There are two imperatives in verses 1 and 2: “be strengthened” and “entrust.” As part of Timothy’s ministry as a leader, Paul is holding Timothy responsible for doing two things: being a personal disciple of Jesus Christ and making disciples for Jesus Christ.

1. Be a Personal Disciple of Jesus Christ (v. 1)

• The verb ‘ενδυναμου, which is translated “be strengthened,” is a present (middle/passive) imperative: continually, daily, always be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
• What practical things can we do to position ourselves to be strengthened by his grace?
  • Spend time in his word (Col. 3:16)
  • Be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:16)
  • Pray without ceasing (1 Thes. 5:17)
  • Reflect on what he has done for you in the Word, ask for his power to work in you and through you, believe that his strength will work in you as you walk with him.
  • 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 9:8; Phil. 2:12, 13; Phil. 4:13; 1 Pet. 4:11, 12

2. Be a Disciple-Maker for Jesus Christ (v. 2)

• We see multiple generations of discipleship in this text: Paul –> (many witnesses) –> Timothy –> faithful men –> others.
• God has not called anyone to be a reservoir Christian (Dead Sea); he has called all of his disciples to be river Christians. This means we are to take what we learn and teach it to others.
• Every Christian is to be a disciple and every disciple a disciple-maker.
• 1 Pet.1:9; 1 Pet. 3:15; Col. 3:16; Matt. 28:18-20; Col. 1:28

Jesus said to them [the Sadducees], “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?”

Anyone listening in to this conversation between Jesus and the Sadducees would have been blown away. Jesus did not direct this question to tax collectors, to prostitutes, to unlearned fishermen, or even to uncircumcised Gentiles. This question was directed to leaders of the Jewish people, highly ranked religious-political figures who ministered in the temple, and Jesus tells them that they know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?

What does Jesus mean? Surely the Sadducees would have achieved considerable knowledge of the things of God. We could safely assume that they had been thoroughly studied the Torah and could even recite passages. We could also safely assume that they knew of instances when God had shown his power. A quick review of Israel’s history would reveal this: the creation, the flood, the works of the Patriarchs, the exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the victories of the judges and kings, and the deliverance from exile, all of these epochs demonstrate the power of God, and certainly the Sadducees would have known about them.

So what does Jesus mean? I don’t think Jesus assumed that the Sadducees were ignorant of biblical information. They would not have risen to their level of privileged status had they not learned the Scriptures. I believe Jesus’ concept of knowledge is more experiential than it is cognitive (the use of a form of the verb oida as opposed to ginosko supports this). I believe Jesus essentially is saying two things:

1. The Word of God does not abide in you. You are not shaped by the word; you lack a biblical, God-centered worldview. You do not grasp the things of the spirit because you are still of the natural mind (Jn. 8:37, 47; 1 Cor. 2:14).
2. You have not Experienced the Power of God. You have not been born of God, therefore, your life has not been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. You do not understand the things of God (Jn. 3:3-8; Rom. 8:9).

There are many Sadducees in our churches today who have achieved significant amounts of information about religious things. They have read and studied the Scriptures; they can recite the Scriptures; they can answer questions as to how the power of God works. Tragically, however, they do not know the Scriptures or the Power of God by experience.

Do you know the Scriptures and the Power of God? Does the Word of God abide in you such that you are a Bible-saturated, Bible-centered person with a biblical worldview? Have you experienced the power of God? Have you experienced the new birth, the transforming work of the Spirit of God which makes you a new creation? Or are you a Sadducee?

I recently heard Danny Akin, a man I admire greatly from a distance (he has no idea who I am), tell a story of a Southeastern Seminary student who was fired as pastor from his church for inviting a black family to Sunday morning worship. The church called Dr. Akin to see if he knew of a good pastor for their church to replace the one they fired. He responded by saying, “You are not a church and you already have a pastor – Satan.” I agree with Dr. Akin that the actions of this “church” are nothing short of Satanic and are seriously devestating to the Gospel.

