Week 2: 2 Timothy

This week I studied 2 Timothy, which is a letter to Timothy written by Paul from prison. These are Paul's last written words before his death. He writes this letter to encourage Timothy to continue following Christ though he might encounter suffering and persecution for his faith. Paul encourages Timothy to never be ashamed of the gospel he is preaching. The following verses show Paul's perseverance and faithfulness to God and sharing the gospel even while in prison for doing so. Paul knows that the God he has placed his trust in is much larger than his suffering and that God will give him the strength and power to overcome the persecution he receives.

"So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don't be ashamed of me, either, even though I'm in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the
sake of the Good News." ~1:8

"That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return" ~1:12

"So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen." ~2:10

"Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" ~3:12

As an American following Christ requires very little, if any, suffering. Yes there are things I have given up and worldly pleasures that I don't take part in because I trust that a life in Christ provides much more joy but I can't say I have ever actually suffered because of my faith. My community group at church is currently reading the book "Radical" by David Platt. This book talks a lot about suffering for the sake of being a Christian and how several Christians in other countries risk their lives to read their Bibles and participate in secret church services where they have to meet in hiding so that they don't die. I am currently writing about 2 Timothy in a coffee shop enjoying a cup of French Vanilla coffee and laughing at the table of 8 year old girls practicing cheers next to me...hardly suffering. The book posed the question "would we as American Christians still be willing to follow Christ if we were persecuted for it daily and if we risked our lives and the lives of our families for doing so?" I would like to say that I love Jesus enough that I would continue to follow him in the presence of suffering and even death but would I really? Definitely a heart check.

Paul encourages Timothy to continue preaching the gospel by telling him that preaching is a spiritual gift that God gave him and that he has instilled in him a spirit of power, love and self discipline and not one of fear and timidity. He is saying that he doesn't need to be afraid or ashamed of the gospel because he has the power of the Holy Spirit with him.

"I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." ~1:6-7

Paul also discusses discipleship with Timothy and how it is important to teach the gospel to others so that they in turn can continue to share. A friend was talking recently about how discipleship is the root of how the gospel is spread. Jesus spent all of his time with 12 men teaching them how to go to all nations and share the love of Christ. He poured himself into 12 followers who he equipped and empowered to go out and share to others who would then share with others.

"You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them onto others" ~2:2

My favorite verses in 2 Timothy are these:

"Of we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is" ~2:11-13

God is never going to be who he isn't and therefore, cannot be unfaithful to us. He keeps his promises and will continue to be with us even when we stray away from Him. Paul fully grasped that God cannot deny who He is and was willing to suffer for the opportunity to tell others of the faithful God he served. I think when we really get to know Christ and his love for us then there will be no way we can deny him or be ashamed of Him.

So that is all for 2 Timothy! Stay tuned next week for Hebrews!

Kenlyn

Week 1: Galatians

Blogging about each book is going to be much harder than I originally thought. I mean pastors devote an entire series of sermons to only a couple of verses or a chapter. I think I could write for a while about all that is packed into the six chapters of Galatians. I will just highlight a few verses that stuck out.

"Obviously I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant." ~1:10

If only I could have the confidence of Paul to say that I am obviously not trying to win the approval of people! My church in Nashville just finished a series on idolatry and approval ranked very high as something I tend to place above God. I center my life around trying not to disappoint others rather than pleasing God. When in all actuality the only approval I need is God's and praise the Lord that in Him I stand complete.

"But we refused to give into them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you" ~2:5

Paul, Titus, and Barnabus were being forced to follow the Jewish regulations and laws but refused to give into for fear that it would hurt their witness to the Galatians that it is not by law that you are saved but by faith in Christ Jesus. This is the focus of the rest of Galatians. This verse shows how Paul exemplifies Christian witness and perseverance. How different would we act if we knew that our actions were preserving the truth of the gospel message for those we came in contact with?

The next few verses deal with the question that continues to be asked today. This question presents itself in several ways. There are people that believe that by obeying the law and being a good person they have a ticket to heaven while others believe that once they have faith that Christ has indeed died on the cross to save them from their sins that they now have the freedom to sin. There is also the tendency for Christians to feel like they need to earn their salvation and God's love through continuous good works. These verses sum up the answer to the question: "Is salvation through Christ alone , or dos it come through Christ and adherence to the law".

"Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God by obeying the law. " ~2:16

" I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make it right with God, then there was no need for Christ" ~2:21

" Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you head about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?" ~3:2-3

"So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the scriptures say "It is through faith that a righteous person has life" ~2:11

"For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command "love your neighbor as yourself" ~5:13

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves" ~5:16

To sum up all of these verses I would say that instead of obeying the law and doing good works in order to win God's favor we should want to obey the law and do good out of the love for God. It also says that by having the Holy Spirit inside of us we will be led away from our sinful nature.
We will want to serve others because the Holy spirit is producing His fruits in our lives and leading us in every part of our lives.

"What is more important is faith expressing itself in love" ~5:6

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control." ~5:22

"But those who live to please the spirit will harvest everlasting life from the spirit. So lets not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity , we should do good to everyone" ~6:8

That about wraps up Galatians! Now onto the book for week two: 2 Timothy!!

"If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important." ~Galatians 6:3 (This made me laugh and I kinda want to put it on the back of Crosspoint's Serve and then Some T-shirts)

Until Next week,
Kenlyn

The Challenge

There are 66 books of the Bible. All of which are filled with God's guidance and love for us. None of which I have fully read and diligently studied on my own. This has to change. I tend to skip around a lot while reading the Bible and to skim rather than really studying what God is saying. I love reading books that are written by Christian authors but these books need to stop taking the place of studying God's word. I am desiring to get to know the Bible better and am truly looking forward to spending time really studying each book. So for the next 66 weeks I will be studying a book a week. I have serious committment issues when it comes to reading and sticking to something for 66 weeks so I had to give myself ways to keep this going. Pretty pitiful that I have to motivate myself to continue reading the Bible but I have too much ADD to go from Genesis to Revelation. I have always struggled with looking at the Bible and being overwhelmed and not knowing where to start. So I made cards with each book of the Bible on them and will pull out a different one each week. This way I won't get overwhelmed trying to pick the book and my ADD won't kick in. I plan on writing about what God is teaching me through each book. I will write at the end of each week and then reveal the next week's book! I hope that by blogging I will hold myself more accountable to reading. Feel free to join me! I started on Sunday November 7th, 2010 and will finish on February 5th, 2012. 66 weeks is a long time I am excited to see how this changes my life. The first book I drew was Galations! I'll let you know how that goes on Sunday!