Pastor Ralph Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iam4-1god Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? They all have to put long hour in training and working for the goal. They have to follow a certain set of rules and regulations to achieve the prize. And they all must endure hardship and sacrifice in order to accomplish the desired end result. The farmer speaks most strongly to me, because I grew up watching and then participating in my Dad's vegetable garden every summer. It was a lot of hard work-hot sun, moskitos, you get the idea. But, in the winter, when grocery money was tight, we never had to worry about going hungry-well, we never worried about much of anything, because my parents were good providers, even though they weren't rich. We always had something to eat because of that garden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisbarak Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 We have goals that are set. It takes, pain, endurance, training, obedience, and a single-mindedness to achieve them. The illustrations show that pain & practice go along with achievement in each area. I guess I would relate to the athlete when I watched my older son & daughter & daughter in law as they prepared for a marathon. They had to watch what they ate, exercise/run regularly & not sluff off. (They all completed it!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? For the soldier I would say that the hardship that comes to mind first is being away from home for so long and the physical hardship of training and fighting the enemy. For the athlete I think itwould be the long hours of training and study. For the farmer the toil of planting and the toil of tending, weeding, watering, etc would be along with the waiting for harvest and the labor involved with that. For me the farmer is closest tomy life I started life on a farm and have spent my life working long hours to support my family and it's not getting any easier during these hard times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwood C O'Dell Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 If they want to succeed in reaching the goal or prize they have set before them, then they must be willing to make the necessary sacrifices and endure the hardships or discomforts that line the journey. Having run races of various distances up to and including a marathon, I find that the illustration of the athlete really speaks to me at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snaps Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? A Prime Minister here once said the "Life wasn't meant to be easy". It takes fortitude and determination to achieve the needed things. Being a Christian means we a re looking for even higher standards, so it takes even more fortitude and determination. Referring to the last question - the church needs to address these facts and encourage those qualities in its people. The soldier must be equipped for fighting, knowing that will not take place in any air conditioned lounge room, but usually in dry desert places or hot steamy jungles. The athlete is in competition (the modern substitute for territorial fighting) and will win no prizes without the powerful disciplines of his sport. To give up on them is to quit and lose the battle. The farmer is working to earn his living in unpredictable circumstances (weatherwise) and must be alert and ready to go out at any time and prepare his territory for the crop and harvest. Working hours are as needed (nine to five, five days a week, is unheard of). So is the Christian life a life of sacrifice to the more important task, that of loving people into the Kingdom, whenever they are ready to hear and receive Him, that of serving the King of Kings. I think the soldier speaks most strongly to me as he is nowhere near home on the battleground, but fights in stranger territory. So, we who fight for the Lord have our homes in Heaven, and a transitory life on this earth. In a sense, we, like the soldier, are displaced citizens of another world, strangers in our present country, and bringing in a new set of realities and values which we are to introduce to the people among whom we find ourselves. The weapons are the weapons of love, not war, but the battle is much the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masika Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? Paul used a comparison with soldiers, athletes, and farmers who must discipline themselves and be willing to sacrifice to achieve the results they want. Like soldiers, we have to give up worldly security and endure rigorous discipline. Every faithful minister is a spiritual soldier, warring under Jesus Christ, his captain and chief commander: Must the soldier be called and to do all by commission? so must the minister. Must the soldier be armed, trained up, and disciplined, and made fit for service? so must the minister. Must the soldier shun no dangers, stick at no difficulties, pass through thick and thin? must he use allowed weapons, approved armour of his general's directing, not of his own inventing? all this must the minister be and do. Like athletes, we must train hard and follow the rules. Like farmers, we must work extremely hard and be patient. But we keep going despite suffering because of the thought of victory, the vision of winning, and the hope of harvest. We will see that our suffering is worthwhile when we achieve our goal of glorifying God, winning people to Christ, and one day living eternally with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanks Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? Paul gives three illustrations of Christian service and urges us to consider them and to meditate on them. We will then realize that the Christian ministry resembles warfare, athletics, and farming; and that each of these occupations has its own responsibilities, and each brings its own reward. We have the soldier who on duty keeps himself in readiness for orders from headquarters. His desire is to please the one who enlisted him. The believer, of course, has been enlisted by the Lord, and our love for Him should cause us to maintain a light hold on the things of this world. We then have the athlete; here in order to receive the reward, he must obey the rules of the game. This is how it is in Christian service. I would