2 Timothy 2:36

1
God's Soldier, Athlete Farmer

• 2 Timothy 23-6

2
A Faithful Christian IsA Focused Soldier

• Must Endure Hardships
• The hardships that come on good soldiers
• Good soldiers make sacrifices endure hardships
• Separation from family friends
• Exposed to difficult situations
• Physically exhausting work (long hours little
  sleep)
• Frequent hunger and thirst
• Face dangers, even death
• Receive inadequate appreciation for hard work
• Yet, never give up, never turn back
• Jesus was up front about this (Matt. 510-12).
• Hardship, in some measure, is a reality that
  every Christian soldier must expect (2 Tim. 312).

3
A Faithful Christian IsA Focused Soldier

• Must Endure Hardships
• Must Maintain His Focus
• Must not become entangled in the affairs of life
  (cf. 2 Pet. 220)
• Entangled to weave in, to be involved with
• Used of a sheep whose wool caught in thorns
• A soldier was/is not permitted to be engaged in
  any relationships, activities, occupations or
  anything else that would interfere or divert
  his/her mind from his PRIMARY task as a soldier.
• A Christian soldier must not allow the affairs of
  this life (no matter what it is) to take PRIORITY
  over his/her responsibility to God (cf. Luke
  814).

4
A Faithful Christian IsA Focused Soldier

• Must Endure Hardships
• Must Maintain His Focus
• The emphasis is on wholehearted, concentrated
  service devoting full time attention to task
• Christianity must be our vocation, our career,
  our reason for livingnever our avocation or our
  hobby (Mt. 633 Col. 31-3).
• Everything else, including our jobs, is secondary
  (less important than 24/7 Christianity) and if
  they are not, weve missed the mark!

5
A Faithful Christian IsA Focused Soldier

• Must Endure Hardships
• Must Maintain His Focus
• Must Strive to Please His Lord
• This is the purpose of enduring hardships and not
  entangling in affairs of life
• This is the primary goal of the soldier
• Not to execute his own desires or plans
• But to serve to gain the approval of the
  Commander-in-Chief
• This is the primary motivator of the soldier
• Not interested in pleasing world, for nothing to
  offer
• Compelled daily to please Him, has everything to
  offer

6
A Faithful Christian IsA Focused Soldier

• Must Endure Hardships
• Must Maintain His Focus
• Must Strive to Please His Lord
• This is a learning process (cf. Eph. 510)
• Learning what is pleasing to God and is
  acceptable to Him
• Learning what is unpleasing to God and is
  unacceptable to Him
• Everything a Christian soldier does must be with
  a view to please Christ (Eph. 65-6 Col. 317,
  22, 23 2 Cor. 59 cf. John 829).
• The Christian soldiers loyalty is to Christ and
  to Him alone, even unto death (Rev. 210).

7
A Faithful Christian IsA Dedicated Athlete

• Must Exercise Discipline Self-Denial
• Takes his task seriously
• A dedicated athlete will
• Keep to his schedule let nothing interfere
• Engage in prescribed workouts training
• Live a strictly separated life
• Control his appetite follow a rigid diet
• Push himself to do more do better all the time
• Set his standard of fitness and not deviate
• This is NOT a spare-time thing.
• A spare-time Christian is a contradiction in
  terms.
• It is a whole-time dedication of life (cf. 1 Tim.
  47 1 Cor. 927).

8
A Faithful Christian IsA Dedicated Athlete

• Must Exercise Discipline Self-Denial
• Must compete according to the rules
• In athletic competitions, there are rules/
  standards that govern competition must be
  followed.
• If not followed disqualified.
• In Christianity, there are rules/standards that
  govern our lives must be followed (2 Tim. 113
  Matt. 721-23 John 1248).
• If not followed disqualified (2 Cor. 135).

9
A Faithful Christian IsA Dedicated Athlete

• Must Exercise Discipline Self-Denial
• Must compete according to the rules
• Not enough just to know the rules must compete
  using Bible as the standard.
• James 122-25 (hearers vs. doers)
• James 214-26 (faith vs. works)
• The only way to please God and run the Christian
  race successfully is to adhere to his laws (2
  Tim. 215).
• With the strong disdain today for laws,
  regulations, restrictions and strict adherence to
  such (even in religion), let us not give in to
  the temptation to relax our standards give
  anything less than full obedience!
• People understand this in athletics! Why not
  religion?

10
A Faithful Christian IsA Dedicated Athlete

• Must Exercise Discipline Self-Denial
• Must compete according to the rules
• Must Press to Win the Prize
• The imagery of the athlete demands this
• Its not simply a hope.
• Its the whole objective of the Christian athlete
  (cf. 1 Cor. 924-27).
• The Christian athlete must aim for heaven
• Philippians 312-14
• 2 Timothy 47-8
• Competing by fighting the good fight
• Competing by the rules in keeping the faith
• Competing for the victors crown

11
A Faithful Christian IsA Persevering Farmer

• Must First Labor to Obtain the Reward
• Nothing will come from doing nothing
• Farming is hard work and requires hard work
• Literally, work to the point of exhaustion
• The seed must be planted in the ground
• The farmer must supply water fertilizer to help
  grow
• Effort must be made to remove control weeds
• The farmer must work diligently while there is
  daylight
• The farmer must depend on God for sunshine rain
• Farmers must do all of this hard work and then
  learn to WAIT PATIENTLY for the results.
• This applies in our efforts to teach others, in
  our efforts as parents, etc.

12
A Faithful Christian IsA Persevering Farmer

• Must First Labor to Obtain the Reward
• Must Be First to Partake of the Harvest
• The incentive for such hard work is the hope of
  the fruitful harvest
• The hard-working farmer is entitled to receive a
  rewardhe gets to be the first one to partake of
  the harvest
• As one studies to teach others, he benefits first
• As one works to strengthen others, he benefits
  first
• As one builds anothers faith, he benefits first
• He partakes first of the blessings of his own
  efforts
• You who teach, do you not teach yourself? (Rm.
  221)

13
Gods Soldier, Athlete Farmer

• The worldly Christian soldier who gets entangled
  in the affairs of this life does not please his
  Commander-in-Chief.
• The lawless Christian athlete who fails to abide
  by the rules and regulations of the gospel is not
  in line for the crown of life.
• The lazy Christian farmer who refuses to work
  hard will not partake of the harvest of the
  heavenly reward.
• Gods SAF diligently keeps his eye on the goal
• The final victory for the soldier
• The vision of the crown for the athlete
• The hope of the harvest for the farmer

14
Become Gods Soldier, Athlete Farmer Today

• Believe Jesus is Gods Son John 824
• Repent of your sins Acts 1711
• Confess your faith in Jesus Matthew 1032
• Be immersed in water Galatians 327
• Sins are forgiven Acts 2216
• Added to His church Acts 247
• Registered in heaven Hebrews 1223
• Endure, compete work hard 2 Tim. 23-6