phrases.
2 Timothy, chapter four is where we will be. 2 Timothy four. If you have one of our Bibles from the bookstore, it is page 936, or you can look up 2 Timothy 4 ESV and find the translation we will be using today.
Now, it was my privilege this last week to be with two different groups of pastors. One in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in that part of the country, and then one in California. And it was wonderful to be with these brothers. It was wonderful to sing with them. It was wonderful to share the word with them.
But let me just say this. There is nothing like the gathering of the saints in the local church. There is no ministry context like it, no conference like it, no retreat like it. This is unique and beautiful and special in the sight of God. So I'm so excited to open up God's Word together.
Second Timothy, chapter four. We begin in verse one through verse five. This is God's Word.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preaching the Word, Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober minded. Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. This is God's word.
And Lord, we pray for your blessing over the preaching and the hearing of your word. In the name, name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Well, every kid, as they are growing up is probably asked multiple times, what do you want to be when you grow up? Right? You probably got this question when you were a kid. And one time as I was growing up, I. My parents asked me this question, what do you want to do when you grow up? And I gave an unexpected answer. I said I wanted to be a preacher.
Now, every parent thought, oh, man, well, maybe my son is, you know, especially godly in his desire.
Maybe the Lord's doing something his young heart. And we had a friend at the church who was a pastor, one of the pastors, and his name was Mr. Palmer. And so I said I wanted to have Mr. Palmer's job.
And I knew his office was right up there in the corner. And so I expressed this desire. And my parents said, that is excellent, Ricky. Why do you want Mr. Palmer's job?
Well, I explained to them it appeared that Mr. Palmer only worked one day a week. And when he did, all he had to do was walk from that office downstairs and yell at everyone. And I thought, that seems like a great job. And of course, little did I know the foreshadowing in God's humorous providence that I would actually end up being in that office and having this particular job.
And I have learned it is not quite as easy as I expected as a child.
Now, this passage today is about preachers and preaching. It is, in a sense, a preached word about preaching. It is a sermon about sermons. And every Christian should care about this.
In fact, I. I went back, and in 14, 15 years of preaching, I don't think I've ever preached a sermon quite like this about preaching. But it is important because if you grow up in church as a kid, maybe you. Your parents have drugged you to church the last many years here, and you attend service, let's just say, until you're 80 and you are there 80% of the time throughout your life, you are going to hear probably a grand total of thing in the ballpark of 4,160 sermons in your life. In fact, you will probably spend conservatively about 2,700 hours of your life listening to sermons if you are a regular attender of your local church.
So the question is this, how do you listen to a sermon? What is it supposed to do? What is it for?
Now, as we've said before, this is a preached word to a preacher. This is the Apostle Paul speaking to Timothy, the leader of the church in Ephesus.
But there are clear evidences from first and Second Timothy that this letter would also be read in the congregation. In other words, it wasn't just meant for Timothy in his office, it was meant to be shared with the congregation. So here's what's happening. Paul is instructing a preacher, Timothy, about preaching, but the church is overhearing this instruction, meaning the church is meant to be edified and strengthened and informed about what Timothy is supposed to be doing to them and I think learn something about how they are to receive it as well.
6 · The pastor states the sermon's thesis: we listen to faithful preaching as if it's the word of God, because it is
So the key question today is simple.
Why is preaching important? And how should we listen? And the brief answer that we're going to unpack is we listen to faithful preaching like it's the word of God, because it is. We listen in like these words are God's words, because they are. Now, the main charge is simple.
Preach the Word. And so Paul is, remember, he is moving toward his departure from this world. And we need to hear this charge as Paul would have intended, preach the word.
7 · The pastor defines preaching by turning to Nehemiah 8:8, where the priests read the law of God clearly and gave the sense so the people understood
But there are two brief things we need to cover before we get to how to listen to preaching. The first is what is preaching?
Paul says to do it. Preach the word. But what is that? Now, the assumption is Timothy knows what it is, the church knows what it is. But let's not assume that we know what it is as we have heard.
Timothy would have grown up hearing the instruction of the Word, and he would have grown up with verses like Nehemiah 88. Now, in the context of Nehemiah 88, which is probably one of the of the most clear places we understand what teaching or preaching is. The people of God have returned back after the exile and they are in a sense, restoring their community and centering their community on the Word. And it's been maybe years or decades since they've heard the whole law and word of God. And so they read the law of God.
And Nehemiah 8, 8 says this, the Priests read from the book, from the law of God and notice the elements. They read from the law of God clearly and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading.
8 · The pastor draws out the implications of Nehemiah 8:8: preaching is not about adding to Scripture or being impressive — it's about helping people understand what the Bible says
So what we're meant to understand in Nehemiah 88 is that the priests are clearly reading the Word. They are helping them understand something of what the Word is. And they're not adding to the Word.
