Plainfield Christian Church
10-06-24 | Finish Line Faith: The Other Side of the Coin
Welcome to the Plainfield Christian Church podcast. We hope that this message encourages you today. For additional resources to learn about what it looks like to be fully alive with Jesus, visit our website at plainfieldchristian.com. Enjoy the podcast. Man, I have a treat for you today. One of my very dear friends is here to preach for us this morning. James Meek's and I got to be classmates together in grad school at Wheaton College and James and I are kind of on opposite ends of our ministry journey. You know we've been walking through this series through the book of Second Timothy and Paul is kind of at the end of his ministry journey and he's passing the baton to his young protege in the faith Timothy and as we've walked through Second Timothy I've kind of felt like Timothy here like I'm the rookie I'm green wet behind the ears I don't know anything but as we were planning this series months ago when I think of the Apostle Paul I think of James Meek's. I'm not sure that I know anybody who has a greater legacy of disciples and kingdom impact than Reverend James Meek's. He and his lovely wife Jamelle who's here with him this morning planted and have led one of the most influential churches in the entire country Salem Baptist Church in Chicago. They have a long list of accomplishments of amazing things that God has done through them far too long for me to read here but here's what you need to know for this morning. We've said all along in this series that how you finish is more important than how you start and James and Jamelle embody that this is a couple that is finishing really well and I've gotten to spend a lot of time with the two of them and see how well and how deeply they love their family they're raising their kids and their grandkids to know and love the Lord they have led their church faithfully for decades and now they have passed the baton honorably and I got to be there to see it happen and and if you ever want to know where you can find Reverend James Meek's you can find James Meek's every morning at 6 a.m. with Jesus and that's why you can believe every word he's going to say to you today. Now before he gets up here and preaches I want you to know that in James's church the sermon is a little bit more of a conversation right it's not like just the preacher standing up and reading something to you that he's prepared it takes a little bit of audience interaction you know to give the man a little bit of an amen or a little bit of a glory hallelujah to get him going at this time of the morning okay so this morning I'm gonna ask you all for the next 30 minutes can you just pretend with me that we actually know how to do that would you guys join me in that 30 minutes you guys can we do that together all right if so then would you please join me in welcoming my brother and my friend James Meek's so here it is I'm thinking that I was invited because I was a good preacher or something and he just stood here and told you that I've been invited because I'm old and he says he's young Timothy and he was looking for an old Paul to fill in that role and so I started to get up and walk out I really did I was but I'm so excited to be here with you my wife is with me my wife of Christmas day this Christmas day 2024 we would have been married 45 years you stand up honey 45 years so people ask me why were you married on Christmas day you were gonna find me forgetting my wedding anniversary and so and we dated watch this six years before that so we've been together 51 years 51 years that means she found me somewhere around first grade but I am so excited to be here Luke is a great young man we met in grad school and I was just drawn to him and his spirit we heard Luke preach one day and he knocked it out the park and all of us fell in love with him you are blessed to have Luke Proctor standing here each Sunday amen all right how many of you are I love my children I have four children I love them but I have five grandchildren how many of you are grandparents anybody all right all right all right you understand what I mean there right my wife says always that grandchildren are the reward you get for not killing your children and so that I thought some little kid that's died over there but we are we're grateful to the Lord I'm excited to be here let's pray our father and our God this is your time use it for your glory draw us to yourself help us to understand your word we put everything in your hand in Jesus name amen second Timothy chapter 2 second Timothy chapter 2 let me start reading at the third verse thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ no man that wore it and tangle it himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who had chosen him to be a soldier if a man also strive for masteries yet is he not crowned except he strived lawfully the husband man that labor it must first be a partaker of the fruit consider what I say and the Lord give the understanding that's our prayer today that God would give us understanding in all things remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to the gospel first twelve if we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he also will deny us amen I want to talk from the subject the other side of the coin the other side of the coin all of us are familiar with a coin am I right about it all of us or he told y'all to say amen back to me all of us are