Jesus: "The story of Jesus in its entirety spans 2,020 years of human history that binds together all the world's righteousness, honor, courage, love, loyalty, confidence, determination, genius, humility, and a host of other attributes that have challenged men and women throughout the ages who have followed this leader who has liberated the world and set our path on the higher ground of the Kingdom of God. This story told throughout the pages of jesuscalltofreedom.com explains the history of man from God's perspective with revelation and interpretation that only Jesus can provide in ways that bring light and understanding to people of any religion or no religion with clarity for all who seek to know."
This website can be understood better when viewed as a body with a head who is Jesus and with a body who is the growing number of believers and those who are people who are not against us so are for us meaning they believe in much of what we believe while their larger belief system may not include believing that Jesus has been given headship authority by Jehovah and that Jehovah is even God or their God and this is why Jehovah who sees the heart and the inside of every person knows who these are and who these are not and no man can determine this. The above section is all about the headship of Jesus in the entire world and about his mission to eradicate evil from this planet and this race of human beings so that we are all free to grow in goodness and not evil.
"While
he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, |
Jesus: "I have a voice and in
my own words for anyone who has
an ear to hear."
Jesus: "This website could not have been presented on the internet without the contributions of millions of people past and present from the Body of Christ and also those from the family of God."
Jehovah: "My bride America has overcome evil and if not for the efforts of brave men and women who are Patriots and the army of Jesus this country would have been overrun by the most evil things that life has ever known and their plans were well laid and executed with all patience and deliberation while causing chaos ... read more here
Jehovah: "America is in crisis and I have asked a trusted human being to give me an honest assessment of the crisis and the remedy for the crisis and it has been submitted to me and can be viewed at Opinion For Divine Court."
This is Jehovah's view of his part in the story of our human race and its unintended development and the resulting danger which mankind is currently dealing with and God is intervening to show mankind how to safely navigate the storms that are breaking upon our people and this view of God's salvation plan has been obscured by every false teaching and all the confusion that comes with that.
Jehovah Will Never Leave Us Nor Forsake Us
When Jehovah Carries His Carrier
The following is Jehovah's Song which is a contemporary secular song that very closely explains what God is all about.
"You have
reached that moment of decision when you know that you must move forward one
way or another and the way you have chosen is to go forward with Jesus into the
next phase of your life which will be a supernatural and exquisitely beautiful
experience of life that will flow forward forever and you will always love this
life as you have known it as you will always love your life as it is becoming
more truly who you really are and the twisted future that isn't right will now
not be and just as I have told you I am bringing the real you to the light as
you fulfill your destiny. You have found your cure within yourself. You are now free Kathy."
Lord, I remember when you gave this song to me and I knew it was a very profound message for me but at the time I was having terrible problems in my family due to complications of a birth in the family and God told me to say certain things at that time that made matters worse and not better and he told me how sorry he was that he caused me such grief and sorry that ensued and is still unresolved to this day. You gave me this this song at that time and for over four years you have been untangling my twisted future and I have been trusting you to make things right that have gone terribly wrong. Through this time you showed me how genetics have become so tangled up that it is nearly impossible to repair anything that concerns the human race and yet you have done just that with me and I remember when we started untangling all kinds of tangled up messes concerning cellular diseases and emotional entanglements that further complicated the physical problem within the Dna itself. Slowly but surely you taught me all sorts of things regarding genetics and epigenetics which is the God layer of human genetics and then taught me how to pray to untangle so many things that would have remained that way forever or until our race died out completely. When you first gave me this song I remember being somewhat confused if the words were for me or if the words were for my family situation but it never occurred to me that the words were meant for all of humanity as we know it here on earth.
Unknown Molecules Are The Substance of Life
Jesus has told me that people generally see him one way or the other and that both sides are wrong and he has told me that people generally understand what God is doing one way or the other and again both sides are wrong. Jesus asked me to build him a website and to give him a voice because like so many people in this world he really has not had a voice. Everybody else has spoken for him and what is ... read more here
When people speak
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit it is inspired by God but it is not
inspired by Jesus. This link explains why this is true.
