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Stand Strong For Jesus
October 23, 2026 · 48 min
A pastoral exhortation to courageously share the gospel, influence your circle, and resist cultural pressure to stay silent.
Series 2 Timothy Video
Calvary Chapel teaches the Bible simply and literally, presenting scripture verse by verse so everyone can understand and apply God’s Word to daily life. We
October 23, 2026 · 48 min · 2 Timothy Video
A pastoral exhortation to courageously share the gospel, influence your circle, and resist cultural pressure to stay silent. ...more Show the full description Show less A pastoral exhortation to courageously share the gospel, influence your circle, and resist cultural pressure to stay silent.
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In this video 0:00 Don't Be Ashamed of the Gospel8:00 Embrace Suffering for the Gospel16:00 Remember the Glory of Salvation25:00 Live with Confident Faith34:00 Stand Strong for Jesus
Don't Be Ashamed of the Gospel 0:00 Father god, we wanna say thank you for this opportunity that you give to us to come and to worship you through song, through lifting our voices in worship and praise. And, god, you have prepared our hearts now, and we0:12 pray that you would fill us with your word and fill us with this truth, and bless, what you wanna speak to each and every 1 of us, that we would be well equipped in the days that we're living,0:24 to live for you, lord, that your light would shine through us, that we would be witnesses for you, for the gospel. And that is the message that we're gonna have this morning, to stand strong for Jesus, to stand0:36 in your presence, to stand as agents of truth and of good and of faith and of trusting in our god. So we ask you to bless this time, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.0:47 Amen. Amen. You know, we live in a culture where people are increasingly afraid to stand0:59 publicly for biblical truth. I don't know if you follow football or anything, but is it Jackson Dart took a stand, for president Trump at the,1:11 the celebration, the 250 year? He's taking a lot of heat for that. And, and I think it'd be, do us well to continue to pray for him because, listen, we live in a free country. We live in a country where our1:23 voices do matter. And it just is very obvious to all of us who do believe that our voices are the ones that you wanna stop. Our voices that speak the truth, that speak about Jesus, that speak
1:34 about faith. You know, we can't talk about that. You can talk about anything else. You can talk about all kinds of sin and all kinds of depravity in the world, but don't talk about Jesus. Don't talk
1:46 about faith. And so these are the world. This is the world that we live in. And so it's important for us as believers to realize we must take a stand for the gospel. We must take a stand for the truth in our small
1:58 circle of influence. I don't know who you're influencing, but you're influencing someone for truth. You're influencing someone for good. Maybe your kids, maybe your spouse, and maybe your family, your neighbors,
2:08 coworkers, whoever it may be. Maybe you have a large platform where you're the manager of a huge organization. You can speak into those people's lives, and we should speak for truth.
2:21 We do ourselves a disservice when those who know the truth know the gospel don't stand up for the gospel and speak the truth. Because if we don't, then the darkness spreads. So it's our job
2:33 to speak it. And it doesn't just happen. We have to be encouraged by that and to understand messages like this for the apostle Paul to speak into Timothy's life, who's going through a difficult time. Say,
2:44 Timothy, stand for the gospel. Stand for this. It's not gonna be easy, Timothy, but stand for the gospel. And we have to understand that. It's not gonna be easy. Wouldn't it be nice if everybody we shared the gospel with
2:55 got saved? Wouldn't it be amazing when you share the truth of eternal life? Oh, I want that. But, no, what they wanna do is they wanna suppress that from us and not hear it. I think it was yesterday at
3:07 men's breakfast. There was a gentleman. He said at lunchtime, he was sitting with another coworker. They were both believers. They're talking about their faith at lunch in the workplace, and another worker is sitting at
3:18 a table next to him, leaned over and says, hey. Could you stop talking about that stuff? It offends me. And it's like, I hear that, and I'm thinking, praise god,
3:30 number 1, that you were heard to be offensive. But don't don't be the person says, oh, I'm sorry. I won't talk about it. No. Speak about your faith. Speak about the truth.
