Dudes & Daughters of the KING Discipleship [Wed night ~ May 2nd]
We had a fantastic time at discipleship this past Wed night. It seems as if everyone is getting closer as the weeks go on and we continue meeting together. We felt God's strong presence during the time of worship at the end, and it was another sweet night of fellowship, learning God's Word, figuring out how it can apply to our lives and sharing our prayer requests.
This weeks passage was from 2 Timothy 4:9-22, the final part of the chapter in our study of Paul's letter to Timothy. Here, Paul presents his final farewell to his friend Timothy, as Paul is close to death in a Prison in Rome. Earlier in the chapter, Paul stated that he had "fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" [v.7] and was encouraging Timothy to live the same way.
As we studied this scripture, we saw a very practical side of Paul. He requested for Timothy to follow simple instructions, which included bringing him his cloak, scrolls and parchment [v.13] - the items he needed to complete his ministry. He then shared about a few people that Timothy needed to be informed about for certain reasons.
The first was a group of guys who deserted him, namely Demas who returned to the world and was no longer available to help in his ministry [v.10]. The second was a request for Timothy to bring Mark along as Paul noted he would be helpful to him in the ministry [v.11]. Lastly, he warned Timothy about Alexander the metalworker who was strongly opposed to the Lord's work and had been harmful to Paul during ministry [v.14].
We can easily identify with each of these 'friends' and people in our lives. There are those who wander from God, curious for the worlds pleasures and can negatively influence us in our decisions and actions. There are those who strongly oppose God and can give us ungodly advice or make us feel bad for standing up for righteousness. But there are also those who can come along side us, help us in ministry and be an encouragement. We should seek out the company of those kind of [godly] friends.
With each of these above examples, we learn that we can only rely on people to a certain degree, and ultimately must put our full reliance on God alone! People may come and go, but God remains always.
Verse 17 tells us, "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed..." Paul is proclaiming that God is the only faithful one who will get us through and give us strength. He then declares that God will, deliver, rescue and save us from sin, the enemy and ourselves. He also makes a point to state that God is responsible for any who have wronged us or led us astray, and we should not take matters into our own hands. We should always pray for those who fault or hinder us and allow God to deal with them accordingly [Romans 12:17-19]
Here are a couple of verses that can encourage us to rely on God alone.
Philippians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs, according to the riches of His glory"
Psalm 146:3 "Do not put your hope in princes nor in the son of man where there is no hope"
We hope you have a blessed week, see you Friday at the Bridge!
