Ishmael LaBiosa: Well today we finish our message series simply entitled Multiply. It is my hope that at the end of this message series, one of two things will be true. Either you will be a mentor to someone, or you will get a mentor, or theoretically you could do both. You could get a mentor and be a mentor. I just want to commend this to you that God's process of making disciples is is not in grand programs and is not in crowds, it is one on one relationships. Jesus, when he had a responsibility in three years to change the world, picked twelve guys and primarily invested in three. The apostle Paul, we see very clearly, while is on the mission and leading the early mission of the church, always has people around him that he is investing in. Second Timothy shows his deep and profound investment in Timothy. And the reality is, Christianity will continue past this generation if you have intentionally invested in the next generation. So when the day is you're off the scene, there is someone who you have invested in that continues on. This message series is now virtually over. We have only a few more moments to talk about Second Timothy, but what a shame it would be that you have neither been a mentor nor you have had a mentor. This message series is a clarion call to make sure both of those happen. It is our responsibility to do so. I I see it as a really a crisis of the Church of Christ that there will be many churches that will not make it into the next generation simply because they have failed to heed the idea of multiplication. Every church, in my opinion, in every place can find somebody to pour into and to make sure that the ministry continues, the mission continues even after they're gone. And so that is the appeal of this book. If you have a Bible today, the final text of Second Timothy, Second Timothy four, six through twenty two, where we will see the importance of finishing the race well. You say, Why do we need to invest in others? Because one day your race will be up, and the only person left to continue the race will be someone else, not you. And that's true for all of us. It doesn't This is not just a message for the old. It's a message for the young to get it in your sights, that you run one leg of the race, and you have both received the baton and have the responsibility to pass the baton in the race of the Christian life. This is the final chapter the apostle Paul ever writes, and he sees coming for him his own martyrdom, and he sees that with Clear eyes. The first big idea today is this to multiply. We need to finish our own race well. Verse 6 says, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, for the time of my departure is close. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. In the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge. will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing. The Apostle Paul dies in the late sixties as a martyr under Nero. He is beheaded for the Christian faith. You know, there's a reality that once you've missed death a lot of times, and the Apostle Paul has missed death a lot of times, you realize that one time I'm not going to miss it. It's going to get me. And this time Paul realizes that he is once again in a Roman prison, that he sees his the end of his life coming for him. There's a lot of persecution that has bef befell him, and that his martyrdom as at is at hand. He uses the language of Old Testament sacrifice. Before an animal was sacrificed, there was a drink offering that was poured and then after the drink offering the sacrifice and Paul says the drink offering is already poured and I'm up. Now it's you say, Rusty, we don't like to talk about death. Well I got that. I mean who in the world wants to talk about death? But it's in the text today. It's gonna happen and it's important for us to see good examples. The Apostle Paul is not like I can't believe I'm a political prisoner that is getting crushed at the hands of Rome. Poor pitiful me, come help me. That could be what he says. You know what he says? I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. You know, it is wonderful to be able to get to the end of one's life and to be able to say, not only I'm a Christian, that's the most important thing to say, but to also be able to say, mission accomplished. I've been surprised. I go to bedsides. Now I've watched a lot of people die. I've seen people die quietly. I've seen people die loudly. I've seen people die in peace. I've seen people die in consternation. But the apostle Paul almost locks eyes with Timothy, you can feel it, and says, I've done what God has wanted me to do, and now that my time is up, I can die in peace. That is a real and profound Blessing. Let me ask you a question. Do you know what your race is? Do you know what your assignment is? Do you know when you started and would you know when you completed it? You say, Rusty, that's too complicated for me. I doubt it. God's called me to be a pastor of a local church. If I finish this well, I will have fought the good fight, I will have finished the course, I will have kept the faith. God has called me to be a husband. God has called me to be a father. God has called me to responsibilities in this community. God has called me to responsibilities in missions. And to the degree that I fulfill that which God has wanted me to fulfill, I can get to the end of my life. Not that everything is accomplished, for everything is not my responsibility, but everything God has called me to do, I can, to the best of my ability, do it. And honestly, there is a profound joy in this. I