Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: God says that no matter what you're facing, what you're going through or what your circumstance may be tonight, you're not alone. Paul is telling Timothy, "Timothy, as you're watchful, know one thing: you need to endure everything that you're going to be facing. You're going to go through the fire, Timothy, but God is with you in the fire."

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today as we return to Second Timothy, Raul will challenge us to persevere in our faith, boldly sharing the gospel, resisting temptation, and standing steadfast in trials.

You'll see that when you feel that life is wearing you down, you can always seek the Lord's wisdom and strength. Stay with us for encouragement to run your spiritual race with focus, diligence, finishing strong for the Lord Jesus. Today's lesson is taken from Second Timothy chapter four beginning in verse five. Here's Raul Ries with our study, Paul's Personal Appeal, part two.

Raul Ries: Paul the Apostle talked to us about his last words right before he was going to die, speaking to Timothy. What is amazing is that every one of us are going to die one day, some sooner than others. And many times people don't really prepare. We don't really like to talk about it. We don't really like to think about it, but it is something that happens every day. Every day people die.

And it's really important that we understand that not only we have to be committed to the lordship of Christ and walking in His word and walking in obedience to His word, but people will remember the last thing you will ever do in your life. They don't remember everything else, but it's always what you do at last. They will mark you for the rest of your life.

To me, it's really sad that I've seen many people die that had a good reputation, but at the end of their lives, they left a bad testimony. And that's what people remembered. We need to really be aware, we need to really be careful with the devil. For Satan, the Bible says, has come to rob and to steal and to kill. And I believe that in our lesson, even tonight as we talked about it last week, that Satan was after Timothy.

Timothy was a young man. And when you're young, when you're in your 20s and your 30s and even in your 40s, you think you're invincible. You think that nothing can ever happen to me. And there are many, many temptations that will come your way. And Timothy was being tempted, being tempted in so many ways in his life, and at the same time he was fighting against all these false teachers that were trying to seduce him and to bring him into deception.

And Paul just really nails it down and he says to Timothy, "Timothy, preach the word, fulfill your ministry, and be diligent and be faithful to what God has called you to do." For there's only one thing that will ever last, and that is the only thing that you do for Christ will last, period. Nothing else.

When you get to be my age and you can look a long ways this way but not too far this way, you begin to see that eternity is so important. Talking to another one of my friends last night, he's in the hospital right now. He needs a liver. We grew up together, went through the Marine Corps together. I went to Nam and then he went to Nam later. And he had a hard life. And he drank a lot. And then he began to lose his liver.

But through all that, all these years, he's only 57 years old. Through all this, he's waiting for a liver, but through all the suffering and pain that he's gone through in the last two or three years, he has come to know Christ. He's in the hospital and I was just talking to him. He was talking to me and we were sharing. And he was reminding me of all these things that I had forgotten because he's like a brother to me.

And it was so cool to be able to see that now he has a different attitude, his countenance is different. And to be able to see that his mother and his father, which his father just gone to be the Lord, that he came to the Lord, his mother has come to know the Lord, and his sisters have come to know the Lord. It's always so incredible to be able to affect people with your life like Paul did to Timothy and so many others when they come to find Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

And I think this is the only thing that really counts in life. Your husband or your wife or your children and even your grandchildren can disappoint you, but God never disappoints you, no matter what happens. He's always, always there for you. Whenever you need Him, He's there by your side. And Paul wanted to remind Timothy: "Timothy, don't forget your grandmother, don't forget your mother, the ones that taught you the scriptures when you were little."

"And when you came to know the Lord, and then when I met you, Timothy, I really liked you. And I saw the anointing of God in your life and that's why I committed myself to you, Timothy. And I taught you the word of God. And I want you to know that I'm going to depart. They're coming for me. They're going to take my head off. But I want you to know one thing, Timothy: preach the word. Preach the word."

