PT-2 "Ministry Duties" (2 Tim. 3:10a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2025 9:49 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-2 “Ministry Duties”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2 Timothy 3:10a

 

            Message of the verse:  “my teaching, conduct purpose.”

 

            In this short section from 2 Timothy 3:10a we can see three ministry duties that are described by Paul that Timothy was to do, and we looked at the first one, teaching, in yesterday’s SD and so now we move on to look at conduct, and then purpose in today’s SD.

 

            Timothy was learning from Paul as he observed him and thus was to continue to follow Paul’s conduct, his lifestyle, his pattern of daily living.  Like Paul’s, Timothy’s living had been consistent with his teaching.  He had lived what he preached, and for some preachers that is not the case.  I mention that it was the Lord who taught Paul, and now Paul is teaching his student Timothy, and then Timothy will teach others and so on down the line of teaching from one believer to another.  I have mentioned those four years after I became a believer a little over 51 years ago that there was a man who taught me and also my wife, and then when our first child was born my wife began to attend a church near us and then I also joined that church and we were taught by our Pastor.  Like I said this continues on and it did in our household as both of our children became believers, then years later got married to believing spouses, had had their own children who became believers, and now we have two of the seven grandchildren who will graduate from Christian high schools to which this certainly makes us very happy and blessed of the Lord.  It all started back on January 26^th 1974 when the Lord used some audio tapes by Hal Lindsey to open my heart to the salvation of the Lord.  What a great day that was.

 

            MacArthur writes “That combination is imperative for any effective ministry.  God is able to bring good out of any preaching and teaching of His authentic Word.  Even through some preachers and teachers ‘proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives,’ Paul nevertheless rejoiced that ‘whether in pretense or in truth,’ Christ was proclaimed (Phil. 1:17-18).  Yet the work of Christ is subject to ridicule and is seriously hindered when an ungodly life contradicts a godly message.  Only the Lord knows how much damage to His kingdom and to His name is caused by the moral failure of those He entrusts with proclaiming and demonstrating the gospel.”

 

            Now we move onto a third ministry duty that Timothy had observed in Paul was that of having a godly purpose.  Now as I look at these three characteristics that Paul is writing about here I can say that as I have written over eleven thousand Spiritual Diaries that have been put onto my two blogs and I also post them on my FB story page, I can say that it is my desire to please the Lord and bring glory to His name, and it is also my desire to write the truth so that those who read these can be assured that I strive to make sure what I write can be backed up by Scripture.  I desire to write and teach the truth.

 

            MacArthur writes “A leader’s purpose relates to his personal motive for service, the driving passion of his heart.  Paul was under compulsion, confessing, ‘Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel’ (1 Cor. 9:16).  Yet his was an inner compulsion, a voluntary yielding of all that he had to the Lord, to the Lord’s worship, the Lord’s service, and the Lord’s people.  He was not forced by God to minister but willingly and gladly served everywhere just as he had at Ephesus.  He reminded the elders of the church, ‘You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials,…how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 20:18-21).  Wherever Paul ministered, he could say what he said to them:  ‘I testify to you this day, that I am innocent of the blood of all men.  For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God’ (vv. 26-27).  He continually discharged his responsibility to proclaim, without compromise or deflection, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the full counsel of God’s Word.

 

            “That driving inner force creates a life of integrity and faithfulness, a life in which professed truth is lived truth.  Such things as creature comforts, self-love, self-fulfillment, self-promotion, and self-preservation had been of no consequence to Paul, nor should be they be to Timothy.  The single great motive of their lives was the unreserved passion to fulfill the purpose of their divine calling to the glory of God.”

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  I think that the last sentence from above is certainly a worthy goal to have for my life. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord as my wife and I are seeking the direction that He desires her to go for treatment of possible cancer after her surgery on the 29^th of last month.  We desire to do what do His will and to bring glory to our Lord through this “test” that He is allowing us to go through.

 

5/12/2025 10:27 AM