Guard Up

Hello everyone and thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Roderick caesar the third on the lead pastor of Bethel Gospel Tabernacle in Jamaica queens new york. And I’m so excited that you decided to join me for the full Gospel hour right here on global seven. My prayers that you will be blessed, you’ll be encouraged and inspired by this message. Thank you so much for joining and God bless how many of you are thankful for the Grace of God. If that’s you type Grace in the chat, give him praise but also type grace in the chat as you’re watching. Are you thankful for the Grace of God were mighty, awesome, powerful God. We serve last week we spoke about unity in the Spirit Walking and Unity. It was Pentecost sunday and we spoke about how the Lord sent the Holy Spirit to come into a new work in the life of those that started the early church, a work of unity at work of drawing them together. They were together in one place, the text says and they were of one mind of one accord and the spirit came rushed upon them and the world was turned on its head after that moment, life as we know, it shifted after that moment after the Holy Spirit came and did a new work in the lives of the believers in the early church and today I’d like us to focus on the treasure that we have in these jars of clay and what we are going to do with the treasures in these jars of clay. Uh, there’s a deposit that we have as believers from those that came before us, from those that have deposited within us from those that have uh spoken truth to us and this faith that we have this book that we read. Uh the faith is precious, it’s valuable and therefore we must nurture it. We must ensure that it grows. But we must also guarded guarded. So today’s uh messages entitled Guard Up guard up second timothy, chapter one versus three through seven. And then I’m gonna be reading verses 12 through 13. Guard the deposit entrusted to you. I thank God Paul is writing this from prison and he’s writing this to his protege timothy. And he says, I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience. As I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day as I remember your tears. I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother lois and your mother eunice. And now I am sure dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame. The gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us not a spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound mind or self control verse uh, 12 verse 13 13 says follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and the love that are in jesus christ by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guard the good deposit that’s entrusted to you. Type of today’s message once again is guard up, guard up. Dear God, I thank you so much for this time. I thank you for your word, I thank you for who you are. I pray Lord that you would show yourself mighty, show yourself strong as this word goes forth. That someone listening today uh would come to the knowledge of who you are. I pray that you would be seen heard and felt do what only you can do in this time. We thank you, we praise you, we ask these things in jesus name and everyone said amen amen. And they meant as we’re looking into just this text, we realized that paul and timothy had a unique dynamic within their relationship. Paul was the mentor. Two timothy, timothy was his protege, he groomed him up uh two basically take the baton that he was passing. We realized that paul brought timothy under his wing. He taught him about the faith. Uh timothy was uh was not a jew. And so we realized that uh there were some things that had to take place in the life of timothy that paul had to make happen. And as he guided him as he strengthened him, paul writes to timothy and he says to timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, peace and mercy from God the father and from jesus christ our Lord. And then he also refers to him as two timothy, my beloved child. So there’s a father and son relationship or father and son dynamic that takes place. And what we realized, especially as we read 2nd Timothy is the final letter of paul’s letters and it says that uh we realized that paul is passing the torch to timothy. This letter second timothy as paul is writing, he’s pretty much saying, I know my time here is done, I know my time here is coming to an end. And so paul realizes that he has a newfound hope, a newfound authority in christ. And even though the chapters of his life are coming to an end, that the deposit that was given to timothy is something not just worth fighting for, not worth, not just worth preserving but something worth guarding, something worth guarding. It was valuable and not only was it valuable, but it was also one, it was also a faith that paul knew that timothy had to keep fresh, keep fresh. So it wouldn’t grow stale, it wouldn’t grow old. And so he talks to timothy, he writes to timothy from prison and he says you need to fan the flame that was entrusted to you guard the deposit that was entrusted to you and this isn’t to say that timothy has gone stale. This isn’t to say that paul had heard reports of