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There was a publication called
the Wesleyan Methodist and there was a time in which the Methodist
had this article published in it and it was about a man named
John Scudder. Scudder was a very famous 18th
century missionary to Ceylon and India. And so far as we know
the family of John Scudder made a missionary record not equaled
so far by any other family or missionary family in history.
The Wesleyan reported that John Scudder and his wife were missionaries
to Ceylon in India, and of their ten children who survived to
adult age, one died while preparing for Christian ministry, and nine
became foreign missionaries. Of the nine who became foreign
missionaries, five became medical missionaries, indicating a tremendous
amount of work and preparation. In 1919, the year of the centennial
of the Scudders arriving in Ceylon and then proceeding to India,
by that time, after 100 years of Scudder ministry, three great-grandchildren
that very year sailed for the mission field. By that year,
31 descendants of John Scudder had worked in India. At the same
time, seven others were missionaries elsewhere. This biographical
sketch of the Scudder family shows us how significant parents
can be in the initial preparation of young people for an effective
life of service to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our passage today highlights
or puts a spotlight on the character of a young man who had accompanied
Paul for almost all of his primary ministry throughout his three
missionary endeavors and also during his last years in prison. And how that this story about
this young man will show us how it was that his mother had such
a vital part in preparing this young man for a very rigorous
life of ministry in association with the Apostle Paul and also
in his character development. So I'd like to turn your attention
again to Philippians chapter 2 where What Paul attempts to
do in these five verses is explain that he has a desire for the
Philippians that he would be able to personally interact with
them and know of their condition spiritually. But halfway through
explaining this desire to come or to send someone to personally
oversee and interact with them and to check out their spiritual
health, he stops. right in the middle of this explanation,
to digress for a moment and talk about his closest associate who
was named Timothy. Now if you notice, if you back
up just for a moment in Philippians chapter 2, to verse 17 Paul writes,
even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the
sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and
rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and
rejoice with me. And basically what the Apostle
had done toward the end of the last segment of Chapter 2 that
we studied last week was to express to the Philippians that despite
the fact that he was in very difficult circumstances and despite
the fact that it was possible, although hope was beginning to
rise up in his heart, it was possible that he might die, that
his life might be terminated, that his life might actually
be poured out. for the sake of the Philippians.
Despite this, he rejoiced and he encouraged and exhorted his
Philippians who would be reading this letter that came to them.
He encouraged them to rejoice also. But the problem for Paul
was that he had such an intense commitment and such an intense
desire to have first-hand knowledge and contact with his churches,
the churches that he had had an impact with and had inaugurated. but just simply having ten months
old news about them was not going to be satisfactory for his desire
to shepherd them. For Paul, letters from Philippi
were good. Messengers like Epaphroditus
were wonderful, but to have a hand-picked, loyal, seasoned deputy in Philippi
like Timothy checking out their spiritual health. That was what
was really something Paul desired honestly to do. And so what Paul
did was he made plans in his own mind. And he exposes us to
some of these plans in this small segment of chapter two. And his
plan was to send a personal representative in order to satisfy himself,
satisfy his apostolic zeal for the church in Philippi. So he
desired, as I say, to send a personal representative to Philippi. Now, what was it that Paul really
hoped to gain? Well, certainly he had hoped
to gain the oversight of the church in Philippi, particularly
if there were any problems that had not surfaced in the information
that had been brought to him by Epaphroditus when Epaphroditus
came to Paul in Rome and brought a gift for his support. But Paul
was concerned to know exactly what was happening immediately
in the church. And so he had a desire to send
this personal envoy. But not only that, you notice
how he says, In verse 19, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy
to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news
about you. He had a very positive and confident
attitude. It was his expectation that upon
receiving news back from a personal envoy, he would be very encouraged
by the progress that was taking place in the Church of Philippi.
