What to Remember When Life Feels Out of Control | Fight The Good Fight | Pastor Mike Breaux

Every week, release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon, it's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free, an episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Point YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. Now, enjoy this Bible teaching. - What's up, Lake Point family? Great to see you all. Thanks for being here today. Coming out on a Labor Day weekend. Thanks for being here. Wanna welcome all of our campuses who are doing amazing things. Wanna welcome all of you who might be joining us online as well. Grateful for those of you in the room here today as well. My name is Bro, by the way, and I get to be on the teaching team and one of the real honors of my life. And we're doing a little series that we've been calling Fight the Good Fight. And it's based on a letter

that was tucked in the back of the New Testament, the Bible called Second Timothy. So if you've got a Bible today, you can turn to Second Timothy. Or maybe you've got an app that you use, you can blow it up a little bigger like I do. Or maybe you brought your scripture journal that we passed out the beginning of the series. Whatever you got, just go ahead and turn it. We're gonna pick up where we left off last week. And we're just been like working down through these verses. Just kind of like one at a time when we're starting with verse eight today. So Second Timothy chapter two, verse eight. And just a reminder and maybe a brief introduction for some of you who might just be jumping in for the first time. This letter is a letter from a guy named Paul who was chosen by God to carry the good news of God's love all around the ancient world. And this guy is unjustly incarcerated in a Roman prison for his faith. And so knowing his time is short, he writes this letter to this younger guy named Timothy who he's been like mentoring for the last couple of decades. And Timothy is now the pastor of this growing church in a visually stunning city called Ephesus. It was super impressive on the outside,

but in desperate need of Jesus on the inside. So Paul writes this letter to encourage him. And we saw this key verse last week. And if you're with us, he says, Timothy, my dear son, be strong in the grace that God gives you through Jesus Christ. We talked last weekend about having grit. And I gave you this little formula. G plus R equals I T, which stands for grace plus reliance equals internal toughness. So Paul writes to him, he says, Timothy, my dear son, if you want to develop true grit, I'm talking internal toughness, then be strong in his grace. Let the high, wide, long, deep love of God eat all the way through you. Let your identity rest in the truth of God's unfailing love for you, man, always stay humble, always stay grateful and never rely on your own strength, your own talents, your own intellect alone, but always depend upon his wisdom and his power. He tells him like a good soldier, man, stay on mission. Don't get distracted by all the things the world chases, like a good athlete, be disciplined, train consistently, don't bend the rules and don't take any shortcuts, like a hardworking farmer. You're gonna plow, you're gonna cultivate, you're gonna sow some seeds of hope and just be patient and wait for God to give the harvest. And Timothy, since you're like a son to me,

I'm just passing this along to you. I'm passing along to you what God told me when he said, "Paul, my grace is sufficient for you." So man, just stick that in your heart and be strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I know I told you last weekend that I thought that verse was the most important verse in this entire letter. Well, I gotta walk that back today. And while I do think it's absolutely vital for you and me to live in a surrendered way, knowing that our strength flows from his grace and his power, the first verse we're gonna see today, it actually moved up the charts in my mind to take over the number one spot this week. And before we get there, let me ask y'all, y'all ever walk in a river is just me and you forget totally why you went in there. Anybody else do that? You stand there looking around like, all right, I know it came in here for a reason, but I have no idea why I'm here. I use GPS when I drive and I recently downloaded the Waze senior edition, which tells me not only where to go, but tells me why I'm going there in the first place. It's awesome. But does your mind just ever get so full of noise and activities and work and problems and finances and to-do lists and Uber and your kids all over the place

and cruising through drive-thos that you forget? Like, why are you even here in the first place? I mean, I totally get it. I intentionally took a little personal/worships slash unplugged retreat this week. I've been going pretty hard since Easter. And my mind was so full, I mean so full, and my body was so exhausted. And I knew I just needed to spend some alone time with God. So at first, my plan was I'm gonna go back to a place I'd been before in the cool mountain air of North Carolina and rent a cabin. But instead, I opted for the 102 degree heat of Rockwall, Texas this week. (congregation laughs) And man, I'm so glad I did it. Dang it. It's been such a life-giving week. Y'all ever do this when you hear some kind of like unusual clunky noise going on under the hood of your car, you just crank up the music and drive faster. (congregation laughs) I knew in my soul that I needed not just to slow down, I needed to pull over, stop, and pop the hood. And I prayed that prayer from Psalm 139 that we talk about a lot around here. Search me, oh God, just know my heart. And he helped me see some stuff that was clunking around inside of me.

