PT-1 "A Strong Example As Spiritual Mentor" (2 Tim. 3:10-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/8/2025 8:13 AM

 

My Worship Time                                     Focus:  PT-1 “A Strong Example As Spiritual Mentor”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  2 Timothy 3:10-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

 

            I want to begin by looking at the conjunction but, as this marks a contrast and a change of emphasis. (Now in the version of NASB I have here the word is translated “Now.)  Now the faithful character and ministry of Paul are here contrasted with the ungodly character and ministry of the false preachers and teachers (the “men,” v.2).  “2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy.”  These are mentioned in verses 1-9, verses that we have just gone over before I began the introduction to this section in yesterday’s SD.  It took me four days to go over verses 1-9.

 

            MacArthur writes “The apostle tells his son in the faith that, unlike those heretics, ‘you followed my life and ministry.’  Paul reminds him of the character of that ministry to lead up to the command in verse 14 to ‘continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of.’  That is the key command in this section.  Timothy had the best training by spending several decades with Paul.  He knew firsthand what it took to combat error and to preserve the truth.  This was no time to fail under the pressure of difficulty.”

 

            Here is something to think about, and that is that with the exception of Jesus’ twelve disciples who were taught by Jesus Himself during His time on earth, no Christian has had a greater example and mentor than Timothy had in Paul.  Now what does that mean to believers today in the 21^st century?  I believe it means that we can learn so much from the study of the gospels as we see how the Lord was teaching His disciples, preparing them for when He would leave them, as He said that He would not leave them as orphans, but that the Holy Spirit would come upon them, which it did as seen in the 2^nd chapter of Acts.  Now from the time that Paul took Timothy on his second missionary trip, Paul was investing in Timothy things that were similar to what Christ taught His disciples.  Having a good mentor is a great way of learning the truths of the Bible.  I have had several mentors in my walk with the Lord.  I have mentioned that once I became a believer in January of 1974 that the first thing that I did was to visit a Christian book store where I purchased a “Living Bible” and began to read it.  Once I got back home to Ohio the first think I did was look at the yellow pages to find a Christian book store.  Once I found the one that I believe the Lord was leading me to the man that I meet, Fred, shortly after that began to mentor me.  For years later I joined Grace Baptist Church in Westlake Ohio, and was then mentored by the pastor, Ralph Burns.  There were others that I learned from while attending that church too.  After leaving that church because the new pastor was not one I desired to sit under I moved to First Baptist Church, Elyria, OH, where I was mentored by Pastor Patrick Odle for almost ten years until he left to become the president of Baptist Mid Missions.  Now let me say that I have been mentored by Dr. Warren Wiersbe, and also John MacArthur as I spend time with those men each and every day as I moved through 25 years of studying the entire Bible.  Mentoring is so very important for believers and it is my hope and prayer that those who read my Spiritual Diaries are being mentored by what the Lord has laid on my heart while writing them.

 

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  It is so very important to be mentored and then when I learn from those who have mentored to mentor others that the Lord has brought into my life.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I truth that the Lord will use some things we learn as my wife and I go to a homeopathic Dr. this afternoon in order for he to guide my wife as she battles cancer after her surgery from last week.

 

5/8/2025 8:47 AM