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We want to invite you to one of our weekend services. Visit us online at
saddleback. com for locations and service times in your area.

Please visit us this weekend. Welcome to day one of our look together at Second
Timothy chapter four in drive time devotions. I'm Pastor Tom and I'm glad that
you've made it to the last chapter of Second Timothy.

It's an incredible chapter of scripture. It is really in many ways Paul's last
words. It's his last words to his son in the faith, Timothy.

As he in these verses gives these last words, he starts strong. In verses one
and two, here's what he has to say, "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing in his
kingdom, I give you this charge, preach the word, be prepared in season and out
of season, correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful
instruction. " There it is, the beginning of Paul's last words.

He's in a Roman prison. He knows that he is facing death. He knows that these,
if Timothy is not able to visit him, might be the last things that Timothy reads
from his hand.

So he speaks strongly here. The context of this though isn't just that Paul is
in prison. As Paul begins to speak to Timothy, he sets an even broader context,
an even deeper context, more powerful context.

In verse one, he doesn't say, "In view of the fact that I'm in prison, Timothy,
and might die soon, I want you to listen to what I have to say. " No, he calls
on something a lot bigger than that. In verse one, he says, "Timothy, I'm saying
this in the presence of God, who will judge the living and the dead.

I'm saying this in view of his appearing and of his kingdom. " That's sort of
everything, isn't it? That's the most powerful way you could speak.

And in real sense, in verse one, you and I, we get this idea that we're entering
into a holy place, a serious place, and as Paul enters into this place, the
first thing he says is, "Preach the word. " We just looked at last week the
power of God's word. It is God breathed, and God's word has power to speak into
my life through teaching, through rebuke, through correction, through training,
to make a difference in my life.

So it needs to be preached. It needs to be told. And this is a charge not just
to Timothy.

It's a charge not just to preachers in a church. It's for every one of us. You
don't just preach from a pulpit in a church.

What does this mean, to preach? Literally, the word means to say out loud. Say
God's word out loud to other people, to your kids, to people at work, in your
family, to yourself even sometimes.

God's word, you need to live it and you need to preach it. Some people, all they
do is preach it. They talk about it a lot, but it doesn't make one bit of
difference in their lives.

More people, they try to live it, but they never say anything about it. And so
they might be good moral people, but nobody knows why. You might have a spirit
of humility, but people just don't know why that's there, because you've never
spoken God's word.

We're to do both. We live it and we preach it. Now, Paul walks with Timothy
through how you do that.

And as we walk through this together, just for a moment, I'd like you to think
with me about a friend that you have that doesn't know the good news, doesn't
know the good news of Jesus' love and the difference that he can make in our
lives, doesn't know that God's design for their life is so much more than
they've realized at this point. Oh, they may have done some incredible and great
things, but God has even more. And his more isn't just in this world, it's all
the way into eternity.

How are you going to share God's word with your friend? How do you preach the
word to a friend? You see, this phrase "preach" in Satan's battle for words,
he's caused it to take a negative connotation.

And I've got to admit, it's not only Satan, sometimes the way that we have
preached with negative sounding phrases and with angry sounding words has caused
it to take on a negative feeling. But the idea of preaching, how do you share
God's word with a friend? That's the focus of this.

And Paul gives us instruction on how here. So let's just walk through it in your
own life with a friend. I've got somebody that I know that I want to let them
know God's word for their life and how it can make a difference.

How do I do that? Here's what Paul says. First, you be prepared in season and
out of season.

How do I let them know God's word? Paul says when the time seems right and when
the time doesn't seem right, if you wait until just the right time to say God's
word to your friend, the right time is never going to come. It will never come.

So you have to be prepared in season and out of season. Whenever they ask a
question, whenever they respond in a certain way, whenever you have a moment
alone, and I'm not saying you're goofy about this, where you're all of a sudden
you have a moment alone walking down the hall, "Hey, have you ever wondered
about what the book of Genesis is all about? " And they look at you like, "Where
did that come from?

" Well, there's good ways to share God's word. But you're just ready. You're
always ready.

And you don't just share God's word when the time seems right to you. Share
God's word when there is any kind of open door. You go through it.

The instruction on how is you be prepared in season and out of season. The
second instruction is about exactly how you do this. You correct, you rebuke,
and you encourage.

What does that mean when I'm talking to a friend about life, about faith, about
what God can do? How do I preach the word to somebody that I love? You correct,
you rebuke, you encourage.

You correct. Correct means you're saying, "This is the right way. " And how do
you say that to a friend?

You say, "This is what God has done in my life as I followed him. " You give
them a picture of what God's done in your life. I know you think I'm crazy for
going to church.

