Good morning. We are going
to start with something from chapter 1 of first Timothy. In verse 13 Paul talks
about: even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent
aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.
And yet we all acted ignorantly in unbelief, no matter how "good" we
were. When I asked Jesus to come in and take control of my life, I called a
friend in Hattiesburg Mississippi, where I got my Master’s degree. I told her
that I had become a Christian and she said "I always thought you were a
Christian". You see my behavior was good as far as everyone thought, but I
didn't know Jesus. I wasn't like Paul. I went to church a lot. But I was not
saved. What is the message – whether you are "good" like I was, or an
aggressor and persecutor of the church like Paul, we all need to get saved. You
can't be too good to not need saving; nor have you done anything too bad that
you can't get saved. Verse 4 of chapter 2 tells us that God desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Sadly not all will. We
should all be a shining light; so that those that see us will want to become
Christians. We have to be careful though. Remember from yesterday bad company
corrupts good morals. Today and every day may you be a shining light!
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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