Churches are the most segregated organizations in the world – not just in race, but also in age and social status. Blacks worship with blacks, whites with whites, young with young, old with old, rich with rich, poor with poor. Their are even churches providing multiple services types to accomodate the mindset of people that they will only worship with people like them. This service offers this kind of worship, and this later service offers this kind of worship. The not-so-subtle message in these kind of churches is, “It’s all about you!”

When James talks about showing partiality in the church, particularly related to social status, he says, “have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (Jas. 2:4). If a poor person walked into your church, how would he or she feel? Loved? Accepted? Welcomed? Treated with as much courtesy and noticed as much as a rich man, the mayor, or a local celebrity?

What is the church supposed to look like? Is it supposed to look like segmented groups of certain ages, races, and social statuses? Should the church reflect the way the world sees people or should it reflect the Kingdom of God? In the Kingdom, the least is the greatest, the greatest is the least, the rich are poor, the poor are rich, and Christ is the object of worship by people of every tribe, tongue, and nation.

The church in Rome was not a uniform group of people – they had many differences: they were comprised of different races (Jew and Gentile), ages, and social statuses. Some held certain food restrictions, some didn’t; some observed certain days as holy, some didn’t. Paul wrote to this diverse group of people, saying,

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15:5-7

When diverse people worship together in love and acceptance of one another, there is a harmony among them that glorifies God in a beautiful way. It shows the world that there is something about the love within Christianity that transcends barriers. God is not glorified by racism, agism, or elitism – these are of the world. When diverse people worship together in love and acceptance of one another, it reflects the gospel of Jesus Christ. We all were poor, we all were of a different race, we all were enemies of God, but Christ welcomed us into his family. He adopted us and loved us, at the cost of his own life, when we were unlovable.

What will you do to demonstrate that your love is not limited to people just like you? Has the love of Christ truly taken hold of your heart, do you desire to glorify God, and are you willing to offer your life as a testimony to the power of the Gospel? Then welcome one another.

How does a person become born again? There are two things that must happen in order for new birth to take place:

1. There must be Contact with the Gospel.
No one can believe in Jesus unless he comes into personal contact with the gospel – God’s message of salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Such contact usually occurs through preaching or verbal witness of the word, but in special cases new birth can also happen by someone reading the word. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16), and a person must come into contact with it in order to be saved because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17).

• 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 14, “God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through the sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel.”
• James 1:18, “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
• 1 Peter 1:22, 25b, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God… And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

2. The Holy Spirit must do the Regenerating Work
A person does not come to faith in Christ because of his own spiritual strength, wisdom, or intellect. In fact a person without Christ is spiritually dead – he is unable to respond to the gospel by virtue of his own ability (Eph. 2:1-3). The mind of a person without Christ is blinded by Satan, the god of this world, and he cannot see the glory of Christ in order to respond in faith to the gospel (2 Cor. 4:3, 4). A person without Christ is a slave to his sin and cannot, by his own power, free himself from that slavery in order to believe in Christ (Titus 3:3-5). New birth happens when, through the proclamation of the gospel, the Holy Spirit makes the spiritually dead alive, gives the spiritually blind eyes to see, and sets the spiritually enslaved free to behold the glory of Christ and believe in him for salvation!

• Ephesians 2:4, 5, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
• Titus 3:4, 5, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”

This is God’s design for salvation – we proclaim the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ, and he transforms the hearts and lives of people according to his purpose. He has placed the gospel in our hands, but the salvation of souls will always be in his hands. We must be faithful to share the gospel with as many people as we can, in hopes that the Holy Spirit will do a saving work in the lives of those to whom we minister.
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

It is amazing how many people miss this clear command in Scripture, especially when Paul says it twice in this one little verse! It is not only commanded here, but all over the Bible we are commanded to be glad and have joy in our God (1 Chr. 16:10; Ps. 32:11; Ps. 37:4; Ps. 97:12; 1 Thes. 5:16). Failure to rejoice is disobedience to God.

Many people struggle with this command because they feel like they are unable to control their emotions – and they are right! Emotions, such as joy, are not choices, but reactions to certain influences. While it is impossible to control how we feel, we can control what influences our emotions so that we pursue emotions that honor God, such as joy.