familiar with a coin a coin has two sides right there's all right here's a test there's heads and then there's very good now I want you to know that the group in the early service were fantastic there's one more service to go I really hope I could brag on you in that next service but a coin has two sides heads and tail that very good very good you you warming up tell me I'm feeling like I'm gonna be bragging on you soon there many things with two sides a record has two sides now there's a picture here young people of something called a record and believe it or not back in ancient history when some of us were growing up how many of you remember records yeah that's the way we used to get our music where we used to get our music we had records and then we put them on something called a record player right and then there was a needle somewhere the needle and you put the needle on top and I have scratched so many records but anyway a record has two sides some people say that marriage how many of you married Mary Mary all right all right if you're with your spouse you've with the spouse just tell him you love him tell me love him come on just say it say it still with him why do I say that this is the first of the month this is the first of the month yet they probably won't hear it for the rest of the month some people say that marriage is like a record oh you get married for one side but the other side just came along with it you know but a record has two sides a story a story a story has many sides right there's my side your side and the truth is somewhere story has a lot of sides in this particular passage Paul is writing to his son Timothy his son in the faith Timothy is not his natural son but it's his son in the faith of the 14 letters that are written by Paul now some people say 13 I say 14 because I give Paul credit for writing Hebrews since nobody knows who really wrote Hebrews so I'm not wrong by just giving it to Paul he wrote all the rest of them he wrote all the rest of them why not give him Hebrews too but but but this book is special because second Timothy is Paul's last book is his last book by the time that Paul writes this letter now watch this he is 60 years old and he's in prison in Rome Luke and I had a chance to visit the maritime prison where Paul was but he's 60 I used to think that Paul was a old man my pastor used to preach about old man Paul old man Paul said old man Paul said now when I visited I was real old when I got my master's I was 62 when I started the class so when we went to maritime prison I was about 64 and so the guy was telling us he said yes the apostle Paul he died around age 60 and I'm sending myself old man Paul 60 ain't old how many of you know the older you get that ain't old no more amen amen that's not that's not old so this young guy named Paul he he writes these Bible books this is the last one but in Paul's writings Paul has left us with some awfully encouraging verses I thank God for Paul I really do because Paul is an encourager and he said some mighty encouraging things he said he said in Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 he said this I can do what all things do Christ that strengthens me as long as Christ gives me the strength I can do it and let me say to all of you who are believers all of you who are Christian whatever you set out to do whatever you're trying to do don't ever try to do it in your own strength take Christ alone with you do it with him do it for him and you will discover that you can do some remarkable things as God gives you the strength amen he said something else Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 let us not be weary in what well doing for in due season ye shall reap if you faint not that that means that whatever you're doing don't get weary you will eventually see some of the fruit of your labors but don't give up I'm gonna I'm gonna push you a little bit tell the person next to you don't give up don't give up amen don't give up don't give up come on now I see a lot of young children here today and I know that there are many parents here and I was really talking to you don't give up maybe I absolutely amen don't give up you got you got one you know that that was your word all right you can leave then Paul says something else my favorite Romans 8 28 it says and we know that what all things work together for good to them that love God and to them that's called according to its purpose now listen you love God anybody here love God anybody here love God I love God anybody all right the Bible says if we love God no matter what we go through no matter what's going on in our lives we know that those things are going to work together for good in that good news in that good news Paul has written some encouraging words last last last one last one on Paul Romans 10 19 if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead what's the last line thou shall be saved church I like this Paul I love encouraging Bible verses and I think that the mistake here it is that the Christian church is making today is to make people think that there's only one side of the Christian coin you you with me you get it I think that's a mistake we make people think there's only one side of the Christian coin believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved I like that I like that I'm with it sign me up I'm for it cast all your cares on him for he cares for you I like that I could ride with that we've been made and