Blueprint of a Strong Church

we going to be into our first Timothy study I want to give you a little background uh it was about May of 2023 and if you're here you know that Pastor got awful sick at that time uh Caleb at that period of time came to me and pastor enner and he told us that we need to have some kind of unity in our teaching at the time we were uh each taking turns covering the teaching on the main service because Pastor was too sick to be able to do that and Pastor Caleb WI easily recognized that since there was no consistency with the speakers uh it would be beneficial for the church if at least the messages had some consistency and so we talked about it and it was decided that we teach through Romans and

that came about our Romans series well now that Pastor is back and the Roman series is complete the leadership wanted to uh take what was started with Romans and expanded out with this first Timothy series and to do that I wanted to kind of let you guys know what what we've changed and what we're going to be doing so you can be prepared and one of the things we're going to do is um add a couple extra speakers and so as you know we had to say our Aloha to Pastor Caleb and uh now we're gonna have uh Pastor Peter uh taking his position and I'm kind of excited about that um I've always appreciated uh Pastor Peter his uh his honesty his uh his desire for the truth really stands out and his

character I've always appreciated that with him and I think you guys will enjoy having him speak as well the neat thing if you didn't know is is uh Pastor Peter is actually our head Deacon and as we go through our study in first Timothy we're going to get into sections that speak about the requirements uh for leadership within the church and and really who better to speak on some of those passages then our lead Deacon and so Pastor Peter will be taking on that as well in addition in addition to that we have the big boss on our team this this uh series as well and pastor Wayne is going to be joining uh teaching us as well and it's uh exciting to have him working with us all and we appreciate

his leadership in that now as Pastor has noted we're also going to be having fellowships afterwards and I wanted to give you some more information on that what we'll do tonight is once we break uh after the discussion time we'll have a fellowship and those fellowships are going to be supported by the Sunday School groups now there's uh five Sunday school groups and there won't be a fellowship after every speaker it'll only be after either me or uh pastor enner or Pastor Peter um pastor Wayne we're not going to do it that was actually my choice by the way that was to give him some flexibility but what that means is each of the Sunday School groups will be asked about once every five to seven

weeks to help provide food and the food we're looking for is not for a full meal but just for like snacks and kind of that poo poo level uh type of food so that'll be going on and um look forward to this series rolling out but we'll see how the Lord uh works with all of this now now tonight I'm going to start uh one of three messages somebody else will teach next week and somebody else the third uh that are really introductions to this book of First Timothy I want to look at the background of this book it was uh written to the man the young man who was the minister of the church at Ephesus now the city of Ephesus that it's written to I think we have I hopefully we have a map to go up

regarding that we'll see if it comes up there uh the city of Ephesus is in modern day turkey and uh what it was of Paul's day is really in Ruins today there good you see it there you see the uh note there about First Corinthians was written there Paul did write First Corinthians in Ephesus uh but you see it's over there on the side of a Turkey um off the Mediterranean now uh the city of Ephesus at that time uh was a city that was a port city it wasn't right on the water but it's close enough to the water there was a port there and then there was four major uh trade routes that came to the city uh in Paul's day uh this city uh was such a big city in the Roman Empire it was considered the

Gateway uh to Asia um you kind of went to Ephesus to head out uh towards the rest of Asia when the Apostle John as Guided by the Holy Spirit writes the book of Revelation uh in the first couple chapters there are letters that the uh Lord is sending out to churches and John's writing these and the first uh letter actually is to Ephesus you can read about that in Revelations 2 1-7 but the interesting thing is the uh churches that follow uh in that letter are the churches that you would cross as you went on the trade routes leaving Ephesus and so you can sign and see the importance of Ephesus and and how it kind of branches out to the rest of the Kingdom in Acts chapter 19 verse 10 we really

see the importance of the city and its geographical location because of what effects the church has on the rest of the empire in Acts chap 19:1 um it says and and this continued by the space of two years this is Paul he's been speaking there for the a period of two years uh so that all they which dwell in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus Christ both Jews and Greeks now this isn't saying that everybody in Asia had heard the message but what this is noting is that the message had gone out from Ephesus and had effect Ed all of the Asian portion of the Roman Empire so great was the uh impact from that City that it just branched out into the world so that uh Paul was able to preach the

message in that City and as he continued to preach uh the message it just branches out to the rest of Asia now as we look at this city I have some exciting news for you because this city and our city are very similar we have a lot of the same um a lot of the same opportunities as far as impact like emphasis we have a lot of people that come here we have uh vacationers we have college students we have military that come here for a period of time and uh because of that what has happened is our church Ohana has actually made a similar worldwide impact you know as I was thinking about the people that have been here and the people I've gotten to know and where they've come from and where they've

gone and and who their families are and and and I was realizing that we have affected a huge portion of the world through our church I know of impacts that have happened in the Philippines in Japan in Korea Vietnam Cambodia China and most of the continental United States we have military families that Branch off even farther and go to other portions of other other um Nations as well too and the impact of this church is is truly worldwide we have been making an impact around the world and yet we're a very very small church if you take this church that we're in when you put us somewhere else we're not going to have that much of a worldwide impact and so we need to recognize the special n that

