2 Timothy 1:1-6 - Finding Meaning in a Collapsing World

Tom Shrader begins a series in 2 Timothy, Paul's final letter written from prison as he awaits execution. Paul demonstrates how to find stability and meaning when facing life's temporary nature by focusing on God's promises, maintaining clear conscience, and investing in mentor-protégé relationships. Shrader emphasizes the vital role of men in spiritual leadership and the importance of intergenerational faith.

“Our hope remains in the promises of God, the sovereignty of God, the faithfulness of God.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: How to Find Meaning in a Collapsing World (2014)

Recorded: May 22, 2014

Duration: 39 min

Themes: meaning, stability, mentorship, leadership, legacy, faithfulness, perseverance, purpose, facing uncertainty, nearing death, mentor, spiritual father, aging believer, man in leadership, leaving legacy, terminal illness

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-6, 2 Timothy 4:6-7, 1 Kings 2:1, Acts 20:37, John 3:16

Theological Themes: pastoral epistles, apostolic authority, spiritual mentoring, biblical faithfulness, christian maturity, divine promises, intergenerational faith, scriptural authority

Full Transcript

If you have Bibles with you, you can open them to 2nd Timothy, and we're going to take six weeks and look at the book of 2nd Timothy. I originally titled this "How to be Stable in an Ever-Changing World," and that didn't do much for me. So then I did "How to Find Meaning in a Collapsing World," and that seems to fit more with the headlines.

I love this book. Paul wrote 13 books that we see in the New Testament, depending upon what you do with the book of Hebrews, whether Paul is the author of that or not. All of them are books that, for me, I found myself early on having an affinity for the Apostle Paul. I enjoy reading them. This one has a particular intensity to it.

Paul's Final Self-Assessment

If you're in 2nd Timothy, turn to chapter 4 and verse 6 and 7, and you'll recognize those verses. Paul writes in 2nd Timothy 4:6, "I'm already being poured out as a drink offering, the time for my departure has come," and then his analysis. I love pointing this out—this is his analysis of his life.

So you hear all the time, "I want to hear when I die, 'well done, good and faithful servant.'" I got that. What I find particularly compelling here is that Paul looks at his own life, and assuming he's accurate—it's God's Word, I think he is, and he's not delusional—he said, "Here's my assessment of my life. I fought the good fight, I finished the course, I kept the faith." How cool it would be to be able to say that as a self-evaluation of your life, to live with that kind of freedom and comfort.

Paul's at the end of his life, and he knows it. He's been in and out of prison, this is the last written communication we have from the Apostle Paul. So it takes on a certain intensity.

The Intensity of Final Conversations

We had an older guy that was in our church a few years ago, a great guy I enjoyed talking with and listening to, and he went in for the same surgery I had in January. They opened him up, did the surgery, the next day they found there was bleeding, so they had to open him up again, go through the same thing, and then a third day the same process. When he finally came to, a few days later and we could talk—he'd been intubated so there was some raspiness and sore throat—but he did not say, "How are the Suns doing?" He didn't say, "What do you think about them tearing down Packard Stadium?" The intensity of the conversation takes on a whole new dimension.

Sandy and I were talking about it last night—how do you process this? I got a call from somebody and they said a mutual friend had just been diagnosed with this very serious illness, and they're not sure exactly what it is or how it'll play itself out, but there's an intensity to it. We got off the phone and Sandy and I started talking about this, not like we haven't been talking about it for two years.

I read her a section where this guy was doing the hypothetical: if you went to the doctor and got a second opinion and a third opinion, and they all agreed that you were going to live for about a year, that the illness wouldn't necessarily affect your day-to-day living, what would you do? I like the fact that it crystallizes an issue, but it's kind of impractical. If the doctor said you're going to live a month, what would you do? I don't know, but whatever it is, it's very different than if he said you're going to live 30 years.

The Temporary Nature of This Life

When Susan was in hospice, she was in hospice eight days, and I took the days and the girls took the nights, and we all put our life on hold for eight days, to be with Susan, hopefully to comfort her, to be there when she passed. You can't live your life that way for an extended period of time. The key is to live my life with the perspective that this stuff is temporary.