They're not embellishing the Word. They're giving the sense so that the people understand what the Word is saying. So preaching is not adding to the Word. It's not in addition to the Word, preaching is helping those hearing the Word understand have the sense of what the Bible is saying. It did not notice this aim at being impressive.
It was not a requirement that these priests be great orators. The goal in that moment is rather that the people understand the Word.
9 · The pastor cites the Expositors Commentary to reinforce the claim that preaching is not about the preacher's opinions, current events, or personal platform — it is exclusively about faithfully delivering what Scripture says
The expositors commentary says this. Timothy is not to be preaching his own ideas about life. He is not to preach his thoughts about current events.
He is not to turn the pulpit into his platform for whatever distraction catches his fancy. He is not to make things up as he goes along. Rather, Timothy must preach the word of God revealed in Scripture. This is his job. If he fails to do this, as Paul says, he will answer to God.
So what is preaching? Preaching, according to the Nehemiah 88 is giving the sense of what God says that we might understand now.
10 · The pastor applies the definition of preaching to how we evaluate sermons
One application for hearing messages Often after church, I have done this. I know you do this. You'll get in your car or this afternoon and you will say something sometimes like, that message was good, or that message was weird, or I didn't, you know, what was he on about?
And that message? And I think one of the challenges in that moment is what do we mean when we say that message is good? Or what do we mean when we say I like that message often? Let me just say, probably more often than we want to admit. What we're saying is, well, that was interesting, right?
Or that was funny. Or I liked when he talked about Lord of the Rings. Or I liked when he talked about college basketball. Or it was short. Okay, you know, maybe it's just like, it's pretty good.
Oh, it was short, nice and short. Or it was practical. Like, very, very practical. I can feel myself using that tomorrow. But notice this.
The first test before any of those things should come into play is Nehemiah88. Did I get the sense of what the Bible was saying? And do I understand the Bible a little better? And do I feel the claim of the Bible on my life a little more clearly. That is what makes a good message, right?
First and foremost.
11 · The pastor applies the definition of preaching to the task of finding a church when relocating
Now, the reason I'm sharing this is that one of the unique features of our church is that many who come to El Paso come for a season. A number of you I know are in the military or the federal workforce or our students or things like that. And I know something about you. You will need to at some point find another church.
Okay? Now, there's a number of good things you should do when it comes to finding a church. You should read their statement of faith carefully. If they don't have a statement of faith, that's a big warning sign. Okay?
Read the statement of faith carefully. Or show up and see is there a genuine care for one another? Do people seem like they love one another? Those are good things. But let me suggest the first thing.
The top of the list for the Christian in looking for the church is this is the Bible clearly and faithfully taught and applied. That I think should be the top of the list. Everything else flows from that. The statement of faith flows through that. The care and genuine love comes from the informing of the congregation by the word of God.
So far more. Listen, here's the reality. You're going to be tempted to go, okay, what's their service time and where are they when you move, right? Or do I like the vibe? Or I know a bunch of you guys are stalking churches on Instagram, right?
You're trying to get a feel for, like, who goes there? I had one person just tell me, honestly, I'm just trying to see, is there anyone in their 20s even alive in that place, right? I'm like 25. And if all the pictures are 68 year olds, like, whoop, nope. All right, so I know this happens.
Or you're looking for the kids ministry. Trying to get a vibe for the kids ministry. Do I like what they're doing? Does it look cool? Is my kid gonna enjoy this?
Or you're looking for classes and groups and look, none of those things are necessarily bad in and of themselves. But let me, if I can encourage you as much as I can, look first, for the preached word, look for is the Bible faithfully taught and applied? Do I get the sense of the word so that I clearly understand it? That is what preaching is.
12 · The pastor addresses who should preach, arguing that the church would be safer if people refused to listen to unqualified preachers
Second, who should do the preaching? Now, this is in the background, especially of First Timothy 3, because. And let me just say this, one of the reasons I want to cover this is that the Church of Jesus Christ would be far safer, frankly, if Men and women just refused to listen to preachers who are unqualified, right? If, if the, if people just stop showing up to those congregations, the Church of Jesus Christ would be a far safer, healthier place. So what does it mean to look for who should be qualified?
Well, we know the task, but who are we looking for? First? We're looking for qualified men. Encourage you to read First Timothy 3 and Titus Chapter 1. We have there the guidelines for elders.
And the assumption is that these elders have one job. They are, as Paul would say, apt to teach. They are good at teaching the Bible. That's their one skill qualification. Not how tall they are, not how charming they are, not how interesting they are.