And so obviously it was Paul's desire that he would be encouraged
by receiving news back from any personal envoy who he would dispatch
to Philippi. So not only did he have a plan
to send someone who was a personal representative, he also had a
desire to gain from that plan some encouragement. His intention
was to provide, as I say, a spiritual leader to strengthen the church
at Philippi. You notice in verse 20 how he
says, I have no one else like him, speaking of Timothy, who
takes a genuine interest in your welfare. You see, it was their
welfare that was really a primary concern to him. And so it was
this welfare that he sought to support and to strengthen by
sending his personal envoy. He wanted to send someone who
would take a genuine interest in their personal welfare. As
you look down through this opening segment though, we pass by verses
22, 21, 22, and 20 until we get to 23. And Paul comes around
from his digression in verse 23 and he restates his ultimate
purpose. You notice in verse 23 how he
speaks of the timing. He says, I hope therefore to
send him And the New International Version, unfortunately, doesn't
translate a little word that's included in the original text
immediately. The thought or the tone of Paul's
words are that he wants to send someone immediately. But there's
one little catch. And that is, he is not certain
of the circumstances that will prevail in his life while he's
there in Rome until his trial is completed. So he says, I hope,
therefore. to send him, that's Timothy,
immediately as soon as I see how things go with me. And so
there was a little catch to the timing of things. He had this
earnest desire to send Timothy, but he also recognized that he
needed Timothy with him. You see, there was no one else
of kindred spirit like Paul to be with him and to help him administer
his affairs and to minister there in Rome. And so he held back
on sending Timothy. And next week we'll see whom
he did send, that was Epaphroditus. But Paul's primary purpose in
this passage was to announce his intention to send someone
to represent him in Philippi. And in verse 23, you notice that
he did not dispatch Timothy immediately because he wasn't sure of what
his circumstances would be. Finally, as far as the plan is
concerned, for sending someone to Philippi personally to represent
him. We notice in verse 24 that he
really has in his heart an expectation that he will be released from
this Roman custody which he has been in for at least two years.
We forget that many of Paul's years of active ministry were
spent actually in jail. We don't remember the fact that
he spent almost two and a half years in Roman custody in Caesarea. before he even got to Rome. So
Paul had quite a ministry despite the fact that part of it was
spent in jail. And so you notice in verse 24
how he makes a comment concerning this condition. He says, and
I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. Deep
in his heart was the desire to be personally involved with what
was happening in the churches throughout Europe, and throughout
the subcontinent of Asia Minor. But at this time, he is not able
to leave because he is in Roman custody. But the tone of his
comment here seems to suggest that in his heart he had a sense
of expectation that he would be released. Well, that was Paul's
plan for overseeing the ministry in Philippi and obtaining up-to-date
news and developing a more vital contact with them. But who is
the man to fulfill the plan? That's what we find out when
we look at the digression that Paul goes through in verses 20,
21, and 22, right in the heart of this little segment about
his plan. If it were not for this digression
in verse 20 through 22, I think that it would be very difficult
for us to appreciate how important Timothy had become to the Apostle
Paul. I think we often think of the
Apostle Paul as being a man of extreme discipline, probably
very stern in manner, and very battle-seasoned from all of his
ministries. And yet here I think we see a
glimpse of the fact that for him personal contact, a personal
relationship with a younger man who was completely devoted to
the Lord Jesus Christ as Paul was, was very important in the
Apostle Paul's spiritual stability and enthusiasm. One of the comments of these
verses, as I say, I think flows on the one hand, sort of a feeling
of disappointment that he would have to give up Timothy in order
to accomplish his plan. But then on the other hand, I
believe there is an equally balancing tone of gratitude that there
actually was one like Timothy whom he had had for so many years
to encourage and minister to him. So you can see right in
the midst of Paul's expressions here, the expression of a selfless
attitude of service to the churches, which Paul had been trying to
talk about to the Philippians in so many ways in the beginning
part of chapter 2. But we ask the question, why
was it that Paul had to give up Timothy to send a personal
representative to Philippi? And we notice in verses 20 and
21 that Paul had a problem. There in Rome there was a lack
of workers who could sufficiently accomplish what in Paul's judgment
was the need of the hour. The bond that existed between
Paul and Timothy emerges and we find in verse 20 how it is
very clear that Had there been anyone else to send, Paul probably
would have sent them. But as you notice in verse 20,
Paul makes a comment saying, I have no one else like him who
takes a genuine interest in your welfare. And so Paul found it
necessary that he would have to give up his confidant, Timothy,
in order to accomplish his plan. You notice also, as your eyes
drop down from verse 20 to verse 21, how it says, everyone looks
out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. Apparently,
according to Paul's testimony, in Rome he had no contacts with
any Christians ministering in Rome who had a vision for the
church at large like he had. And so, in other words, there
were probably sincere, dedicated believers there in Rome who had
a concern for whatever small house church they were ministering
to, or for whatever spiritual activities they might have been
involved in, but there was something missing. According to the Apostle
Paul, they were so involved in their activities, and maybe some
of them were good, it seems from the tone that many of them were
probably secondary in importance But clearly there was no one
there who had a sense of the concern for the church at large,
the church outside of Rome. And so he says, I have no one
else like him, like Timothy, who takes a genuine interest
in your welfare, for everyone looks out for his own interests
and not those of Jesus Christ. Again, perhaps this is why we
read in chapter 2 verse 4 what we do. Notice back in verse 4
how Paul exhorted the Philippians and he said, each of you should
look not only to your own interests but also the interests of others. I suspect and am fairly confident
that it was the conditions that existed in Rome that disturbed
Paul and made such a deficiency of workers that prompted him
to motivate and exhort the Philippians to not fall into this pattern
of being preoccupied with their own interests and neglecting
the progress of the gospel as a priority in their lives. So
this is why Paul, first of all, in my judgment, decided to send
Timothy. I think it was because Timothy
was a man who had demonstrated a kindred spirit, a heart, to
work along with Paul. There's another reason why Paul
selected Timothy in my judgment and that was that Timothy had
a track record of selfless service. A track record of selfless service.
