shadmans Musings  

  (3) As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, (4) nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. (1 Tim 1:3-4) There is an unfortunate fact that every Christian needs to face about the world around us today: wherever God sows His truths for us to glean, Satan sows his falsehood and error. We see verses like John 8:44 about the nature of the devil and think, “that cannot possibly still be happening today, can it?” The easy and quick answer is, “Yes!” Far too often we think that false teachings and teachers were only a problem in the early church and forget that it is still a problem today. If Paul and Timothy had to confront false teachers, you will likely as well. For some people, like Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, who seem to have a disdain for understanding Scripture, how...

  (1) Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, (2) To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim 1:1-2) As John MacArthur rightly stated, one of the greatest joys for any parent is to see their son or daughter grow up into a mature adult. And in the same way, it is also true for someone you have mentored. As Christians, we pray, hope, counsel, encourage, guide, correct, restore and trust those whom we love in Christ and have poured our lives into. “There is no greater joy for a spiritual parent than to beget a true child in the faith and lead him to maturity.” [1] This is even more true for Paul, since he is our example.  In this epistle, we will see not only the great love that Paul had for Timothy, but his desire to equip him with everything that he would need to pastor and lead the large Ephesian church as well as anything else...