Introduction from Buddy –
For a little over 10 years I had the privilege of serving as an Adjunct Professor at Carver Bible College, one of America’s historically Black colleges. The primary course I taught was “Church Planting.” Over a dozen churches were planted during that time and many of those churches planted other churches. This was not a personal undertaking; Grace partnered with Carver in this Kingdom enterprise.
A game changer was when Dr. Robert Crummie was brought in from Dallas Theological Seminary to lead as the President of Carver 17 years ago. Dr. Crummie’s vision transformed the college. Dr. Crummie is colleague and friend. He is also a great teacher of Scripture. Wel have the distinct pleasure of hosting Dr. Crummie at Grace.
Dr. Crummie not only is a great academic leader, he hails from a great National heritage–his father was of of the famed “Tuskegee Airmen” which broke the race barrier in WWII. He learned leadership from the best America had to offer.
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Robert Crummie
September 1, 2013
Here Comes the Judge
2 Timothy 4:1-8
Well, good morning. It is a joy to be here, and I’m so delighted to have received the invitation from your pastor, Buddy Hoffman, and his wife, Jody, to come and to share with you all on this Sunday. I bring you greetings from Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in College Park where I’ve served for 15 years as a pastor there and from the campus of Carver College, formerly Carver Bible College, in southwest Atlanta. Carver has been around for 70 years come this October 17. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you.
I’ve served there for 17 years and your pastor, Buddy Hoffman, is one of the reasons why I serve at Carver as president this day. In fact, in the earlier service, I reminded myself that it was September 1, exactly 17 years ago, when I came and I stayed in the home of Buddy and Jody, and they interviewed me here for the position of Vice President of Advancement Affairs. Several years later became the college’s fifth president. Your pastor, Buddy Hoffman, served on the Board of Trustees at that time and he also taught. He taught church planting and he taught evangelism, discipleship, and theology.
Buddy’s class in church planting continued to cause… It was actually hindering the college from growing in enrollment, because every time someone would take one of his classes, they’d go out and plant a church and not come back to Carver. Buddy and Jody, you all will be real pleased today that many of your students, some of the former students at Carver you taught, are out doing significant things.
I think of one pastor, Toney Mosley,, who has 4,000 members now on Old National Highway. You ought to give God praise for Buddy. He’s a great man. Buddy is just a dear friend, a dear brother. He has encouraged me through the years. He has been a source of blessing and encouragement to the college. I’m just excited to just be here and to be with him and his family again today.
I’m here with my family. My wife Carla. Amen. Stand up, Sweetheart. Amen. She’s the wind beneath my wings, the peanut butter in my jelly, the cream in my coffee. I’d better stop right there. We have two children. We have Robert, who’s 12 years old. Stand up, Robert. Robert is a seventh grader at Sandtown Middle. Amen. Robert is a budding athlete. He can juke. He can shoot three-pointers. He thinks he can beat me in a one-on-one.
My daughter Meagan is here. Meagan is 10. Meagan is gifted and talented. She’s a gymnast. She’s a fifth grader at Kipp Strive. She just loves gymnastics. She plays the piano. She can sing. Both of them, I think, have a little rap in them. We just appreciate what the Lord is doing in both of our kids’ lives. We’re so proud of them.
We also have a friend, a Carver grad, who is with us. Frankie Barr. Stand up, Frank. Frankie is a Christian rapper. Frankie has a new album out. I think it’s called Grace. You can probably see him. If you Google Frankie Barr, he’s just a rising star in Atlanta in the area of Christian rap music. He’s just a good brother and we appreciate him being with us on today.
Carver has been around, as I said, for 70 years. I just want to mention briefly (I wouldn’t be a good president if I didn’t share what I’m about to say), there are about 500 Bible colleges in North America, the US and Canada, and I know of about three that have African American leadership and a predominantly African American student body. We have such a huge need in our community to produce men and women who not only have a biblical worldview, but they can stand in a pulpit with some depth in their calling.
My wife is actually a graduate of Michigan State. She studied elementary education there. She went on to Cambridge and studied elementary education there. She’s in a doctorate program now doing a terminal degree in elementary education. She has taught for 16 years. She’s an educator through and through.