Jesus: "In the
course of human history there has never been a time like this with so much
promise and yet so few people who can see it and it is my intention that all
people have the opportunity and the blessing of seeing how each and every
person on earth can help bring about the world that others have only dreamed of
and to not only bring it about but to bask in its goodness and thrive in its
complete and
... read more here
Jesus: "I came to America with a small group of devoted believers who determined to carve out a life of freedom to worship Jehovah without interference or domination. It is their pure love and commitment to God, family and country that is the rock upon which I built my church. As their descendants have pioneered across the great land of America to the very edges of the western coast the legacy of these people is woven throughout every city, county and state as the salt of the earth as they have fought tyranny time and time again and held fast to the high ideals as imbued in them by Jesus and Jehovah who has reconciled the twelve tribes of ancient Israel."
The words as given me by Jehovah and by Jesus will always be preceded by their names and with quotes throughout this website.
Jehovah: "Most human beings who believe Jesus is my son seek answers and help from God but often do not have any clue as to the distinctions between us which are as subtle as they are vast and of course the reason for this is that once born Jesus left his spirit world to become a man in the flesh which I have never been nor will I ever be and yet I am as real and present with you just the same and I have throughout this website tried to help the reader know who they are listening to by using my name Jehovah. You have always called me Lord from the time you came ... read more here
Jehovah: "I am the Alpha and the Omega and I know the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning. I know everything."
And [Jesus] hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Revelation 5:10
Earlier tonight Jesus and I were just sitting silent with each other for some time and I asked him if there was anything he thought we should watch on Youtube or whatever and I suddenly just decided to ask him the following question. It just went from there...
Jesus, since you
know everything and there is nothing new under the sun, what interests you the
most? And I would like to know if things outside our world here interest you as
much, the same or more than this world.
Jesus: "This is
really a loaded question. Let's answer the second question first. Much depends
on whether you are asking me these questions as a man or as God."
Let's start with you
as a man, Lord, as I love to know how you see things from a vantage point that
is more like mine. Is this a good way to start?
"Actually if I
start as God I can answer your question more fully as this view completely
dictates my view as a man. As we have written elsewhere I have an awareness of
my life before I was born as Jesus and that life still exists. And though
humans do not have the remembrance of each of their prior lives does not mean
that each one did not have one. In fact the truth is that every human born was
a god first who chose this path for their particular life. Once born into this
life, the god being still exists but the human being is now eternal as
well."
Jesus, if we were
gods before we were born, then did we have prior life before our god life?
"The answer to
this depends on how you define a life in god terms because gods exist in other
realms too numerous to count and so ancient that no one knows when or how it
all began. Even the most ancient of beings speak of beings far more ancient than
they are. The radical departure of life through all the ancient times from this
life on earth is that this earth life is so very new and completely different
than life outside this universe. They simply cannot be compared. When I showed
you the structure of this universe and how it is like a dome covering an almost
flat earth, I showed you that this world is like an incubator, a place that I
created to develop all kinds of life that has never existed before. So when you
ask me what interests me, I think creation speaks for itself. Now Father and I
have been co-creating for a very long time and I truly am in a unique
relationship with him that is unmatched anywhere that we know of. When I
stepped into the form of a man when I was born as Jesus, this was a most
foreign concept to Jehovah and anyone else we know in the larger realm. So to
speak to my interests as Jesus is a most interesting one in and of itself as I
have never given thought to such a question about myself as God or as man but I
will attempt a satisfactory answer for you on this.
As a man, I hold the
most unique position of having knowledge that others do not and of having a
vested interest in protecting the very people that I helped conceive and
develop which makes me of rather high intelligence, because I have access to my
god intelligence. What people today seem to miss is that they have this same
structure that I do with the only exception that their awareness of having
access to their own god intelligence is what is preventing them from fully
realizing their potential. If there were no evil in this world, none of this
would be a problem because humans are plenty smart enough to access their god
knowledge and improve their lives in the doing but through eons of corruption
physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually they have been almost doomed
to a suppressed life that was never intended for them."
