Salt + Light Fort Worth

All right, and before we, uh, dive
into Paul's letter to the Timothy's,

to Paul's letters to Timothy, let me,
uh, dismiss our elementary kiddos.

So if you are in elementary,
I'm not even suited upright.

I was in, in a conversation.

I thought the verses
were longer than that.

So there we go.

All right.

Elementary in here.

Head on out with your
next, the rest of us.

Uh, cont turn.

We're gonna be in first
Timothy and second Timothy.

Um, so if you weren't here at the
beginning of the fall, we started

Paul's letters, uh, by, by looking
at both the introductions he makes,

and then we address first Timothy.

And then second Timothy, and today
we're going to end with kind of

both conclusions that he gives.

So, um, if you wanna put a finger in first
Timothy and second Timothy, that's the

one one that's the hardest thing if you
read your Bible on an app, is you gotta

like, go back to like, where's the book?

Where's the chapter?

Where's the verse?

And go back to, so anyway,
so hard copy bibles.

Who knew?

Um, all right.

So, um.

As we jump in, there's a few of,
uh, our Salton light households that

spent a few Saturdays in the fall,
uh, at various fields watching middle

school cross country kiddos race.

Um, and if you've ever been to
one of those things, you know,

it's all, you start in a herd.

Um, that's true of any,
of, any of any age race.

But, but then very quickly in
the middle school, you start to

pace and see who's gonna lead.

And, um, there's one race we went
to that like the first place,

person finished, and then like the.

The, the pacing cart went back because
this first place was so far in front

of the second place, they had to
go back and show the second place

person where they were gonna go.

So you, so you see like the, you, you,
you, you've seen things like this,

like races, pacing, that kind of stuff.

Um, but one of the most interesting parts
of this was standing near the finish line.

And there's always that final stretch.

And you see this, whether it's the
Olympics or middle school, 'cause

they're exactly the same, um, you
see in the middle school world.

That some people, as they see
the finish line, start to go,

oh, I'm, I feel some relief.

I'm gonna go ahead and slow down.

I'm gonna coast.

Sometimes that works well for them.

Sometimes what happens though, the person
behind 'em they didn't know was there.

Um, other kids like, see that
finish line and they crank it up.

That's what you also see in the Olympics.

Um, and there's this, this choice
that happens when you see something

ending, something coming that's like,
okay, it can either kind of coast,

start to start to wind down and coast.

Um, or I can push through.

Um, NT Wright, who is a, a author who
wrote some of the resources that we've

used to shape this, uh, series, talks
about the same thing in, in an exam.

So he's a professor, and so he'll say
that as he finishes up, uh, an exam.

When, when he's teaching the classroom,
he'll say, Hey, there's 10 minutes left.

And he goes, there's two directions
that people go when they finish,

when they hear that 10 minutes left.

And one is kind of the like.

Well, it is what it is.

This is as good as it's gonna be.

Might as well just fold in.

Now, some of you in the room were
like, I resonate deeply with that.

Others of you feel the tension and know
what the other half would do, which

is like double down and here we go.

You're trying to write
scribble, you can't even read.

The legibility is so bad, that kind
of stuff because you're trying to

crank through the rest of it, right?

Um, so he said last week, uh, that
as Paul is writing his letters

to Timothy, he's in prison.

And so these words are, are very
likely, at least as, as far as records

go, these are the last recorded
words we have from Paul to Timothy.

Um, they're, they're
some of his last words.

Um, and what we see is a man who's looking
at the finish line of his earthly life

and he's not slowing down like he's,
he's choosing to, to, to crank it up.

Whether he is got a day left or
a decade left, he didn't know.

Um, prisons didn't work like
they do now where you have set

sentences and this kind of stuff.

He's probably in a waiting period to,
before his trial even, and he could walk

out on trial and be executed that day.

He could be waiting in prison forever.

He could be released 'cause
he is a Roman citizen, so he

doesn't know what's gonna come.

But his mindset is whether it's a
day or a decade, my life is not over.

My ministry is not over.

And we've seen Paul's exhortation
to Timothy over the last,

I don't know, 10, 11 weeks.

