Mark Batterson - Fan Into Flame

In 2012, a 14-year-old girl named Lola Anderson was watching the Olympic Games. Two rowers from the UK won a gold medal, and that’s when Lola pulled out her diary and wrote these words: «My name is Lola Anderson, and I think it would be my biggest dream in life to go to the Olympics in rowing and, if possible, win a gold medal for Great Britain.» After writing those words in her diary, she felt so self-conscious, embarrassed, and shy about what she had written that she tore the page out, crumpled it up, and threw it away. But the next day, her dad, Don Anderson, was taking out the trash, saw it, retrieved it, and without her knowing, he put it in a safety deposit box.

Seven years later, days before dying from cancer, he gave that note to his daughter. «Don’t you dare give up on your dream.» Now that’s a dad who fanned into flame a gift of God that was in his daughter. Fast forward seven years—did anyone see the Paris Olympics? Lola Anderson made the Olympic team! Her team, the quadruple scull, was so far behind that it seemed like they had an insurmountable deficit. But in those last few meters, they pulled even to a photo finish and won the race by 15 hundredths of a second. I’ll show you a picture now. Lola is the one whose head is buried in her hands. Why do you think that is? What is going through her mind in that moment? Her dad wasn’t there to witness it; he was in the boat, y’all. You can’t tell me that that note didn’t shave 15 hundredths of a second off of their time.

When someone believes in you and calls out your God-given potential, it changes your life. Here’s the big idea this weekend: everybody needs somebody who believes in them more than they believe in themselves. In this case, it was a dad who believed in his daughter, but church, I’m going to remind us who we are. DC Nova online, you are part of this church. What that means is you’re part of a company of prophets who fan into flame the gift of God in one another. Question: who fanned into flame the gift of God in you, and whose gift are you fanning into flame? «Treat a man as he is,» said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, «and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be and should be, and he will become as he could be and should be.» And by the way, no one is better at this than Jesus. Everyone else may give up on you, but Jesus hasn’t. You may give up on God, but God isn’t going to give up on you. Come on! Those disciples were not first-round draft picks. They weren’t even second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh-round draft picks. How do we know this? Because they didn’t have a rabbi. They were undrafted free agents. And Jesus says, «Watch this! I’m going to take these 12 guys, and we’re going to turn the world upside down.» He did it with them. He can do it with you.

Welcome to National Community Church, DC Nova, in person and online! You’re online—where you at? Where you at? Put it in the chat! We’re thrilled that you’re part of our extended family. We kick off a new series: «Into Flame.» Potential is God’s gift to us; what we do with it is our gift back to God. So for the next four weeks, we’re going to talk about tapping your potential—how does that sound? Okay!

I want you to meet me in a prison cell in ancient Rome. Paul is writing his second letter to his protégé, Timothy, and we’ll get there in a minute. Let me frame this series. When I was in graduate school, I was introduced to a matrix that consisted of four quadrants called the Johari window. It sounds so fancy, but it was Joe and Harry who came up with it—true story! So it’s not that fancy after all. But I love it! It’s four angles on identity; it’s four dimensions of who you are. So, we’ll put this up, and let me talk about it.

Quadrant one is the arena quadrant—it’s what you know about you and others know about you. This is kind of what everybody sees as your public persona, so to speak. Now, the second quadrant is the facade quadrant, and this is where it gets interesting, right? Because it’s what you know about you, but others don’t know about you. Come on, Church! Everyone’s fighting a battle we know nothing about, and that battle is usually fought right here. This is the curtain behind which the Wizard of Oz hides. It’s our insecurities; it’s the memories; it’s the things that may make us feel a little uncertain, a little unsettled.

Now, the third quadrant is the blind spot quadrant, and this is interesting too because it flips the script: this is what others know about you, but you don’t know about you, but you might need to know what they know about you. Oh man, we’ll come back to this one! Now, the fourth and final quadrant is the unknowing quadrant, and this is what you don’t know about you and others don’t know about you. I don’t think the guys who came up with this matrix were thinking in these terms, but I am. Come on, Church! There’s someone who knows you better than you know you. Can I tell you who it is? It’s the one who knit you together in your mother’s womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. It’s the one for whom all the days ordained for you were written in His book. So I have a simple theory: if you’re going to reach your God-given potential, you need a relationship with the God who gave it to you in the first place.

