Stay True
Opening Prayer
Father, You are watching over Your church. Your love rests on me and on my church family. That love does not fail.
Read 1 Timothy 1:1-11
[1] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, [2] To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. [3] As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer [4] or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work-which is by faith. [5] The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. [6] Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. [7] They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. [8] We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. [9] We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, [10] for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine [11] that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Do you support your leaders?Let’s start where Paul does (1,2). We’ll picture our overall church leaders and pray for them, using the second half of verse 2. God wants them to experience his extraordinary, undeserved kindness (“grace”), his readiness to forgive and save (“mercy”), and the intimate relationship they can enjoy with him (“peace”), thanks to all Jesus has done. In their tough jobs, they and Timothy will need as much of all this as they can get!Then it’s straight in at the deep end. Weighing heavily on Paul’s heart is the need of the church in Ephesus to hear and live out the absolute truth of the original Gospel message and not to tolerate new twists on it (3,4). Myths about Jewish history and about God’s requirements for the way Christians should live would just cause fights in a congregation. Instead, true Gospel teaching would grow love (5) and confront immorality (the ignoring of God’s standards, 9-11). Already this is a pretty tough call for church leaders today as they teach their congregations and watch out for anything that’s not in line with the Bible, and especially with Jesus’ teaching.
Apply
Pray for your leaders, for wisdom, integrity, courage, and boldness, and that they would know God’s love for them.
Closing prayer
King of Glory, You are the one I look to, I long for, and I wait upon. My whole life is Yours.
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