Most of the men, particularly in the African American community, go on to seminary and go on and stack a masters on top of a bachelor’s degree in some other related discipline. Not Bible. Not theology. At Carver, our graduates who go on to seminary, we are excited because they stand in the pulpit with as much equal or more depth than a teacher will stand in a classroom.
I challenge you to pray for Carver. It’s one of the biggest needs not only in the African-American community, but I believe in our country today. That probably won’t hit Tavis or Oprah, but I’m sharing that as a commercial right now, asking you to pray for us. Our website is carver.edu, and there are many, many ways you can become a friend of Carver. Some of you got that.
Standing here, it just reminds me of the preacher who stood out on the West Coast who preached his heart out and he stood with some of the members and particularly the host pastor at the exit as they left for home. As they were standing there, this one lady in a polka dot dress came up and she greeted the guest pastor. She said to him, “Sir, that was a terrible sermon you preached.”
The guest preacher just kind of looked at her and humbly said, “Ma’am, pray for me, will you?” Grace, you wouldn’t believe, the lady got in line a second time and she came around again, and again she said to the guest preacher, “Sir, that was a terrible sermon you preached.” Again, the guest preacher just said, “Ma’am, look. Pray for me, will you?”
Grace, she got in line a third time. She came around this time and as she approached the guest preacher again, the guest preacher noticed her in line. He looked at the host pastor and said, “This is the third time she has gotten in line. Each time she has said to me what a terrible sermon I preached.” The host pastor just put his hand on the preacher’s shoulder and said, “Look here, don’t worry about her because she doesn’t quite have it all upstairs. She just goes around repeating what everyone else is saying.”
So we’re going to pray right now and we’re going to pray that those kinds of conversations will not go on around here after this morning’s message. Every eye closed. Every head bowed. Father, we thank you, Lord. Thank you so much for such an incredible witness here in the Atlanta area called Grace Fellowship. Thank you for Buddy and Jody and their family and all who serve on the Grace team. Thank you for these members.
Lord, we thank you for this hour where we have to come to worship you. Thank you for the ministry of the praise team and how they’ve already massaged our hearts and turned our attention and focus and creating in us a readiness to receive your Word. Thank you for those who serve as ushers and other ways, technicians. God, we just want to commit this portion of the service to you as we look in your Word.
We thank you that what David said is true, that your Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. We ask you’ll light up our path as we continue to walk in this dark and dim world. Lord, we pray also as David prayed in the nineteenth Psalm and ask as he asked that you would let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, my Rock, my Strength, and my Redeemer. In Jesus’ name (let every heart say), amen.
Turn with me if you will to 2 Timothy 4:1-8. This pericopae, or passage of Scripture, this paragraph if you will, most scholars call this text remote and the immediate, Paul’s last will and testament. Many of them argue he’s writing from a deathbed in Rome, knowing he’s going to be beheaded about two weeks from penning this letter to his young protégé in the ministry, Timothy.
You all know that what someone would write from their deathbed is something that is very dear to their heart. I love what one scholar, Crawford Loritts, said. It’s almost as if he grabs Timothy by the lapels and says, “Hear me. Listen to this if you haven’t heard anything else.” So he writes in what most grammarians call bookends, where he introduces the idea in verse 1 of this Judge who’s coming to judge the living and the dead. Then in verse 8, he reintroduces the idea of the Judge who when he comes will give this crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award.
Paul wants Timothy to be motivated to live and minister in a certain way in light of the sooncoming Judge. I want you to think with me on the thought as we walk through this text, Here Comes the Judge. Somebody remembered that old song back in the early 70s. I’m not talking about that song, “Here Comes the Judge,” but it carries the same connotation, knowing that a Judge is coming.
In fact, Paul, when he says in verse 1, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing…” (2 Timothy 4:1), that word epiphaneia for appearing in the Greek is a word that was used in Timothy’s context of the emperor when he was coming to town. People knew to clean the streets. They knew to put things in order. They knew when the emperor showed up tasks were to be completed, assignments were to be fulfilled. They were to demonstrate a readiness for the arrival of the emperor.
