Let us turn together to the Word of
God that was read for us by Mr.
Lowe, echoes of which we heard in the
duet sung for us.
We turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2, and
we're going to read once again verses 1
to 6.
I would like these words to be fairly
clear in our minds tonight as we come
to the message before us.
They embody some very important practical principles for
the people of God in the outworking of
God's purpose for us as members of his
church.
Paul writes to Timothy, and these are his
words.
You then, my son, be strong in the
grace that is in Christ Jesus.
And the things you have heard me say
in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to
reliable men who will also be qualified to
teach others.
Endure hardship.
I'm sorry.
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier
of Christ Jesus.
No one serving as a soldier gets involved
in civilian affairs.
He wants to please his commanding officer.
Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he
does not receive the victor's crown unless he
competes according to the rules.
The hardworking farmer should be the first to
receive a share of the crops.
Reflect on what I am saying, for the
Lord will give you insight into all this.
May the Spirit of God help us as
we reflect upon these words, and may we
be given that promised insight.
Soldiers, athletes, farmers.
Now, in the previous chapter, the Apostle Paul
has been stressing the greatness of the gospel
that was committed to him, or entrusted to
him by God as a kind of deposit.
That is a word that is used here.
It is rightly translated, it's like a deposit
you put in the bank, the money you
place to your account.
And the gospel has been given by God,
it has been entrusted to us.
He has deposited with us the faith once
for all delivered to the saints.
That is not our gospel in the first
place.
We may make it our own by faith
in Jesus, by acceptance of it.
But it is the gospel of God.
This is very important.
It did not originate with man or in
man, it came from God.
God thought it out in the first place.
He loved it into being.
He sent his Son.
And when the Son of God had finished
what was given him to do, he returned
and the Father and the Son sent forth
the Holy Spirit to apply the finished work
of Christ to men in need.
It is all of God.
It is God who began it.
It was he who conceived it.
It is he who imparts it.
It is he who sustains it.
It is all of God.
And this gospel of God was entrusted to
this once arch enemy of the Christian church.
God entrusted to him this good news of
salvation, with all that is involved in it.
And here the Apostle Paul has much to
say about it.
But now moving into chapter 2, he reminds
his young son, as he calls him, Timothy,
of the privilege that is his.
Because Paul the Father has now in turn
transmitted the same gospel, the deposit that God
gave Paul, he has now handed on intact,
unmodified, unqualified, in all its pristine glory.
The Apostle says, I've handed it over to
you, Timothy, and now I want you to
be very careful what you do with it.
I want you to hold on to it
in one sense, in another sense I want
you to hand it over to some other
people.
I've handed it over to you and you
must in turn hand it over to other
people, other people who in their turn will
likewise discover faithful, reliable, teachable men and women
to whom they can give it.
And thus the gospel pass down through the
generations of time and the church of Jesus
Christ extend into ever new territory and be
strengthened in the process of its advancement.
Paul stresses two things here.
He stresses the importance of Christian character, the
strength of character that is necessary for this
kind of ministry.
Timothy was a very young fellow and he
was very timid.
There is evidence here that he was quite
a nervous young man.
I don't want to go into the details.
But Paul starts, as it were, this aspect
of his teaching by telling him to be
strong in the grace which is in Christ
Jesus.
He doesn't say to him, look Timothy, you
can do it.
He wasn't teaching the kind of semi-paganism
that is taught today.
You can do it.
Think you can do it.
Believe you can do it.
And therefore you will do it.
That is a humanistic psychology based on a
humanistic and pagan philosophy.
It is contrary to the word of God.
That's not what Paul told Timothy.
He knew that Timothy could not do it.
Nevertheless, he knew that Timothy could do it.
That sounds Irish, doesn't it?
Well, Irish it is.
He knew that Timothy could do what Timothy
by nature could not do.
You ask how?
For this reason.
Because the young, immature Timothy could be strengthened
in the grace which is in Christ who
is in him.
That is not the emphasis to which I
want to come tonight.
I want to come to the strategy of
the Christian in passing on the gospel, in
the spread of the gospel to this amazing
and unchanging principle which is here enunciated.
You notice what it is.
It's a very simple one, but it has
never been withdrawn.
And I don't think we can ever better
it.
First of all, God gave us the gospel.
He gave the gospel to the apostles.
The apostles handed the gospel to others.
