First Timothy lesson 23 start

Okay, lesson 23, everybody got one? Okay, we are in 1 Timothy chapter four, and we are gonna work on verses 14, 15, and 16. So, I'm gonna read it so we kinda set the tone here. 14, let's see. 14. 14 is do not neglect the spiritual gift within you which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery or the elders. Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation, both for yourself and for those who hear you. pretty strong admonition by Paul to our brother Timothy. So when he says, don't neglect the spiritual gift, question number one within you, what's the gift that he got? What's the gift mean here? The Greek word is charisma. So what kind of gift did he get? He didn't get a new Plymouth. What did he get?

What is it? What is a spiritual gift? Huh? It's under the heading of grace, but what is the gift itself? Any spiritual gift? Teaching's one of the gifts, you know. In the definition I put in my notes, a special inward endowment, or endowment, which qualified Timothy for exhortation and teaching, which was directly imparted by the Holy Spirit. So, everybody in this room have one of those? Everybody in this room have? a spiritual gift, everybody have an inward endowment which qualifies you for exhortation and teaching or whatever it is?

What do you think? Not for teaching necessarily. Go ahead. Oh, I don't have the gift of teaching, I'll just tell you that. That's right. But you have the gift of cooking. You have the gift of cooking. You got that one. Hospitality, is that the? Yeah. Hospitality.

I don't think everybody has the same. We all don't have the same gifts. That's right, we don't. We all have different. Exhortation and teaching was his. Teaching but exhortation too, because he was, in the previous verses, he used to exhort them. So yeah, but we all don't have the same gifts. I agree.

But do you think that every single believer has a gift of some sort? Yes. You think every believer knows what their gift is? The bigger question I always think is, is it one and done, or whatever, and you have that gift forever? Or do you start out with one and the Lord gifts you with another one? Yeah, and that's a good question, too. Do you get sometimes some believers have more than one? Yeah, they do.

I think the more you know Christ, the more the gifts are revealed. Let's take that on one step further. Knowing Christ results in what? Conformity to Him. And He is all those gifts. I was just agreeing with Mike. You get wrapped up in all these spiritual gift programs and books and classes and such, but I think it's exactly as Mike said. As you spend time in His Word and you acquaint yourself with the person, you're going to see yourself and understand what the Lord is calling you to do and what you are capable of doing because you've been gifted.

Yeah, I think that's really important. And I think a lot of churches try to make their body single gifted, as an example. I mentioned that last week from talking to this woman about, she asked me what was the purpose of the church. So being the clever guy that I am, I said, I don't know, what do you think it is? She said, I think it's to evangelize. And I said, well, I think the church is more to get you ready to evangelize.

Because if you belong to a reform church, Baptist-type congregation, evangelization is everything. They're always counting. They never stop, you know? And that's just the beginning of the Christian life. Not that it's not important, but there are some people that have the gift of evangelism. They just seem to be able to walk beside somebody, and the next thing you know, that person's a believer.

But they're no good at going from that point onward. you know, or there are people that have this gift of just to comfort you, you like being around them, or exhortation, those kinds of things where how the body of Christ functions as a unified group, each one contributing their gift to the whole. Like on the, where we are in Romans 14, you know, lots of verse after verse after verse about how you treat your brother. And a lot of that has to do with how the body of Christ works, you know.

Isn't that why people that live in town here shouldn't Zoom? They should come to church. You know, Zoom works really well for some people who can't come to church, but I agree with you. There's something magic, magic's not a good word, something spiritual about the body getting together.

Well, that's X242. Yeah. Fellowship. Fellowship is such a big deal. And Zoom allows this, but I don't think it is the same as having direct fellowship with people. You know, it was great during COVID, helped us through COVID and all the ridiculous things during that time, but, you know, it's really the fellowship is, you know, I think it's meant to be one-on-one, you know, in person, but.

Well, and like, we go to Eccles Bible study whenever he's around, and the Hemingways and us, we ride up together. It's just a great fellowship time, up and back, you know? I mean, I'll probably never drive again. As long as Courtney will drive, I'm good. I'm a driver. It's a gift. Yeah, it's a gift of driving. Gift of chauffeuring, yeah. Yeah, so I mean, just hanging around with believers, a Tuesday men's Bible study, same way. It's really fellowship, what it is.