think that some of these rules are: we must practice self-discipline (1Cor 9:27); we must not fight with carnal weapons, but with spiritual ones (2Cor 10:4); we must keep ourselves pure; and we must not strive, but be patient. Unfortunately many of us fall out before we reach the finish line, disqualified because we did not maintain an unquestioning obedience to the word of God! Finally we have the farmer. As a hard-working farmer he must be first to partake of the crops - the one who labours to bring forth the crops has a prior right to participate in them. This would serve as an encouragement to us, should we ever become discouraged in our labour for the Lord, knowing that such toil will not go unrewarded. I can see a bit of all three in myself; but I think I can associate myself more with the hard-working farmer. Someone has said: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustJeff Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 As a veteran I can relate to things military. In order to complete a mission one must go through all conditions, no matter how difficult or impossible they may seem. The army that can conquer adversity wins. The same holds true for God's army. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriciaa Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? A soldier strives to please the commanding officer just as we need to strive to please Our Lord. An athlete plays by the rules and we need to follow the Word as our guideline in life. A farmer works hard and endures hardship and possible pain but he shares in the harvest. The one that speaks most strongly to me is that of our Lord being our commanding officer and we strive to please him and know joy in doing so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanMary Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? These are all excellent examples, and speak to my heart, but the soldier speaks loudest to me. I've been reading about my Dad's experience in WWI in France where he was commended for valor by General Pershing....he was a "runner" and survived though 24 others were mowed down trying to get information from one battle field to another. I read of the hardship, the perseverence, the total dedication to the goal of winning the battle, lack of food, lack of sleep, bitter cold without proper clothing, danger on all sides, and on and on. Yet, the bravery and the unity among the soldiers for the common cause of victory in defeating the enemy speaks loudly to me. Our enemy is just as fierce and deadly, and our cause is just and is our "Commander In Chief's" command to be followed. We must endure the hardship, though none as great as these brave men faced, for the common goal of spreading the Gospel to the world. We are not to be deterred by inconvenience or difficulty. Rather than medals of honor, we will be rewarded in Heaven. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? They all trained hard, worked hard and fought hard. A soldier speaks most strongly to me. I have been in revolutions, have suffered injuries, lost all my goods twice and have suffered much spiritual warfare with sleepless nights surrounded by enemies with the intent to cause as much harm and suffering as they could. Philipppians1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake". God Bless! Jen Numbers 6:24-26 We need to pray for each other!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCollum Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? Three illustrations are given for faithfulness. The first is a soldior. The christian walk is often presented as spiritual warfare. Effective service calls for singleness of purpose. The second illustration come from athletics. The Greek game were important and demanded strenuous training. No compititor could be crowned unless he completed in accordance with the rukes. Here the reference is to a victor's wreath given in an athletic contest. Faithful belivers will receive a victor's crown. The third illustration is that of a hardworking farmer. Conscientious, hard labor is necessary before a farmer can enjoy a bountiful harvest. That laziness cannot be a character trait of faithful christians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenny Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? We sometimes tend to steer away from hardships and endurance needed in living out our faith. Once we have made the commitment we need to carry it through in all that we do, especially in our walk with the Lord. As a good soldier will not back down when confronted by the enemy we too should stand firm and defend our faith. An athlete in order to win puts in hours of dedicated training without which no trophy can be gained, so too should we put in the time and dedication and look toward the trophy our Lord has set aside for us. Then lastly as the farmer waters and nurtures his crops until they bear fruit we to with constant prayer and study will bear fruit. I would liken myself mostly unto the farmer and pray that the seeds I sow will bear much fruit and bring glory to my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spazzo47 Posted March 5, 2009 Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 For the last several weeks I've been training for a 5K race (you people who have run a marathon just blow my mind!). THe conditioning involved in just these early stages are incredible. The learning that has to take place as far as what to eat and what to watch out for (today Iwas learning about resting heart rates and how fast my heart should be going while running) is insane. The benefits, while there, are a little hard to see. So I guess the athlete really speaks to me. I train by myself, so if I decide at the end fo a run that I just don't want to run the last minute that I'm supposed to, I have that freedom and no one will ever know but me. But if I cheat that minute and keep on cheating that minute, then I miss out on the satisfaction of finishing the race. That's also not goign to affect anyone, except me. I also miss out on all the good stuff that happens along the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahala p.s. Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? That illustrates this well: - In the experience of a soldier, that in order to be a good one in war a soldier has to endure hardship in form of no enjoying the involvements of civilian life, and military discipline, weight training of war, and life-or-death combat - In the experience of an athlete, that in order to win the athletic contest an athlete has to endure hardship in form of a never-ending discipline and practice, hours of weight training - In the experience of a farmer, that in order to receive a share of the good crops a farmer has to endure hardship in form of laboring all day in the field in terms of planting, nurturing, and harvesting Of these examples that speaks most strongly to me is the example of a soldier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