I made a point yesterday that I thought was brilliant—I don't say that very often. This is brilliant: Job lost everything, and his conclusion was, "I came into the world with nothing, I'm leaving with nothing." Solomon got everything, and his conclusion was, "I came into the world with nothing, and I'm leaving with nothing." Somehow, it's to grasp this sense that this stuff is temporary.

I was in a meeting yesterday, and I told Sandy, "I just am fighting to not be the curmudgeon in the room," and she said, "Well, you're losing the battle, buddy." I said, "I appreciate that, but these guys"—and they're in from out of town, studying what we're doing—"honestly, after about an hour, I said, 'Guys, none of this matters. It isn't going to make any difference.'"

What Really Matters

I mean, really, we're talking about graphics, and coordination, and strategic thinking. None of us are strategic enough to figure out today—how are you going to figure out a strategic 10-year plan? I'm not minimizing planning, I'm just saying, once you start all of those things, you're swept away with the idea that these things are eternal.

I'm struggling with a way to say it, without just taking all the air out of the room. I'm not saying don't plan, I'm just saying, you're putting an awful lot of credence, and importance, and weight on this. It's far more important that you're teaching that person God's Word, than the graphics you have, or all the other stuff you have.

What I love about Paul's letter here, is that he's saying, "Listen, plenty of human drama, plenty of pain, plenty of hurt, plenty of joy, and love. Don't sterilize this." But Paul's writing to this guy, his beloved son, to a pastor, and he's saying, "In this moment, here are the things I want to communicate to you."

I was watching Braden playing baseball the other night, and just watching his demeanor, and I was thinking, what if I knew that he and I were going to go out tomorrow—he'll have a donut, I'll have some tofu—and we're talking, what would I tell him, if I knew it was the last time I was going to see him. Now I built this into what—he's eight—so what can he kind of comprehend?

Here's Paul, writing this letter to this young man that he loves desperately, and he's saying to them, here are my thoughts to you as a pastor. So he's writing, in a sense, as a mentor to a protege, he's writing to a pastor, but the principles that he's giving him are principles that apply to all of us.

I came across a book the other day, that's an old book that I read years ago, I don't know if any of you read it, called Who Switched the Price Tags? It's Tony Campolo, and he starts with an illustration that he and his buddy used to go into the local drugstore, and if there was an ink pen that was a dollar, and a transistor radio that was eight dollars, the one would distract the druggist, the other would switch the price tags so they could get the transistor radio for a buck. He said, I grew up, I ran into the real world, and I realized that somebody in the real world had switched all the price tags. All the things that God said were eight dollars, the world says is a dollar. All the things the world says is a dollar, God says they're of infinite value.

Wisdom from a Life Well-Lived

In there, he reports a very unscientific survey taken among 50 people who were at least 90 years of age. So I love those things, and they said if you had your life to live over again, what would you do differently? Here were the three things they said they'd do differently.

Number one, they would reflect more. So I use like think more, ponder. Number two, they would risk more. Not be careless, but they would take that leap. They would evaluate things and not play it so safe. They might be thinking and risking more proactive than reactive. And then the last thing was, they would do things that lasted beyond their life.

I found some old notes the other day of a guy who was a basketball player, and he was talking about diving to get a ball that was going out of bounds so he could throw it to a teammate, who could dish it to a teammate, who could make a basket so we could win a game and do something bigger than any of us could do individually. So it's that kind of, I love those kinds of thoughts. Well, that's Paul.

Paul's Introduction and Authority

So we're going to look at the first six verses today, a little bit of an introduction there. Let's read them, and we'll come back, spend a little time in this. Some of you, I know, have never done a book study like this. Maybe you go to a church where they do three points and a poem, or they're just an uplifting, positive message. This is, for me, what I was reared on. This is what Larry did. This is what I love to do. And hopefully, it just opens this up to you.

First six verses. "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." So that's somewhat of a standard Pauline introduction. We'll come back and really take a look at that.

"And then verse 3, I thank God, who I serve with a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day. Longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I might be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelled in your grandmother Lois, then your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of hands."

One day, I'm at my office, and they bring in the mail, and there's an envelope. It's a bulky envelope, and it's a handwritten return address. So I always want to bring staff in to open these for me. But I open it, and it's a seven-page, single-space, typewritten letter. In my career, I've gotten a lot of these. When you get them, what's the first thing you do? Go to page 7 to see who wrote it. Then throw it away.

