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CHRISTIANITY OASIS
DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONAL
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT
CHRISTIANITY
OASIS HAS PROVIDED YOU WITH THIS FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT STUDY. MOST
HAVE HEARD THE EXPRESSION FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT BUT ARE NOT AWARE OF
IT'S ORIGIN OR WHAT FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT TRULY MEANS. LET US SEEK AND FIND
THE TRUTH OF FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT TOGETHER, SHALL WE?
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TIMOTHY
CHAPTER 1
A very warm
welcome back to Daily Bread, and the beginning of our study of The First
Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy. Paul begins his letter with a short
introduction. From Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of
God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. To Timothy, my own
son in the faith. Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and
Jesus Christ our Lord.
First, let’s get a little
background on Timothy. You might say that Timothy was one of Paul’s favorite
fellow-Christians, and a close and trusted friend. It also sounds as though
Timothy is much younger than Paul, because Paul refers to him as his “son in
the faith”. In Acts
16:1, you’ll find however, that Timothy is not Paul’s biological son.
When I went into
Macedonia, I asked you to stay in Ephesus so that you would instruct the
people not to teach any other doctrine or listen to any other fables and
endless stories which cause disputes rather than godly edifying in Faith.
Now the end (goal) of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of
a good conscience, and of Faith unfeigned (with no pretending).
Take a minute here
to notice something. THE commandment that Paul is speaking of is what Jesus
said was the most important of all . . . Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. You’ll
notice in the New Testament, that the Apostles wrote about THE commandment
in a singular sense, which is exactly what God intended. The commandments of
the Old Testament are replaced by THE new commandment and the New Testament.
Old laws, replaced by A new promise. If you follow THE commandment,
if it is written in your heart, then you will want to follow
all of God's laws. The Apostles talk about it as though it’s understood that
they are referring to The Greatest Commandment (Matthew
22:36).
But even back
then, just as now, many find it hard to accept this, so Paul tells Timothy,
Some people have swerved and turned aside (from the TRUTH) with foolish
talking, wanting to be teachers of the law,
without understanding what they say or of what they agree with. But we know
that the law is good if it is used lawfully, knowing that the
law isn’t made for the righteous, but for the lawless
and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for
unholy and profane, murderers of fathers and mothers, for killers, for
whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for kidnappers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there is any other thing that is
against sound doctrine, according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God,
which was committed to my trust.
And I thank Christ
Jesus our Lord, who has made it possible for me, because He considered me
faithful, putting me into the ministry. Before that, I was a blasphemer, a
persecutor, and insulting, but I obtained mercy, because I did it
ignorantly, in unbelief.
Now, if humility
was what Jesus was looking for when He chose Paul to be the Apostle to the
Gentiles, you’ll see by the next four sentences that Paul certainly filled
that requirement.
The Grace of our Lord was more than enough with Faith
and Love which is in Christ Jesus . This is
a true statement, and worthy of all agreement, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Nevertheless, for
this reason, I obtained mercy, so that in me first, Jesus Christ might
show out of all patience, an example to those who will from now on
believe in Him to life everlasting. Now to the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
We should all
strive to be so humble. Next Paul says, This responsibility I give to you,
son Timothy, according to the prophecies told before, that by remembering
them you might fight a good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience. I
have delivered (handed over) Hymenæus
and Alexander to satan, so they’ll learn not to blaspheme (speak evil)
because they have rejected their faith and become ruined.
So, here Paul is
warning Timothy, because their acquaintances had turned away from the Faith
and ruined their lives. This is the first we’ve heard of Hymenæus,
but you remember Alexander from the book of
Acts 19:33-34,
standing up for the cause of Christians. Well, apparently now Alexander had
turned away from the Faith, and Paul didn’t want Timothy to be influenced by
that in any way.
My friend ...
There are many things that will become as obstacles as you fight the fight
of Faith, too. Your peers, your age, your lack of age, your ethnicity, your
attire, your family, your economic standing, time, sometimes even those
within the Church, you name it. Paul knew that Timothy would be faced with
obstacles too, and being a prominent leader in the infancy of Christianity,
he would no doubt be a prime target for evil to try and rear it’s ugly head
at, to try and stop all TRUTH from spreading. So do as Paul taught and FIGHT
THE GOOD FIGHT.
We’ll continue
with Paul’s letter to Timothy next time, so be sure to come back soon and
find out what’s next, right here at Daily Bread.
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IF you believe
that JESUS CHRIST is working in this Ministry and you have
felt the presence of the HOLY SPIRIT:
PROVE HIS PROMISE
OF BLESSINGS
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