Look at what Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:5-7. Paul reminds his disciple of who God is, who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done, and then speaks of his own responsibility to preach that truth to the unreached. And though you have heard this probably a hundered times in church we cannot escape the Bible's unrelenting pursuit to commission us into the ministry of God. When we know who he is and what he has done for us, our response is praise, prayer, and eventually it must become preaching! Theology leads to doxology which leads to missiology. The knowledge of God leads to the admiration of God which leads to the mission of God. Another way of saying it if you aren't getting the picture is that faith leads to conversion, conversion leads to discipleship, discipleship leads to transformation, and transformation leads to evangelism. In other words, you cannot have a real knowledge of who God is and the works of his Son and simply sit on the sidelines of history as people wander aimlessly into destruction. You must heed his call, get into the fight, and become a missionary, not in deeds alone, but by preaching the Word of truth wherever you go. When we truly know God we will surrender all we have for the sake of the call!

I want you to think about your faith this morning. What is your faith in? What does your faith do? Who has your faith made you become? If your faith is in the power of Christ who has overcome all temptations and holds the power of life in the palm of his hands, you are redeemed, and can indeed overcome any trials or temptations you may face. Unfortunately, many do not have a faith in Christ which transforms them and empowers them. Many place their faith in their own strength and ability. Many place their faith in the pleasures of this world to power their few temporary moments of elation. Many place their faith in money. Those with the Gold make the rules. And many place their faith in false gods or false gospels. This morning our hope is two-fold. That if you haven't, you would place your faith in the only true hope of the world, Jesus Christ. And then secondly, that those of you who have placed your faith in Christ, would hold strongly to your faith as if your life depended on it. Especially, those called to be Shepherds and Servants in the church.

The Ephesian church was very dear to Paul's heart and he wanted to make sure that they did not stray from the faith in his absence. All of this is the setting in which we find ourselves for the foreseeable future. So what is the primary message that Paul gives to Timothy for the Church of Ephesus? As we will come to find out later, it is for the establishing of church leaders and proper church community. But here Paul simply communicates to Timothy his most pressing matter, that as the primary Shepherd in Ephesus at the time, Timothy must make sure that the other Shepherds are preaching sound doctrine. By the way, I'm using the term Shepherd here as it communicates what an elder or pastor is primarily supposed to do; shepherd the people of God spiritually. We will get into that topic more in depth later in our study. For now we must focus on the issue at hand; Shepherds must protect the Gospel so that the church won't abandon the Gospel. The message of Christ as our Lord and God, who redeemed us from our sinful state through the sacrifice of his own life is non-negotiable. The commands He expects us to live according to, in order to show our devotion to him, are inalienable. When we move away from the standard of the Word of God and its precepts, we will inevitably walk away from our faith.