In this eight-part companion series to his book Never Give Up, Dr. Dr. Michael Youssef encourages us to embody Paul’s unwavering confidence in the Gospel. Digging deep into the apostle’s letter known as 2 Timothy, Dr. Youssef exhorts believers everywhere to do all we can to remain true to Christ.

in this series that I’m bringing, you never give up based on the last words of the Apostle paul that he wrote to his disciple, timothy and indeed to all disciples of jesus as we look around and see people falling from the faith, they call it deconstruction passionate singers and all that’s going around us. I wrote this book, not my own words, but I explained the words of the great man of God, the Apostle paul, the very last words he wrote, And it is a legacy for the church for 2000 years. You do not want to miss not one of that series. And certainly I want you to get the book, learn the keys to spiritual endurance, overcome spiritual burnout, and train up the next generation to stand firm on biblical truth with Dr Yousef’s new book. Never give up Dr Michael Yousef unpacks paul’s rich words of encouragement, found in second timothy words that will help you endure flourish and thrive in the midst of doubt, danger and despair in this encouraging book, Dr Yousef unveils four unique aspects of what it means to never give up biblical truth. A timely message as christians around the world. Face mounting pressure to compromise their faith and abandon their biblical values. Pre order your copy today for your gift of any amount and received two bonus resources exclusively from leading the way. Be empowered to live for christ and learn how to leave a lasting legacy of faith for the next generation. Preorder your copy of Dr Yousef’s newest book, never give up by giving a gift of any amount. Contact us today. Yeah. If the apostle paul himself is able to stand in this pulpit here today, what would he say? I believe with all my heart, you would say please do not be ashamed of biblical truth. Please do not be ashamed of biblical morality. Do not be ashamed of the name calling that they call. You. Do not be ashamed please for believing in what is good. Ungodly. If I understand anything about 2nd Timothy Chapter one, it is this shame is a child of fear. I’m going to repeat this shame is a child of fear. Fear and shame belong to the same family. He started letting timothy letting timothy. No, that the spirit of fear is not from God. And here he says, you need to be aware of the child of fear and that’s being ashamed of the truth. Being embarrassed about Biblical truth being watering it down so that you don’t get attacked. While paul appealing directly to his success at timothy. He is writing to every one of us and he is appealing to the next generation and to this generation saying, don’t sell out on Biblical truth. Don’t be embarrassed about the gospel. Don’t be ashamed of the word of God. Don’t alluded to the point of un recognition. Don’t repackage the gospel to make it acceptable to the non believers. Don’t ever give up on the Gospel truth, regardless of what names they may call you please. You must understand that the bible does not waste. Words had timothy not being tempted to be ashamed of the Gospel and ashamed of the prisoner, the prisoner of the Gospel. The apostle paul. Had he not being tempted in that regard, paul would not have told him not to be ashamed. Had the apostle paul himself not experienced the temptation of being ashamed of the Gospel, he would not have said in romans chapter one verse 16, For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. For everyone who believes you don’t think Jesus understood that temptation, you know, our Lord, jesus himself did not understand that. This is a big, big big temptation. Why else would have warned in Mark 8 38? Remember Mark 8 38. If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, I will be ashamed of him before my father in heaven and his holy angels, every one of us care about the opinion of others write some more than others. Well, I must admit that in fact we care more than we’re willing to admit it. We all find it a whole lot easier to go with the flow than to swim upstream. We all find it easier to watch television than spend time in the word of God. We all find it easier to sleep in, then get up early and get on your knees. We all find it easier to wink at sin rather than confronting it. We all find it easier to let our kids get away with things than go to the trouble of disciplining them. We all prefer self affirmation rather than self examination. We all rather avoid witnessing for the fear of ridicule. Let’s face it. None of us like suffering. None of us enjoy suffering our Lord and savior himself in gas. Amani said Father, If there be some other way, paul said, I prayed three times for God to remove that thorn in the flesh, whatever it was. And when the crunch came in Caiaphas house peter said to a slave girl, when she said, you’re one of his dis opposite. Who knew me. Ji hoo’s