No, no, no, no. I have friends who don't read, for example, unsigned letters like that. I always read them, signed or unsigned, and try to fight by defense mechanism to see what are the true things in here, because I can learn from them. Well, you don't have to go to page 7 of this letter. The first word tells you who's writing this, Paul.

Paul's Apostolic Calling

Now, in most instances, he identifies himself as a bondservant or a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, it's an apostle. When Paul uses that credential, he's typically writing from a position of authority. The word means a sent one, an emissary, an ambassador, a messenger.

I was watching TV the other night, and there was a guy, and there was His name, and then under it, it said evangelist and apostle. Well, the apostle, the way Paul's using it here, you've never seen one of these. There are guys who perform miracles, wonders. They were instrumental in the spread of the faith, and they had seen the risen Christ.

Now, I remember when I first came across that office, I thought, that would be kind of a cool job. That would be cool. That would look good on my resume. Tom, apostle, from 1980 to present. I mean, that looks like it would be good. Here's how you get to be an apostle, by the will of God. It doesn't say that Paul aspired to this. It doesn't say that Paul, as a little boy, one day wanted to be this apostle. It's that he was placed there by God's will, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus.

The Power of God's Promises

Whenever I see the word promise, I think of something that Larry taught us clearly about promises. And that is, they're only as good as the one who makes them. So I may promise you, I'll do x. And it turns out that I don't have the ability. I could be as sincere as can be, but I don't have the ability to pull this off. Or I promise you I'm going to do this, but I never have any sort of real sense of carrying this through. This is the key.

I was invited to teach on the attributes of God. And so I said, all right, let's go. Here we go. Number one, immutability. And you could literally hear a groan going, why are you starting with? Start with the good ones.

with love. Start with all powerful, all knowing. None of those matter if He's changing. Immutability—He's not developing. So our trust lies. Here you go. You people write stuff down, and I never understand it. Write this one down. I don't know what you do with this stuff. I presume nothing. But write this down. Now, our hope remains in the promises of God, the sovereignty of God, the faithfulness of God.

Finding Peace in God's Promises

Sandy and I were talking the other day, and she was talking about being in the waiting room up at Scottsdale North. She said, you just handled it so well. Those waiting rooms are intense. If there's a crack in relationships, you see them there. It's people at their worst, either overcompensating in some sort of joyous, artificial, goofy way, or "oh, he didn't get his Kleenex on time." It goes to these extremes.

She said, you just handled it great. I said, it was really interesting for me, because it didn't even—it's just the culmination of that. I mean, what's the worst thing that can happen here? By a human standard, it's that I go in, and I don't make it through the surgery, which I guess was a possibility. But that's not a bad deal. So I go from the waiting room to the presence of Christ. That seems like a win.

Well, how do you know that? Well, here you go. It's the promise of life. Whoever believes in Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. So those are the promises we have. That's the promise of eternal life.

The Reality of Death and Eternity

So I love to do funerals. I love them. Over the years I've done a lot of funerals for people that we know don't believe in Christ. Here's what I'll hear all the time. Well, let's do an open mic. Inevitably, somebody will get up and say, you know, Bob, I miss him. But Bob is in a better place. The worse he is, the faster they get him to heaven.

I've never heard anybody get up and say, you know, Bob was a scoundrel. We all know this. He screwed half the people in this room on his last business deal. And he's in hell. I'm not happy about it.

I had a gal in our church who was dying. She said, my mom just came and visited me and said, you know, honey, I know this is hard, but I'll see you again. Well, I'm not going to see my mom. My mom's going to hell. And I would like you to tell her that at the funeral service.

Well, I said, well, I don't think that's a good idea, you know. If we're going to do that, we need to direct deposit the check, because I don't think this is going to play well. So I said, you write a letter to your mom, and I'll read it. That'll be dramatic. She said, that's fine with me.

I had this letter, and I said, you know, Judy's mom is here, and Judy, your daughter, loved you very much. And she's written a letter to you. I thought I'd read it. Oh, that's so sweet. Well, I'd hold off on that assessment. But she said, mom, I love you. You just visited me the other day and said, no matter what happens, you'll see me in heaven. You aren't going to see me in heaven. You're going to hell, and here's why.