You notice in verse 22 how Paul comments about this. He says,
you know that Timothy has proved himself because as a son with
his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. Here Paul comments about this
track record of his young deputy Timothy. He points out that Timothy
had a proven character. There was no mistake about the
fact that Timothy's track record was good. This could be a reference
to the Philippians' knowledge of how Timothy conducted himself
when they first landed in Europe and went to the city of Philippi
and Paul found himself thrown in jail. Or it could be a reference
to the fact that the Philippians, having watched Timothy work with
Paul over the years, now at least by the time he's in this Roman
jail situation, had been at about 12 years since Timothy was first
enlisted to work with Paul. It could be over that 12-year
period that the Philippians had come to realize that Timothy
was a very faithful and dedicated leader. But regardless, Timothy's
dedication to the cause of Christ was indisputable. And anyone
who respected Paul would have to respect the information, the
leadership, the instructions that would come from Timothy
as well. But Timothy had not only proven
himself to be a selfless servant, but he'd also proven himself
to be absolutely dedicated and loyal in the cause of Christ,
particularly to the Apostle Paul. And again, this is what is highlighted
in verse 22. As you notice, Paul says, you
know that Timothy has proved himself because as a son with
his father, he has served with me in the work of the gospel. He has served with me in the
furtherance of the gospel. What Paul does is he employs
a metaphor to describe the loyalty that Timothy had practiced in
his relationship with the Apostle Paul for all of these years of
ministry. And that metaphor, of course,
is the metaphor of a son working with his father. And of course
this figure of speech, this metaphor that Paul employs is not as obvious
today as perhaps it would have been in Paul's time and even
has been up until recent times because what it is is it speaks
of the kind of relationship that a young boy would have to his
father or a young girl to the mother while working perhaps
on a family farm or perhaps in working in a family business.
there is always that interaction between the children and the
parents in the process of working out the family corporation, be
it a farm or be it a business. The significance of this metaphor
is a little bit clearer when you can think in terms of those
times, maybe they are infrequent, but times in which you have had
an opportunity to actually work with one of your youngsters or
one of your grandchildren or some other child that you have
an influence with. I can remember when we were first
building our house how many projects there were because when we built
our first house we had to have a contractor finish it about
half way. All through the seven years in
which we lived in this house, we were poking away at various
projects. I see Jan smiling over here as
he is on the project too. Each stage of the way, it was
so much fun to have the boys, as they were growing, taking
on different kinds of responsibilities and learning various manual skills.
