Dusty Deevers anchors his sermon in 2 Timothy 2:1–7, written circa 66–67 AD from a Roman prison, urging men to build on Christ's rock against national idolatry. He outlines six duties: resisting sin, ensuring generational discipleship, enduring persecution as soldiers, competing like athletes, laboring as farmers, and studying Scripture for providence. Deevers connects this to his own Senate campaign regarding preborn life protection and concludes that men are uniquely created to fight offensive war against hell under King Jesus, asserting God did not make them female. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
Time
Text
Building Upon The Rock00:03:08
Thank you, brother, for having me.
Let's turn our Bibles to 2 Timothy 2.
We will look at verses 1 through 7.
As you're turning there, I will set up the text and say a couple biographical things and try to keep that out of the sermon too much.
God writes the best stories, friends.
Amen?
I'll say it again.
God writes the best stories.
Amen?
To God belongs all the glory, honor, and praise through King Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Jesus Christ reigns above all powers, all authorities, and every name that is named.
All governments are on his shoulders, and of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.
I want you to look at what God has put before us.
We must understand that under God's sovereign guidance, he has commanded us to, and likewise, we have now committed ourselves to a great work, a work too great for our self reliance, a work Too strenuous to be done alone, a work too historic to take our hands off the plow.
So, solemn humility before our sovereign God is necessary.
In so many ways, in our nation, in our states, we have forgotten our God, and thus we are feeling the weight of his judgment, and we should.
A wise nation builds its house upon the rock of the Word of Christ, the Holy Scriptures.
A wise nation built on the rock of Christ will not be shaken.
But we are proving our idolatrous folly in building our house on the sands of self reliance that despises and disregards our Creator.
We have become a foolish nation built upon the same sands that that ancient serpent laid before our first parents envy, slander, pride.
The shedding of innocent blood, sexual immorality, sodomy, and all other manners of blasphemy.
These things God hates.
And that nation who builds its house upon the sands of folly will be shaken to rubble.
So let us confess our sins and come under a solemn repentance and pray that repentance leads to revival.
Amen?
Amen.
Our text this afternoon is found in the second letter.
From Paul to Timothy, it is a weighty letter, most likely Paul's last.
He is in a Roman prison during Nero's horrendous persecution of the Christians around 66 to 67 AD.
And with all earnestness, as a man facing imminent foreseen martyrdom, he takes up pen and page and charges Timothy, his beloved son, in the faith.
Depositing Faith In Others00:15:27
And with his eyes on his Savior and his hands to the church and his heart pouring out, Paul passes his ministry on to Timothy, who will pass it on to the other faithful men.
Paul charged him to be faithful in ministry, to cling to sound doctrine, to avoid error, to share in suffering in the gospel, and rest his full confidence in Scripture and preach it like a dead man to dying men.
So, men, listen up.
You came to this conference to be challenged, and challenged you will be.
To be charged to take up your duty in the delight of your Savior, to build such that He gets the glory and those under your charge get the joy for generations to come.
And that we will do.
Let's stand together in honor of the reading of God's Word.
The way we do it at our church is I say, Hear the Word of the Lord.
I read the text.
And then at the end, I say, This is the Word of the Lord.
And we say, Thanks be to God.
Some say, Praise be to God.
It just gives it to God, okay?
So I'm going to read the text.
Hear the word of the Lord.
2 Timothy 2 1 through 7.
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
This is the word of the Lord.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Our Lord, we ask that you will direct our minds' attentions and our hearts' affections.
Father in heaven, we come to you through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is reigning from his throne on high, who is our high priest interceding for us.
And who is teaching us your word by your Holy Spirit?
And we ask that you will convict us to the core today, and you will correct us and change us for your glory and our good and the joy of many to come.
In Jesus' name, amen.
You may be seated.
The scriptures, church history, and our present reality prove that we must train the next generation of men who will lead their families, lead their churches.