Do they teach the Bible? But most of the list in first Timothy 3 and Titus 1 is taken up not with their skill set, but with their character. We first look for in qualification for character and then seek to develop and, and, and discover God given gifts of teaching. The qualifications are character based.
13 · The pastor signals a shift from who should preach to the four characteristics of qualified preachers, while issuing a brief exhortation to read 1 Timothy 3
And we in God's providence have a wonderful opportunity to be involved with this.
We're all going to go home this afternoon and read the character qualifications of first Timothy three.
14 · The pastor develops the second qualification for preachers: they must be constrained to the text
They are to be qualified men. Second, they are to be constrained men is the way I want to say it. They are not to bring into the pulpit the sum total of their bright ideas, their life tips, their homespun wisdom. No, the charge from Paul to Timothy is preach what?
The word. The word. Preach the word. We want men constrained to the task, men constrained to the text. We want men who at the end we can feel they might have some life tips or thoughts or things, but they are constraining themselves to the word.
15 · The pastor introduces the third qualification — boldness — and supports it from the text by pointing to the uncomfortable work of preaching: reproof, rebuke, and exhortation
Third, we want bold men. We're going to see that in just a little bit. Timothy will need boldness for this task. Look at what the Bible is supposed to do. It's supposed to reprove, rebuke and exhort.
And none of those are comfortable. Right.
16 · The pastor uses a medical analogy — doctors downplaying the pain of procedures — to illustrate that preaching, like surgery, is sometimes painful and uncomfortable
It's like when you go into your doctor's office and they tell you this is going to sting a little. Like if you're a doctor in here. We know what you mean and you're lying.
It's not going to sting a little. It's gonna hurt like the dickens. And we're gonna act in an undignified manner. You know that and we know that, but we do the little dance anyway. This is gonna, you're gonna feel some, this other one, some pressure.
Oh, okay, great. I remember when I had, I had to reconstruct my thumb ligament and I had a pin in my hand. And the doctor grabbed it and said, you may feel some sensations and pressure as we pull the pin out. And I was. And I thought sensations is a great word.
It. And then. Yeah, so that's the. In a sense, you think about it. That is the task of the preacher.
He is going to have to preach the word. And the preaching of the word is not always comfortable. And we may feel some sensations as we listen. We may feel some pressure. It may sting a little.
17 · The pastor develops the fourth qualification — patience — and shows how it qualifies boldness
But what it requires is men bold enough and constrained enough that they give it clearly. All right, bold men and fourth, patient men. I love that this is coupled together. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort. And so you might get a picture of like just an angry high school coach screaming at kids.
That's not the picture. With notice. Complete patience. Right. That.
That qualifies the boldness. Okay, so we are not looking for raging, angry, judgmental men with no patience for weak saints. We are looking for those willing to both make the incision with the word of God and then heal it with gentleness. That is what we're looking for. Boldness and gentleness.
That's what we're looking for.
18 · The pastor signals the major structural shift in the sermon from defining preaching and the preacher to the central burden: how do we hear preaching? This is the hinge statement moving into the sermon's main application
So that's what we're doing. That's who should be doing it. And then third and most of our time will be here. How then do we hear preaching?
19 · The pastor expounds verse 1, focusing on the solemnity of Paul's charge to Timothy
So assuming we know the task, assuming we know who should be preaching, how do we hear preaching? Look at verse one. I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the Word. The first way to listen is listen reverently. Listen reverently.
What that means is we do not approach the word of God lightly, and we do approach it with reverence. Paul does not suggest anything to Timothy here. He's not saying, hey, Timothy, think about this. No, he charges Timothy. And the charge he gives him brings to the fore the holy, eternal realities that should cause the preacher and the listener to tremble, to add soberness to the moment.
Timothy is charged to remember that what he does in the pulpit, he does in the very presence of God that he does in front of the judge of all things that Timothy is to remember. He will, by the way, soon appear before said judge and the judgments of God and the kingdom of God will last forever. Right. That holiness is to be impressed on Timothy as he steps into the pulpit, and so should the listener be informed as well.
20 · The pastor draws out the implication: when the Word is preached, God himself is present
When we come to the preaching of the Word, brothers and sisters, we should not approach the moment, flippantly it is holy for the preacher, but similarly, it is holy for the listener.
We are to lean forward into the holy moment in which the word of God is opened and the sense given. When we open his book, God himself is present as his word is proclaimed. That changes the way the moment feels a little bit, doesn't it?
21 · The pastor applies the call to reverent listening by acknowledging the many distractions we bring into church — from sports scores to bills to social obligations
Now, here's the application for us. We all will come in distracted, all of us, right?
We're thinking about what's going on in life. We're thinking about how our bracket is doing in the NCAA tournament, either with unrealistic hopes or, you know, hoping nobody brings it up. We are thinking about what we're gonna have for lunch. We're thinking about a bill needs to be paid. We're thinking, I probably should have done my taxes before now.
