Read 2 Timothy 3:14-17  (Message)

Christians make a big deal about the Bible.  Well, I should say most Christians.  Ever wonder why?  It’s the best selling book of all time, it was the very first book published on the Gutenberg press and has been translated into over 2,ooo languages.  It is a compilation of 66 books written over a span of 1,500 years by over 40 different authors in 3 different languages.

So…what’s the big deal about this book?  What does Paul describe as the purpose of Scripture*?  What does the Bible mean to YOU?  How do you use it, what does it provide for you?  I’d be interested in knowing.

 

*The Scriptures of Paul’s writing would most likely have been the Old Testament canon, the earliest forms of the Gospels (most likely Mark, though he quotes Luke, so some early form of that as well) and some of the letters that circulated then, which later became canonized as the New Testament in the 2nd century.  You can read a brief, simplified account of that process here.

Hey!  I’m back on track…whew!  After a summer full of kids getting married and other kids moving…I got out of the habit of updating Wonderwhat.  But…here I am now…fit and wheezing, ready to post the previews for Sunday’s teaching at Eastgate.

This Sunday we’re continuing our study in 2 Timothy.  We’ll be covering 2 Tim 3:1-13  

¹ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! ⁶ For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; ⁹ but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.   
¹⁰ But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, ¹¹ persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹² Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. ¹³ But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:1-13, New King James Version)  Also in The Message

Paul uses some harsh words here…(with props to Ford who set the stage for this last week in his message “Harsh Words” ) describing some of the bad motives and attitudes and actions that can sometimes characterize a church.

I’ve said many times before, church is a dangerous place.  We are most vulnerable when we gather with a community of those who are supposed to be following the teachings of Christ.  We want to belong, we want to have a safe place to be open and honest about ourselves…we want to be able to trust that those who lead us do so with our best in mind.  Sadly, that’s not always the case, as Paul makes clear.  Often, that’s the basis we use for abandoning church altoghether…I know it was my basis for a while.  Yet, Paul doesn’t encourage us to be isolated in the midst of these dangers…rather, we are challenged to be aware and alert about them so we can navigate through them safely.

There are some real hazards we must be aware of when it comes to our involvement in the church.  What are some of the things you can glean from what Paul says here…what are the hazards?  What is the challenge to us…how do we handle them?  What does this mean to us in real life application…how do we use this?

Stuff to think on.  See ya’ Sunday!

Good old electric football.  Do you remember those things?  This was pre-video games, mind you.  Actually, this was pre-PONG!  

The commercials for that game were amazing to me when I first saw them.  Did you see how the kids playing were having so much fun.  You could just tell they lived in a world where they had no chores or school, actually, they didn’t even have furniture to get in the way!  You just knew that all they did all day long was play electric football where you controlled the game! 

When I first saw that thing, I knew right then my life would not be complete unless I had that game.  So I started the arduous process of begging and manipulating and bargaining with my mom until she agreed to get it for me for my birthday.

I remember unpacking all the players, and assembling the cardboard bleachers…

I followed all the directions on how to set up a play (actually, my brother Riley read them all and told me what to do…I’ve never been big on manuals).   Everything was set…the players all lined up, just like they showed on TV.  I flipped the on button… 

…and BRRRZZZZZT…all the players clumped in the middle of the field, with a few stragglers running in circles at the sidelines, just like every other electric football game I’d ever had.

It certainly didn’t change my life, nor complete me in any way at all.  I probably only played with the thing 2 or 3 more times after I got it.

But that didn’t stop me from going on a lifelong quest of searching for that something that I had to have, with which my life would be meaningless without.  That’s an American tale that most of us can relate to, right?  Dissatisfaction is pretty much a way of life for us.  One that the advertising world eagerly feeds, keeping us looking for the next commercial which promises fulfillment and satisfaction if we just get the right stuff.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at 1 Timothy 6:1-10.  (Message) 

Paul will be touching on the subject of dissatisfaction and contentment.  He’ll talk about three areas where human nature has a tendency to become dissatisfied, at work, in our faith, and with our income, and he’ll give some clues as to how we find contentment in those areas. 

As you read Paul’s insights, what can you apply to your own experiences in these areas of life?

See yer’ Sunday

Sorry about not posting here last week.  That is…if anyone is still reading this and finding it useful.  That’s an odd conundrum, isn’t it?  If you’re not reading this, you don’t know I wrote it, and there’s no way you could tell me I should stop.  Just let me say, if you’re not reading this don’t worry about it.  Don’t give it a second thought, which of course you don’t because you haven’t read it.

This Sunday we’ll be reading 1 Timothy 5:17-15  (the message version here)

Paul has a lot to say about leadership.  How to treat them, how to correct them, how to appoint them and what to expect from them.  There’s part of me that feels really uncomfortable dealing with this passage…I almost wondered at one point if I should have asked someone else to teach it.  I decided in the end that I’m called to explore all of the Scriptures, not just the stuff that I’m comfortable with.  It’s there in the text, so we’ll deal with it.

Do you feel like there is anything in this passage that applies to your own life or responsibilities?  V23 is quite the topic.  Do you have any ideas on what Paul is telling Timothy in that verse?