Old Jerry

We need to guard the faith but we need to become narrow, backward-looking people who oppose changes that start limiting God. We have kicked God out of our schools, our government and made rules to kill our babies. I think it is all because we did not become narrow minded people.

The kinds of actions that I find as the best antidote for the love of money is to give it away. Sometimes that is a hard thing to do but it is still rewarding. If we have a simple home, don’t have expensive things then we can cultivate a generosity that remains healthy.

The love for money grows when we covet things that we don’t have and can’t afford. There seems to always be some schemes out there that claim to get us rich quick. The way to escape this trap is to be content with what we have.

By seeking contentment, we are pushing out all anxiety and just relaxing with what we have. Contentment does not keep us from trying to get ahead because we are striving to be content. The balance between contentment and quest for improvement is that we are doing our best to please the Lord.

They are so susceptible to the distorted Bible teaching concerning financial gain because they are trying to do everything possible to get rich. The people that are pushing this distorted truth is trying to gain wealth themselves. One biggest lie that is a half truth is that I can’t out give God which is true but they are just trying to get you money.

The gospel is sowing seeds that will eventually destroy slavery by telling the people that if they are slaves to respect and obey their masters. Paul is just trying to make it easier on Christians because they were being looked down on because of their religion. So, there was no use in telling they to rebel

We should not be hasty in laying on of hands because we don’t know the person. If they are just trying to be in charge and don’t have the interest of the congregation in mind, then they aren’t interested in teaching the good news. But if we get to know the person or they have been in the congregation for a while then we will know their motive.

We need to get the false teachers our of the church. If the church looks like the rest of the world, then why are we here? Are we truly worshiping God when we keep these people in the church? The temptations to compromise and not go through with the punishment is so great, because there would probably be a lot of people hurt in the process and it tends to split the church.

The circumstances in which the elders should be compensated financially would be when they preach the word of God. They should be paid a living wage. There is a lot of Scriptural support for this practice both in the Old Testament and the New.

Since they are family members, we have the responsibility to help them in anyway that they need help. This is our Christian responsibility because they are the ones that brought us up and nurtured us and we owe it to them. Paul compares those who refuse this responsibility to gentiles or to the devil.

Rigid, unsmiling, orthodoxy can teach right doctrine but people see that you look miserable then they will not want to be like that. It will look like you have a cold heart. If we see that our leaders are doing what they are preaching then they can see the good in what is happening and will want to emulate that.

Godliness is somebody that is following God’s commandments. They are the same when with somebody else or by themselves. They are the same on the outside as in the inside. The thing that produces godliness is staying attached to God and examining the scriptures daily. Godliness is doing things that you know would please God and strict morality is doing things because they have become a habit.

The performance of legalistic requirements is so attractive to people because then they can compare themselves with others and say that they don’t do those things. I don’t think that it produces any fruit except one of self-awareness. All I can see is that legalistic requirements just put burdens on us that isn’t necessary.

I think that Paul was reminding them of the predictions of widespread apostasy because that is what was happening in the church at that time. This knowledge should have prepared the church of this because they would need a plan to counteract it.

The deacons are the overseers of the church administrative business and to teach. They are usually more mature. The deacons have more to do with assisting the elders and to be the daily contact with the church members.

We want to be able to talk to our church leaders. If they have a tendency to be get angry easy or intimidate then they won’t be able to teach. When you don’t consider these factors then the people in the church will go where they can learn about God.

The reason that we should observe and test leaders before placing them in office is to see what kind of character they are. If we put them in to soon then they might become big headed or they might lead the congregation down the wrong path.

Paul is looking for a person that he knows will not run off because of a woman. If he is the “husband of one wife” there would be no way to blackmail him. It is an important indicator of leadership potential if he has control of his own family. If he doesn’t have control of his family then how is going to maintain control of the church.

I think that they women should be allowed to teach and lead in the church because they are educated and they can understand the bible. They sometimes have a different prospective of the interpretation of the bible and think that if we are to understand the bible better then we should listen to them and compare what they are saying to the bible.

It was only the rich women that could dress in fancy clothes so that would set themselves aside and make them look more important than the poor women. We are in church to learn about God but if there is this division in the church then that will be on their minds rather than learning about God. We all know what is appropriate for dress and we should dress that way.

The men of the church must have been arguing with each other and Paul was telling the to stop arguing. If you don’t have love in your heart when you worship the you are just going through the motions. You really don’t have your heart into the worship.

There must have been a lot of arguments among the Christians because of the false teachers and they needed somebody to mediate the situation. Christ fulfilled both roles when he died on the cross for our sins.

Paul emphasizes salvation of all mankind because that was the great commission. It would have also made is so that the government was suspicious of their motives. It suggests that they should be trying to evangelize all the people.

Paul wanted Timothy not to embarrass those that had commissioned him. He was just reminding him what is mission is all about. In this particular case to “fight the good fight” meant for Timothy to not give up on teaching about the gospel. Paul knew that if Timothy could “hold on the faith and a good conscience” that he would be ok in his teachings. Paul is trying to keep Timothy from giving up on his mission.

We learned that we need to honor and glorify God all the time. We need to praise Him because he gave us the Holy Spirit. I haven’t spoken a doxology in my person prayer time.