We're thinking about all these things going on. We're thinking about, oh, my goodness, I'd missed community group. I forgot to tell my community group leader, there they are. What do I say? Hey, you know, this is all what we're thinking as we come in.
And as we sit in the service we have next to us in our very phones a world of sports scores and social updates and things we forgot to order on Amazon. And. And here is the reality. We must adjust ourselves as we enter the congregation. Otherwise we will remain as we walked in.
Like, that's the reality. There's nothing. There's no wand that gets waved when you come in the door. It's like, oh, now I'm undistracted. No, it's like we have to think proactively.
Okay? I am walking into the gathering of the redeemed saints, singing to the living God, hearing his word proclaimed. And I need to make a shift in the way that I'm about to engage in the next hour and a half or so. We have to do it. Otherwise we'll just walk in with the NCAA tournament on our minds.
22 · The pastor gives concrete behavioral instructions for reverent listening: arrive ready for the opening, put away distractions like phones, grip your Bible, stay attentive, and wait until the final benediction
And let me encourage you to think about not just the preached word moment, but we start with the word, we end with the word. To treat the service with reverence, to do your best, especially this Sunday, was a challenge for Westsiders to do your best. To arrive ready for the opening call for worship, to do what you need to do if you know yourself, man, if you need to put your phone out of your grasp so you don't check the Auburn score or whatever, do it. Or the latest lineup. And let me encourage you to grip your Bible tightly, to be focused and attentive as you can, and then wait until the final Benediction because you're thinking, I can beat these people to lunch.
These people are all thinking of going to the same place I'm going to. And if I arrive late, I will be waiting for a half hour. And so I see this guy over here in the second row, he's going there too. I gotta beat this guy, right? Let me just encourage you.
Wait until the final benediction. This is what we are here for, really practical application here. Listen reverently.
23 · The pastor expounds verse 2 ('be ready in season and out of season') and applies it to the congregation's listening
Second listen inconveniently is the way I want to say it. Look at verse 2. Preach the word, Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. Here's the do and don't, don't listen only when convenient. Do listen in all seasons. And Paul is charging Timothy there will be seasons when he's ready to preach and seasons he isn't.
Seasons he planned to preach and planned, you know, his sermon calendar. And seasons where you wake up after a tragedy and have to preach something totally different. And similarly, there will be seasons in our lives as listeners when hearing will not be convenient. When we have infants that will not sleep through the night, when we get off the night shift, right? When we have a crisis and a difficulty in life, when we are just dead tired, we will have these seasons.
And Timothy. The charge to Timothy is, Timothy, regardless of how you feel, regardless of what is going on, preach the word. And maybe the charge for us is regardless of the season, listen to the Word.
24 · The pastor applies the 'in season and out of season' principle by instructing the congregation to build their weekends around the Word, not try to fit the Word into their weekends
There are going to be times where we think, I'm fine, I don't need the Word, I'm doing great. Nope, we need the Word.
Will there be times where we think we are too burdened, we are too beat up, we can't get in to hear the Word? No, we need to listen to the Word. And let me just encourage you super practically to build your weekend around the word rather than trying to build your weekend and fit in the Word when you can. Everything is gonna push on this, right? Kids are gonna push on this commitment.
Sleep schedules are gonna put on push on the commitment. Sports are gonna push on the commitment. Boredom fatigue are gonna push on this commitment. But let me just encourage you just really practically about kids. The best gift you can give your kids is a parent being regularly shaped by the Word of God.
That's gonna be the best thing for them. So that's Second listen inconveniently.
25 · The pastor expounds verse 3 on 'itching ears' and introduces the concept of listening painfully
Third listen painfully, verse three. For the time is coming when people will listen to this phrase will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. I love what Hughes says about this verse.
He says a good preacher is one who gets it straight, gives it straight. I just love that image. Get it straight, give it straight. Right. No beating around the bush.
No qualification. No. Well, you know, I know this is kind of hard, but like, nope, just this is what it says. That's the preacher's job. So the charge for us then is don't listen with itchy ears.
And do listen when it hurts. Don't listen with itchy ears.
26 · The pastor uses the analogy of a physical itch to illustrate the 'itching ears' phenomenon
Meaning. Have you ever gotten an itch? Right.
As soon as I start talking about this, you're going to get one. That's what always happens. I hate it. Right. You get that itch and that spot in your back and you're just like, oh my gosh, how do I get to that spot?
And you will do anything to make that itch go away. Well, Paul is using this to illustrate is there are moments where we have something going on in our lives and we want someone to tell us it's okay. Right? Right. We love money and possessions and we're like, man, I just, I just want that.