do it for a night joy comes in the morning okay I don't mind crying if I know that it's gonna only last one night I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me if we're not careful we can be guilty of thinking and we can be guilty of presenting Christianity as only having one side of a coin Paul in this letter because he's older he's mature he's training his young protege Timothy and he knows that soon he'll be put to death his time is short so he decided he said Timothy let me share with you as you take on certain responsibilities Timothy as you face life without me I want to tell you now before before I'm gone there is another side of the Christian coin are y'all seeing what I'm saying I think that the reason we have so many church dropouts and I think that the reason there's so many people that don't stick with the Christian faith is because like the record or like marriage we get into Christianity for one side without realizing or without having a clue that there's another side to the Christian coin and so in this text Paul is sharing with Timothy how to be prepared for the other side two sides of a coin on one side Jesus paid it all don't you like that side oh come on you know Jesus paid it all all to him oh yeah I like that side I like that side but on the other side of the coin I got to put some skin in the game on the other side of the coin there's something required of me I'm not necessarily crazy about that side I want you to know that so in in in second Timothy Paul is reminding Timothy of some things second Timothy chapter two verse two let's see the first thing that he reminds him of he says and the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others the first thing he reminds Timothy of is our mission let me hear you say our mission what is the mission of the New Testament church why are we here why do we exist the mission of the New Testament church is to make disciples that's our mission that's why we're in the earth to make disciples we get our mission primarily from two spaces Matthew chapter 28 when Jesus was resurrected from the dead the first thing he says to his disciples he he gets up from the grave he's talking to his disciples first thing he says to them is all power all the Thorin is given unto me in heaven and in earth I got the power I got the power now this is what I want you to do go into all the world teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father son and the Holy Ghost teach them to observe all things and lo I'll be with you always even to the end of the age the first thing he told them after the resurrection was make disciples said make disciples first thing all right what are Jesus's last words on earth what is his last words you know you don't really use your last words on nothing frivolous you know that don't you families gather around the bed you're laying there you you speaking above a whisper it's your last words uh people leaning close to hear what you say you don't usually say something like don't forget to get me a lottery ticket you know that that's that's not the kind of thing that you say don't forget to get the washing machine fixed that that's not the kind of thing you say I mean your last word is really something important right do you know that we have Jesus's last words acts one and eight are his last words in acts one and nine it says and after he said this he was taken up so what did he say in acts one and eight and he shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and he shall be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and all the other most parts of the world his first words after the resurrection go make disciples his last word before he was taken up go make disciples so it's very simple the mission of our of the church is we make disciples who make disciples who make disciples you have to you have to be a little older to remember this that was a commercial that used to say he told two people and they told two people and so on and so on and so on and that's the mission of the New Testament church to make disciples that's it it is said that when Jesus went back to heaven all the angels met him and they were praising him and congratulating him on a work well done on earth and all of a sudden one angel asked him Lord who's going to carry on now who's going to tell the story now and Jesus says hey don't worry about it I left for church I left for church maybe this is in playing field but he says I left for church and the angel said what if they don't do it Jesus said they have to do it because I have no other plan it is not up to the government to make disciples it is not up to the state of Indiana to make disciples the mission of the New Testament churches to do what that was good but slow it was right but slow the mission of the New Testament churches what oh my god you blowing out the last service I forget them this this this service is the bomb I can't wait to brag on you in the next service we make disciples well then where does the where where does the pain come in or what's this thing about the other side of the coin I'm glad you asked disciple making and living for Jesus is not very easy you know I said living for Jesus okay I said another way living for Jesus the right way is not very easy so not only do we have our mission to consider but next of all we have our misery to consider Jesus said I mean Paul said now Timothy if you're gonna do this thing right verse three in dual hardness as a