timothy wiling out or doing some crazy things. No, no paul was just saying, hey, listen, life is going to throw some punches at you and as you’re living, you need to fan into this flame. No one is going to fan the flame of your faith for you. You need to be the one to stoke the fires yourself. You need to be the one to dig deep yourself. You need to be the one to pick up your bible and read it. You need to be the one to go in to go forth and to draw closer to God. So fan the flame, he says, fan the flame, He says, keep the walk that you have at the forefront of your mind. In verse three Paul says, I thank God, whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience. I remember you constantly in my prayers day and night. I long to see you timothy, that I may be filled with joy. I’m reminded of your sincere faith, A faith that dwelt first in your grandmother lois and now in your mother eunice. And now I am sure that this faith dwells in you as well, paul goes back and says, you’re not uh, this faith that you have this faith that you believe is one that was handed down to you from your grandmother. One that was given to you from your mother and now you believe it as well. So guard it. Well, there’s some of us that we may be the first people in our family to be saved or the first people in our family to have a true a relationship with jesus christ. And that is a beautiful thing. That is something that uh needs constant prayer, something that some, some that is something that needs constant prayer, something that needs constant oversight, something that needs uh just a round of applause because of just the strength that that takes as well to be the first, the first one in the family to be saved to walk out this faith when others are not. My grandfather was the first one in our family to be saved and I’m a 3rd 3rd generation. He after he became a believer, he came back and lived this life out and witness to his entire family and through his salvation process. Uh my my family was was saved And we realized that that is a beautiful thing, but also on the flip side to it. There’s beauty in the other aspect where faith is passed down, where uh the value of this gift, the value of this faith that we belong to was passed down. And we see this happens with timothy and this happens with many of us as well today and we realized that paul knew the history of his belief. This wasn’t something that was just brand new. He also knew the history of this belief within timothy’s family, paul is saying, look, this is not just a fad, this is something that is long lasting. This is not just here today and gone tomorrow. This is something that will pass down from generations to generation. He said, look, my ancestors believe this, your grandmother, your mother believed this, this has tried, this has tested, this is true for moses on down from Abraham, on down the history of this makes it valid and shows that this needs to be protected within our lives. Even if as I’ve said, you were the first one to believe in your family. There are individuals that are now part of a spiritual family. There are individuals that say, hey, you read, you read through this text and you say, hey, this faith that I have, it’s not just something I stumbled on. It’s not just something that’s only unique to me. There are those in this text that have passed this down on to me and I realized that this faith is something that must be preserved. Something that must be guarded. Verse 6-born Paul says fan into the flame, the gift of God which is on you through the laying on of hands. God has not given us a spirit of fear but power. Love and self control. It lets us know that Timothy was prayed for that timothy had individuals lay hands on him and pray for him and pray into him If you come from a praying family, you know what that’s like. You know what that’s like to have someone praying for you if you ever gone through a great undertaking in life, you know what that’s like to ask for someone and say, hey, can you pray for me? Will you pray with me? Timothy was prayed for and fan into the flame, fan into the flame. It’s so interesting for us to, to realize that paul was speaking to timothy years years years ago and he said fan the flame and that’s, that’s something that was common then. But it’s also needed now it’s needed today because oftentimes our faith can grow stale if we’re honest with ourselves. Oftentimes we don’t feel like reading our word or we don’t feel like uh coming to church or logging online and listening to church. We don’t feel like engaging with God all the time. And oftentimes when that is paired is paired with the adversities that life can throw at us, our faith can grow stale. Our faith can grow weak. Our faith can be open to attack. And so paul says to timothy guard the deposit, there’s so much that was deposited within you and for us today, if we were to look at our lives and look at where we are. Can we say that we’ve guarded the deposit that was entrusted to us not saying we blindly follow what the person that came before us told us to follow, but have we guarded this deposit? And are we now resting on a faith that is our own faith timothy had to