1. LifeOfApostlePaul-DT-Mar14-Mar19

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What about human nature and the nature of faith is revealed from the fact that Apostle Paul urges Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of …”?  i.e., if Timothy was convinced of it, why would it be necessary for him to be urged to continue in it?

It reveals the fact that our minds are frail.. The truth that we have come to see somehow fades.  C.S. Lewis said that faith is continuing to hold onto what you were convinced of as true.  Just coming back down from the retreat where I realized many truths, I know that I would be a fool if I thought that the fact that I’ve realized the truth once will somehow sustain me.  I have seen too many times when such realizations, as convinced as I was, fade away into irrelevance once I step away from the retreat.  I can come face-to-face with undeniable truths about my own sinfulness, about my own mortality and the fact that I need forgiveness from Jesus.  I can be convinced to the core of the truth regarding the gospel of forgiveness, how that is truly the only hope for a sinner like me.

But all of that, if I don’t continue in it, simply fades.  And it’s not because I was confronted with some awesome intellectual counterargument against the truths that I’ve learned.  It’s not because I experienced some hardship that caused a crisis of faith.   I would just wake up, get started on my work, get a little stressed fighting traffic, deal with a slight headache, talk to my professor or boss about some project, and before I know it, God doesn’t seem so real.  The gospel doesn’t seem to be so relevant.  What changed about my sinfulness?  What changed so that God doesn’t seem so real?  Nothing much, really.  It’s the mundane things in life that strips away the truth.  If I don’t intentionally “continue in what I have learned and have become convinced of”, I am setting myself out to forget the truth that I’ve come to see.  Concretely, that means I need to make sure to take a time-out from the mundaneness of the world to focus my attention on the truth again.  It seems that the main way the mundane activities of the world takes away the truth from me is through spending time — spending time to go from one place to another, spending time taking care of errands, etc.  So that means I need to be mindful to break the monotony of the day with focused reminders of the truth.  I need to treat my DT’s and prayers as those times of breaking the monotony of mundaneness, an insertion of reality into my days.

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Submitted by Sarah Song, Gracepoint Austin

Timothy 3:13-14

What about human nature and the nature of faith is reveald from the fact that Apostle Paul urges Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of …”? i.e., if Timothy was convinced of it, why would it be necessary for him to be urged to continue in it? Human nature is prone to forget the truths that I’ve learned and become convinced of. There’s something about us that is attracted to the opposite, in going away from God’s truths and believing in lies generated by this world, by our own feelings, by Satan. It somehow degenerates if I don’t continue doing it, affirming it with my life and actions. My commitments, feelings towards God and the life he’s called me to, the urgency of the gospel…these things which I’ve learned and become convinced of intellectually, experientially, even emotionally can be easily lost because there are so many competing voices and lies that are espoused as truths in this world that competes with God’s truth. I have that sinful nature still a part of me that needs to be fought and struggled with, and I’m reminded that the spiritual battle is very real…it’s real within my own heart, real within the hearts of my students who I’m trying to help God’s truths get planted and grow and change their lives. I can’t be naive and think that just teaching it to them once or having them listen to a message once will be enough, but knowing how our old nature fights against our new nature and all the lies that this world hands out as truth to me and this generation, I need to really up the ante in my personal convictions and go back to the truths that I became convinced of and continue in them.

2 Timothy 3:15-17

What are the Scriptures able to do, and what is the Scripture useful for?

The Scriptures are able to to give us wisdom for salvation through Jesus Christ. It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

