Coming to the Still Waters

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 4:6-10, which read,   v.6 - In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you are following. Paul has been giving Timothy a warning about false teachers and false converts who are within the body or the faith but are not of the faith.  They are following other teachings that contradict the gospel of grace of God through faith alone in the cross of Christ.  They are tying their own works to the mix of how to get saved rather than what you do after you are saved.  Timothy is to point out this error and he is able to because he is being constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which he is following.  Timothy is getting a good diet of the Word of God and he is also exercising it through living it out with sound doctrine.  Diet and exercise, isn't that the phrase said so much by the

Today our verses are 1 Timothy 4:1-5, which read,   v.1-3 - But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from food which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.   Paul goes into a section of warning to Timothy in this letter addressing his leadership over the church in Ephesus.  What he is sharing is something that is very evident and obvious within the society that the church resides within.  From the time of Christ's first coming to His second coming, there will be those who seem to be a part of the faith but have fallen away.  "Did they those their salvation?" might be the question asked.  Help from the Scripture on this is 1 John 2:19 which reads, "They went out

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 3:14-16, which read s, v.14, 15 - I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. Paul is finishing up a section of this letter to Timothy about the structure of the church in Ephesus.  He will go from instruction to warning in the next section.  Paul longs to see Timothy and the church personally but in his stead is this letter of how to conduct oneself in the household of God, the church, the local church body. The church is called the household of God, the church of the living God, and the pillar and support of the truth.  The church is the family of God; the church's identity is linked to the living God who is active and not passive; and the church's purpose is given as the necessary structures of the society to h

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 3:11-13, which read,   v.11 - Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. Paul is continuing to give Timothy instruction on the spiritual qualification for those in leadership.  The position in this passage is for those called "deacons" or in our language within the church as "team leads."   These are those who lead a ministry within the body of the church.  As we have stated before that these can be either men or women as Paul goes back and forth between the genders and uses the word "likewise" to equate the qualifications to both sexes. Paul speaks directly to the women deacons in this verse to be...   dignified - A person serious about the work that is before them and conducting leadership in an honorable and holy manner.   not malicious gossips - Speech and communication are always important aspects of leadership.  The speech and communication

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 3:8-10, which read,   v.8, 9 - Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.   Paul now shifts to another position in the church called the deacons.  The word "deacon" means "to serve."   In our system, these would be the team leads of our ministry teams.  They are leading the action groups that serve some practical function within the body of the church or maybe to the whole church.  A good Biblical example are the men selected in the book of Acts to make sure that all the widows were receiving their food in the daily distribution.  They carried out and directed a specific ministry.  What are the Biblical qualifications of these ministry leaders or team leads? The first thing to note is that these positions can be men or women.  The men are addressed in verse 8 and the women are address

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 3:4-7, which read,   v.4-6 - He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. Paul is giving Timothy instruction on the men to look forward to lead the church in Ephesus.  These men will oversee the ministry and so they are called "overseers."   Yesterday the focus was on their character and especially displayed when solving conflicts and holding onto the truth.  They not only handle the situation in a godly way but they are teaching others to also follow suit with God's principles.  Now Paul goes from the church setting to the home setting. The home front is the proving ground or the background check to this man's character in action.  How is t

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 3:2, 3, which read,   An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. Paul gives Timothy a long list of what these men are to be like who are going to fill the official position of overseer who over see the spiritual health of the church.  We will only cover part of the list today and then look at some more tomorrow.  This list is a kind of "fruit of the Spirit" list with some more practical definition to the terms given in that list.  Let's walk through them one by one.   An overseer, then, must be... - The key words here are "must be."   There is no loophole here on these qualities for the position of church leadership.  They are already overseers before they are given the official title of overseer because they display these things.   ...ab

Today's verse is 1 Timothy 3:1 which reads,   It is a trustworthy statement:  if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.   Let's take just one verse this morning and take it apart word by word.  This is the start of another section of this letter from Paul to Timothy in the aid of leading the church in Ephesus.  Paul will now focus on the development and make up of the senior leaders of the church.  What are these people to be like?   It is a trustworthy statement:... - The first one of these statements is 1 Timothy 1:15 which deals with Christ coming and saving sinners.  This is the second dealing with local church overseers.  The third one is 1 Timothy 4:9 which deals with personal holiness.  The fourth one is 2 Timothy 2:11 which deals with our salvation in Christ.  The fifth one is Titus 3:8 which deals with us doing good works in relationship to evangelism.  Church leadership is given this privileged position in t

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 2:11-15, which read, We start with context of God's plan from creation.  God first created man and then He created woman.  Paul speaks of that in verse 13 of this passage.  God brings that order into the relationship between the two in the scope of marriage.  He also extends that order when speaking of Christ as the groom and the church being the bride.  Christ is the head of the church as the husband is to be like Christ and be the head of the family.  Now we are in the context of the local church as Paul writes to Timothy as he leads the church in Ephesus.  God's consistent order is being played out within the structure of the church. The men are spoken of first to be men of prayer, worship, and confession.  The men are to lead in these areas.  Likewise, the women are to follow suit with holy living seen through what is within rather than external adornments to draw attention to themselves rather than God above.  Paul contin