Paul uses that thought as he writes from his deathbed to encourage young Timothy to be ready, to be anticipating the soon-coming Judge. If you notice, he says in verse 2, “…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season…” He gives him really in verse 2 five imperatives to do in light of the soon-coming Judge. He says to preach the word, be ready, reprove, rebuke, and exhort. Those imperatives are for another sermon.
Today, I really want to focus on verse 5, but before we get there, verses 3 and 4, Paul talks to Timothy about the context in which he’s to minister. He first talks to them about other people. He says, “For the time will come when they…” Look at the pronouns. “…will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
Paul is talking to Timothy about what they will be doing. I really want to share this morning five key things I really think Paul wanted Timothy to zoom in on in light of the soon-coming Judge. I believe these are five things the Lord would have all of us to apply in our own lives as we too anticipate the soon-coming Judge.
Let me remind you that the imminency of Christ is just as real for us today as it was when Paul writes this letter to Timothy. We believe that at any moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the sky can crack, the trump will sound, and the Bible says, Paul says actually to the church at Thessalonica, that the dead in Christ will rise first and those of us who remain will be caught up to meet him in the air. We all believe in the imminent return of Christ. Paul talks to Timothy in verse 4 about them, but the five things I want to share begin in verse 5. Notice the first one.
1. Concentrate on your own uniqueness. Verse 5, he says, “But you…” The first thing Paul says to Timothy is, “Timothy, concentrate on yourself. Concentrate on your own uniqueness. Concentrate on how God has wired you. Don’t be so concerned about what they are doing that you miss out on the very purpose God has purposed for your life.”
Saints, we live in a culture today where so many people are bombarded with other information about what other people are doing. We have entertainment. We have shows that entertain us talking about entertainers. You can’t go through the grocery line without magazines with other people on the cover. We’re absorbed often by drawing our attention to what other folks are doing.
Paul says, “I don’t want you, Timothy, to get a PhD in everybody else’s business. I want you to understand what ought to be the business of your own.” How has God wired you so you can match your giftedness with the needs in the church, the needs in the community, the needs in society? He says, “Timothy, but you concentrate on how God has wired you.”
In the Bible, James says life is like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. God wants all of us to be good stewards over our years. So many people waste time wandering, doing this and doing that, before they really discover what it is God has created them for. Saints, I challenge you. If you’re not sure of that here this morning, pray. Ask God, “Lord, what is it that you want to do with my life?”
See, here’s the question we must all answer…Lord, how can I invest my life in a way that will bring the greatest returns for you? We don’t want to miss that because we each have a window of opportunity to accomplish that in the years God has given. He says, “Timothy, but you. Don’t get so caught up in them that you miss out on exactly what you’re to be.”
2. Be sober. In the same verse 5, next clause, he says, “Timothy, be sober in all things.” First, he says, “Timothy, concentrate on your own uniqueness,” but secondly, he says, “Timothy be sober.” The Greek verb there is nēphō. It’s a verb that means to be aware. Some say alert. I like the word aware because we all know in hermeneutics, or biblical interpretation, the context often influences the interpretation. The context is pastoral.
Paul is saying to Timothy who would soon become pastor of the church at Ephesus, “Be sober.” You are to be aware of the Word of God. They didn’t have the New Testament when this was written, so be aware of the Law or the Pentateuch. Be aware of the Word you have. And also be aware of the issues of your day so you can give an appropriate word from God to address the issues of your day.
“Timothy, not your opinion. Not your bent towards things you don’t like. Not things that irritate you. Not things you don’t agree with. But Timothy, be sober. Give a word from God to address the issues of your day.” Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe God’s Word has something to say about every issue of our day. We have issues we’re faced with. When we give a word from God, we can’t be concerned about popularity. We can’t be concerned about friendships. God called us to make disciples, not friends. Say amen, somebody. I needed that on that.
Because when you’re sober, when you say what God’s Word says, sometimes the response won’t be one of agreement. Paul says, “Timothy, be sober in all things.” Every issue that comes up, God’s Word has something to say about it. You all know there are issues in our day that if you give a word from God, it’s politically incorrect.
God’s Word says something about homosexuality. God’s Word says something about abortion. God’s Word says something about greed and gluttony. God’s Word says something about adultery or racism. God’s Word has something to say about all of these issues. Sometimes…listen…even preachers are sadly quiet on issues God’s Word is very clear about. Some folks have a mighty thin Bible and only preach on the things folks want to hear.
