Introduction to 1 Timothy - Establishing the Next Generation

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Pastor Ben Mitchell

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Well as you guys recall last time I was with y 'all we finished a book we finished the book of Titus But you may also remember that we did intend to make it a study through all three of the pastoral epistles
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Not just Titus so that brings us to first Timothy if y 'all like to turn us if y 'all like to turn there we'll be starting a new book today and One thing about the pastoral epistles is that first Timothy was actually
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The first of the three of the three letters written We started with Titus because I liked the idea of going from first Timothy to second
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Timothy But the written order was first Timothy Titus in the middle and then second
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Timothy was the very last epistle that the Apostle Paul wrote So we started a little bit out of order
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With our study of Titus, but now we move on and we'll we'll move through the the next couple
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Epistles which of course will take a considerable amount of time because they are more lengthy and Just very very full as we will see
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So let's take a look at first Timothy and we're gonna read just the first couple of verses this morning And we will introduce this epistle before going verse by verse over the next several weeks chapter 1 verse 1 says
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Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope unto
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Timothy Mine own son in the faith grace mercy and peace from God our
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Father and Jesus Christ our Lord So we'll break down a little bit over the next couple of weeks
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Paul's salutation here. There's always some Amazing things to get just from the way the letters are open.
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But today I just kind of want to introduce to y 'all a little bit This epistle.
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Yes, but also the man Timothy as well Now one thing about the Apostle Paul is that though he had every right to boast as a
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Jew We know this from Philippians chapter 3, but also to boast as a preeminent
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Apostle having written the majority of the New Testament Even though you could look at his life
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You could look at his accomplishments whether it be as a Pharisee first Then as an apostle of Jesus Christ either way if there was anyone that had the right to boast
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It was Paul and again He makes this very clear in Philippians chapter 3 if anyone has the right to boast in the flesh and paraphrasing
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It would be me and then he goes on to list his basic basically his Jewish lineage as well as his standing in the pharisaical order and all these types of things and Then he leaves all that behind.
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He counted all of that is trash is garbage is Basically how he words it and then he becomes the
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Apostle the Apostle Paul And as the Apostle he becomes like I mentioned a second ago the preeminent one the one that wrote half the
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New Testament the one that played such a significant role in the Early stages of the church.
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He had every right to boast for all these reasons and yet Paul was not a megalomaniac He was not someone that was obsessed or consumed with himself
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He wasn't consumed with his work during his life, even though from the human viewpoint
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He easily could have been that kind of guy rather He was a man who understood his appointed battle station and was careful to excel in it
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He wanted to do the best he possibly could and we this is very clear as we read through his epistles
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He wanted to excel in it, but he never wanted to cross the bounds of it either And so this is a fine line that every person every
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Christian has to walk where you recognize What your calling is in life? You recognize the moment that God has you in and you do your very best in that moment
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But without trying to go beyond the bounds of it by that,
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I mean you can you know, try to force things you can be discontent with where you are and therefore try to Maybe prolong a certain season of life
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Maybe you're in a position of power and you want to cling on to that position of power in many cases things like that In other words, you are crossing the bounds of the position that God put you in The Apostle Paul never wanted to do that He wanted to excel in his position as an apostle without crossing the bounds now in contrast with that in modern -day
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Evangelicalism The church at large certainly in America, but throughout the West as well it is filled to the brim with celebrity pastors with theologians academics scholars conference speakers
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All of these things and many of them are great men But just as many if not more are too wrapped up in the showiness of the position that they're in They forget their first love if they ever even had that love to begin with in many cases
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They lost it and this preoccupation with themselves with their power
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Shows itself most apparent when they fail to train the next generation They are so wrapped up in the moment.