We've seen different charges
that he is given Timothy and the

churches throughout history of this
is what life together looks like.

Uh, we've seen him give
examples, personal examples.

Here's what my life and
ministry looks like.

We've seen his exhortations that
shape the life of discipleship that

every Christian throughout history
is called to, and the communal life

of every church should look like.

And we felt some of Paul's urgency.

And so today, as we look at these last
words of both letters, uh, we're gonna

see a few things that Paul leaves
with Timothy and with every church.

And for our sake, the things that
Paul is going to leave us, he's

gonna say, fight for faith, flee
from greed, and finish the race.

And I'll just acknowledge right
now, yes, it's alliteration.

I don't like alliteration, but
that's literally the words he uses.

So I'm not trying to force anything.

This is what Paul says.

Fight for faith, flee from
greed and finish the race.

So lemme pray that God would help us to
do that even as we go into a holiday week.

So help us Lord, uh, with all of
these, um, in a world that pulls us

away from faith and righteousness
and toward greed and comfort.

Uh, would you help us finish the race?

Well, wherever we are, whatever lack we.

Will you help us finish?

Well, it's in your son's name.

Amen.

Alright, before we jump into
some transferrable principles,

I wanna spend just a couple
minutes and, and humanize Paul.

Um, 'cause it's really easy at times
to see Paul, uh, and some of the

other biblical authors as kind of
this demi god sits somewhere between

normal humans and the glory of the
Lord sh roundabout them kind of thing.

This uber holy, like
super human person, right?

I mean, he wrote the Bible, so like.

It's easy to hold Paul and
others up on a pedestal.

And people in the first
century did that too.

Um, whether they were Christians or
not Christians, to the point where

Paul consistently wrote, I'm a human.

Don't treat me like anything else.

He writes often of his weakness
and his needs and his cons.

I mean, he's the guy who says like,
what I want to do I don't do, and

what I don't want to do, I do.

Like, he's, he's super
human, not a super human.

I said that really poorly.

That's utterly confusing.

He is just normal.

He's a normal human.

Um, he did normal human things.

Um, if we don't get that, it's easy
us for us to, to think that Paul's

so much better, so much like he's
in a different stratosphere of us

and we can write off his command.

Well, of course Paul did that.

He's Paul,

but there's a danger then
if we see Paul as human.

Because if it's like, well,
if he's human, I'm human too.

And so maybe some of these things
that seem really hard don't just

apply to the, the stratosphere folks.

Maybe they apply to me too.

So Paul's not Jesus.

Paul's not God.

He's very human, does very human thing.

So, so I'm gonna read
some of his last words.

This gonna be in second Timothy, uh,
his last words in second Timothy.

And listen for Paul's ways
that Paul is like you and me.

We'll chat about it afterwards.

So, ready.

Paul says to Timothy, do
your best to come to me soon.

For Deus in love with this present world
has deserted me and gone to Thessalonika.

Kreskin has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dia.

Luke alone is with me.

Get Mark and bring him with you for,
he's very useful to me for ministry.

Titus, I've sent to Ephesus.

When you come, bring the cloak that I
left with Carpas at Troas and also the

books and above all the Parchments.

Alexander the Coppersmith
did me much harm.

The Lord will repay him
according to his deeds.

But beware of him yourself, for
he strongly opposed our message.

At my first defense, my first
trial, no one came to stand with

me, but everybody deserted me.

May it not be charged against
them, but the Lords stood by me and

strengthened me, so that through me,
the message might be fully proclaimed

and all the Gentiles might hear it.

So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

The Lord will rescue me from
every evil deed and bring me

safely into his heavenly kingdom.

To him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

And he says, treat prisa and
Aquila in the house of an uh.

I always stumble over this
word every time I read it

ish.

Rassis remained at Corinth and I left
the other guy who was ill at mils.

Do your best to come before winter.

UUs sends his greetings to
you, as do Purs and Linus and

Claudia and all the brothers.

Nicole, aren't you glad I just
had you read two verses instead

of instead of those, all right.

Paul's very human.

Paul does very human things.

What are some things that you hear in
these verses that remind you of you?