Jesus, I will admit
that sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by you but at the same time you are so
regular a guy that I vacillate between these two views of you and yet you
always have a way of making me more comfortable with you than with anyone I
have ever known. Sometimes I feel like I am going into forbidden territory
because mankind has formed so many taboos about so many things and again you
never take me to anything dark unless to expose something important in our
battle against evil, and everything you tell me always lines up with scripture
in the most amazing ways. I have so enjoyed having the world and its
complexities revealed to me in simplicities that I can share with others as you
know that is one of my interests. I have known people who hoard their knowledge
as though it is somehow proprietary but I do not look at it that way. I have
received far more from people I know as well as people through the ages and
those in all walks of life. I could never begin to share the amount of information with others that I have been
able to draw in for myself but I never tire of assimilating it and sharing here
and there when it is desired by someone.
You and I have been
sharing so incredibly much over these years that I cannot begin to thank you
enough for the patience you have shown me and the willingness to satiate my
insatiable desire for understanding. I love you Jesus!
When the Israelites
left Egypt in what is called the exodus, God gave Moses the blueprint for
republican government. God's first choice was for the nation in its entirety to
come before him so that he could give them the divine law. But the people were
too afraid to go with Moses so Moses went up the mountain by himself and stayed
40 days while God explained everything to him. Moses came down the mountain
with the ten commandments written in stone only to find the people worshipping
strange gods, the golden calf, an idol that they made from the gold Joseph
brought back from America when he was King of Egypt, also known as King
Zaphnath-Paneaah. The people lost sight of the God that Joseph worshipped and
came to worship the riches that God gave them as a result of Joseph's exemplary
character, leadership as a wise and compassionate king, and all due to his
devotion to Jehovah.
What transpired
later was that God gave the people the plan and the way to choose their own
leaders and it was this example that inspired our colonial fathers and mothers
to establish the same kind of government for America. God never was a despot
then nor is he now, but rather a divine king who gives good information and
wise advice to his people as individuals. Individuals then make up groups and
groups make up their minds as to how they want to govern themselves. If they
choose despots, which they often do, then they get what they deserve. But when
they look to their Father in heaven and seek wise counsel and do their best to
follow God, then they receive the blessings of God.
America has strayed from her republican values and governmental structure and has chosen a despot, Lucifer himself, who has led God's people astray as they have taken the blessings of God for granted and trusted the sheep to be guarded by the wolves.
Foundation for Faithful Ministry (2 Timothy 1:1-5)
Imagine that we are at a marathon race. Many contestants are lined up at the starting point, but one especially catches your eye. He’s in his sixties, but he looks much older. You can tell that his body has endured many hardships. The thought flits through your mind that the old guy could die on the course. You wonder, “Why is he even in the race?”
But as the race gets underway, you’re amazed that the old man holds his own. In fact, he even pulls in front of the pack. And to your utter astonishment, as you stand at the finish line, you see him sprinting far ahead of his competitors. As he comes across the line, you expect him to collapse in a heap. But, instead, he turns and trots back to an earlier point in the course where a younger man in his late thirties seems to be losing steam. The older man jogs alongside the younger man, saying, “Come on, you can make it! Hang in there! Don’t quit!”
If that really happened, I would want to know, “What does this old guy have that I lack?” If I heard that he was going to speak on his training secrets, I’d show up and take notes. Clearly, the old man knows something about endurance. He is an example of how to finish well.
I didn’t make up that story. It really happened, but in the spiritual race, not in an actual marathon. We read about it in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. The apostle was in his sixties, but his body bore the marks of much suffering. He was in a cold, damp dungeon in Rome, about A.D. 67, awaiting execution at the hands of the cruel madman, Nero.