And I was able to get to the root of some things, and I was able to reset some priorities and get a little bit of clarity on things and rethink the rhythm of my schedule. I took some long walks, I took some deep breaths. I sang out loud, I talked to God out loud. People thought I was crazy when I was on a walk by myself talking out loud, but I got to hit a few golf balls. I had some great conversations with wonderful people. I took a few unplanned naps. I just kinda got re-centered on why I'm here. Man, it's been so good. And I don't know, maybe it's time for you to do the same kind of thing. 'Cause man, we all get busy, don't we? And we all get tired, we all get pulled 18 different directions, and we all get distracted and overwhelmed, and before long, man, we can forget like what we're about and why we're here. And I'm just guessing that that may be like where Timothy is. He's leading this growing church, he's dealing with conflict, false teaching is spreading. People are verbally sparring with each other, Satan is spinning his lies. Some people are walking away from the faith, and on top of all that, Paul, the guy who has been his mentor, his coach, like his spiritual dad, he's sitting in a room in prison.

So you know Timothy's mind has to be so full, his anxiety is rising, he's scared about the future, he's feeling inadequate and a bit overwhelmed. And I know a whole bunch of leaders who might've included in this letter, okay, Timothy, as your mentor, before I check out, let me give you seven strategic things you need to do to turn this thing around. Paul doesn't do that, he just gives him one, and this is what he tells him. "Remember Jesus Christ." That's it. Remember Jesus Christ. Timothy, before you try to fix the church, before you try to answer every critic, before you try to straighten out every confused person, help every hurting person, before you strategically try to build teams of people in your church to use their gifts, before you use your own gifts to teach and preach, before you figure out where the next church plant is gonna be, or the next campus is gonna be, remember Jesus. Remember Jesus. He's the who, he's the what, he's the where, he's the how, and he is the why of your life. Remember Jesus. And honestly, that may be a good word for some of y'all. It sure was for me this week. Because when life gets complicated,

and we tend to forget what or who is central, when life gets noisy, we tend to forget what really, really matters. When you're being pulled like a million different directions, you tend to forget to go one direction first, the one direction that can change everything. When you're feeling disconnected, man, you gotta reconnect with Jesus. You gotta remember Jesus. I mean, Jesus told us, stay connected to me, 'cause I am a vine, and you are the branches. Remain in me, and you will produce much fruit. If you don't, you won't. So Paul is telling Timothy, remember to keep the main thing, the main thing. Remember Jesus Christ. Now you see why that verse is the most important verse of this letter, and it's not just Timothy. Remember what Jesus taught? Remember what Jesus said? Remember where Jesus went? Remember what Jesus did? No, it's just, remember Jesus. movement. Christianity is not behavior modification. It's not a religious system at the center of it all is a person. Jesus Christ. So verse 8, "Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David was raised from the dead." This is the good news, I pray. So here's Paul Santimaty, "Remember Jesus, never ever forget that his tomb is empty. Death doesn't win, Rome doesn't win, Nero doesn't win, Satan doesn't win, the grave doesn't win. Jesus kicked the end out of the tomb and made it a tunnel from life to life for anybody who will put their trust in him." So listen to me, man, never ever forget that he is alive and if Jesus rose from the dead,