What are some ways that Paul's
like you and me sounds lonely?

He's lonely.

That's the first thing
that stood out to me.

Yeah, his friends left him.

Some may be for good reasons, some for
neutral reasons, some for for bad reasons.

Anyone ever had a friend leave you?

We, we know what that feels like.

That's what Paul's experiencing.

What else?

Needy.

He's needy.

Yeah.

Bring the supplies.

I can't do this on my own.

Bring the books.

Maybe he's bored.

He at least wants to His
cloak, he forgot his cloak.

That honestly, for me
was the most helpful.

I turns out, leave stuff in places.

And he is like, I, I'm
very much like Paul.

I'm just trying to follow Paul as he
follows the example of Christ when I leave

my water bottle here almost every Sunday.

Um, yeah, he, he, he's, he's forgetful.

He left something somewhere.

At least that's what I'm reading in to
that maybe he was kind and left his quote.

'cause the guy was cul, but I
think he was just forgetful.

What else?

He's been somebody?

Yeah, he's been let down
and hurt and wronged.

Um, some friends who deserted and left
for other paths and some fought, fell

into temptation and some even harmed.

Paul, can anyone see
yourself in any of this?

You forgetful, you lonely,
sometimes needy, let down hurt.

He's cold.

Turns out he's human in that way.

He, he wants his, his cloak.

Prisons again, weren't
like they are today.

They're dark.

Dan caves.

Again, all we're trying to dry
out like Paul's, Paul's human.

He's like any of us in that sense.

And at the same time, Paul
still cares for Timothy.

He's warning him against this evil man.

Um, Paul's aware of God's
presence even in prison.

Paul's aware of God's presence.

And so if, if it's true for Paul in prison
that God is present, how much more true

is it for us, even when we face similar.

Or less hard circumstances.

Does that make sense?

So Paul's human, so, so he's
not having the best of days, but

everything's not lost either.

He's walking this life that all of
us walk of man, these really weighty

things and really joyful things.

And even in prison, he's sensing the Lord.

He's trusting God.

Like even as people harm him, he says,
God's gonna deal with that person.

He's trusting God's justice over his own.

He sees God's purpose and imprison,
but, but God's the one who.

Who got me out of the lion's mouth.

I'm here.

So the Gentiles can take, he's
trusting God in the hardest of things.

Right.

We can go on and on, but, but, but the
point is, as we think back, and if you

have a moment this, this week, read
back over first and second Timothy.

'cause, 'cause we're kind of wrapping
it up, but read it through the lens of

these are the words of
a seasoned minister.

A normal human.

He's, he's, he's, he's finishing this
race, not like bating a thousand.

He's not feeling that, but he's
finishing it with deep care and

sensing the lord's deep purpose.

And what does that mean for us?

Like these letters we've been
reading, Paul, Paul doesn't paint

this idealistic and theoretical and
removed picture of life in ministry.

He's not in some ivory tower going, well,
hey, all you churches should do this.

Even though he is never experienced.

That's, that's not who he is first.

And Timothy First and second Timothy
are, are hard-earned experience, contain

hard-earned experience of a man who is
a sinner, redeemed by God's grace, who

spent his whole life trying to obey Jesus.

Well, not his whole life, his
whole life after he was saved,

trying to obey Jesus and seek his
kingdom and suffered opposition.

And these letters are called to
Timothy and to us to do the same thing.

And so for us who are equally human, who
are also sinners redeemed by God's grace,

the question is what does it look like
for us to seek that same kind of life

of obeying Jesus, seeking his kingdom,
and even suffering opposition for.

No, that's the question.

And so Paul says that looks like three
different things as he closes his letter.

So the first is this fight for faith,
back to one Timothy, one Timothy six.

Starting in verse 11.

Paul says, as for you, oh man
of God, flee these things.

What things tell you in a minute?

Pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Fight the good fight of the faith.

Take hold of the eternal life to
which you have been called and about,

which you made the good confession
in the presence of many witnesses.

I charge you in the presence of God
who gave life to all things and in

the presence of Christ Jesus, who
in his testimony before Pontius

Pilate made the good confession.