I know you're wondering why I'm beginning to talk more and more about God's
influence on my life. I just got to tell you what God's done in my life since I
followed him. I've got a freedom from worry I never had before.

Or I've got a purpose in my life that I never experienced before. I know
personally that years and years ago, the minute I became a believer in Christ,
there are a lot of things I didn't know and understand, but I had a sense of
purpose that I had never had before in my life. That's how you correct, is you
let people know how God is correcting you, what God's doing in your life.

Correct is, "This is the right way. " Rebuke is, "This is the wrong way. " And
as you're preaching to a friend, a great way to say it is, "This is how my life
was unraveling when I went my own way.

" But another great way to say it if you're close enough to that friend is,
"Look, I love you enough to not let you keep going down this road that's going
to ruin your marriage, that's going to ruin you as a parent, that's going to
ruin you in this business. I just love you too much to just stand by and say
nothing. " I know, I've struggled with the same temptations you have, but let me
share with you how God's Word kept my life from unraveling.

There's something about letting people know that God's Word has the power to
make a difference and it can bring incredible hope. Many people that we preach
God's Word to, they think, "Oh, that's great for you, but I could never do that.
" They haven't realized the power of the Word.

They haven't realized the power of God's Spirit to make a difference. So they
feel hopeless. Actually, sometimes a rebuke can lead to hope.

And that's the third thing. You correct, you rebuke, and you encourage. What do
you say to your friend when you talk to him about faith?

You talk to him in the sense that, "You can do this. I see you as a person of
faith. No one else does.

You may as well be the one who does. " Jesus died for that friend of yours. He
gave his life on the cross.

He was resurrected again to be able to offer them the gift of new life. You know
that's the truth. So instead of looking at him and saying, "I don't know if
you're ever going to be able to be a person of faith," instead of that doubtful
kind of word, you encourage and you say, "I know you're struggling, but I also
can see hope in you.

I can see love in you. I can see what God can do through your life. I see you as
a person of faith.

" How do you share with a friend? You do it in season and out of season. You
correct, you rebuke, you encourage.

But then Paul says, "Here's a third thing to remember. I don't like this one.
You do it with great patience and careful instruction.

" You see, what I want is I've gotten myself all geared up to finally share
God's word with a friend. And there's an open door. And I just pour it all out.

Here it all is. Here's how I came to faith in Christ. Here's how you can come to
faith in Christ.

I want them in that moment to say, "Aha, I get it. I want the same thing that
you have. How do I pray?

What do I do? " I have had that happen from time to time, but it's not been very
often. More often than not, when you first share God's word with someone, they
look at you a little confused.

They wonder even why you're sharing. And you can see there's a lot of wheels
turning in their mind. And instead of you walking away from the conversation
feeling like, "Wow, that was a great conversation," you really wonder if you
ruined everything.

You really wonder if they're ever going to come to faith because there was no
real response. They just said nothing with great patience and careful
instruction. Those people who don't come to faith, and it's most of us the first
time we hear the word, God's working in our hearts.

So you're just open to the next conversation and the next conversation and the
next conversation. I cannot tell you how many times in my life the first
conversation went so terribly I thought I'm never going to be able to help
anyone to come to faith in Christ. But then the second conversation, all of a
sudden something new opened up.

Maybe it's not just two. Maybe it's five or ten or fifty. With great patience
and careful instruction.

Some people come to faith in Christ quickly, other people it takes years. It's
because of our selfishness, it's because of our pride. That's why you need great
patience.

God was patient with you. God's patient with my pride, with my selfishness, so
he can give you the strength to be patient with someone else. And careful
instruction, just taking the time to walk through it, just detail by detail by
detail.

Instead of getting angry at the person and saying, "Why are you asking about
that? You don't need to know that. Now just accept Christ.

" Just careful instruction, showing people the truth. How do I preach to a
friend in the most positive sense of the word? I'm prepared in season and out of
season.

The second thing that Paul says is I correct and rebuke and encourage. The third
thing is I ask for God's strength to talk with great patience and careful
instruction. Now as we end today, I want to pray together for our friends.

Would you pray with me? Lord, we pray for the person that's been on our mind the
last few minutes. Someone in our family, someone at work, someone we're at
school with, someone we just know, just run into in the neighborhood or at a
store.

Help us to preach the word to our friend in the positive sense. Help me, God,
help us to be ready at any moment the door is open. Instead of being so
concerned about the right time, just to realize that in season and out of season
you can work.

God help us to correct and rebuke and encourage, to show the right way, to show
the wrong way, and to believe that you are at work. And God, through your
patience for us, give us great patience with others. We ask for our friends that
you lead them to faith in you, Jesus Christ, an eternity of hope and joy.

And we ask this in your name, amen.