Text: 2 Timothy 1:1-14

Topic: How to face an uncertain future

Introduction:

• Illustration: May begins this post-9-11 message by citing several ominous cultural indicators following the 9-11 attack.

• It is an understatement to say that our future is uncertain, and it is certain that, as a nation, we face hard times.

• In order to get through this crisis, we need to live deliberate, careful lives.

• 2 Timothy 1:6

• Illustration: May lists three examples—one at a local football game, one at a nearby church, and one at the church pastured by Norman Vincent Peale—of people purposefully not allowing crisis to hinder or stop their normal activities.

• Don't put your work of service to God on hold.

• This is an opportunity for us to re-evaluate our gifts, and look for new ways to put them to work.

• Illustration: May quickly lists three examples of people forging new ministries that address needs specifically created by the 9-11 crisis.

• Illustration: May quotes an unnamed Tennessee woman: "If the terrorists strike Tennessee next, I want to be working for Jesus when it happens."

• Illustration: May illustrates the mistake of fear by referencing the panic on Wall Street following 9-11.

• Illustration: May lifts up the example of a man who was terrified of youth ministry but saw it needed to be done and did it despite his fear.

• We cannot let fear hold us back from doing anything God would have us do.

• 2 Timothy 1:7

• Stand up to fear through God's power.

• Ephesians 3:20

• Stand up to fear through love.

• 1 John 4:18

• Illustration: May scoffs at comedian Bill Mahr's statement that Christian missionaries are motivated by arrogance, contending only love motivates that kind of sacrifice.

• Stand up to fear through self-discipline.

Be willing to suffer for those who suffer.

• 2 Timothy 1:8

• When people are made aware of suffering, they usually bend over backwards to help out.

• Don't become so wrapped up in the details of your own life that you become oblivious to the suffering of others.

• God has promised us a blessed life, but it is also a life that involves suffering, because doing his work is sometimes hard work.

• Illustration: May demonstrates the comfort-first attitude through the story of a woman in a former church who quit the worship team because it wasn't fun anymore.

Trust God for the results.

• 2 Timothy 1:12

• Paul's sense of security was not in himself, it was in God.

• Illustration: May quickly praises one of the 9-11 passengers on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers overtook the hijackers, quoting his wife: "I believe he was on the plane for a higher purpose."

Conclusion:

• Big Idea: Even in the midst of uncertainty, we can face the future with confidence.

• Take