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They're in and in the position they have Received Again a position of power perhaps a position of status a position of popularity
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The showiness of the position they're in like I mentioned a second ago That is what becomes their sole focus and they actually fail at the position they put in Because of it they fail to pass the baton of leadership to the next generation
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Before those men are in a position. We're doing so would be very very difficult We see this everywhere and we see the signs of it everywhere as well in the
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Western Church Like I mentioned, but this wasn't the case for the great Apostle Paul He began doing this very thing training the next generation getting them ready to take what he
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Started for lack of a better term, of course there, you know, Jesus lived his life his ministry
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You had the original 12 disciples then the of course get Judas out of the way
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Matthias comes in you have the 12 apostles So the work had begun but the Apostle Paul comes in very much ready to hit the ground running
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And of course, he does begin a lot of new work himself, but he wasn't
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He wasn't the kind of person to want to just cling on to that. He wanted to prepare the next generation He wanted to pass that on to them before it was too late
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He began doing this very thing during his prime when he was at the peak of his ministry of his endeavors of his work as an apostle and He began doing it with more than a few younger men that required
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Paul's discipleship We have men like Barnabas and later Silas. They come to mind we learn about men like Aristarchus and Tychicus who was actually the guy that carried most of Paul's epistles and delivered them to the churches after Paul Wrote them we have guys like Epaphras and many more.
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But of course We also know about young Titus who we just recently finished studying the epistle to him and young Timothy Paul never wavered from his responsibilities many of which put him in the spotlight more than most people would have been he knew no doubt
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That he would be remembered for his great personal Ministerial accomplishments in other words the things that he is an individual accomplished he knew he would be remembered for these things and again compare him to many of the guys that have been well published have
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Spoken at some of the biggest conferences in the world perhaps have pastored the largest churches Perhaps have been on television shows or all types of things, you know contrast them understanding
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That that is what they would be remembered for and not wanting that to end That is where we find the contrast between so many in the modern -day
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Church and the Apostle Paul He never let any of his accomplishments get in the way of doing the right thing in Preparing the next the next generation to again continue on the ministry
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We see that most clearly in what are commonly referred to as the past orals or the past oral epistles
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That would be first Timothy Titus and second Timothy We've already completed our study in one of those and we'll move on to the next two beginning with first Timothy Today now we know that Timothy and Titus were great men
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They would have had that excuse me, they wouldn't have been entrusted with their respective churches and appointing in training other bishops to go and Pastor many of these churches they were involved with if that weren't the case so we know they were great men but another thing that we learned just as much in These epistles about these men to these men and remember we we see them pop up throughout
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Other parts of the New Testament as well. We'll actually look at a few examples of it in just a moment with regard to Timothy We've already done this with Titus a while back
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But we learn by looking at these two young men about what it takes to be the next generation of spiritual leadership as well
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It's not simply that they were particularly gifted guys They grew into these roles.
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They were prepared Going into it We know that they were young men But we often miss the character that propelled them to their status as Paul's successors
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That is no small task. That is no small accomplishment that they both achieved to again take the baton from the
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Apostle Paul himself to Pastor the churches that Paul planted or at least helped plant in many cases and to carry on the church
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After the Apostles were gone we need to understand and remember the character that it took for these two young men to have in order to accomplish these things and how that character was
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Shaped over time in other words Timothy Titus They weren't born ready for the ministry at least from the human viewpoint
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They weren't born ready for it rather over the courses of their lives Keep in mind in the context of these epistles were reading they were relatively young Over the course of their lives they were forged into the young men that they were when these letters were delivered to them and who they would become as they grew in the faith and in their respective roles and so while not all young men will follow in their footsteps
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Titus and Timothy's when it comes to the ministry We do find a universal principle in their lives and that would be what it takes to be a formidable servant of Christ in the context of young manhood on the cusp of Full -out leadership in whatever battle station the
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Lord appoints them to it may be different But the principles are the same the battle station may be different, but the principle is the same
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Now Timothy's background certainly made a difference in forging him into the man that he needed to be for this moment in History, and I'd like to show you all some of this so again.