3:42 The more we do it, the more naturally it will become. And so I was encouraging this gentleman who said this yesterday at our men's study. I said, praise god that that you're confident enough to speak about
3:54 it and people are hearing it because that's a seed that was planted in that particular person's heart. And who knows what the lord won't do with it? So trust in that. See, people will proudly announce
4:06 almost anything today except their faith in Jesus. You know, you'll talk about your, you know, the your sporting you know, you're a fan of certain sports or movies you've seen. And those are normal things or food that
4:18 you go to or ice cream joints that you love. And we'll talk about that all the time. But are you talking about your faith in Christ? Are you talking about your relationship to Jesus? Because that has eternal value.
4:29 Everything else is temporary, guys. Hate to say it. There's no football in in in heaven. There's no hockey in heaven. There's no shopping in heaven. Thank god.
4:41 There's golf. There's golf. We'll talk afterwards. I wanna know the verse on that 1. You're fine. You're fine. I'm sorry to say no golf either.
4:53 No. Listen, we live in a world that applauds compromise and mocks conviction, where Christians are pressured to stay silent, where where
5:05 where courage is celebrated in everything except for faith. Paul is gonna remind Timothy, be confident in the gospel. Be confident in
5:17 God. You know, we I I Micah stands up here, and she had such faith to believe that this procedure might make a difference in Ford's life. And it wasn't an easy decision to make. It was a costly
5:29 decision, but it was a decision that they had the potential to make a difference. And when people come against our decisions like that, we have to take a stand. God, you put a piece in my heart. That's the thing I loved
5:39 about Micah and Jordan. They're like, lord, you put that piece in our heart. If this is what you want us to do, we'll do it. If you don't want us to do it, we won't do it. That's the reality. They didn't do it because
5:49 they wanted to do it. They did it because they felt like god brought it to their attention. And so let's see what the lord will do. Paul writes this letter from a Roman prison cell.
6:01 This is not Paul at the height of his ministry. No. He's chained. He's abandoned by many of his friends. And listen, he's awaiting execution.
6:14 And even in those conditions, he's able to pen the words to encourage Timothy that the gospel is worth it, even when he was going through difficulty.
6:26 When we look at the apostle Paul, he had such faith and confidence in his savior, Jesus. He had such confidence in his god that no matter what his circumstances were, he was able to encourage others that
6:38 the the faith in Christ was all that mattered. And that should be that's the same for us. Whether you're in a good season or a bad season, whether you're on a mountain top experience or walking through a valley and
6:48 struggles and difficulties, you should still be able to realize your god is with you. Right? Though thy walk through the valley of the shadow of the death, what? I will be with you. He's there.
7:02 At this time, in Paul's reign, this Nero is emperor. Christianity is hated. Persecution is growing. And into that fearful atmosphere, Paul writes to Timothy, a young pastor who
7:14 seems discouraged and intimidated by false teaching. And he basically says to Timothy, Timothy, don't shrink back. Take a stand for the
7:25 gospel. Take a stand, a strong stand for the gospel. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. The gospel is too glorious for believers to live in silence.
7:37 If you truly know the gospel, if you truly know what Jesus has done for you, if you truly understand the price that he paid for you, that he took your sins from you so that you can be in right relationship with God and
7:48 be accepted in heaven, then wouldn't you want everyone to know that? And so that's what we're gonna talk about this morning. Stand strong for Jesus,
Embrace Suffering for the Gospel
8:00 and we start in verse 8. We read, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for
8:12 the gospel according to the power of god, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and
8:24 grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and
8:36 brought life and immorality. Excuse me. Yeah. Immortality. Excuse me. Immortality to life, to light through the gospel. To which I was appointed a preacher, an
8:47 apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this recent reason, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
8:59 for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. I don't know about you, but I hear the confidence
9:12 of the apostle Paul and his relationship to god as he writes these words to Timothy. He is so confident in who he is in Christ.
9:24 He is so confident that Jesus is right there with him in that prison, right there with him in his circumstances. Can you say that this morning? That you know that Jesus is with you
9:36 with what you're going through today. You can answer. Isn't that a great and and and such an encouragement? Even when we're going through
9:47 difficulties, even when we're going through struggles, to know that your savior is there, to know that Jesus is saying, I'm here with you. If we could see into the spiritual and we would see the hand of God on our backs,
9:59 we would see his arms open to hug us when we're hurt and when we're suffering. We would see his presence there with us, guiding us and directing us, maybe leading us where we need to go, maybe
10:11 hindering us from not going where we shouldn't go. If we could see that, we would see the presence of our lord and savior with us. We've been given the holy spirit to lead, to guide, to instruct.
