The true “church” refers to the regular and intentional meeting of believers to worship God, to study His Word, and to serve one another as part of the body of Christ under a Biblical leadership structure. Let’s unpack those pieces one at a time. Basic distinctions of a true church: #1 A true church [...]
Listen carefully and be reasonable in times of disagreement. Paul instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:24-25, “…the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness [another word for meekness]. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to knowledge of the truth…” There is a correlation between meekness and [...]
Timothy was shaped by the Holy Spirit 2 Timothy 1:3-7 says, "3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with [...]
Introduction At first glance, this text looks like a hodgepodge of disconnected ideas. Some people skip right over it and figure Paul’s personal business back then is of little consequence to the church today. But the faithful student of God’s Word has a much different view of this text. They know that every [...]
audio mp3="https://canyonverdedownloads.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/2-timothy-4-6-8-pauls-example-of-finishing-well.mp3"][/audio This is not a complete recording of this weeks message, please see the written text below for the complete message. Introduction It’s never good news when the doctor calls and says: Your test results came in. We need to see you right away. When someone is faced with a serious illness or terminal cancer, [...]
Introduction Power of example Do you remember who you wanted to be when you were a kid? Kids will often try to imitate people who they want to be like someday. When I was a little kid, we would play games where we would pretend to be superheroes and we’d use our [...]
Introduction 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. My dad is a mechanic and a craftsman and I grew up in and around the shop. One of the measures of a craftsman is the [...]
Introduction Gospel Illustration: euaggelion The word translated as “gospel” in the New Testament is based on a term from the ancient battlefield. The Greek word euaggelion (yü-än-ge'-lē-on) means “good tidings” or “good news”, but the historical connotation is much stronger than our English translation. Imagine with me a group of men travelling out of [...]