Wednesday night, same way. I don't like the fact that it's, on Zoom so much, as a matter of fact, I've thought about that. If I moved it to down here, I don't know, some of you guys might miss dinner. But sometimes it's necessary, like we have a Monday night study, and there's a fellowship there, and a synergism there, because there are guys from, not in Denver, they're around, different places, or their job keeps them from, If we had it in a place, they couldn't make it because they're spread out all over the place, you know? There's Calvin in California, there's Tadeo in Montana, there's my son John who's in Commerce City. So John, it's like they said about the Lord, can anything good come out of Galilee? Can anything good come out of Commerce City?

I think the loss is, and I think this from a business standpoint too, with Zoom and everything, It's a tunnel. You're right there, and that's all you see. What they don't have is in between here, having the coffee and the fellowship and the talking in the parking lot or any of that stuff. You get none of that through Zoom.

Sure. The gift can't be expressed. I agree. It's just the fellowship aspect of it. That's more the fellowship. This is the teaching. You can get that from Zoom. But you don't have the fellowship, like I said, outside. We were outside last week for 30 minutes or whatever, talking to people. And in between time, Zoom doesn't get that.

From the business aspect of it, I think all these remote businesses, everybody's been remote. They lose a lot of what I call the water cooler conversations, where you get a lot of transfer of information. you know, a whole bunch of things that, you know, I'm worried in five years from now where the impacts this is going to be business-wise. But it also, from a fellowship standpoint, if it all goes to Zoom, we lose, you know, the fellowship aspect of it.

See, I learned, and the business I was in was real estate. You learn more just hanging around the office. Listening to guys put deals together and go overcoming and stuff. I wouldn't miss being at the office because that's where you learn. Or you go out with somebody and watch how they do their business. Right. Like an in-service.

You know, whatever it is. well i say you know that's how i relate to that on the state engineer's office are all remote now in the old days you know i'm going to need to say something and all i heard that in a guy three three cubicles down says oh yeah or they talk and i think that you know i think bill did something like this and you know and there is no communication in there that i don't have now and so the transfer of knowledge is much much less yeah i agree and then then what it was before and i see that now because when i you know trying to get stuff done through them Oh, I know. As an example, in a lot of the offices I was in, there would be somebody who said, well, I've got this client and I'm right here with him and I can't move him. Some guy over here says, oh, let me give you this idea. Did you know about, or do you, and oh, yeah, I think I'll try that. you know, kind of thing, yeah.

And I think it works within the body of Christ the same way, you know. Although, I think about Paul the apostle, and what it sounds like in the scriptures is that everybody from 100 miles around camped out in somebody's house in this town and stayed there for two months. That's not what happened. They got there if they could, and the word went out from there. If you're like me, you have friends around the country who are strong believers, and you talk to them on the phone on a regular basis, and there's a lot of fellowship that goes on.

So, back to gifts. Everybody's got one. And so they're all designed for one purpose, and that's to support and encourage the body of Christ. None of them are for the aggrandizement of the person who has them. Actually, I was going to, from the gifts, if everyone has one and it goes to that thought to in 1 Corinthians 12, now the variety is of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are varieties of ministries in the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things and all persons. But to each one is given a manifestation of the spirit for common good. So it's not for self-aggrandizement, and each one is given a gift.

Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting how Moving on in terms of the same vein, question number two said, where does this gift come from? From where? Christ. I got the Holy Spirit over here, I got Christ over here. Which one of you is right? Are we talking about Timothy's? Huh? Are we talking about Timothy's spiritual gift? Uh-huh.

The prophetic utterance. Yeah, he was laid hands on. Now hold on a minute. What's prophetic utterance? What is that? Would you say that the Spirit of God spoke to Paul and said, Timothy's my guy? I want him, I want you to focus in on this guy and have him realize that I've gifted him for my service. Would you say that's prophetic utterance? There was an ordination here, if you want to use that word to kind of encapsulate the message, the prophecy, the message, and the laying on of hands. And so, in his case, this was an outward ordination of what Paul had given him to do. Paul, yeah. And how did Paul know? That's your question. How did Paul know that?

I think it's because the Spirit showed him. Now, in our body, if the Lord is gonna, we wait for him to raise somebody up and we look at him and say, oh yeah, that guy or that woman, they're gifted that way, we need to utilize that. And I think that's the way it goes. The Holy Spirit, Picks the leaders, put it that way. And he gifts them for their job. See that?

And you may think, well, gee, I don't have a gift. I remember years ago, we first studied spiritual gifts. I found a questionnaire. Somebody gave me a questionnaire from some church in town. It was entitled, How Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gift Was? And really, it was two pages of psychological profile. had nothing to do with a spiritual gift. But that's, you know, you've tried to force the issue with the Spirit of God and you end up with nothing.

