Recap on Sundays AM talk

Today we talked about how Jacob was a passive father; we discussed how that damaged his family.  We cannot be passive followers of Christ we must be passionate about our love for God.  It is through the love we have for God that is going to dictate how we live.  If we love God and want to please him then we are going to show it through our actions.  I was thinking of the guy that is passive when it comes to asking a girl out on a date that guy is never going to get a date he is always just going to wait around and while he is waiting the other guy is going to get the date.  So many Christians are doing just that, they are watching for the right time to talk to people about Christ and the reason they live for him but while they wait the world comes in and tells how they need to think and live. 

                        In 1^st Timothy Paul tells young Timothy’ “¹⁸ Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they give you the confidence to fight well in the Lord’s battles. ¹⁹ Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. ²⁰ Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples of this. I turned them over to Satan so they would learn not to blaspheme God.”  Paul is telling Timothy stay strong remember who your God is, live a life that does not bring shame to God.  Make certain that you are actively sharing the love of God.  Do not go out and start preaching a gospel that only helps you.  Just like today, back then there were people who instead of preaching the grace and love of God, were preaching on things that were not even found in the bible.  Today we have church’s teaching that woman can only wear certain types of cloths and we can’t have televisions, or go to the movies.  They are so busy making up fake laws that they no longer teach what the word of God says.

            On the other hand we have churches that are teaching that we do not need to worry about sin, that God only created hell only for the demons.  We are all going to make it heaven, which is simply wrong.  Paul is telling Timothy do not just sit ideally by and let these men teach false teachings. Stand on your faith and go out teach the truth. He continues to tell Timothy in chapter 2, “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. As you make your requests, plead for God’s mercy upon them, and give thanks. ² Pray this way for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity. ³ This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ for he wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. ⁵ For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus. ⁶ He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message that God gave to the world at the proper time. ⁷ And I have been chosen—this is the absolute truth—as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles about faith and truth.

⁸ So wherever you assemble, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. ⁹ And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. ¹⁰ For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.”  We as Christians must take action through prayer to God then go and teach other who God is.  God does not want just a few people saved he wants everyone saved.  To fully understand this piece of scripture we must first understand the culture in Ephesus.  Ephesus was a city with many false gods, they worshipped all kinds of gods and there were all kinds of cults and occult activity going on.  The people however started getting saved and the gospel spread like fire.  The main problem being that the newly saved people didn’t know how to worship, so they started bringing in there style of worship into the church.  Paul is telling Timothy stand and tell them they must stop this and worship God through prayer and teaching others who God is.  Paul tells them that they need to focus on God, not on bringing attention to themselves.  We cannot be passive in our faith to God we must start sharing with others about who God is and about our faith in God.  We must start actively looking for people who are looking and searching for God.