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We're we're in first Timothy, but we're introducing it here I actually want you to turn to second Timothy for a second, and we're going to take a brief snapshot of What made
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Timothy the man that he was What made him prepared for This task again this moment in history, and we get a hint of it in second
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Timothy chapter 1 Take a look at verse 5 This is the
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Apostle Paul talking to Timothy and of course we will go into these passages in more detail when we get to this
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Epistle, but I still want you to look at it now It says in verse 5 when I called a remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you talking to Timothy Which dwelt first in my grandmother
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Lois and my mother Eunice and I am persuaded
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That is in thee also Wherefore I put you in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God Which is in you by the putting on of my hands for God hath not given us the spirit of fear
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But of power and of love and of a sound mind we often forget the context of that verse
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We know that verse well now flip over a couple of chapters in 2nd
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Timothy to chapter 3 and Look at verse 14 it says but continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has been assured of Knowing of whom thou has learned them and that from a child thou has known the holy scriptures
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Which are able to make thee wise and to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus So what are a couple of things we learn in the second epistle to Timothy We learn number one that his mother and his grandmother played a considerable
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Considerable role in his upbringing. They raised him up in the nurture and the admonition of the
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Lord now we know That his mother and grandmother were Jews His father was a
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Greek. We don't know a whole lot about his father, but we do know he was a Greek So Timothy was part
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Gentile part Jew It's interesting because Titus was fully
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Greek and he remained uncircumcised his whole life Timothy grew up uncircumcised
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Because his father was a Greek and he was Integrated in in the culture of that particular time in Lystra, which is where he was from But Paul after their ministry began together actually circumcised
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Timothy himself as a young man in Order that the Jews would receive him into the synagogue to hear him preach the gospel of Christ now
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The only reason Paul did that well, it was twofold number one because he was a Jew Technically speaking
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Secondly, though he realized that that could be his in in order to preach to this
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Hard -hearted or stiff -necked group of Jews that didn't necessarily want to hear the gospel of Jesus But Paul knew that Timothy would be needed in order to get the gospel spread to them
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So you have this kind of interesting backdrop for Timothy there where? Again, he was born of a
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Greek father But he was also Jewish through his mother and his grandmother His mother and grandmother are the ones that raised him in the
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Holy Scriptures because they were the two faithful Jews in the family and so we learned that they played a significant role in this and because of them he was raised
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Learning the Holy Scriptures now God uses all kind of people Of diverse backgrounds and upbringings to carry on the ministry
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We could think of a number of examples that would be, you know, really interesting to share but one principle that we can learn from Timothy here is that being raised in a faithful family and Being immersed in the
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Holy Scriptures from a young age can equip a man to do great things later in life So Timothy was set up for success in that regard
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He again, he was being forged even from the youngest age to get ready for this moment in history where the
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Apostle Paul would hand him the baton of Church leadership at the very beginning and while Timothy will always be remembered as the great bishop of Ephesus and the beloved companion of the
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Apostle Paul himself the names of Eunice and Lois have been inscripturated in the very
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Word of God for all generations to know them by name and You look at something like this and you can't tell me that the calling of being keepers at home is in any way lesser than Because there have been names of Queens Throughout human history that have long since been forgotten
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But not Eunice or Lois these faithful women of God and faithful mothers their names were included in the very
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Word of God because of their faithfulness and raising up young Timothy and Raising him in the Word of God and preparing him for what he would someday
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Take part in Now Timothy would later go on of course to be a zealous evangelist unafraid of Somewhat thorny church situations and conflicts.
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We all know that the church at Corinth was a little bit Little bit complicated and the
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Apostle Paul, of course wrote a number of letters to them to straighten them out over time He cared for them deeply, but he also rebuked them
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And he lets them know look you you needed to be rebuked and it's what was it was what was best for you
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So Paul was very much involved with discipling the church at Corinth and bringing them out of the immaturity that they had
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But he also brought in Timothy and Titus We talked about Titus quite a bit in the context of Corinth in our last study
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But take a look at Timothy as well in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 17 the
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Apostle Paul says this Talking to the Corinthians. He says for this cause have
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I sent unto you Timotheus? That's Timothy who is my beloved son and faithful in the
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Lord who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways Which be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church
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So Timothy was quite literally the perfect extension of the
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Apostle Paul He was able to go into Corinth in person. Remember these are letters that Paul is sending to Corinth.
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He sends Timothy in person and He reminds them of the ways
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That Paul taught them which be in Christ. And so this is notable
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Because first we learned that Timothy was faithful to Paul Imagine just put put yourself in his shoes for a second
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Timothy's that is and you know about this church that the Apostle Paul played a part in planting and Discipling he goes away and then you've got all the weird messy stuff like they're letting the guy commit fornication and there's incest involved and they're all okay with it because they are
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Thinking well, maybe this means we're accepting Christians or whatever It may be so Paul is having to thoroughly rebuke them and set them straight for all kinds of different things
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He has to rebuke them for different things in his second epistle so Timothy is well aware of all the stuff going on there and Paul says
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I want you to go and remind them of the doctrines that I have once taught and Be there to disciple them in person.