Wow. Anybody want to say anything? Oh, no. Why don't they do it? Open mic? No. We have chicken salad over in the waiting room. It was a great funeral, but what I love about it is it crystallizes the issue. In moments of suffering and pain and death, we tend to soften, if not change, our theology. It is not a license to be rude. I think I'm very kind and very generous. But this girl can say this to her mom based on the promise of God. Those are promises.

Promises for Life Here and Now

Now, this point should be developed way beyond what it's going to be. So let me just drop it in here. The promises of God are not just about getting to heaven. They're about living life here.

I just said to Clarke before we started, when I ordered a bunch of books in December, because this was going to be the year for me studying the book of Ecclesiastes. And it got sidetracked three days into the year. But I remember Jamie Rasmussen and I were in the car. I can tell you exactly where we were. We're on the 40 at the Flagstaff Ranch exit.

Jamie said, what are you learning? I said, here's what I'm learning. The Bible is true. He didn't seem impressed with that. But I said, not for all the doctrinal stuff, for all the practical stuff, that all this is temporary, that the majority of my time, energy, effort, and money is invested in stuff that has little or no eternal consequence.

I'm okay with some of that. To the extent I invest it there, I can't invest my time, energy, and effort into the stuff that will last, the kingdom of God stuff. The promise of God is this stuff will fade away. Wherever your heart is, your treasure will be. You can invest it in stuff that will rust, and moth will eat it, or transitions into eternity. So that's the promise of life. These are things you can develop.

Paul's Beloved Son Timothy

Verse 2: "To Timothy, my beloved son." Let me check time. 15 minutes. Again, I don't want to presume anything. I know it's repetitious for many. But let's make sure we get it. This is not Paul's biological son. This is Paul's son in the faith. Some believe that Paul was the instrument God used to bring Timothy to faith. I don't know if that's true or not. I tend to think it's more of a mentor-protégé relationship, which every person on the planet—but let's stick with the people in this room—which everyone needs.

The Need for Mentorship

I have this trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. Not just teach this. This is a given. But what is there that I see, or I do, or I experience? Here's what I experience. A bunch of young guys. I don't deal with the gals, but the gals are in the same—the gals are in a worse shape because they haven't had the opportunity. They've had changes in life and career, but haven't had the opportunity to be mentored through them.

But I see young guys. Just had coffee last week with a young guy, a business guy, successful guy, late 20s, married a short couple of years, no kids. He's saying, how do I live this life with

Paul's Relationship Patterns Offer Real-World Guidance

My wife and I were talking with a young man recently. He asked, "How do we live it together? What do we do? We don't have any kids yet, and we're already struggling. How do you find time? How do you do this in business?" He said, "I go into the office in the morning, and I like to work out. So I get up at 4:30. I work out. I go to the office. I can start working at 8 and not even come up till 6. How did you handle that?"

Well, it was never a real problem for me, but how I handle it is with a sense of perspective. I want to work hard, I want to be diligent, and I want to give work what it demands. But he said, "I can't leave until my job is done." I said, "You have a job that never gets done. Our job never gets done. There's always something more. You can always give it more. You can always work harder. You have to define it and say, this is what I'm going to do."

The Need for Intergenerational Connection

I don't know this guy very well. I find that there are scores of these guys, but not many of the older guys that will pour into them. Primarily, I think, because you don't want to be inconvenienced. That's me. I think I'd be a great bartender, but I don't want any hours. I just want to come in whenever I want. You don't even need to pay me. I've discovered that tends to kill the conversation. But I think I'd be great going, "Where are you from?" "I'm from Iowa." "Hey, cool, me too. Let's talk." And big tips. I think I'd be great. But I don't want any hours. I don't want to be pinned down.

So you've got older guys and younger guys. You older guys have—and I'll say ladies too—you have so much to offer, but you tend to think that the younger guys are looking for something deep and profound. They aren't. They're trying to figure out how to make an enchilada casserole. They don't know. They're trying to figure out, how do I love this guy that's not lovable? What do you do with these kids?

Haley texted me the other day, and she was just—it was a long day. Whatever, when she'd take care of one, the next one, and then the next one. Now there's four of them at home. I mean, they're looking for attention. You fix one, and they're going, "What about me?" And she texted. She said, "There had to be days when we wore mom out and she was weary." So I mean, I know she's—and I texted her back and said, "Lots of them, but it was worth it." And that's all these people are looking for.