good soldier endure hardness in other words you gonna have some tough times do you know that a word that you rarely hear in the New Testament church today is the word sacrifice do you know that we rarely associate the Christian faith with sacrifice or us paid playing a part in it pain any kind of price or having something that's required of us that ain't the kind of preaching we really like I mean first of all Luke asked me to preach on this I wouldn't I wouldn't have voluntarily preached on this I just want you to know and he couldn't have announced next week the pastor's gonna talk about sacrifice that's not why you get up really in the morning to come to church to hear a sermon about sacrifice that that's not where we are oh oh by the way by the way by the way station identification station identification the team that the Colts are playing this afternoon the Jackson field Jaguars they have not won a game so I want you to relax I want you to relax I want you to relax I know that you use that you're saving most of your prayers I know you're saving I know that you say use one on the message use one just breathe one my way because the other team is they have won a game yet you guys should be all right all right you guys should be all right now if you were bad fans we would be worried bad fans where are you all right you're good people your good people your good people and you're very patient people too you're very patient people all right Paul paints three pictures to show us about sacrifice the first picture he paints is he says that the Christian faith can be like a being a soldier it can be like being a soldier you see the soldier I don't know why they had a soldier in the dark I mean he's in the dark he doesn't have a face he doesn't have eyes but okay being a Christian can be like a soldier how many of you served in the military anybody anybody in red all right all right all right that's right we praise God for you we thank God for you we thank you for your service we thank you for protecting our country a man soldier ain't a easy life once you have enlisted your life is not your own Jesus said the same thing if any man is to follow after me let him first did not himself but Paul is trying to show us that a soldier's life is tough and a Christian's life can be tough soldiers don't get a chance to get out the bed whenever they want to I mean soldiers they don't have a they don't even have alarm clock they got a horn when you hit that horn you hit that horn you don't get the push news on the horn you hit that horn it means it's time to get up soldiers don't get a chance to eat whatever they want to eat you don't get a chance there's no so just a knob mom never gave us broccoli you know you have to eat what you have to eat a soldier doesn't say oh it's two o'clock there's something I really need to watch on television I'm sorry guys I see all of you late see you later I got something to go and watch on television soldiers your your life is not your own am I right about that soldiers I wouldn't have I wouldn't have made a good soldier I really know it soldiers don't get to run as many miles as they want to run right soldiers don't get a chance to say oh no no I don't I don't do eight miles oh no you know I don't I don't do two K I don't do 3k I told him in the earlier service the closest I have become to doing it how many of you ever run it's a race a marathon anybody all right all right okay the K that I get close to is a breakfast called special K that's as close as I get but soldiers serve at the pleasure of the commanding officer you don't you don't believe me look at verse four soldiers serve at the no man that war is entangulates himself with the affairs of this life that he made please him who has chosen him to be a soldier soldiers man soldiers got it rough and soldiers have to clean toilets and make up the bed and peeled potatoes and soldiers can't say a thing that we say today I'm not into that oh you into it now because you in the army am I right about it and so Paul is trying to tell us that being a Christian is tough not only does he paint the picture of a soldier but he paints a picture of an athlete athletes have it hard nothing more difficult than training nothing more difficult than training I wouldn't know that I've read that but I told you earlier I'm not the running type I'm not the peloton my wife brought me a one of those walking things that people walk on you ain't yeah trip me you ain't going nowhere you just standing there and she put the treadmill in our basement and one day I some guys were at the house they were moving the treadmill to the room next to my bedroom and I think that she thought that by being that close it was gonna help me go just next door to the every suit I got just hanging on that treadmill but people who win the olympic gold medal that medal is not one that night on the at the olympics that medal is won at 5 a.m. in the morning during training during training a person who is an athlete there are rules that athletes have to obey and the scripture says that there's this rule and every athlete no matter what the game is there's always somebody there who's a referee right in baseball there's a oh man y'all good I'm gonna take y'all on the road with me baseball there's an umpire and football there are referees there are at least six referees in football because you don't get to do it the way you want to do it there are 10 yards that you have to get in order to