To the commandment UN to keep the
commandment unstained and free

from reproach until the appearing
of the Lord Jesus, which he'll

display at the proper time.

He who is the blessed and only
sovereign, the King of kings, the Lord

of Lords, who alone has immortality,
who dwells in unapproachable light,

who no one has ever seen or can see
to him be glory and eternal dominion.

Amen.

And then there's some extra words
there that shouldn't be there.

So it's been a long time since we've
been in First Timothy, the verses before.

These are talking about a love of
money since the verses that say, a love

of money is the root of many evils.

Um, after these verses, we'll come
back to this in a minute, he's

going to return to that theme of
greed and, and say, flee that.

But in these verses, the near final
words of Paul's first letter, Paul paints

this summary picture of a life of faith.

And we saw something similar
in two Timothy last week.

Faith in God and a Life of Walking
with God is a life that is unavoidably

intertwined with the fruit of the spirit.

And so you see some of
those same words here.

Righteousness.

Godliness love, steadfastness,
gentleness, like that's the

good life according to God.

That's the life that Paul
pursued and charges us to pursue.

That's, that's the fight of faith.

And, and, and it begs two questions.

The first is, why is it a fight?

And I don't think I have to convince
you it's a fight because those things

are so counter-cultural, right?

The tide doesn't take us anyone
follower, Jesus, not a follower.

Jesus.

The tide, the tide that of, of the
world that we live in does not take

us easily toward, for example, love

for anyone outside of ourselves.

The tide doesn't take
us toward gentleness.

The tide certainly doesn't
take us toward trusting gut.

And so these are things that
only only God through the Spirit

can produce in a lasting way.

So Paul saying, Timothy Church salt and
light in 2025, row against the tide,

row against the pole of the world,
the unrighteousness, the ungodliness

ro against the faith in yourself,
ro against trusting your own

abilities and other things in people.

Ro against finding
satisfaction outside of me.

Ro against Hate instead of love ro
against Fickleness and Abdication

instead of steadfastness and gentleness.

Does it feel like a fight?

Can you look around us?

Does it feel like a fight?

Like you know how easy it is to
just get caught up in the tide?

We were the beach this summer and our
kids started playing rat out here.

And you look out 10 minutes later in
their way down there, they have no idea.

And we had no idea.

And just it's get swept away.

Fight the tide

from a human center redeemed by
God's grace, Paul, to a human sin

redeemed by God's grace, you and me
and Timothy, and with urgency and

pleading at the end of his life.

Paul says, don't give up
like sometimes our, our.

Our arms get tired from rowing.

Sometimes it's hard to swim
against a current, don't give up.

Fight the world, fight the tide.

Fight for faith.

That's the first question.

Why does it feel like a fight?

Because every day is, the second
question is, what's the motive for

fighting for that kind of life?

And Paul says in verse 12.

Fight the good fight for faith.

Take hold of the eternal life to
which you were called and about,

which you made the good confession.

Paul says, the motive for fighting
for faith is that that life is

what eternal life looks like.

Those pursuits, gentleness, godliness,
righteous, that's, that's what

eternal life is going to look like.

Will we ever achieve that here?

No, but every time we fight for something
godly, we get a glimpse of eternity.

Is that good news?

Every time God meets us and produces
something good and counter-cultural

in us, we're getting a glimpse

of what the rest of
eternity will look like

today, though, the concept of
eternal life refers to when

just.

Just life after death.

Right?

One day when Jesus comes back one day when
he comes to get us, one day, when we go

to be with him, but, but here's the deal.

If the resurrection is true, then
there's a version of life after death

that you're living right now, church.

Do you believe that like the, the
New Testament is full of references

to themes like you were dead and
you've been made alive in Christ.

The old has gone, the new is here.

Put off the old person.

Put on the new person.

That's a theme through the New
Testament, and so there is a

forever version of eternal life.

But what we miss in 2025 America
Christianity, is that eternal

life is happening in us now.

You're no longer dead, you're alive.

The life you lived has been put to death.

There's a new life that you live
now, and so we see this in verse 15.

