Peter Barnes: A Godly Heritage, 2 Timothy 1:3-5 (7 June 2020 Morning Service, 9.00 a.m.)
God does what is extraordinary by means of the ordinary – Luke 16:10.
1. Pray for one another. – 1:3. Calvin says that even ‘a half-angel’ needs prayer! – Phil.1:3-4; Col.1:3; 1Thess.1:2. Be not occasionally prayerful but constantly prayerful; for others as well as ourselves; and in a spirit of thankfulness.
2. The joy of meeting together. – 1:4. John Piper thinks that Timothy was tearful over the whole message, but he had yet to receive it. Paul is obviously recalling their parting – 1 Tim.1:3. – 2 John 12; 3 John 13-14.
3. Teach the Bible to your children. – 1:5. Henry Venn taught his son John Venn who taught his son Henry Venn, and it was almost like an evangelical dynasty. Yet life is rarely smooth in a fallen world. – recall Acts 16:1-3. But all was not lost – 2 Tim.3:14-15. The Old Testament points to the New – 2 Tim.1:3; Acts 24:14; 26:6-8. – John Newton’s mother died of tuberculosis in 1732 two weeks before young John turned seven. Yet in 1748 when his ship, the Greyhound, was caught in a life-threatening storm, verses of the Bible came flooding back into Newton’s mind. – God’s Word will not return to Him void or empty. This is vital – see Genesis 18:19.
Watch the service below.