Let's just review verses one through four. He says, "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom." Right away Paul the apostle wants to make sure that Timothy understands that there is a day of judgment coming for the wicked and for the Christian. The only difference is that the Christian already has been judged at the cross of Jesus Christ on Calvary.

And the wicked will get his judgment at the Great White Throne judgment in Revelation chapter 20, 11 through 15. He will have to stand before God one day. The books will be open and whatever is written in those books, God will judge you out of those books. And whoever was not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire, Gehenna, forever and ever and ever. People tend to forget that judgment is coming.

That's why we have to be careful what we say, what we do. What's my motive in what I'm doing? What's of importance, what's not important? What's temporal and what's eternal so that I can make the right choices in life? And this is what Timothy was being preached by Paul. "Timothy, don't forget that one day God's going to judge the living and the dead at His coming."

Verse two: "Preach the word." Notice the responsibility that he gives to Timothy, but the responsibility that we all have in the ministry here in Calvary Chapel or whatever church you belong to. If you're a Christian, we are committed to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Preach the word in season, be ready in season, out of season, when you feel like it, when you don't feel like it, when you're healthy and when you're down, when you're weak and you're sick. No matter, be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.

And by the way, he says, this is the reason for preaching. Verse three: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers." Notice that. There will be in the last days these friendly seeker churches that will not teach the word of God. They want to make you feel good. Don't bring your Bible to church, you don't really need it, we got the screens.

You see, we have to be careful. The word of God is a sword. We carry our swords with us wherever we go. I feel weird when I don't have my Bible. I've been carrying it for 35 years. And so here he's really exhorting, saying, look, this is what's going to happen. In the last days all these false teachers will come, false doctrines, doctrines of demons. And they're going to heap themselves up to be teachers.

Verse four: "And they will turn their ears away from the truth to evolution." They'll turn their ears over to some tickling of the ear, which is not really true, but they believe it. Christian Science, Buddhism, Islam, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormonism, even Catholicism. All these things that don't lead you to Jesus but lead you away from Jesus. You see, Paul says in the last days, Timothy, this is what's going to happen. And what are they going to do? Notice they turn aside to myths, to fables, to storytelling.

They don't believe in God's word. This is why we teach God's word line upon line, precept upon precept. We love teaching the word of God. Teaching is what God does to produce what? To produce healthy sheep. That's how you become healthy spiritually. If you're not in the word and if you're not reading and you're not studying God's word, then what's happening is you're not growing. Not in stature, but you're not growing spiritually. You're digressing instead of increasing your knowledge in God. That's why I'm so glad that you're here tonight on Wednesday nights. You're investing into the kingdom of eternity.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You radio with Raul Ries. If you're in the Diamond Bar area this Saturday, March 14, join Pastor Raul and other solid teachers at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs for a family conference titled "Family God's Way." Through powerful Bible teaching and worship, couples and families will be encouraged to build their homes on the foundation of God's word.

So whether you've been married for decades, newlyweds, or raising children of any age, this conference offers timeless biblical truths and real-life application to help your family thrive. For more information, go to somebodylovesyou.com and click on the family conference graphic. Now here's Raul Ries once again.

Raul Ries: Now in chapter four, verses five through eight, we're going to now see Paul again exhorting Timothy about keeping and fulfilling his ministry. Don't forget your ministry, Timothy, that God has given to you. Paul here warning Timothy how to serve the Lord. Somehow Timothy had become weak. Somehow Timothy was thinking of quitting the ministry. Oh yeah, there are times you feel like quitting the ministry. There are times you get very discouraged.

But it's like David. When David, everybody turned against David when they took their wives captive, and even his own men in his own army began to turn against David and they wanted to kill David, David says, and David turned and encouraged himself in the Lord. Men can't encourage you, but God can encourage you all the time when you turn to the Lord. God is there always for each one of us individually.

