Nathan Neighbors
Follower of Christ, Husband, Father, & Youth Pastor
Part of the reason we are working through the letters of Paul in our Crash Summer Bible Reading is summed up in the words found in these two chapters:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
– 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”
– 2 Timothy 4:1-5 NIV
We truly are in a time in our world where people have given up sound doctrine and common sense. They do what they want and simply make up stuff up to suit their selfish desires. Paul is urging Timothy (and us) to be prepared to tell the truth of the Gospel. If we don’t read the Word of God, how then will we know the truth? If we don’t study it, how will we be able to know the difference between the truth of God and the lies of the devil?
Read the word, study it, ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand it more fully and apply it to your life each day.
I love verse 14 here in 2 Timothy 2. It says, “Keep reminding God’s people of these things…”. Of what things? In the preceding verse, Paul says this to Timothy:
“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” – 2 Timothy 2:11-13 NIV
I love that Paul tell us that God remains faithful. Even when we fall. Even when we are not faithful, He is forever faithful. God is far above anything we can imagine.
The Good News for me today in 2 Timothy 2 is that GOD IS FAITHFUL. Always.
A few weeks ago we took over 50 students and leaders to Lake City to work with Home Works of America. Though we planned to help three home owners, our three teams completed major projects on seven homes. It truly was an amazing week serving the Lord. I was blown away by how hard our teenagers worked in the heat. Students learned so many new skills and stepped up as leaders. They learned to paint houses, use nail guns, run skill saws, build railing and even lay shingles on a hot roof. The best part of the week though was getting to hear the testimonies of the home owners at our Thursday night service. We had a great week sharing the love of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ through shingles, paint, hugs and great conversations with the people of Lake City. We took hundreds of pictures, but narrowed down some of our favorites to make this short video.
Nathan Neighbors 