That unknowing quadrant is pretty important. Let me double back to that blind spot quadrant, and I will—let me ask: can we have fun this weekend? This is where you need someone to speak into your life, and they see something—something wrong—just someone who has the courage to call it out. Like, that’s the only way I’m going to grow—talk to me! But when we do it with prophetic insight, it changes the game. So, many years ago, my father-in-law, who planted and pastored Calvary Church in Neille, Illinois, for 30 years, invited Jack Hayford—who knows that name? Jack Hayford. Now, back in the day, Jack was the man, the myth, and the legend—pastor, songwriter, author—and then he had this radio broadcast across the country. When my father-in-law invited him to Calvary, there was a buzz. People came out of nowhere because they were so excited Jack Hayford was coming to speak.

I’ll never forget it. He gets up on stage, and this is so long ago; Lord, I think we were dating, so it’s at least 32 years ago, that’s a long time ago. He gets up, and his fly is down. Houston, we have a problem! It was an elevated stage, right about eye level, and what we discovered about Jack is when he gets real comfortable speaking—oh, it was so bad! I mean, people were just like this. I don’t know; I think he thought they were reading their Bibles or taking notes or something. My father-in-law had to eventually get up and say, «Jack, your zipper is down!» And to his credit—unbelievable! But that’s not the funny part.

So we go to dinner afterward. No, no, no, it was still up, but Jack literally says, and I quote, «I don’t think anybody noticed!» Jack, there’s no one on planet Earth who didn’t notice! Sometimes, we need a prophet speaking into the blind spot quadrant who just tells us, «Your fly is down.» I just want to go on record: do you know how many times I’ve done this for our campus pastors? I zoom in, take a picture, and send a text: «Zip it up!» Oh man, all of us! All of us have blind spots! Woo! Oh boy, come on!

Why do you think I wear long sweatshirts? We need people who speak into our lives, who call us on the carpet, who, when there’s something we need to know, we just need to know it. We also need someone who sees our potential, catches us doing things right, and then fans it into flame. In a few weeks, John Tyson will be with us for Renew. Open invitation—mark your calendars: September 19-20. It’s going to be an amazing event! John spoke opening night of our first revival in '22. Do you remember this? He told a story I won’t forget: as a teenager in Australia, he worked in a butcher shop. How do you go from working in a butcher shop in Australia to pastoring a thriving church in New York City? Man, I can fill in that blank. The same way, I bet for you—someone saw his potential. Can I tell you who it was? It was a butcher who was his boss, and he said, «John, you’re a leader.» Remember Gideon? Mighty warrior! Who, you talking to? Can’t be me! Peter! The Rock! What? Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s talking to you! There are people who see things in you that you can’t see in yourself. A butcher said, «John, you’re a leader.»

And in retrospect, John said no one else cast a vision for my life. Praise God for prophets in butcher shops, coffee shops, classrooms, locker rooms, boardrooms, law firms, and congressional offices who fan into flame the gift of God in you! And whose gift are you fanning into flame? Well, let’s jump in. Ready or not, here we go! 2 Timothy 1, verse 1: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dear son: grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. I don’t want to just read right over this. Can I just tell you today that the conscience is a gift from God? It’s part of the image of God. It’s part of what sets us apart as those who have a soul and free will and decision-making capacity. Romans 1 says that the law of God is written on the heart of man. It’s our internal GPS—it’s how we navigate right and wrong. Can you sear that conscience? Yeah. Can you ignore it? Absolutely! But what a gift!

I think one goal of this series is a clear conscience. Martin Luther, when he posted the 95 Theses on the door of the castle church, the church at the Diet of Worms told him to recant. I love what Luther said. He said, «My conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other.» Oh God, raise up a generation of Luthers who won’t compromise what they know is true, who are willing to pay the price.

And so here’s the question: Is your conscience taken captive by the word of God? I think some people, their conscience is taken captive by trending hashtags. I think some people, their conscience is taken captive by political correctness. I think some people, their conscience is taken captive by popular opinion. I think some people, their conscience is taken captive by false ideologies. Should we keep going? Is your conscience taken captive by the word of God? We believe scripture is the final authority when it comes to matters of faith and doctrine. I’ll talk a little more about this in week three, but if I have to choose between political correctness and biblical correctness, I will choose biblical correctness six days a week and twice on Sunday.

