Thanks for coming back to Tabernacle Tidbits. We've got a great verse today, verse number six of 2nd Timothy chapter one.
And the Apostle Paul is saying hi to Timothy. He's letting him know that he thanks God for him. He's praying for him.
He's grateful for his partnership in the ministry. He realizes where Timothy is at right now with a lot of sadness and grief about Paul and where he's at and difficulties going on with Timothy.
And so he says, listen, I realize that you are the real deal. You've got a sincere faith that kind of came passed down through your grandmother and through your mother.
And then in verse number six, he tells us this, for this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. OK, this is a great one.
So we want to look at first, what is this gift of God that is in Timothy? It says, through the laying on of Paul's hands.
There are some groups, some Christian groups, that would believe that this would mean there was, you know, a special ability to tell the future.
There was a special ability to speak in unknown languages, abilities to heal, some different things like that, that they would say, this is what this means. That is not what we tend to see in the New Testament.
And so I'm going to kind of give a little bit of explanation on what this is. So he says, this gift of God that is in you, and he says, through the laying on of my hands.
And almost every time we see that mentioned in scripture, it is what we would call today ordination, that is, the setting a part of a person for a particular purpose, namely, in the New Testament, the purpose of preaching the gospel to others.
So we just went through this a few weeks ago at our church, where we ordained our first, if you will, lay elders, that is non-vocational elders, to ministry at Tabernacle.
And what we did in that was together, we as a congregation recognized these are men that follow the Lord, that love the Lord wholeheartedly, that they love our church, and together they want to help lead and love and care for and protect our church
in the way that God has outlined for them. And I'm included in that as a, if you will, vocational elder. That is, we've termed that phrase pastor most often in the US.
But that together, we are leading, we're caring for people, and we were ordained to that task. That is, we were specifically set apart by the congregation for this duty. And here, Paul is saying, this is what happened to you, Timothy.
And he says, I want you to remember that even though there is sadness, even though, even as we'll see tomorrow, there could be reason for fear that you don't have to be afraid.
Remember that, if you will, your home church, me as your mentor, and all of the churches that we've planted along the way, we have all recognized what God has done and is doing in you. And so, I want you to kindle that up again.
I want you to stir it up. I want you to throw some more, if you will, kindling on the fire of that, that you remember that God has set you apart to proclaim the gospel to others, to teach the word of God. And so, don't be nervous about it.
Don't shirk away from that. Instead, let all of that, let the fact that I'm the one, I'm one of the ones that first like laid hands on you to say, I believe that God is calling you to this task. Let that motivate you to do what you are called to do.
That can, man, be so needed for us sometimes. We remember God has a purpose for my life.
It is a purpose that he, when God calls us to something, especially in the New Testament, that is corroborated by the others within our local body of believers and specifically with our spiritual leaders, that they would say, yes, I do think that it
would be great for you to help out in this way, or I think that you should start up that Bible study in your home, or that you should, you know, do whatever task it is, but that we would remember God is a place to call on my life, where I would
proclaim the gospel to others, and so if I'm going to do that, I need to not be afraid of what others will say. I don't need to be afraid of possible consequences, but I can step forward in faith knowing God has called me to it, others have seen it,
and they are pushing me forward that I would follow everything that God has for my life. Thanks for tuning in. Hope you have a great day. See you tomorrow for verse number seven.