There were numerous reasons that he could have been discouraged. In 1:15, he writes, “all who are in Asia turned away from me.” In 4:10, he mentions Demas, whom he had formerly called a “fellow worker” (Philemon 24). But now he had deserted Paul, “having loved this present world.” In 4:14, he warns Timothy about Alexander the coppersmith, who did Paul much harm. Perhaps he had been responsible for Paul’s arrest and imprisonment. In 4:16, he pathetically writes, “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me.” Only Luke was with him (4:11).
Not only that, but as the aged apostle awaited execution, he saw many serious errors infiltrating the churches. Hymenaeus and Philetus had gone astray from the truth, teaching that the resurrection had already taken place, thus upsetting the faith of some (2:17-18). Other ungodly false teachers were entering households and captivating weak women weighed down with sins (3:6). Paul knew that the day was soon coming when professing Christians would not endure sound doctrine, but would pile up teachers in accordance with their own desires to tickle their ears, turning from the truth to myths (4:3-4). Bishop Moule said that, humanly speaking, Christianity trembled on the verge of annihilation (Studies in II Timothy [Kregel], p. 18).
If there was ever a prime candidate for discouragement, Paul was it! Who could have blamed him if he had said, “I’ve had enough! I’ve given this thing more than my fair share of effort! I’m going to retire!” We would expect him to be a bitter, pessimistic, discouraged old man, his hopes and dreams shattered by overwhelming disappointments and setbacks. And yet we find him sprinting across the finish line and then jogging back to Timothy, who is pooping out, saying, “Come on, Timothy, keep going! Be strong! You can make it! Don’t quit!” When this guy speaks about endurance in the Christian life, I want to listen!
We live in a culture where pastors are bailing out of the ministry in droves. A newsletter in 2003 reported that 1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches. It said that 70 percent of pastors constantly fight depression. Fifty percent are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but they have no other way of making a living.
Not only pastors, but also many Christians, have burned out in serving the Lord. They have been wounded by criticism or conflict in the church. Some drop out of church entirely. Others attend occasionally, but that’s all that they do. They don’t want to risk getting hurt again. So they don’t get involved in serving the Lord.
I suggest that any discouraged pastors and Christians need a good dose of 2 Timothy. It’s a very personal letter, Paul’s last, written to his beloved son in the faith, who was timid by nature. He probably felt inadequate for the tasks facing him. The problems were overwhelming. It looked as if Paul was about to be executed, and the mantle would fall on Timothy. William Hendriksen (New Testament Commentary, I-II Timothy & Titus Baker], p. 218) nicely sums up the dominant theme of the book, “Timothy, do not be ashamed, but by God’s grace exert yourself to the utmost, being willing to endure your share of hardship in preserving and promoting sound doctrine.” We can sum up each chapter as follows:
Chapter 1: Unashamed as a witness: Guard the gospel!
Chapter 2: Unashamed as a workman: Suffer in godliness for the gospel!
Chapter 3: Adequate as a workman: Continue in the gospel!
Chapter 4: Awarded as a workman: Preach the gospel!
In Paul’s opening greeting and in his expression of thanks to God for Timothy (1:1-5), we see the foundation for a lifetime of faithful ministry. When I say ministry, I’m not referring only to those who are called into so-called full time ministry. Paul himself would not qualify, since he often had to work to support himself in ministry. Rather, I’m referring to the biblical truth that every Christian is saved to minister according to his or her gifts. If you’re a Christian, you were saved to serve, as we will see more next week. So you need to lay a solid foundation so that you will not burn out or drop out of the race.
A firm foundation for faithful ministry rests on knowing God’s call on your life through the gospel.
Our text makes three points about this gospel foundation:
1. The gospel brings us into a personal relationship with the Father through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul begins (1:1-2), “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” In verse 5, he also mentions the sincere faith that he is sure dwells in Timothy. These words reveal three vital truths about the gospel:
A. The gospel gives us the promise of life in Christ Jesus.
Paul was facing death, but he was focused on the promise of life in Christ Jesus (see also, 1:10). Christianity is not primarily a matter of religious rituals or a moral code to live by, although it does give us God’s moral standards. Rather, Christianity is a matter of experiencing new life in Christ Jesus. By nature and by our many sins, we all were spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1). Dead men do not need in the first place to hear about a better moral code to live by. They need life! They need God to raise them from spiritual death to spiritual life.