come to a realization and a point in his life as we all do in our lives. That the faith that we have is not the faith of my grandmother. It’s not just, you know, the Faith of my father or the faith of my aunt or the Faith of my my uh my my uncle, right? But this is mine. Now this is mine. Now I don’t just believe just because of of of of somebody else or someone something that someone else someone else said. But this is my faith. I have learned how to navigate through trials. I’ve learned how to overcome adversity. I’ve learned how to persevere through difficulty and difficult times. And so for us we need to fan the flame each and every day. And that means staying in step with the Holy Spirit through the Holy Spirit. We can guard the deposit through the Holy Spirit. We can fan the flame. And that’s why the day of Pentecost is so important because what we realized with the day of Pentecost is when the Spirit came, everything changed before the Holy Spirit showed up, the disciples had a physical represented a physical uh look at jesus, jesus could say make it right here on this corner and they say, all right, we’re following. You’re making the right, jesus would say, hey, we’re getting in the boat, we’re gonna cross over to the other side. They said okay, we’re going with you. But when jesus left, they now had to rely on the Holy Spirit, not a physical uh not a physical god that they could see, but the Holy Spirit that they had to hear that they had to listen to. They had that they had to keep in step with and we see in Acts Chapter two, when such a mighty move happened, the thousands of souls were saved that Peter got up and spoke with passion, spoke with vigor and then after this, we see that the world was turned upside down. The early church started and miracles were taking place again and again and again and again and for us today we have to realize that if we’re going to fan the flame, if we’re going to guard the deposit, we must be led by the Spirit of God. If we’re going to fan the flame, if we’re going to guard the deposit, we must be led by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. And this means being able to bless the Lord and give God praise in any and every situation. Things are difficult. I bless the Lord. Things are easy. I bless the Lord. Money is coming in and I’m feeling good about where I am. I bless the Lord! My founding answers are giving me some trouble right now and I’m not sure where my next one, I make more in my next paycheck is coming in on my next meal is coming in. I still bless the Lord. David writes in the psalms. He says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. So I’m 1 21 David writes again, he says, I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from where comes my help? My help comes from the Lord in difficult times. That’s when we have to hit the ground and pray in difficult times. That’s when we have to open up our mouth and give God a praise. We realized that paul was someone that put this very principle into action because when he was arrested unjustly and when he was beaten unjustly and when he was thrown in prison unjustly instead of moping around and saying, oh God, you turn your back on me. So I turned my back on you, Oh God! This, this is so unfair and and hardening his heart toward the things of God instead of doing that. The bible says that he sung praises to God and God intervened on his behalf as a result of him singing praises in the midnight hour, the earthquake came and paul had the uh the opportunity then to get up and make a change and his situation shifted. But he was then he, that happened because he gave God praise. That happened because he gave God praise. And so for us, oftentimes we let situations, we let situations knock our guard down and we don’t give God praise. We don’t give God glory. We let the situations change our perspective of the nature of God. Oh God can’t be good because this happened to me. God can’t be good. God had to have made a mistake. God had to have, you know, there’s no way And we let those things distort our view of God, but we need to be anchored in who God is anchored and what God says about himself, what his word says about him and understand that we should bless the Lord fan into the flame. The gift of God. God gives us what a spirit not of fear, but of power of love and self control. Fear will always drive us in directions that uh will lead us away from the Lord. Fear can drive us in directions that can lead us away from the Lord. It can drive us in directions that exalt ourselves. It can drive us drive us in directions that hurt other people. It can drive us in directions. We’re all we’re trying to do is self preserve. The the text says, God has not given us the spirit of fear. So don’t sulk in fear. Don’t guard in fear. Oh my gosh! The enemy’s coming. You know, realize that we have power realize that we have love and realize that we have self control. The enemy wants to keep us silent. The enemy does not want us to praise the enemy wants to keep us silent. The enemy does not want us to give God glory not only silently, but the enemy also wants to keep us afraid and fearful. If you realize in the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, it says that they were filled with boldness and they went out. It’s constantly being used that word boldness. They went out and preached and they were filled with boldness. They went out and taught and they were filled with boldness. They went out and did miracles and they were filled with boldness. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is not fearful. The Holy Spirit is not one that cowers back shrinks back in fear. But God wants us to be bold. God wants us to stand up. God wants us to stand out. God wants us to fan the flame guard the deposit and be who he has called us to be. We serve a God that doesn’t just rest on us but rests in us and empowers us to live this life out and empowers us to live a different life empowers us to walk in a way that gives him glory. The enemy, the one that comes to steal, kill and destroy. He does not want you to get any more excited about God than you are right now. He does not want you to uh to to get any more excited or any more zealous for the Lord than you. All right now, you can tell him, look, devil, this is just the beginning of my excitement. This is just the beginning of my passion. This is just the beginning of my zeal and my dedication for the things of God. Tell the devil the devil, you will not keep me in fear. Devil, You will not keep me in bondage. You will not keep me silent and give God praise for who you are. Give God praise for who he’s created you to be give God praise for your family. Give God praise for your finances. Even if they’re not where you want them to be right now, you can still give him praise for the situations in your job. Give him praise for your healing. Give him praise because he is good. No matter what the circumstances. No matter what the situation, give the Lord praise. If you’re in the chat, you can just type praise him type Hallelujah. Just spell it right. Right. But it’s important that we have this zeal. It’s important that we have this passion. It’s important that we say, yes, God, I’m surrendered to you. But where’s the follow through. After these moments? We need to be people who follow through. We need to be people of action. Not just talk. The word says that the spirit of, of God, that this faith is not just a faith of talk, but a faith of action. It’s not just the faith of talk but a faith of power. It’s not just a faith, but what does the text say? Faith without works is dead. And we don’t want a dead faith. We want a faith that works. The faith that is living, a faith that is active. And so we must put this passion, this zeal this, fanning the flame, this guarding the deposit. We must put these things into practice through prayer, through fasting, Through a meeting in groups or calling up one another through praising the Lord through each and every circumstance. Each in every situation. There are things that we can do to fan the flame and grow stronger in the faith. Things that we can do to fan the flame and grow stronger in the faith. And it’s so important that we realize that we have to be people of action, People of action. We have to surrender to the will of God the way of God and then act on it because we now walk in the spirit of power because we have the spirit of love because we have the spirit that has a sound mind, paul says do not be ashamed about the testimony of our Lord nor of me, his prisoner but share in the suffering for the gospel of the power of God. God saved us to a holy calling, not because of our works, Paul writes, but because of his own purpose and his own grace which he gave to us in jesus christ before the ages began, Paul then says, I’m not ashamed for I know in whom I have believed and I’m convinced that God is able to guard until the day. What has been entrusted to me. The book of jude says now unto him, who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory. With great joy, it’s important for us to realize that Paul was convinced that Paul’s mind was made up, that paul could not be swayed. He knew where his faith lied. He says, he says, I know in whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day of judgment what has been entrusted to me I know in whom I have believed. It’s so important for us to be people of conviction. It’s so important for us to be people that not just believe, but we know we know we know that we’re standing on a firm foundation in First Kings Elijah, chapter in First Kings Chapter 18 Elijah speaks to the people of Israel right before this great showdown with the prophets of bail and he says to them, he comes near to the people and he says this is when they’re in idolatry, they’re going back and forth between worshiping Yahweh the true and living God and going back and forth between worshiping bail or different idols and elijah, the prophet of God speaks with such boldness and clarity and conviction and he says to the people, how long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God then follow him, but if bail is God then follow him and the people did not answer him award I believe that’s very telling because he speaks with such boldness elijah at this time, he speaks with conviction at this time