What are the things that keep us from being joyful in the Lord? Some examples would include anxiety, evil thoughts, failing to practice what has been taught from God’s Word, discontentment, and financial fear. In chapter four of Philippians,
Paul prescribes five ways we can fight against joylessness so that we can obey the command to rejoice!

1. Pray (vs. 5-7)
   Don’t let anxiety diminish your joy! Fight against it with prayer and thanksgiving because God has promised to give you peace when you depend on him in prayer. Pray that the Holy Spirit fill you with his joy!
2. Renew Your Mind (v. 8 )
   Rid your mind of evil thoughts that cloud your joy in Christ and set your minds on things that are pure. Do not let the things of the world corrupt your mind. Fill your mind with Christ and His glory!
3. Practice what You are Taught (v. 9)
   What you hear and read from God’s word, what you receive from the wisdom of godly people, do these things! Pursuing and walking in righteousness is key to joy in Christ.
4. Seek Joy in Christ, Not in Stuff (vs. 10-13)
   Material possessions and wealth will never satisfy, but sadly many Christians are enticed and led astray by them. They will leave you feeling empty because only Christ can satisfy!
5. Trust in God’s Provision (vs. 14-20)
   If the things of this world are your treasure, you will never get enough. When Christ is your treasure, he will supply all you need according to his glorious riches!

We are commanded to rejoice and be glad in the God of our salvation. Let us strive and fight to obey this command by guarding the influences of our souls.

 Colossians 1:9-10 (ESV)
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

 Paul’s requests for the Colossians can be summarized as follows:

1. Wisdom: he prayed that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in spiritual wisdom and understanding. Believers need to have the eyes of their hearts enlightened by the Spirit of God to understand spiritual truth and grow in God’s Word. We ought to pray for spiritual wisdom for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Walk: your “walk” is your pattern of life; when the Spirit of God works spiritual wisdom in the life of a believer, it produces a life of wisdom, seeking to please God in perfect holiness and righteousness. To be fully pleasing to God ought to be the goal of every Christian, and it ought to be our joy to see one another living this way.
3. Work: good works, acts of love and service toward others, should flow from a life transformed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, walking in a way pleasing to God. The progression flows from wisdom, to walk, to works. We ought to pray for one another that the wisdom of God takes root in the lives of our brothers and sisters such that it produces a godly walk that produces a life of serving others.

 Let us remember to lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ in these ways, and to pray for ourselves that God would transform us into people who are marked by spiritual wisdom, a godly walk, and loving work.

Ephesians 1:3-7 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

Did God save us for His glory or because He loves us? From this text, it appears that the answer to this puzzling question is “both.” You cannot choose one or the other, neither do you have to. We can embrace the truth that God saved us through His Son Jesus Christ for His glory and because He loved us. According to Ephesians 1:3-7, both motives are at work in God’s saving action.

1. God’s Glory: He blessed us, He predestined us, He redeemed us – to the praise of the glory of His grace. God receives glory in our salvation because He shows Himself to be the decisive agent in saving us. He does the saving, and the doer of a work gets the glory for the work being done! Paul also tells us that the motive behind His saving us is that the glory of His grace might be praised.

2. God’s Love: In love, He predestined us; He adopted us as sons; He blessed us in the Beloved – according to the riches of His grace. This is love talk. A primary motive in God’s predestining and adopting us was His love for us and the love that would be shared in a Father to son relationship with those He would save. He is rich in grace and love toward those He has chosen for salvation.

God saved us for His glory and He saved us because He loves us. He loves His glory, He loves to be glorified, and He purposes to have His glory displayed in order that His glory might be praised and adored.

His perfect plan was to display His glory through the loving act of saving sinners through His Son Jesus Christ in order that the glory of His grace might be seen in its fullness. God is so foll of love for His glory and for mankind, that He has made a way for mankind to behold and enjoy His glory by experienceing His grace. What is more, this came at the cost of His Son who suffered and died so that we might be saved from everlasting torment into everlasting joy, forever praising the glory of God’s grace and love.

God loves His glory and God loves people. This is why He saved us. Let us experience the love of God most fully by enjoying and praising the glory of His grace as those who have been blessed, chosen, predestined, adopted, and redeemed in Christ!