Paul just addressed that with Timothy, how they’re going to turn away from sound doctrine. Sometimes it’s not popular to say what God says about it, but Paul challenges Timothy, “Be sober.” We use this word in our Western culture oftentimes in a similar fashion to tell people to be aware.
We tell folk to sober up when they’ve been drinking a little bit. I know y’all don’t know nothing about that. Particularly, you wouldn’t know nothing about that cheap wine. You haven’t heard of Wild Irish Rose. I’m sure nobody has ever heard of Thunderbird. I don’t know. I hear a giggle. Nobody has ever heard of Mad Dog 20/20 up in here, I’m sure. That cheap wine will mess you up, and you have to tell folks, “Sober up, man! You’re not aware of what’s going on.”
Paul is saying, “Timothy, sober up. Know the Word, because when those issues come (it’s futuristic), give a word from God.” Now let me put a dime in the meter and pause for a minute because you can’t give a word from God if you don’t know God’s Word. We have opportunity in our culture to study, to go deep, to be at all kinds of opportunities for Christian education. I know Grace, knowing Buddy, knowing Jody, there are opportunities here at Grace to grow. As we take advantage of those opportunities and learn and grow in the Word of God, we have to have the courage, the backbone.
We live in a culture…listen…where on some issues the president doesn’t have backbone, a mayor doesn’t have backbone. They will be soft on issues the Bible is really clear about. But we who are saints have to be sober and stand flatfooted and let the chips fall where they may when it comes to giving a word from God to address issues of our day. Paul says, “Timothy, concentrate on your own uniqueness. Timothy, be sober.”
3. Endure hardship. We’re still in verse 5. He says, “Timothy, endure hardship.” Again, it’s the language of expectancy. It’s not a matter of will hardships come; it’s, “Timothy, what you are to do when they come.” Hardships are just par for the course. I wish I could say it another way.
It’s interesting that that clause comes right after the clause to be sober, because when you are sober with God’s Word in addressing issues, the result may be some hardship. Everybody is not going to necessarily applaud when you walk in the room. Everybody is not going to be your friend when you’re sober in God’s Word. He says, “Timothy, endure hardship.”
Saints, sometimes hardships are good for us. Hardships will keep us on our knees. Hardships will motivate our prayer lives. I’m reminded of the one fellow who went to the lake with his little duck and he put the duck on the lake. The water made it drift away from his grasp. He called his dad, and his dad’s arm was longer than his, but not long enough to reach for the duck. He threw some heavy rocks in the lake that landed just on the other side of the duck. The rock produced a wave that pushed the duck back. He threw another rock and another wave, another rock and another wave until the duck was within the father’s grasp.
Sometimes God does that with us, because even in my own life sometimes things can be going so smooth, my prayer life diminishes. Can anybody relate to that? Things are going so well that sometimes I don’t pray like I normally would. But when some hardships come, my quiet time picks up. When hardships come, my prayer life shifts in fifth gear.
When hardships come, I’m not even listening to secular music. It’s all worship in the car. When hardships come… I’m just keeping it real. Sometimes hardships will keep me closer in fellowship. I’m not talking about relationship. This is not salvific. But in my walk with God, hardships are sometimes good for me.
Paul says, “Timothy, you endure them when they come. Don’t even think about throwing in the towel.” I know I would imagine in a crowd this large there are some who just grow weary in well doing. There are some who get tired. There are some who probably feel as though, “I’m not getting reward or recognition for what I’m doing. This Christian life is just too hard. Ministry is too hard. It’s too overwhelming.” I’m here to remind you this morning that you can’t throw in the towel. You have to endure.
Someone may be ridiculing your conservative values on a college campus. Someone may be making you feel isolated or sticking out like a sore thumb. You have to endure hardship. Paul says, “Timothy, concentrate on your own uniqueness. Timothy, be sober in all things. Timothy, endure hardship.”
4. Do the work of an evangelist. Notice, Timothy did not have the gift of evangelism. Timothy was a pastor-teacher according to most scholars. But yet Paul here says, “Timothy, do the work.” The word for work is a Greek word that means to labor until sweat drips from your brow, because evangelism is that. It’s hard work.