I think not only did they learn some manual skills, I think we
built some memories. I can't imagine what it would
be like to actually have a business in which a son would be working
with me all the time. But I think practically speaking
that this is somewhat of a side admonition to you fathers. Don't be hesitant if it is appropriate
to give them some exposure to where you work, daughters as
well, and particularly just on little things, errands. or wherever
you can take them where they can observe how you behave, how
they can see how you do things, how you buy things, and what
kinds of preparations you go through for your errands. Mothers,
you have tremendous opportunities around the home to teach and
to train both sons and daughters in practical skills, in their
personal management. Don't see these as a grudging
responsibility, but as an opportunity for training. And don't hamstring,
as I think is often happening today, with the intense concern
about our children. Be careful not to hamstring them
by doing things for them that they can certainly well do for
themselves. I think it is our responsibility
to teach them to do as many tasks as they are personally capable
of doing. We are seeing a generation come along that is not being
taught personal responsibility. Training young people to do tasks
is a great way to train them to take personal responsibility
in their own lives. as adults and as parents and
as those who have responsibility for children, God has not called
us to be their slaves. He has called us to be their
trainers. And I think it's our obligation to teach them how
to live responsible Christian lives. Anyway, this is what happened
between Paul and Timothy and Timothy, I believe, served with
Paul as a responsive, teachable, trusting and loyal son, even
though he wasn't actually Paul's blood son, he was spiritually. And this is why I think Paul
determined to send Timothy to Philippi in order to facilitate
his plan for strengthening the church. But you know, this gives
me just an opportunity to give you a little bit of insight into
why it was that Timothy had become so valuable to the Apostle Paul. and had become such an effective
minister in the first century churches. Timothy, as you will
note from a couple of scriptures that I'd like to direct your
attention to, Timothy had a mother and a grandmother who trained
him well in the scriptures. And if you would turn with me
to 2 Timothy chapter 1, You'll notice Paul's acknowledgement
of the importance of Timothy's parents, particularly his mother,
especially his mother, in him becoming prepared to be an effective
associate for the Apostle Paul. In 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse
5, Paul says, I have been reminded of your
sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother Lois and
in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also."
Apparently, Timothy grew up with a believing grandmother and a
believing mother. Interestingly enough, he also
was born into a family with an unbelieving Greek father. His family probably was one of
the upper class because when the scriptures in Acts chapter
16 speak of Paul's initial meeting of Timothy, Luke describes Timothy's
father as a Greek and that would have been a technical term for
one who lived in that region of Laconia but was of Greek descent. And in that town, in Timothy's
hometown of Lystra, which was a Roman military colony. There
were three basic people that populated Timothy's hometown.
There were the Italians or the Roman soldiers who were active
and retired working in this Roman garrison. They were those who
spoke Latin and they were the aristocrats. There were also
the Greeks. They were the ones who were probably
the more educated, although they were a minority class along with
the Romans. They spoke Greek, they were the
educated ones and because of their education they ran the
businesses and they were the upper class. In addition to the
Latins and the Greeks, there were also the local Laconians. They spoke a local dialect and
they were probably the uneducated minority who populated the lower
classes. So Timothy grew up with a family
background where he had a mother who was a believer, a grandmother
who was a believer, a mother who taught him the scriptures
from the time he was an infant. He also grew up in a multicultural
town and he also grew up in a town where there was much in the way
of Greek pagan religion and there was a small smattering of Jewish
thought. When Timothy was first approached
with the gospel. It occurred when the Apostle
Paul came to his hometown in Lystra and when Paul came to
town it was a very amazing experience because the Apostle Paul was
coming to the city of Lystra after having been chased out
of two other cities that were neighboring cities to Timothy's
hometown and when Timothy first observed the Apostle Paul, the
Apostle Paul had accomplished a great miracle And then upon
the arrival of Jews from the neighboring cities, he was stoned
almost to death, and then dragged out of town by the mob. So that
was Timothy's introduction to the Apostle Paul, who would eventually
become his spiritual father. Not a very auspicious introduction.
But nevertheless, because of his training in the scriptures,
evidently, and because of the faith of his parents, Timothy
was very receptive to what Paul had preached. despite the effect
of his preaching on most of the mob. And so we judge that Timothy
probably under the preaching of Paul became a believer at
that time when Paul in Acts chapter 14 first came to his home city.