I highlight this in verses, Jesus
is the blessed and sovereign, the

king of kings and the Lord of Lords.

It doesn't say He will one day
be the blessed and sovereign

king of kings and Lord of Lord.

It says he what He is.

That when today Jesus has.

Immortality he dwells, not will have
not will dwell in in glorious light.

All of that is what English majors
present, tense and that matters.

So Paul's crying out from prison
in praise as he looks to the end of

his life and saying, church, this is
who Jesus is now, not just one day.

This is who the Spirit points us to
and makes us into the image of now.

This is who deserves glory
and honor and praise.

Now, this is, this is right now
worth giving your right now life to.

And so here's the deal, like if Jesus
hadn't lived and if he hadn't died

and if he hadn't risen, and if he
doesn't reign, then let me be frank.

Like there's no reason
to fight for the faith.

There's no reason to ro against the tide.

Do whatever you want.

Live however you want,
pursue whatever you want.

Get swept up in whatever
makes you feel great.

But if you believe that Jesus is king of
kings and Lord of lords, and is your king

of kings and your Lord of lords, and not
just some future esoteric king of King and

Lord of lords, but is is king of King and
Lord of Lords, of your life, of your life.

Now in the second to last charge
from Paul to Timothy and us.

It might be, might be what
you need to hear today.

Fight for faith, fight for that.

And then the last charge of one Timothy
kind of pushes back on maybe the

greatest things that block that faith.

It's our own knowledge and our own greed.

Is that fair?

Does does our own knowledge and
our own greed make it hard to

have faith in anything else.

Y'all are quiet today.

I'm gonna say yes.

Yes, it does.

Four.

As for the rich in this present age,
charge them not to be haughty nor to

set their hopes on the uncertainty
of riches, but on God, who richly

get the word plague, who richly
provides us with everything to enjoy.

They, the rich are to do good and
to be rich in good works and to

be generous and ready to share.

Thus, storing up a treasure for
themselves as a good foundation for

the future so that they might take
a hold of that which is truly life.

O Timothy Guard, the deposit entrusted
in you to you avoid the irreverent babble

and the contradictions of what is falsely
called knowledge for by professing

that some have swerved from the faith.

All right.

So knowledge, just to be clear,
knowledge without the air quotes around

it, uh, that that's a good thing.

Knowledge is good in general.

God wants us to know more about him.

He gives us minds, he gives us logic,
this kind of stuff, this knowledge.

We're not gonna spend a ton of time
here, but it's, it's a heresy that became

known as gnosticism and agnosticism.

You even sounds like gross agnosticism.

It's one of those good words.

Uh, is this belief that salvation
is a reliant on finding some secret.

Way, some, some secret knowledge, some
divine spark that you have to find.

There's still some of this that exists
in the world today, and especially, um,

there, there's some, some, some friends
that I have who don't follow Jesus

who are waiting for that thing that
they find for the, for something, for

something to kind of unlock for them.

Maybe you've been in that scenario.

Um.

And I pray that God would, would grant
them that, but not in, not in this false

way of going, man, there is, there is no
secret key that makes everything right.

All of us who follow Jesus would
say nothing, but not everything

gets, gets magically right it.

This belief of gnosticism says that the
only few will be saved, only the few

that kind of find that secret knowledge.

And largely it's up to you and your
brain and your ability to figure it out.

That contradicts everything about
the message of grace, doesn't it?

And so Paul writes against that
and, and a bunch of other letters.

For the sake of today,
we'll leave it there.

It's clearly false.

It puts way too much value
on your mind, yourself, your

ability, and then similarly,

both in first century and today,
people put too much value on findings.

Agree.

Jesus talked more about
money than anything.

It's one of the greatest
things that can kind of pull

us into the ways of the world.

We know this and, and again, I wanna
be clear like we saw this before.

We saw this a couple months ago.

Money is not evil.

What does Paul say just
before these verses?

He says, it's the love of
money that can become evil.

And so here, Paul's just
picking up on the same thing.

Is it bad to be rich?

No, it's not.

In fact, he even exhorts the
rich, which means he's okay

with some people being rich.

Rich folks have more to give more
to steward for God's purposes.