and says look, if God is God then follow God, but if bail is God then follow bail and the people are just silent and then God shows himself mighty and strong in this showdown, he shows himself to be God and it’s a miraculous thing that takes place in the story in first kings and what we realize is that this is just human nature. Often times to go back and forth to vacillate between two opinions. But the text as a double minded man is what unstable in all his ways. How long will you go limping between two opinions paul we see was convinced paul. We see his mind was made up and he knew that he was going to get what was promised to him. He knew how his faith worked for us. Oftentimes we go back and forth. Many of us we’ve been on the fence, spend time years or months or time just on the fence even before Covid hit one ft in the church, one ft out, one ft in the word. one ft out. But we have to make a decision, choose this day whom you will serve. Guard the deposit paul’s language here when he says fan the flame and guard the deposit. His language here is it is as if he is uh speaking of fine china or guarding a treasure that is extremely valuable and worth so much. You’ve been given a good deposit, timothy. So fan the flame and guard the deposit. You’ve been given a good deposit filling your name there. So fan the flame and guard the deposit treasure what you have been given. Treasure. This faith because it is a gift. It is a gift somehow. We treat his faith is belief in jesus, This sacrifice, dying on calvary’s cross, rising again, showing himself to many witnesses, ascending into the father and the holy Spirit coming upon us. We treat this faith as if we deserved it. We treat this faith as if we are not sinners saved by Grace. Ephesians 2: verse eight says, for by Grace, you have been saved through faith, not of your own doing this is the gift of God. Him says amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost. But now I’m found was blind. But now I see we have to know that this is this is amazing grace that we’re walking in. It’s not just something that we can take for granted. It’s not just something that we can just say, uh you know, I deserve this today because of what I’ve done, I deserve this today, because I’m a good person. I deserve this today because I did X, y and z. Now I know this is the Grace of God, looking on me a wretched, filthy, filthy sinner and saying, you know what, I’m going to have Grace, I’m going to become the creation that I’ve created and bring you back into a relationship with the father. I didn’t do anything to deserve this. But yet God looked on us. If you’re thankful for the grace today, just type thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful for the grace hallelujah, Lord, We didn’t ask to be found. We didn’t ask to be seen the same way we didn’t ask to be born. We didn’t ask all of these things. But yet God’s Grace did that In the garden. We realized if you look in the early chapters in the book of Genesis, when Adam and even in Chapter three of Genesis, they bit of the fruit of the tree that God told them not to eat from when they realized that they sinned and they realized that they were naked, what do they do? They didn’t say, Lord forgive us. Lord cleanse us. Don’t know they ran and they did. They ran and they hit not only that, but they made a loin cloths out of fig leaves to hide themselves to hide their nakedness to cover their shame. And when they heard God coming from coming towards them, they ran and hid from his presence. You ever know you were wrong, You ever know you’re in the wrong. What do you want to do? You want to just hide? Don’t just run away from it all. And that’s why oftentimes we’ve stayed away from church. Covid was the perfect storm for that. For some of us stayed away from church, stayed away from the Lord. I haven’t opened our bibles, there’s dust on it, but God in his Grace doesn’t say all. You go ahead and stay hidden. The first question that he asked when he gets there and says, he says adam, where art thou? Where are you today? Where are you today? Are you in a space where you can fan the flame or are you in a space where you can guard the deposit? Are you in a space where you’re running away from the Grace from the mercy from the goodness of God, because of the hardness of your heart, Because of the fear that you may have. God says, where are you? Grace says, where are you in our mess? And it’s Grace. That adds an infinite, infinite amount of value to the relationship. God’s Grace reaches out and says, I’m going to become the creation and bring them back in right relationship with the father. Not only that, but I’m going to give them power by the Holy Spirit. So we can live and walk this thing out. If we’re given something of value, we need to treasure it. If we’re giving something of value, we need to protect it, Jesus said, the Kingdom of God is like a treasure the man finds in a field and he’s so excited, he covers it up. And then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and berries and buys the field. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man finds it, he covers it up and then in his joy, he goes and sells everything that he owns and goes and buys that field. The Kingdom of God is worth that much. What does your faith mean take you? If we have something of value, we value it. If we have something of value regarded. If we have something of value, we treasure it and we keep it safe. So I asked you today, what does this faith mean to you? If your faith was passed down or talk to you, what are you doing with it? And do you know its value? Hebrews. Chapter 10 verse 26 says this. If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume an adversary’s To anyone that has set aside the law of Moses, dies without mercy and the evidence of two or 3 witnesses. How much worse, worse worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot, the son of God, who has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace for us. It doesn’t mean that all I have to uh be perfect doesn’t mean I have to all, you know, I have to uh make no mistakes in life, but it doesn’t mean that we have to lean into the grace that God gives. It does mean that we have to uh make an intentional decision to walk in the spirit value this walk and do not take it for granted as I close and as the team prepares themselves to come up, uh we have to realize that acts Chapter 18 when Jesus spoke to the disciples, he said, but you’ll be my witnesses. Excuse me, He says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem in judea and samaria and the ends of the earth. This faith is something that is valuable, but it’s something that is to be shared. This faith is something that is valuable, but it’s always something it’s also something that is powerful with this faith, we have the power and the authority of the Holy Spirit, jesus sends the disciples to go and to be witnesses, Jesus sends the disciples to go and be individuals that will spread the gospel And so for us we must be people that are able to talk about our faith. But we all we also must be people that are able to live it out. That’s why the power of the Holy Spirit is important, paul says In verse 14, follow the patterns of the sound words that you’ve heard from me in the faith and the love that are in Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit and trusted to you. We have the ability to live a life of power to live a life of truth to live a life of righteousness, to live a life of holiness. We have the power to live right, to talk, right, to act, right to do, right, to be right, a power to live above sent. And that comes with the Holy Ghost that lives on the inside of us. But let’s realize and let’s not be naive Saints of God, we do have an enemy that comes to steal, that comes to kill, that comes to destroy. So life is going to throw some punches, life is going to throw some kicks, life is going to throw some jabs of 2020 told us. One thing is that we can always expect the unexpected and for us, we must be ready and willing to fan the flame to guard the deposit and be the people that the Lord has called us to be. Let’s pray, dear God I thank you so much for this time for those that are listening right now. If there are those that are here that maybe do not know jesus christ if you’re watching and you don’t have a relationship with jesus and you want to know him today, you want to have a relationship with him. If that’s you, I’m going to ask you to text saved to the number at the bottom of the screen. Text saved to the number at the bottom of the screen. We have people that are willing to speak with you and lead you to a relationship with jesus christ today that you take saved to the number at the bottom of the screen. Dear Lord, I thank you for those that don’t know you today. I pray that as they’ve come to know you and text this number that this would be a revolutionary. Life changing day for them be with them and strengthen them. Lord and God I thank you for all of us that are here today that are listening today I pray Lord that we would fan the flame that we would guard the deposit. That if we don’t know you we would come to know you. If we have people that we can call and reach out to that can help strengthen us in our faith that we would not hesitate to do that. Lord, I thank you Lord for who you are, who you’ve called us to be, how you’ve called us mighty and strong and how you Lord are just continuing God to strengthen us in this time, strengthen us in this season. As we put our trust, our hope and our faith in you, we know that we will not be put to shame. We thank you. We praise you. We give you all the praise, honor and glory. We ask these things in jesus name. Amen and amen. God bless you. Thank you so much. Hello again and thank you so much for tuning into the message at Global seven. Once again, my name is Roderick caesar the third, the lead pastor of Bethel Gospel Tabernacle. My prayer is that you were blessed and encouraged by the message. And if you want to contribute and give to the ministry, you can text B G T F I 277977. Again, you can text B G T F E 277977. We’re so thankful for you and my prayer is that God will continue to strengthen and empower and encourage you as you listen to this message. We hope you tune again later and God bless you. Thank you so much.