using our gifts...

April 30, 2012

1 Timothy 4:13-14

V 14 Do not neglect the gift you have…

Of course Paul was speaking directly to Timothy he; he wanted to remind Timothy of what God had equipped him to accomplish. However, every believer has a spiritual gift. It’s given to us at salvation. What is it? Well, it’s different in every person, but they are all from God. I have heard many over the years say that they don’t have a spiritual gift; when in actuality they do they just don’t know what it is yet. In some cases, maybe they don’t want to know, because spiritual gifts are given to us so that we can work. They are given to us so that we can help our church family and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul is very clear here, “Do not neglect the gift you have…” Perhaps we need to examine ourselves to see if we have been neglectful.

he was taught...

April 26, 2012

1 Timothy 4:11-12

V 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity

I read this verse and I automatically think of my three beautiful children. I desire this for them. I desire them to be the kind of strong believers that can and will make a difference in the world around them. I want them to be pure in their behavior, speech, and relationships. I want them to be the example. Yet, this doesn’t just happen. It didn’t just happen to Timothy. Before Paul poured his time, attention, and knowledge of Jesus Christ into him, Timothy’s Mom and Grandmother taught him.

to set...

April 25, 2012

1 Timothy 4:9-10

V 9 …hope set on the living God

As believers this is a statement that should be common in our lives. We would probable all “say” that this is something that is evident in our lives. However, as I’ve grown older I’ve learned that there is a big difference in “want to” or “should” to actually having it. We all “want” our hope to be in God, but sometimes we find that we put our hope in other more temporal things. Perhaps, we find our hope in money, or our jobs, or our social standing, or in a person. Yet, we are to “set” our “hope on the living God.” In order, to set our hope on something we must know something about that person. We have to know God and know that He is totally worthy of holding our hope before we can actually place it there. This is more than merely “Sunday Morning” knowledge, but a personal knowledge that sits deeply within our hearts. To “set” is a verb meaning “to put or place” it’s an action that we have to do ourselves. Our hope doesn’t just automatically find itself on God; we have to put or set it there.  

What must come first...

April 24, 2012

1 Timothy 4:8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise

Having gone though a year of “bodily training”; I can say without any doubt that I was only able to accomplish that because of some intense “spiritual training” first. I know with my whole heart that the spiritual had to come first. No matter how “strong” a person may think they are; no one is strong enough to battle the flesh for any length of time and win all on their own. Nope, that battle requires spiritual weapons. I thank God daily that He is giving me those weapons necessary to be successful!

sweat and excercise....

April 23, 2012

1 Timothy 4:5-7

v 7 …rather train yourself for godliness

I cringe when I hear the word “train” because I know that anytime that word is mentioned, hard work must follow. Train is defined as, “to develop, or form the habits, thought or behavior”. Sometimes we must make new habits and even harder are the times when we must change our habits. Either way this is seldom a walk in the park. It’s hard but worth it. Here Paul is telling us to have “self-discipline” in the area of our spiritual lives. To force ourselves to not believe false doctrine and only to allow into our lives what is holy. That would of course require that we knew what was holy, right? So this is also an area of self-discipline, knowing God’s word. Which is a whole area of discipline in and of itself; memorizing scripture, a faithful prayer life and consistent time in God’s word. Like all “exercise” this too is worth it; this will change our lives in ways that we will be so proud of in the end!

covering up our bad habits...

April 20, 2012

1 Timothy 4:3-5

V 4 For everything created by God is good…

Paul is giving several examples of how the evil in the heart of man can corrupt what God meant for good. In this specific instance, Paul is dealing with marriage and food. God created both marriage and food for us to enjoy. They are both necessary for us to succeed and ultimately be able to live godly lives that glorify Him. There are times when God calls us to fast from all manner of things, but that’s not what these verses were dealing with. These verses are dealing with people who will corrupt what God made for good in order to make their evil lives and intentions look good. In other words, they are trying to make themselves look way better than they were. This is something we all do. It’s much easier to try to cover up our bad habits than to actually do what God commands of us

what we could loose...

April 19, 2012

1 Timothy 4:2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared

I guess what strikes me most in this verse is the realization that it is possible that our consciences can be seared. That’s just a little bit scary, right? Our consciences are there to help us, to convict us when we make wrong decisions without them we would be lost. Yet, here God’s word tells us it’s possible to burn them from our minds. If we constantly live in the bed of iniquity and if we are always knowingly committing grave sins against God’s Holy Word; there will be consequences. One of those is the lose of our consciences. To me that is sad…

being decieved is eaiser than we assume...