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So imagine being in that situation as a young man Yes, you have the zeal you have the calling
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You're with the Apostle Paul, but that would still be pretty nerve -wracking. Well, at least it's implied here
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Timothy didn't But up against that at all. He he was faithful to Paul Regardless of whatever requests that Paul made of him
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He went and that included being sent to minister to one of the most dysfunctional
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Congregations of the early church Timothy was able to do that Even though he was a younger man at the time, but more than that from this just brief interaction in 1st
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Corinthians chapter 4 we learned that despite the uncomfortable environment at Corinth at times
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Paul Trusted Timothy to do the job. Yes, Timothy was faithful. He said sure boss.
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You're sending me I'll go but We have to keep in mind Faithfulness to a person doesn't
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Necessitate that he's trustworthy in all things either So in other words, he could be it could have been just a yes, man
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That was going wherever Paul told him to go and then he just bombs it when he gets there But that wasn't the case either. He was faithful, but he was also
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Trustworthy Paul trusted Timothy enough to send him right in the middle of all of it all that was going on in Corinth Timothy was a trustworthy man and he had the fortitude as a man to handle the grit of Discipleship in the toughest places
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Discipleship is not an easy thing Especially I mean we're talking about in person working through people with their sin issues
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Bringing them back to the straight and narrow using Scripture to do that. That is not an easy task it is it is a very gritty thing and Timothy wasn't afraid he wasn't
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Going to to kind of shirk away from that responsibility. He may have had adrenaline. He may have had some nerves
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Going about within him No doubt that would be expected But it is going beyond those in fulfilling the role fulfilling the responsibility at hand that is the true mark of a called man of God like this and I Say called man of God.
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Yes. He was called to the role of ministry, but any man of God in any role Being able to overcome fear to have the the courage to assume the responsibility
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God has given you That is a mark of biblical masculinity right there and Timothy had it now in also in 1st
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Corinthians 16 Paul says this 1st Corinthians 16 10 now if Timothy has come see that he may be with you without fear
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In other words be hospitable to Timothy Listen to this for he worketh the work of the
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Lord as also I do So the Apostle Paul puts Timothy on a really high level
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With regard to his ability to disciple with his ability to preach with his ability to minister to people
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He's doing the work of the Lord even as I do again We think about the Apostle Paul Arguably the greatest
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Christian that ever lived based on the New Testament record that we have and here He is putting young Timothy up on the same level as him saying he needs to be received because he
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Works the work of the Lord even as I do and he goes on to say let no man therefore despise him
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But conduct him forth in peace that he may come unto me for I look for him with the brethren
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So you take good care of him while he's there with you and while he is there He is gonna work the work of the
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Lord even as I do so we learned that Timothy's early pastoral work was exemplary
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Even at a young age in no doubt that was the result of his faithfulness to Bible study when he was even younger as we saw in 2nd
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Timothy a second ago. He was raised Learning and reading the Holy Scriptures that his mother and grandmother were raising him in so he was
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He was great with regard to filling the pastoral role he was ready for it
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He was prepared for it with regard to his understanding of the scriptures He was ready to disciple people, but he was good at it
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And so let's take a look at a few scriptures that illustrate this if y 'all want to turn with me to 1st Thessalonians we're going to kind of bounce around the
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New Testament for a second and see some spots where Timothy pops up and We can see his work as a minister as a young pastor and what that work looked like In a few spots.
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So first we look at the church at Thessalonica 1st
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Thessalonians chapter 3 Look at verses 1 & 2 first Apostle Paul is talking here.
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He says wherefore When we could no longer forbear we thought it good to be left at Athens alone and we sent
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Timotheus or Timothy our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith so imagine again
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Timothy's Ability to disciple and to pastor with Paul in total confidence sending him rather than going himself
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The Apostle Paul understood the Thessalonians needed Paul, but he said no I needed to stay in Athens I'm sending
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Timothy and again verse 2 What does he do he's as the minister of God as our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ He will establish you and comfort you regarding your faith and then skip down to verse 6 and look at this
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But now when Timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity and that you have
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Excuse me in that you have good remembrance of us always desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you
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Therefore brethren, we were comforted over you and all our afflictions in distress by your faith.