remember The now late Dr. Alderman, who was interim pastor and pastor here over several years, pastor in the sixties, interim pastor in the early two thousands, he said the amount of people that he went to their bedside who knew they were Christians but had no concept, had they finished the race well, had they done what God wanted them to do was was overwhelming to him. And so here's my appeal. Your time is not up. You got more life to live. What is it that God has called you to do? And how would you know if you finished it? You say, Rusty, I don't know that. Well, that's a good place to get in a prayer closet. It's a good place to talk to a friend. It's a good place to get into the Bible and say, God, what do you require of me with the time that I have left? And let him speak to your heart so that you know what that is, so that when your time is up, you can say, I fought the good fight, I finished the course, I've kept the faith. And then the Apostle Paul says, And therefore is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also all those who love his appearing. I'd like to say a half a second. I actually think the crown of righteousness in this particular text is for all Christians. Okay, that's my two sons on this particular crown. But there are many crowns talked about in the New Testament: the crown of life, James 1:12. The crown of glory, 1 Peter 5.4, the imperishable crown, 1 Corinthians 9.25, the crown of rejoicing, 1 Thessalonians 2.19. And here's the simple truth: that our faithfulness to God matters. Sometimes we say, well, our faith matters. Well, it does matter. And and salvation is by grace through faith, not of works. I said that full stop. But here's the reality. That while we're saved by grace, our works for Christ, our faithful works, not what we have accomplished, but what God has accomplished through us, are indeed evaluated on the last day. They do not condemn us, but they commend us. And there will be some and only some who will get well done good and faithful service, and some will get, well, you can come on in. But you didn't do that great of a job. And that's the reality. You say, Rusty, are you sure about this? Sure, I'm sure. I wouldn't say stuff I'm not sure about. First Corinthians chapter 3, verse 15. It's not on the screen, and you can look up look it up. But 1 Corinthians 3, 15 says that on the day of judgment for Christians, that our works will be evaluated, not on the basis of whether or not we're going to get into heaven, but on the basis of our faithfulness. And some people have given themselves as a Christian to the type of works that the Bible labels gold, silver, costly stone. These are works done for Christ. These are motivations and actions that in that endure. And some of our works that aren't in that category are wood, hay, and straw. And when the fire of judgment falls, some will last and some will be burned up. That's the analogy. And in first Corinthians, Chapter 3, verse 15, it says, on the last day it says, and the person will be saved. But their works will be lost. Some people's salvation will be like an escape through the fire, which means they made it to heaven. They're genuine Christians, but they have very little faithful works to show. You say, Who are you talking about, Rusty? Well, one good example of this would be the thief on the cross. Jesus is dying, the thief is dying. And he says in his last moments, which I do believe in deathbed conversions, and here's one of them. Father, remember me when you come, or Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus says, today you'll be with me in paradise. But this guy's lived his whole life, done nothing for God. At the last moment, says, Can I get in? Jesus says, You're in. But no faithful works to show. Honestly, this is an area that I think is underdiscussed. And so I don't have time to fully discuss it today. Here's the deal your life after trusting in Jesus matters. You know, it doesn't take very long for you to be forgotten. If you don't want to talk about death, let's talk about being forgotten. That's also not fun to talk about in 50 years, unless you've done something really important. Most people won't remember you. Hate to tell you that. There's a whole history room over there that most of you don't care to see, don't care to go through. And like, well, who cares? I'm here now, don't care who's before me. And that, unfortunately, that that that permeates a lot of people. You know, you're working hard right now, I'm working hard right now. And there's a lot of work that I could do that quite frankly you're not gonna you don't even know I do, and there's work you do, I don't know you do. But here's the deal a lot of stuff we've done won't matter. That's why Jesus says, Don't store for yourselves treasures on this earth where moth and rough corrupt and where thieves. Break through and still send it on ahead. Let me tell you something. You might not know every faithful work I've done for Jesus, but you ready for this? Jesus does. And he'll remember it not only in this life, but in the life to come. And that's why it matters. I work for the audience of one. He'll be the one who sees what I do sees what I do, and he'll be the one that will reward my faithfulness and your faithfulness to him on the last day. That matters. It doesn't matter as much as your salvation, but it matters. It'd be nice to come into glory and say, God, not only did I trust you, I continued to trust you, and I served you faithfully. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Faithful to the end. You know, dying well is important. Dying well can be your last place of witness. Timothy, in some ways, gets to see his mentor get old and his mentor die. There have been several stories from church history that have been very telling. there was a famous American preacher by the name of Dwight Moody. Some people called him D. L. Moody. And his death was one of his last moments of witness. Moody was dying, and it says that he was laying in the bed and he was kind of semi there, semi not there, and then all of a sudden he sat up in bed. And said, and The watchers by recorded it. He says, Earth recedes, heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me. I must go. Laid back down and died. Now I feel like ought to tell you the story. I will tell you the story. And then I'll get to my second point and then we'll wrap it up. I know Tom is running away from us. But Three years ago I was able to do a funeral. And some of you know this story, but I'll tell it again. Some of you don't. There's a long time 'cause a lot of people we hear stories I guess from church history and we go, Really? Okay, yeah, I know they're these special saints. But just the rest of us, you know, who are we? Well, there's a lady who attended church here. She sat right over in this section at the eleven o'clock service for many years as she got older. Her name was Lorreen Brown. She was born. She wouldn't want me to know the year she was born, but now I know it and she's dead and I can say it. She was born in 1929. She wouldn't tell me how old she was. That was one thing, and I figured it out. And then died in 2023 at the age of 93 years old. And three years ago I got a phone call and they said Lorene's dying. Her daughter called me. And Loreen was always very, very spunky, very spunky. And so I I didn't know what to expect. You know, when people are dying, it it c it's it's it's a tough situation all the way around. So I walked into the room and I was kind of hoping for spunky spunky Lorreen, and that's not what I got. I walked into the room, I could see her daughter was pretty troubled in the corner, and I looked in the hospital bed, and there lay Lorreen. She was curled up in the fetal position with the oxygen mask that she could remove pressed up against her face, and I thought, shh. Okay, this is the end. I could just feel it in the room. And and I I kind of looked at the daughter and I looked at Lorreen and I'm like, do I engage her or should I not engage her? And then I just thought, you know, I probably am going to quietly pray, speak to the daughter in the hallway, and leave. And so I'm trying to get my bearings on what I'm going to do. And all of a sudden I watched them the mask came off of Lorreen. And she says, I am ready to meet Jesus, the one who died for me. Put the mask back on. I said, well, amen. I mean, amen. Okay, we can work with this. you know, and and I thought, well, amen, Lorraine. Okay, she's with us. She's got some kicks still left. And I thought, okay, well, maybe now I'll pray. So she put the mask back on, she lifted it off. She said, called her daughter and said, Get the book. And so the daughter got the book. She says, Flip open the book. She says, Now, Rusty, this is how I want this funeral done. She goes, Here are the here are the songs sung. Here are the scriptures that are to be read. Do you see these right here? I said, Yes, ma'am, I see these. Okay. she says, Now you think you can do all of this? I said, I'm I think I can And she says, Can you believe what they've got on me at this hospital? These rags. I said, Well that's a hospital gown, Lorreen. This is not fitting For modesty for a Christian woman. I said, Okay, well I can feel that. I understand what you're saying. She says, You make sure that nurse knows that when I die, they take me out of these rags and put me on put put some decent pajamas on me. Do not send me back down to Appomattox Robinson funeral home dressed like this. I said, Well, I'll put in a word for you. Okay? and she says, I got right over there in the box. Make sure Make sure that happens. She said, last thing I need to tell you is I apologize for the next page. It's a mess. It's the pallbearers. She goes, many of them have died. I had to scratch them off. Some have gone off the list because they're kind of wobbly. I don't think they can handle it. But there's one or two that I think, since I'm gonna die, they probably can do it. Put them back on the list and set the list for the pallbearers. I said, Yes, ma'am. Okay? And then I mean she animates and then chwks. Back to the and like, well, what am I supposed to do now? You know? And so she's back on the ma back on the oxygen and back in the fetal position. So I'm kind of stunned by the whole thing. You know? I've never had anybody do it like this. And so I'm just kind of standing there quietly in the room. And then she takes the mask back off. She goes, What are you waiting on? I said, Well, I I don't know what I'm waiting on. She says, Would you pray me a good prayer? I'm about to die. And so I I mean I thought well this is my moment. So I stepped up, I prayed down heaven, okay? And I mean I gave it the big in Jesus' name, amen. She kept this on, she what she did this, like approve the prayer. I'm still rather stunned. So I sat there for a minute, she goes, she took to she goes, leave now and give a woman some privacy. I need to die. I walked out of the room and twelve hours later. She died. Now I you laugh a and I laugh. But how awesome is that? I mean her race is run, her mission is complete, she stared death down in the face, and at ninety three years old she was ready to meet