But during the time of the year that went by between Paul's first
coming to Lystra and his return to Lystra to minister again,
Timothy evidently distinguished himself as a disciple because
it is clear from Acts chapter 16 verse 2 that when Paul arrived
again in Timothy's hometown Timothy had this distinguished reputation
and Luke writes in Acts chapter 16 verse 1 Paul came to Derbe
and then to Lystra where a disciple named Timothy lived whose mother
was a Jewess and a believer but whose father was a Greek The
brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy and so
Paul wanted to take him along to be with him as an associate. So that was Timothy's spiritual
background. A believer who was a young man
who was reared in a God-fearing home, taught the scriptures,
led to Christ under the ministry of the Apostle Paul and then
immediately, despite Paul's absence, began to grow in his faith. It's
interesting also that Paul writes in his first letter to Timothy
that Timothy, before Paul actually enlisted him to minister with
him, Timothy had certain prophecies spoken about him. Prophecies
that suggested or implied to the community and then to the
Apostle Paul that he was a very special young man. And this we
find in 1 Timothy 1 verse 18 and also Paul repeats it in 1
Timothy 4 verse 14 where he speaks to Timothy about these prophecies
that have been delivered concerning him. And that as a result of
these prophecies he ought not to lay down on the job. Finally,
the scriptures make it clear that Timothy was a young man.
When he was enlisted by the Apostle Paul, it is quite probable that
he was somewhere around the age of between 18 and 22. We sense
this because when Paul finally writes to him again in the first
letter to Timothy in chapter 4 verse 12, Paul challenges him
not to allow those to whom he's ministering to look down upon
his youth. Now this is 12 years after Timothy
first began to accompany Paul in missionary activity. So we
judge that he wouldn't have been considered a young man by the
time he had reached his 30s. So working backwards it was probably
his early 20s and perhaps his teens when he was first enlisted
by Paul, a very remarkable young man. And then finally, as far
as his personality is concerned, he was a young man who had a
very retiring personality, a very effective minister, but a rather
shy personality. And again, in the second letter
that Paul wrote to Timothy, he sort of has to stoke him up a
little bit and say to him, hey, God hasn't given you a spirit
of fear. Don't be timid, don't be intimidated. He's giving you a spirit of sound
mind and love. Timothy was to get to work and
not lay down on the job. Timothy was a very unique young
man with a lot of attributes and they were very contributive
to the fact that he was a successful minister along with the Apostle
Paul. Another thing, he learned suffering at an early age. Timothy
learned suffering at an early age. You can imagine what he
thought when he heard the gospel preached by Paul and then saw
Paul stoned almost to death. Something must have gone on in
his head saying, oh boy, this is not going to be a vacation
if I get involved in what this man is preaching and teaching.
And then, after Paul had enlisted him to travel with him on the
mission field, the first The first time they reach the shores
of Europe and they get into the city of Philippi, what happens?
There's Timothy standing in the sidelines, watching as the Apostle
Paul and Silas get heaved into jail after being beaten half
to death. I imagine Timothy must have been
scratching his head and really wondering who he was working
along with. But nevertheless, what happened
was it galvanized in Timothy's mind that Christianity was not
a cakewalk. but it was a very disciplined
and very challenging lifestyle that would incorporate perhaps
suffering. A third element that I think
contributes to the effectiveness of Timothy's ministry was the
fact that not only did Timothy have good preparation, not only
did he have an early understanding that the Christian life could
be a life of suffering, but he also had a very interesting mother,
a mother who had the faith to release her son for ministry. Just for a moment, think of yourselves
in Eunice's place. Here's this mother who has invested
herself in this young boy. But she gets behind the desire
of the Apostle Paul to take him along in mission. And rather
than complaining or trying to hold on to her son, she encourages
and endorses this process. And I can't imagine that it would
be any other way, because Eunice was as well informed about Paul's
lifestyle in ministry as Timothy was, having observed the kinds
of events that took place along with Paul's teaching ministry
in their own home area. Imagine the commitment Eunice
must have had to say yes when this When this guy Paul says,
I'd like to take your son with me, you'd like to take my son
with you. You're the guy who always gets
run out of town and stoned half to death. Yeah, I'd like to take
your son with me. But you see, not only did she
have a commitment to the gospel giving out, she must have had
an intrinsic sense of the commitment and the ability of the Apostle
Paul to take care of her son. So she encouraged and endorsed
him into the ministry. And then finally, I am quite
sure that while Timothy was with Paul during the early stages,
he was the benefactor of tremendous discipleship training. And just
a couple of things that I think Paul did during this discipleship
training to enable Timothy to emerge and to evolve into this
very effective servant throughout the whole known realm of the
church. Let me just suggest a few. I
think Paul made quite sure before he even selected Timothy that
he was a young man of character and qualification. We know that. was circumcised by Paul just
before they took off on their ministry in order that there
would not be any unnecessary physical hindrance in Timothy's
ministry to any Jews that they might encounter. I think also
Paul kept Timothy somewhat on the sidelines when they went
into their first early battles. At Philippi, he was not arrested,
we do not think. In Thessalonica he seems to be
in the background because when the Thessalonians come down to
Berea to get Paul, they seem to let Timothy alone. Timothy
is able to stay behind in Berea in order to continue to support
the infant church there in Berea while Paul runs out to Athens
to escape the mob. Paul must have kept him on the
sidelines. During the early years of Timothy's ministry with Paul,
He kept Timothy from going into hostile and unfamiliar situations
until Timothy had gained enough experience to have confidence.
