This is the last worship service for this month. We have a new month ahead of us, and it's a blessing to keep gathering and worshipping our Lord together on Sundays! In today's scripture passage, we have part of one of the many letters that St. Paul sent to his people. As you all know, spreading out the Gospel was Paul's special duty, so whenever he was freed from arrest he continued in his work 'to go out into the world' and then he would be arrested again. This was happening constantly. It was his life. Today's message was sent to Timothy, a young pastor who was taking over Paul's job in one community that Paul had witnessed to. Paul sent his message from jail. I always remember the story of when Paul and one of his friends were put in a jail. They just continued to praise the Lord, and soon, by God's power, they were able to leave that place. Afterwards, the jailer and his family were saved! Verse 3: Paul was still doing the same thing in jail. Having been placed in jail, he praised the Lord and prayed earnestly for the people and also for the young pastor Timothy. Although the situation was not what we could call normal, he could still enjoy peace inside of himself. That is why he could pray for others! Also, probably, Timothy was one of his big concerns, which led Paul to pray for Timothy's work. So, what kind of person was this Timothy? He received his sincere faith through his grandmother, and his mother. He was the third generation of Christians. His grandmother was said to be among 'the first fruits' of Christians. Here, this morning, most of us are among 'the first fruits.' This fact is so encouraging to me. Well, Timothy was young, and just starting his ministry as a pastor -- this reminds me of my younger days, when I started living alone at the age of 24. I had to cook for myself, and learn all of the basic domestic duties that my parents had previously taking care of. I was alone, trying to start a new church, where there were no Christian people. I couldn't help weeping at times. I didn't mean to but, I found myself crying out in loneliness, in the face of an uncertain future. To cry is not such a bad thing to do you know. Jesus, Himself, wept. He wept for the dead, and He wept for the lost ones of Israel. Jesus cried and wept, and I think pastors often do. Paul also cried a lot! I've heard that Paul was a kind of emotional person, that he often got angry, and that he cried. He showed his emotions clearly to people around him, for he had been through great sufferings and the bitterness that pastors often experience. See Acts 20:19,31. He also had another kind of sorrow; he couldn't stop his people from leaving the Church.

Personally, I shed tears often, although mostly in my prayers. As Timothy remembers Paul's tears, God also remembers ours. Look at verse 7; since Timothy was under hardship for a long time, he must have felt timid. He couldn't have been very confident, and probably wanted to quit. That's why Paul encourages Timothy in this way. Paul had experienced the same feelings - see I Corinthians 2:3. True, when we are in trouble, we tend to be ashamed of the Gospel. As a Christian, we want to say and proclaim boldly that 'God is the Answer.' As, of course, we know that He is, however, being in an unsolved situation for a long time, not knowing the answer, we tend to become disappointed with God. (Recently, there has been a book published, entitled "When we feel disappointed in God". The author is, in fact, a very well- used Christian, who writes a lot of books about Christianity. This title sounds negative, but it does help us find answers.) So, Timothy must have been timid about his work, having this unsolved problem on his hands. So, we find that Paul is encouraging Timothy. And what does Paul encourage Timothy to do 'go back to the Spirit' that has power and love and self-discipline!

Here is a good lesson; there once lived a boy with his mother. One time, he shouted to the mountains, "I hate you!" And, the mountains echoed back "I hate you!" Later, his mother suggested to him to shout "I love you!" And when he did this, he heard the mountains echo back "I love you!" This is something like playing catch, isn't it! What we need right now is love. The Spirit, that the Lord gives to us, is that of love, and also of self-discipline. See Romans 12:3-5. This is how we live a life in self-discipline.

To get rid of a bad situation, or an unsolved problem, we need to once again get in touch with God's Spirit; the Spirit of love and self-discipline. Just remember, Jesus left His throne, and took on humility and became human. This humility is what we need in our lives. We all know that we need love, and self-discipline, to keep good relationships with people around us. We do know it, but we can't do it! This is how we can do it successfully -- we need to welcome God's Spirit into our lives so that It can fill us!

Translated by Junko Okamoto - Edited for the Net by Shido
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