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So Timothy is literally traveling around Going wherever Paul tells him to go
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Ministering pastoring discipling then returning to Paul with news about the church giving him a full -orbed report basically on what's happening which then refreshes
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Paul in those with him and gets them prepared to press on with their the rest of their endeavors their ministerial works, so Timothy was like a hub of comfort of Refreshment of pastoring in discipleship for the
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Apostles themselves For all of the co -laborers of the Apostles and all of these young churches.
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He was again bouncing around Doing exactly what he was called to do and doing it really well now turn to Philippians chapter 2
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We'll learn a little bit more about Timothy's stature here From the viewpoint of the
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Apostle Paul, which is significant considering Who Paul was of course take a look at Philippians chapter 2 verse 19
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The Apostle Paul here says But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy Shortly unto you that I also meet may be of good comfort when
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I know your state for I have no man Yeah, for I have no man like -minded
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Who will naturally care for your state for all seek their own not the things which are of Jesus Christ But you know the proof of him that's
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Timothy that as a son with the father he hath served me in the gospel
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Him therefore I hope to send presently so soon as I shall see how it will go with me so Paul Gives contrast between Timothy and just about everybody else now.
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We know there were a number of great again fellow laborers That worked with Paul, but Timothy was was at the top and what he says right here is
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That I have no man Like -minded who will naturally care for your state in other words because of who he is
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He will give you the attention in the care that you need in the same way that I myself would if I were there
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I have no man like -minded who will naturally care for your state for all seek their own not the things which are
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Jesus Christ, so in other words Most of the men that were in ministry were in some way shape or form doing it for personal gain not necessarily
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Putting Christ first so the moment the goings got tough They would pull back we're actually going to learn about one of those types in The study of the past orals will get to him eventually
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But Timothy was not like that it wasn't for his own gain It was for Jesus Christ and then verse 22 is just amazing
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You know the proof of him that as a son as a son with the father he hath served with me in the gospel
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So for the in the same way that a son honors respects reveres his father Follows him in his footsteps with whatever
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You know vocation that he's in it could be it could be a blacksmith. He could be a farmer He could be any anything just the son of a father and the father is raising up the son to take his place
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Someday to take care of the family someday to do all these things in the son is Diligently following along in the same way that a son does that with an honorable father
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Timothy has done toward Paul when it comes to the gospel The the work involved with sharing the gospel he has been that kind of faithful man and then
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If we go back to a to first Timothy Just briefly the third verse of first Timothy.
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I read the first two verses this morning, but in the third verse he says first Timothy 1 3 as I besought you
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Timothy to abide still at Ephesus and that by the way is how we we have in church tradition
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Timothy became the first bishop of Ephesus the pastor of Ephesus before he was eventually martyred and This is kind of where that tradition began.
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I want you to stay in Ephesus when I went to Macedonia that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, so What kind of man is
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Timothy's the kind that the Apostle Paul can trust to refute false teachers and keep the church?
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at Ephesus on the straight and narrow Refuting false doctrine ensuring they don't fall for false doctrine.
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So in just a number of these passages here. We see the New Testament Testimony of Timothy and the kind of man.
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He was the kind of person he was the kind of character that he had Timothy was able to be this kind of minister at the age that he was
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Because he followed in the footsteps of King David from his youth and Allowed the
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Word of God and allowed the law of God to guide his view of the world and he took the
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Commandments within God's Word Seriously, what do I mean that he followed in King David's footsteps?
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Well turn with me to Psalm 119 Psalm 119 the longest chapter in the
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Bible And in that Psalm We learn a really interesting reality
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We learn a really interesting result of being an a disciplined student of God's Word What is one of the the positive outcomes of being a diligent student of God's Word like Timothy was like David was?
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Psalm 119 start in verse 97 again. There's a lot of verses in that one verse 97
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Listen to what David says here and think about Timothy having read the same passage and Having lived this out
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Practically. Oh how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day
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Now, yeah now through thy Commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies for they are ever with me
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I have more understanding than all my teachers For thy testimonies are my meditation.
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I understand more than the ancients Because I keep thy precepts.
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I Have refined my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word I have not departed from my judgments for thou has taught me how sweet are thy words into my taste?