Well, just like new believers, they're Armenian-based, usually first, so they get, well, you don't speak in tongues, I'm a fan of laying on of hands. Because I think that like with Timothy, Paul put his hand on him and prayed for him. It's a designation of he's the one. When I first came down to Denver, I didn't know anything. I ended up with these people that said they were spirit-filled. It was just tongue-talkers. But they laid hands on me.

I noticed that Brian White got ordained an elder in his church. His church, I think, has five or six elders, and the ordination ceremony was they all gathered around him, put their hands on his shoulder, and they prayed for him. I mean, that doesn't mean lightning's gonna come out of the top of his head or anything like that, but they're acknowledging this is the guy, that the Lord has raised this guy up to be an elder, and he's qualified, and we support him, and we recognize what the Spirit of God is doing.

Yeah, that's what it is. The other thing I always think of, back to when you were becoming an elder, you're called to be an elder. If you desire to be an elder only, you'll fail. Oh, sure. And I think you have a calling that the Spirit calls you to do that. And you have a desire, then the desire will come. But it's the Holy Spirit that motivates you, and then other people will recognize that. But if you force the issue, so to speak, you'll fail. If you don't have a heart for the body and a calling, you're never going to make it. And that brings up this question.

If the Spirit of God has called you to be a deacon or an elder, so many denominations, you get voted in as an elder for a two-year term, four-year term. You know, or people say, well, you know, so-and-so's a good guy, he takes a shower every week, and you know, we like him. Yeah, and he wears, he dresses nice, and he's friendly, and so we'll make him an elder for two years. For two years. Is that the Holy Spirit's program?

I think once you're an elder, you're an elder. And it's because you're thinking about the service, not the job, not the title. What happens if you move? No, that's a really good point. You can't move, yeah. Yeah, no, that's an excellent question because we've had a lot of people move over the 30 plus years I've been here to other places.

Brian White's a good example. He moved and he was in, over 25 years, probably six or seven different churches. This is his first eldership. He taught in other places, but his problem was that he kept going to these churches that he didn't agree with them doctrinally. The one he's in now, he kind of does. Be cool. Yeah, and Vern used to bang on the idea, which I thought, boy, that's... Somebody, a guy gets a job offer in Houston, and it's the dream job. Guy goes down to Houston, looks around, and the first place he should look is to try to find a church. And if he can't find a church, should he go to Houston?

We say no, because I didn't get the offer. But if I had the offer, I'd be thinking it over. The church is the most important thing in a believer's life, all that it offers in terms of fellowship and support and that kind of stuff. I must admit, in today's environment, it's very hard to find a church that's a teaching environment. There aren't many around. So to get promoted to Duluth, Minnesota, I know where I'm gonna go to church.

I mean, we've been here 15 years, moved from out of, you know, Canada here, and drive 35, 40 minutes. Sure. And when we talk about, you know, potentially moving back to Texas or something, that's our biggest thing is, if we don't find a church, that, like, we're not going to do that. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, you know, and that's... I'm not magically looking, I'm just saying, like... That's a great point.

Kids growing up and this or that, like, we know now, it's like a big deal. It is a big deal because I think that what is known as a church family becomes as important, sometimes more important than your own family because of the spiritual support you get.

Who else can a young man who's struggling with his job or with whatever, can he call that will not empathize with him, but listen to him, and direct the conversation on a biblical basis. Who else is gonna do that? I mean, if I called up Courtney and said, Courtney, I got this problem, we'd have the Bible open, because that's where he would take me. More than I would call my two brothers.

You know, that kind of stuff. So that's why it's so important, I think. We go line by line, word by word in this, but if you go back in verse six, in pointing out these things to the brethren, you'll be a good servant, constantly nourished on the words of faith and of the sound doctrine which you've been following. It's nourishment. Fellowship and being in a body, that's the nourishment. It's not, I mean, as much as I love my family too, this is where my nourishment comes from.

And that's much more important to me than, you know, even the family. It is. For my health and growth. Yeah. And that's a good point. It's a hard thing to say. What'd you say? I think it's hard with parents. Marriage? Parents. Parents. to get everybody up and showered and ready for church. A lot of times that's a struggle for the parents. It's too bad that parents have to have struggles.

