Sovereignty on Sundays

I had a hard decision to make. It was my first official Sunday as the pastor of my church. I had been voted in two weeks prior and now we had moved from Lakeland to North Fort Myers on Saturday and now Sunday was my first day on the job. To make things more complicated, it was Mother's Day, which of course a Mother's Day message would be expected. Couple this with my belief in expository preaching through a book of the Bible and I was now in a real dilemma. Then it hit me… 2^nd Timothy. The introductory verses of 2^nd Timothy were perfect for a Mother’s Day sermon. Paul speaks to Timothy as a beloved son, a spiritual son. And then Paul reminds Timothy of his rich, godly heritage starting with his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Not only would it work for a good mother’s day message, it would be a wonderful book to preach through as my first sermon series at my new church. So we began marching through 2^nd Timothy.

 And then lo and behold another significant Sunday was upon us – Father’s Day. And what was the scheduled text for that day? Second Timothy 2:22-26. If you don’t recall 2 Timothy 2:22 says “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (NKJV).

I do not find it a coincidence that God, in all His Sovereignty, would put an idea in my heart to begin preaching straight through 2^nd Timothy on Mother’s Day and the Father’s Day message came from the text in which the Apostle Paul is exhorting his spiritual son to flee from youthful lusts. There is no other message I’d rather preach to fathers in my congregation than to flee from youthful lusts. And yes, I do understand that there are other types of lust other than sexual sins. And I did address a few of those on Sunday, such as pride, desire for wealth and power and even jealousy. But I believe the most pervasive youthful lust in our society today is that of sexual sin. And that is what I taught.

I was a little apprehensive before the sermon. The seriousness of sexual sin is hardly preaching on a Sunday morning. It is still too taboo and impolite to talk about. Also, my church is a very traditional church comprised of mainly senior adults. It could have been taken the wrong way. But I believe that the passage in 2^nd Timothy required due diligence, so it was presented with honesty and, hopefully, clarity. The response was amazing. I had mothers thanking me for the message followed by men nearly in their 80’s telling me how that message was needed for today.

I am so glad that nothing is by chance or luck. God knew what He was doing the whole time, just as He always does. I am always amazed by our Wonderful God.