The eternal life that God gives centers on knowing Him personally through His Son. Jesus said (John 17:3), “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Or, as 1 John 5:11-12 puts it, “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”
Paul says that this life is a promise. God is the Promiser. Paul mentions God three times in the first three verses. The promise is as reliable and secure as God is faithful. If God promises new life in Christ Jesus, then we can count on it, even when we’re in a dungeon facing an unjust execution, when former friends have deserted us and spread falsehoods about us.
This promise of life comes to us in Christ Jesus, whom Paul also mentions three times in verses 1-2. The other New Testament writers always use the order, Jesus Christ. But Paul, especially in his later writings, often writes, Christ Jesus. Bishop Moule (p. 30) suggests that this order breathes a certain feeling of worship and intimate affection towards the Lord. It emphasizes His office as the Anointed One (=Christ, Messiah), embodied in the human Jesus, who revealed the Father to us. The mention of Christ Jesus our Lord in conjunction with God the Father, as the source of grace, mercy, and peace, is a strong affirmation of the deity of Christ. Clearly, for Paul, Christ Jesus was central. He is the gospel. To know Him is to have eternal life. Paul the persecutor had become Paul the apostle because God had intervened in his life, giving him eternal life according to the promise in Christ Jesus.
B. This life comes to us by God’s will through sincere faith.
Paul’s conversion and his calling as an apostle both happened at the same time. When God struck down Paul on the Damascus Road, He told Ananias, whom He sent to restore Paul’s sight (Acts 9:15), “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine….” Paul’s salvation and his calling as an apostle were not by his human choice, but rather, by God’s will and choice. Of course, salvation is received by faith. But the reason we believe in Christ is that before the foundation of the world, God willed to save us.
I’m not making this up! Read Ephesians and you will see it clearly. Paul says (Eph. 1:4), “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” He adds (1:5), “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” He repeats (1:11), “also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” Or (Eph. 2:8-9), “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Paul recalls (1:5) the “sincere faith” within Timothy, which first dwelt in his grandmother Lois and in his mother Eunice. Timothy’s father was probably not a believer, but God used his godly grandmother and mother as links in the chain that led to Timothy’s salvation. They taught him the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:15), but then God used Paul’s preaching to bring Timothy to saving faith. “Sincere” means, “unhypocritical.” There is such a thing as hypocritical or false faith, but Paul was convinced that Timothy’s faith was the real thing. It had to be Timothy’s faith, not the faith of his grandmother or mother. God may use godly parents or grandparents to bring us to faith in Christ, but no one gets saved apart from sincere personal faith in Jesus Christ.
By the way, these words should encourage any mothers who may be trying to raise your children without the help of a believing husband. Even though God’s best is to have a godly father and mother training their children in the Lord, His grace and power can work in imperfect situations. Train your children in the Lord and pray for the influence of a godly man, who could take your sons further in the Lord, as Paul did with Timothy.
C. The gospel brings us the benefits of God’s grace, mercy, and peace.
We saw these three qualities in our recent study of 2 John. In Paul’s writings, this threefold blessing occurs only in 1 & 2 Timothy (the addition of “mercy” in Titus 1:4 lacks solid manuscript support). Why did Paul add “mercy” in his letters to Timothy? I think it was because as he drew near to the end of his life and ministry, Paul was ever more aware of the reality of God’s mercy to him, the sinner (1 Tim. 1:13-16).
God’s grace is His undeserved favor to those who deserve His wrath. His mercy is His compassion to those who are in misery because of their sin. His peace is the result of being reconciled to Him because of His grace and mercy. These blessings come to us freely from God the Father who sent His Son, Christ Jesus our Lord, to die for our sins.
