Calvary Chapel Casa Grande Sunday

Robert Castro is assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel.

Titus was sent to set things in order on the isle of Crete, located to the east of Greece, at the connecting point of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. The island was 150 miles long and at its widest, 35 miles wide. Yet it was a very busy island with a number of major cities serving the Roman forces and the shipping industry. For a while in its history, the island was made up of primarily a population of pirates. Neither the island nor its inhabitants had a very good reputation in the ancient world.

Do you ever ask "Why Me" in the midst of a trial? Mike Stangel is pastor of North Shore Christian Fellowship in Haleiwa, Hawaii.

Man has verbally communicated since his creation in the Garden. Then beyond verbal communication, early on God gave man the ability to express his words in a written form. Even secular archeologists, anthropologists, historians, and linguists actually agree about the first arrival of any written form of communication – it was around the time of 3500 B.C. Interesting how they place man’s existence “as Man” back hundreds of thousands of years ago, but he only learned to write down his thoughts some 5500 years ago… an even more interesting thing about that is, if we can receive the Biblical dates as accurate (and I believe we can), Adam was actually still alive when writing began for the human race. Hmmm, funny how that worked out according to the biblical timeframe!

The Apostle Paul was anything but silent during his life, but the words of 2 Timothy have often been described as his “Swan’s Song”, and in particular, the words found in chapter 4. He knew full well that his time on the earth was short. His earthly ministry was soon to be over as his execution had already been ordered. His message to Timothy was solemn and direct,

There is a lot of talk about “The Last Days” going on in many churches these days. We look at the situations of Blood Moons, planets and stars aligning, Israel on the brink of war with her neighbors, world-wide and national catastrophes (like fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes), we see a rise in social unrest with major racial and political tensions, authority being questioned on nearly every level, we as well as a host of other democratic nations seem to be on the edge of anarchy at times, and on and on the list goes.

Robert Castro is Assistance Pastor at Calvary Chapel.

As Paul had earlier warned Timothy about the false teachers, their false doctrines and the impact on Believers and the Church as a whole; lifestyles of honor verses lifestyles of dishonor; he now brings in a very practical and understandable illustration – household dishes.

If there is one thing that would make the Church more affective in the world at present, it would be for us all to keep our eyes upon the goal. One of the difficulties of being a Christian in our current culture is the distractions we face in having a consistent and continual focus on the goal.

Throughout the Bible there are names mentioned that we know very little about: no background; no history; no before or after; simply a name mentioned in the Biblical record to live on for all time. Sometimes, those names are equated with greatness or goodness, and sometimes they’re tied to wickedness or examples of those who moved far from the plan or purpose of God.

I ask that you would imagine with me for a moment, that you are locked away in that 1st Century Roman prison dungeon. Cleanliness and hygiene are long forgotten luxuries. Food, when it comes is detestable at best; nonetheless, by this point you are willing to eat almost anything. The filth, the grime, and the stench, cause you to labor for every breath. You fully understand that your life is no longer measured in decades, or years, or even days. Every footstep in the corridor outside your cell brings to mind the coming of the executioner. It is in this situation where the Apostle Paul is able to dictate this short letter to Timothy.

2 Timothy begins with a normal and standard greeting, but not a normal relationship. We looked at it last week, acknowledging the fact that Paul had been a major influence on Timothy’s life. But now today, we are going to see how Timothy had also impacted Paul’s life.

You don't have to read much to notice the tenor of this epistle is strikingly different than his first letter to the young pastor. In 1 Timothy (written around 63-65 A.D.) Paul was instructing the pastor on how to deal with issues within the Church and how to be a good minister of the Gospel. Here in his second letter (written just prior to Paul’s execution in 67 A.D.), Timothy and the Church in Ephesus are no doubt seeing signs of impending persecution, as it had begun in Rome and now began to stretch throughout the whole of the Roman Empire.

Robert Castro is Assistant Pastor at Calvary Chapel.

This entire letter has been filled with warnings and teachings from the Apostle Paul: he’s given warning to Timothy to look out for the False Teachers and false doctrines; he’s shared with him what is required of Elders and Deacons; given directions on how to give honor to widows, the Elders and their masters (employers); as well as a host of other issues. Now Paul zeros in on the life of the minister himself – what does it take to be one who ministers before God and before His people?

There is no doubt in the mind of any serious Bible student, Theologian or Biblical Professor that Paul is speaking in these verses about the actions which should be taken by those who were slaves, and those who owned slaves during the days of the Roman Empire. It hard for us to fathom the culture of that day, but as much as two thirds of the Roman Empire were slaves (before the first century it was as high as 90%). As the Gospel spread across the Empire, many of these slaves were coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and in addition, not a few of their masters. Now they sit side by side in the Church, worship Jesus together.

Conflict is never a fun thing to deal with. When the conflict invokes people you love and care for it makes it tremendously more difficult, yet also that much more necessary to deal with. You cannot let conflict simmer, stew and fester expecting it to get better. It needs to be dealt with... dealt with in love and honesty, but definitely dealt with.

The enemy of God… the enemy of truth… and the enemy of our souls, has one clear and ever present strategy: •Satan knows he cannot destroy God, but he can distract His followers… •Satan knows he cannot destroy the Truth, but he can supplant a lie in its place… •Satan knows he cannot destroy our souls, but he can lead us to become totally ineffective for the Kingdom of God. He is able to do all of this through 1) False Doctrine, 2) by inserting division and discord within the Body of Christ, 3) and by leading Believers into life choices which dishonor Christ and compromise their own testimony of His saving Grace.

In an effort not to belabor the point, but at the same time to cover it thoroughly, we are going to look one more time at the issue of Deacons within the early Church and how they should look in today’s Church.

As we move further into chapter 3 of 1 Timothy, we now come to the personal and spiritual requirements of the Deacon. However, before we go there, I would like to take the time to layout a pretty firm foundation for the ministry of the Deacon.