1 Tim 1:12-2:7
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- Written by: George Hemmings
True Gospel audio (5MB)
Imagine for a minute that you’re Timothy. If you can, think back to what it was like to be 30! Now, imagine you’re slightly reserved, perhaps a little timid. You’ve travelled around with Paul, but now he’s left you in charge of the church at Ephesus. At long last, you receive a letter from Paul. Except, instead of saying he’ll be there next week, it looks like he’s going to be delayed for some time. He’s writing to remind you of what you’ve been left there to do. It’s your job to get the church in Ephesus in order, to oversee the household of God. What’s more, the very first thing he wants you to do is confront some of the elders and leaders of the church who’ve deviated from the truth, who’re distorting the gospel. In verse 18, we see it wasn’t an easy task. Paul uses the language of a fight, of conflict and war, to describe the struggle that Timothy is engaged in. So how are you feeling? Are you up to the task? How are you going to take on these false teachers? What’s going to keep you going?
1 Tim 1:1-11
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
False Teaching audio (5MB)
1 Tim 1:1-11
It’s interesting that the two places where Paul spent the most time in his missionary travels, Corinth and Ephesus, appear from his letters to have the most problems. He certainly spends a lot of his time writing to correct the errors that were being introduced by certain people. But then we shouldn’t be surprised about that. Wherever God’s ministers are doing good work we can expect Satan to be working hard to oppose them. In fact, on his final visit to them, Paul warned the Ephesian elders to look out for opposition. Let me read you what he said as he addressed the Ephesian elders: “29I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. 31Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears.” Acts 20:29-31 (NRSV)
Series: 54: 1 Timothy
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
1 Timothy
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False Teaching |
1 Tim 1:1-11 |
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Gratitude |
1 Tim 1:12-20 |
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Worship |
1 Tim 2:1-15 |
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Leaders |
1 Tim 3:1-16 |
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Pursue Godliness |
1 Tim 4:1-16 |
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Shepherding the Flock |
1 Tim 5:1-25 |
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True Riches |
1 Tim 6:1-10 |
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Focus on what Counts |
1 Tim 6:11-21 |
Mission 4 - Build Community
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Build Community that reflects God’s love audio (5MB)
What better occasion to be talking about community than at a confirmation and baptism service. The teenagers have just spent 4 weeks following a study called the People of God where they’ve thought about why God calls us to be members of his Church. You could ask them later what they found out.
But it’s also a good time to be thinking about the third element of our Mission statement because confirmation services are the occasions when young people say publicly that they’ve decided to join in the mission of their church. But let me warn you guys, this third mission directive is not the easiest thing to achieve. How do you build community when we’re all so different: different ages; different cultural backgrounds; different languages; different educational levels; different income levels; even different footy teams; not to mention people who don’t like footy! And of course we’ve just made it worse by expanding our ministry to include a third cultural group!
Mission 3 - Teach The Bible
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Teach the Bible audio (5MB)
I wonder how many of you are old enough to remember a TV show called the Greatest American Hero. It was about an ordinary guy who encounters aliens who’ve decided that earth is in such a bad way it needs saving. So they send him a belt that gives him super powers. They also give him a set of instructions for using the belt but somehow he manages to lose them; and so he blunders from one adventure to another, never really working out how to control these new super powers. Well I think that’s something of a parable of many Christians who’ve received the gift of the Holy Spirit, have been brought into the people of God, but they don’t really know how to live from then on, because they’ve forgotten to read the instruction manual. It’s not that they’ve lost the instructions but they’ve never read the details. In some cases they’ve never had their own copy of the instructions or the one they have isn’t readable. I visited an older parishioner a few years ago and was discussing some theological question they had but when I asked if they had a Bible we could look at, the only one in the house was the King James Version. Now I know the language is beautiful, or so they say, but when you’re trying to understand what something means it’s very hard to do when the language is so foreign to you, when words have changed so much in 400 years. But at least they had a Bible and read it regularly.
Well, let me ask you,
Does it matter if I read my Bible regularly?
Mission 2 - Speak the Gospel
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- Written by: George Hemmings
Speak the Gospel audio (5MB)
On Tuesday the 11th of June, at 8:50pm, about six hours after Jacob was born, I started sending out text messages to tell people the good news. Of course we’d phoned family and a few close friends before that. Yet somehow, I was already three hours behind Chris, who must’ve sent out an email as soon as he got off the phone! We love sharing good news like this don’t we? Passing it on to others, letting them hear what’s happened. We race to tell people about new babies, new jobs, new homes, share all sorts of good news.
Our Mission
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- Written by: George Hemmings
We're on a Mission from God audio (5MB)
Just like Jake and Elwood in the Blues Brother’s, we’re on a mission from God. Like theirs, ours is a holy mission. But our mission isn’t to raise money for an orphanage. Our mission is something a little more profound than that.
This morning we’re starting a new sermon series, looking at our mission at St. Thomas’. It’s an important summary of what we’re on about as a church. Guides us as we think about what’s important. Should shape all that we strive to do. When I started here, asked how does each ministry fit into this mission? Questions we should all be asking, how can we, how can I help carry out this mission. What part am I going to play in it?
So what is it? Who knows what our mission is? Who thinks they can remember it?