And those in turn have handed the gospel
down until it has come into the 20th
century to Europe, to the Americas, and here
we are in the heart of Moxtonite The
gospel has been handed down from generation to
generation by Christian men and Christian maid and
we have it intact.
In all its apostolic glory and in all
its divine excellence we have the gospel of
God in our hands and I trust in
our hearts.
But now, we in turn must, according to
the apostle here and elsewhere, we must discover
men, reliable men, teachable men and women, humble
people to whom we can transmit the gospel
who will in their day and generation, in
their circumstances be able to do exactly the
same thing.
And this is how the apostle envisaged the
growth of the gospel.
Men passing on the deposit intact.
Men and women first receiving it from God
not trying to change it, modify it, qualify
it, add to it or take away from
it but passing it on.
You can never pass this gospel on in
its glory, in its fullness, without something happening.
Sooner or later men and women will come
to a knowledge of the Saviour and of
God in Christ and the church of Christ
will come into existence and will be strengthened
and will expand as this principle is followed.
Now before I come to what we really
have in our text let me just remind
you that this really is what has been
happening throughout Christian history.
This has been the main strategy of the
Christian church throughout the centuries and it happens
in many ways.
If I were to devote my time to
giving you many examples we could be here
for a very long time but just let
me give you one that I came across
only yesterday as I was browsing over this
theme I came across a passage in one
of the a writer of a former age
and he was speaking, he was writing about
some such theme as this in the midst
of which he breaks out and he says
this he writes in these terms and I
quote Richard Sibbes, the old Puritan he says
wrote a little book called The Bruised Reed
one day that book fell into the hands
of a tin peddler who gave it to
a boy called Richard Baxter who through reading
it became in time the saintly believer and
minister of the word Richard Baxter of Kidderminster
in process of time Baxter wrote a book
called A Call to the Unconverted and by
doing so he kindled the flame in the
heart of Philip Doddridge who in turn wrote
a book called The Rise and Progress of
Religion in the Soul this latter book fell
into the hands of William Wilberforce changed that
man's life and led the great emancipator of
the slaves to write his own book A
Practical View of Christianity by reading this the
heart of Lee Richmond underwent a strange blossoming
and as one result he wrote The Dairyman's
Daughter which besides being the most powerful religious
influence in the life of Queen Elizabeth had
a good deal to do with the transformation
of the great Thomas Chalmers who in his
turn touched the whole world for God can
you see it?
pass it on says the apostle you received
the deposit it's the dynamic of God it's
the word of life it's the seed that
brings forth eternal life in the soul you've
got it, you've been given it pass it
on now let us turn to what the
apostle has to say in the words before
us there are three main things I would
like us to note Paul uses three metaphors
which we have brought together in our title
he sees the Christian in terms of a
soldier an athlete and a farmer and he
brings the three together here in order to
give a measure of completeness to the picture
of the Christian man or woman involved in
the outworking of the purposes of God in
the gospel now first of all I want
us to look at the manifold nature of
our calling you see no one metaphor no
one image or metaphor will suffice to convey
the full nature of the Christian's duty in
terms of spreading the gospel if we continually
harp upon one metaphor, one image we'll probably
go astray we need all the images and
we need them all together and it is
only when we are constantly reading the word
of God and bringing together all the several
strands that belong to this theme that we
can have a wholesome portrait and picture in
our minds of what a Christian man ought
to be the soldier image endure hardships says
Paul in verse 3 endure hardship along with
us like a good soldier of Jesus Christ
the Christian needs to see himself as a
soldier on active duty for his divine Lord
now all that is involved in what Paul
said I can't go into detailed exposition but
it is all involved a Christian man needs
to see himself as involved in warfare and
he's involved in it whether he likes it
or not and he is on one side
against the other he's not neutral, he's involved
in a war now this simple image is
of course self-explanatory and yet we have
to say something about it haven't we there
is a war on you know do I
need to say that?