anything is possible. Paul would also write a letter to the church that Timothy was leading, and he said this, "I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him." This is, catch this, this is the same mighty power, the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor in God's right hand in the heavenly realms. "Remember Jesus, Timothy, never ever forget that the same mighty power that blew the rock off a tomb and gave life to a dead man is in you, Timothy." Never forget that Jesus is alive, it's the cornerstone of our faith, and since that is absolutely true, anything is possible with God. And maybe somebody besides Timothy, besides me, needed to hear that today. And when Paul talks about the resurrected Jesus, I think it's kind of cool, he also reminds Timothy that he is a descendant of King David. That means that Jesus is the promised Messiah and the promised King, that he is the one that they've been waiting for for thousands of years, that he is the fulfillment of God's promise, way back to Abraham of old, that the Savior of the world would come through his family bloodlines. He is the deliverer, he is the king who was prophesied to come through the lineage of King David, and all the prophecies about this deliverer, all the prophecies about this king would come true in just one man, Jesus. And we've talked about this before, but just the DNA evidence, just as DNA evidence is strong in like a trial, you need to know Jesus' DNA is all over the Bible. Over 300 detailed prophecies about the Savior to come, written over thousands of years, and Jesus fulfills every single one. And to me, that's super compelling evidence. And Jesus didn't go through his life like with a checklist going, "Okay, I've got to make sure my parents get me to Bethlehem so I can be born there. When I go to Jerusalem, I've got to make sure I've got to get a young donkey to ride on, and I'm going to have somebody that needs to cue the crowd to shout "Hosanna" when I ride in, and you know what? I'm going to have to stay silent when I'm falsely accused. I've got to make sure to ask them to flog me severely, like rip my flesh and put stripes all over my back, and when I'm on the cross, I've got to ask for a drink and make sure they give me vinegar on a hissub sponge, and I need to make sure to tell them, "Please, don't break my bones," and I need to make sure to say, "I've got to say this, and then I've got to say this, and I've got to quote what is that? Psalm 21, my God, my God, why have you?" No! He just fulfilled him because he is the one. And Timothy, remember that Jesus is not only the Savior, he is king, and not just a king, but the king of all kings, which means the one who defeated death is the one who is for you and seated on the throne.

You see, and maybe Paul wanted to throw this sentence, this is in my mind going, "Timothy, in my former life, when I went by Saul of Tarsus, I used to persecute Jesus, followers, earth is God." Just now, and I'll never forget it, man. His name was Stephen. He was a good man, he worked with the poor, worked with widows, but we, though like the religious group that I was a part of, we targeted him, like it's a real problem. And so we drug him out in the streets to make an example out of him. Well, this good man, Stephen, starts preaching. He starts saying all these things about what Jesus did, what Jesus said, and who Jesus was, and then the clincher was, as we were about to stone him, he says, "Look, I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Well, at that, we covered our ears and shouted at the top of our lungs, and we stoned that God of death. Timothy, I was there, and tragically, I was happy about the whole thing. But, man, now I know this statement was telling the truth. He is seated at the right hand of God. He's alive and he's in charge. Always remember Jesus. Can I be honest? Sometimes I remember that he's a live part more easily than that he's in charge part. Especially when my schedule gets out of control. Or the news cycle is crazy, or people disappoint me, or my plan ain't working out. When the church, or my family, or my friends are going through something hard, I have a tendency to act like everything depends upon me. Anybody else? I start acting like I am Mike Almighty. Like I am on the throne. I am in charge, I gotta fix this, I gotta take control, and I get all stressed out and overwhelmed. You know what I'm learning about anxiety? This is not always true, but a lot of times,

it's nothing more than the delusion that I am in charge. And if I could just get my head around this, if I could just work harder, if I could just plan better, if I could just worry longer, I can fix this. After all, I am Mike Almighty, ruler of the universe. And God says, "Excuse me, bro, that's my name, by the way." You need to come down off that throne, 'cause I already have somebody doing that job, and his name is not Mike, his name is Jesus. Remember Jesus, he's alive, and he's king. And then Paul writes, and that's the good news that I preach. Verse nine, he says this, "And because I preach this good news, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal." So here's Paul writing to his young friends, and I just wanna remind you, Timothy, that talking about all this, talking about the relentless pursuit of a loving God, speaking about the one who came back from the dead, that's what landed me here. Like preaching about the one true God, who in the beginning said, "Let there be light," the same one who came as the light of the world, so that people would no longer walk in darkness, the one who came full of truth and grace, the one who ate with and embraced sinners like me, the one who exposed mere religion for the dead end street, it really is, the one who went beneath the surface and always spoke to the heart, the one who voluntarily laid down his life so that anyone who believes would no longer be separated