Ask yourself, “Have I experienced new life in Christ according to God’s promise? Do I know personally God’s grace, mercy, and peace? Because of God’s sovereign will, do I now personally have sincere faith in Christ Jesus?” If you can answer yes, then you have a foundation for serving Him, no matter what trials it may bring into your life. You are not your own. “For you have been bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20). God’s call on your life through the gospel is the foundation for a life of faithful service.
2. The gospel brings us into close, life-changing relationships with other believers.
This opening greeting oozes with Paul’s deep feelings of love for Timothy, whom he calls “my beloved son.” He constantly remembered him in his prayers and he longed for the joy of seeing him, even as he recalled Timothy’s tears on their last parting (1:3-4). We don’t know whether Timothy got to Paul’s cell before the sword fell.
Beyond Timothy, this short letter mentions many others that Paul knew and loved. There were Onesiphorus and his household (1:16-17), Crescens, Titus, Luke, Mark, Tychicus, Carpus (4:10-13), Prisca, Aquila, Erastus, Trophimus, Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brethren (4:19-21). Paul was not a lone ranger Christian! Each of these dear brothers and sisters in Christ meant something to Paul. The relationships that they shared had changed them all.
Often when I counsel with someone who is struggling with a personal problem or a difficult sin, I ask, “Do you know any other brothers in Christ who could meet with you each week and help you in the things of the Lord?” Sadly, the answer is often, “No.” That’s not right! The Christian life is not just you and God. It is you and God and God’s people. You may be thinking, “It’s God’s people who are my problem!” That may be so. In fact, Paul mentions many people in this letter who had caused him grief (1:15; 2:17; 3:5-9, 11, 13; 4:3, 10, 14, 16).
But it’s only as you remain committed to God’s people in a local church and work through your problems in accordance with His Word, that you will grow as a Christian and have a foundation for serving Him. Try to look for both a Paul and a Timothy in your life. Ask God for an older man (or, a woman for women) who can be a friend and an example of godly maturity in your life. And, look for a younger man (or, a younger woman for women) that you can help to grow in Christ. These relationships that we form through the gospel should cause us to thank God and to pray continually for one another (1:3).
So, the gospel brings us into a personal relationship with the Father through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. It also brings us into close, life-changing relationships with others. Finally,
3. The gospel brings us into a life of service according to God’s will and gifts.
Paul was called to be an apostle by the will of God. None of us are apostles, but each of us has received a spiritual gift that God expects us to use to serve Him in some capacity (1 Pet. 4:10-11). There should be no benchwarmer Christians. As Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 12, there aren’t any spare parts in the body. He wasn’t talking about a “spare tire,” of course! But except for that, we need every part of our bodies to function.
But, why does Paul emphasize his apostleship in a letter to Timothy, who knew full well that Paul was an apostle? Some suggest that it was because Paul intended for these pastoral letters to be read more widely, and he wanted all of his readers to be reminded of his divine appointment as apostle. Many were attacking Paul, saying that a true apostle would not be imprisoned. Paul wanted Timothy and others to recall the dramatic story of how God had appointed him to this office of apostle.
He also was emphasizing to Timothy that he had not volunteered for the job. Rather, he had been drafted! Timothy was faltering in the race. Maybe he was thinking, as every pastor has, “I’ll bet there is an easier line of work to get into! Maybe I should consider a career change.” Once in California I had been going through a difficult time, receiving a lot of criticism. Marla and I were driving somewhere and were stopped by a flagman for road work. I sat there watching a guy driving an earth-mover and thought, “That looks like a nice line of work to get into! You go to work, drive your machine, go home at night, and nobody criticizes you. Maybe I should look into that!”
But Paul says, “I am an apostle by the will of God.” I’m not in this line of work because I went to a guidance counselor who said, “Your aptitude tests show that you’d make a good apostle.” It wasn’t my career of choice. Rather, it was the will of God.