there is a war on a spiritual war
you and I are not called into a
school of philosophy or theology for that matter
your calling to be a Christian was a
call into warfare and there is no such
thing as coming to Christ without being involved
in the warfare that he has initiated and
he will culminate it is an idle dream
for us to imagine that becoming Christians is
coming into an easy chair where nothing happens
only singing and joying all the day and
all the night brothers and sisters if we've
heard the Christian call it is to make
war with sin and Satan for our Lord
is at war the comfort that characterizes the
lives of so many of us belies the
reality of our Christian profession we are men
and women without wounds and we are without
wounds because we've rarely skirted the scenes of
battle there is a war on and the
believer whether he likes it or not by
his very association with Jesus Christ is involved
in war you're in trouble, you're in war
neither is the Christian a mere toy soldier
nor a reserved soldier to be called into
the battle when things go difficult every Christian
by his very calling and constitution is at
war with sin and Satan and is on
the side of the Lord Jesus Christ and
is member of his body limbs of his
body through whom he performs the tasks of
his choice and his task is a warring
task being a Christian you and I are
the custodians of the truth that constitute the
gospel and as such we simply cannot be
neutral to be neutral is to deny our
Lord having the truth we have to oppose
the forces that oppose the truth and we
have to seek by the grace of God
to conquer men and women for Christ to
persuade men and women of the gospel and
its truth and its glory and of our
Christ are you seriously enlisted in battle?
there is a false notion of the gospel
abroad and it misses out this concept of
Christian truth entirely it suggests that you can
be with the Lord Jesus and live with
him and even serve him and yet you
never get into battle I suggest to you
in all seriousness that that is not found
in the New Testament a Christian is a
soldier in battle then there is the athlete
metaphor if anyone competes as an athlete says
the apostle Paul and I don't need to
finish his sentence I simply want to refer
to the metaphor an athlete whereas the soldier
image helpfully points to the existence of an
objective foe whom we must first identify then
resist and then overcome this athletic image calls
attention more specifically to our own personal fitness
for battle and whatever our Lord requires of
us we are to be athletes we are
to be in the pink of condition spiritually
we are to be men and women who
are fit for Christ Paul has much more
to say about this in this very chapter
you follow it through to be prepared unto
every good work to have every muscle attuned
and every part of our spiritual body as
it were attuned by the will of God
exercised ready to do exactly what he wants
us to do ready for anything in the
peak of condition the Christian life is regularly
likened in the New Testament to a race
takes us into the athletic field not in
the sense that we are competing against each
other though we are as the writer as
Paul in Romans is it not tells us
we are to outdo one another in showing
honor but the idea here is not that
we are competing with one another but rather
we are running the race and we are
to run it the picture in the New
Testament is that we are to be athletes
in the sense that we are to be
devoted to training and to strenuous training like
the athlete you read a passage like 1
Corinthians 9 beginning with verse 24 and you
will see what the apostle is after indeed
let me turn to it it's a passage
which describes the the kind of thing that
he has in mind do you not know
he says that in a race all the
runners run but only one gets the prize
run in such a way as to get
the prize everyone who competes in the games
goes into strict training they do it to
get a crown that will not last but
we do it to get a crown that
will last forever now listen to this that's
general therefore says the apostle I do not
run like a man running aimlessly I do
not fight like a man beating the air
have you seen boxers shadow boxing that's what
Paul says here I'm not shadow boxing I'm
not using my energy to fight the air
he says I have an enemy and I
aim my blows at the real enemies and
then he goes on to say this no
no he says I beat my body and
make it my slave so that after I
have preached to others I myself will not
be disqualified for the prize how many of
us find that we are slaves to our
bodies Paul says I make my body my
slave to do what I wanted to do
I am the master the body is the
slave and in order to do this he
says I have to be an athlete I
have to go through my paces I have
to go through my exercises in an earlier
day some of our fathers used to speak
about spiritual exercises by which they meant if
you were asked have you been through your
spiritual exercises today they would mean have you
really been in prayer with God have you
read his word have you worshipped him have
you been in conversation with him have you
obeyed him have you been out on obedience
are you involved in the deeds and the
activities of your master have you gone through
your exercises and need I remind you that
in the epistle to the Hebrews chapter 12
we have the very concept of God's gymnasium
the very word gymnasium is there in the
Greek language we are trained very much in
the way that an athlete is trained and
we need to be in peak condition to
serve our Lord you cannot pass on the
truth of God intact in all its glory
and adorn the doctrine of Christ that you
are passing on unless you are in peak
condition you know this is very relevant with
the Olympics coming I am amazed I am
amazed at the extent to which some of
our athletes go in order to aim at
the gold and of course only one person
gets the gold I don't need to enlarge
upon this you know it as well as
I do what they do the way they
train the way they fast the way they
look after their bodies their timing for sleep
and waking everything is arranged and they live
according to the plan and the pattern and
it's all for a bit of gold that
they may never get Paul says if you
are to hand this on intact in a
manner that is worthy and will gain acceptance