And we'll find somebody, some preacher, some teacher that's like, money and possessions. Yeah, you should think about that. You should build your life around that. And you're like, yeah, that's what I thought. Ah, it feels better, you know, Right.
That, that itchiness or maybe I want to sleep with X person. I don't want to hear that God has rules for that. I do want to hear that the love of God covers everything. I'll go find that.
27 · The pastor uses the example of social media algorithms to illustrate the 'itching ears' phenomenon
Look, here's the reality. Social media companies, they already know this. They already have us figured out. Once they zero in on your political or religious views, they will keep serving you that content. And I remember listening to an interview with somebody from one of these big social media companies where somebody was kind of pushing back, like, well, why don't you mix it up? Why don't you give them a broader mix of content rather than just this narrow slice?
And the social media leader basically said, because people don't want to hear it and they won't click on it. Once we figure out what they want, we give them what they want and that's what they click on. Well, what. Why don't you mix it up? They don't want that.
They want what they want. Right. And similarly, we can do the same thing with preaching and teaching, can't we? Bible studies, can't we? We.
We have this Contrast between itchy ear teaching and then a sound teaching, right? That word sound literally means healthy, non diseased, like the way that it's supposed to be. And Paul is telling Timothy, Timothy teach the scriptures even when what they say is unpopular. But for Timothy to do his job, the church must be list, must, must be willing to listen to teaching from the Bible even when it's unpopular.
28 · The pastor argues that the Bible is an 'equal opportunity offender' — cutting against the grain of every age's values
I, I often joke that the Bible is great because the Bible is an equal opportunity offender.
Because in the first century the Bible was criticized for having too high a view of women, right? The first people to find Jesus, they're women. Their testimony is not even admissible in the court. Luke doesn't care. He's like, they were the ones that found it first, right?
He over and over Jesus is commending women, often sometimes more than men. I think on balance, probably more than men in the gospels. And the first century didn't like this, right? And so it was adjusting to them, it was uncomfortable for them. But now what's the view?
The Bible is poor in its view of women. Paul is poor, Jesus is poor. We need to move beyond that. We need to have a high view of women. And it's like, okay, listen man, the Bible's an equal to opportunity of better.
Some ages it's going to be too high, some ages is going to be too low. But it's always an equal opportunity offender. Or for another example, in the first century the Bible tells a slave master to forgive his bond servant for running away, right? And you just think, oh my gosh man, that is radical. In the first century and today the Bible will look at the people, look at the Bible and say now the Bible is a tool of oppression, right?
The Bible doesn't care. The Bible is the word of God. So we must be willing to listen to what the Bible says even when it cuts against the grain of what we would normally want to believe. I'm just going to hit just rapid fire through a bunch of things. Some areas we must apply this first, views of gender.
What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a woman? We go to the Bible. What about children? Are children a blessing?
How much should they run our lives? How do we raise them? We go to the Bible. What about sexuality? How we think about sexuality, same sex relationships, transgenderism.
We go to the Bible. Views of dignity. What about the unborn? What about the elderly? What about the disabled?
We go to the Bible. What? This is a big one for Americans. What about money? What about materialism?
What about purchases? What about debt. We don't go based on the culture around us. We go to the Bible. What about work and vocation?
What about our view of self, our view of our identity, our view of our emotions? We go where?
To the Bible. The Bible is going to cut against the grain with us and we must be willing to listen painfully.
29 · The pastor applies the call to listen painfully by surfacing two common areas where people search for teachers who agree with their bent: sexuality and politics
So here's the application, friend.
How do you respond when you hear something you don't like from the word? Do you flinch and try to explain it away? Do you go look up something to be to make yourself feel better? Or do you sit and receive the word and examine it and go, is this really the sense? Do I understand it clearly?
Do you go searching for people just to agree with what you already want to do? And let me just say this one. One. Let me just give a couple places where I've seen this very common. The first is related to sexuality.
It's your view of gender and same sex relationships and transgenderism. You may have a bent. And then what you want to do is find somebody that teaches the Bible that agrees with your bent, rather than starting with the Bible and asking, what does it say? And let that inform me or politics. Somebody will get real excited about a political perspective, a political figure, a political movement, and they'll go, awesome.
What Bible teaching will tell me that that's awesome rather than what does the Bible say? And then I judge that person. Is that really awesome using that? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. We start with the Bible.
30 · The pastor expounds verse 4 on 'wandering off into myths' and introduces the fourth way to listen: listen safely
Fourth, listen safely. Look at verse four. Listen safely. And these people will turn away from listening to the truth and notice what they'll do and wander off into myths. So the charge is don't wander off as you're listening to Bible teaching, do keep to the main path, to the healthy path, to the sound doctrine path.
