Live the Word Bible Studies

2 Timothy Study 5

Dear Student of the Word,

I am delighted to send along this last of five installments from our study of Second Timothy. I have learned much and I hope you have, too. I will take a few weeks off and then begin a study in Matthew's gospel after the first of the year.

This week I wrote about the strength that Paul had to accomplish his work and ministry. This is what I had to say:

4:17 -- Do you operate in God’s strength or your own? How can you draw on God’s strength more than you do currently?

Why was Paul given this strength? So he could fulfill his purpose of preaching to the Gentiles. What is your purpose? That is where you will have the greatest strength. Read about John Wesley and what he was able to do in the strength of his purpose:

Wesley would preach three times a day, beginning at 5:00 a.m. since workers could stop to hear him as they walked to their daily drudgery. He sometimes covered sixty miles a day on horseback. Weather conditions made no difference; he made his schedule and kept it regardless. He would flee an angry mob by jumping into a cold pond, swim out and go on to preach again. He had the ability to turn hostile people his way. In all he went to Ireland forty-two times and to Scotland twenty-two times.

John Wesley taught as much by example as by his measured sermons. He published many volumes for use in devotions and turned profits into such projects as a dispensary for the poor. His personal life was beyond
reproach. He translated hymns, interpreted scripture, wrote hundreds of letters, trained hundreds of men and women, and kept in his journals a record of expended energy that has hardly a rival in western literature.

He made the following diary entry on Tuesday, June 28, 1774:

This being my birthday, the first day of my seventy-second year, I was considering: How is this, that I find just the same strength as I did thirty years ago? That my sight is considerably better now, and my nerves firmer than they were then? That I have none of the infirmities of old age, and have lost several I had in my youth? The grand reason is the good pleasure of God, who doth whatsoever pleaseth him. The chief means are: 1) my constantly rising at four, for about fifty years; 2) my generally preaching at five in the morning, one of the most healthy exercises in the world; 3) my never travelling less, by sea or land, than four thousand five hundred miles a year.

During his ministry, Wesley rode over 250,000 miles on horseback, a distance equal to ten circuits of the globe along the equator. He preached over 40,000 sermons. Today his followers number 40 million people.

Feel free to add your comments or your answers to the questions I pose for others to read. You can do this and find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go to that site to sign up to receive each week's study.

Download this week's study: 2 Timothy Study 5.doc

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As we end the year, I ask that you consider a contribution to my purpose work around the world. I offer these studies I write at no cost and will continue to do so. It would be most helpful if you would consider a gift if you have found benefit in my work as you walk out your own PurposeQuest. You can make a donation using a credit card by going to my website and using PayPal, or you can send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Thank you for helping me do the work that I was created to do.

2 Timothy Study 4

Dear Student of the Word,

I am off to Africa later today, so I thought I had better send this next installment before I leave. There will be one more lesson from Second Timothy and then we will start Matthew after I take a short writing break as the year ends. I have seen that this letter to Timothy was one that focused on values and purpose. This week's study helped me understand that and here is some of what I wrote this week:

4:14 -- When all is said and done, it's not about what anyone else is doing or saying. It's about what you do and say. At the end of the day, you can't change or control anyone else. You can only change or control yourself. Paul warned Timothy that many would fall away and do strange things. After that warning, however, he then gave Timothy instructions that began "as for you."

Are you uptight about what someone else has done or isn't doing? Have you allowed your own faith to waver or wane because of someone else's failures or problems? Then it's time to get back on track! It's time to pay less attention to someone else's walk and more to your own.

Paul urged Timothy to "continue." That means he was already doing the right things; he just needed to keep doing them. What are those right things? I don't know specifically, but they were things that Timothy learned, personally convinced that those things were right and true. I would see those as Timothy's values.

What are your values? If you have never developed a formal list of values, it's time you did. I have an article entitled How To Develop Your Governing Values on my website. Why not take some time to go through this process so you can see what really is important to you. Then determine whether or not you are living out what you believe. It is an important but sometimes painful process to confront the possible gap between what you believe and say, and what you actually do.

Feel free to add your comments or your answers to the questions I pose for others to read. You can do this and find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go to that site to sign up to receive each week's study.

Download this week's study: 2 Timothy Study 4.doc

2 Timothy Study 3

Dear Student of the Word,

It's time once again for your installment of the Word, this time from Paul's second letter to Timothy. I have already decided to move on to Matthew once this study is done, but first we have two more chapters to cover in Paul's letter, which some believe is Paul's last letter that we have. Someone's last words are always of significance, so we need to pay attention to what he wrote. Of course, we need to pay attention to everything he wrote.