by men see that you are in peak
condition be an athlete spiritually the third metaphor
is the farmer metaphor the hard working farmer
should be the first to receive a share
of the crops verse 6 now this image
helps maintain the delicate balance of truth taught
in scripture oh yes every believer needs to
see himself as a soldier engaged in battle
and as an athlete who cannot achieve his
goal unless he is in peak spiritual condition
yes but he needs also to see that
there are aspects of his God given duty
which more realistically resemble those of the hard
pressed farmer than the soldier or the athlete
Canon Guy King in a little commentary that
was very much used of God some years
ago in England because it is so simple
it's a commentary I believe on 1 and
2 Timothy at any rate it includes 2
Timothy there he says that some people he
calls them some misguided innocents imagine the farmer's
life to be a beautiful easy going existence
with plenty of eggs, pork, honey and fresh
air living in the lap of luxury and
you know there are people who think that
way of farmers they know nothing about the
truth they are absolutely ignorant of the realities
of the situation the farmer's day begins before
dawn and it ends after dusk if he
is a real farmer and especially before the
days of mechanization but even today it is
very much the case the farmer's day begins
early and it ends late if he is
to succeed it's a matter of unremitting ceaseless,
endless toil and he can never say that
his work is fully done because when he's
finished one round there's another round of duty
waiting there is a rhythm to the affairs
of the farmer and when he's completed the
one there's always the other waiting and when
he's come to the end of the cycle
there is another cycle and he goes through
it again and so it is there is
no end if you want to be a
farmer you need to be a sticker not
a quitter you have to be ready for
the long distance race to change the metaphor
not for the sprint you need to be
a man or a woman who's prepared to
face it day in, day out cows have
to be milked on Sunday pigs have to
be fed on Sunday you and your five
-day week and they're crying for four-day
week now listen my friend the farmer has
a seven-day week and a seven-night
week cows have their calves at night oh
don't let me start on this all of
which boils down to this, you see there's
an excitement in talking about being an athlete
and a soldier but there's very little excitement
in real farming it's a humdrum ongoing day
after day night after night week after week
month after month year after year and the
same old things have to be done oh
there are changes but you go on repeating
the same old things and the tedium of
it has to be faced you're ready for
this do you know anything of this?
if you and I are going to pass
on the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
I tell you it's not enough to start
with our Sunday school class and keep on
going for a couple of Sundays and think
that you've done a great work for God
and say goodbye you've got to keep on
going it's not enough to move into the
territory and throw out a few tracks and
say I've done something wonderful for God you
need to keep on going it's an ongoing
long term business and there are cycles and
you've got to keep on, keep on, keep
on that's the work the manifold nature of
our calling you people are listening so well
tonight that you're really putting me off step
let me turn to the next thing the
lofty motives that control and perhaps we'll not
be able to do much else if these
are the metaphors that describe us or ought
to be descriptive of us what have they
to say about the motives that should control
us well take a good look at this
look at the soldier's motive now I'm not
able to expound everything that this passage says
about this subject please let me make that
clear but I want to say the things
that are relevant to the points I'm wanting
to stress the soldier's motive, verse 4 no
one serving as a soldier gets involved now
a better translation of that is found I
believe in the RSV, I'm not sure entangled
in civilian affairs he wants to please his
commanding officer I don't know whether it is
always appreciated that in Palestine, ancient Palestine they
did not generally have much of a standing
army as we speak of a standing army
that is always ready, always practicing always in
training they may have had a little nucleus
of an army but it was very small,
very tiny remnant generally speaking when there was
trouble the horn, the trumpet would sound calling
men to battle and it was at that
point that men became soldiers at that point
the man behind the plow would leave the
plow in his furrow somebody else would see
to the oxen he would go the loom
was silenced somebody else would put things together
he must go there's no time to waste
the young man recently married will leave his
wife away he goes somebody else must comfort
her and look after her the mourner will
leave his mourning household somebody else must bury
the dead he must go that's what Paul
has in mind those of us who are
to serve our Lord as soldiers must be
so ready to obey His command and to
please Him, our commander-in-chief we must
be so ready and so available at His
calling that we are not entangled in anything
that will hold us back we can leave
the plow there we can leave the loom
there we can leave our wife there we
can leave anybody, leave anything that's why Paul
says in 1 Corinthians, you know that if
you are single it is better for you
not to be married not that he was
against marriage as an institution but he says
you must be ready to go when the
Lord calls you and nothing must entangle you
nothing must hold you back you must be
free to go with Him who has called
you oh how many Christians there are up
and down our country that have lost the
joy and the beauty of salvation because they've
been unable to go they've been entangled they've
been enmeshed in some relationship or other and
when the Lord has called their feet have
been in the mud and they've been unable
to get out of the mire says the
Apostle don't get entangled don't get enmeshed don't
get into a relationship for the kind of
which you can't leave and He calls my
friend, are you free to go where God
calls you tonight?