Reflect on the times in which I experienced some of the above aspects of Scripture. As I think on times in which God’s word came to me, many times it’s been to teach and correct and rebuke me. These aren’t words that I get excited over. However, more often than not has God’s word comes to me to reveal the wrong and sinful patterns, thoughts, words, actions that I’ve done. Some have been easy to recognize, such as my stinginess and greed over money. Sometimes God’s word has had to come to me again and again before I really registered that there’s an issue within my heart, and those times have been regarding my view of myself or my little ol’ me attitude. Even this past TFN’s message on Luke 13, the 4 soils, that although I’ve heard of this parable many, many times and I know the applications for each type of soil, yet through it God’s word corrected my thinking and revealed to me the greater urgency to pray for people and for myself as I was struck by the fact at how there are so many obstacles, distractions, and so many things in everyday life that could block God’s word from becoming fruitful. I had forgotten how God wants to partner with me in helping people’s hearts become like the good soil, to dig up those rocks and thorns in people’s lives and to help soften the path-like hearts through loving acts and prayer. It caused me to evaluate my heart, especially as the Austin Winter retreat is coming up, and not to think that because I’m staff that my heart is all ready to hear God’s word. God revealed to me that my busy schedule, children, work, even the duties that I’m given within ministry has crowded my own heart and kept God’s word from really entering in deeper and that I haven’t been doing the hard work of reflecting as much on God’s word. I’m reminded how again, God’s word has power to correct my thoughts and feelings, to rebuke me out of my complacency, to teach me once again aspects of human nature and God’s heart.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Sometimes I wonder what Apostle Paul thought of and felt, as he exclaimed these lofty words, which in his case, were representative of reality. What did it mean for him, when he says that he “fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith?”  Maybe he thought of the people he had to fight against, who wanted to alter the gospel, and people who compromised the integrity of the church. Maybe he thought of how he endured against his enemies, and maybe the most difficult of all, how he fought against himself, daily dying to fear, fatigue, danger, disappointment, and humiliation, even from those he loved, and who were closest to him — all the things that can cause anyone to stop fighting, and stop trying for the gospel. Maybe he thought of the fact that he finished the race in that he ran till the end, moving and moving, constantly sharing the gospel and building the church on new ground. And when he thought about how he kept the faith – maybe he thought about how he tried so hard to keep the gospel clear, pure, for the church, teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, and how he kept it in himself, so that at the end of his life, he could still say that of all sinners, he is the worst- because his salvation, his faith in Christ, was still so real and dear to him.

How must I live in order to be able to say along with Apostle Paul, that “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith?” How can I try to live as Apostle Paul did, in my context and in my day, which is a million times more comfortable, free of danger, and toil? I live more comfortably and luxuriously than the kings of Apostle Paul’s day. For me, the enemy is not those who can arrest me, stone me; I am not subject to hunger or shipwrecks. But one thing that can shipwreck my faith is the love of this world. One warning from chapter 4 is that I must not love the world. When things got hard, Demas left because he wanted the world. He wanted comfort, he wanted things to be simple, he didn’t want to suffer for the gospel. He didn’t think it was worth it. I must fight against the call of the world to love comfort, seek success, and just look out for me and my family. At Paul’s first defense, no one came to support him but every one deserted him. They were afraid, fearful of their lives probably. They had reason to be fearful of dying, and really losing their life for the gospel. For me, being fearful of losing my life doesn’t involve actually dying. It involves dying to my freedoms, free-time, comfort, and luxuries I enjoy, that I grew up feeling and expecting to be entitled to. This is the fight, and its in the little choices of the day, to help someone in need, to go to a meeting when I just want to relax and enjoy a good book. It is to see that all my time is God’s. I need to accept suffering as a part of life, and a part of Christian life. For me this is huge. I am not very tough, and know that if something were to cause me to stop running the race of Christian life, it is my inability to command my flesh, and my lack of physical discipline. Thinking about Apostle Paul, and Christians all over the world, my experience of suffering is objectively nothing, but it does feel like suffering because I have grown up so privileged.

The race I need to run, is to remember that the main purpose of my life is to share the gospel, and to take as many people I love and meet, to heaven with me, and it’s a race against time, because Satan is at work, seeking to steal and kill and destroy. I have to remember, as I have experienced, that its God’s blessings in my life that can detract me from this main mission: the comfortable life I enjoy in America, my God-given abilities, my new job, my family. I must receive God’s blessings with gratitude, and remember that they belong to God. He gave them to me, and can take them away.

And in the midst of this, I must keep the gospel that has been entrusted to me, intact. Verses 3-4 say “The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

I am thankful to be a part of a community that has taught me to love truth, love the gospel, and grow to serve God more and more. I am thankful, that in our comfortable and affluent society, there are people who die to themselves, and run as hard as they can, who have taught me to “keep my head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and discharge all the duties” of ministry, so that as I can follow their footsteps and imitate their lives, as I try to live and be faithful and victorious in the end in our generation.

