The Cooling Stream

1 Timothy 1:1-7

Paul is the writer of this letter.

He wrote this letter around the year 63 or 64 AD.

Paul was writing to Timothy, a young man whom Paul had left in Ephesus to pastor the church there.

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Paul calls Timothy "a true son in the faith."

Paul was Timothy's spiritual father.

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Grace is God's unmerited favor upon us.

There was nothing attractive or desirable about us.

But God loved us anyway.

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We don't deserve salvation.

We don't deserve heaven.

We don't deserve to have our sin freely paid for.

That is grace.

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When we finally understand the grace of God, we have complete peace.

People who don't understand God's grace don't have peace.

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We also need all the mercy we can get!

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Paul had ordained Timothy as the pastor of the Ephesian church.

Paul had chosen Timothy to be the pastor because he knew the Word of God and was like-minded with Paul.

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Paul knew certain men in the church who had strong opinions about unbiblical things.

They were Christians, but they were teaching strange doctrines.

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Paul told Timothy to pastor the church, and to instruct these men not to teach anything that deviated from the words of Jesus Christ, or the teaching of godliness.

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Many strange doctrines arise from myths.

Some strange doctrines come from endless genealogies.

And there are also strange doctrines that come from speculation.

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Timothy's job was to tell people the truth.

There is plenty of truth in the Word of God to occupy ourselves with for the rest of our lives.

Our goal is to teach people the Word of God so that they may possess love, a good conscience, and sincere faith.

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When people turn away from the Truth, they turn aside to fruitless discussion.

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What they really ought to be doing is studying the Word, gaining an understanding of the basics, then applying them to their lives.

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We really need to speak the Truth.