And we could spend time kind
of defining what rich means.

We could talk about the state of
global wealth and distribution.

We can talk about money given to, to
global missions, or even the percentage

of money given away or that kind
of stuff, versus hoarded and, and

we could talk about that, but maybe
more personally and more helpfully.

It may just, it may just be helpful
to, to think about it like this.

Everybody has some money.

Nobody but one person in the
world has the most money.

And so you fit somewhere in
there, you have some money.

And I don't think you're the one in
the world who has the most money.

Everybody has some money.

Nobody has all the money, and so matter
how rich or poor you think you are.

'cause again, if we just go like, oh,
well I'm, I'm below the 49% of global

wealth, whatever it is, you're not, but.

If, if we think of ourselves as poor,
like, ah, we can throw these things away.

But no matter how rich or or poor
you think you are, I think the,

the, the question is, is what do
you do with, with the money you

have, however much or little it is?

What, what do you do with that?

And Paul kind of paints two paths.

You either love it, Scrooge, McDuck
style, like dive into it and swim around.

Which for the record,
those were like gold coins.

So like you.

Crush your hands.

If you tried that, you
put your hope in it.

You rely on it, you stock up beyond,
you know, quote unquote appropriate

savings or purposeful savings or legacy.

That's, that's one path.

Is that a common path?

Absolutely.

Is.

Becomes the one goal of life becomes so
prominent for some folks that they'll

crush whomever to get more of it.

Or, or there's this other path
that Paul says, Hey, if you, if you

have money, that's okay because you
have a, a, a bigger ability to be

generous rather than crush people.

You get to serve people, you get
to meet other people's needs.

He talks about being ready to share,
like I love, I didn't know this until,

until Nicole announced it last week,
that that salt and I was able to

raise $7,500 to help kids get meals.

Like for, for, for a little church, y'all.

That's, that's awesome.

That's generous.

That's sacrificial.

I believe some of you sacrificed
something to make that happen.

And so if you don't know, and I
know not everyone's been here.

When we talk about money, we
don't harp on money a ton.

But, but, but our view of money,
our view of giving is, is threefold.

And this may surprise you, it may not.

I don't know.

But, but here it is.

It's, it's, we, we would ask and hope
that you would give some to the church.

This is your family.

Help support the family budget.

Kids in our family do some chores, help
support the family work kind of stuff.

And so we, we would hope that
if you consider this your church

family, that you would contribute
some funding to the church.

Uh, but we are not of the
mindset that this is the only

good place for your money to go.

Um, there's, there's, there's a, a
mantra out there that even says if

you give, depending on the church,
less than some percent to the church.

Like church has to be, most church has
to be way up here, and then everything

else can get your, you know, pennies
that are left over kind of thing.

That's, that's not our view.

Contribute to the church.

Yes, but also we hope and encourage
and charge, like find other

ministries that you believe in.

Find other causes, find missionaries.

And if you, if you don't know someone,
uh, we have a great family in Nepal

that's always looking for support.

Um, there's other great folks that
you know, that are in your, your realm

from previous school or church or
whatever experience like we, we, we

would love for you to support them.

There's really good work that happens
in here, I hope, in this church.

Not just this building,
but yes, also that.

But also there's really good work
happening in other parts of the world.

So we would encourage that, but then also.

We would encourage you to set some funding
aside and just be able to bless folks.

Like the practice of hospitality
can be hard sometimes.

If you go, I, I don't know if I
can afford to have people over.

Great.

Like set some of, set some of the money
you, you'd say, I wanna use this for

the lord aside and just use it that way.

Be able to bless someone in, in need that
doesn't have to go through kind of the,

the church funnels and that kind of stuff.

Surprise people, display
the lavish love of God.

Do you get a tax write off for that?

No.

But hopefully that's not the
primary goal of giving anyone.

Does that make sense?

This is kind of our, our threefold
hope as we think about giving.

Now, we're not gonna put percentages
on it or charge you that kind of stuff.

If you need help figuring that
out, we're happy to talk with you.

But that's somehow we
consider generous giving.

The first Century Church both
took up a collection at times and

also would informally meet needs.