If being on the right side of scripture puts me on the wrong side of culture, so be it! Here’s my challenge: let your conscience be your guide. We’ve got to live according to the convictions we find in scripture. All right? And by the way, you’ll get a much better sleep score at night with that clear conscience. Come on, it’s good for the soul!

Now, where were we? Oh, let’s keep going. Can we put that verse back up? I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers, recalling your tears. I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I’m reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I’m persuaded now lives in you also. So everybody is born into somebody else’s story. Timothy was profoundly impacted by his mother’s faith and by his grandmother’s faith. I’m just wondering—anybody else have a praying mom? A God-fearing grandma? Can we just take a moment? Lord, thank you! Who left their fingerprints on your soul that you can’t even tell your story without mentioning their name? Because that’s why you are who you are to this day.

And so, listen: a sincere faith is a faith with your fingerprint on it. But don’t miss this—we also need those people, and praise God for those people, who left their fingerprints on our souls. Too many names to mention, but can I just—would you do an audit of your life? Literally, who left their fingerprints on your soul? I’ll just share one little example. When I was a sophomore in high school, I gave a speech. Looking back on it, I didn’t know at the time, but that speech was my first sermon because I decided, as a sophomore in high school, to take a little risk. I was going to share my faith, and I didn’t know how my classmates were going to receive it.

Now, here’s the thing: was it the best speech ever delivered? No! It wasn’t that great. But somehow, my mom got her hands on it, and she sent it to my grandma. My grandma showed it to her Bible study teacher, whose name I don’t even know. That Bible study teacher said to my grandma, «Has Mark ever thought about ministry?» Nope, not until right now—not until you said it! Graham Greene said, «There’s always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.» And I think this was one of those moments.

He didn’t know it; he didn’t know me; I don’t even know his name. But someone saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. We are sometimes so careless with our words. What if we were conscientious with our words? Lord, give me eyes to see. Who am I talking with right now? What battle are they fighting in their life? Lord, what potential have you given to them? What gift have you given to them that I can call out of them and be part of their story? Every Timothy needs a Paul, but I want to also say every Paul needs a Timothy. Legacy is not what you accomplish; legacy is what others accomplish because of you. Paul is about to be martyred. Well, if Paul hadn’t discipled anybody, game over!

But he was discipling someone—a son in the faith named Timothy. Discipleship is growing fruit on someone else’s tree. That brings us to verse six: «For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of hands.» God has not given, come on, a spirit of fear, but of love, power, love, and self-control. And by the way, that’s one of those verses where you figure out pretty quickly what version of the Bible people grew up on. If you were KJV, you just said «sound mind,» didn’t you? I love it!

Courage is not just one of the virtues. And I want to speak to our NCC kids, to our NCC youth. We’ve got rising sixth graders in the house this weekend—can we give it up for our rising sixth graders? DC Nova, I want you to hear this, kids: courage is not just one of the virtues, said C.S. Lewis; courage is the form of every virtue at its testing point. It’s going to take courage as you come into a new season—be it junior high, high school, college—those formative years. It takes courage to live according to your convictions, especially if it puts you on the wrong side of culture.

If you’re taking notes, I want you to jot this down: don’t let fear dictate your decisions. So, I think what Paul is doing here is he’s speaking into Timothy’s life. Sometimes, it’s hard to figure out how do you unpack someone’s personality, like ex post facto, like 2,000 years ago. But if the Myers-Briggs was around back then, I’m pretty sure that Timothy was a feeler. They cried when he and Paul left. There’s something about him; it’s hard to put into words.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul says, «Be gentle with Timothy; don’t intimidate him.» There was a certain fragility or a timidness or, I don’t know, if it was a social anxiety or his insecurities and inabilities. There was something about Timothy; he just wasn’t fully himself yet. Now, understand, when Paul writes this letter, Timothy is probably in his 20s or 30s, so he’s still a pretty young man—still in formative years.

And so, the Greek word for fear is the only place in the New Testament where it appears. That makes it tough, because you can’t cross-reference. But it can be translated fear, timidity, or cowardice. It’s a failure of nerve; it’s a lack of confidence. So Paul is rebuking this spirit of fear, and I want to do the same thing today. Let me give you two definitions of faith: one, faith is the process of unlearning fear. Two, faith is the willingness to look foolish.

