So many people want to be used by God to do great and mighty things. We were challenged in 2 Timothy that as we purify ourselves and flee our sinful actions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace that we will be used by God for special works that he has planned.
As we continued through the book of 2 Timothy, Paul encouraged him and us to remember to avoid disputing over words and having godless discussions. These only lead people from their faith and cause disunity in the church.
As we continue through the book of 2 Timothy we see Paul inviting Timothy and us to join in suffering for the Gospel. We learned in this message from Pastor Ben that some things are worth suffering for. The reward that comes from joining the mission of God is greater than the cost.
Paul's commitment to challenge Timothy to share what he had learned from him with other people is one the reason we have the gospel today. We were challenged by Paul's charge to continue sharing the truth with those around us who will share it with other people as well.
In the first message in this series over the book of 2 Timothy, Pastor Ben shared how Paul's relationship with Timothy played a huge role in the charge that Paul gave him. Paul challenged Timothy to fan into flame the gift that God has given him and to join him in suffering for the Gospel.
We were reminded during this message that Jesus is "Worthy to be Praised". One of the highlights was learning how we can praise the Lord. The word praise is described by 7 different Hebrew words in the Bible. In the end we all learned that everyone should praise the Lord.
In our last message in our next steps series Pastor Ben shared how we are focused on being a part of Expanding God's Kingdom locally and around the world. God, through his Word has given each one of us direction on how we can take a next step to help fulfill the mission that God has given us.
It is easy to take for granted what Jesus has done for us. Thats why messages like this are so important to remind us all that Jesus did to provide forgiveness, salvation, a new life and a new hope. Jesus is better than anything else we can seek to fulfill us.
Serving others can be difficult. But as a follower of Jesus we have the greatest example of how to do that by watching Jesus' life. He did an amazing job of serving those around Him well. Thats why as a church we will continue to prioritize serving those around us in our community.
This week we continued our new series called "next steps". This week Pastor Ben covered the second part of our series to "Live In Community". Living in community is one of the most important aspects of following Jesus and growing in your faith.