Our church, Mt. Calvary, has grown. We have 900 members. On Sunday morning, the crowd is large. When it comes time for evangelism training, Buddy, the crowd is not that large. I tell folks, “Don’t measure Mt. Calvary on Sunday at 11. Peek through it on a full Saturday at 10 when we’re doing evangelism training,” because evangelism is something we hold the pastor responsible for, but not people in the congregation. Remember that paradigm biblically. It’s not the shepherd that produces sheep; it’s the sheep who ought to produce other sheep. He says, “Timothy, do the work of an evangelist.”
I had the privilege to go spend a day with Dr. Billy Graham and be at his home for a day and spend time with him. What a blessing on my life it was to be with him for that time. I’m reminded of one of the stats he used to give about evangelism in America. He said that 94 percent of all of the Christians in our country who claim to know Christ are not sharing their faith on an active basis.
What that means is that many people who claim to be Christians, when we leave after the prayer, after the benediction, a lot of folks leave and become secret agents of the Christian faith. If there’s anybody here who’s not equipped, this isn’t an issue of giftedness, because there’s no textual evidence that Timothy had the gift.
But if there’s anybody here who does not know how to lead someone to Christ, who doesn’t know how to share the gospel in clear, precise terms that someone may place their faith in Christ, become a Christian, and make heaven their home, you ought to be the first person to sign up the next opportunity evangelism training is given at Grace. Evangelism is the core of the cause.
One of the reasons God saves us is that we can be a blessing to point others to him. I’m reminded throughout Scripture that Paul admonished believers. He said to the Corinth church, “God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We are ambassadors whom which Christ is in us, entreating the world to himself.” Evangelism is the core of the cause.
I had the privilege to serve on staff recruit for four years. I got assigned to work with young, business professionals in Washington, DC. I’ll never forget Dr. Bill Bright telling us that three out of five people who heard a clear, loving, compassionate, yet bold presentation of the gospel would respond in faith. Dr. Bright was so right when we share our hearts, share our testimony, and share with people in a loving way how they can come know Jesus as their Savior.
He says, “Timothy, in light of the soon-coming Judge, there are five things on my heart. Concentrate on your own uniqueness. Be sober. Endure Hardship. Do the work of an evangelist.” Look at the fifth thing in the last clause in verse 5.
5. Fulfill your ministry. “Follow through, Timothy, on that which God has called you to do.” Sometimes in ministry, in church, the enemy can show us the smallest things to deter us from following through what it is God has called us to do. He says, “Timothy, fulfill your ministry.”
Sometimes it’s hard in our culture to do that because we serve…listen…without reward, without recognition. There are people behind the scenes who are not up front, and our society mostly applauds people who get a lot of attention, people who are up front. Ministry impact is often defined and measured by the applause and the response of the people or if your name is called.
At Mt. Calvary, we have ladies who work in hospitality in a kitchen who no one ever sees. We have a security ministry that nobody really knows who they are. There are people, I’m sure, at Grace who serve without ever having their name called from this pulpit. God wants all of us to follow through on whatever it is he has laid at our feet to do.
Notice what it does not say. It does not say, “Timothy, draw fulfillment from your ministry.” It says, “Fulfill it. Follow it through…without reward, without recognition.” I grew up in Washington, DC. I used to ride my bike through Rock Creek Park. We would get to the Potomac River, and I would go across the George Washington Memorial Bridge, and we would land right at the front of the Arlington National Cemetery.
We could park our bikes, and right there as you enter the cemetery, there’s a huge tomb called, “The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” Inscribed at the bottom of that tomb are the words, “Known only to God.” Ladies and Gentlemen, my response to that is who else needs to know? Who else, at the end of the day, really needs to know? Paul says, “Timothy, fulfill your ministry.”
Then he closes as I close in verse 6. Paul says, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.'” (2 Timothy 4:6) I love that word departure. It’s a nautical term. It was used in other parts of the New Testament. It was used in other ways in the first century in the apostolic age. Some would use that word when they would hit the animals and they would take the reins off of them and let them go out and graze freely in the fields.
