faithful

What are you teaching? – 2 Timothy 2:15

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Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 CSB

 

What are you teaching?

 

How often do we remember people either telling us to “do as I say and not as I do?” Or perhaps we are the ones making that statement to someone else. The problem is our actions say as much about what we believe and sometimes more so than what our words do. When you see that someone’s actions and words don’t line up, how likely are you to listen to the advice that they give you? If someone were to tell you not to drive fast all while going ten over the speed limit would you listen to them? I know when you look at a child they are more likely to imitate what they see adults do over that an adult will tell them to do; that is why the saying “actions speak louder than words” is so true.

 

In this verse Paul is encouraging Timothy to keep a check on his actions, telling him to work towards living in such a way that when he comes before God he won’t be ashamed of how he lived, much like an employee standing before their boss during a performance review. If you worked hard, trying to meet the expectations of your employer there is nothing to be ashamed of; but if you slack off and don’t do anything there is plenty to be ashamed of. Our Christian walk should be like that of an employee looking to get a good review, and how do we know what the performance expectations are? That is where the last part of the verse comes in. In the Christian Standard Bible it states “correctly teaching the word of truth,” however other translations mention dividing or handling the word of truth. What this means is that we should be measuring our actions against what we see in the Bible, but not only that we should as John mentions test the spirits to make sure what we are doing and listening to is truth. That is because there are some out there that will use the Bible to teach what they want, but take verses out of context or twist their meaning to support their personal agendas rather than to promote God’s will.

 

So again I will ask what are you teaching? Are you living in such a way as to promote God’s message?

Temptations beyond you can handle – 1 Corinthians 10:13

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No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 CSB

 

God will never give you more than you can handle. The people that claim this usually reference this verse; but is that what is really being said right here? Let’s take a look and see just what Paul is stating.

 

“No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity.” First we see that all temptation we face is nothing new, any temptations and trials we encounter are essentially just the same as they faced thousands of years ago. What this means is that what you struggle with in regards to temptations is no different than what the first century Christians faced, or even the ancient Israelites. This means even sins that are related to issues that seem to be modern issues, like sins related to the internet, are just the same old sins just with new packaging. So what does this mean? It means that there are no sins that we will be tempted with that will surprise God.

 

The next part is where the concept of God not giving us more than we can handle comes in. “But God is faithful; He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.” If we were to just leave it at this then yes God will not give us more than we can handle in regards to temptation. The thing is with the next part, “but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.” In other words God expects us to turn to Him when we face temptations, that is why Paul can state God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able. God wants us to rely on Him, to keep our eyes and focus on Him in all circumstances; just look at Peter when Christ was walking on the water, as long as Peter kept his eyes on Christ he was okay but once he lost his focus Peter started to sink.

 

So will God give us more than we can handle? If we keep our focus on God then no we will never encounter more than we can handle because we are relying on God; but if we are relying on ourselves and doing things in our own power then we will constantly finding ourselves in situations where we are encountering more than we can handle.

1 Peter 1:6-7

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1 Peter 1:6-7
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

One of the biggest misconceptions we face as Christians is that once we come to Christ life will be easy. That if we just have enough faith we will never have any problems. The issue is when we look at Scripture we are never told this, in fact we are told quite the opposite many times. Jesus himself told us many times to expect persecution for being a Christian and here in James, and the sentiments are mirrored in 1 Peter, that we are to not just expect problems, trials, tribulation, or persecution but we are to take joy in it. We see it in James 1:2, “Count it all joy,” and Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:6, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,”

You see there is a reason for trials, in that much like physical growth we have to encounter some pain. Peter tells us it tests the genuineness of our faith. Peter uses the imagery of  refining gold, this is a process where the gold ore is melted down, or in Peter’s time a combination of acidic substances and heat were used to melt away the impurities from the gold. No matter which era you were refining gold in it is a process that put the ore through some harsh treatment in order to get as much of the impurities out of the gold as possible.

The problem is that no one likes to go through trials, I know some of the classes in college I hated the most were the ones that challenged me the most. It was because they were not easy, but it was also in those classes that I probably learned the most. Much like in our Christian lives we all want that mountain top experience, and we never want it to end. We enjoy that feeling when we are close to God, and everything seems to be going right. The problem is with our spiritual life in that state, much like on the top of a mountain, nothing grows. It is in the valleys where the growth happens. So when you go through the valleys take joy and remember that God is still working on you to help you grow and purify your faith.

Table Talk – Episode 58 – How to Grow A Christian

Posted on by chgruver

August 12, 2016: This week in our discussion regarding spiritual growth we ended up focusing on how to get Christians out of the “baby” stage of their spiritual development.

Table Talk is a weekly gathering of men in the Pinellas Park area from different denominations and backgrounds. We meet every Friday morning from around 6:30-8:00 at the Egg Platter restaurant. It is located at 6767 US Highway 19 North in Pinellas Park. If you happen to be in the area feel free to come out and join us for a time of fellowship and Bible study.

Table Talk – Episode 55 – False Teachers and False Prophets

Posted on by chgruver

July 22, 2016: This week Fritz took the lead as Pastor Sam was out for a Memorial Service. We ended up talking about false teachers and false prophets and how it is important to be rooted in the Word.
Table Talk is a weekly gathering of men in the Pinellas Park area from different denominations and backgrounds. We meet every Friday morning from around 6:30-8:00 at the Egg Platter restaurant. It is located at 6767 US Highway 19 North in Pinellas Park. If you happen to be in the area feel free to come out and join us for a time of fellowship and Bible study.