Monday Sept. 26, 2022

Hello friends, I pray you had a great day in the house of the Lord yesterday. We had a great service in Ottawa-I could really feel the presence of the Lord in our service. We were honored to have many guests. The last few weeks I have been doing a series about how we can find Christ in the book of Psalms (even though it was written long before He appeared on the earth). One of our elders is going to finish up that series this upcoming Sunday. After that, I am starting a 4 week teaching on 1st and 2nd Timothy. So, for my blog, I want to start looking at those books in anticipation of the upcoming series. For today, I want to look at who Timothy was...where did he come from and how did he become so trusted in the early church. 
1 Timothy 1: 1-2
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, 2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul calls Timothy "my true child in the faith," a person could not get a better recommendation than this, in my opinion. According to most reputable sources, Timothy was in his late-teens or early twenties when he first joined Paul. We do not know how he met Paul, but it is thought that it happened during Paul's first missionary journey, around the town of Derbe and Lystra. Apparently Timothy was with Paul when Paul wrote a number of his letters (that now comprise some of the N.T.). Paul recognized that Timothy had a rich heritage, a very faithful mother and grandmother. The Lord had obviously blessed Timothy with a special anointing, a soft heart, and the ability to effectively communicate the gospel of Christ. 
Paul's letters to Timothy were instructions on how to run the church properly-and to not allow others to "look down on him, because of his age, but set an example for others to see" (1st Tim. 4:12). Imagine the pressure that Timothy had on his shoulders as one of the first pastors to lead a church. He had a massive responsibility and had a very high amount of accountability. Timothy would set the example on how to pastor a church, while Paul taught about the importance of accountability for leaders in such a position. 
Over the next few weeks we will be looking at some of the instructions from the Apostle Paul. The main theme of 1st and 2nd Timothy is all about the importance of healthy, balanced, and Godly doctrine. The early church did not have the N.T. (like we have), they relied heavily on guys like Paul to instruct and teach them in "The Way."