But Paul has used this term here in Ephesus, because Ephesus was a port city. The word departure, the word analysis, brought to Timothy’s mind the ships that were anchored at the dock, full of new cargo, anxious to set sail for their ultimate destination. What Paul is saying to Timothy from his deathbed is, “Timothy, look, if you concentrate on these five things, you’ll be like me when it’s time to depart. You’ll be excited. You’ll be like the Bible says of Job who went to his grave in full vigor.”
So many preachers butcher this. This isn’t a sad Paul right here. Paul is excited. He’s full of joy. He’s ready to set sail for his ultimate destination. Remember this is the same Paul who said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. It’s the same Paul who told the church at Thessalonica that the next major event in history is the sky is going to crack and the trump is going to sound and we’re going to be caught up. Paul is full of joy. He says, “I’m ready. My departure is at hand.”
Look what he says. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith…” (2 Timothy 4:7) In verse 8, he reminds Timothy of the one reward he can count on. Not from man, but it says, “…in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day…” And Paul is not selfish. “…and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8)
Is there someone here today who just loves the appearing of Jesus, can’t wait, sitting on the end of your seat? I know a lot of things are messy and out of order. We look at our culture and people move further and further away from a biblio-centric view of life. It rubs us wrong. It irritates us. We see folks supposedly in power who make wrong decisions. I know there are some folks who ought to be excited, waiting for Christ to come and put things in order.
Do you love his appearing? In light of the coming Judge, Timothy was to be motivated in ministry. He was to follow through on these five things. The Judge is on the way, and we ought to be excited. I can remember being a young boy at home and my mother and father met, married, and served at the Pentagon for 35 years.
My mother was a secretary of a five-star general. I can remember my mom brought some of those secretary skills home. Sometimes our house looked like a mini Pentagon. She would put yellow sticky notes on the refrigerator. Our names would be in capital letters. It would say, “ROBERT,” all five of us. Underneath my name would be a list of…
1. Take out the trash.
2. Clean the refrigerator.
3. Sweep the front porch.
It would be things to do. At the end it would say, “I’ll be home at 5:00.” That’s all it needed to say. I’d get out of school at 3:00 and go to football practice. Shortly after 4:00 I’d get home and change. At 4:30, my favorite show came on, My Favorite Martian. Not the movie; the real show. I’m talking about the real sitcom.
I would watch that, and the problem with My Favorite Martian was it would come on at 4:30 and go off at 5:00. I would think I could do some things between the commercials, but I didn’t get them done. Right about five minutes to 5:00, you’d hear my mother’s big ol’ door slam. She’d be out front. Trust me. When I heard that door slam and I hadn’t done all that, I did not love Mama’s appearing. I was wishing for another 30 minutes. It was too late.
I believe if we do apply in our lives some of these principles, these five Paul tells Timothy to do, we’ll be excited. We’ll be ready. Our tasks, our lives, our ministries will be in order. We’ll be excited. We’ll be looking for the arrival of the soon-coming Judge. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about the Judge one day coming. Saints, we need to live and minister in light of that soon coming-Judge. Every eye closed. Every head bowed.
Father, we thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for Paul sharing his heart to his young protégé, Timothy. Lord, I pray for anyone here today under the sound of my voice who may be still unclear about how you’ve wired them, unclear about how you’ve gifted them. Lord, enlighten their minds, enlighten their hearts. Let them know the purpose for which you created them.
Lord, I pray, Father, if there’s anyone here who needs to step it up in another gear in their study of your Word, motivate them to do so that in their circles of influence, in their circle of friendships, wherever they travel, whenever they have opportunity, they can give an appropriate, clear word from you. Give them the knowledge of your Word and your way and your will and the backbone and the tact, Lord, to communicate it in a loving, yet bold manner.
Lord, I pray, Father, as hardships come in all of our lives, Lord, let us never, ever, ever throw in the towel. But Lord, help us to endure the hardships that may come our way. Lord, help us to do the work of an evangelist as Paul told the church at Colossae to share the gospel to all who will listen everywhere we go.
Lord, help us never look at our ministries to bring us fulfillment, but to fulfill, to follow through in what you have called us to do. Thank you that there’s laid up for us a crown of righteousness that you, the righteous Judge, will give to us on that day. We love you and thank you first for loving us. In Jesus’ name (let every heart say), amen.