This week I included a short self-assessment in the study. I thought I would include it here for those who cannot download the studies:

3:10 -- Paul confidently and boldly set himself apart from Jannes and Jambres as a true carrier of God's word and truth. Paul knew who he was and his way of life was consistent with the truth he bore. Look at the aspects of his life to which he drew attention: 1) teaching; 2) way of life; 3) purpose; 4) faith; 5) love; 6) endurance; 7)persecutions; and 8) sufferings.

These aspects must be important or Paul would not have mentioned them to Timothy. So if they are important, then let's take a look at them in your own life. Give yourself a score of 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent) in each of those areas. Here are some things to think about as you consider what scores to give yourself:

1. Are you teaching? Do you know what you believe and why? Can you impart that truth to others?
2. What is your way of life? Your values? Your life philosophy? Are you living it or do you just talk about it?
3. Do you know your purpose? How effectively are you fulfilling it?
4. How is your giving? What project are you involved with that, unless God comes through in a miraculous way, you will fail?
5. Are you growing in your relationship with other people? Are you loving some who are unlovely?
6. How long have you been working and trusting God for some outcome or project?
7. Jesus warned that you should beware when all men speak well of you. Who is speaking ill of you for the cause of the Lord?
8. Are you suffering in any area? Why? For your testimony or for dumb decisions?

Add up your scores for all areas. What is the total? 80 is the highest you could score and 8 is the least. Are you happy with your total score? What can you do to improve in which areas? I would suggest that you start with the area that has the lowest score and develop a plan to improve in that area. Then do this assessment again in three to six months.

Feel free to add your comments or your answers to the questions I pose for others to read. You can do this and find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go to that site to sign up to receive each week's study.

Download this week's study: 2 Timothy Study 3.doc

2 Timothy Study 2

Dear Student of the Word,

I'm back! After a month-long break during my tour with the Celebration Choir from Zimbabwe, I am ready to resume the study of 2 Timothy and I hope you are ready as well. I missed writing and I am so glad to be back in the swing of things. I make reference to my time with the choir in this week's study. This is what I wrote:

2:20 -- Some teachers have presented their pet "words" or doctrines to people as silver or gold, when they are actually only wood and clay. These teachings are of some use, but aren't of the highest priority, according to Paul. I wonder if this doesn't pertain to some members of God's household as well. We have promoted some to the highest positions but they may not be as important as we make them out to be. Some of the great leaders may not be so great because they don't serve as Jesus described below:

Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves" (Luke 22:24-27).

Do you really believe that you can be an effective leader if you act like the youngest? Many don't, dismissing these words by seeing the need for leaders to be strong and in charge. I just finished a month-long tour where I led by driving a truck 5,000 miles to serve a choir. I was the least significant among the group, yet often I led from my truck driver's seat. I served those younger than I as if I was younger than they.

Do you have a recent example of leading according to Luke 22? If not, what's wrong with your leadership style? Do you really believe what Jesus said in Luke 22? If so, how are you applying it?

Feel free to add your comments or your answers to the questions I pose for others to read. You can do this and find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go to that site to sign up to receive each week's study.

Download this week's study: 2 Timothy Study 2.doc

2 Timothy Study 1

Dear Student of the Word,

It is with great pleasure that I start this new study focusing on Paul's second letter to Timothy.  This is a short letter, so we will only study it for four weeks.  Many believe that this was Paul's last letter, or at least the last one that we have.  If that's true, then his word are important as are the last words of any great person.  So let's be diligent during these four weeks and see what we can learn.

This week I wrote:

1:12 -- Paul was suffering but he was not ashamed of his testimony or the reaction to it.  He had entrusted his work and his very existence to God.  He knew that God would preserve his work in His sight until the last day and then Paul would be rewarded in full for his work.  Paul was a man of faith, so he wasn't asking Timothy to do anything that he wasn't willing to do himself.  Some leaders will do that and send followers where they are not willing to go.  Paul wasn't one of them.

I think Paul was not only entrusting his work to God, but also the people impacted by Paul's ministry as well.  What work or results of your work have you entrusted to  God?  Is there anything that doesn't look like it's yielding results, but God sent you to do it?  Can you entrust the results to Him?

As I write this, I thought of these studies I have been writing for six years.  Oh, how I would love to see them published!  I get so discouraged that more people don't see them because I know they would help them in their Bible study.  Yet I will continue to write, knowing that I have entrusted their results into His hands.  Maybe they will be published next year, maybe after I'm dead and maybe never at all.  That is up to God, and I will trust Him as to how He wants to use them or not use them.

You will find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can go to that site to sign up to receive each week's study or to post your comments. 

Download this week's study:  2 Timothy Study 1.doc