jesus! Who’s jesus, Oh, no, not him. Oh, my beloved friends. God’s word tells us that sometimes suffering is part and parcel of our faithfulness to God who is faithful to us. And furthermore, when the crunch comes and we begin to suffer for the for righteousness, we are not going to be alone. He’s never going to leave us alone. Remember the worst thing they can do to me is what kill me. That is a wonderful promotion. And that is why in verses nine and 10 look at with me verses nine and 10, he’s he’s literally saying to timothy, don’t be afraid of death. Don’t be afraid of death. Why? Because he said, God saved us and called us and brought us from death to life. But that’s not all he said, God will give us the power to not be afraid when that time comes, we need to understand this. That when God created Adam and Eve in the garden, he created them having Dominion over here. But when disobedience set in, when God said, don’t do this and they did it and disobedience, sit in what happened. Disobedience brought fear. And in that irrational fear. Fear most fear. Fear is irrational. That irrational fear. They thought, oh they could hide from God. You can hide from God. Ah But on the cross, Jesus restored that Dominion over fear to everyone who believe in him. Therefore, fear has no place in the life of the brothers and the sisters of jesus. Can I get an amen? How come you need to know that Jesus has given us authority over Principalities and powers and authority of the Darkness. If you’re ashamed of the gospel is because of fear, then you do not know or you have not yet learned how to take authority over these powers, authorities and Principalities which they have because on the Cross, jesus disarmed the Principalities and the authorities and the powers and he alone rendered them useless against his Children. Because by his death, the apostle paul said, he abolished death by his death. He abolished death. Can you say that with me by his And in abolishing death, he abolished fear. Fear of death. I need to stop here and make something very clear. The Bible speaks of death in three different ways, the bible talks about the physical death. That’s the separation of the body from the soul and we all experience that. But the Bible also speaks of the 2nd death. Um it’s a spiritual death where the soul of the nonbeliever is separated from God. Then the bible also speaks of eternal death. That’s when forever, there is a separation of the nonbelievers body and soul from God. All these three deaths came as a result of sin. They are sins, reward, but praise God, jesus abolished eternal death. For the believer, he is not only abolished physical death because all the believers die physically, but for the believer, our physical death means living forever with jesus. For the believer of physical death is no longer the grim ogre. That scares us. As it does scare the nonbelievers, Jesus said in john 11, those who put the trust in him shall never, never, never die, shall never be separated from him, shall never experience the second death. And because of this paul is saying to timothy timothy, my boy timothy, my boy don’t be afraid of it. The worst thing they can do is what kill you, but that’s not the end of the world. In fact, that’s the beginning of it. Please hear me right, paul is saying the reason I have victory. The reason I have Victory. Now, even though I’m in this dungeon of four walls and a little hole in the ceiling, the reason I have victory now I’m about to die. The reason I am not afraid of what can come to me. The reason I have not been ashamed of the Gospel of jesus. Christ, no matter what they do or say, is because I know that I have already passed from death to life, dead or alive physically, I’m already seated in the heavenly look at verse 10 again, christ, jesus has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Listen, when this body gives up on me and it will, I have a superior body that is waiting for me when this body gives up on me, which it will, I have a supernatural body that waiting for me when this body gives up on me, which it will. I have a spiritual body that is waiting for me in heaven. Ah To be sure not many of us probably will end their life in a dungeon like the apostle paul. Now many of us are going to be beheaded for our faith, but some of us may lose friends over our stand for the truth. Some of us maybe a pass for promotion because of righteousness and standing for biblical morality. Some of us will lose business deals because of our righteousness in christ. Some of us may be snubbed by neighbors and by others because we stand, we take a stand for righteousness sake, some of us, very few of us may lose their life. But the only thing that will happen when my life is snuffed out is I’m gonna move from the basement to the penthouse. Can I get an amen? Have you ever asked yourself the question? Why? Why do they hate us so much? What do the hate christ believers? What is it that makes biblical faith and irritant and a cause of anger