So someone's got a medical expense.

They would just.

Help someone out.

I hope we can be a church like that too.

I know, I know.

We are already a church like that too.

And having said that, we are at a
unique moment in Salton Light's history.

Um.

Many people and many organizations look
toward the end of the year as kind of

a, a, a, a a season where God provides
extra and boosts and, and if you've been

around for a year end stuff before we,
we've tried to do, since we've started,

I think we've done this every year since
we started, because we've highlighted

other ministries and other organizations
that are doing really good work in other

parts of the world and said, Hey, if you
have extra at the end of the year or if

you, if God would lead you to sacrifice
at the end of the year, we'd love for

you to give to those operations, to
those ministries, to those missionaries.

Um, since we've started, we've
highlighted other good efforts and

end of year has had an outward focus,
um, for the first time this year.

Perhaps the only time, we don't know
what the future holds, we're gonna ask

you to consider looking inward, uh,
as we go into the end of this year.

Um, y'all know if you've been around
for more than a couple weeks, um.

Our Sunday gatherings are
very likely gonna have to move

at some point in early 2026.

We don't know where we're gonna move yet.

We don't have to be out, we
don't have any like big reveal

update today, just so you know.

Um, the white nurse aren't having a baby
and we're not announcing where we're gonna

meet next week, so very let down of a day.

Um, but even if we can stay,
there'll be a new owner of this

building, so chances are we're gonna
have to pay more to even be here.

Um, I'll just be frank with you.

We have the best deal in Fort Worth.

We pay $1,200 a month.

Uh, to meet here on Sundays,
that's probably 20% of what

the going rate would be.

Um, and so we're trying to be wise.

We, we never want facilities to be
like the primary, you know, budget

line item, that kind of stuff.

And so we're gonna be creative
and ask God to provide a space.

Um, but chances are we're
gonna have to pay more.

'cause anything less than that
would basically be like, here,

this is free, which Matt's praying
for that God would give us a free

building so you can join him in that.

Um, but we think we're
probably gonna need at least.

3000 a month, um, which is, again, lower
than quote unquote market rate would be

in Fort Worth, uh, just for Sunday space.

Um, and so we are going into this
year end, this year end boldly asking

God, um, if he would provide $36,000
for January 1st, uh, to help us have

a little bit of a, again, not lavish
savings, but, but a little bit of

a seed, um, to go into next year.

Um, and so we would ask you, um, if you
would join us in that this year end.

Um, also you have friends, family,
other folks who might be blessed by

the efforts of this little church.

We'd be happy to chat with them as well.

Um, but for the first time ever, we
are going into the year end asking for

God to help us stay scrappy
and find a cheap place.

Um, we wanna give as
much away as possible.

But would you help us raise 36
grand by the end of the year?

Here's the tie in to First Timothy,
is that whether it's now or toward

the school or toward blessing someone
by having 'em over for dinner or

regular giving, that kind of stuff.

Every dollar you give to any
organization, anyone, it's a

step away from the love of money.

It's a step away from
saying, my hope is in this.

Every dollar you give to anyone in your
organization end of year, any time, like

it's a step into generosity and serving
and sharing what Paul says is true life.

And every step, every dollar given that
kind of stuff helps you believe that Jesus

is king of King and Lord of lords and is
the God who provides not my ability to pay

for this or your ability to pay for this.

Make sense?

And just for the record, we
did not plan to end one Timothy

knowing that we were gonna have a
big year in push happening today.

So maybe that's from the Lord.

All right.

With that, the last recorded
words from Paul to Timothy, his

final charge is Finish the race.

So we're in second Timothy now.

He says I'm already being
poured out as a drink offering.

The time of my departure has come.

I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith.

Hence fourth there is laid up for
me the crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the righteous
judge will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all
those who have loved his appearing, who

have looked toward his coming, who have
looked toward his kingdom and his right.

So through his letters, Paul's
used his own life as a model and

example for Timothy to follow.

Right?

We've seen this, and as Paul shares his
final kind of introspective words, it's

a picture of a runner who didn't slow
down but pushed through the finish line.