April 18, 2012

1 Timothy 4:1 now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons

We read this and immediately say this could not happen to me; I would never listen to the teachings of demons, I wouldn’t even associate with them. We read the word demon and assume that it will appear as horrid; that it would be automatically recognizable. We assume that we know God’s word so well; we go to church every Sunday, right; we just completed a great bible study. We assume that we would recognize any deceitful lie told to us by these demons we would recognize on sight. I bet that’s what Adam and Eve thought too, right?

what the world sees...

April 17, 2012

1 Timothy 3:14-16

V 15 …you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God

Ever thought how we should behave as members of the family of God. That’s what Paul is talking about here; how we should act within the family of God not just inside the church building. He will focus the next part of his letter telling us how we should treat each other. I think that we sometimes forget that our church family is the soft place we can fall. It’s the place where others will understand the decisions you make based on God’s leading that the world finds crazy. It’s the people who should support you, love you, and sometimes love you enough to tell you when you are wrong. How we conduct ourselves here is very important since this is the picture of the church that the world sees. We wouldn’t want them to see a group of people constantly squabbling full of back-stabbing lying people who barely tolerate each other and are constantly vying for power. That’s not different than anything they see in the world. How are we doing with this so far?

who we are in the world...

April 10, 2012

1 Timothy 3:4-7

V 7 Moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace…

How important is our reputation in the world? Well, here Paul is telling perspective pastors that unless their reputations are above reproach they cannot perform their duties as pastor. So, we can assume that our reputations are very important. They are also not separate. What I mean is. We can’t have a Sunday Church persona that we only slip on once a week, and a weekday one that we use the rest of the time. Nope, our reputations should be the same whether we are at our house, or our businesses or at church. We should not or rather we cannot separate our lives from who we are at church to who we are at other times. To do so tells the world that our love of God is not real.

must...

April 9, 2012

1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be…

“Must” it’s a word we use many times during our day, yet it’s a word that we skip over. Perhaps because we have used it over and over it has lost some of it’s meaning to us. Must is defined as, “to be commanded, to be obliged, or urged to” it is also a verb; so it’s an action something is expected of us. God uses this powerful little four letter word when He is giving His qualifications for those who would lead His church. I would assume that He chooses such a word because its absolutely necessary that each man who fills this position has these qualifications reflected in their lives. If they do not, it will be impossible for them to properly lead and in some cases it could lead to a disaster.

who leads...

April 4, 2012

1 Timothy 3:2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach

I love how God has everything set here. He has left no room for doubt on who the leaders of His church should be and how they should act. He has given a very detailed list for churches to look to when looking for a pastor. This letter was of course written to Timothy but ultimately it was for us, God’s church, to use when we are selecting the men who will lead us. This “list” that God has given is important. If it wasn’t, He would not have inspired Paul to write them. When even one of these qualifications is missing in the life of a leader, the church cannot function as God intended. I think it’s safe to say that when God gives us a list we should make sure that we follow it

leading...

April 3, 2012

2:14-15-3:1

3:1 this is a faithful saying; if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires good work

Paul is writing to Timothy an instructional letter; this was to be Timothy’s “How To…” guide for helping the Ephesian church. So, of course Paul would address how leaders should and should not conduct themselves. Leaders are so very important to the life of a church. How effective of ineffective they are will determine the health of a church body, and ultimately its success or failure. Of course God is the absolute leader of His church and nothing happens to it that is not pre-ordained by Him, but He has in place men that lead. Paul tells Timothy here that a good leader should be motivated to lead because inside he desires to please God! His outward motivation is determined by his inward desire. A leader must be able to separate what he wants from what God wants. Being the leader of a church is not a position where you can seek to have “your” will done but God’s. 

rules...love 'em and hate 'em

April 2, 2012

1 Timothy 2:12 and I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence

I like to drive fast. This isn’t good I know, for a couple of reasons. It’s sometimes not safe, and it’s illegal. We aren’t allowed to drive as fast as we want. There are rules that govern how fast it is safe to travel on certain roads. These rules are even enforced by our police officers. Same goes here. God in His wisdom for His own reasons has not allowed women to be preachers. Note He means preachers; He is in no way saying that we, as women, can’t teach or that we have to just sit in silence. We are not merely meant to be pew sitters. No we are called to work, to serve, and to teach, to become great proclaimers of the gospel; just not to preach. I find it interesting that women find this offensive. We have rules that govern all manner of things in our lives and we don’t get upset or angry. Yet, this thought that God should be allowed to decide who preaches His word is offensive to some. He never, in that passage or any other, has said that women were incapable of doing it or that we didn’t have the intelligence to accomplish it; He just said that the area of preaching and leading was not for us. I wonder if perhaps it’s just the thought that God would not allow us something that makes it that much more enticing; that the reason we would want to preach is simply because we are told we cannot.