Paul, being beaten and imprisoned, wrote these epistles from the Mamertine prison, or the sewers of Rome.  Let’s remember that prisoners back then didn’t have cable TV.  They didn’t have infirmaries in the prison.  When you were thrown in too many of these situations, you only ate when people from the outside cared enough about you to bring you some supplies or some food.  They weren’t always allowed to come in to see the prisoners, but when they were, that was their source.  I would say “Praise God!” that when we start coming into these last days, we have brothers and sisters that care about us; amen?  Those that will pray for us.  Those that will lift our hands up.  Those that will gladly share that morsel with us, knowing that it’s more blessed to give than to receive.  We’re coming into an hour, here in this country, that we’ve never known.  Even through all the great wars, it’s never come on our shores.  What do we do as Christians to prepare ourselves for this hour?

Paul says in this fourth chapter, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” (2 Timothy 4:7).  So, it appears that Paul is saying we need to make sure that we’re keeping the faith; amen?  What is that faith that we’re keeping?  We have kept the faith.  It’s not just faith that he’s talking about here.  He’s talking about the faith.  And of course, the faith is believing that Jesus is our Redeemer, we have been purchased with His blood, that we’ve been grafted into His body, that He is the head of His church, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it!  Amen?  So, he’s not wavering by the circumstances.  Do you remember John the Baptist?  Jesus called him the greatest prophet, the greatest man that had lived up until that time.  Yet, in adversity, he had to really deal with some questions in his mind, so he sent his disciples to go to Jesus and ask, “Are you really the one?”

If you’ve ever had that question in your mind, then understand you’re not alone.  Many greater than us have had to battle with those fiery darts and those issues that would come to mind.  Don’t worry so much about what might be in your mind as you would about what’s in your heart.  So, He said, “Go tell John that the kingdom of God is manifesting itself in power at this very moment.”  Amen?  He referred to the blind seeing and the lame walking.  The poor—.  He’s not talking about those that are financially poor.  He’s talking about those that are spiritually poor, those that have never heard the gospel.  They are having the gospel preached to them.

The way to protect ourselves is to become offensive.  Share this gospel.  Move in great boldness.  For you and I, as much as we’ve been taught the Word of God, I want to remind us that we’re to stir up that gift that’s in us; amen?  What gift am I talking about?  I’m talking about the gift of the faith.  That great gift of Christ in us, the hope of glory.  Hallelujah!  That great gift of the Holy Spirit, who will be with us and in us in the person of Jesus Christ, and in His very being, the Holy Ghost.  For our bodies, our lives, are the temple of the Holy Ghost.  We must know who we are in this hour; amen?  We are not the cowering church, fearful and hiding in darkness.  We are the church triumphant, who have been commanded to go into all the world, preach this gospel, cast out devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead!  Praise God!  We will not stand as a people in this last hour who are hiding to protect themselves, but as a people who are set upon a hill.  We’re going to know a supernatural grace that’s going to come along with the trials and the persecutions that will remind us we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.  Praise God!