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Yeah, sweeter than honey to my mouth through thy precepts. I get understanding Therefore I hate every false way
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This is what Timothy lived out he took the words of David here seriously, he loved the law of God He loved the
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Word of God. He was wiser than his teachers He was wiser than the ancients because he knew how to apply it to his life
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Practically every day. He took it seriously and That is why Timothy was the kind of man.
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He was ready for this kind of ministry Timothy was a true disciple What is a disciple we recently did a lengthy study on what is it to be a disciple of Jesus Christ a disciple is one who follows an esteemed teacher who learns the philosophy in the practice in the way of life of that esteemed teacher and Then lives it out himself so a
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Disciple is someone that sees a person worth following Jesus Christ, of course is at the top of that He sees a person worth following He wants to hear everything he has to say about life his view of it again.
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What are his philosophies? What are his practices? He wants to learn those and that's where you begin as a disciple is simply learning the intake of information
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Observing how this particular person is living their life and what they're doing But then the next necessary step in order to be a disciple by definition
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Is to begin living those things out yourself to begin living making it your own philosophy your own practices
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Making it your own way of life That's what a disciple is Timothy was a true disciple of Christ.
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He lived that definition out to a tee. He was a disciple of Christ first and foremost taking in his teachings
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Taking in everything that he passed on to the Apostles that were now teaching Timothy and he lived them out
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He esteemed Jesus Christ as a teacher He lived out his teachings himself, but he was also a disciple of the great
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Apostle Paul as well. And so Imagine you had the original disciples that were literally walking with Jesus in the flesh.
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And so they were hearing Just verbatim straight from the mouth of God himself
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His teachings his philosophies his view of life his practices
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Everything they were taking that in they were absorbing it and then they were trying the best that they could to put it into practice and to Be good disciples in that way
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Timothy didn't get that privilege He didn't he wasn't allowed the privilege of walking with Jesus with God in the flesh like the disciples did the original disciples
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But he knew Jesus's teachings. Remember another companion of the Apostle Paul's was Luke the gospel writer
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And so you had this historian and doctor walking around with Paul and Timothy and all of these other guys as they were doing all these mission journeys in Luke had his gospel at some point.
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The Apostle Paul actually quotes the gospel of Luke in In Timothy in this epistle
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Indicating that they already had the complete gospel of Luke that we now have in that Paul was referring to it as scripture and so Timothy had this gospel as well.
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He knew Jesus. He knew his teachings. Yes He was a disciple of Jesus, but he didn't walk with him in person. He did walk in person with Paul though, and he was a perfect disciple of Paul in that regard he was a genuine reflection of Everything that Paul taught in the way that Paul lived his life.
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He was the ideal disciple in that way Just as Paul was the preeminent
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Apostle Timothy would become the preeminent successor of Paul there were other successors to Titus being one of them a number of other bishops that were appointed by Paul He had a number of successors, but Timothy was at the top
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Timothy would go on After receiving these letters from Paul to be one of the first pastors at the dawn of Christianity Paul understood that the early church would receive an onslaught of vicious attacks both physical and spiritual and of course
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Anticipating this he trained to Timothy and others to carry on their tradition of the
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Christian faith that the Apostles had set Remember that foundation that the Apostles were that Paul talks about in Ephesians They set the foundation and then
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Paul went on to prepare his successors with Timothy being at the top to carry on that tradition
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Now just to add to the drama of this moment in church history the
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Apostle Paul knows That in the hands of the Romans his life is nearing its end and this becomes especially apparent in 2nd
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Timothy But in this letter as well as in Titus and in 2nd Timothy We find an urgency in Paul's words that we don't see quite the same in his other epistles
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We see an urgency and we see instruction and it's the kind of instruction that you would expect to see in These kinds of circumstances
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Where the Apostle Paul knows his time is nearing its end That he won't be around much longer
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And he doesn't have much more Opportunity to say what he wants to say to these young men that he has been
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Discipling for at this point decades at least by the time you get to 2nd Timothy. It would have been decades now this was the moment that Timothy was built for we
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Everything we talked about previously from his upbringing to the kind of character He had to the kind of skills that he had as a young minister as a young Bishop everything that was carried into his ministry this is the moment that he was built for and through every young Christian man in every generation since they have had a model to look at for what it means to harness their
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God -given masculinity and to put Once they harness it to put the crosshairs of that on the goal of being sacrificially responsible for everything that God puts in your life
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Again for Timothy, this was the ministry But the principle is true for every sphere of life and young men can apply the principles that Timothy Exhibited in their own lives every day
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What were some of them? Well, this is somewhat recap, but just to finish out our introduction here
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It's to number one be immersed in the scriptures. That's what that's what Timothy had from the time.
