Summit View Church is in the second week of our summer sermon series called “Letters” in which we're working through the letters of 1 & 2 Timothy in the New Testament. The context is almost as important as the content because these letters were written by the older Apostle Paul to his younger pastoral apprentice Timothy.
Paul had started the church in the major city of Ephesus and left Timothy there to build the church by teaching the sound doctrine, raising up leaders and dealing with internal problems. Timothy is overwhelmed, timid, fearful and ready to quit. He is having to deal with heretics and nut jobs, false teaching and ageism – People don’t want to listen to Pastor Timothy because he is a kid in his 20's. Timothy wants to hit the eject button and go do something else with his life…. Apparently (1 Timothy 5:23) Timothy is having stomach ulcers, stress induced panic attacks and trouble sleeping from all the pressures of pastoral ministry in Ephesus. So Paul write this letter to encourage and instruct Timothy.
Paul is going to call Timothy’s church in Ephesus to the mission of praying for all people, remind them of the message of the Gospel and caution them against certain mistakes happening in the church. I’ve entitled this sermon: The mission, the message and the mistakes.
Big Idea: “We’re called to live prayerful, powerful and godly lives”
1. The Church is to Pray for Peace (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
2. The Church is to Testify about Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5-7)
3. The Church is to Exemplify Godliness (1 Timothy 2:8-10)
"I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or quarreling;" 1 Timothy 2:8
Questions for personal reflection and small group discussion
The Church is to pray for peace (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
1. What kinds of people do you typically pray for and which do you typically
not pray for?
2. How can you stretch yourself to pray specifically for people outside of your
family this week?
3. What kinds of prayers should you pray for politicians you don’t agree with?
How can you be praying during the current election season?
4. What advantages do we currently have in our country to live a vibrant
Christian life because of the faithful prayers of other believers?
5. What challenges currently facing Christians should we be praying about?
The Church is to testify about Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5-7)
6. How would you respond to someone who says that all religions are the
same? What makes Jesus unique among all the religions of the world?
7. How would you express a person’s responsibility for his own actions in the
light of God’s sovereignty?
The Church is to exemplify godliness (1 Timothy 2:8-10)
8. How does our culture’s constantly changing view of sexuality, gender, liberty
and empowerment affect the church’s view of modesty, purity and sexual
ethics?
9. What experiences have you had of people purposely drawing attention to
themselves during a church gathering?
10. How can older men and women follow the example of Paul to teach, train
and model purity, modesty and biblical sexual ethics to younger men and
women?
