Tag Archives: Timothy

3-2-1-Ignition

by

0

3-2-1-Ignition—2 Timothy 1:1-14—Dr. Denny—DBC—October 6, 2019220px-Ham_Launch_-_GPN-2000-001007_(cropped).jpg

Introduction:  On the morning of May 5, 1961, a Mercury-Redstone rocket, 82 feet tall rose from the launch pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  Sitting inside the cramped Mercury capsule was astronaut Alan Shepard who was about to kick start America’s future as a spacefaring nation.

It was a critical time in our country because just two weeks before this date the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first human in space orbiting the Earth for 108 minutes.  The American spirit for space travel had been faltering up to this point.  Bu Alan Shepard changed the equation to one of confidence and victory.

The launch happened at 9:34 am EST.  The Chief Test Conductor Bob Moser said this about this launch:  “It was an intense countdown.  Everybody had their job.  There was no joking around.  But we enjoyed it, and it worked….”  And then the countdown concluded with “3-2-1-Ignition.” 

Background:  Now let’s slip back into our text in 2 Timothy where Paul uses a NASA rocket term ἀναζωπυρεῖν  (1 time only) that means to ignite.  It’s an explosive word, literally, and it’s directed first at Timothy and ultimately at us who sit here in the DBC pews.  If I could paraphrase the Greek it would: “3-2-1-Ignition.”  But before we see just what that means to us, Paul wants Timothy to remember something.

  1. Something to Remember: (2 Tim. 1:6).  There was a unique event that happened in timothy’s life that Paul could not forget.  Whenever he replayed this moment in his mind, he always saw the tears;  not his tears, but Timothy’s.   And it was critical from Paul’s perspective that Timothy remember this event always.

                       Memory plays an important part in our lives and without it, we lose our identity and begin to drift away like a fall leaf on a swift-moving creek.

*I went for an annual Wellness checkup Friday at the Rural Health.  The lady took me back into a cramped room with filing cabinets and a small desk shoved against the wall.  I sat down, our knees almost touching and she began her interrogation keeping accurate notes of everything I said.  “The government wants you to stay healthy so they won’t have to spend any money on you,” she said with a little smirk.  Then after a flurry of questions, she said, “Now it’s time for your memory test.”  I shuddered at this statement and my blood pressure shot up.  “I’m going to give you three words to remember and then a little later I will ask you for those three words.  Okay?”   I was going to bolt for the door right then but I figured the government wouldn’t like it so I stayed put and said, “Okay.”  She smiled like she had me cornered and then continued:  “Your three words are RIVER—FINGER—NATION.  Got it?”  “I think so,” I said.  Then she began a campaign of misdirection.  “Now draw me a clock with the numbers on it.” I did that.  “Okay now put the clock fingers at 10 after 11.”  I did that.

Then with her eyes narrowing a bit she looked at me said, “What are the three words.”    (ASK AUDIENCE FOR THE WORDS).

Paul said to Timothy there is something I want you always to remember.  It was just a few years back when I was here with you that I summoned the church together.  We gathered around you.  Your grandmother Lois was there and your mother Eunice who taught your spiritual ABCs from your earliest days.  And now we see that same faith growing within you.  And it was then that I laid my hands upon you and launched your public ministry.  Do you remember that Timothy?  Do you remember how brightly the flame of faith burned within your heart?  Do you remember how you began preaching in the church with zeal and enthusiasm?

And this is the question Paul sets before each of us here this morning.  I want you to remember something, he tells us.  Go back to that time when your faith was new and the call of Christ was ringing in y our ears.  Go back to that time when you trusted Christ and remember how it was.  It’s a memory you must never forget.

  1. Something to Re-Ignite (2 Tim. 1:6)—And now we come back to the Mercury capsule quivering on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral. Those huge engines had been test-started many times but now as they lay silent and cold it was time to re-ignite them.  And this is what Paul says to timothy.  It’s time for you to re-ignite that first event when I laid my hands upon you.  It’s time to stir up the embers and get the fire going again.  (READ v6.  KINDLE AFRESH the gift of God which is in you…”.

             *There’s a little wood frog that illustrates Paul’s principle of ignition of our faith.  This wood frog lives in the arctic circle in Alaska.  As the winter slowly descends upon the tundra, this little frog settles down in the water and freezes solid with the water around him.  Slowly he stops breathing and his heart stops beating.  If effect, he is dead.  But when the spring thaw settles in again he slowly comes back to life, re-igniting his body temperature.

*It’s so provocative to hear Paul use this “ignition” word considering where he is.  Many think 2 Timothy is his last letter.  He is in custody at Rome’s worst prison—The Mamertine Prison which had two levels, the lowest level a small confined space in utter darkness.  He senses that his life is nearly over.  He writes in chapter 4:6 “the time of my departure has come.”  There is no tomorrow for the aging apostle.  And yet, in his last days, he remembers the thrill of laying his hands on the young Timothy and lighting a fire that still needs to be ignited every so often.

Conclusion
      How many times had Alan Shepard sat in the tiny space capsule and touched the controls before this launch date?  How many times had he imagined the power of the explosive ignition beneath him as the rocket prepared to burst into the heavens?  And then when the day actually came and clicked his seat belt on for the final time, once again he reignited his imagination and waited for the countdown:  3-2-1-Ignition.

