Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the critical role of spiritual fathers and mothers in the church, urging the older generation to pour themselves into the younger generation. He highlights the importance of presenting Christ, the 'man in glory,' rather than mere religious teachings, and calls for a genuine encounter with Jesus to overcome self-centeredness. Beach Jr. stresses that without the proper transition of spiritual values from one generation to the next, the church risks losing its essence and purpose. He draws parallels with Paul's letters to Timothy, which serve as a model for passing the baton of faith and responsibility. The sermon concludes with a call to action for older believers to embody and demonstrate the teachings of Christ to guide the youth.

Lord, we thank you, Lord, that you have an interest in our lives. You have an interest in our thoughts, our meditations. You have an interest in what we're going through. You are intimately aware of our struggles, of our difficulties, of our fears. You're intimately aware of the exact situation that we are in. And Father, we pray today by your Word and the precious, almighty Holy Spirit, that you would shine light into our hearts and enable us to understand the great need of this hour, Lord, that we live in. And that you would empower us to be single in heart and single in mind, and not waste our time and our energy on that which is not bread and that which is not food. That we would not waste our energy and time on that which, when it passes through the fire on the day of judgment, will turn into chaff and ashes and perish and be blown with the wind. But that you would help us to see, Lord, how to focus our attention on what matters, eternity, and that we would receive a full reward and that the labor would be fully rewarded. And we pray, God, you'll do this for Jesus' sake. Amen and Amen. There's a great need in this hour that we live for an alignment to God's heart and God's will in our lives. An alignment. God is wanting us to recognize the need in His heart for the baton to be passed. The baton needs to be passed. It is a principle in the Word of God that we find throughout the entire Scriptures. And it's one that we are in need of being more and more aware of, especially in this hour that we live in. I want to briefly mention that Paul was apprehended by the Lord, Acts chapter 9, as you know. And his life was changed when he met a man, the man in glory. Paul's life was not radically changed when he met a new religion or a new Judaism or a new system of thought. Paul did not meet rules, regulations. He did not meet religion. He did not meet a movement, an organization. He didn't meet anything like that at all. He met a man. You remember what the Samaritan woman said after she had an encounter with Jesus? She ran to Samaria. She gathered the whole town together and what did she say? Come, meet a man who has told me everything about my life. Is not this the Messiah? There is great failure in Christendom today because the man is not being presented. The man is not being presented. Not only is he seldomly being presented from the Scriptures, but equally important, the man is not being presented in the life, in the lives. Homes are not grasping and capturing a vision of that man in glory. Sermons are about all manner of subjects and topics and principles, but the man is absent. And this is a great tragedy, a great travesty that's being committed in this hour. God is wanting to work toward a recovery, a recovery out from this nonsense and this spiritual deception that is leading an entire generation into spiritual illusion and delusion. And we have right here today a very vivid picture of a room full of young people. And I believe the Holy Spirit would bid us to just look at what is before us, the young people. God's interest is in the young people. God's concern is on them. God's love is on them. He wants them. He longs for them. Every young person here, there is a God in heaven who is your Father, and He loves you, and He has an interest for you. But equally, not only is God longing for and seeking every young person here, but He turns His attention to the older ones, and He's looking in the older ones for a heart that coincides with His heart, the heart that was modeled in His Son and the heart that was modeled in the Apostle Paul. And that is a kind of heart that has been devastated and emptied and stripped so that it exists for one purpose alone, to be poured out into the lives of others. Even as God Himself poured Himself out on Calvary in the person of His Son for the sake of others. The highest, noblest, most majestic revelation that unveils to us the majesty of who God is, is seen by His intrinsic value of being essentially selfless, utterly selfless, utterly committed to give. God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son. And God is looking for a generation of older believers. Now, do not be offended, but God is looking for a generation of older believers, if the shoe fits, wear it, who will get over yourself. I'm not speaking to the younger people, because the younger people don't have the capacity to get over their self. They don't have it. This is why God needs an older generation who will model it, who will work with them and be patient and love them, and teach them how to get over themselves. There is a younger generation in this world, in the Christian world, and they're crying out, but the older generation can't hear because they're too involved with themselves. They're too into themselves. There's a young generation crying and they're saying, Help me! Do you hear them? Not to mention in the world, not to mention the young girls and the young boys in the world who have no hope, who have no light, who have no compass. That's a whole other burden of the Lord. But now, it's in the church, in the realm of Christendom. They're crying out and they're saying, Help me get over myself. Help me. Help me get over me. Help me out of this bondage. I want to help. God hears that cry this morning and He's mindful of it. He's mindful of that cry in the heart of every young person who has grown up in the church. And to that cry, God will respond. But not only does He respond to that cry, but He looks to the older generation and He challenges the older generation and He says, How are