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Submitted by Sue Yi, Gracepoint Berkeley

How must I live in order to be able to say, along with Apostle Paul that “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith?”

As I think about how I must live in order to be able to say along with Apostle Paul that I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,  I have kept the faith — sometimes it’s hard to even compare my life to his  and it seems inappropriate b/c my life is filled with the comforts, freedom and resources of modern America. I have not known hunger, don’t know what it means to be in prison and deserted… my life is void with so much suffering that Apostle Paul went through yet I do have a chance to say along with Apostle Paul that I have fought the good fight.
This really challenges me to live a fully surrendered life to advancing God’s kingdom and making that my purpose and priority.  My time, my money, the blessings of family, my resources, my emotions, my body, cannot be spared. My money, it needs to go into investing not in material gain for myself or family but to meet the needs of people, to meet the needs of the church so that we can do whatever is needed to draw people in to seek God. My time is not something that is mine to advance my personal agendas and to think that it is time that i’ve been given to spend however I want but it is something that I need to give freely of…So much of what I have, I have because of God and I need to live a life that reflects the reality that God has given me everything and I need to be faithful. I am often reminded of Luke 12:48 ” From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded and from the one who has been entrusted with much much more will be asked.” I have so much more than Apostle Paul just in terms of material and resources and with that I want to be faithful to building up the church so that others can know the gospel especially as our church prepares for the fall semester and NSWN, there has been a lot going on and it’s an opportunity for me not to be just be busy but give my best and my all because I know the bigger picture that through this people’s heart can be touched and moved to seek God. I want to be faithful in all things and really experience God.

How is being “loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires” related to “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth?”  How can this lead to being “weak-willed?”

Sin is something that ultimately takes away freedom.  It is something that we commit and can also become deeply rooted in our hearts as we continue in them.  This is perhaps a context when we become “loaded down with sins”

"Loaded down with sins"

and “swayed by all kinds of evil desires.”  We have perhaps grown up in some sin, wrong value, addiction or idolatry that now loads us down and sways us with evil desires.  The net result is that we are not able to acknowledge the truth of Scripture.  We may be learning, but we are “weak-willed” in a way because we have a very hard time acknowledging the truth and bending our will to submit to Scripture.

The good news is that we have Jesus, the stronger man (Lk 11:22), and His inspired word (2 Ti 3:16-17).  Though the power of sin is strong, the power of good is even stronger.  Through the power and authority of God’s word, we can experience freedom our sins that ultimately desire to take away our freedom and joy.  I am thankful for this new DT format as it will enable me to really meditate and allow the word of God to take deep root in my heart as I memorize and consider the deep truths of Scripture.  I want to recommit to this spiritual discipline of Scripture memory, practiced by the ancients and throughout Christian history – the discipline of hiding the word of God in my heart that I might not sin against Him (Ps 119:11).  As there are many deeply rooted sins in my life that I continue to do daily battle against, I pray that through the power of Scripture, I might be able to fully acknowledge the truth of Scripture in every area of my life.

In what ways should a Christian be motivated by the things that motivate a soldier, an athlete, and a hardworking farmer to “endure hardship”?

What are the things that motivate a soldier, an athlete, a hardworking farmer?

Good Soldier

Soldier – love for your country, strong belief in/agreement with your ideology and people, commitment/oath made to sacrifice your life to defend your country, the brotherhood among soldiers, relationship with general/captain Athlete – the prize/gold medal, the honor, relationship with coach and not wanting to disappoint the coach that invested in you Farmer – survival of family who are dependent on the crops   As a Christian, I should be motivated by these same things to “endure hardship” in my Christian life in the following ways:

