PASTOR’S NOTES
I am truly excited about our new study that will dive into 1 & 2 Timothy as well as the book of Titus. Eastview has been faithful in teaching through entire books of the Bible during the last 10 years. God has blessed our people with knowledge and understanding with each and every study that we have taught through and through each study, God has not only blessed the church, but also revealed many truths in His word that were specially needed for us at the time. With that, I am excited to see what God does during the next 4 months!
All three of these books serve as “Blueprints” to our faith. Throughout each book we see the blueprint for ministry and the church, we see the blueprint for parenting and discipleship, and we see the blueprint for leadership and community. The blueprints that God gives through each of these three books keep going and going.
In our first week in the study of 1 Timothy, we get to see why the books are given to us. Paul is writing another brother in ministry about the blueprint of not just his position and faith, but also the problems that required his attention within the church. The first issue that is addressed is the breakdown of doctrine in the church of Ephesus. Paul tells Timothy that the source of sin and destruction plaguing the people comes through what they were hearing from church leaders as truth. The people were preaching messages of works and of faith to just receive blessings. The people were falling into a ‘me-centered’ place of self-help motivational speeches that were killing the overall body.
What Paul is describing and warning of is no different than the issues we see destroying God’s church today. Churches today prioritize youth groups, music, and facilities in hopes of best helping the people when the problem lies with the Gospel that is not being preached. So churches quickly become more like feel good places of comfort than a safe haven place for worship.
The church also preaches more messages of personal improvement and self-help than it does the desperate need of a savior. When this happens, this false gospel kills everything it touches making even what seems to be good actually dead. So Paul starts with telling Timothy to go strait to the root of the issue, to proclaim the true Gospel:
That Jesus Christ came to live and die for those who repent and place their faith in Him and they will find eternal life.
SCRIPTURE TO GO ALONG WITH THE MESSAGE
Take time and read through the other scriptures that Timothy is mentioned in concerning his ministry with Paul (1Thess 3, 1 Cor 4:16-17, Phil 2:19-24).
HIGHLIGHT IN YOUR BIBLES
Highlight 1 Timothy 1:3-4 this week in the text.
