Another week complete here at KI and what an awesome week it has been. The last two weeks we have had some awesome speakers about so many different topics. I could go one for days about what we have learned but I am going to stick with going over what we studied this week. Jason Dees came in and spoke over the book of 1 Timothy. It was awesome. So much you can learn from this small book of six chapters.

To really understand the book of 1 Timothy you have to understand a little bit about where the writer Paul is coming from. Paul has spent the last thirty years preaching the gospel. His body bore the marks of a servant of Jesus Christ. He has just finished two years of house arrest in Rome, when this letter was written. Yet the intensity of his suffering was minor compared to the intensity of his love and concern for the churches. Paul is putting his all into preaching the gospel and he cares so much about these people that he is writing this letter to Timothy. It has some great advice about pursing godliness and how to run the church. This letter is a pillar and support of the truth.

In the first chapter it highlights that Christians are disciples who make disciples. The patterns we establish now will be what help us continue to be disciples throughout life. As Christians we are called to preach the gospel and make a difference in this sinful world for Christ. It warns against the dangers of teaching false doctrines. My life should be about telling other about Jesus not about me.

Is the center of the teaching you or is the center of the teaching God?

Something that we all fall into, believers and non-believers is that God is never the first thing that we seek when trouble comes. God is who we should seek all the time. God created all things to display His glory. The church should be a place we can go to get filled up and go back out into the world and spread the love of Christ. Most the time our churches are becoming a place of lies and false teaching instead of a place we go to share our struggles and be encouraged by fellow believers in a safe place. The Christian life is a war, everything in this world is against you. Your flesh is always going to be telling you to follow the way of the world.

Praying is something that we have learned about a lot here at KI and something that has probably had the biggest impact in my life this year. The book of 1 Timothy also touches a lot on this. We are to pray for all the kings and men in authority. Pray for the people in your life, even people that make you mad. Pray should be praise. We are to spend time praising God in pray not just requesting stuff from Him. Prayer should be thanksgiving and confess. It is so awesome to be able to look back on your life and see the awesome things that God has gotten you through. God is pretty amazing. Something praying changes your gaze and sets it back on Christ.

The last thing to take away from this book is that we are to be preaching the gospel all the time because Christ is the only one who we have assurance of salvation through.

Find your identity in Christ not in things of this world.