So why do Christians need the Bible? Why is it important for Christians to make Scripture intake part of their regular devotional lives? Consider the reasons given byPaul in Romans 15:4, 13.

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may about in hope.

Here are three biblical reasons why I believe Bible intake is necessary for Christians:

1. Instruction: we need to be taught by God the Father himself his truth that we are to believe and his commands that we are to obey. The Holy Spirit works through the revealed word of God to teach God’s people his truth. God has not chosen to leave us in the dark about his will but has revealed it to us in his word (2 Tim. 3:16, 17).

2. Endurance: we need need daily intake of the word of God because through the word we hear God’s voice. This is the means by which we are able to endure in faith. God keeps us in faith by his sovereign power (1 Pet. 1:5). Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). The faith that enables us to endure is created and preserved by the word of God.

3. Encouragment: we need God’s word to daily remind us of the hope we have in Christ, that by his death and resurrection we will be raised to new life with him in glory. Our trials will not be worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us in the last day (Rom. 8:18-25). This hope comes to us and nourishes our souls daily through the word of God.

As we saturate our lives with God’s word, we will receive instruction from God, endurance the power of the Spirit of God, and encouragement through the death and resurrection of the Son of God that this life is passing and we will be with Christ forever. God will fill his people with joy, hope, and peace through his Spirit as we hear his voice and believe his truth.

What should godly leadership be marked by? I want to unpack some marks of faithful leadership from a verse in the book of Joshua which summarizes the impact that Joshua had on the nation of Israel.

Joshua 24:31
Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.

1. The People Served the Lord Under Joshua.
Joshua was such a man of integrity that he led the people by word and by example to serve the Lord. The devotion of Joshua was so contagious that all of Israel followed him in service to God. The impact of a leader is not only determined by how godly he is, but also by how godly his people are as a result of his influence.

2. The People Served the Lord Under the Elders.
Joshua had a body of elders, a group of men whom he surrounded himself with to invest in them and work with them. After Joshua died, these men carried on his ministry and the people continued to serve the Lord! The impact of a leader can be determined by the durability of his influence after he is gone.

3. The People Knew the Works of the Lord.
Joshua and the elders had seen God work in mighty ways on behalf of the nation of Israel in bringing them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. Under the faithful leadership of Joshua and the elders, the people were being taught these glorious things that God had done for them. The leader who makes a lasting impact will have followers who, as a result of his leadership, have a greater knowledge of and delight in who God is and what He has done.

Is your leadership making this kind of impact? Will your ministry be marked by faithful, Joshua-like leadership, or will you pass by without making a lasting difference for the kingdom of God?

How can one successfully have this kind of impact? My answer comes from what the Lord told Joshua in chapter 1, verses 8 & 9 – meditate on God’s word day and night, be careful to do all that is written in, be strong and courageous. Do these things, and by God’s grace, your leadership will make a lasting impact.

Paul’s joy and affection for the Thessalonians was based on his previous encounter with them and the relationship that had already been formed. This morning, as I came across this text during my devotion, I prayed that God would direct me to the people whom he has prepared for me. I do not know who they are, but I long to see them face to face and to supply what is lacking in their faith as God uses me to share His Word.

For now, as my wife and I wait for the place that God will send us, we are praying for the people whom God will graciously give us the opportunity to serve. Our prayer models Paul’s prayer:

1. That the Lord would make them increase (v. 12).
- My desire for them is that God would bless them with good things and that they would grow daily in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that they would experience the favor of the Lord in every way.

2. That the Lord would make them abound in love for one another (v. 12).
- The body of Christ functions best in discipleship, service, and outreach when its members love one another. I pray that God would cause this people to overflow with affection for one another, leading to acts of joyful service.

3. That the Lord would establish them blameless in holiness (v. 13).
- God will use people as vessels for his glory who walk in holiness. It is so important for a church’s impact on the world that they turn away from sin and seek to please the Lord. I pray that God would ignite a passion for holiness within them.

As we wait with joyful hope for God’s direction, this will be our daily prayer for the people to whom God will lead us as servants of the Word of God. We trust that they are praying for us as well, in faith that God will bring us together.

Those of you who are interceding for us during this time in our lives, your prayers are more appreciated than you know.