10:24 How often do we stop in the moment and acknowledge Jesus' presence in our life? You may not feel it. You may not experience it,
10:36 But our in our heads and in our hearts, we know that Jesus is there. Haven't we all gone through gone through seasons of difficulty only to look back
10:48 and see Jesus every step of the way? We didn't necessarily see it at the moment at the time we were going through it, but we look back and say, he protected me from that. He protected me from he showed me that. He
10:59 revealed that I had such peace. You know, we talk about the peace that surpasses understanding. And when you experience the peace that surpasses understanding, you know it comes from
11:10 God. Because in your head, you know, this situation is bad. I should be really messed up. I should be really worried. I should be really frightened. But all of a sudden, I have this amazing sense of peace. We know that's
11:22 from god. It comes from him. Paul begins this with a command, and then I've got 4 things that we're gonna look at this morning. And the first 1 is
11:33 don't be ashamed of the gospel. Certainly, none of us necessarily should be ashamed of it, but when we go to share it is when we can say some sometimes feel ashamed. And that's what I feel like he's
11:45 telling, Timothy. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our lord nor of me as prisoner. Now listen, Timothy witnessed Christ being crucified.
11:57 Timothy witnessed the sufferings of the apostle Paul. He saw the things and so he's saying, do not be ashamed of the testimony that Jesus came to die. That was his purpose, to die on that cross. Don't
12:09 be ashamed of it. The cross was a terrible way to die. The cross was humiliating in those days. But isn't the cross to us
12:21 now the most precious thing for a Christian? We wear it around our necks. We pray we stick it on our cars. We hang it on the walls in our homes. The cross is a glorious thing because the cross is empty, because
12:33 Jesus has risen. Right? So it's become a glorious thing. Don't be ashamed of that. He's telling Timothy, don't be ashamed of it. And don't look at me, Timothy, in prison. Don't look at me in the
12:45 situation that I'm in and be ashamed of it because it's because of Jesus I'm here. And when we understand fully that sometimes when we go through difficult times, it's because of who we
12:57 believe. I mean, the the disciples rejoiced when they were beaten for their faith. They rejoiced that they got to suffer as Christ suffered for sharing the gospel,
13:09 and it didn't stop them. See, those things should encourage us to continue. Because as the apostle Paul says, the current sufferings of this current age cannot be compared to
13:21 the future glory that shall be revealed. When we get there, we're not gonna think about here anymore. We're not gonna be thinking about checkbooks. We're not gonna be thinking about bank accounts. We're not gonna
13:33 be thinking about, you know, filing our taxes. We're not gonna be thinking about 4 dollars a gallon for gas. We're not gonna be thinking about these things. Eggs, 8 dollars a dozen. It's
13:44 crazy. But when we get there, we're not gonna think about that. I think eggs will be free. The word
13:56 ashamed means to be embarrassed, to be intimidated, to shrink back, and to avoid identification. See, our savior died for us. He suffered for us. He took the
14:08 lashes on his back. He suffered for our sin. I find myself in difficult situations reminding myself, my suffering is nothing
14:20 compared to my savior's suffering. When I'm going through something difficult, I say, well, I wasn't nailed to a cross. I wasn't pierced in my side. I didn't have a crown of thorns put on my
14:32 head, and it helps me in my little bit of suffering here on earth, deal with it because that's what he did. So Paul is saying, don't be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus.
14:45 Jesus came and what he did was glorious because he did it for all people to have life. Don't be ashamed of Christ. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Don't be ashamed of
14:56 suffering when believers truly do suffer. And it's weird. It's like, why would Timothy be tempted to shame? Why would he be even thinking about shame?
15:09 Because following Jesus is costly, isn't it? For those of us in this room who believe in Jesus and most of our family don't, no, that's suffering. No, that's difficult. It's
15:20 hard. Thankfully, all of my immediate family came to the lord over a few years after I got saved, but it took a while. But I know there's some in this room that have family members that they don't
15:32 even wanna hear you talk about Jesus. They don't wanna you to hear you talk about how god is doing this or that in your life. That's hard. It's so cost you things. It can cost you your reputation.
15:44 It can cost you ministry opportunities. Again, Jackson Dart is is under a lot of pressure. Pray for this man to stand up under it Because I believe there are more
15:56 people in this world that support that than are against it. But the voices of those who support it are not as loud as the ones who don't. So we must take a stand.