we have because we are here in Honolulu and for this reason then we should pay special attention to what Paul is going to teach us in uh First Timothy because Paul knows that he's writing to a church that is very influential and and for that church to make the most of its opportunity uh Paul's going to write that it must be free of false Doctrine and it must be guided by men of character who are first committed to the kingdom of God in all areas of their lives this is the reason then why we have titled this series the blueprint for the church we've called it the blueprint for the church you know uh I'm an engineer I I Minister here and I also have a company over in the Winward side as a

engineer and what we do is we outside of doing the engineering calcul ation we produce drawings to show contractors and Carpenters how to put structures together and one of the things I've learned with working with contractors for many many years is that contractors for the most part are pretty smart and if you tell a contractor to go to go build a building for the most part they can build a building that will be able to support the up and down loads what we call vertical loads on the structure so all the weight of the structure the people in the structure anything that's added to the structure to be honest a lot of times contractors don't need Engineers to figure that out they're pretty

sharp I've noticed but there's one aspect that they don't kind of get and it's not intuitive and that's the fact that structures also take a side load to them we get hurricanes that come blowing through we have those periodic earthquakes that hit us every once in a while that shake us pretty good and those later lateral loads are a little harder to figure out how to keep the structure together and so what what is necessary is that these contractors while good in one area must pay attention to the blueprint and follow the directions so that when we do get hit with you know the periodic hurricane or the periodic earthquake that the structure isn't damaged and it doesn't fall and so is the

series with first Timothy if we are going to rely on the world's wisdom instead of the blueprint for the church when things get difficult and when false doctrines come and and Shake us we're going to be damaged or knocked over but if we follow the blueprint that Paul lays out here for the church and we set us up we will be strong and we will stand when we have those challenges that are that come against us and so we want to look at First Timothy and and follow through on this blueprint that's been given to us for the organization for the working of our church now this book is written by Paul as we mentioned and if you turn to First Timothy chapter 1 verse one we'll look at this first verse

of Paul's introduction here there in 1 Timothy 1:1 it says Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the Commandment of God Our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ which is Our Hope Paul is is is writing out this letter and as he writes he notes that he's the Apostle by the command of both God and the Lord Jesus Christ Paul here his testimony is pretty amazing it's it's it's um yeah it's pretty amazing because you know if you looked at Paul at what he was prior to Christ prior to coming to Christ he's going to be the type of person that you think you know what you just can't be saved recently I was talking to someone and they had recently come to know the Lord it was actually last year where they came to

know the Lord yeah I think it was it was last year they came to know the Lord and they were talking about their family and they were saying you know my my family um is so far away from accepting Christ in fact my family and I know what the issues are and they said my family um is living in a manner that is actually uh seeks to tear down the Christian faith they're not just um uh uh sorry I'm losing losing my words here they're they're not uh just passive in their view their view is active against the faith in the family and this this hurts this person's heart and they want to see uh their family come to Christ but they know what they're like and the thing is is why this person is saying this

and expressing the desire of their heart for their families to come to come to Christ uh I'm kind of sitting there thinking too at the same time you know what you had those same views and personally I'm kind of surprised that you came to Christ well that's Paul Paul's coming from a background that is so out there it's surprising that he comes to Christ but yet he does Paul prior to Christ had a lot of Privileges and things that that he held on to as important but ultimately were not he was born in a Roman city of Tarsus which made him a Roman citizen one of the most sought-after privileges of the ancient world his father was a Pharisee which would mean or meant that he received an an intense

education in religious as well as legal matters he spoke Aramaic he spoke Greek and it's very possible he also knew Latin Paul studied and he became a lawyer and he studied under the famous Pharisee Gia and because he studied under this uh Pharisee it's very likely that he heard uh Peter's Peter when Peter preached the gospel in Acts chapter 5 to the counsel but yet Paul would dig his heels in and he would not believe in the gospel if he heard Peter's gospel presentation he would have turned off his ears in fact Paul actually develops this this righteous hatred for Christianity so that when Stephen is killed for his faith in Acts chapter 7 it's Paul whose name was Saul at the time is there

watching over the coats while they put Steven to death when the persecution of the church really starts to heat up it's Paul that's leading the charge you know today as we watch the news it's not uncommon for us to see uh somebody uh a terrorist go out and and blow himself up and kill a bunch of innocent people and that person they they do that because they are convinced that the killing of the Innocence has been called out by their God and and they so intensely believe in this false god that they that they run out to carry out this heinous effect heinous deed and yet this is Paul this is actually the level that Paul gets to but in a sense Paul's even worse because Paul is not only just kind

of blasting a certain number of people he's focusing on directly on on to the Christians he's FOC focusing it directly onto God's people really if there was ever an enemy of Christ it was Paul but it was in this point that that the Lord steps into Paul's life Lord Jesus steps into the Paul's life as he's on his way to persecute the church and it's there that uh God appoints Paul to minister to the Gentiles and the mercy of that I spoke about this a couple weeks ago but the mercy of that is astonishing that God would appoint this enemy to be a missionary that God would take this man to to turn him to write a large portion of the New Testament and as we read Paul we see that this makes this