And yet in the midst of a changing world, notice, in the midst of a changing world, we need to stand fast. Today especially, we need to stand fast. With terrorism and all the things that are happening, all the child molesters, all the pedophiles in the world today, killing children, raping children. Sick. And yet our judges need to be prayed for so they can make stricter laws and rules and regulations. It's really important because these men are getting short-term penalties and they're getting back out on the streets and they're going back and they're raping and they're killing and they're molesting children.

Terrible, horrible. I'm glad I'm not God and I'm glad I'm not the judge because it's really important to me that I love children, and when I see some little child get hurt, if I was the judge, I would say instant death. According to the Old Testament, they would be put to death by stoning immediately. But yet God knows what's best, and we really need to pray for the church, we need to pray for families.

Families that are really struggling, families that are having real problems and situations in their lives. So many young teenagers have been molested. Molested by an uncle, by a cousin, by a friend. Horrible, terrible. And if you're here today and that's happened to you, listen, God can give you a new life, God can give you a new mind, God can heal you. You don't have to really be what the world says you have to be. God can make you into a new person because God loves you and God cares about you.

And it's really of importance to me that we really are very careful in a changing world. Standing fast, no matter what you're going through, no matter what you're facing tonight, Jesus is with us and He will continue to be with us. Look what Paul tells Timothy here now. He says, "But you, Timothy, be watchful." That's an important word. Number one: be watchful, be stable, be steadfast, Timothy. Don't move from your position in Christ. Stay steady on course. Make sure that you know who you are and who you believed in.

Because life can really get you down, the world can really confuse you, bring confusion to your life. The world can really disappoint you and you can become oppressed, you become depressed. But yet when you get your eyes on the Lord and you really believe the word of God, God will not only encourage you but God will give you a way out. It's not the end of the world, no matter what you're facing tonight. God is there with you and He will continue to be with us.

But He wants you to be watchful or He wants you to be stable and steadfast in what He's called you to do. And in the case of Timothy, he was called to preach. He was called to watch over the flock of God. He was called to preach against false teachers and expose their doctrines. And that's what a pastor-teacher does because he wants to see the sheep healthy and wants them to be aware of all these false people that are preaching a false gospel.

And remember what Paul said in Galatians 1:6-8? He says if anybody, an angel, comes to you and preaches any other Jesus, let him be what? Anathema. Let him go to the lowest hell. To the lowest hell. It's very important that we understand. Secondly, he says, "Endure afflictions." This is something that every minister, every man of God, every person that is being used of God, any Christian, has to be able to endure sufferings. And if you haven't suffered, you will. Just wait. You will suffer.

God has a way of bringing suffering in our lives so that we can be compassionate and we can pray for people and we can assist people. And Timothy had been going through a lot of turmoil. As a matter of fact, when you read in Corinthians, he even was thrown in jail. They put him in jail because he was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and was falsely accused. And here we see that Paul is telling him: endure affliction. Don't get discouraged.

I mean, how many times we see people that get sick? They've never been sick in their lives and the first thing that Satan does is he comes with depression, immediately. And it's very hard, especially if you've been healthy all your life and you really haven't been in a bed for a long time and taking medicine. It's very hard on people. And yet God says that no matter what you're facing, what you're going through or what your circumstance may be tonight, that He is there to assist you. You're not alone. He is with you in your affliction.

Paul is telling Timothy, "Timothy, as you're watchful, know one thing: you need to endure everything that you're going to be facing. You're going to go through the fire, Timothy, but God is with you in the fire." In the book of Daniel, when the three Hebrew children got thrown into the fire, remember the king looked into the fire and said, "I thought we threw three men into the fire. How come I see four? One like the Son of God." Jesus was in the fire with them.

And he said, "Hey Meshach, Abednego, Shadrach, come on out here." And they came out of the fire, and their hair was not even singed by the fire, was not even burnt, they didn't even smell like the fire. God is with us all the way through, no matter what we face. God will be in all of our afflictions. And then I love this. I love what he says here. Be watchful, and be enduring suffering, and notice thirdly, do the work of an evangelist. Win souls. Win souls.