Paul wants us to count down every so often and relive our first days of faith and launch off into new adventures as saints on another grand mission.

 

Getting Rich Quick! Guaranteed!

by

0

I Timothy 6:6-12—Dr. Denny—DBC—September 29, 2019

Introduction:  George C. Parker was a con man plain and simple.  Of course, he had many other con names he used such as James J. O’Brien, Warden Kennedy, Mr. Roberts, and Mr. Taylor.[4]  But he was George C. Parker.  He was born in NYC to Irish parents.  He had four brothers and three sisters and was a high school graduate.  (I wonder how many teachers he drove crazy).  George C. Parker believed in getting rich quick.  No long days toiling in a factory for him.
Brooklyn Bridge.jpg

One day he had a brilliant idea:  I will sell the Brooklyn Bridge.  He tried to play devil’s advocate: ‘You can’t do that.  You don’t own it!’.  But none of that slowed him down.  So he put it up for sale.  His suckers were often immigrants who had a little money and knew nothing of the rule of law or the American system.  He was very convincing.  He made up fake documents that looked real.  He didn’t just sell the bridge once.  He sold over and over.  The police came once and arrested the victims who thought the bridge was theirs and were setting up toll booths.

Background:  Paul made it clear to young Timothy.  ‘Just forget George C. Parker.  Forget the Brooklyn Bridge.  Give up this love of money and riches.  Just learn to live simply with what you have’. 

But make no mistake.  Paul wants you to be rich—filthy rich.  And he has a formula that you can follow.  It’s just like baking a cake—do this and this and this.  Paul has a formula for a life rich in contentment and happiness.  I am going to share that formula with you this morning.

  1. Quickly Flee (v11). There are times in our lives when we have to get up and run for all we can.  When you’re lounging on the beach and you see a tsunami coming you can’t finish the chapter in your novel. You have to get up and run.  And Paul says if you want to be truly rich you have to have times of flight.  Since Paul is talking about money in the previous verses this is clearly one thing wants you to know.  Flee the money trap, he says.  Don’t get caught in its snare.  It will ruin your life.  The love of money is the root of all evil, he says and the sooner you get running from it the happier you will be.

            *Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher of the 6th century BC said this:  “He who is contented is rich.  Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.  When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”

Paul said the same thing in verses 6-8. READ. 

            *Lucius Cincinnatus was a hero of ancient Rome.  He was a simple farmer who loved nothing better than the simple life beneath the sun out in his fields, breathing the country air.  But one day when Rome was about to attacked and the citizens didn’t know what to do. They ran out to his farm and begged for his help. They made him dictator for 6 months –all-powerful.  He put his plow down. Raced into the city and ordered every able-bodied man to come with weapons to the forum.  Cincinatus.jpgWithin 15 days he put down the insurrection, defeated the enemy and then—well what did he do next?  He was all-powerful.  He could do anything he wanted.  He was dictator for 6 months.  What did he do?  He tossed all of that to the ground and went home to his farm and his plow and his chickens and fresh air.  He didn’t want anything more.  He was contented with the simple life.   *(George Washington called Cincinnatus when the Revolutionary war was over).

  1. Urgently Pursue: Paul’s formula for riches included a paradox.  He said I want you to flee but I also want you to pursue.  Flee the trap of money but pursue the six pillars of happiness and success.  He lists them in verse 11—READ TEXT.  ———–

Can we do both at the same?  Can we flee but pursue?  Yes.  We flee from something but run toward something.  If you want to be truly rich as God defines wealth, then you have to spend your life pursuing the six pillars of happiness:  righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 

This is a diet rich in all the essential nutrients for robust health and riches.  There are at least six sermons in this one verse.  Pursuing these pillars is like losing weight.  You don’t have to lose it all in one day and you can pursue these six goals over your lifetime.

 Pick one a day.  On Monday focus on gentleness—Tuesday select godliness—Wednesday think often about love– and pursue faith on Thursday.  Slip into righteousness on Friday and for the weekend pursue perseverance.

Paul’s message here is simple:  Life without pursuit is empty and meaningless.  You must pursue—Just don’t pursue money and Brooklyn Bridge deals and get rich quick schemes.  Pursue the pillars of happiness.

  1. Continuously Fight (v12)— There is a time to stop running and fight.  Paul says, “Fight the good fight of faith.”  There is a time to fight.

*When I was in second grade just before my family moved to Japan, I lived in Sumpter SC.  Each day I loved to go out on the playground at recess.  There were woods off in the distance and I loved to run through the woods.  But there was a bully out there always waiting for me.  I got to where I hated going on the play-ground.  I didn’t know how to fight so I was afraid.  But one day Big Becky came to my defense.  She was a huge 5th grader with biceps.  She was tough.  And when she heard my story she set out after the bully and sent him flying.

In Eph 6:11 Paul said, Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil…

In other words, there is a time to fight.

Conclusion:

So we started off this morning with George C. Parker selling the Brooklyn Bridge because he wasn’t content with his life.  He wanted to get rich quick.  It resulted in him spending his life in Sing Sing Prison in NY.

Let’s do better than that.  Let’s find the true riches that God offers.  Let’s flee the love of money and learn to live with contentment.  Let’s Pursue the pillars of happiness and let’s fight the true fight of faith resisting the devil’s snares that will only bring us down.