Lead their businesses and the civil government.
So sit up straight, men.
Prepare yourselves.
Men, soldiers, warriors, we must equip you for battle.
Our Lord, who gave his life for you, demands your life in return, nothing less.
And by God's sovereign ordination, You have a definitive mission from the slain lamb who is standing.
The aim of this text is to lay upon Christian men the weighty duty and the delight of wartime living and training, to strengthen your resolve, to call you to the brotherhood, to aim your pursuits, to charge you to holiness, to challenge you, to look to the giver of the spoils, and to equip you by the word.
Like it or not, men, at your conversion, our Lord and captain enlisted you into his army to fight his battles, and you need to be equipped.
The main idea for this text is this our Lord's command is not just a call to warfare, but a call to embrace the warfare.
It's not just a call to warfare, but it's a call to embrace the warfare.
And the biblical charge of churches is to equip men to be good soldier reproducing soldiers.
I'm going to give six reasons why churches must aim at men.
So, where you are right now, I want you to ask the Lord Jesus to focus your mind, to try you, to test you, and to cause his word to cut quick and then heal.
Ask him to do that for you right now, men.
And mothers, Ask God to do that for the young men that are sitting next to you or at home.
First, to be faithful in our charge, churches must strengthen men in grace.
This is in verse 1.
Churches must strengthen men in grace.
Look at verse 1.
Paul tells his beloved Timothy, who is ministering to the saints, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ.
Now, why would Paul tell Timothy, his young mentor in the faith?
It appears that Timothy was growing weak in his labors, and Paul was charging him to act like a man, to grab the reins and renew his fierce commitment to Christ and to the saints.
Timothy!
Timothy!
Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus!
Can't you see him telling his young protege this?
Oh, Timothy!
Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Why do men need to be strengthened by grace?
Ben, you know, and some of you need to know all the more that it is costly to follow Christ.
Men need to be strengthened by grace because of persecution.
They persecuted and killed our Savior.
Why should we think that they will do any better for us?
They killed the prophets and the apostles.
Why wouldn't they kill the laborers in the king's harvest?
The closer you get to the fire, the greater the heat.
Put yourself into the war, and the battle will come to you as you go out to meet it.
Go out to meet the fight, men, and be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Persecution is expected, it's a feature, it's not a flaw.
Through it, your Lord is raising up both your internal feeling of the need for grace and the humbling fact that you are dependent upon Him, desperately so, and He is rousing you for the battle.
He's waking you up.
Wake up!
It's a war.
And we have to realize that, and we must be strengthened by grace.
And you need to strengthen other men by grace too.
Second, men need to be strengthened in grace because of our own sin.
Men, you will have to deal with your own sin.
How hard is self government?
Can you tame your tongue?
Have you mastered your mind, your desires, and your will?
Now add to that attempting to care well with all patience and gentleness in love for the difficulties in your home, growing your bond in marriage.
Building your church or your business, you need to be strengthened in grace.
Don't be too proud to admit it.
You know what kind of grace God promises those who will join with Jesus in this battle?
Indomitable, unconquerable grace.
Do you know why the grace of Jesus is unconquerable or indomitable?
Have you thought about that?
It's because the grace of the chief shepherd, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the champion of his bride, Jesus, our covenant head, who promised to provide his grace from before the foundation of the world.
Came in time.
He secured his grace from before the found.
He secured it by his grace.
He secured through his bloody death at the hands of men and the wrath of the Father.
And he rose from the grave in victory over sin, death, and the devil.
And he conquered every enemy and seats.
And he is seated at the right hand of the Father now, ruling over all.
His grace is unconquerable.
His grace is imitable.
It's indomitable.
And when you embrace the cost of following Christ, You will be strengthened in our warrior king's grace, a forgiving and fortifying grace, a freeing and motivating grace, an unconquerable and eternal grace.
Brothers, you will not shift or drift towards more self discipline.