or are you so entangled that you cannot
go if He calls?
I say to you every single thing a
man is called upon to do in this
life he should be able to leave if
God calls and those who can't do it
are not in the will of God you
and I should be entangled by nothing I'm
convinced of that we have made our businesses
we have made so much of the things
of this world the end of life and
living not the means to an end I
can't go because of my business I wasn't
given life for my business sake I wasn't
saved to be a businessman but I'm a
teacher and I got my school I can't
go because they won't let me go I
wasn't born again for that I wasn't brought
into this life for that I was brought
into this life for God for His calling
everything must give way to that now we
don't have this conception we serve God if
it suits us, you see and my business
comes first and everything else comes first God
comes if I can go if my boss
will let me off, I'll go poor God,
He's got to wait that's not the concept
we have in the scriptures don't be entangled
with anything, says Paul so that you may
please Him who's calling you oh how Paul
knew the pleasure of God and was concerned
for it do you know what it is
when God looks down upon you and smiles
upon you?
do you know the smile of God?
there is nothing in this earth of ours
there is nothing in this life of ours
this is heaven upon earth, there is nothing
like it but to know that God smiles
upon what you do difficult, hurtful though it
is you do it for Him and He
smiles approvingly that's the athletic motive
sorry, that is the soldier's motive it is
to be free from all entanglements in order
to please the one who called Him the
athletic's motive is different you have it in
verse 5 anyone who competes as an athlete
he does not receive the victor's crown unless
he competes according to the rules now, the
athlete's motive is to win the crown and
in order to win the crown, to keep
the rules but to win the crown, to
succeed as he trained untiringly and eventually took
part in this particular sport the athlete's eye
was inevitably set on one thing winning he
ran, he jumped, he swam, he did whatever
he did with his eye on the garland
or on the gold, whatever the case may
have been now how concerned are you to
succeed am I to succeed now granted, we
need to see that this is the second
in importance to defeating the foe this is
the second in importance, not the first but
it is necessary to see that this is
here we need to be concerned to win
an athlete that is not eager to win
the prize is a misnomer his place is
elsewhere he lacks the necessary ambition and the
necessary qualification now, let me pose the question
therefore do you really want to win in
the task to which you have been called
are you out to win do you come
to church and do you go before God
in worship as a man or a woman
who is concerned to be qualified to win
the race each day and to win the
battle success must not be our primary aim
our primary aim, notice, is the one we've
dealt with it's to please him who called
us that's the first thing it's to bring
pleasure to the heart of God but having
said that, the apostle brings this in look,
he says, insofar as you're already attuned to
bring pleasure to the heart of God now,
he says, if you're going to be involved
in passing on the gospel in spreading the
gospel and enlarging the church and saving the
lost you must be determined to win you
must want to win you must have the
passion for souls brothers and sisters, what do
we know of this our first motive, let
me repeat is to be like the soldier
whose desire was to please his master that
said, however we may and we must be
concerned to do and to be our very
best for God to achieve for him and
when we don't, it should worry us the
athlete's motive the farmer's motive and with this,
we'll have to conclude what is this?
