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.

I’m here in London preparing for a big celebration The 20th anniversary of serving and ministering to the UK. I’m standing right here behind me is the admiralty and that’s where Churchill had an office, you know, Churchill is the man who emphasized the fact never, never, never give up and believe it or not. That is the title of my new book. Never give up. You know, we’re seeing people all over the map who are giving up on the truth, Giving up on biblical orthodoxy, giving up on the inspiration of the scripture. And so I wrote this book in order to show from the last words of the Apostle paul uttered, actually wrote down in prison the last words before he was beheaded two timothy, his disciple and he says to him, basically the bottom line is don’t ever give up on Biblical truth. There are a lot of illustrations and stories and examples in that book. And I hope that you’re going to order that book because Churchill is a great reminder of never, never surrender. Never give up, stand faithful for the truth because that’s the truth. That will set us free here and now, but also will assure us of eternity in Heaven with jesus, God Bless Preorder your copy of Dr Yousef’s newest book. Never give up for your gift of any amount and received two bonus resources exclusively from leading the way, be empowered to live for christ in difficult times and learn how to leave a lasting legacy of faith for the next generation. Whatever the future may bring, don’t surrender. Don’t be intimidated. Never give up on biblical truth. Preorder your copy of dr Yousef’s newest book. Never give up by giving a gift of any amount. Contact us today. Mm hmm. The greatest threat to the church of jesus christ always have been internal. If there’s one person who fully understood that danger is the apostle paul, here’s a fact. Most of the defection from the truth starts with confusion, confusion about what is right and what is wrong? Who is the God of confusion, satan He creates the confusion so that people would throw their hands up in the air and said, Michael, I don’t know what is right and what’s wrong anymore. That’s what the God of confusion does. He first creates the confusion the moment the confusion starts and begins to spread around, particularly among so called churches. You know what happens? I think I visualized satan and all his demons down in the pit popping the champagne corks and they’re high fiving each other. Don’t ever give up Biblical truth. Don’t ever be tempted. Don’t fall for the gimmicks. Don’t get sidetracked by silly and useless arguments and debates. Don’t be tempted to be dragged into debating some foolishness that has nothing to do with salvation. Don’t fall in the temptation of wasting your time and your life on people who want to confuse you say, thank you very much. I have important work to do. Just like Nehemiah, you know, in some some ballot and to buy a camp to Nehemiah said come on let’s negotiate. He said no I’m too busy, I’m doing God’s work. No negotiation, no discussion. And here in 2nd Timothy chapter two Paul gives Timothy three imagery is to help him understand how to stand for the truth and how to invest the truth into others. Three image res one is that of a soldier, the other is that of an athlete and then the farmer Verse one, he said, therefore my son be strong. You remember he’s a son in the faith is not a physical son. Be strong in the faith. How by gritting your teeth. No trying to pull yourself by your bootstraps, no by self affirmation. I can do this, I can do it, I can do, I can do yes, we can, yes, we can. No, no, no no, but by becoming strong in the grace that is in jesus christ, The verb be strong here is in the imperative mood which is making it a loving command two from a father to a son lovingly asking the sun to do something that he knows it’s wonderful for him. You know, there are a lot of paradoxes in the scripture and I preached a whole sermon on all the paradoxes in the bible. I think the christian faith is the only faith that has paradoxes, but one of the most baffling paradox in the scripture. One that I will never understand fully until I go to heaven and be with the Lord is how God is Almighty, all powerful can do all things sovereign overall. And yet he entrusts the guarding of the Truth. The guarding of the Gospel. The guarding of the of the Word of God. To a fumbling and stumbling adopted Children like us. That’s the paradox I’ll never understand until I get to heaven. We who are fumbling and stumbling can never do it in our own strength. That’s the one thing that he makes clear here in verse one, you can only guard and proclaim the message of the Grace of jesus christ through the power of that Grace, Please hear me right. We are saved by Grace. We are justified by grace. We are sanctified by Grace. We live by Grace every moment of every day. We are empowered by Grace to overcome and become over comers And now he said that Grace will sustain you as you’re upholding the truth and never giving up on the truth, Paul begins the chapter by lovingly lovingly and gently commanding the son in the faith. The next generation leaders of the church to draw his strength not from himself, not from his qualifications, not even from his gifts, but to draw all of his strength from the Grace of God. How will he experience that Grace of God and paul immediately goes on to explain that you can only experience that power of the Grace of God in you. When you invest this treasure when you invest these truth in the lives of others. That’s the only way you can truly experience the power of the Grace of God when you pour it into somebody else. Not only that timothy to be strong in the grace of God, but he also needs to teach others to be strong in the Grace of God. Verse two. What you have heard from me before with many witnesses entrust this message to faithful men who will also teach others. And he’s saying to him the secret for victory over fear and timidity and anxiety and sorrow is to invest himself and others. Listen to me disciple ng and mentoring somebody else is the greatest blessing that you can receive. Can I get an amen by the same token. Sitting on your gifts or gifts. Sitting on your blessed assurance will cause you all sorts of inner