THE BRIDGE: Recap of 2 Timothy - Last meeting before Summer!

Hey friends! We had our very last Wed night weekly study before we take a break for the Summer! Ice cream, sunshine, sand between your toes, ....that kind of Summer! We will have plenty of Summer activities for you, along with great ministry opportunities. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's recap the study from last night. Check out the group shots of the nice looking dudes and ladies.

Pastor D was teaching a Bible College class and Xu was with their kids, so the dudes and ladies really had to step it up. From setting up the classroom, putting out the food, to opening prayer and announcements - we had to run the show! Everything went smoothly thanks to the teamwork and cooperation from the leaders and disciples. We even had an extra surplus of pizza, spaghetti, chicken taquitos and red velvet cupcakes. Mmmm!

After our stomachs were full, we were excited to hear testimonies and teachings from Steph, Jose and Joe. The nights agenda was to recap what the Lord had shown each of us from our study of the book of 2 Timothy over the course of the last few months.

The ladies went next door and heard a great teaching from Steph. She focused on 2 Timothy 1:13 -"Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from Me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus." Here are the takeaways from her Spirit led devotional:

Be consistent and follow the example of God's consistency [we know our tendency to be very inconsistent people]
Key word: "pattern" - to produce a mark or imprint. In John 20:25 doubting Thomas asks to see the imprint of the nails in Jesus' palms for assurance of His sacrifice. In the same way, we should pattern the Word in our lives so that we are confident of His presence and work in our lives.
In 2 Timothy, Paul never lost sight of the prize. And neither did Jesus. He was always purposeful in what He did and how He spoke. Cling to Jesus when times get hard for you.
How do we work towards this consistency?

Fix your eyes upon Jesus [Hebrews 12:2]
Fix your mind on Jesus [Romans 12:2]
Fix your heart upon Jesus [Psalm 16:8]
Believe in His faithfulness [Joshua 23:14]

Steph wrapped up her devotional by sharing a personal testimony of hearing God's voice at the Bridge retreat. The Holy Spirit convicted her to listen to His voice, and follow Him even when He's silent or quieter than she'd like. And the final takeaway: consistency with the Lord, modeled after Jesus!

The dudes got to hear TWO testimonies...how cool. Jose gave an overview of 2 Timothy giving these main points:

Guard the gospel: Do not let it decay, and be able to defend it [1:14]
Preserve the gospel [3:14]
Preach the gospel [4:2]
Suffer for the gospel [1:8 & 2:3]
Receive a crown of righteousness [4:8]

He encouraged the brothers to 'finish the race together'!

Joe gave a devotional about the things that stood out to him in the book of 2 Timothy. He reviewed the testimony of Paul, who went from "top dog persecutor" to a prisoner chained for preaching God's Word. He focused on the text that spoke of suffering for the gospel and not having a spirit of fear [1:7] but to face the trials with the power of the Lord. The godly will suffer persecution [3:13] but we must endure hardship as a good soldier [2:3]. He ended his sharing with the encouragement at the end of the book:

"But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And he rescued me from certain death.^[b] ¹⁸Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen." [2 Timothy 4:17-18]

It was a wonderful night! Don't forget to come to service tonight in the main sanctuary [or watch the live feed online . The Bridge will be performing the drama: BLINK on the MAIN STAGE!!!! The same stage the Pastor preaches from and K.Click plays worship! That stage! It's going to be so cool! Although, all glory goes to God and not to us. Yes! See you there!!!