Everyone is a Pastor: Recent Episodes
The Church at RB
Find the pastor in you. Join Dr. Mark Strauss, New Testament Professor at Bethel Seminary, for a study of The Pastoral Epistles. Dr. Strauss will take you deeper into God’s Word through expository teaching of Paul’s deeply loved letters to Timothy and Titus.
Paul concludes his letter to Titus by talking about the transforming power of the grace of God.
Titus is to teach what is right—both right belief and right practice. He is to exhort the church in all its parts (old and young, male and female, slave and free) to doing what is good and be self-controlled.
Paul turns to condemn false teachers who are causing trouble with sensationalistic teaching, legalistic practices, false doctrine and immorality.
Paul gives Titus qualifications for Elders: Biblically-grounded and Spirit-led leadership is essential for the healthy functioning of the church.
Titus was one of Paul's closest & most trusted disciples. To left Titus in Crete to 'put in order what was left unfinished'.
Paul recalls trials and triumphs in the thirty years since his Damascus Road conversion.
The Apostle Paul concludes his charge to Timothy. This is Paul’s earthly grand finale, so to speak, the moment when he passes the baton to his younger successor (and to countless other Christians who will follow).
Paul encourages Timothy again to follow Paul’s model of faith, love and perseverance through suffering. Timothy will be able to do this if he holds fast to the sound teaching he received from Paul and remains faithful to the Word of God.
After commending an appropriate way of living for Timothy as the Lord's servant, Paul warns Timothy to avoid following the path of those who have succumbed to false teaching and godless living.
Paul calls on his faithful disciple to be courageous in the face of suffering, to train up the next generation, to faithfully serve his Lord.
From his imprisonment in Rome, Paul calls Timothy to stay faithful to the Lord, to the Gospel, and to Paul himself.
Thanksgiving! Paul’s first letter to Timothy emphasized that “We’re all pastors” – and found “equipping the Next Generation” a vital priority. In II Timothy, we hear both the apostle’s closing word to a beloved disciple, and “famous last words" approaching death by Roman martyrdom.
In these final verses, Paul charges Timothy to "take hold of eternal life", which includes pursuing such key virtues of faith, love, and endurance.
Paul returns to false teachers, greed and the love of money. He warns Timothy against the destructive power of wealth.
The Apostle Paul offers more inspired advice on how Christians should "do life" together. Here he focuses on the important issue of leadership.
Paul reminds Timothy that the church is a family and he has a responsibility to respect and care for the members of that family.
Paul calls on Timothy to faithfully carry out the calling and ministry that God had given him.
After celebrating the advance of the gospel, Paul returns his focus to the false teachers. He looks at who is behind their teaching and what their particular teaching consisted of.
Paul continues his instructions to Timothy concerning church leaders (Deacons) who must show maturity in their character, knowledge of truth and family lives.
In what has become one of the most debated and disputed passages in the Bible, Paul instructs Timothy to teach the men and women of Ephesus the proper attitudes and demeanor in worship.
While two church leaders have gone astray, Paul's response is that they learn and return - even if it's the hard way. May we "fight the good fight" by remembering the big picture of God's character and cause. He's the LORD OF ALL!
In these verses at the end of chapter 1, Paul returns to the first exhortation of the letter-- that Timothy address and correct the false teachers in Ephesus and to remind him of his own calling.
Paul wrote this first letter to Timothy to address issues of concern in the churches they are working with and to encourage them to fulfill our calling in Christ.
Paul has just identified his main reason for leaving Timothy in Ephesus and for writing the letter: false teachers have arisen within the church and are leading some astray, distracting the church from its true calling.
First Timothy is one of the Pastoral Letters of the apostle Paul. Paul wrote these letters to address issues of concern in the churches and to encourage them to fulfill the ministries to which God had called them.