31 · The pastor shares a story from his recent trip to South Dakota about tourists who wander off hiking trails and become disoriented just 20 feet from the path, unable to see it even though they're close
Now, one of the things that I. I was just up in Sioux Falls and these guys up there, man, there's a bunch of outdoorsmen up there and there's big, wild, untamed country. And they were telling me that there are places out in that part of the country in the Dakotas, that they really believe no human being has still walked through that particular forest or whatever, which is why they all believe in Bigfoot. So I'm like, okay, all right, man, let's go. I'm in.
And. And one of the challenges, they said, is that when tourists will come up there, because it's popular now to go to Montana or something like that, the tourists will come in and they will show up and the trail will be like this. And they will go, oh, look, a little lake, a little thing, a little tree, a little whatever. And they will wander off the path. Now, the problem is, especially in dense forests, when you are 20ft from the path, you can no longer see the path.
And as soon as you wander out, unable to see the path, you become disoriented. You begin trying to walk back to the path, but are walking away from the path. And they were telling me how regularly tourists will be rescued after hours in the woods 20ft from the path, right? They're thinking, they're like, you know, making plans. They're right in their will.
They're like, dear Mary, I loved you. You know, and you're like, it's over there, the path, but they can't see it.
32 · The pastor distinguishes 'wandering into myths' from 'itching ears
And this is what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, one of the other dangers in listening is that we will wander away. Now, this is different from the itchy ear phenomenon.
This is where the myths. The myths category here is. Is speculation about subtopics. The Bible says very little about Paul. Even in the first century has already seen a pattern.
Christians love a weird teaching, a secret teaching. Oh, nobody knows this teaching, right? And today, what. What happens, right? Regularly, we want to know the secret history of the Bible.
It's like, ooh, the secret message of Daniel. You're like, I want to know the secret, right? It's, it's. This is not as big now, but the Bible code where, where there was like, every fourth letter, and if you take every fourth letter and multiply it by the letter B and then divide that by the letter Q, you receive a special message just for you or something. You know, I'm, I'm overstating this, but you know what I mean?
It's just people can get into these things or, or secret scrolls or angelic teachings or a magic formula for the end times. You just plug in, like, you know, the year 2025, Putin, South America, you know, Bermuda Triangle, and you get it all. We want. Look, I'm over. I know pushing on this.
But, guys, we all will find places where we want that secret knowledge, where we begin to wander off the path. And here's what happens. It's not like we deny the Bible's teaching, but our imagination, our time, our effort gets taken up by myths, by things we're not sure are true or not. And we begin to wander from the main clear teaching of the Bible.
33 · The pastor gives a rule of thumb for avoiding myths: spend the majority of our time where the Bible is most clear
So I want to give you a rule of thumb.
A good rule of thumb is to spend the majority of our time as Christians where the Bible is most clear the majority of the time where the Bible is most clear. Now look, do I enjoy a good discussion with other Bible nerds about the Leviathan and whether it was indeed a Mosasaurus or a drag, you know, whatever it is, I love that. But, but listen, if my diet of hearing becomes that rather than the clear teaching of Scripture, I have wandered from the main path. Brothers and sisters, there is plenty for us to apply in the main clear streams of teaching from the Bible. Look, do I really need to know the thing with the Leviathan or do I need to read Ephesians 5 again?
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. I need Ephesians 5 a lot more than I need the Leviathan. But you know what? It's way easier to read about the leviathan than Ephesians 5. And so we got to acknowledge we need to listen safely on the main path.
What friend takes up your daydreaming, your affections, your heart, your imagination? All right, fifth and last.
34 · The pastor expounds verse 5, where Paul gives Timothy rapid-fire charges: be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry
Listen gratefully. Listen gratefully. Look at verse five.
Look at Timothy's task. Look at how difficult this is. But as for you, Timothy, always be sober minded. Endure suffering. Do the work of, of the evangelist.
Fulfill your ministry. Paul gives Timothy these rapid fire charges. Be sober minded and clear headed. Endure, persevere even when it's hard. Never stop sharing the gospel, Timothy, with those who don't know Christ, even when they're about to behead you, like Paul, fulfill the ministry God has given you.
This is a beautiful but a heavy charge. And one of the reasons I think Paul is allowing the congregation to overhear what he's telling Timothy is that the congregation might go, oh my, that is a heavy call. That's a heavy call. To be sober minded, to know that suffering is coming and be ready to endure. To do the work of sharing the gospel with people who want to behead you, to fulfill the charge of ministry.
That is a heavy call.
35 · The pastor applies the fifth way to listen — listen gratefully — by instructing the congregation to thank and encourage those who teach the Bible
And so here's what I would encourage us as a congregation. One, don't neglect the gift of a faithful Bible teacher and do steward the gift of faithful Bible teachers. I'm just gonna be honest with you. Before I became a Bible teacher, before I taught the Bible regularly, I, as my story about being a kid illustrates, I profoundly underestimated the time and attention and effort it takes to give the sense that people might understand it.
