The book of 2nd Timothy was the last letter that Paul wrote. He was imprisoned in Rome awaiting trial, but he knew his execution was coming. Something that strikes me is Paul’s sense of urgency and desire to encourage and train others to share the gospel even in his last days as well as his great concern for Timothy’s discipleship progress. 

That burning haste that he had,  we seem to have lost it in our time. 

As always, we establish the context of the apostle’s words. He’s not writing to an American church approximately 1,950 years in the future, but this text should very much instruct and inspire us while also moving us to a greater sense of urgency. 

2nd Timothy 1:2-5

“2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

If your impending execution was weighing heavily on your mind in a Roman jail cell, what letter would you choose to write and to whom? Paul was no stranger to prison nor to writing important letters, but these words in this context are extremely convicting to me. 

Here in verse 2 we have a detailed list of instructions for a faithful disciple-maker. Preaching the word is not meant only for a vocational preacher. Paul says to be ready. Reproving, rebuking, and exhorting may seem easy to some, but how good are we at calling things out with complete patience and teaching. 

In verses three and four he indicates the increasing difficulty of sharing the gospel to a world that doesn’t want to hear it. What a great reason to spend our days urgently sharing the gospel! He seems to be promoting patience and urgency at the same time. He knows that “drive by evangelism” won’t be the most effective approach. Paul was a church-planter who regularly revisited or checked in on his previous cities. He knew the importance of establishing consistent and intentional relationships while making disciples. Furthermore, he understood the requirements of continuing personal accountability, training, and encouragement to individuals he was shepherding. Doesn’t verse 3 sound particularly timely to us now concerning the world around us as well as our own tendencies? What do our ears itch for today? 

Verse 5 gives calls us all to fulfill our ministry. As pastor Durwin charged us this last week to begin with the end in mind, so does Paul to Timothy here. 

With this passage and countless others in scripture instructing us of what is really important, we cannot cast the blame for our poor prioritizing on lack of clear instruction! Who is the one you are discipline now, and where is your urgency to help them get to the point of spiritual maturity and independence?  I often think about those who I would like to begin discipling, but I must do better at seeking those relationships beyond just thinking how I’d like to, and so must the Church. 

Take the standard of Paul and be inspired to share the gospel with the lost and mentor young believers. If you are a young believer, be urgent about finding a mature Christ follower to help you, and do so with the end in mind. 

When we are out of the scriptures and prayer we always become fooled into thinking that worldly affairs are more urgent than the lost and dying around us. Scripture will bring us back to the same conclusion every time: 2nd 

“2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

I end with the same farewell of Paul’s last letter: 

22– “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.”

 Andrew

 

Click here for the rest of Becca’s blog post

Summer of Service

It has been the usual and exciting summer of missions and ministry happening through Marshfield First Baptist. We have had mission teams in El Salvador and Colorado, Charleston, MO, a week of Vacation Bible School, students at Super Summer, middle school camp, and children’s camp. We have another mission team heading to Puerto Rico this fall to serve in the continuing hurricane recovery efforts. I love seeing our church family involved in hands-on missions! Each mission trip changes lives, not only of the people who live on that particular mission field, but those who go are changed just as profoundly. Our VBS and summer camps are a critical part of our missions and ministry strategy, because those weeks are laying the foundation for children and teens to make a commitment to be Jesus-followers and to serve the people around them.

This is what the church is called to do – to go and make disciples – wherever we go. As God’s children, as God’s church, as the family of Marshfield First Baptist, we exist to glorify God and to see lives changed. Mission trips change lives. And even if we aren’t on a mission team that travels some distance to serve and share the gospel, our mission is to serve right here at home, in our “Jerusalem.” How has God changed your life? And how will you serve someone else and open a door for God to change their life?

This past Sunday we had the great privilege of meeting and Cristi and Michelle Harlea. They and their four children are serving in Romania. Our church has the opportunity to become a mission partner with them, supporting them, encouraging them, going to help them. They shared with us how lives have been changed on their mission field. I am excited at the prospect of joining in on that work and to do what we can to bless them.

It has been – and still is – an exciting summer of service. Pray that God will use you to glorify Him and that we will see lives changed through the faithfulness of God’s people and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Durwin

 

I heard a question asked the other day that really got my attention.  The question was, “Why do we do Sunday School?” (In our case Connect Groups!)That is a really good question that deserves a good answer.  As a teacher do you ever find yourself asking that question?  My friend Ken Braddy answered that question this way and I completely agreed with him.

2 Peter was written to address the growing problem of false teachers in the church. In particular, these false teachers denied the physical return of Christ (see chapter 3). If you go back to chapter 2, verses 13-16, you’ll see that these same teachers had cast off all restraint and lived ungodly lives. That’s what happens when you don’t believe you have to be accountable to someone – you become a law unto yourself and live any way you like.