servant for Christ Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? The experiences are training, hardship, endurance, and suffering. I think for me it is endurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurf1948 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? they have a goal weather its survival in combat,wining the gold as an athlete or bring up a crop you must give up a lot of your time and energy. you suffer fatigue and aches and pains. You give up a lot of your time that others have for pleasure. But your stronger in the end and your goal is reached. I think they all speak to me in their own special way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manu Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrates this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? -- Soldier is the very unique and most excellent one among the illustrations quoted by Paul because the true soldier is the one who leaves behind all (whatever family, comfort....) for the sake of his country. And mostly the characteristics of a soldier; the watchfulness, endurance of hardships, prepared to fight at any time and many more... really inspires me more. The next, athlete is the one who practices regularly and strives hard to achieve the goal. And the farmer the one who starts with tilling the ground by removing all kind of stones, preparing it to sow the seed and then after sowing he takes care of the crop by watering, removing weeds whatever, he toils day and night while he constantly waits for the fruit with much hope. These three characters teaches us mainly of the following: Soldier --> Watchfulness [Watch and pray and be strong to face our enemy] Athlete --> Regular Practice [Practicing our faith and pressing forward towards the goal] Farmer --> Constant Care and Hope [be careful about our spiritual life and take care of souls growing in faith and hope for the fruit and Kingdom of Our God to come. Simply working in the God's field by proclaiming gospel carefully. ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerraw20 Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? A soldier gives up comfort to live on the battlefield. An athlete trains using many different exercises. A farmer puts in long hours and then has to wait for the harvest. The soldier example speaks the most to me because I struggle with giving up comforts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrstoler Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? The soldier, athlete, and the farmer are those who if they are dedicated to what they do they are very hard workers and they put their total self into the task set before them. There is no time for playing games they are set out to beat the odds that are stacked up against them. The things that are going to get in the way of what they are trying to accomplish they set aside to go forward in their endeavors. The farmer speaks to me mostly. I am growing a vegetable garden for the first time and it is hard work. I am losing some of my plants due to the weird weather we are having, but I am not going to give up. I have faith and I believe that God will give me the strength and patience to endure this test. I also believe that this will help me to understand this lesson also and how I should handle my ministry. I look at everything that goes on in my life as either it is something I should learn from and or it is something that I may be tested on and at that point I sure want to pass the test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marloes Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? A soldier puts his life on the line to achieve his goal. An athelete obeys rules to achieve his goal. A farmer works very hard to achieve his goal: the harvest. Well, I don't have to put my life on the line and as for the rules, they don't press that hard on me. Therefore, I choose the farmer. Life has many problems but at the end, we can harvest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmaus Posted November 24, 2009 Report Share Posted November 24, 2009 The three examples each have their beliefs as a core, without their faith and belief they would never begin the journey. The farmer is a good illustration. They plow the fields, sow the seeds, tend and water the crops, and then hopefully harvests. We plant and water the seeds but only God can make them grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissioned Posted December 14, 2009 Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? Paul's call to Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal is represented in the experience of the solider who when on duty Aren't free to enjoy the pleasures of civilian life that might interfere with the execution of the object of their duty, or the athlete who in preparation for meeting a goal, trains hard enduring hardship, sacrificing time and energy to accomplish the goal set before him; and then there is the farmer who toils long and hard, enduring and suffering, for a harvest that will bring him a reward of fruitfulness. I particularly like the analogy of the farmer who plants, nurture and labor among the plant waiting for a fruitful harvest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambler Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Q3. (2 Timothy 2:3-7) Paul calls Timothy to endure hardship for the sake of the goal. What in the experience of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer illustrate this well? Which of these examples speaks most strongly to you? Their persistance in the face of hardship. The farmer. Their is a harvest coming. I need to stay steady in my commitment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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