make a first down you don't get a chance to say you know I we're gonna do eight because our bus got in late our flight got in late our guys are a little tired so we gonna do eight no you don't get a chance to do it the way you want to do it you have to do it the way the game says that it has to be done you don't get a chance to run outside of the the painted stripes you don't get a chance to run outside saying you know what it was some people in the way over there right there's some people in the way over there so we ran over it no you don't you don't get a chance to do that Paul is saying that life as a Christian is like that we don't get a chance to make our own rules just because somebody cut you off on the highway you don't get a chance to give them a bleak word the Bible says blessed are ye when men shall revolve you and persecute you and say oh man or be evil against you for monster that there are rules in Christianity now all of us want the price all of us want the price but we have to live the kind of life the Bible says that God will not withhold any good thing from those who walk upright a marathon you know I was watching the news the other day and a person who won the marathon they they were looking at the tapes of the winner and they noticed that they didn't see this dude at the beginning of the race where's this guy don't they couldn't find it they looked at the middle of the race they ain't they ain't trying to do it about the three fourths point in the race right before the end here this guy come jumping in the marathon jumped in the marathon won the race I mean well of course he had more energy than everybody else he started two hours later than everybody else but he didn't get to win the race because he violated the rules and that's what Paul says if we're gonna win the crown we got to go according to the rules and but when we do things according to the rules of Christianity it's tough it's tough if those of you who've been a Christian for a while you know it's tough young people it is not easy to be a Christian the right way it is not easy Paul then gives us a picture of a farmer farming ain't easy either any of you all ever work on the farm anybody ever worked God bless your heart God bless your heart farming is not easy either you got to chase chickens around you got a water crops you got to get up you you have to be patient and wait for crops to grow so Paul gives us these pictures what Pastor Meek's what is the motivation in being a Christian if it's not all sunshine if we have these difficult days how do we make it I'm glad you asked he said we make it by remembering verse eight he says by remembering that God raised Jesus from the dead God raised Jesus from the dead in other words when we're going through tough times anybody ever had tough times as a Christian anybody anybody anybody anybody somebody said I'm having one right now I'm having one right now I'll be fine in about two minutes when you sit down I'll be out of my misery I get it I get it the way to make it is to realize we win in the end I said we win we win we win we win no matter how tough it gets or rough the tomb is empty because our Savior lives it shares with us it shows us that we win we win now anybody ever used to read comic books anybody anybody ever read comic books all right so as a kid I got comic books all the time but I would read them but I had anxiety because I always thought this was this is the last book this is this is Superman ain't gonna get out of this there is no way Superman could get out of this and I was just read but I was I would cry sometimes I had anxiety so finally I learned a trick I learned a trick when I got a comic book the first thing I did was turn to the last page and I'd read the last page first and I saw that Superman had gotten was gonna get out of whatever he got in I go back to the first page and I'd read it and I just be as calm as you could be because I knew the end I knew it was gonna be all right well saints I came by to tell you today that I know we face challenges in life I know we face difficulties in life but guess what I did what I used to do when I was a kid I read the end of the book and when you read the end of the book we win we come out triumphant our Lord wins in the end they crown them King of Kings and they crown them Lord of all and He's there and we're there I don't care what you're going through we win let that be your motivation let that be your motivation and tough times in difficult seasons let that be your motivation that we win in the end amen amen let me pray for you let me pray our Father and our God thank you that we win in the end thank you that because you live we can face tomorrow that because you're on our side we can be triumphant even if it looks like it's dark or difficult thank you for this church thank you for Luke and thank you for the new son that was just born into the world now God give us all hope that we win in the end in Jesus name amen God bless you thank you for listening to the podcast today it is our deepest desire here at Plainfield Christian Church that you would experience the joy of being fully alive in Jesus if you have any questions about our church or would like a plan to visit with us go to PlainfieldChristian.com if you'd like to receive our podcast every week we encourage you to subscribe to the Plainfield Christian Church podcast on whatever podcasting platform you'll prefer have a great week (upbeat music) (upbeat music)