1. Love for country, strong belief in/agreement with your ideology and people -> love for and wholehearted agreement with the truths of the gospel message.
2. Commitment and oath made -> when I made my decision to follow Christ, I uttered that same kind of oath that I have made Jesus my Savior and Lord and I committed to surrendering my life to him and I cannot ever go back on my word.
3. Brotherhood among soldiers -> in the same way my life is intertwined with fellow brothers and sisters so it’s not just an individualistic call to endure hardship but I need to hang on and keep persevering because there are others in my life counting on me.  If I ever give up, the kind of discouragement ripple effect that would take place would be too sad.
4. Relationship with general/captain/coach –> just as a soldier or athlete would not want to disappoint their general/captain/coach, I would not want to disappoint God either.  I know how much God loves me and how much he wants to root for me and so I know that if I don’t endure hardship, it would break his heart.
5. The prize/medal and honor -> Just as the athlete pushes through all the difficulties of training and competition for the honor of winning, I need to persevere in my Christian life for the crown that lasts forever, the honor that will be awarded me not on this earth before the eyes of men, but before my waiting Father who will welcome me home that day when I’ve finally made it.
6. Survival of family who are dependent on the crops -> as a Christian, I need to see my role in this kind of life and death scenario too in the sense that people’s eternal lives are at stake.  Just as a farmer who doesn’t work hard would lead to his family starving, if I am just a passive Christian, I would also be letting people around me die of spiritual starvation because they did not have a chance to hear and respond to the life-giving message of the gospel.

I think this message of enduring hardship is very timely these days because life has been busy (with NSWN, logistical responsibilities at church and people ministry) and will only get busier as we are only 2 weeks away from New Student Welcome Night.  Even now though, at times it does feel hard and I am in desperate need of perseverance.  At times my body and my emotions and my mind take turns trying to convince me to just slow down, rest and stop working so hard, or avoid hardship altogether. But reading these words from Apostle Paul reminds me that Christian life is supposed to be hard, there is hardship we have been called to endure as believers.  And looking at the list of reasons above on why I need to endure, I see again the importance of what I am doing.  This message combined with yesterday’s DT on the amazing grace of God that has entrusted this gospel to me, spurs me on to persevere.

Apostle Paul reminded Timothy what the Gospel is – that is, Christ Jesus has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light, and He did so because of His own grace and purpose rather than anything that we have done.  And of this Gospel, he was appointed a herald, an apostle and a teacher.  We find very similar words in 1 Timothy: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus… Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst… as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:13-16) “and for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle.” (1 Timothy 2:7)

We do not know when Apostle Paul penned these two letters, but one thing is clear: the Gospel was as fresh to him when he wrote the second letter as when he wrote the first, and he was just as excited and passionate, if not more, about the privilege of being appointed a herald and apostle.  The Gospel contains a simple truth that can be summarized in a sentence, and yet, it never got old to Apostle Paul because he remembered his past and God’s grace – God did not have to save mankind and God did not have to find Paul and God did not have to use him, but amazingly, God did.  Because of God’s grace, this simple truth remained fresh and new to Apostle Paul even after many years of laboring for the Gospel.

Recently I was apprised of the tragic news of a junior in Berkeley who suffered irreversible brain damage as a result of his use of marijuana and cocaine.  Unquestionably, many others out there are engaging in some forms of harmful activities, whether it be drugs or computer gaming.  More than ever, the task God has given us is urgent – we need to tell people of the good news of life and immortality ushered into humanity by the appearing of our Lord so that we can spare people from self-destruction.

As I prepare myself for yet another new academic year in Berkeley, this reminder of God’s grace cannot be any timelier.  Many years ago when I was a freshman at Cal, I trumpeted my atheistic worldview and mocked my Christian friends.  Despite my atheistic boasts, I felt quite depressed and sought to intoxicate myself with alcohol because I could not find any meaning to my life.  I am thankful that God chose to spare a sinner like me and saved me from ruining my own life.  It is my conviction that the same Gospel that has saved me can save many others.  That is the reason why I am still here in Berkeley after so many years and why I want to continue to serve Him this year.  To fulfill my role as a herald, it is important that first and foremost, the Gospel should never become stale to me and I should never outgrow God’s grace and mercy upon me.

Daily Devotion and Bible Reading Plan

Monday              8/9            2 Timothy 1
Tuesday              8/10          2 Timothy 2
Wednesday        8/11          2 Timothy 3
Thursday            8/12          2 Timothy 4
Fri-Sun               8/13-15    Isaiah 46-66

Memory Verses and Reflection Questions

Click here to download the DT Packet for August 9 – August 15, 2010.