As I read chapter 3 and Peter’s warnings to false teachers (and to the church about the false teachers), I find the reasons why our work today in the church is so important.

1. Jesus is coming back. The false teachers (“scoffers” in some translations) denied the physical return of Christ, saying that “all things continue just as they have from the beginning.” Their argument was a form of Uniformitarianism; it contradicted the Bible’s viewpoint of Catastrophism. It’s a sober reminder that whether or not we choose to believe it, Jesus is going to return to earth in order to gather His people. God is not absent from human history. The Lord will return, and that makes evangelism, especially evangelism through the Sunday School, so important. Which leads me to point #2…
2. God is not on our timetable and desires that none should perish. Peter reminded his first-century readers that God doesn’t keep time the way we do, so anyone who believed that Jesus wasn’t going to return was just dead wrong. Peter wrote those words just 35 years or so after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Now we are over 2000 years later, and still no sign of Jesus. We must be extra diligent to not allow ourselves to grow comfortable and complacent in our expectation of Jesus’ return. Since we do not know when Jesus is going to return, there are all kinds of implications for God’s people, the primary one being that the “delay” of Jesus’ return is because God desires that no one perishes in their sin. The main job of Sunday School isn’t Bible teaching (although that is a big part of the work of the Sunday School). The primary job of Sunday School is the evangelization of people. Jesus’ “delay” is giving us time to share the gospel with men, women, boys, and girls.
3. Jesus’ return should affect our conduct, our thoughts, and our view of people. In 2 Peter 3:11-13 we learn that because Jesus will return, and because the earth, yes even the universe, is going to be dissolved (literally “loosened” and “set free” in the original language), that should motivate us to have holy conduct and godliness (v.11). Since Jesus’ return in imminent and we are waiting for His return, Peter tells us to “make every effort to be found without spot or blemish” and to “regard the patience of the Lord as salvation” (v.14-15). Because Jesus hasn’t returned yet, we know that we will one day give an account to Him of everything we’ve done; while we wait, Peter tell us to share the gospel and regard the extra time as an opportunity to share the gospel with lost people everywhere. People are made for eternity, and where they spend eternity is determined by what they decide about Jesus before (1) they die or (2) He returns.

Jesus is coming back one day and that is a message that must be told so we must spread the gospel as often as we can.  One place we do that is Sunday School (Connect Groups).  It is a place that we help others grow in Christ and in turn, they then must also help others grow (discipleship) in Christ.  Sunday School is a needed vehicle to share the Good News and grow in God’s Word.  It is also the place where we build relationships with others.  Relationships flourish best in the context of smaller groups.  These are just some of the reason’s we do Sunday School!

See You Sunday,

Stephen Nutt

The Journey

I love traveling. I love the adventure of a journey. In just a few days I am off again to Israel. I love getting on an airplane. I love being in the land of Israel. I love delving into the world of biblical archaeology. I love feeling close to Bible characters I read about. Thank you to my church family at Marshfield First Baptist for allowing me to be part of this work. It deepens my understanding and my teaching of God’s Word. You can view video updates from Shiloh Network News by following Associates for Biblical Research on Facebook or read weekly reports at www.DigShiloh.org.

While I am away, I am excited about the Sunday teaching and preaching here at Marshfield First. I urge you to be present each Sunday morning for worship and Connect Groups in the month of June. Here is the line-up of Sunday morning speakers:

June 2: Mitch Fisher, Director of Missions for Webster County Baptists

June 9: Bob Caldwell, Missions and Evangelism Pastor, The Ridge Church, Villa Ridge, Missouri

June 16 & 23: Dr. John Marshall, retired pastor, Springfield Second Baptist

You will be blessed by the teachings of these godly men. I am so very glad they are available to our church family in my absence. Pray for them and be here for worship and Bible study each week.

Even as I am preparing for a journey to Israel, I am looking ahead to the journey God has for us as a church. We live in a day when the world seems to be changing at an ever-increasing rate. Today the Church – including our local church – is faced with the challenge of representing the unchanging truth of God in fast changing world. It seems to me like I can “feel” the church losing ground to the culture. Yet Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). How will we be the church God has called us to be? What will that look like as we serve God and serve others day by day? What is your part in being this church on the rock? All of these questions are at the heart of our theme for this year: 2020 Vision. Will we clearly see what God has in store for us? And will we respond to God’s unchanging truth with obedience? Our obedience involves us being real modern-day disciples of Jesus: following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and carrying out the mission of Jesus (Matthew 4:19). I am excited for the journey. And I want you to be a part of it!

Pastor Durwin