Clearly just underestimated it. I'm like, how hard could that be? It's like a TED talk. No, it's Not.
And then Tom Wilkins brought me into his sermon prep.
I got to see how he labored over the text. And here's my. My. My experience was, yeah, Tom just gets up there and just teaches the Bible everywhere week. That's great.
It's just normal. No, what I began to understand is, no, Tom climbs a mountain every week, and I've just gotten used to him climbing the mountain. Look at. He climbed it again. Cool.
You know, rather than like, oh, my goodness, Tom, you did it again. You know, he's like, yeah, thanks. Right? That's. That's what I began to experience.
Look, friends, knowing that the charge is heavy, knowing that it is not easy, we should steward and encourage those who teach the Bible. Now, primarily teaching on Sundays, preaching here is in view. So let me. Let me encourage you with something. Every time one of our faithful older guys preaches, thank them for the labor, for not wandering from the path, from persevering, for enduring suffering, for fulfilling their ministry.
We're going to Opportunity next week as Chuck is going to come bring the Word. It is no small thing that Chuck has been preaching the Bible for 40 years. We should go. That's a. That's a miracle, humanly speaking, right?
We should encourage those brothers. And then every time a new guy gets up into the pulpit for the first time, rather than going, all right, let's see. Go ahead.
You know, what do you got, bud? Rather than doing that, we're going, man, thank you for trying.
Thank you for getting up there. Thank you for laboring. Thanks for climbing the mountain.
You look beat up. We appreciate it. Right? That's what we want. We want that on Sunday.
But let me just encourage you as well, beyond Sunday, wherever you benefit from other believers helping you have the sense of the Bible and understanding it, thank those people. Look, if your community group leader helps you regularly open up the Bible and have the sense a little bit, thank that person. If you're a young mom who has walked with an older mom through what it means to be a mom and benefited from their encouragement or their Bible verses, thank them for handling the Word and giving the sense. If you've benefited from a faithful counselor opening the Word with you in the privacy of a, you know, a living room, thank them for handling the Word rightly. Look, one of my goals is that we would encourage anyone who does this, encourage anyone who holds the Word of God reverently, faithfully, even when it's difficult.
We. Rather than going, man, that was a funny story you told a community group. We should be going, which is Fine. To say thank you for opening the word with us. Thank you for helping us have the sense of what the Bible.
Thank you for, as Hughes would say, getting it straight and giving it straight right wherever it is. Community group counseling. Thanks for helping me see how this psalm is so encouraging.
36 · The pastor gives rapid-fire practical advice for listening to sermons: (1) bring a non-digital Bible to avoid phone distractions, (2) bring a pen and underline your Bible, (3) take notes but not too many, (4) say 'amen' out loud to encourage the preacher and the congregation, and (5) leave with one thing — a conversation to have, a change to make, a prayer to pray, or a sin to confess
And with that, let me just give you a rapid fire, two minute scattershot blast of random advice about listening to the Bible that didn't fit in the rest of it. Okay?
On a practical level, here are a few things you can do to get the most out of the preach word on Sunday. First, I want to recommend to you, bring a non digital Bible. Okay? If you can. Now, no shame if you got a phone today.
No shame if that works for you. Yes, the Bible is always on their phone. But no, it is not always the same. And here's what I found. I am distractible.
I am distractible. I will be sitting, listening to the word of God, taking a note on my phone and all of a sudden think I forgot to order razor blades. How am I going to shave tomorrow? My phone is here. I could just order the razor blades now.
Click, click, click. Oh, which razor blade should I get though? I did like those. I didn't like those. What is this guy saying now?
He's saying something about, okay, I'll be, I'll be back in a second. I just need to decide. This razor blade thing, right? This is what happens to at least me. So let me encourage you.
Bring a non digital Bible. Two, bring a pen. Underline some stuff. If God speaks to you, write a note in the margin. Underline your Bible.
Three, think about, consider taking notes, but don't take too many, right? This isn't a transcript. You don't need to turn in a shorthand at the end, right? I've seen some people over the years that they're like. And I'm like, what are you doing, man?
It's not that good. It's just, it's. All the good stuff is here. Just underline it there, right? So take notes, but not too many.
Another one fourth. Amen. Your preacher out loud when you can. All right, all right. See, I just, I set myself up for that.
I remember right over where Ral is. You guys remember if people remember our good friend Bill Russell with the big booming voice, everybody, Anybody remember Bill? Yeah, Bill, man, he was the best at this. He had the ministry of amen. I mean, we would, we would read the verse and he would be like, amen.