You will not coast into greater wisdom, you will not meander into strength.
The saving and sustaining, indomitable grace of our Lord.
Will conquer in your life.
So we must call men to be strengthened in grace.
You need to be strengthened in grace, and you need to find someone who is capable of doing so.
Be that for someone.
Second, to be faithful in our charge, we must entrust the faith to faithful entrusters.
We must entrust the faith to faithful entrusters.
Look at verse 2.
And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
To entrust here is to deposit.
This text is known as four generation discipleship or depositing.
Paul gave it to Timothy, and Timothy was to entrust it to faithful men who will be able to entrust and teach it to others also.
But in reality, it's five generation discipleship.
Jesus.
To Paul, to faithful men, to Timothy, to faithful men, to others.
This is the pattern of discipleship that began the church and exploded it across the world.
This is Jesus' strategy for dominionizing his world, for spreading his glorious rule from one end of the earth to the other.
Many people poured into Timothy, and he needed to bring them to the forefront of his mind.
What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men.
Who will be able to teach others?
Many people had poured into him.
It was time for him to think on them so that he could realign himself and get to the good warfare.
Men, right now where you sit, think on those saints who have trained you in the faith.
Bring them to the forefront of your mind right now.
Can you see them?
Your dad, your mom, a grandpa, a grandma?
A pastor, a friend, a fellow saint, let their faithfulness be a charge to you and a call to you for your faithfulness.
Now, think about those to whom you are depositing the faith.
Are they in the front of your mind right now?
Who are you depositing this faith that is once and for all delivered to the saints?
To whom are you depositing it in?
And if there's not anybody there, repent and start depositing the faith.
Our Lord employs his faithful men who embrace the cost to teach others.
Now, what is Timothy to entrust or deposit?
In verse 2, he says, What you have heard from me.
He says, Heard from me.
And love that are in Christ Jesus.
And so this is what he says in 2 Timothy 1 13 through 14.
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me.
In the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus, verse 14, by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
And then he says, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
And that's the gift of preaching and teaching, but also the faith that has been delivered.
So it's not just any deposit.
That you are to make and that has been made into Timothy.
No, it is the most important, most valuable deposit known to man.
It is a sacred deposit, a faith that is delivered to all the saints.
It's worth more than gold, it's worth more than silver, it's worth more than pursuing, it's worth pursuing more than generational wealth.
This is the greatest generational wealth to pursue.
Men, make the sacred deposit in your children.
To whom is Timothy entrusted or to entrust or deposit the faith?
Paul says, Faithful men.
Faithful men.
This text is discriminatory.
It discriminates.
And this is a hard reality to hear.
In the parable of the talents, Jesus said, The servant who buried his stewardship was rebuked, removed, and cast out.
But the faithful servant who made use of his talents and by exercise, They improved.
He grew and his talents grew in abundance.
So, stir up the gift and it will inflame.
Neglect the gift and it will rust, decay, and be taken away.
To be faithful in our charge, we must entrust the faith to faithful entrusters.
Stir Up Your Gifts00:06:48
Third, to be faithful in our charge, we must prepare men to suffer like good soldiers, pleasing.
Their enlisting officer.
I'll say it again.
We must prepare men to suffer like good soldiers, pleasing their enlisting officer.
Look at verse 3.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
There are some children in here.
Children, look at me.
Let me see your eyes.
Children, have your parents ever taken you, taken your face, and put it right between their hands and brought you up close and looked in your eyes and said something like this?
Listen to me, son.
Listen to me, daughter.
This is very important.
And then they give you some instruction.
Hopefully, it's wise.
But they give you some kind of instruction that hopefully meant something and you remember it.
This is the kind of earnestness that I think Paul has with Timothy right now.
I think that's the nature of this text.
Timothy, listen.
You share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Don't shirk it.
That suffering is coming.
It's built in.
Share with me and the other men that you are going to teach.