Why does Paul mention serving God with a clear conscience the way his forefathers did? Paul was about to lose his head for the faith. At such times it’s important to remember that you’re dying for the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, and all of the other faithful men of God in history. You’ve been handed the torch and you’ve got to carry it faithfully and hand it off to those who come after you.
Also, both Nero and the Jews were persecuting Christianity as a new cult. Paul is saying, in effect, “This is not a new cult. This is the culmination and fulfillment of God’s promises to the Jewish fathers. They looked forward to the promised Messiah. Christ Jesus is the promised Messiah, in whom we also believe.” So Paul was making the point that he was in the mainstream of the history of God’s purposes as revealed in the Old Testament, but now fulfilled in Christ.
If you’re feeling like dropping out of the race, read about the heritage of godly men in the Bible and in church history. They have persevered through incredible trials, disappointments, loss of loved ones, persecution, and martyrdom. As I’ve said before, I’ve learned more by reading Christian biographies than from any other source, except for the Bible itself (which also has many biographies).
Paul mentions serving God with a clear conscience. “Serve” means to serve as an act of worship. “Clear” is literally, “cleansed.” It does not imply perfection, but it does imply walking in reality before God, confessing your sins to Him and to those you have wronged, so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy. Paul knew that God examines the heart (1 Thess. 2:4), and so he lived to please God on the heart level (2 Cor. 5:9). He knew that soon he would be standing before God, to give an account of his ministry. So will each of us.
Conclusion
Are you running in the race, serving God in accordance with the gifts He has bestowed on you? You may say, “I’m retired. I’ve already put in my time.” But there’s nothing in the Bible about retiring from serving God. Paul was an old man in jail, but he says, “God, whom I serve” (present tense). God doesn’t have a retirement program!
You say, “I don’t feel qualified to serve.” Neither did Timothy. He was in over his head. So was Paul. He exclaimed, “Who is adequate for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:16). You think, “But I’m not in the best of health.” Neither was Timothy. He had frequent stomach and other ailments (1 Tim. 5:23). “But I’m shy and introverted. I don’t have the personality to lead.” Neither did Timothy. “But I tried serving and people criticized me.” Yes, talk to Paul. Here’s this old geezer, sprinting across the finish line, and then he comes back to you as you’re ready to drop out of the race. He says, “If God has called you through the gospel and given you new life in Christ, then you’ve got to hang in there. Don’t drop out! Keep going! Eternity is just ahead. Then you can rest.”
Pasted from https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-1-foundation-faithful-ministry-2-timothy-11-5
Jehovah: "The world is full of many different kinds of people who have unique experiences that cause them both pain and pleasure but the reason there is so much pain and too little pleasure concerning good things and not perversions is that man has a propensity for deciding for himself what is good and what is evil and that is the story of mankind and yet man seeks for answers but far too often seeks them in the wrong place as they look to others who have had interesting experiences with God or they look to the interpretations of other people but most do not push in to really try to hear and learn what I have to say about a myriad of topics from the innermost personal issues a person deals with in their own life all the way to the vastness of life itself and what it is and all the many ramifications of this and though each person can justify their beliefs and understanding that they live by as due to their uniqueness in this world the truth remains that God is still the only one who really knows anything. Brilliant scientists are teaching the masses all kinds of falsehoods and the great church leaders are leading my people to destruction and I have taken your life from you to devote to my efforts to reach my people with the truth of all things and a way for them to measure what it is they think they know and what they think that I expect from them or not and what it is that makes them think that they know better than I do what it is they need to know to survive."
Lesson 3 - Serving Through Suffering
Lesson 4 - Why Should You Suffer For The Gospel
Lesson 5 - A Cause Worth Dying For
Lesson 6 - God Owns All The Gold
Lesson 7 - Ministry of Refreshment
Lesson 10 - Embracing Hardship For The Gospel
Lesson 12 - Using The Bible Properly
Lesson 13 - The Person God Uses
Lesson 14 - The Gentle Art of Correction
Lesson 15 - The Danger of Empty Religion
Lesson 16 - Spiritual Faithfulness
Lesson 17 - Why You Need The Bible