Remember the Glory of Salvation
16:09 Think of Jesus' teachings. Truly, just think of them. If you wanna be great, you have to be a servant. If you wanna be in the kingdom, you come to
16:21 him as a child, like a slave. Right? I mean, there's a message for you. Hey. You wanna come give your life to Christ? You'll be a slave the rest of your life. That's not very appealing, is
16:33 it? Or to be a younger or the last shall be first or the first shall be last. This is the testimony that some would be ashamed of as we look at the true gospel.
16:45 And Jesus says it this way, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. So we should expect it. The world is going to hate us.
16:57 And then he says in Luke, for what whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him, the son of man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in
17:09 his fathers and of the holy angels. Don't be ashamed. Jesus is saying, don't be ashamed. God is not ashamed of us.
17:21 It'd be like at a firefighter who comes to a house that's burning and is embarrassed by all the equipment and all the gear he's got to wear and all the, you know, why does the fire engine have to be
17:33 red? Because it needs to stand out. Why would he be embarrassed by that? Because that would be absurd. The equipment is the very thing that brings rescue. It's the very thing that brings the help that that house needs.
17:46 It's the same thing for the gospel. It may look foolish to the world, but it's the very thing they need for eternal life. The hardest part
17:59 for the worlds that rejects Christ is their their unwillingness to be responsible to that gospel. Because when you give your life to Christ, you
18:11 surrender your life to him. You give up your your your personal hopes and dreams, and god changes your heart so that you have new hopes and dreams that are honoring to him. And the world
18:22 doesn't want that. They want to do their own thing. They want to make their own choices. They want to say who they are, what you're supposed to call them, who, you know, what they like and what they're involved in. Don't
18:32 tell me what to do. I'd want to do what I want to do. Once you give their life to Christ, isn't it nice to know
18:44 that the life he gives you is rewarding, is is is fruitful, is abundant? It's because the world thinks it's it's limited. The world thinks, oh, no. That's too many restrictions. I
18:56 won't have fun if I'm a Christian. You know, Christians can have fun. They can. I think we can have more fun than the world can because we have hope. We have hope that this is
19:08 not all there is. So we can enjoy the world that we're in now, but knowing that we're not gonna be here forever because we're gonna be with him. So have fun. Paul says,
19:20 I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Paul always said, I'm not ashamed of the chains because I'm changed to Christ. I'm chained to the gospel. I'm chained to the very thing that saved my life. I'm not ashamed of that. He said
19:32 in Romans 1 verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and
19:43 also for the Greek. Remember, Paul was an enemy of the church. Paul was an enemy of Christ, and he got he got knocked off his high horse. Did
19:55 he not? And some of us in this room probably got knocked off our high horse too when Jesus finally got into our life. Said you're building your empire. I've got something greater. I want you to build my kingdom.
20:08 And so he knocks us down so that we can come to that place where we're not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because we know it is the power of god to salvation. It's a beautiful
20:19 thing. Do others know that you're a Christian? Is your family? Do your friends? Do your coworkers? Do you live your faith out loud
20:31 or is it a private thing? Paul is telling Timmy, don't be ashamed of the gospel of Timothy. Live for it. Live for it. So don't be ashamed for the gospel, number 1. Number 2, embrace
20:43 suffering for the gospel. It's part of it. Second half of verse 8, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of god. If you have a highlighter or a pen,
20:55 circle the words according to the power of god. As I'm gonna tell you right now, embracing suffering is not something you can do on your own. Yeah. We know what
21:07 James says. Consider it pure joy when you fall into various trials. Anybody do that well? I mean, I when you go through a trial, it's like, I'm anything but joyful.
21:20 But the reality is the sufferings that we have compared to Christ are nothing, right, amen, to that. But the sufferings we go through that that when people look down us or criticize us,
21:32 it's that's what we're gonna deal with in this world. There are gonna be those who don't accept. And I think it's a healthy thing for believers to come to that understanding that there are gonna be people that you're
21:42 gonna share Christ with, you're gonna share the gospel with, and they are gonna just flat out reject it. That is their choice just like it was our choice to accept it. We pray for them, and hopefully, 1 day they do
21:54 surrender, but there are gonna be times when people aren't. And they may not they may not like you anymore. My wife and I's 2 best friends, both were in our wedding. Best man and made made him honor.