from God, the one who came to give us life to the full, the one who triumphed over evil, and will someday come and shut it all completely down. I just wanna remind you, preaching that good news, talking about the resurrected Jesus, it's what got me in these chains. But Timothy, please hear this, but the word of God cannot be chained. Timothy, they may chain up the messenger, but they can't chain the message. The word of God can't be stopped, it can't be thwarted, it can't be deleted, it can't be canceled. Like Isaiah of Old wants wrote, "All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field, and grass it withers and the flowers they fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever." Listen to me, no other book has been a scrutinized, criticized, ridiculed, dissected, sliced, diced, banned, and burned as the Bible. Kings, emperors, governments have tried to wipe it out, but man, it just keeps on living, just keeps on changing lives. Yeah, both of ya. (audience applauding) Voltaire, who, the noted French philosopher, he died in 1770, I wanna see what he once tried it. He said, "A hundred years from now, the Bible will be swept from existence, and you will hear no more of Christianity."

You know what happened? When Voltaire passed away and his estate was auctioned, the Geneva Bible Society purchased his house and his printing press to produce stacks of Bibles that were circulated all over the world. I mean, you gotta love that. (audience applauding) The gang, there's nothing like the word of God. I love this book. It's how I met Jesus. This book led me into a saving relationship with the living God. This book shows me how my sins can be forgiven, how I could walk with the living God every single day of my life, how I can talk to him, how I can have an unshakable foundation on which to build my life. This book is showing me how to build relationships that last for eternity. This book is showing me how to break strongholds and addictions in my life. This book is teaching me how to be a husband, how to be a dad, how to be a granddad, how to handle my money, how to reconcile Bruce's relationship. This book has comforted me in heartbreak. It has strengthened me in times of weakness. This book has peeled back the phony veneer and confronted me when I was messing with him. "It's giving me wisdom right now for my present,

"and it gives me an abundance of hope for my future. "And most importantly, it's helping me get the know God "in a very real deep and personal way. "There is nothing like this book." Bernard Romm once wrote, he said, "A thousand times over the death knell "of the Bible has been sounded. "The funeral procession formed. "The flowers ordered, the inscription cut on the tombstone, "and the eulogy written. "But somehow, the corpse never stays put. "The word of God cannot be chained." Paul goes on to talk about enduring hard things, which is kind of a theme to this whole letter. By the way, I am learning that I can do hard things. I don't need to, I don't mean to brag, but the other day, I did an entire jigsaw puzzle in less than a day. And it's set on the box two to four years. So, sorry, it's a bad, dad joke. But Paul, the one who said, "I can do hard things. "I can do like all things that Christ who gives me strength." He says this in first 10. So you know what, I'm willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus that those God has chosen. He says, "If me enduring hard things, "if that'll open the door for more people "to come into the kingdom of God, I'm more than willing.

"I mean, do I like being chained up "in a cold, damp prison cell? "Not necessarily, but I'm more than willing to endure this "for the sake of other people." And then I think he says, again, remember Jesus, 'cause that's what he did. So, if I have to share in his sufferings in order to point people home to God, well, then bring it on. I mean, Paul had every right to like gripe and complain and shake his fist at God and say, "God, this is not fair." Instead he says, "I can endure this because it matters." Somebody else's eternity may be on the other side of my faithfulness. And you know what, somebody else's eternal future might be connected to you staying faithful as well. Maybe your kids right now need to see your perseverance. Maybe your grandkids need to know that your faith wasn't just something you talked about when life was easy. Maybe the nurses who are currently hooking you up to chemo, they need to see your peace. They need to see your joy and your trust in the living God. Maybe a neighbor right now needs to watch you as you lean into God and you push through your pain. And just as a side note here, remember Paul is writing this literally with chains on his wrists. And sometimes I think God does his best work

