Lesson for the week 1 Timothy 2:1-7 New King James Version

1 Timothy 2:1-7 New King James Version

Pray for All Men

2 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ² for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, ⁷ for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

May you,  

The Reader, Be bKessed by these words :)

Terry

Lesson for the Week:

1 Timothy 1:12-17 New King James Version

Glory to God for His Grace

¹² And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, ¹³ although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴ And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. ¹⁶ However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

May you, the reader be blessed by these words :)

Terry

Philemon 1-21

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love-- and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother-- especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

May you, the Reader, be blessed by these words :)

Terry

Dear all:

I have been struggling with an issue for some time; One that affects us all.

In fairly recent decisions by the powers to be in the Episcopal Church of America, the issue of Gay Marriage has come up. Now, before anybody gets their panties in a wad, this is not about bashing people who live the lifestyle but rather the lifestyle itself.

I, for one, am very disappointed the Episcopal Church has decided to go the path of Gay Marriage and has even gone as far as to penalise any priest who refuses to do it as In the case of Bishop Love.

I do side with Bishop Love because I believe he is Biblically correct in obeying Pauls instruction in 1 Timothy 5:22 which tells us to not to lay our hands on another sin and to keep ourselves pure.

I do not believe it is right to hate or bash or otherwise denigrate another. Now, if they come to the church seeking faith and fellowship, then, of course, we give it to them.

However, when the time comes for that person to make a decision as to whether or not that wish to walk with the Lord and they refuse to give up that kind of lifestyle and say that's Okay, I don't want to change, then we are NOT to pat them head and say that's Okay, we will change to suite your “needs”.

It is at that moment we violate Pauls instructions. Please keep in mind, the word of God does not change,God does not change, Jesus does not change, WE CHANGE!

I well realise the argument is out there that Jesus never commented on Homosexual behaviour. The truth of the matter is, he couldn't. He said as much in John 5:19 New International Version (NIV)

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
So, in light of this, we know the Father has never made any further comment since the original condemnation in Leviticus and neither could Jesus.
To sum up:
No, I do not want to see the Episcopal or any other church dissolve because of the false teachings of modern Progressive Liberalism which is what is happening now with a deep divide within congregations.
What I do want and pray for is for our badly misguided leaders to return to the teachings in the Bible and follow it like the African Bishops have elected to do and some Protestant denominations like the United Methodist Church which are cases in point.
Terry