I don't know how many of you here tonight and maybe even those watching through the internet have ever led somebody to the Lord. It is the most awesome thing in the world when you share your faith with others. One of the great things about the Jesus people movement many years ago is that the Jesus people were really excitable people. They got saved and it was a time where God was really doing a great work in the 60s and in the 70s.

It was a time during the Vietnam War, and there was a lot of protesting going on in our country and there was a lot of turmoil, a lot of drugs. And at the same time, it was a time where God opened the windows of heaven and He poured out His Holy Spirit upon the young people. And the young people by the gross started getting saved. And God began to touch kids. And I remember when I came to Calvary Chapel, that was nothing but young kids. We were all young at that time.

And it's really neat to be able to see that those young kids were touched by the Lord. And I remember what we used to have ministries where we go down to Hollywood, we go down to the beach, we go different places with teams of 20 or 30, and on Friday nights we go out and we pass out tracts and we witness to people. And if you worked in a place wherever you worked or wherever you went to school, you were not ashamed. You were able to share the gospel with someone and you were constantly winning people to the Lord.

The Bible says in the Book of Proverbs that those that win souls are wise. It's really of importance that we come to that place. It's not just sitting in church and listening to the word of God and keeping the good news for us. If we have good news, let's give it away. You come into contact with so many people in school or at work or in your neighborhood. People always in need. If we don't tell our neighbors, if we don't tell our loved ones about Jesus Christ and salvation, that it's a free gift, and we don't tell them about heaven and hell, then one day we'll be responsible.

Read Ezekiel chapter three, chapter 18, and chapter 33: the responsibility of a watchman. Paul the apostle in the book of Acts chapter 18 and chapter 20 said, "I wash my hands from all men's blood because I have not failed to give to you the full counsel of God." You see, I haven't failed. I given you the full counsel of God. I given you from Genesis all the way through Revelations. I've given you what God has given to me, so I am without excuse. I can stand before God and say I've done my job in telling others about You, Jesus.

If you have never, ever really shared the gospel, man, it's time to do it. There's a lot of people today that want to hear it. A lot of needs out there. Great opportunities to be able to evangelize and to share our faith with so many people. And so Paul tells him: Timothy, make sure you continue to be a soul winner. Keep winning souls. That's why Greg and I and others, we have a passion for crusades, evangelism, because we love to see people get saved. We want to see people get saved because we know that if they don't, they're going to go to hell. They're going to go to hell forever. Because what people don't realize is that we only get one chance in life. Once a person takes his last breath, he or she, it's over. No turning back. It's over. You're gone forever. Either you go to heaven or you go to hell, no in-between place.

Guest (Male): How wonderful it is to know that the Lord is always with us, filling us with purpose and strength as we point others to His love through the witness of our lives. You're listening to Somebody Loves You radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson was titled Paul's Personal Appeal, part two. If you'd like to get an unedited version, we'll be happy to send one to you for a donation of five dollars or more. All you have to do is call us at 800-634-9165.

To support your daily walk and spur you on in sharing the gospel, we'd like to tell you about Raul's entire 11-message study of Second Timothy. It's conveniently available on both CD and flash drive. Every lesson will guide you in nurturing an enduring faith that's grounded in God's word. To purchase this study of Second Timothy, connect with us at somebodylovesyou.com or give us a call at 800-634-9165. We'll send you Raul's 11-message resource on CD for 24 dollars, or if you'd like, on thumb drive for just 15 dollars.

The number again is 800-634-9165. Or write to us at Somebody Loves You radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765. Thank you for your partnership in this listener-supported ministry. Every tax-deductible gift helps us keep sharing the truth of God's word. Continuing in Second Timothy tomorrow, we'll explore more of what it looks like to journey with the Lord through all of life's ups and downs, bringing glory to His name in every circumstance. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You radio in Diamond Bar, California.