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He was young Throughout the rest of his life. He was immersed in the scriptures, but secondly and just as importantly as that is
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Being confident in your ability to apply those scriptures to life So in other words, yes going to church hearing the word preached
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Reading scriptures yourself having faithful family perhaps that is teaching you the scriptures. That's great
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And that is the starting point But it's another thing to take that and apply it to life and in the context of Timothy here that includes the context of rebutting false teachers
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Now you may not experience that as a minister depending on what your calling may be for any young man living anywhere in the world
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But as a Christian man You never know when the Lord will put you in a situation where you need to defend the faith and that's of course why we?
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Have the injunction from Peter to be ready to give an answer to give a defense of our faith
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For the hope that is within us and that is for all Christians not just ministers And so from Timothy young men can learn
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They need to be able to apply the scriptures they immerse themselves in in every area of life and that may even include rebutting false teachers a
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Principle we learned we learned from Timothy with regard to young manhood is being courageous enough
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To lead others back to the Lord when the time calls for it going into the church at Corinth Going into these churches that had really dysfunctional congregations in though He was young and though there were a number of people no doubt in those
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Congregations that may have even attempted to look down on him. He didn't care He was courageous enough because of his confidence in the scriptures
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Wiser than the ancients wiser than his teachers to go in there and disciple them Call out their sin when he needed to and lead others back to the
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Lord ultimately Another principle we weren't we learned from Timothy is simply how to be a good disciple follow those that the
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Lord has put into your life that have experience and wisdom to share and Then live it out while always using the
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Lord as the ultimate standard So when the Lord puts older people in your lives That have wisdom that have experience
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Follow them and take in all that they have to share because well It's the idea of time compression that we've talked about many times before it cuts back your own learning curve
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It sets you up for success It gives you an advantage over others in your generation and perhaps even the generation after that So be a good disciple like Timothy was learn everything that you can but at the same time another principle.
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We learned from Timothy is Spend so much time in God's Word that even when your teachers err
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You can recognize it and address it appropriately This is something that Paul will teach us about in the fifth chapter of this epistle how to appropriately rebuke your elders when they err because Just just because they're older doesn't mean they're sinless.
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It doesn't mean they're perfect doesn't mean they're infallible So God gives us the framework the standards on how to properly correct anyone and everyone
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Using God's Word is the objective standard with the right kind of attitude behind it and Timothy exhibited that and finally
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Another principle we learn from Timothy in his life is how to live out your calling Without ever wavering from it remaining faithful to the
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Lord in all things He was up against a lot of scary stuff in his ministry, but he never wavered so like Titus First Timothy is a very practical book
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It's a letter written by one of the wisest men that ever lived under the Spirit's inspiration To another man that desired to carry on the ministry after Paul So Paul gives him all the instruction he could give even after decades of being together one on one
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So it's very practical as we will see but it is also as doctrinally rich as any of Paul's works of any of his other epistles as We shall shortly see
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So that is our introduction to first Timothy our next book that we will start diving into verse by verse next week
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Does anyone have any thoughts or anything? They'd like to share before we dismiss today?
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I know I kind of ran through all of that mainly for the sake of again getting the introduction done so that we can start
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Diving into each and every verse in the weeks to come any thoughts If not, we'll go ahead and dismiss
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Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for this wonderful day for bringing us together giving us an opportunity to begin yet another letter within your total word within the scriptures that we have we know
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Lord that it is our Christian duty to Have it have a good understanding a full grasp of the whole counsel of God And we know that with each and every epistle with each and every book that we begin we are embarking on a new journey to fill in the gaps of that counsel to have a deeper understanding of Your will for us in our lives to understand what you desire most how you want your churches structured
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How you want Christians living within it? How you want your people to live and how they can be most pleasing in your sight in this present world
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We thank you for opportunities like this We ask you to bless this study and to continue to bring us back each and every week so that we can
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Move through this together to be edified by it together and to grow together as a local church family
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We ask you to please be with us for the remainder of our services to follow We love you, and we thank you so much for all of your many blessings and we ask these things in your name.