to the nonbelievers? Why? What about the believers? What what what about the infallibility of the word of God? That just want them to reject us? The answer actually is much simpler than you think It’s very simple. Here it is because the natural mind, the natural mind, an unbelieving mind does not want to admit the gravity of sin. They want to take pride in it. You see, they don’t want to confess it and repent of it. They want to brag about it. The natural non believing mind does not want to admit their inability to save themselves. What’s this business? Somebody dies 2000 years ago that I can seek and save me. No, I saved myself. And that is why today many a preacher and that’s really where my burden is. Many a preacher would rather preach man’s virtue than christ cross. They reversed them. That today they substitute one for the other. They really do. Uh huh. You if you have good thoughts, good things happen to you ha ha If you say it, it will be yours. That’s all you you you you you have the power. You can do anything you want to do, right? Why do the substitute the cross of christ for man’s virtue? Oh they want to be liked. They just want to be like they want to be accepted. They want to be admired by the non believing world. Question, what is timothy to do? What are you and I to do verse 13? We are to guard the truth. We are to follow it literally. Why? Because it is God’s blueprints. The word translated pattern here, pattern of sound words. It’s really the same word used for architectural design. What we call the blueprints. That is why the dying apostles. He’s looking to death in the eye. It could have been days, no more than weeks when he was writing those words and he’s pleading with the next generation. Please please follow the pattern of sound words all of it. Please follow the blue the blueprints. Please do not try to improve on it. Please don’t try to deviate from it. Please don’t try to modify it above all. Don’t you ever give up or get tired of upholding it regardless of the suffering. Regardless of the price. Regardless of the temporary cost. Salvation is by grace alone. We receive it as a gift from God when we repent of our sins. But daily growing in christ. But the theologians call sanctification of growing more like christ every day, growing in a spiritual sense that’s a partnership between you and the Holy Spirit between me and the Holy Spirit between us and the Holy Spirit, Children of jesus, listen to me, you and I seek him and he is found you and I knock and he’ll open the door, you and I call upon the Lord and he will answer us, you and I walk with him, he walks with us, you and I delight ourselves in him and in his will, and he will give us the desire of our hearts, you, you and I draw near to him, he will draw near to us. And that is why paul said verse 12, I know, I know audio, this is this is knowing experientially, not theoretically knowing experientially whom I have believed. I know experientially that he is able to keep me faithful. I know experientially that he is able to keep and guard the truth of the Gospel. I know experientially that he can empower me to uphold onto the truth and molested till the end. Question, what is paul’s burden, obviously see it right here in this chapter. His greatest burden as he is dying is that false teachers and false preachers have infiltrated the church. They infiltrated the church while he’s still alive, just like the infiltrating the church. Now these false teachers and preachers, they are bent on corrupting the Gospel. They are determined to rob the church of its most and only priceless treasure that has been entrusted to us and that is the gospel of jesus christ. But I know say that with me but that he is able to protect it and keep it safe to the next generation until jesus comes back. Remember the burden of the apostle paul as he was facing death. Is that timothy be an instrument in preventing the truth of the Gospel to be corrupted. But he also is aware of timothy’s proclivity towards fear and intimidation. And so the great apostle is advising timothy timothy. You don’t have to feel that you must carry that burden alone timothy. You don’t have to feel that you can do this in your own strength timothy, you do not have to feel alone in carrying this awesome responsibility timothy, you need to ask God for help timothy, you need to be on your guard. But don’t ever ever ever forget who upholds you as you uphold the truth timothy be urgent and the task of holding on to the truth as you lean on God. It’s clear from the last few verses of Chapter one it’s very clear that so many people in the church of Asia remember timothy was pastoring the church in Ephesus when he wrote him when when received this letter from paul, he was in Asia paul was in Rome and apparently the word got back to the apostle paul that there’s some in the church of jesus christ in Asia just couldn’t take the heat and opted to turn their backs on the truth. But thank God, there are exceptions. As always. I