Sunday VT – 01/18/2015

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Speakers:

• Steve Atherton
• Megan Atherton

Scriptures used:

• Mark 4:24-25
• 2 Timothy 2
• Hebrews 11

Subject:

• Take heed what you hear.  If He can give you His Word to speak to others and you take heed, He will give you more.
• When you don’t take heed and hear, He will take even what you have.
• Take heed what you perceive as being true, it will be measured back to you.  If you give things that are not true place, He will receive back those things you have.  Like the man with the talents, the one who took what he received and worked with it, he received more.  The one who didn’t receive it was taken from him even what he had.
• When Paul came through on his second missionary journey, there was someone who seemed to be getting it and going forward.  It was Timothy, a young man.  The other disciples were not jealous of this but wanted to see Timothy go forward.
• If you’re going to be faithful, it’s really just a choice.  Being around other faithful people can’t make you be faithful.
• Paul left Timothy in different places so that he could be helpful to other brethren.
• Timothy made that choice to be faithful.  He chose to separate himself from his natural father and serve Paul as his Father in the Lord.
• Be strong in the grace.  The grace is there to cover sin.  Timothy was a sinner.  Paul referred to himself as the chief of all sinners.
• It means nothing to say that was a great word spoken by a minister, it only means something when you walk it out yourself.
• Hebrews 11 talks about all the faithful people of God in the Bible.  When you look at what they did by faith, they did things that they could not do any other way.
• Noah couldn’t bring rain upon the earth to destroy it, but he could build an ark because he knew the Lord would do it.
• Abraham believed God, had no child, but believed.
• Moses saw Jesus in the bush, and Jesus told him what he was going to do.  Moses had to step out in faith, and when you read the stories of Hebrews 11, you see the people who had things before them that were so much bigger than them but they stood and walked in that faith.
• Are you trusting in your own abilities or are you trusting in the Lord?  If you walk in faith in the Lord every day all day long, now you are beginning to stand strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
• You will then fight against unbelief, and all the things that testify against you.  When you experience this, then you understand what it is to stand strong in the Lord.
• When things come against you, you fight it off with all you have.  You trust in the sufficiency of God’s grace.
• You cast those things down and trod them underfoot and don’t give them any place.  That is what it is to stand strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
• People are always seeking after a sign.  You have to determine you are going to serve the Lord right now.  You are going to serve Him today.  And then tomorrow.  And choose to do it again.  Are you going to mess up?  Absolutely.  With greater frequency than you wish it would happen.  When it happens we want to blame God, not ourselves.  I don’t want to say I blame Him because I’m too chicken.  I want to blame Him or one of you.
• Each of us has to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  We can’t blame it on our minister, brother, sister or anyone else.  It is a function of our own decisions.
• Timothy is given the charge because others didn’t take heed.  The others heard it but Timothy heard it and went forward in it.   Paul had no other one likeminded who would naturally care for him.  They all were seeking their own things.
• When you are preaching and ministering, you are giving that word to those so those that take heed to that Word, He will give more unto.
• Endure hardness as a soldier of Jesus Christ:  If you are a Christian, you are a soldier, and need to be briefed on the mission.  It is life and death.  Such as, for example, Mishak, Shadrach and Abednego.  It’s going to be life and death because nobody else is doing it.  The people who say they are His and are not are not going to like you.  You have to endure hardness.  You may lose friends and family.  It doesn’t feel good.  They will do everything they can to turn you away from the Lord.  But you have to let it be a sore point.  Amongst family, there was no respect.
• In the fellowship, we all face opposition to what the Lord would have us do.  God’s ways never justify us because His ways are higher than our ways.  When we walk out in His ways those that are claiming to be His are shown for who they are.  We don’t feel good either because we know we’re not better than them.  But they think you think you are better than them.
• If you don’t like the messenger, does that make a difference whether it is true or not?  You need to come to the place where you prefer the truth over your own self, life, notions.  You have to come to know the truth because Jesus is the truth.
• What Steve learned when he came to the Lord.  The Word was his breakfast, lunch, etc.  He didn’t do any dating, etc.  So people thought him quite peculiar.  The fact is that what Steve wanted, was to be a minister of the Lord.
• David was a man after God’s own heart.  You can have it, it’s right there for you.  If you don’t get it, it’s YOUR fault.  There is nothing in the scriptures that we can not walk in.  Do we believe God enough to get it?  If you do, you will get it.
• Striving for mastery, to do this in the Lord the only way to do anything in the Lord, you have to do it by faith and operate in love.  If you do it in any other way, you will fail.  What are you going to do about it?  Are you going to acknowledge the truth and learn from your error or are you going to go away offended?
• When you say “this is too hard, I can’t do it”.  The scripture says that you can do all things through Christ Jesus.  Are you going to believe the Lord or believe the lie?  The lie is nonsense.  God is not limited to our smartness, etc.  Take those stupid thoughts captive and cast it down, trod it underfoot and go forward.
• Just like any good army, there is a line of authority in the Lord’s army.  Timothy was greater in faith than those other men.  Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, with Jesus Christ as commander in chief.  People believe in pastors.  The pastors out here are the last guys out here we should believe in.  We should believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.  A pastor only learned something in seminary and got a piece of paper from somebody who taught them.  Jesus is the one who makes people ministers.  He works through His line of authority.
• Paul commands Timothy to endure hardness, and teach the faithful.  That’s how the truth remains pure.  That is not what has happened out here in the churches.  If everybody is speaking something different, is God schizophrenic? No.  We need to come into conformance with Him.