you helping this cry? How are you helping it? Get over yourself. The only way to get over ourselves, the only way to get over ourselves, is to find ourselves in the presence of the man in glory. To find ourselves in the presence of that man in glory. For it is only as we have an encounter and a continual encounter with the man in glory, that God releases us from ourself. Releases us from the mantra. The modern mantra. It's all about me. It's all about now. It's all about my desires. How can a young generation of men and women who have been in the church, who have listened, who know what the Scriptures say, how can they ever arise into adulthood as men and women of God prepared to take the baton and represent the man in glory in their workplace, and in their home, and in the fellowships that they become involved in? How can they ever do it, if the older generation failed to represent God through them? Where is the Joshua? Where is the Caleb? That stands in the midst of this younger generation, representing the man in glory. Representing the heart of God. Representing the purpose of God. God's cry. God's cry. Paul went on three missionary journeys. And at the end of the third missionary journey, he was in Jerusalem. Acts 20. This was around 58-59 A.D. While in Jerusalem, he was arrested. Acts 21. And he was imprisoned in Caesarea. Acts 24. During his imprisonment, he was sent to Rome. Acts 27. And there he was imprisoned in Rome. Acts 28. Around 61-63 A.D. During this time, being imprisoned in Rome, he wrote what is commonly called the prison epistles. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians. That's around 62-63 A.D. Upon completing those epistles, begins the last period of Paul's life. The last period of Paul's life. That begins around 63 A.D. All the way through to 66 A.D. And in 66 A.D., Paul was martyred. His head was cut off. By the bloodthirsty Nero. Roman Emperor. During this period of time from 63 A.D. to 66 A.D. He most likely journeyed to Spain. Visited Ephesus, Macedonia, Crete, and Troas. And during this time, he wrote 1 Timothy and Titus. Then he was arrested again and was sent back to Rome. And it was during his second arrest in Rome, where he was anticipating his imminent death that he wrote 2 Timothy. And shortly after he completed 2 Timothy, Paul was released from his physical body and was ushered into the immediate presence of the man in glory who some 30-35 years ago conquered him in Acts chapter 9. This entails the latter part of Paul's life. And the deposit, listen carefully, the deposit that Paul gives at the latter part of his life is 1 and 2 Timothy. They're the epistles that he wrote in the latter part of his life. Those epistles have no new revelation. Nothing new in those epistles. Paul does not come out with anything new. The revelation that God gave Paul that began during his first missionary journey, second missionary journey, third missionary journey, during which time afterwards in Jerusalem he was imprisoned and then the prison epistles came forth, that was the body of writings where the revelation of God that Paul had received grew and consummated and matured and developed. And the crowning release of all that God meant Paul to understand when he saw the man in glory in Acts chapter 9 was released during the prison epistles. General Electric Power Company, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. It was released. There is no greater revelation of the purpose of God crystallized and made so clear and lucid than those epistles that came out of Paul's spirit during his imprisonment. No greater revelation. The entire Bible is revealed in those epistles. But remarkably, during the very last couple of years of Paul's life, he wrote 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, no new revelation. 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy was all about the revelation of passing the baton to the younger generation. And so when we read 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, we read the epistles of an old man anticipating his martyrdom completely overcome by the man in glory. 25 years of history where he lost everything for this man in glory. And now his heart is reaching out to this young Timothy and the subsequent generations that will follow Timothy with an impassioned plea to lay hold, grasp fully, and don't drop the ball from representing all that I myself, Paul says, deposited into your life. And that's the meaning of 1 and 2 Timothy. All the teachings there are the impassioned cry of a man passing the baton. Passing the baton. And so when we look at these epistles, we hear God speaking through this man. And in order to understand these epistles, we have to understand two spiritual principles. I'm not going to get into this in detail, laying a foundation. Two spiritual principles. 1 and 2 Timothy is a transitional book. Father, Son, Mother, Daughter. In order to understand 1 and 2 Timothy, we have to understand the meaning of the intrinsic value, spiritual value, the spiritual meaning of fathers, spiritual fathers in Christ, spiritual mothers in Christ. We have to understand what is meant by being a spiritual father, a spiritual mother. We have to understand the intrinsic makeup of a father spiritually and a mother spiritually. And while at the same time, we have to understand this, we have to understand the imperative need. Imperative need. Once having understood this, and once having come into the good of the spiritual realities inherent within spiritual fatherhood, spiritual motherhood, we have to then be capacitated by God to see the imperative need and revelation of taking the values, the spiritual values, the spiritual realities, the intrinsic spiritual worth of what Christ has become in spiritual motherhood and spiritual fatherhood and make a transition, a spiritual transition as Paul was doing in 1 and 2 Timothy. This is imperative for without the spiritual transition of fatherhood to son and motherhood to daughter, the next generation is lost. Do we understand that? The next generation is lost without the proper transition and the proper communication and the proper impartation of the spiritual values inherent within these two spiritual realities being poured into, poured into the next generation. This is God's principle. This is God's pattern. Christ came. The Son of God. As