Creating Environments for Spiritual Mentorship

To create an environment—I don't know what that is. To create an environment where a Paul and a Timothy are coming together, and you need that in your life. You don't need somebody to create the system. All you got to do is look around. If you're in a church, it's filled with people. Think about this: If you're dead average, dead average, that means out of 100 people, there's 49 people behind where you are. There's plenty of Timothys around. And then to find somebody that'll pour some gas on you. That's the relationship here. "I am my beloved son."

And then he says to him, "Grace, mercy, and peace." In the book of Galatians, Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, Paul's greeting is grace and peace. But here he adds mercy. Why? I have no idea. But he says, "Here's what I wish you. Don't wish that you get your PhD. Don't wish that you get a big house. Don't wish that." He said, "Here's what I want in your life: grace, unmerited favor, mercy, God doesn't give you what you deserve, and peace."

Understanding True Peace

That's that sense of satisfaction. Cheryl Crow sang it this way: It's not having what you want. It's wanting what you have. It's that sense of peace that it is well with my soul. Remember that great old song? I don't know if you know the background of that and when it was written, but there was a guy who was in Chicago, and it was at the time of the Chicago fire, and he and His family were on their way to a trip to Europe. And so he stayed behind, sent his wife and four kids, and he was then going to meet them.

And he got a telegram from his wife saying the ship had sunk and the girls were dead. And as he's going over to Europe to join her, the captain stops essentially as they're going and said, "This is where the ship went down." And that's where he wrote, "It is well with my soul." It's in the midst of that. It's peace. It's not the absence of turmoil and circumstances. It's the presence of God in the midst of this. And he says, "This is what I want for you."

Peace Found Only in God

And look at where you find it in verse two. You find it from God and Him only. Not from any sort of achievement. Not that achievement isn't important. The kids moved four houses away. The young man that's living next door to them plays for Mesquite High Baseball. So that's right next door. Well, my grandboy's baseball is it, okay? And so this guy's out there. Mesquite just played for the state title the other night. This guy's out there playing with his—catching and hitting some balls with his teammates.

So the boys come out and said, "Could we play with you somehow?" And so these high school—and it's pretty cool. These high school kids are hitting ground balls to Braden and Yale at six and eight. And so these guys are ramped up because they're playing in the state championship the other night. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. Play hard, run the balls out, dive into the wall, whatever you got to do. But if you think you're going to find peace in winning the state championship, you aren't.

And your coach is in worse shape, because the minute he wins it, they go into the next meeting with the parents, and the parents' first question is, "What are you going to do next year? What can you do to help my sophomore, who cannot catch, get a scholarship?" Okay, I mean, this is endless stuff. So that's where I find it.

Paul's Personal and Intimate Connection with Timothy

Now, look at this—we got about 10 minutes. Look at verse three, and Paul gets very personal. This is a section we use in our annual review preview. So it's familiar to some of you: "I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience, my forefathers did, I constantly remember you, night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall the tears, so that I may be filled with joy."

Back to a moment that's recorded in Acts 20, verse 37, when Paul is leaving the elders at the church at Ephesus, and they talk about the tears, and the hugging, and the spiritual intimacy that this group has. Paul said, "I'm longing for that. I long for that intimacy." Paul says in verse five, "I'm mindful of your sincere faith, the one that started with your grandmother, and your mom, and now is in you."

Anytime you read a good biography, it never starts with the subject of the biography. It always goes to the preceding generations. He said, "Here's your, I got it. Your grandma was there, your mom was there." Now, we ask the obvious question, don't we? What's the obvious question there? Where's grandpa, and where's dad?

The Missing Fathers

Years ago, we were doing our anniversary Sunday at church, and Daryl was the pastor at SBC. I invited Daryl out to be our speaker, and he said, "Absolutely." So he got there, and he did four or five services, which I didn't really bother telling him until he agreed to do it. We're between services, and he said, "Well, show me the campus." I said, "Well, Daryl, this isn't going to take long. We got like two buildings."

So we're walking around, and we're at lunch, and I said, "What did you think?" He said this: "The thing that impressed me most were the number of men serving in children's ministry." Early on, we had a value that said, if you want to serve in children's ministry, our strong recommendation, our preference, and if we have to make a choice, is that you do it as a couple, not as an individual.

