Basics 2008 – Session 2, Voddie Baucham

After some great worship led by Keith and Kristen Getty ( Keith is a modern day hymn-writer), we began the next session.

Voddie Baucham, Pastor and author spoke during Session #2. He was a pleasant surprise last year and did not disappoint this year. He spoke on 2 Timothy, first putting into perspective that Paul was about to die when he wrote this book and was keenly aware of that fact. He asks Timothy to hurry to see him and writes the entire book with any fear of death being totally absent. Paul's intention was to tell Timothy, "They're about to kill me for preaching the gospel. When they do…..you take my place and continue the preaching."

There are two encouragements to Timothy in this Book; to preserve and proclaim THE gospel and to endure the suffering that will follow as a result of doing those things. This pattern is repeated throughout the book; 2 Tim 1:1-8, 2 Tim 2:2-3, 2 Tim 3:10-14, 2 Tim 4:2-6; Preservation, proclamation then suffering. In order to fully understand the implications of this in our own lives, we have to be diligent to proclaim the gospel to ourselves. It is why we preach. It is what we preach and it is how we preach. The gospel is all we have and it is all we need. If we fail to preach it to ourselves, daily, then when suffering comes we will lose our focus and begin to preach something else.

Paul constantly reminds Timothy of this. In 2 Tim 1:13 he says, "Follow the pattern of preaching you have heard." and "Guard the deposit left in you (the gospel)."

Paul gives Timothy two warnings; thing she should not trust in and things he should trust in.

He tells Timothy: "Don't trust in your conversion. It alone is not enough to get you through. The same goes for your heritage, your calling and your gift." He reminds Timothy to trust, in his suffering and all other things, in the power of God. Paul is really telling Timothy that the gospel is not about our happiness. Most people think it is…so when suffering comes, they begin to proclaim something other than the gospel (i.e. "God I know you don't want this for me!") Most people want a god who is omnipotent but not sovereign, one who can do anything as long as it's what we want him to do. There is nothing wrong with suffering if that's what God has for us. "Though He slay me…yet will I trust Him. God saves us and calls us to His holy calling, not to our own purposes. We've been set apart by His grace not because we have earned it so suffering should not upset us as something we do not deserve. If we were reminding ourselves daily of the gospel and what we actually deserve, we should be asking ourselves why we don't suffer more!

If we understand the gospel fully, then we should also understand that, ultimately, no matter what happens, things will get better. This is not as good as it gets! We get immortality! We are not made for this earth! We are made for heaven! We suffer BECAUSE we are called to preach. We suffer BECAUSE of the gospel. We try to hold on to the world until God yanks us out of it. We should be trying to hold on to Christ until the world lets go!

We went back to the hotel for a spirited discussion afterwards. We're having a great time and God has blessed our fellowship but it has been a long day!