22:07 Oh, no. She yeah. He was my best man. She was in our in our wedding. They knew us before we got saved. And when we got saved, they did not like who we became. We were not
22:18 the fun Robin Liu anymore. And when I mean fun, I mean fleshly. I mean worldly. And I remember telling, my my friend, I said,
22:30 the old Rob is gone. I I see the world differently, and that relationship was severed. It saddened us, but that's what
22:42 happens. When when when you know that you need to follow Christ and you need be you need to be on that path, but sometimes you're gonna lose friendships.
22:55 For the for the gospel, for Jesus, that's what we do. Right? We put ourselves around other godly people who love the lord and who understand the eternal
23:06 value of having a relationship with god. Paul does not promise Timothy comfort. He invites Timothy into suffering. I don't know what
23:19 led you to the lord. I don't know the message that you heard or the word that you heard or what it is you brought you to a place where you said, finally, I surrender to god. But none of us heard a
23:31 message, come to Jesus and your life will never be harder. Come to Jesus and you won't you'll never you'll you'll struggle even more than you did before you were a believer because there's
23:43 a battle between the spirit and the flesh. Right? And until we come to understanding that, it gets be it is difficult. So there is suffering. The old man has to go away. The new man needs to rise up in us so that
23:55 we walk in holiness and purity, dealing with the sin because now we acknowledge our our sinful condition, our sinful nature. Before we were with Christ, we didn't care about that. Did
24:07 whatever we wanted, thought it was fun. Sometimes following Jesus does make life a bit harder.
24:20 But isn't it worth it? Isn't it worth it? I would rather struggle in my flesh here than to walk in my flesh and not be in heaven.
24:32 Much rather do that. Paul will say in chapter 3 to Timothy, yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
24:45 That's a promise. You want to live godly? There are going to be those that aren't going to like it. The ones that don't want to live godly are not going to like it. But here's the good news.
24:58 The ones that do want to live godly are gonna flock to you. As you're walking the line, as you're walking in holiness, as you're walking praising god, there are gonna be those that that that are kind of lukewarm
Live with Confident Faith
25:09 Christians like, man, I wanna be like them. And all of a sudden, they're gonna be drawn to you. And what a difference that makes. So much more positive.
25:21 And as I said, Paul points out that it's according it's according to the power of God. So there are gonna be times in our lives when things are tough, and that's when we find ourselves on
25:33 our knees going, god, give me strength. Do you know that the Bible says, when I am weak, he is strong? When I am weak, he gives me strength. Right? So there
25:45 are moments in our lives when we're weak. There's moments in our lives where we struggle a bit, but God is available to all of us to strengthen us. It's not automatic. It's it's a
25:57 turning to him. Right? I think of the prodigal son. As he was off doing his own thing, the father was just living his life. But as soon as he turned, as soon as he repented, if you will, and came back, what would his
26:09 father do? He ran to him with open arms, had a celebration. So there has to be a turning. There has to be a repentance and coming back to God, then that strength comes. We can't think I can just continue
26:20 to walk in my sin and God's gonna strengthen us. God's gonna bless me because I'm doing my own thing. No. He's not. He's gonna allow you to be in that. And the greatest prayer we can have for someone who's walking
26:32 in the wrong direction is that they get sick to their stomach of their sin, that they get tired of walking in sin. They get tired of walking apart from god.
26:45 How hard it is for us to witness those who once serve the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love the Lord Jesus, love the word of God, and now are walking in a different direction. How hard it is
26:56 to watch us do watch them do that. And no matter what we do, what we say won't turn them, but we can pray for them that they do turn. And there are some of us in this room who
27:08 have seen people in our lives finally turn back and how much better their lives are when they did. So to pray is important. Corrie 10 Boom once said to her
27:21 said her father told her, God never gives strength for tomorrow, only for the moment that it is needed. Gives you strength in the moment when you acknowledge
27:32 your weakness, when you acknowledge his strength. When suffering comes, grace comes even more. The power of God is always there for us, but it's not always there to
27:44 remove our difficulty. Right? We know this. We're mature enough to know. God, take me out of this. I don't want to do this. I'd rather not go through this. And God's going, no, no, no, no. I need you to go through
27:56 this. You're not gonna go through it alone. I'm gonna be there with you, but I'm gonna teach you a few things as we go through it. So to pray, don't take me out, but help me get through and learn the lesson.