thank God that there are many faithful needs have not bowed down to, but I thank God for them every day. Others sold out to the cultural demands and cultural conformity. Others have defected from the demands of the Gospel. Others have opted for entertainment. Others have opted for tickling the fancies, but as far as you’re concerned, timothy resolved to ground your confidence, not in public opinion, but in jesus, the Guardian and the guarantor of the Gospel. And that is why paul said don’t be afraid timothy, don’t be afraid. God will never allow the light of the Gospel to be extinguished completely. He is watching over it. God is making sure that he will preserve it. Oh timothy. Remember remember that he is trustworthy. Remember that he’s faithful. Remember that he will accomplish all things according to the counsel of his will. And so my friends wherever you are and whatever you’re going through right now, you can trust jesus the faithful and true and you can trust him all the way all the way until he takes you home and be with him for all of eternity. You know, I’ve been talking about never give up the book the series and there is a family in Virginia. The other ones, they are examples of never giving up when the church’s shut, they opened their farm in their house for a drive in church. What a blessing. That’s a great example. Never, never give up. Don’t ever give up Biblical truth. Don’t ever be tempted. Don’t fall for the gimmicks. No matter how unpopular the gospel of jesus christ becomes in our culture and our society and new schools don’t give up. This is my family farm. This is where I was raised. My family has always done a easter son mine service. When the pandemic started, it was right at easter, all the churches shut down and we looked at each other said what? We’re not gonna have church on easter, you know when jesus rose from the dead, we’ve got to we didn’t feel like we should give up, we should throw in the towel we wanted to meet. This is what God led us to do. And so my husband felt like he should open the gates on our farm where we had sunrise services for 75 years. Mr Camel, Good morning, Thank you for being here. His little gift from us from Michael use health ministry and the llama. We give out literature by Michael uses, we have from the beginning, it’s one of our main ministries to give out good literature to all the people that are coming in and then they love it and then they go give it to other people. God had something that we weren’t supposed to stop. We just said every who will come, will come in farming. If you quit in the middle of the season, weeds will take over. It just naturally take over. And that’s what happens when we quit. Never give up on biblical truth. Never be fearful to stand up for the truth. We were given some books by friends, you know from Dr Michael yussef and I was sitting there reading and I told my wife, I said, man, this is good. The book never give up. That’s the book I’m looking forward to getting It. Will show us that living in these discouraging times, that we can be encouraged and we do need to be encouraging each other. We have to keep going. We have to keep trust and we have to keep obeying. Never give up. The reason. This book never give up is really a timeless book. But it’s also a timely book. It’s timeless because it is as timeless as the second epistle of paul to timothy. I’m taking what paul said to timothy and I’m applying it to our day. Never give up on biblical truth. Never give up on biblical authority and never give up on any of the very things that are really assures us of heaven. We need to be able to say regardless of what happens. We like Joshua said, As for me and my family, we shall worship the Lord. This book. Never give up. It doesn’t matter where you are in the spectrum, whether you are encouraged or discouraged, whether you are experiencing victory and Dominion or you are not. This book is going to give you the foundational biblical foundation that will anchor your life, your decision making and your thoughts and even your ministry. It will anchor it. That’s what I want. Pastors, lay leaders, people in the pews to read this book and be empowered by that book and share that book In this encouraging book. Dr Yousef unveils four unique aspects of what it means to never give up biblical truth. A timely message. As christians around the world face mounting pressure to compromise their faith and abandon their biblical values. Dr Yousef also shares personal examples from his life and ministry of how he found the strength to stand for christ amid the pressure to compromise pre order your copy today for your gift of any amount. And received two bonus resources exclusively from Leading the way. Preorder your copy of Dr Yousef’s newest book. Never give up by giving a gift of any amount. Contact us today. Mhm passionately proclaiming, uncompromising truth. Leading the way with Dr Michael Yousef. Thanks you for your faithful support through your continued prayers and gifts.