Teaching and Training, Day 9 Why was Paul writing this letter? As we come to the end of this 3rd chapter of 1st Timothy, Paul gives us a glimpse into the reason behind his writing of this letter. Read 1 Timothy 3:14-16. Paul indicates that he wanted to come to Timothy in person. He wanted to have that face-to-face conversation. However, some things were more important than being able to share them face-to-face. Paul wanted Timothy to know the importance and the purpose of the group of believers that met together as the church. He even writes, if I am delayed in coming to you, I want you to know…

Teaching and Training, Day 8 Why do we serve? As we look at all we do every day, it’s important to understand why we serve. Read 1 Timothy 3:8-13. As we read these criteria of what it takes to serve, and serve well, we see the standard of expectations that we should have for ourselves and for those around us. Additionally, It’s important to understand what happens as a result of our service. We serve God because he’s God. So the reason behind our serving has nothing to do with the people that we serve. It has everything to do with God we serve. The people will disappoint us and…

Teaching and Training, Day 7 What does it take to be a good leader? As Paul moves on through his book to Timothy, we see him tackle this extremely important topic in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Paul lists a number of characteristics and qualities that should make up a leader. When we think about the people that we choose to follow, how do they measure up? As we are leading others, how do we measure up? Such an interesting topic of conversation, perception, and self reflection. So often, people want positions of leadership and they are not qualified for them. We have to understand that true leadership can only be seen…

Teaching and Training, Day 6 Act appropriately. These verses in Timothy are often a cause for questions, especially with women. Read 1 Timothy 2:8-15. Paul does address men as well, but here in these verses we see a number of directions given to women. This verse here, verse 10, really encompasses the heart and soul of what Paul is saying. We have to undersyand the culture and the times that these directions are being given. Also, we see that Paul is very specific about the fact that these are his opinions. Still, the words in verse 10 apply. Act appropriately. No matter what the culture is or the time frame…

Teaching and Training, Day 5 Who do we pray for? As we continue through the teachings that Paul gave to Timothy, we see his urging to pray for others. Read 1 Timothy 2:1-8. Interestingly, Paul does not command Timothy to do this. It is a strong urging. However, the question remains, who do we pray for? Are we focused on those around us and their spiritual needs? Do we concern ourselves with their relationship with God? Are we so broken over their need that we that we focus on continuing to lift them up in prayer? As we see throughout the rest of scripture, everyone is our neighbor. We need…

Teaching and Training, Day 4 Remember. One of the most important parts of teaching and training is actually remembering what you have learned. Read 1 Timothy 1:18-20. Paul know all that Timothy has gone through. He desires to see Timothy remember all that he has learned. How often do we see God work and move and we learn from Him, but then something happens and we forget all God has done and how he has moved? Don’t allow all that God is doing to get lost in forgetting. We must continue to remember how God moves and the lessons that we learned from the struggles we have gone through. God…

Teaching and Training, Day 3 God grace is sufficient. As we read the next section in this training manual that Paul wrote for Timothy, we see that no matter what we have been through in our lives, God’s grace is sufficient for us. Read 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Paul wants Timothy to understand the magnitude and the depth of the grace and mercy of God. Paul explains just exactly what his own past looked like and how much of a sinner he was, and yet God still had mercy and grace for him. We can understand the same thing. As we seek to be trained by God we can realize that…

Teaching and Training, Day 2 Why did God give us the law? What was the point of the 10 Commandments? Read 1 Timothy 1:6-11. As Paul is teaching Timothy, he wants to help him understand why God gave the law in the first place. God gave the law so that we would understand that we were lawbreakers. Without the law come out we would never know that we were sinful. Timothy needed to understand this as he was teaching those around him. He needed to help the people understand that the laws that they had been following for the whole of their life were something they were never meant to…

Teaching and Training, Day 1 Paul is training his disciple, Timothy. We get a chance to study through and understand how to live the Christian life directly from Paul himself. Read 1 Timothy 1:1-5. As we read these verses, we see Paul’s encouraging and uplifting introduction to the young Timothy. We see verse 5 that explains Paul’s goal for him which is love, a pure conscience, and a sincere faith. But I never noticed verse 4 before. As we see in verse 5, Paul mentions that the goal of his command is to create these things in Timothy’s life. But what was the command? To see Paul’s command to Timothy,…