You know, my favorite was when we would say something like. And the Bible says, preach the word. He would say with his big, booming voice, preach that, like, just rang out. And I can't tell you, it did two things. One, the guy preaching did better, right?
When you've got a guy in the front row going, amen. Preach that. You're like, you know what?
Yeah, let's go. And everybody else in the room is going, that was good. That is good. That is true. God is good.
Jesus is great. I can't believe I'm saved. You're right. That is comfort. That is peace.
Right? And here's the reality. Somebody in this room needs to hear you. Amen. Because.
Because they can't. Maybe they're coming in. Maybe they are bone tired. Maybe they've been through a trial. Maybe it's all they can do to just get in the building.
But when they see you, who have endured suffering, who've endured the breakup of your marriage, the loss of a child, the loss of a job, when they hear you saying Amen, God is good all the time, man, it does something in their heart. So let me encourage you. One of my goals is not just that we would be the loudest singing church in El Paso. One of my goals is that we be the best church to preach to in El Paso. Right?
That's one of my goals. I would love it. Everybody comes into this pulpit. They're going. These people are the best.
Right?
Amen. All right, last one. Leave with one thing. Every Sunday, look, you're gonna have a lot. God does.
But let me just encourage you, as you walk out of this building, leave with one thing. Now you can leave with more. But I want to encourage you. Leave with at least one thing. Leave with a conversation you need to have with somebody based on the teaching of the Word.
Maybe a conversation with your spouse. Maybe you hear Ephesians 5. Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church, and you're going, I need to talk to my wife. Now. Leave with a conversation somebody you need to reconcile with, somebody you need to encourage, somebody you need to build up, leave with that or a conversation to have or two, something to change about your routine, something that week that needs to go on your calendar and be different or something to pray about.
Maybe the Lord gives you a prayer to pray this week. Lord, help me to approach the Word with reverence. Help me every time the Bible's open to listen like it's the very voice of God. Because it is. Lord, help me to do that.
And that's just a prayer. You pray every day or somebody that you need to Ask for forgiveness from something you need to repent, of something you need to confess to another brother or sister and say, I am struggling with this. Nobody knows. All right, that's my random pieces of five pieces of advice.
37 · The pastor concludes by anticipating the objection that we won't remember sermons
So let me end with this.
You're not going to remember this message probably in two weeks. That's okay. And sometimes it feels like, man, the preach word, it's supposed to be so important, but I can't remember what we heard a month ago. Well, let me end with the old story. You guys have probably heard this before, but I love it.
Old story of one Christian telling another Christian, you know what? I like going to church, but I can never remember the sermon. A week or two later seems so important, but I just. I don't even remember what the text was. I don't remember what the message was.
And the second Christian tells the first, well, I bet you can't remember what you had for lunch a week ago either, but it got you here. I bet you can't remember what you had last Tuesday for dinner, but it got you here. And so it is with the preached word. The way that the Christian is sustained from week to week is through the meal that God serves in his Word. And the goal is that a month from now, a year from now, not only will be we be sustained, but we'll be a little different, a little more patient, a little more bold, a little better of a father or mother.
Right? That is the goal. And we may not remember all of the messages that helped us do that or make that change, but surely the Lord is working on us if we will only put ourselves in a position to receive it. Amen.
38 · The pastor prays for the congregation, thanking God for the gift of His Word and asking Him to restore the wonder of Scripture
Would you stand and let's pray today?
Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the gift of your word. Lord, you.
You have given us an incalculable gift. You have given us your very self, your very voice. And Lord, so often it is easy for us to become used to it. Lord, I pray that you would restore the wonder of the word of God in our hearts and minds.
And Lord, I. I pray for anyone specifically that that is here and is not a Christian. Lord, I pray that they would see today that the goal is not to absorb the religious teachings of a text written by a guy that had good ideas from a few thousand years ago, but rather, Lord, that they would see that in the text we encounter the living God. That, that, that. That in itself is an extraordinary thing.
For we turned away from the voice of God, we turned against the Lord, and yet he came to us with his words. That he might draw us back to himself. He accomplished salvation but then brought us the word of salvation that we might come to know Christ, that we might have our sins forgiven, that we might find new life. So I pray if anyone is not yet a Christian here they would see not a text that is dead that we all appreciate but the voice of God calling them home. And I pray Lord, that in every context in this next week that we open the Word, that we would approach it with reverence, we would approach it with gratefulness.
And that Lord, we would be a church that just loves the fact that we get to open the Bible with one another. When we open it in a community group, it's a miracle. When we open it across the table from someone that needs encouragement, it's a miracle. When we hear it on Sunday, it's a miracle. It is the voice of God speaking to us.
And so I pray the joy of the Lord will be with us.