I think it’s important to say the willingness to look foolish, because if you aren’t willing to look foolish, you’re foolish! Like, your world’s going to get smaller and smaller. I don’t know, I think Sarah probably looked kind of foolish shopping for maternity clothes for herself at 90, okay? David looked a little foolish with a slingshot against a giant named Goliath. I think Peter probably looked a little foolish stepping out of the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the night. And let’s be honest: Jesus looked foolish hanging half-naked on a cross! But the results speak for themselves: Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and we are children of Abraham! David defeated Goliath! Peter walked on water! Jesus rose from the dead!

Listen, faith is the willingness to look foolish. If we have time, I’ll come back to that because I think that’s where many of us get stuck. We’re so concerned about what other people think; we’ll talk about that in a minute. But the second definition I think faith is the process of unlearning fear. According to psychologists, we’re only born with two fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Every other fear is learned, which means every other fear can be unlearned. 1 John 4:18 says perfect love casts out all fear. So, it’s growing in a love relationship with God.

You know what one of the greatest gifts we ever got was? A failed church plant. Our first attempt—was it embarrassing? Absolutely! Was there a temptation to never do that again? Yeah! But what I discovered is the cure for the fear of failure is not success. The cure for the fear of failure is failure in small enough doses that you build up an immunity to it. Last time I checked, failure is poorly managed success. I think success is well-managed failure. It’s about, «I’m not going to let this failure define me. This is not who I am. This is not the end game.» I think what we discovered is there’s a God who’s right there to pick us back up, dust us off, and give us a second chance, third chance, tenth chance. So, it’s almost like exposure therapy.

But here’s where I would say, if you are afraid of offending people, you will inevitably offend God. But if you fear God, you will invariably offend a few people along the way. You just can’t have it both ways. There’s one fear that I think, if we aren’t careful we have to identify, it’s called FOPO. Who’s heard of FOPO? It’s fear of other people’s opinions. So much trolling, baiting, canceling! Are you living in the same world I am? Let me say a couple of things: if you live off compliments, you’ll die by criticism. One criticism plus a thousand compliments equals one criticism—it’s because of the negativity bias! Failures, mistakes, negative things weigh about seven times as much emotionally as successes or wins.

So, what happens is these things begin to paralyze us. Maybe pop up that perfection spiral. I’m reading Adam Grant’s book, «Human Potential,» and I want to give credit; this comes out of his book. This is what happens for some of us: «Try something new; make a mistake—I’ll never do that again.» Your comfort zone gets smaller. «Try something new; make a mistake—I’ll never do that again.» Your comfort zone gets smaller until you live in this little universe! Friends, that’s what’s happening with Timothy. I mean, if Timothy isn’t careful, like, this is not good—what’s happening here.

I don’t know if I can find this—I don’t know if I can if I can find it. Where are you? Oh man, this is what happens when you get off script. I don’t know where you went. But it might come back to me—let’s see. Where were we? Don’t let fear dictate your decisions! Are you being conformed to the world around you or being transformed by the Spirit of God within you? Is the internal pressure of the Spirit stronger than the external pressure? Is the intrinsic motivation stronger than the extrinsic pressure? Come on! Are we Spirit-filled, or is it dead religion?

God has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and love and a sound mind. By the way, since I can’t find it: a guy named Adam Alter—this is going to have to be a paraphrase. He said what happens is, and this is so dangerous: arbitrary damaging labels have the power to turn the brightest people into meek shadows of their potential selves. I think Timothy is turning into a meek shadow of himself. I don’t think that’s reading into it; I think it’s reading between the lines of what’s here. What happens is you get labeled—man, you are not the labels that people put on you!

You are not your GPA; you’re not your 360 review; you’re not even a doctor’s diagnosis or a psychiatric evaluation. I mean, praise God for those tools that help us get awareness of what’s happening, but I’m just saying that’s not fundamentally who you are! Your future isn’t determined by people’s opinions of you, and your worth is not determined by likes and unlikes, follows and unfollows! Come on! Lord, help us! Can I just remind us who we are? Because I think identity issues are idolatry issues. What you’re doing is you’re elevating other people’s opinions above God’s opinion of you.

You are the image of God! You are the apple of God’s eye! You are fearfully and wonderfully made! You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He prepared for you in advance! You are more than a conqueror! And so we live in the full identity of who Jesus is. And I’ll just say it this way, if that’s okay: don’t let anybody label you who didn’t make you! There has never been, and there will never be anyone like you! Not a testament to you, but a testament to the God who created you!

