Author: PGC Administrator

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=2Timothy+002

2 Timothy Chapter 2 (ESV)

¹⁴ Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 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. ¹⁶ But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, ¹⁷ and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. ¹⁹ But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

²⁰ Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. ²¹ Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

²² So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. ²³ Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.²⁴ And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵ correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

REFLECTION:

1. Slowly read these verses (esp. vv22-26) and let the message saturate your heart and mind. Imagine Paul is sitting beside you, speaking these words to you directly. How do you feel when you hear them? What part of the passage resonates most with you? Why?
2. Does the “evil desires of youth” seem a little patronizing? Or do you just like to have “foolish and stupid arguments”, or is there still bitterness in you causing you to get into “quarrels” a lot? Perhaps Christian maturity such as “be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful” seems impossible or defeating?  Maybe with some people you’ve lost hope that they might “come to their senses”?
3. Continue to sit in silence and explore what God might want you to do with this instruction. How are you to live it out today? This week? This month?

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

HYMN:

Lord I Need You – youtu.be/gS9e0nxHP-w

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=2Timothy+001

2 TIMOTHY

Introduction

Paul left his co-worker Timothy in the city of Ephesus to deal with some renegade leaders in the church there. When Timothy struggled, however, Paul went back to Ephesus. Once there, Paul suffered a great deal of harm from Alexander, one of these leaders, and he was once again imprisoned and taken to Rome. He expected that this time he would be tried and executed. Paul wrote to Timothy to ask him to come to Rome quickly.

Things in Ephesus had not gone as Paul or Timothy expected. Paul had ordered both Alexander and Hymenaeus to step down from leadership, but they were continuing to oppose Paul. Others had joined them, and they were still misdirecting people into a corrupted version of the faith that stressed debate and dissension rather than purity and obedience. Timothy was discouraged and intimidated. Paul’s letter includes challenges to stay faithful to the true message—even if this meant suffering or death. Paul reminds Timothy that in the days before the open appearance of Jesus as king, there will be lots of trouble. False teachers, treacherous and insincere people, persecutions and more will all challenge the faithfulness of God’s people.

Paul urges Timothy to remember the gospel message: Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. He points out that the sacred writings Timothy has known since he was a child are God-breathed, and will help him continue in doing good work.

www.bible.com/zh-TW/bible/111/2TI.INTRO1.NIV

2 Timothy  Chapter 1  (ESV)

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 joy. ⁵ I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, ⁷ for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

⁸ Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, ⁹ who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, ¹⁰ and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹ for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, ¹² which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.¹³ Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

REFLECTION:

1. It’s amazing what people are willing to suffer for. Some are willing to suffer to receive a gold medal. Some are willing to suffer to reach a mountaintop. Some are willing to suffer to obtain certain physique. Others sacrifice home and family to make more money on a job that takes them constantly on the road.
2. Paul asks believers to “share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (v8). The Gospel is the expression of God’s grace, revealed in Christ’s appearance, which announces God’s victory over death and invites everyone to come to Him for “life and immortality” (v10). Now that is something worth suffering for. In times of suffering, if we learn to rely on the power of God, they become opportunities for God’s continued effort to transform us into His image.

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

HYMN:

Give Me Jesus – www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rZ8k9m2hwo

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=1Timothy+006

1 Timothy   Chapter 6 (ESV)

¹¹ But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,¹⁴ to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,¹⁵ which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

REFLECTION:

1. Paul talked about some of the things that can mess up a person’s life in the first part of the chapter (vv3-10). He then told Timothy to run from them and to run toward something else: “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” (v11). Timothy is told to run hard and fast, holding nothing back, why? To win, of course. And why do we run to win? Because this is a race worth winning, and therefore it should engage the whole of us—body and soul, mind and spirit, all our strength, all our time, all our attention, all our heart.
2. There is no time for detours of gossip or dead ends of speculation on the course. The race is to the swift, not the slacker, to the one who is running hard and fast for the finish line, not the one who is wandering off course on some fanciful side trip. How well are you running this race?

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

HYMN:

I Will Run to You – youtu.be/FpNruT1t_dw

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=1Timothy+005

1 Timothy   Chapter 5 (ESV)

¹ Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, ² older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

³ Honor widows who are truly widows. ⁴ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.⁵ She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, ⁶ but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. ⁷ Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach. ⁸ But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹ Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, ¹⁰ and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

REFLECTION:

1. The church should care for the widows with no family to care for them. Widows have been vulnerable individuals throughout the Scripture and God has always shown special concern for their protection. Timothy sought to value and honour these widows. They were to be kept busy and active in the church, and were involved in training the younger women, as described in Titus 2.
2. How many widows do you know in your extended family, or among your close friends? How are their needs met? How is your church doing in caring for people in need? What endeavors should you make in this area?

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

HYMN:

The Least of These – youtu.be/vyXVvM0m6P8