Wed Oct 1

Today’s reading and notes are to prepare for our Friday service.

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the word son.

Reading

1 Timothy 1:1-2—Dear Timothy ...

Optional Reading

Titus 1:1–5

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Timothy is a young pastor.
Timothy is Paul’s dear spiritual son.
Timothy was to guard the church in Ephesus from false teaching.

Questions

(Some read the ?s before the notes/ ask them after.)

What do we know about Timothy from our text?
What do you know about Timothy from the rest of the Bible?
What was Timothy’s ministry in Ephesus?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors.)

Timothy is a young missionary pastor who accompanied Paul on some missionary journeys. Paul directed him to stay in Ephesus, the church Paul had founded, in order to charge some men not to teach false doctrine. Paul was an apostle sent by God. He was the last of the formal apostles—given a direct commission by Jesus. In Paul’s case, as one born late, he encountered Jesus on the Damascus Road as he was persecuting the church. After his conversion he was caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2ff) and was commanded by God to go to the Gentiles (non-Jews) to preach the gospel.

Timothy is his true son in the faith. He may have been a convert by Paul’s witness—we’re not sure. He came from a mixed marriage of a Jewish mother and a Greek father. Timothy was taught of Christ by his mother and grandmother. And he has been with Paul since Acts 16 on what we call Paul’s second and third missionary journeys. It seems he was left in Ephesus on Paul’s fourth missionary journey. He was a dearly loved disciple. A spiritual son to Paul.

His challenging ministry was to guard the church in Ephesus against false teaching. This was a church that, humanly speaking, Paul had founded. By Timothy’s time, ministry errors had crept in. By the time of John’s Revelation the church was in danger of Jesus removing their lampstand. We too must be on guard. We too must receive God’s grace, mercy, and peace, through the ministry of Jesus in His church.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 85b, 134a

Prayer

Thank God for spiritual fathers he has given you.
Pray for change in you from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.