Daily Devotions

2 Tim 4:1-8 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. 6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Timothy was a young pastor, a man who was saved through the witness and testimony of Paul, trained by Paul, and appointed by Paul to the ministry. As one reads through first and second Timothy there is much instruction as far as the ministry in a local church is concerned, but none more important than we fins in the first few verses of chapter 4. Timothy was to “Preach the word”, the Word of God. (Verse 2) It was the Word of God that the lost needed to hear, that the Christian needed to hear, that Timothy needed to hear and preach. It is the same Word that the world needs to hear today, the lost need to hear and the saved need to hear. But Paul spoke also of a day when men would no longer want to hear the Word of God. (Verse 3) That day began as Timothy was preaching and from that time until today there has been a growing lack of interest in the Word of God and in preaching. So many churches have abandoned Bible preaching, replacing it with entertainment, with contemporary services, with this program or that. But why have so many turned away from preaching? Because people don’t want to hear it anymore. We see the result of such a turning away. More and more people who claim to be Christian are on anti depressants, seeking counsel from trained professionals in the world, have ruined lives and are falling away from the Lord and the church. Few lost people ever come to real Bible salvation. This world is sinking deeper and deeper into sin and the church is getting weaker and weaker. What is the solution? Get back to preaching the Word. Find a good Bible believing and Bible preaching church and be there for all of the services, support that church, and serve in that church. The Word of God is the only hope this world has and the world has rejected it. The Word is the only hope we have and may God help us not reject it.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 7th, 2013 at 4:24 am and is filed under Daily Devotions. You can skip to the end and leave a response.