It's not enough to fight once or twice, men.
It's not enough to fight here or there.
And it's not a Lone Ranger fight.
You must embrace the battle in locked arms with other men.
It is in the embrace of the battle that you are embracing the strengthening grace.
And the person of Christ and embracing the strengthening grace that comes through the brotherhood.
Look at verse 3 again.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Paul could have said ambassador, he could have said minister, he could have said steward, and he has other places, but here he says soldier.
Timothy, you're a soldier.
Think about it, Timothy.
You're in a battle.
You are a soldier.
And not just any soldier will do, Timothy.
You must be a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No soldier, he says in verse 4, gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
Timothy, as a good soldier, you aim your weapons towards Christ's commission and not your own.
Do not get sidetracked, Timothy.
It is Jesus' warfare.
It is Jesus' cause.
We have seen many men get sidetracked over the years and they take their eyes off their captain and they put down their weapons of faith and they take off their spiritual armor and they go after worthless pursuits.
Do not be that, men.
If you are looking at me right now, be a good soldier, men.
Do not take off your armor, do not lay down the word of God.
And if you're trying to go this alone, repent, turn from your rebellion, and lock arms with Christ and the saints.
Be a good soldier.
Brothers, God forbid it would happen to you that you would take off your armor.
Pay careful attention, men.
Keep a close watch on yourself, your life, your time, your attention, your affections.
Oh, watch yourselves, brothers.
Brothers, you must keep your weapons honed.
You must keep your mind sharp.
You must keep your affections on what pleases Christ and your will to do His will.
And one of the reasons the local church elders exist is to help you distinguish between Christ's warfare, those eternally important battles and tactics, and direct you away from frivolous pursuits.
So, what in your life right now?
What in your life right now is even distracting you from keeping Christ's mission first?
You have been commissioned by the authority of Christ to make disciples in your home, your work, and where you go.
You have been commanded to love your wife.
You have been commanded to wash her in the Word, commanded to love your children and teach them, to fear and treasure our captain, and commanded to do your work heartily as unto the Lord.
And commanded to do all these things in the strengthening grace that he provides.
And he will not fail you, men.
He will not fail you.
So I want us to pause right now and where you are, pray Psalm 139, verse 23.
Pray this as I read it Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts.
You ask God to reveal what in your life, even now, is a distraction from keeping Christ's mission first.
And men, you leave them.
Leave them.
Do not get entangled in them for another second.
John 4 4 says, Friendship with the world is enmity with God.
You leave them now.
For his glory and your joy and the joy of generations to come.
And you be strengthened in the grace that God provides.
When does this warfare end?
Well, if you're going to be a good soldier, you do not stop fighting until our Lord takes you home.
Are you a good soldier?
You let him determine when you will stop fighting.
Do not give up your warfare.
Align Yourself Providentially00:12:47
Until 2 Timothy 4 8, until you receive the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to you and to all who have loved his appearing on the day of Christ's return.
Be a good soldier.
Number four, we must prepare men to compete according to the rules so you'll be crowned.
We must charge men to compete according to the rules so that you will be crowned.
Look at verse 5.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
Athleto is the word.
It talks about the drive and the competition it takes to compete in an athletic event.
Brothers, labor with all the spiritual and physical and emotional and mental energy you have and compete.
He will strengthen you in His grace and do not neglect the day of small beginnings.
So many of you.
Have come to a conference and you think about, oh, what they are doing.
Look what God has done with those men.
Look what He's doing in their lives.
And envy can set in.
And I ask you, are you content in the small beginnings that God has worked in you?
For some of you, those small beginnings are years in the past.
For some of you, they're right in front of you.
Do not despise the day of small things, Zechariah 4 10 says.
Why?
Because in that way, in those offerings of obedience that are put before you by your king, he is developing.
He's honing you as a good soldier.
He is testing you to see if you can manage the grace that he supplies for your daily needs and for your daily growth.