Just off of vacation and so I thought we would ease back into our study of 1 Timothy tomorrow and give some insights from our time away. “Trains, Planes, and Automobiles” is the title of a movie that I have never seen but have heard about but it describes our modes of transportation for the week.  We started with a two hour automobile ride to Chicago O’Hare thanks to Scott Pescetto and then a 2 1/2 hour flight to Tampa.  Stephanie’ parents picked us up and we had an hour automobile drive back to the city of Zephyrhills.  We had a couple days in the Florida sun before packing up the car for a 20 hour trip north that usually is 3 days long but we squeezed it into 2.  A couple of days in the Michigan sun involved a lot of unpacking and the bringing out of many things to use for the summer on the deck.  My big job was the trimming of 9 fruit trees and my shoulders are sore but the work was completed so hopefully a great harvest will happen this fall.  The trip ended with a tr

Today's devotional is about serial church shoppers and the un-churched. Stephanie and I were given the opportunity by God to launch a new church in northern Michigan. We watched a church emerge from 3 couples to over 150 in the 18 years we were there.  God brought together this unique group of people to learn of Him and many to worship Him as their Savior and Lord.  We are so thankful for that experience that God put us in. Reading a blog this week by Carey Nieuwhof linked here: http://careynieuwhof.com/2016/04/5-key-differences-church-shoppers-unchurched/  I resonated with his 5 points about the differences between a serial church shopper and the un-churched.  We saw these 5 things. 1.  Church shoppers think their job is to evaluate; the un-churched are looking to learn. 2.  Church shoppers move quickly from love to hate; the un-churched warm up to you gradually. 3.  Church shoppers want your church to be like the last church (that they left); un-churched peopl

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 2:9, 10, which read, Again, let's back up and recap our last lesson on this passage that is hard to interpret and has many views about how it should be taken practically.  I am looking at this passage through the grid of the different types of the law in the Old Testament, ceremonial, civil, and moral. Ceremonial law is related to Israel's worship which was fulfilled by the coming of Jesus the Messiah but there are principles behind the ceremonial laws to apply in worshiping God.  Is this passage somewhat like ceremonial law which may have some principles to dig out and apply to our modern day but fulfilled already in Christ? Civil law dictated Israel's daily living which is much different than today and other social systems.  Again, there are principles behind the commands that guide us in our conduct.  Is this passage somewhat like civil law which applied just to them but still has some underlining principles that gove

Today's verse is 1 Timothy 2:8, which reads, Before we go into this section of Scripture that is sometimes controversial in its different interpretations I thought it might be good to address some guiding principles that I have gone through myself in attempting to get a handle on applying what is written here.  Paul is writing to Timothy who he left in Ephesus to lead the church.  The instructions found here are specifically written to him and his involvement in leading the church in the ways of righteousness.  The early church was being formed out of people who were deeply religious to law abiding practices prior to Christ, the Jews, and also people who were deeply religious to very unholy worship of pagan gods, the Gentiles. To add to this, Paul's letters were to be read among the churches.  They addressed problems locally but they also were an aid to other churches who would face some of the same issues.  Also contained in the letters are doctrinal prin

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 2:5-7, which read,   v.5, 6 - For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. We are to be praying for all men including kings and those in authority for the salvation of their souls.  We are to be living tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and moral uprightness.  This life is acceptable in the sight of God.  We present to others the knowledge of the truth, i.e. salvation, through our words and actions.  What is the knowledge of the truth? There is one God.  There is a time to realize this fact that all others are not God.  There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.  Someone speaks for us before God and that one person able to do this is Jesus and He alone.  The Greek here is translated in order of words, "Christ Jesus, Himself a man."   Christ Jesus presented Himself voluntarily a

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 2:1-4, which read,   v.1, 2 - First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Paul's letter to Timothy who is leading the Christian church in Ephesus is given a "first of all" here at the start of chapter two.  The "first of all" is to pray.  Entreaties means "to be without" and therefore a time of need.  Petitions means "to draw near so as to speak intimately" and therefore a time to witness.  Paul is speaking to Timothy to pray and to instruct others to pray for all men when the need is great and when it is just common prayer time and also when it is a time to witness and also a time to give the praise of thanksgiving. These prayers go for all men to kings and all who are in authority.  What greater need and

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 1:18-20, which read,   v.18, 19 - This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Paul gave Timothy his transformation testimony last study as an example of what God can do with those who are against Him to be for Him.  Now Paul gives an official commissioning of Timothy to the work that is ahead of him.  Timothy has had others who have confirmed his call to fill this position of pastor/missionary with the gospel of Jesus Christ. These confirmations were to be leaned upon to fight the good fight, keeping faith and good conscience.  Other Christian brothers and sisters giving God directed insight into Timothy's life was essential for his continual walk of faith and the use of his spiritual gifts in the right manner fo

Today's verses are 1 Timothy 1:12-17, which read,   v.12-14 - I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.  Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.  Paul doesn't forget where he came from.  Paul doesn't forget what he was like before and what he is like now and how that all came about.  He was a blasphemer so he violated the first half of the 10 commandments that deal with our relationship with God and he was a persecutor and aggressor that violated the second half of the 10 commandments that deal with our relationship with others.  Paul is stating that he was no different than the false teachers that Timothy is facing in Ephesus. But, and that is always a big word in the Scri