massive impact on his life as he sees the mercy he's received that Zeal that had led him to be a terrorist uh now is channeled into building up the kingdom of God and in the history of Paul he starts by encouraging and building up the local church and then he launches off into these great missionary Journeys and God uses him greatly to bring Gentiles into the church and it's on one of these missionary Journeys the third one actually that that Paul goes to Ephesus and there he helps build up the church there and he'll spend two years there preaching to them and I suspect that what he was preaching to them is what we just finished which is the uh Book of Romans and he preaches the gospel the

good news is he knows it of Christ to uh the people there in Ephesus and you know because we know know what Paul preaches and because we know of his heart to see the Kingdom built up we know that Paul preached with Zeal for a commitment not just to one aspect of of of Christian life but to the whole of it Paul had great Zeal to live for Christ in all areas of life you know when I was a new Christian there was a a man that I came to know the Lord as a young adult there was a man that uh came to me and wanted to disciple me I'll never forget his name was Doug Denson appreciate the time he spent and I remember one time he asked me and he said Jay John should all Christians live with this kind

of zeal that that Paul had should we all live in this manner where we're giving up everything for the Lord in this manner you know as a new believer I sitting there was thinking about it and and I thought for a little bit and I thought no no we shouldn't because if we did we'd all be missionaries and we all send out we' all you know go out and there would be nobody left in the church because we'd all be in the mission field and nobody could support them and that was kind of my mindset and and as I explained that to Doug Doug didn't really respond afterwards and he just kind of got quiet and I figured well my answer was wrong I don't know why I'm wrong but Doug's not speaking back so I'm

probably wrong and I appreciate doug because he graciously worked with me for a period of time and I came to understand that Paul had a specific calling that caused him to travel the world proclaiming the gospel but but that Zeal that he had for the kingdom that Zeal that he had to uh fulfill the the callings of of of what was given to him that Zeal that desire that full-hearted commitment yes we are to emulate that and Paul preaches that in Philippians in Philippians chapter 3:1 17 he says be a followers together of me we are to follow example his example we should have that kind of zeal in Philippians chap 3: 7-8 he starts to describe how this Zeal looks like there he says but what things

were gained to me those I counted lost for Christ he doubtless and account all things but lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ the Zeal of Paul's heart was the pursuit of Jesus Christ that's his highest motivation and that should also be our highest motivation and and and how that looks like Paul kind of expressed that in the in in his letter to the Church of the um in sorry in Colossians chapter 3:16 where he writes and he says whatsoever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to God and the father by him that pursuit of our

Lord Jesus Christ then reflects this uh doing all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ with Thanksgiving doing all things uh for honor to the Lord Jesus Christ not just not just something things not just missions yes we want to charge on missions we never want to hold back on that but at the same time every other aspect of our Christian Life we work out for the Lord as well I often think that the effectiveness of our missions is reflected when our whole heart is on fire and when our whole heart is on fire then then the Lord uses us greatly I've noticed that fire that Zeal um we get a picture of that in Hebrews chap 12 veres 1-2 let me read that to you it says wherefore seeing we also

are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses L us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily uh beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finishes finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God the passion that that we that we go after the Lord with is like a runner that wants to win you strip off the things that are holding you down you lighten the load as much as you can and then you focus on the prize of the Lord Jesus Christ and you you run with all your might you know Runners if they want to win

they can't carry a bunch of weights and for this what this means for us then is we have to make really real life decisions about what we're going to do and how we're going to act so that we can live in this manner you know it's one thing to hear these commands and hear these verses and in our minds and intellectually say yes I agree but it's another thing to actually work it out we must make real life decisions to be effective in the Kingdom we must remove distractions are there things that distract you in your pursuit of Christ are there things that look more interesting as I mentioned before we intellectually will agree with that statement that Christ is worth uh more than anything else

but but what does our calendars and what does our what does our checkbooks say where do we put our time where do we put our resources where do we put our efforts we are to follow Paul's example of pursuing Christ above all things with zeal and when we do that then it it affects all aspects it affects all our relationships it reflects affects all the um positions that we get put in life so whether we're a father or mother or a student or a worker whether we've been given Authority in a position or whether we're under Authority in some other position all of those things work out in a certain manner to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ for this reason we must be devoted to God's word because

we find direction for how to live in all of those positions for life in his word and so we must devote ourselves to his word but but but beyond the the just reading of his word reading of his word is fantastic don't ever hold back but take the time to meditate on it take the time to think through what it means to you take about the time to to think about what it actually looks like in real life Paul's example for us then is to live for Christ completely not simply with part of our Lives not just with some aspect of service but to live out for Christ all that we are and live it out with that Zeal I mentioned that Paul's testimony is amazing because how God took an enemy and turned him into really a minister and the reality is at some point of all of our Lives we were also enemies of Christ we have also all received immense Mercy think of the mercy that you have received and use that to motivate yourself with that Zeal to follow as Paul has and seek after the kingdom