When you say, Give us this day our daily bread.
There is a principle that's being set there.
Give us what we need for today.
And he says, Here, here's a small thing.
Do that.
And trust me when you do it.
Don't do it in your own strength.
Do it as an act of love to Christ.
Do it as an act of worship.
And start there in those small things and see what he might do.
And see then that you will be trained to understand that it's not by might.
Nor by power, but by the Spirit of Christ.
That's what Zechariah 4 6 says.
So love your family big, spend yourself for the ultimate good of another, and know that your life is not your own.
It was bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body and compete according to the rules.
Fifth, To be faithful in our charge, we must challenge men to work hard so they'll enjoy the spoils.
To be faithful in our charge, we must challenge men to work hard so they will enjoy the spoils.
Look at verse 6.
Paul tells Timothy, It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
So, men, you lay your hand to the plow and do not look back.
This is no place for fickle following.
If you are going to be a man who pursues Christ, you must work hard.
Get up every day and take on the day ready to experience the full onslaught of the grace of Christ.
Do you recognize that what is coming at you is not first the cares and the circumstances and the trials of this world, it is the overwhelming, indomitable grace of Christ that is confronting you in the day?
Why would we think about the negative when the positive is overwhelmingly good?
Who meets you whenever you wake up in the morning?
Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ behind me, Christ wherever I go.
And if you look to Christ and you work hard, you will share in the spoils.
Now, you might not always see the fruit.
But the results are God's.
Obedience is yours.
Duty is ours.
Results belong to God.
Sixth, to be faithful in our charge, we must call men to think hard over the Scriptures.
We must call men to think hard over the Scriptures so you'll align yourselves providentially.
Think hard over the Scriptures so you'll align yourselves according to God's providence.
Look at verse 7.
Paul tells Timothy, Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
He's saying, Timothy, you get clear perception, you come to full understanding, you give careful attention and count the cost, and then do exactly what our Lord says.
Align yourself, Timothy, with God's providence, and then you embrace the cost.
In 2 Samuel 10, we're told of the Ammonite and Syrian armies coming up against King David.
And Job, who's the commander of David's army, gives advice to the soldiers that you must heed.
You must heed this, men.
2 Samuel 10 12.
Be of good courage and let us be courageous for our people and for the cities of our God.
And may Yahweh do what seems good to him.
If you are going to align yourselves providentially, you must first be of good courage, men.
You must be of good courage.
Why?
Because you entrust yourself to the sovereign ruler of all.
Who establishes the dominion of Christ by his own zealous pleasure?
What's going to arouse your courage?
An undefeatable king.
Who do you serve?
You don't serve a wimp, a limp wristed, gay king.
He has never been defeated.
He will never be defeated.
And if you give yourself to him, you will walk in his triumphal procession.
To align yourself providentially, you must be of good courage, men.
Second, to align yourself providentially, you must be courageous for our people.
1 Chronicles 18 13 says, Use your strength for our people and the cities of our God.
Men, Use your strength that God has graciously given you to protect the innocent, to lead, to serve, to provide, to rescue those who are being led to death.
Let me just say something about the campaign that I went through, and now that I'm a senator, just to give you some perspective of how God works in His providence.
God wanted certain topics from our campaign to be in the public discussion because, for whatever reason, they've been lacking in the public discussion.
You can probably think of some reasons why some of the topics that we talked about that God brought up in my campaign were lacking in the public discussion.
Go back to point one.
To be aligned providentially, you must be of good courage.
If we lack courage, certain topics aren't going to go in the public discussion.
God did these things, He brought those topics to discussion.
And I had a duty before God to trust Him to set the platform.
Providence ensured that the plight of the preborn and those being frozen and discarded would be front and center in my campaign.
My opponents thought it was wise to attack my Christian stance on these issues, and you cannot imagine the fruit that God has brought through conversations during the campaign.
