are four specific things that Paul talks about in these four chapters.
He talks about last hope, last instructions, last days, and last words. Last
hope is in chapter one.

And it involves that verse that we read earlier. I know whom I have believed. I
am convinced that he's able to keep what I have entrusted to him against that
day.

At the last, when Paul was facing death because of his faith in Christ, when he
was sitting in a prison and no one was able to visit him or no one was choosing
to visit him, he still had hope to cling to because his hope was not in this
world. Our last hope, your last hope is not any circumstance in this world. And
this book points us in that direction, in that confidence.

And then in chapter two, we have last instructions. Paul just tells Timothy,
here's how you live the life of faith. Chapter two of Second Timothy is one of
the great chapters in all of scripture.

In it, you get seven different pictures of what it means to live the life of
faith. Paul talks about living as a son, as a soldier, as an athlete, as a
farmer, as a student, as someone who is a vessel of God, as someone who is a
servant of God. In chapter two of Second Timothy is this great hymn of confident
assurance of faith.

It's an incredible chapter of scripture we're going to get to together next week.
Chapter three of Timothy is last days. Chapter one, last hope.

Chapter two, last instructions. Chapter three is last days. There are 20
different descriptions of the last days in this chapter.

How do you keep going no matter what? How do you keep going when it looks like
things are falling apart in this world? How do you keep doing what you've
learned?

Verse 14 of chapter three talks about. It's the power of God's truth that helps
you to do that. We're going to look at that when we get to chapter three.

And then chapter four is last words. It's Paul's final charge to Timothy. In
many ways, this entire book, but especially chapter four is Paul's last will and
testament.

It talks about how you and I can live the life of faith. Now, if I'm going to last,
if you're going to last, it's not going to be on my power. It's going to be on the power
of Christ in you, Christ in me.

So let's pray right now as we begin our study of this book that he will show us
his truth and his love in powerful ways in this book, in ways that help you and
I to last. Jesus Christ, we thank you. We thank you that you have put into our
hearts a faith that will last.

You have put into our lives a relationship with you that will last beyond this
earth all the way into eternity as we have trusted you. Lord, because you want
us to last, because you want us to make a difference for the rest of our lives,
you have written to us to encourage us. And this book is one of those
encouragements.

I pray that we'd hear it. I pray that I'd hear it. Each of us would hear it as
your encouragement to us.

And whether that encouragement comes by way of challenge or a gentle reminder or
hopeful words, I pray we'd hear it from your heart to our heart. And we ask
this, Jesus, in your name, amen. And join us tomorrow.

We're going to be talking together about the power of God's gifts in your life.