28:10 And as I said in my opening, when Paul wrote this letter, he was imprisoned in Rome, probably chained in a cold dungeon and awaiting execution. Again,
28:22 many believers will see that in chapter 4. Many believers had distanced themselves from him because association with the condemned prisoner could bring persecution upon themselves. Yet, Paul
28:33 remained faithful to Christ and considered his suffering a privilege for the gospel. I think sometimes when God puts us in a
28:45 place that is uncomfortable, it causes us to refocus. It causes us to pay attention. Why am I here? How did I get here? What is God
28:57 gonna do with me while I'm here? And how is God gonna get me through it? So we may all of us might be in a place and a season in our life where, like, Lord, I don't wanna be in this place. And, boy, it'd be great
29:09 if you just remove all the pressure. That would be amazing. He can do that. But often he doesn't. Often he wants to say, no. I'm going to walk with you through it.
29:21 And listen, we're not more than likely not gonna be put in prison like the apostle Paul, but we will be put in positions of difficulty. It could be a job. It
29:33 could be a relationship. It could be a season that you're going through financial. It could be something that's a big struggle. And those are the moments when we gotta go to God and say, Lord, I'm in this.
29:45 Help me through this. Help me through this. Don't be ashamed of the gospel, number 1. Embrace suffering for the gospel
29:56 because it builds character in your life. Verses 9 and 10, remember the glory of your salvation. Never forget how God saved you. Look what Paul says here.
30:08 Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works? Praise God. Highlight that. Not according to our works,
30:20 but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus, be taught before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our savior,
30:32 Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. This is almost like a parenthesis. It's almost like a sidebar
30:44 for the Apostle Paul as he's thinking about the salvation and the power of salvation that Jesus brings to the life of a believer. And I just love it. Who has saved us and called
30:56 us with a holy calling. I know you know this, but I'm gonna remind you. God did not save you just to save you. He saved you for a reason.
31:09 He saved you for a purpose. And that purpose may change over the your life. But he saved you so that you can be a an, a spokesperson for him. You
31:21 I say it all the time. We're living business cards for Christ. That people would hear about him, that people would see him in us and what he's done in us. And so there is this
31:33 remembering that our salvation, yes, we get to go to heaven. Yes, our sins are forgiven. That's wonderful. But there's a greater purpose. There's value in you being a part of god's
31:44 family. Our problem is we don't think it's that important. We all may think, my life isn't that
31:56 isn't that impactful. Listen. If you touch the life of 1 person, that's enough. But I know your life touches more than just 1.
32:08 I know your life makes a difference in many lives. So god saved you for a reason. Salvation is god's work. You did not rescue yourself.
32:22 You know what you did? You know your participation in salvation? Acknowledging you needed a savior, and god just so happened to provide a savior for you. That's what we do.
32:34 Too many believers are in this this works kind of mentality. I'm in this place in my life because I'm not praying enough. I'm in this place in my because I'm not reading enough, because I'm not sharing
32:46 the gospel enough. I'm in this place because I'm not doing what god wants me to do. That is not true. Salvation is a work of Christ. Now you want rewards? You want god to reward you in heaven? Then, yes, do those
32:57 things. Be a person of prayer. Pray without ceasing. Be a person that knows the word of god. I was listening to a pastor the other day. It was so amazing. He asked he goes, by raising hand, how many people in this
33:09 room have read through the entire bible, cover to cover? And, you know, it's a bunch of people. He goes, now I'm gonna talk to the rest of you. He goes, this is the word of god. And when you go to heaven
33:21 and you and you meet the writers of the Bible, and Obadiah comes up to you and says, hey. What did you think of my book? And you go, you wrote a book?
33:36 And it's like, it's so simple, but it's so true. We should know the word of god. We should at least read it. We should at least consider it. Some of you in this room
33:48 have an amazing memory. You can read the word of god and remember it. All of a sudden on my YouTube feed, I've got these kids that are that have memorized books of the Bible. You wanna know how convicting that is for a
33:59 pastor? Gosh. I can hardly memorize a verse. These are memorized entire book, and they just spew it out. It's amazing. But, anyway,Show more
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