well, verse 6 reads it is the hard
-working farmer who ought to have the first
share of the crops if the soldier's motive
is to please the one who called him
and the athlete's is to perfect the gift
in order that he may win when he's
involved in the race the farmer's is to
produce as much ripe fruit as possible as
much ripe fruit as possible now notice, not
as much fruit as possible but as much
ripe fruit as much ripe fruit as possible
this too is a desire for success but
it is now in the field of the
production of fruit and not simply in the
perfection of spiritual fitness or sanctification now those
of you who have any farming background will
not need me to tell you of the
farmer's constant dilemma people say the farmer is
a very difficult one to please when it's
wet, he wants sunshine when it's sunny, he
wants the rain when it's cold, he wants
the heat when it's hot, he wants the
cold you know, you can't please him well,
there's a reason for that, you see in
order to provide the best crop he wants
a balance of cold and heat dry sunshine
and soft refreshing rain and he wants the
right balance and that's why he's a little
bit impatient and you say he's very difficult
to please well, he's very difficult to please
only because he's concerned with the quality of
the crop if he was only concerned to
have a crop well, it doesn't matter very
much whether they're weeds but if he's concerned
with the quality of the crop then he's
not going to be easy to please you
know, it's the same spiritually if you and
I are seeking for the kind of men
and women as our converts who will be
able and capable under God of receiving the
whole truth and imbibing it and believing it
and practicing it and then handing it on
and speaking it and living it out before
men then we need to be careful and
to wait for the sunshine and the frost
it doesn't happen overnight saintly men and women,
faithful men and women spiritually mature men and
women who are capable of passing on the
gospel intact are not made in one season
they need to go through the winter and
they need to face the heat they need
the night and they need the light they
need the day and they need the night
all the seasons of the year and all
the spiritual seasons that God seems fit and
wise to send you remember the cry in
the song of Solomon blow thou east wind
blow thou north wind I'm sorry, north wind
and then the south wind blow upon my
garden in order that the fragrance of it
and the scent of it shall go out
into the outermost parts you need the north
wind as well as the south you need
the storm as well as the sunshine men
and women of character are not made overnight
you and I by the grace of God
you and I have to be looking for
crops you and I have to be looking
for men and women that are not the
product of a moment but to pass through
the fires and in process have been molded
by a divine hand to be of such
sterling character that they can pass on the
truth of God so persuasively and so effectively
that nothing is lost in transmission oh holy
wonder that our God has committed his gospel
to men and women like you and me
but he's done it I sense my own
frailty and feebleness and I bemoan my failures
but no and only God and myself will
ever know I don't know what about you
but here it is as we stand we
pause beneath the continuing wonder of it God
can call a young Timothy nervous, timid, afraid
to go forward give him a responsibility that
was infinitely too great for him leading new
churches on this young fellow and Paul was
afraid that they'd laugh at his youthfulness possibly
because he looked younger than he was even
but he was young anyway no don't worry
says Paul be strong in the grace which
is in Christ Jesus there's all sufficiency here
for you and this is the way to
do it look at the soldier, look at
the athlete, look at the farmer and there
are lessons to learn from them all now
he says get on with the job and
he entrusts the saints of God and the
gospel to him and blessed be the name
of God the God and father of our
Lord Jesus honored him we are here tonight
in part at any rate because a boy
like Timothy became the man of God that
he was made like his father Paul before
him oh the grace of God brothers and
sisters what's this got to say to us?
I don't know it is not for me
to apply this but I believe that the
spirit of God is among us tonight to
apply it to every one of us and
the only danger I want to refer to
is this the danger of any one of
us thinking it has nothing for me don't
you believe it?
it's got something for me it's got something
to say to you and I would say
to you what Mary said to the disciples
or rather not to the disciples but to
the waiters in Cana of Galilee the occasion
of the marriage there she said to them
whatever he that is Jesus whatever he says
to you do it let us pray our
heavenly father and our God with awesome an
awesome sense of our being unworthy and unfruitful
servants we bow now before you our Lord
Jesus did say that when you have done
all these things say to yourselves we are
unprofitable servants we are aware of that and
we acknowledge it before you and yet our
father we say to you we would be
profitable for you oh God who has blessed
us with eternal blessings who has given us
yourself and all the privileges of daily fellowship
as well as an oasis on a day
such as this separated from the days of
the week when without having to run hither
and thither we can come apart and remain
apart and be alone with you for the
whole day long oh God we thank you
we pray that you will make us worthier
teach us the lessons we need to learn
just now for the things that await us
tomorrow and this week and during the rest
of our days and grant that we like
young Timothy may find that when the moment
to strike has arrived we shall be able
to stand in the grace which is in
Jesus Christ our Lord and having done all
things stand we ask it in his ever
precious name Amen