Jesus, the one who died for her. She had a few things on the list that needed to be done, a few hymns to be sung, a few scriptures to be read, some pajamas to wear, and some pallbears to pick, and once that was over, she was ready to go. And I come in, listen, this is not someone from the Pages of church history you don't know, that's Lorraine who sat right there in that chair and over in that sanctuary for fifty years. This is possible. And the Apostle Paul would have sat up in the bed, said, I fought the fight, finished the course, kept the faith. Now I'm gonna die. Meet Jesus, the one who died for me. You know, here's here's how this letter ends. it ends with Paul giving a quick review of all the people that's been in his circle. You know, our life will end. And I I've watched this now so many times, I feel like, that when you get to the end of your life, you want things to be tidied up. Here's some bad news. It kind of will be tidied up, but it'll still be pretty much a mess. And the Apostle Paul dies with hurts. He dies with people he wish were with him that he they're not. He's got some good friends who stuck with him, Luke and Timothy. And he's got other people who've hurt him deeply. But here's the deal: he dies in faith, and he has done enough that the multiplication continues to go on. I just want you to hear this last point and read this text, and I'm done for today. To multiply, we need to realize that there is still more work to do after our race is run. Just listen to all these names. Make every effort to come to me soon. For Demus has deserted me because he loved this present world and has gone to Thessalonica. Cretans has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you, for he is useful to me in the ministry. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak I left in Troaz with Carpus, as well as the scrolls, especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his works, watch out for him yourself, because he strongly opposed our words. At my first defense no one came to my assistance, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the proclamation might be fully made through me, and And all the Gentiles might hear So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever, amen. Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Anesophorus. Erastus has remained at Ephesus. Trophumus, I left sick at Miletus. Make every effort to come before winter. Ubulus greets you, as do Prudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers. The Lord be with your spirit, grace be with you. What a list of people. You think Paul was an isolated person who didn't love people, wouldn't pour it into people? There's your indication. His mission was investment in people. And you know what he has at the end? Some people he thought were going to turn out great, Demas. And Demas abandons Paul and likely the faith he loved the present world. There are people that Paul thinks, you know what, we've had such a blow up, we'll never get back together again. Him and John Mark had a pretty big blow up after the first missionary journey. Even Paul and Barnabas broke path. And now here at the end there's been a surprise reconciliation. Now Mark is back in the fold. Luke is stuck with Paul, but Timothy's away. He's like, Would you come see me, Timothy? We don't know if Timothy made it or not. There are other people that are sick and can't make it. And this is the context in which the Apostle Paul's life ends. It's ordered and it is disordered. He has finished his mission, but there's a lot more mission to finish, but he's invested enough that once his race is run, there's a team of runners that are still ready to race. This is the point of this series. When your race is run, when my race is run, will there be a team of runners ready to run the race because we have run the race and finished our race well? You know, I talked about death today, which not be too many people like to talk about. I ask you this simple question. If it was your day to die, do you know where you spend eternity? Have you trusted in Jesus for your salvation? Have you turned from sin and self and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone for your salvation? If you're unsure about your eternity today, I'll be here, Pastor Ishmael will be here. We'll take a Bible, show you how you can be a Christian. You shouldn't leave today without full assurance that you're a Christian and not based upon your doing, but God's doing, Jesus' doing. That your eternity is secure. And if you are a Christian today Are you being faithful to the mission that God has given you? And when your day is up, will you have finished the race? I hope that this message series, even though it ends right now, will continue on in your heart and life in the days to come. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask you, God, that we would take the things that we have learned. And entrust them to others, so that they can entrust them to others beyond us. God may our life be seen in how we give ourselves away to others. And God may you create a multiplication mission work here at Liberty Baptist. God may we be few in number. And yet may we may we influence far greater than our number because we one-on-one, two on two, individually share. God, we pray that we would be a mentor, that we would get a mentor, that we would do what your word tells us to do, so that the mission can not only Happen in our day, but it would be multiplied through your work in our life and happen into future days. God, we ask for your mercy to do what your word says in Jesus' name. Amen.