What they intended for evil, our sovereign God intended for good.
So some of you are going to decide, I need to step up and run for.
A civil seat, to be a civil servant.
Some of you in this room are going to.
And can I just charge you to be of good courage?
To be of good courage for your people?
And to trust God to establish the points and the talking points of your campaign?
You pray, you set them.
And then if the media decides they're going to come after you and they think they're going to take you down, you go at them even harder.
Oh, that's the topic?
Now I want to go harder.
Lean into it.
You trust God.
Don't be a fool, but trust God and lean into it.
To align yourself providentially, third, you must let God do what seems good to him.
Let God do what seems good to him.
Do you trust the Lord like this, men?
Do you trust God to tear down evil in his world according to his timing, his means, and his purposes?
Or do you look and say, well, the culture will only allow this much, so we're going to set the terms on the basis of the culture.
Fie on that hell.
If we let the culture set the terms, then the culture is God and not our Lord.
You are bowing to a different king, and that king always leads to destruction and chaos and disorder.
There is only Christ or chaos.
Psalm 110, verse 3 says, Your people are complete willingness on the day of your power, in the day of your muster, in the splendor of your holiness.
Christian men, are you offering yourselves with complete willingness to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, such that He will use you for His glory in the civil sphere?
Christ's people see themselves as freewill offerings.
They don't just bring doves or other items, they give themselves to Christ.
They give Him, everything they have.
And King Jesus looks out from his throne and he scans over all of his creation and he can identify his people with this single characteristic willing.
Willing.
So you be a willing people.
And whatever you say, Lord, whatever you want, I am yours.
When, where, why, how, whatever, I am willing.
To be faithful in our charge, we must call men to think hard over the scriptures so they'll align themselves providentially.
So let me conclude with this.
Soldiers, men, brothers, like it or not, you are in a conflict, and the enemy of your souls and the souls of your family and the souls of the saints is prowling around seeking his prey.
Act Like Men00:03:16
And by God's grace, you have been born again to be a good soldier for the good of God's people.
So act like men, be watchful, stand firm in the faith.
Act like men and be strong, and let all that you do be done in love, even if it's a hard love.
God did not make you a female.
That should be obvious, but here we are saying it.
You are not a female.
He made you a male to fulfill a specific role in His created order.
And since God made you a male, He gave you a mission and duties that will demonstrate His divine qualities.
And attributes in ways that are specific to your masculinity.
Jesus, your warrior king, has summoned you.
He has commanded your formation for battle.
Line up, men.
Your charge is to fight the king's battle with the king's weapons, to fight on his battlefront, to make offensive war on the gates of hell, and to prevail, to push the lines ever forward, to extend the dynasty and the dominion of our king who rules from on high.
And every enemy will bow.
He will footstool every enemy, and this world will be dominionized, and it will glory reflect like the waters cover the sea.
The world will be conquered, and the conquerors will sit with King Jesus on his throne.
Amen.
Now look around you, men.
Look at your brothers.
Your divine general has strategically gathered fellow troops, warriors.
Men in your churches, men in your home, fighting men, young and old, husbands, fathers, grandfathers, leaders, all gifted, all strategic, all commissioned to wage the good warfare as good soldiers of our King.
Men, it is no time for shrinking back.
Know this you will suffer, you will be called to share in the sufferings of our King.
But they cannot be compared to the eternal weight of glory that is to be revealed to you.
In your groaning, you will grow.
In your mourning, you will hope.
In your struggle, you will triumph.
So keep your eyes on our loving, crucified, but resurrected warrior king, Jesus.
And in his providence that is kind, he has placed you here at this time for war side alongside your brothers in arms.
And you need to pay attention.
To what God is doing in your life now and in the lives of your brothers and sisters and families in your church.
Our Lord's call is not just a call to warfare, but it's to embrace the battle.
And the reward of your King awaits should you labor in His strength, by His direction, and for His glory.