The significance of that is this: no one else can worship God like you or for you! No one can lead like you; no one can love like you; no one can live your life for you! No one can tap your potential for you! You are the church. You’re the only Bible some people will ever read. You underestimate who you are in Christ! And this is about fanning into flame: come on, Timothy!

I see a trend line here, but I’m going to speak into that blind spot quadrant and call out who you really are! All right! We got to giddy up! We got to giddy up! We got to giddy up! Now! I think God has given you the gift. In fact, just throw up that spiritual gift list. You know, I think it’s Romans 12 that says to each one, God has given a gift. I would call these ministry gifts, and then 1 Corinthians 12, you see some overlap where you get prophecy—wow, pretty important, gets repeated multiple times—but 1 Corinthians 12 would be these miraculous gifts where you get a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom. It takes you beyond your education!

Now God is flowing through you, speaking through you! Gifts of faith—the gift of healing! By the way, you can’t heal anyone, but Jesus can! So, you exercise that healing miracle, almost like the four friends that airlift their paralyzed friend through the top of that home just to get people to Jesus because you know He can heal them. So, there are ministry gifts, miraculous gifts, and I just want to say, you have gifts! And I bet there are gifts that you have that you aren’t even aware of!

But once you identify that gift, let me just—let me get in our business a little bit: you can’t just pray like it depends on God; you have to work like it depends on you! Okay, so Pastor Mark, how do I fan into flame the gift once I have it, or someone speaks into my life? What do I do? Use it or lose it! By the way, when you start exercising the gift, just because it’s supernatural—just because it’s something God has gifted you to do—there are no shortcuts, and there are no cheat codes. It’s still going to take 10,000 hours. You can’t cheat the process.

The first sermons I preached—oh Lord, how you loved me through that! How you even listened to those! But you know what? I’m so grateful we had pastors Bob and Adwe a smiley, a church of 12 people, so the stakes weren’t that high. If you’re heretical, well, tell 12 people, we can damage control that. But those first sermons—they’re not great. But you know what? I knew that I have to have a growth mindset!

So, a fixed mindset is this idea that it’s almost like nature over nurture—that you are who you are; there’s not much you can do about it. But listen, neuroanatomy is showing us that plasticity prevails to the very end of life! You can teach old dogs new tricks! It can happen! Am I saying it’s easier? No, but it can happen! I believe God for gifts and anointings in my life into my 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s! I wonder if there are gifts and anointings and callings that God might place on my life when I think I’m ready to hang up the cleats!

I just think God has gifts and abilities that He wants to cultivate in you! The problem with the fixed mindset is this: if you fail, you’re a failure. You begin to equate it with your identity. Now, Carol Dweck wrote a great book called «Mindsets,» and she coined these ideas of growth mindset and this is my take on it: I took it and wrote a book called «Win the Day.» Almost anyone can accomplish almost anything if they work at it long enough, hard enough, and smart enough!

I just happen to believe that, why? Because nothing is impossible with God! The Spirit of God can do things in us and through us! Sometimes He uses our strong hand; sometimes He uses our weak hand! But His power is made perfect in weakness! I mean, come on, this is a guy who, at 22, took a graduate assessment that showed a low aptitude for writing—in other words, whatever I do, don’t write books; don’t inflict that on the world! And 24 books later, somehow, God has used those books to impact and touch people’s lives!

But it’s not a natural gifting; it’s a weekend—but it was a growth mindset! Like, when I started preaching, I was the John Wesley of the nursing home circuit. I preached so many on Heaven; it just seemed like the most relevant subject. And here’s what’s great: they couldn’t hear me! And I’m having a little bit of fun, but I remember there was this one time, I’m up there preaching my heart out, and a woman I’m guessing in her 90s—you know—and I think struggling with dementia. But man, you just love on those people, and you sing the old hymns to kind of jog the spiritual memory. But I remember she got up in the middle of my message and started undressing! I mean, that’s beyond fly down, y’all! And then started yelling at the top of her voice, «Get them out of here! Get them out of here!»