So I think that Paul was very effective in taking this young
man who had tremendous character and then molding him into a very
effective servant by deliberately and progressively exposing him
to increasing challenges in ministry. And so I think these are very
four important ingredients that made for the fact that Timothy
was a very effective servant to the New Testament Church in
his lifetime. And I think this whole story
of Timothy and this whole point that Paul is making to the Philippian
Church of his plan and the man that he had to accomplish this
plan points out three things that I'd just like to suggest
to you in terms of application. No matter what the pressures
of our society may be against our faith, godly parents can
have a lasting, eternal impact on children. Those of you who
don't have children, through youth ministry, through maybe
just an informal way of adopting a young person, you can have
a lasting, eternal impact on a child by deliberately and diligently
teaching them the Bible. We hear a lot about parents praying
for their children. I agree, that's great. But there's
also that ingredient of diligently teaching them the Bible. There
is really no substitute for the scriptures, and I tell you there
is no substitute equal to the impact that a parent can have
on a child when they teach them the scriptures. No other teacher
will have the opportunity to drive home the realities of the
scripture than a parent who lives day in and day out with a young
person. Paul was the greatest disciple maker since Jesus. But
when he discovered Timothy, there was no doubt that Timothy's mother
had given this young man quite a head start in ministry preparation. If you want to hold on to your
kids and you want your kids to hold on to your values, you need
to be cultivating those spiritual ties because those are the ties
that will ultimately last. This is the front line of disciple
making. This is the cutting edge of disciple
making, folks. I think that's how God designed
the family. Don't count on someone else getting the job done for
you. single parents. When you look
at the life of Timothy, when you look at the fact that he
was prepared by a mother who did not necessarily have a husband,
we don't know when Timothy's father died. We know very little
about him except that he was a Greek. He may have been alive
at the time that Timothy was saved and then delivered to Paul
for ministry, we are not sure. However, we are sure of the fact
that it was most likely that Eunice raised him by herself
in terms of his spiritual upbringing. And so I think that single parents
should not feel handicapped in the process of spiritually training
their children. Remember the example of Eunice.
And though you may have, let's say, an unsaved husband even,
or you may know someone who is, do not think of yourself as handicapped.
Remember the example of Eunice. And then finally, a third area
where I observe some practical value, along with many other
applications that there could be in this passage, and that
is that one of the most important character qualities that I think
we need to instill in our young people as they're coming along
is this character quality of selfless service. It is my judgment
that in the next generation it is that character quality especially
of selfless service that will probably distinguish those who
have the primary leading capability in the next generation of the
church. That was the quality that made Timothy particularly
valuable to Paul. And that was the quality that
Paul continually talks about when he writes to the Philippians
as valuable for unity and the growth of the church, selfless
service. And I believe very strongly that this is a character quality
that is not going to be popular, is not what you'll find talked
about in advertising and in the circles that your children will
travel. But it is a character quality
which will distinguish them I believe even their friends will recognize
it when they see it. The life of Timothy, a very effective
co-worker with the Apostle Paul, served him like a diligent son.
And within the Church of Jesus Christ, even after the death
of Paul, probably went on to have a very effective and vital
role in the progress of the Church. And to him we owe a great debt.
Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for
what Paul has given us in a small digression of insight into his
need for a kindred spirit confidant like Timothy and how valuable
Timothy was to us as he had an impact on the early church from
whom we have become beneficiaries. May we be selfless servants and
grant us the grace to rear our children and to be sensitive
to the needs of children around us as a congregation. For Jesus'
sake we pray. Amen.
Philippians 2:19-24, The Front Line of Disciple making
Series Philippians
| Sermon ID | 517242047291170 |
| Duration | 42:11 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Philippians 2:19-24 |
| Language | English |
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