He says, just use his words.

He says He's poured out as an offering.

In Romans 12, Paul, Paul wrote that he,
that, that a true act of worship, a true

life of worship is giving up every day
of life to be an offering to the Lord.

Paul says, I fought the good fight.

I fought for faith.

He was beaten, he was imprisoned, he
was mocked, he was rejected, but like a

spiritual boxer, he's saying, I stayed in.

The ring until the very last bell.

He's like, I'm not, I'm not tapping out.

He says, I finished the
race even in prison.

His ministry is continuing.

Part of why he wanted the book
says, I don't think he was bored.

He's studying, he's gearing up.

He's gonna write more letters if
God gives him more time, and if God

doesn't give him more time, he can't.

But he's not gonna think in that way.

Quiet

Paul's ministry left churches
across the entire Roman Empire.

Paul's legacy is that multiple
men and women tend to know

Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

And those people would then make
disciples and then multiply churches who

would then make disciples and multiply
churches and make disciples and multiply

churches who out throughout history.

And so there's, there's honestly a
high likelihood that this little church

in Fort Worth, Texas would not exist
without that pattern started by Paul.

And yet Paul wasn't willing to decelerate
as he pushes to the finish line.

He wants to finish the race.

And then he said, I kept the
faith was Paul's life hard?

It was his list in second Corinthians 11.

You can go look at it later where
he talks about all the things he

faced, all the oppression, all the
suffering, all the physical harm,

all the pain, this kind of stuff.

And he ironically ends this,
this list and he goes on top.

On top of that there's the, the
stress over all the churches,

which like, ah, that doesn't feel
like it fits, but maybe that's the

worst thing you faced at the time.

And, and, and he, he wraps this
thing up and goes, but God's kept me

through all the thick
and thin god's kept me.

Like there's some of the stuff that
Paul went through, if you know his life,

that would make you go, I would throw
on the towel, I'd be done with this.

We talked earlier about rowing
against the tie, and Paul did that

and he charges us two as well.

And again, why?

Why?

Like what could be worth all that?

What could be worth pain and
suffering and beatings and anxiety

and stress and sleepless nights
and imprisonment and looming death.

What?

What could be worth all that to Paul
And he would suggest to us as well,

the massive life change in the
reality of Christ Jesus that

he experienced in his life.

That's it.

Nothing else is worth it,

but Jesus is worth it.

And so Paul's finishing his life,
being poured out, looking toward

the finish line, looking to
Jesus and going, it's worth it.

Jesus who, who one day soon would
welcome Paul home and say, well done.

Good and faithful servant.

But Jesus, who one day soon would, would
judge Paul's life he says in these verses

and give him the crown of righteousness.

Which we don't talk about a ton,
but this, this is, it's essentially

a reward that Paul talks about,
a reward for fighting for faith.

It's a victor's wreath.

Again, back to race imagery.

It's a victor's wre wreath
for finishing the race.

Well, and and again, to be clear like
this isn't, this isn't working to earn

one's salvation, and yet there is a
blessing that God gives for obedience.

It's, and for using our life for
the purpose that Paul, or that, that

God would have us use our life for
personally as a household, as a church

together, as we seek the kingdom of
God in everyday life, as we seek God

over self and God over the world.

Like there's, there's a
blessing that comes with that.

There's a wreath for finishing.

Well, and he said that same crown
of righteousness, it belongs to

anyone who looks to the Lord.

Anyone who follows Paul's example
to obey Jesus and fight for

faith and be poured out for the
king of kings and Lord of lords.

And we know this, but any poured out
life that we could attempt or any

poured out life that Paul could model
is, is just a tiny little reflection,

a tiny little echo of Jesus' own life,
who is most fully and most poured out.

For you.

And Jesus had to fight the hardest
fight of faith, not just against human

enemies and oppression, but literally
had to fight all evil and all sin.

And he did so for God's glory and for you.

And Jesus finished the race
as the only fully dependent,

fully righteous son of God.

Yeah.

But his race didn't end with death.

Rather as he crossed the finish line,
he ushered in new life for himself,

for the glory of God and for you.

Is that good news?

Yeah.