Right. But they'll say, oh, this is too much on Sunday. I'm supposed to relax on Sunday and watch golf. Really? What they think. along the family lines. I mean, sometimes there is a necessary move to support family or do those kinds of things. And that causes a decision.

But the Lord has your pathway already planned. You have to walk through it as you walk by faith. So there's no clear statute in the scripture that once you become an elder, you must stay there until you or face to face with the Lord, right? That's not in the Bible. Yeah, it's interesting how when we went through the qualifications for an elder, and a lot of it had to do with him being a father and a leader and all of that. Well, once he becomes an elder, he doesn't forget about all of those things.

He's still got that responsibility. I think the problem in our society today is men don't lead. That's why we do Monday night. Men don't lead. And I'm not talking about getting out a stick and pounding everybody. The best example I know of how a man leads spiritually is Donna's dad. When Donna got up in the morning, every morning, what was her dad doing? He was in the living room reading his Bible. Every day. Think that had an impression on that family? I think so. I think so because they knew where his focus was. You know, and his leadership was based on what he was reading every morning.

See, so, just to finish this up, where does the spiritual gift come from? It obviously comes from the work of the Holy Spirit, who actually is the driving force in the body of believers. He's the one that picks the leaders and gifts them and, You think that Brian's mom, Sue, does what she does just because she likes doing what she's doing.

No, she's called to the Lord to do that. She is, you can tell. And oh, we didn't have to ordain her either. So question three, when given, is the person who receives it now under greater obligation. See qualification for elders in 1 Timothy 3, one through seven. What's interesting about becoming an elder is that your previous responsibilities don't stop.

You're still a dad, you're still a husband if you're a man. You still have the responsibilities to, but so many Christian guys think worldly, think, well, boy, if I go all in for the Lord, how am I going to make a living? I'm going to be at the church all the time. Well, and there are guys that do that. But the Spirit of God, when He indwells somebody to be an elder, He enables them to fulfill every role he's called them to fill. Dad, husband, elder, teacher.

That's his job. And he's gifted you for that. If you do it legally, you're going to fail. If you pick one over the other, you're going to fail in both. I mean, really, I think being a husband and a dad is as good a qualification to be an elder as any job you can have. Because you have to learn to deal with the people you care about.

And like when I was going to be an elder, I said to Courtney, what do you think, Courtney? His answer was, you're going to find the sheep are really stinky. Not all of them. There are some stinky sheep within the flock. So I thought, well, if there's people in my family that are kind of stinky too. I was one of them stinky sheep. I mean, that was great advice because I wasn't going in with blinders on.

And like, first two issues he's dealing with, one of them, somebody in this church sent a letter to the elder saying, I did something 11 years ago and I confessed it to my wife and now our marriage is falling apart. Can you help me? He said, what do we tell him? I said, don't ask me, I don't know. I'm not in that church. So he's got that problem to solve.

And then what was the other? Oh, another one. Another woman said, well, we're still together, but my husband lost his job because he was into pornography and nobody knew it. And he, worked at home on a web-based business and he inadvertently sent out a pornographic thing to one of his customers and he got fired.

What do you do about that? I said, welcome to the game. I said, my best advice to you is that If those are the two problems that are in your church, now you know where to teach, because that's what you gotta focus on, those issues, and how do you fix them.

Okay, so the laying on of hands speaks of identification. Here it was an outward act and a ceremony symbolizing the fact that Timothy was now to be identified with the elders in a common work of the ministry of the word. He became one of them, and he became one with them.

Probably one of the coolest parts of my week is Tuesday morning at nine o'clock. I'm having a meeting with Roger every week, and now we've included DeMiles in it. It's just a cool time. We go for an hour or plus. We've been studying books together. We talk about issues, and it's just a cool time.

You know, and so that's one of the huge benefits of a plurality of elders. You have men that you can bounce things off of, and you can, where should we go, and how should we do this, and should we do this, or maybe we shouldn't, what should we teach next, that kind of stuff. Which I think is just really cool, you get to do that. It isn't just, well, I think, oh, okay, we'll do that, you know.

So you already know we're going after First Timothy. Oh, sure. Where are we going? Where do you think? Second hand. That's right. You're a genius. Maybe we ought to make you an elder. Yeah. So, how am I doing? Oh gee, I'm over. I better quit. That was an easy one though. What, that question? Yeah. Okay, let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your word, how we thank you for your spirit, who actually is in the driver's seat of all that we do as a body of believers. We ask that we all would continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of your dear son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his name, amen.