through people who feel the most limited. I don't know, you may feel like you're in a season right now where you can't do what you used to do. You can't go where you used to go. You can't move like you used to do. You fall down, you think is there anything else I can do while I'm down here, right? You can't control what you used to control, but just because you might be limited, it doesn't mean God is. Just because you might be slowing down doesn't mean God is, remember Jesus. The one who says, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in your weakness, in your limitations. I just gotta say something. It's inspiring to see some of y'all who have like a seven, eight, nine in front of your age just live in full out for Jesus. Some of y'all every weekend, you come rolling up in here in wheelchairs and walkers with canes, crutches, just making a valiant effort to get dressed and get here every week. And to see so many of you out there mentoring young people and leading groups and rocking babies and serving with joy and working and food pantries, providing people with meals and sharing your resources generously and just living a Jesus-centered life,

y'all inspire me. Y'all are like heroes in my eyes and a living, breathing testimony that even though you might be limited these days, God's love and power is not and the way it's flowing through you has never been stronger. And Paul says endure 'cause it matters, it matters. And then Paul quotes what many believe became a first century worship song. Some of y'all tease me all the time about every now and then I'll throw in like a spoken word that comes out of me. Always hesitate to do that because I'm from Kentucky and country plus rap equals crap sometimes. So I gotta be careful with that. But check out here, this is cool. How Paul, he's getting all in the flow throwing down these lyrics. He says, if we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. Sounds like some of the songs we sing around here, right? Christ is my firm foundation. He's never failed me and he won't. Great is thy faithfulness. He remains faithful 'cause that's just who he is. Remember Jesus.

And then as he does in a lot of his letters, he addresses a particular issue that was going on in that specific church. The one that Timothy is leading in Ephesus. He says this, Timothy verse 14, remind everybody about these things and command them in God's presence to stop fighting over words. Stop fighting over words. Such arguments are useless and they can ruin those who hear them. Now apparently the church had people who loved to argue. I know, shocking, right? And Paul says that these useless arguments, they were ruining people. So I did a little word study on the Greek word that's used there for ruin. The Greek word is catatrophae. Catatrophae, to wreck or tear down. Catatrophae, hmm. Wonder what English word we might get from that one. The Paul is saying all these debates, all these opinions, all these arguments, they're not only useless. Timothy, they are catastrophic. They are catastrophic to relationships. It's wrecking people. It's tearing them down. It's ruining relationships. He even calls out a couple of guys in verse 16

who are like doing major damage with their false teaching. He says that kind of stuff, man. It's like a cancer. I actually use the word for gangrene, a disease that attacks the tissue and then it spreads and takes people out like a piece at a time. He says listen, Timothy, remember Jesus. Get back to Jesus. 'Cause all this worthless babbling is causing division in the church. It's tearing people down. It's literally eating them alive and leading them far away from Jesus. Remember Jesus. Now of course Paul is not saying truth doesn't matter 'cause he cares very deeply about truth. In fact, in a very next verse he tells Timothy to correctly handle the word of truth. But honestly, some people really aren't interested in defending the truth as much as they are bolstering their ego. They don't want clarity, they want conflict. They actually enjoy stirring stuff up. They actually like pick and fights and muddy in the water. Some even like being controversial just so they can get clicks. Some people can't pass up a chance to post a comment that will set everybody on social media straight. They just have to make their opinion known because they above all others are right.

And here's the truth. You and I can be right, but say it so wrong. We can prove our point and destroy our witness. We can bring the heat and snuff out the light. And Paul was saying, listen, this is no small thing. This is catastrophic. Debbie has this hanging on our fridge so our grandkids can see it. And so the two of us could be reminded of this. It says we do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it. And the source of it is Jesus. Remember Jesus, get back to Jesus. Then verse 15 is one of those that has been a personal challenge to me throughout my life as a preacher, as a pastor. He says this to his young pastor friend. He says, Timothy, work hard. Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval, not the approval of the crowd, not the adoration of the masses, be content with the applause of heaven. So be a good worker. One who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains or handles the word of truth. Now that phrase correctly explains or correctly handles the truth.