Let me just tell you, there is not much you can do that will faze me after that! So, you have to enjoy the journey! I’m seeing entrepreneurs in the room, and for some of you, not everything turned to gold; there were a few failures mixed in. I see artists in the room—I bet those first few paintings were not the Mona Lisa! Others of you, you’re athletes—I mean, did you hit the ball the first time? No! You didn’t even swing the bat! No, no, no! Everything takes a growth mindset!

And so, I’m challenging us to have that growth mindset. Let me capture it this way, and then I’m gonna see where we can get—where we need to go. Reagan Smith—did you catch this? Silver medalist in the 200-meter butterfly. I was disappointed for her because that Canadian girl won! She seemed to win all the gold medals, and Reagan seemed to win all the silvers. I might have been a little disappointed—like, so close to winning gold! But I love what she said, and it reveals a growth mindset.

I think this is true of great athletes and anybody who accomplishes anything. She didn’t win, but she knew it was her personal best. It’s the fastest that she had ever swum that race. So, you could see the smile on her face. I love what she said: «That’s the fastest I’ve ever been! I beat myself, and that’s what matters!»

Okay, Church, no one wins the comparison game because if you win, it turns into pride, and God opposes the proud! If you lose, it turns into jealousy! And Robert Mue said, «Jealousy is the trophy that mediocrity gives to excellence.» Neither one of those work! The competition is not everybody else; the competition is me!

Man, when I got those invites after writing a book to go to conferences, and some of the best communicators in the country were speaking, I felt two inches tall! Man! How did they do what they do? They’re so funny! They’re so smart! Sometimes my anxiety getting on stage was—do you know what set me free? The Grammys! The Grammys set me free! Because you know what? I didn’t see country singers rapping, and I didn’t see pop artists doing whatever other genre there is. I’m not a music guy! And so I was like, «Mark, what if?» I mean, family, this is me in my 40s and still in my 50s!

Like, when I go to these conferences, I want the other speakers to do good, but not too good! And I’m having fun! I’m just saying my ego is something I have to put on the altar every single day because it keeps crawling off! But I’m discovering who I am, and I’m trying to hold things in new ways! Why, CU? I think all truth is God’s truth! I think everything is a branch of theology!

So, I don’t know—the way I’m wired, I’m interested in just about everything! I might pull some neuroanatomy over here, some history over there, and just see if maybe that would illuminate God’s word in a way that would cause us to seek Him first and go all-in with Jesus!

So I think you have to just get comfortable in your own skin! I have to close; we gotta go! Someone say «giddy up!» Take that a little personally, young person! I love it; I love it! Catch me; I want to give you a hug after the service! Let me tie this in a knot.

We’re not reading in a vacuum; we’re talking about a real person named Timothy, who had real issues, real insecurities, and real inabilities! I mean, it sure seems like he was letting fear dictate his decisions at this point in his life! And Paul says—we sang it! Fear is not your future! No, no, no! I rebuke the spirit of fear, and I fan into flame the gift of God that is in you!

Can I tell you how the story ends? Because I want you to hear this: who you’ve been doesn’t determine who you’re going to be! You aren’t defined by your past mistakes! There is a God who goes before us and prepares good works in advance! When Paul writes this letter, Timothy is probably in his 20s or 30s. Compared to many of his contemporaries, Timothy lived a pretty long life—many decades after he read that note that was torn out of a diary and given to him!

Church, remember Don Anderson? I just had a thought this week: this is our diary! That when you put your faith in Christ, you give Him full editorial control! He’s the author and perfecter of your faith! The Bible is your backstory! It reveals who you are and what you can accomplish in Christ! Timothy becomes the bishop of Ephesus, and it was a city with many idols! The primary idol was Artemis. In fact, there was an annual parade where they would take the statue—march that statue of Artemis through the city streets to the harbor—and they would baptize their goddess of fertility.

They believed that baptizing that statue would ritually restore her virginity! And by the time they got back to the Temple of Artemis-which doubled as a brothel, brothel, I don’t know how else to say this-many of them had lost their virginity all over again! Can I tell you how Timothy died? At 80 years old, and according to church tradition-according to Eusebius, a second-century church historian-there must have been a moment when enough is enough, and he stood in the parade route! «Don’t do this!» That does not sound timid to me! And he was killed for his convictions!

Is that a bad ending? No! I think this is someone who said, «I’m going to live by my convictions; I’m going to die by my convictions! So help me God! My conscience is taken captive by the word of God! I can do no other!» In Jesus' name, amen!