emmaus

We can guard the faith by taking nothing away from the word of God or adding anything to it. The word of God is God Himself, that is scared and we protect it. We have love, joy, peace and the rest of the fruits of the spirit in our hearts when we are Christians.

The best antidote for the love of money is doing good deeds and being generous to others, not trusting in our money but in God. The Holy Spirit will guide us about making decisions if we allow him to. God doesn't want us to give away everything we have and then become a burden ourselves, but to use what we have wisely for his glory.

The love of money grows when we see things we want but can't afford. It becomes a trap when we let temptation overtake us, doing whatever it takes to get what we want. We have to go back to our first love to escape from this trap. Jesus said, "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

If we keep our focus on God, he will give us blessings beyond our wildest imaginations. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God..." was my grandson's favorite bible verse when he saved and baptized at 6 years old. There's nothing more important than that. God will provide and we will be content if we do that.

Humane nature or the flesh is what makes us likely to believe false teachings. We just naturally want more and the false teachers are telling us this is how we can get it. We can turn on the TV any day of the week and hear someone say, " Send me your money and God will give you more." We are to be led by the Holy Spirit, not by giving to get more.

The bible has sown the seeds that will destroy slavery by saying,"there is neither slave nor free". Paul's duty was to spread the gospel. If he had encouraged the slaves to revolt he and his ministry would have been stopped right there.

The elders would be in part responsible for actions of the people they appointed to the church. The danger of moving too quickly could be that there might be things about them they're not aware of. Those things would come to light if they took their time and got to know them.

Formal accusations should be made so that the situation could be handled justly and tried so that they would be held accountable for their actions. The temptation came from the false teacher being well liked, rich or influential in the church. Churches face the same temptations today, to allow these type of teachers in the church.

Elders in the church should be paid wages for directing church affairs and are worthy of double honor for preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, 'Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,' (1 Corinthians 9) and 'The worker deserves his wages." (Luke 10:7)

We should put our religion into practice by helping our elderly relatives. We are repaying our elders for all they've done for us by helping them later in their lives. Paul says someone who does do this has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Godliness is produced by love, because God is love. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Rigid doctrine is about rules. A church needs mature Godly church leaders as examples for the church to carry on untill the Lord comes back.

Godliness to me means to be holy, sanctified, set apart for God. Godliness is produced in us by our love for God, wanting to be pleasing to him. The difference in godliness and strict morality would be in what our goal is. Morality would be just following the rules. Godliness comes from our love for God and the desire to please him.

When people go by legalistic requirements it gives them a sense of self sufficient control. This leads to the fruit of pride. We can do nothing apart from God, but "I can do all things through him who strengthens me". It's not about us, it's about Him.

Paul was reminding Timothy to be aware of the situation and be ready to deal with it. Timothy and the church would have been more discerning of what was taught. Many would be saved from falling away by doing this.

Overseers/Elders are more mature Christians who can teach the true gospel. Deacons are believers who are trustworthy and able to work for the church.

The way a person conducts their everyday life will be the way they go about their duties at church. Their negative actions will hurt the church members, reflect badly on the church and ultimately on Christ.

Leaders should be given time to prove themselves worthy of the position they are considered for. This should be a person who lives by the spirit, who has a character filled with the fruit of the Spirit.

Paul was saying that a leader should be a faithful husband to his wife. The way a man deals with his family at home is a good indication of how he would deal with the church family.

Our little country church would have been locked up many years ago if it hadn't been for women who were there to keep the doors open and the church going. Everyone isn't called to be a preacher or a teacher, but those that are need to step up and do the work the Lord has called them to do.

The church would not have a very good witness if they thought the most important thing about going to church was how they dressed. By dressing in fancy clothes they were drawing attention to themselves instead of focusing on the Lord and being his servants. A person should dress appropriately as a Christian. I go to a little country church and we don't dress to draw attention to ourselves but we dress with respect for God as we go into his church.

The problem Paul was talking about was the disputes between the men in the congregation. When we have anger in our hearts pride comes in too. We can't truly worship God with all of this going on in our hearts.

God is the God of all men and Jesus spoke as everyone's mediator and all men can be redeemed by Jesus' blood, not just some. We had to have a mediator and a ransom to be grafted into the family of God. Jesus is our link to God and he paid the price for our sins to be forgiven.

Paul emphasized salvation of all mankind because they had forgotten that God wanted all men to be saved and so that they would be able to live peaceful and quiet lives. The practice of evangelism in the Ephesus church had probably ceased to exist.

Paul encourages him by reminding him of the prophecies spoken over him. He has been called by God for this work, this is his ministry and he shouldn't give up. Paul warns him not to wander away from the word of God as these false teachers have done, but correct them out of love and a pure heart. Paul was trying to counter his fears by reminding him of his calling and encouragement to finish.

We learn that God is King, forever, constant, unseen, the one and only God. Praising God makes me feel the Holy Spirit, it makes me realize his omnipotence.