Yesterday we began a new message series on the book of 1 Timothy called, Doing Church Together. The message served as an introduction to the book of 1 Timothy as well as a study of the first two verses.

1 Timothy 1:1-2 – 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

We did three things in this introductory message to the book of 1 Timothy:

1) We went over the background of the letter.

    – We discussed 1 Timothy as one of the three Pastoral Epistles (P.E.’s).
    – We explored the differences between Paul’s P.E.’s and his other letters.
    – We suggested a timeline for 1 Timothy and the other P.E.’s

2) We discovered the purpose for the letter.
    – We looked at 1 Timothy 3:14-15 where Paul says, “I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household.” (1 Timothy 3:14-15)
    – We saw that Paul wrote this letter to tell Timothy how people should conduct themselves as the church of Jesus Christ.

3) We examined Paul’s greeting in verses 1-2.
    – We discussed Paul’s apostleship.
    – We talked about God as our Savior and Jesus as our hope.
    – We explored why Paul called Timothy his “true son in the faith.”
    – We reflected on Paul’s greeting of grace, mercy and peace.

We made the following three applications from the message:

1. God gave us salvation and hope through Jesus Christ – therefore we should trust him.
2. God gave us spiritual fathers through the gospel – therefore we should share the gospel with others.
3. God gave us instructions for the church – therefore we should follow his instructions.

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.