a man He came representing the perfect nature of God, the Righteous One. But what did He do? He gathered around Himself twelve apostles. And what did He do in the lives of those twelve apostles? What did He do? Huh? He poured Himself into them. Jesus poured Himself into the apostles. And then on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came, all of that pouring, all of that emptying of what He was as the blessed only begotten Son of God was realized in them when the Holy Spirit came, when the Holy Spirit quickened them, when the Holy Spirit truly became an occupant in their life, then the transfer was made from the head to those apostles. And they became living epistles. The apostles' ministry was more than just teaching. Brothers and sisters, we have to understand this. The apostles' ministry was more than just doctrinal teaching. It included that. But it was more than just teaching. It was more than just educating people. It was more than just instructing people. The apostles became a living epistle revealing the head Christ Jesus. And then the apostles in turn poured their life into the church. Selfless life of Christ. And connected with the church as fathers and mothers and through God's sovereignty and God's power imparted into sons and daughters so that this principle can be repeated. Sons and daughters then become what? Fathers. And daughters become mothers. And then the same principle is repeated again and again and again. But it's not fathers reproducing sons after their own image and likeness. It's fathers reproducing sons after the image and likeness of the head. It is a spiritual reality through which God is securing from generation to generation a seed in the earth that is representative of the Holy Seed Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is a costly calling. This is in no way a call to mere educating children or educating the church with simply doctrine. It exceeds that. It doesn't eliminate that, but it exceeds it. A bottle of water, please. So, when we look at 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, we are looking at the spiritual reality of this diagram here. We're looking at a spiritual father that had embodied in Him Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Corinthians, Romans. The spiritual realities of those epistles were penned by a man named Paul in whom not only was the doctrine of those books resident, but the reality of Christ, which is the substance of those books. It was Christ formed in this man. And that 1 and 2 Timothy is the picture of the transition and the cry and how a transition looks when it's being communicated from a father to a son, from a mother to a daughter, to ensure that the next generation is representing in their generation what was represented in their previous generation, which is modeled in Paul and the other apostles, of course. Paul wrote half the New Testament, though. And so, what the Lord wants to do is help us to see this great calling upon our lives. We have children in our midst, young adults in our midst, and here's what they're saying. Show me Christianity. Don't just tell me about it. Show me Christianity. Don't tell me to pray. Show me to pray. Don't tell me not to love money. Show me what it means not to love money. Now, what time is it, Colette? Or anyone has a clock? Yeah, we've run out of time. But now, here's what I want to challenge everyone to do. Read 1 and 2 Timothy in light of this now. It'll turn into a different book. 1 and 2 Timothy. Read it in light of that heart. Everything Paul says in those two epistles is a father trying to properly pass the baton to his son so that nothing is lost. Nothing is lost. Because at the time 1 and 2 Timothy were being written, the Christian religion had set in and it began to corrupt the testimony of Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus didn't come to start the Christian religion that's in the world today. Jesus is not the head of the Christian religion. And don't ever think He is. God did not make Christ the head of Christian religion. Christ is the head of a living church made up of living stones that have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are organically connected to Him. And they are listening to Him. They are walking with Him. And they are manifesting who He is. Christ is the head of that. He's not the head of a religious organization called Christianity. And at the time Paul wrote 1 and 2 Timothy, corruption was setting in. Hierarchialism was setting in. Formalism was setting in. You can read it in the writings of the church fathers. Even the early church fathers like Clement and others who even knew Paul. Paul spoke of Clement. And then those who were the spiritual sons and daughters of Clement and Polycarp. You see their writings are filled with heresy. Filled with teachings and revelations that did not come from the spiritual father Paul. But they came from the decline that had set in. The deception that had set in. And there are some churches today who believe that the writings of the early church fathers are equal to the writings of the Word of God. And because of that they refuse to let go of the traditions that can't be supported in the Word of God but are supported in the early church fathers. And that's why they won't let go of it. They say it's the teaching of the whole church that is the Word of God. That makes up the truth of God's Word. And they say the whole church includes not only the apostles' teaching but the writings of the early fathers. Very dangerous. Very dangerous. And so when Paul wrote this letter to Timothy he was seeing the decay. The spiritual decline. He was seeing a Christian religion being created. And it was not the testimony of Jesus Christ organically operating through redeemed human beings. It was a Christian religion. And so Paul wrote these two epistles. This is an introductory thought. We'll continue this as God leads in the days to come so that we can understand and become sober in our mind to see the great need before us. Children in our midst. God needs spiritual mothers and fathers who will live for nothing but the next generation to impart the spiritual realities that were represented in Paul and the apostles which were the spiritual realities represented in the head. And that's the call today. So, let's bow our hearts before the Lord.