anguish. I am absolutely convinced that our faith is like electricity. It does not enter you and me fully. You notice what I said fully. Unless it can pass through us. If you are unwilling to pass God’s truth to the next generation, you are the one who misses out on the greatest blessing we pass to the next generation. Not personal power. We have no power. The only authority we have is the authority of the Word of God. The only thing we have is the precious treasure, the gospel of jesus and my beloved friends. This cannot happen when we just sit in the pews. Why Soldier! That’s the 1st 1. Why soldier? Because soldiers do not expect a soft or easy time. Soldiers take hardship as a matter of course, because soldiers take risks. Because soldiers fight to win. If you want to win and have victory, you must learn the rules of warfare. If you want to win and have, you have to get into the battlefield, you can’t watch it on television. And that is why paul said as good soldier endure hardship. Soldiers don’t get entangled in civilian life as good soldiers. We must not fall in the trap of pleasing people. Instead, only seek to please our commander in chief. The Lord jesus christ. The second way we are to faithfully pass on and transfer. The truth of the Gospel is found in the image Of an athlete, Verse five. Look at it with me. As a spiritual athletes. We don’t compete against each other. We don’t try to act perform each other. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But we are competing against the world. The flesh and the devil in ancient Greece. A winning athlete receives an evergreen reef, but the athlete, no matter how good he is, no matter how accomplished he may be, he had to compete according to the rules. That’s what Paul is saying here. As a matter of fact, the motto was no rules. No wreath. Say that with me. No rules no reef. And while we are in the race of our lives, we must not run according to our own fancies and desires, not according to the rules of the new morality, not according to the rules of reinvented Christianity, not according to the rules of feel good Christianity, not according to the rules of some false preacher and false teacher, not according to the rules of I will get to it if I feel like it. No, the crown and the victory is awarded to those who compete according to the rules of the word of God and the authority of the scripture. The next imagery paul gives us here that he uses for faithfully passing on the baton, passing on the baton of the truth of the gospel to the next generation is the hard working farmer, being a soldier on active duty, being an athlete willing to run according to the rules And in verse six, being a hard working farmer. In the old days, of course, before the days of mechanization, farmers did some back breaking work. I mean they till the soil, whether the soil was good or bad, they worked, whether the weather is good or bad, they could not afford to sit back and say, well, you know, I just don’t feel like planting today or when the harvest is ready. He said, you know, I’m not just I don’t feel of the lord that I need to be harvesting. I tip my hat to farmers because they cannot afford to be lazy and just operate by their emotions, how they feel. They don’t feel like it. They don’t do it in the book of proverbs. It says the lazy farmer loses his harvest either because he’s asleep when he ought to be reaping or because he’s too lazy to plow the fields. Verse six. Look at it again. That’s why Paul said the hard working farmer deserved the first fruit of his labor. That means that we are to be very careful in the tilling of the soil, of our character, that we daily plant the seed of the Word of God and that we harvest a crop of holiness in our lives. But that’s not enough. That is not all listen carefully, because that’s the burden of his heart in this passage. Here, we will not get a great harvest unless we do the same things in other people, unless we tell the soil and plant to see them gather the harvest, and here’s the summary. There will be no victory for the soldier who does not fight to win. There will be no reason for the athlete who does not compete according to the rules. There will be no harvest for the farmer unless he tells the soil and plant the seed and gather the harvest. Look with me at verse seven, please, because here he gives us the balance that enforces our faithfulness as being soldiers and athletes and farmers. What I mean by this is this, here’s what he said, reflect on the word of God and the Holy Spirit is going to grant you understanding of everything. Why is that? Because the Holy Spirit dwells in us? The Holy Spirit have written the book. The bible and the same person who wrote the book is the same person who dwells in us. And that’s why you must never start your bible reading before praying, Lord jesus opened my eyes to see wonderful truths from your word and he will do, he will answer that one. Otherwise there are some people who might read the bible everyday. You know why? Because they want to tick the box, read the bible done that that person who reads without meditating on the word of God in his life, it’s not going to take hold. And that is why, as I often say, pray Holy Spirit opened my eyes in the early hours of the morning when I’m all alone with God. And that book is open on my lap and I cried to the Holy Spirit, opened my eyes and teach me from his word. Invariably invariably. And I’ll be reading something and the Holy Spirit will stop me. And it would say, Michael read that again. This encouragement, supposed to be for you. This affirmation is for you today, or this rebuke is for you because and he point his fingers on things I needed to be rebuked about this challenge. This for you. This correction, it’s for you. And then he goes and versus 8-13 Paul really just takes timothy back to basics. This is one oh one. He takes them to basics that those verses 8-13 look at them with me. Please remember jesus what? How can timothy forget jesus? He said that he remembered his tears when he came to christ, coming to christ with tears. How could he forget jesus? How can you forget jesus? How can I forget jesus? Let me just jog your memory. You know when you face a problem a crisis pops up all of a sudden and you start making decisions and