We had a guy that played left tackle for USC, and this guy just like, in the last year has lost 160 pounds. He lost Marvin Hagler. This guy was gigantic. He was huge. I mean, it was like this door. He was working with a three-year-old. He would walk in, and he was like a human jungle gym. These kids just started jumping on him and hanging on him, and all of the teachers would say, when the guy was in the room, the room took on a whole new atmosphere.

The Pattern of Absent Fathers

Well, what that said to us, and maybe was present in Paul's time, and is now, it's like the guys go, "You know what, here's what I'll do. I'll go earn the money, you take care of the kid." That's why so many of you are better grandparents than you were parents. I find that all the time, especially the generation that's ahead of me. It was a tough time.

Sandy and I were talking the other day, about being happy. I said, "I don't think my parents ever thought about that. I don't think my dad ever said, 'I want to be happy.' I don't know, maybe he did. I wasn't in a lot of private conversations with him. Ours were one way." But I don't remember my mom ever thinking about being happy. It was thinking about, "How do I get from breakfast to bed? What do I do with these four kids? Get out of here, go play, and come back when it's time to eat. When the streetlights come on, I want to see you again."

And then I didn't go away, she doesn't love me. It was the way you lived. It wasn't that premium on that. Dad was busy, mom was busy.

Things Are Better Now

Now, and I think it's better, is you see, I'm teaching, and I notice now, if a baby cries, it's 50-50 that the dad will get up with the baby. When I started, the dads never got up. They wouldn't know what to do. They would go out, and then you'd hear the dad crying from the lobby, because he didn't have a clue. "Yeah, I don't know what to do with it. What do I, change it, I guess, but I don't know beyond that what to do."

So I'm saying, in some ways, things are way better. But if you want to give your kid something, it seems like most people raise their kids with an attitude: "I want my kids to have what I never had." Well, I want my kids to have a strong understanding of God and His word.

If you're one of these parents that say, "Well, I'm just going to expose them to this and let them make a choice," that seems stupid to me. You don't do that in anything else. You don't go, "Oh, here's school. If you really like it, you can go." You don't come in at dinnertime and say, "Here's donuts, here's candy, here's broccoli. Eat whatever you want."

A Challenge from a Stranger

Men, one last story. There used to be a Christian bookstore at 7th Avenue in Osborne. Any of you remember it? It was a great little store. I'm standing in there one day, looking at books. This lady comes up to me, never saw her before since, and she said, "You're Tom Schrader, aren't you?" Well, that's never a good way to start a conversation. So I said, "Yeah."

So she said, "You know what's wrong with men today?" So I'm going to give you this in real time. I've set the scene. I'm standing there. "You're Tom Schrader, aren't you?" "Yes, I am." "You know what's wrong with men today?" And as she says it, she moves her hand, and I see a wedding ring, and I think, "Well, I know one guy's problem. I don't know about the rest of them, but I'm pretty sure I got this guy."

So "You're Tom Schrader?" "Yes, I am." "You know what's wrong with men today?" "No, I don't." "They're wimps." And she turned and walked away. Well, that's pretty true.

David's Charge to Solomon

There's a very simple verse. Let's see if I can find it and get you out of here. I think it's 1 Kings chapter two. David is near death. It says this, 1 Kings 2:1: "David's time to die drew near. He charged Solomon," and here's what he said. Guys, here's the charge: "I'm going the way of all the earth. I'm going to die. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man."

Not a "me, Tarzan, you, Jane," but it is an indictment to me when Paul says, "I know your grandma's faith is there. I know your mom's faith is there." Where's dad in the midst of that? Guys, that's our great opportunity in all of this. And He says, "You know, you have this gift that God's given you. Stir up that passion." We'll pick up right there next week.

Father, thank You for this awesome and amazing truth. God, I pray for the guys in this room that we would be the men You've called...

us to be. Not me, Tarzan, you, Jane. Not in some repulsive, macho, domineering way. But we would love our wives as Christ loved the church. We would understand that it's our privilege to lead spiritually in the home, in the marketplace.

And God, for all of us, I pray that You would bring into our life younger men and women that we can mentor and older men and women who can mentor us. And young and old doesn't mean chronologically. It means spiritually. God, open our eyes to see that. We pray that in Christ's name, amen.