It literally means to cut a clear path, to cut a clear path. I've had the opportunity through the years to mentor some young pastors and one of the things I always tell him is a line that I got from Howard Hendricks years ago when he said our job is not to teach the Bible. It's to teach people the Bible. Our job is not to teach the Bible, it's to teach people the Bible. That changes your approach because when you sincerely love people, all people, and you want God's best for them, you just want to cut a clear path. You're not content just to spit out some biblical content. You see, the Holy Spirit's goal is not mere information. on your messages. I just get up and let the Spirit move me. And I tell them, well, so do I. On Tuesday morning, and Wednesday morning, and Thursday morning, and Friday morning, you see, I have been challenged by Paul to work hard, to cut a clear path, to think about all the priceless people who might be in that room, what might be going on in their lives, what hard things that they've had to endure in their life, what kind of wounds, what kind of trauma, what kind of strongholds, what kind of crazy family issues, what kind of questions and fears and doubts they might have. And so that's why we study, and that's why we pray, and that's why we write, and that's why we craft, and we think of stories and illustrations to connect, just trying to cut a clear path and always relying on the Holy Spirit to convict and comfort and encourage and soften and challenge and teach us only he can. Being an old basketball junkie, I tell young teachers all the time, our job is to throw the best alley-oop past we can throw and let God come along and dunk it on whoever he wants to, because that's what he does. He does that. I was at a seminar one time, and this guy stood up and said, now, as a preacher, you need to be seen as the smartest guy in the room. And I thought, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.

I don't want people walking out saying, wow, that guy's super smart. Don't have a clue what he said, but man, he's pretty smart. You want people walking out saying, I want to know the God that God was talking about. I want to know the God that God was talking about. I tell young pastors all the time, truly smart men and women use whatever intellectual prowess they might have been given by God to figure out ways to help people get it. And honestly, that takes work. It's easy to throw out a bunch of theological terms that sound impressive, but the goal is not the sound impressive. It's to help people get to know the lover of their soul, the father who stands by the gate just longing for them to come home someday. I love Josh Ourton. He's got a great heart. He loves Jesus Christ. He works hard. He is kind. He is bold. He is articulate. Now, he needs to cut down on a caffeine. He got way too much energy. I'm just kidding. And I'm really excited he'll be back here next weekend, but I can't help but think we got about the same age gap as Paul and Timothy. And please, no, I'm not saying I'm like his Paul, but it is a privilege to partner with a young guy like him. And he would be the first one to tell you it's not about him. And I can tell you it's certainly not about me or anybody else that teaches from this stage. It's all about Jesus. And y'all need to know this too. We genuinely love you. And so we work hard because we want you to connect with the only one who can change your life. His name is Jesus. Remember Jesus. He's why we're here. Let's bow our heads for a moment. Jesus, it was a thrill today like every day to remember you. A little while back, we all got the hold like a piece of bread, a cup of juice. And just remember who you are, what you've done. But we don't want that to be like every now and then thing for us that everybody the food we take. We just remember that you are the bread of life. Just I pray that we would get back to you, that we'd stay connected to you, that we would keep the main thing, the main thing in our lives. It's just so easy to get distracted. So easy to get pulled in a million different directions. I thank you for slowing me down this week, speaking in my heart. I pray that many people will experience the same type of thing, just getting with you and remembering you. God forgive us for times where we try to take the throne, the corner CEO office of our life, try to run everything and fix everything. We need to be strong in the grace that you give us. Realizing that your power is made perfect in our weakness and just give up control and let you be the king that you are. Father, thank you for all these amazing people that are listening today. Don't know where they've been or where they've come from. Don't know what's going on in their life right now,

but you know everything about them and you love them. You're loving them through a bunch of stuff. So thanks for bringing them here today. And I pray that they would have an encounter with you, Jesus. And it's your name, I pray all this, amen.