very quickly and you begin to think what’s the ramification? What’s the implication? What the consequences And you’re thinking about? Are you thinking of jesus? No? Hello? What does he want me to do? What steps does he lead me to take? What decisions that you want me to make to glorify him first and foremost and Paul is telling timothy. Remember Jesus, not only because he is the heart of the good news. Not only is the heart of the good deposit, not only because he is the essence of the gospel, but he’s also a role model that you can only follow by the power of the Holy Spirit without the power of the Holy spirit working in us. Without his strength without his grace, we’ll stumble on the first step we take. Remember jesus, he is risen from the dead, that’s his divinity, He is the son of David, that’s his humanity. Remember Jesus who died on the cross, but he did not stay on that cross. Remember Jesus was buried in the tomb, but he did not stay in the tomb. Remember Jesus, who’s good friday followed by easter sunday. Remember Jesus whose gas to mine was followed by the resurrection. Remember Jesus uh that who suffered alone is also saying to you that your suffering is only for a season, that your pain will not last forever. The time of coming timothy, when all of the strain and the struggle will be over. The time is coming, when the tears will be no more, The time is coming, when the heavy weight of sin will be no more. Then the apostle concludes this particular section with a him. Most historians believe that this was a hymn that was sung in the early Church. If we die with him, we shall live with him. If we die to self. If we die to self gratification, If we die to self centeredness, we will rise with human glory. If we endure, we shall reign with him forever. If we persevere and stand up our biblical grounds. If we do not give up the battle, we will be honored by God himself? Ah but if we deny him, he will deny us. Do you think they found that hard to take? It’s the truth? If we deny him. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful to himself. Did you get that? There’s a whole movement among certain evangelicals who preach something called Hyper Grace, you say, Michael, what is hyper Grace? That you can send your heart’s content and don’t worry about it. God’s Grace will cover it. God’s Grace will cover it. You don’t need to confess. You don’t need to repent. You don’t need to do anything. You don’t need to acknowledge your sin. Grace will cover it. I love that. This could not be further from the truth. Here’s what paul is saying. If we are unfaithful to him, he will be faithful to himself. He will always be faithful to his promises. What are these promises? If we deny him? He will deny us as a promise. And he’s faithful to his promise. Here’s a much better translation. If we disbelieve him, he remains faithful, he cannot deny who he is. He cannot be untrue to himself. That’s the one thing God cannot do, is deny himself or be contrary to himself. He remains forever himself. Some of these false teachers and preachers misinterpret this verse and say, well, in the end, God is going to feel sorry for people and he’s going to let them all come into his heaven. Really? That would be contrary to himself. There’ll be God contradicting himself. In fact God’s faithfulness to himself, is demonstrated in his justice as much as it is demonstrated in his love. His love says, come to me, come to me in repentance and faith and I’ll forgive you. His justice says, you reject me. You reject my truth. I will deny you before my father in heaven and his Holy Angels, his love and justice. The two sides of the same coin, his love and his justice and the evidence of his faithfulness. And that is why every believer under the sound of my voice must ask themselves the question Am I passing on this truth to other faithful men and women, boys and girls? Am I passing the truth and my soldiering? Am I running the race according to the rules? Am I telling the soil planting the seed gathering the harvest? Mm hmm. Yeah. When I came here to massachusetts, a train for ministry, there came a time in my life when I did not feel fit for ministry. In my second year of bible college training, I felt like giving up. I wanted to leave and dr Yousef’s new book never give up. He talks a lot about second timothy and the importance of perseverance in our lives as christians. I became a believer over 10 years ago because dr Yusuf preached a sermon and I think dr joseph never knew that his preaching brought me to faith in christ. It’s not always immediately apparent what God is going to do if you have the courage to keep going. You never know the timothy’s that God might bring out of your life if you live a life of faithfulness. I’ve been pastoring now for six years and I’m watching God do through me what he began to do through Dr Youssef. I am grateful that people like dr Yousef continue to invest in areas that are difficult like he did in Northfield massachusetts because it is quite an amazing thing for somebody like Dr Yousef to come to an area like this and give the gift. He has two pastors here and giving them training God is reaching people all over the world and we just need to continue to execute the call that he’s given each and every christian, which is to proclaim, christ as Lord in every area of our lives and God will bring the harvest when it’s time. Whatever you do, don’t ever ever ever give up in this encouraging dr yusef 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 receive two bonus resources exclusively from leading the way. Preorder your copy of dr Yousef’s newest book by giving a gift of any amount, contact us today. Check out leading the ways smartphone app with the leading the way app, you can watch recent episodes of leading the way, listen to sermon series as well as read special daily devotionals written by Dr Yousef You can even watch leading the way live events on your mobile device. Just search for leading the way on your apple android or amazon fire device to download the app today, 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. Okay, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth. Leading the way with Dr Michael Yousef. Thanks you for your faithful support through your continued prayers and gifts.