Hope

Are we having fun yet? I gave you one of those sorts of questions that teachers do which drive some people crazy – namely to figure out what I noticed that I want you to notice as well! Your responses thus far included…

Lead, warn, direct, preporation (sic), serve, obey, encourage, preach, persue (sic) and teach. [the (sic) here means spelling in context – in other words I did not correct it]

Two of you nailed it. I would take either preach or teach as the main thrust of what Paul is specifically telling Timothy as a leader that he must do. For Paul, preaching and teaching go hand in hand. They are similar actions that differ mostly in their context. A good preacher is also a teacher. In other words, you ought to learn something new in the sermon each week at your church, or be caused think in a fresh way about something.

Now lets go back a step. I mentioned in a previous post that according to George Barna, leadership is about calling, character, and competencies. I will spend more time on that when we do our next training day. Read Romans 5 (specifically verses 1-5). The context is that Paul is talking about how we are justified by faith and saved by grace. Overall the chapter is fairly heavy stuff, but notice the chain of progression in verses 3-5. He is arguing that suffering can lead to hope. It is worth knowing that when Paul uses the word ‘hope’ it is not like we use the word today. Modern use of the word implies wishful thinking (I hope to buy a cool car someday) but rather a confident knowing that the future holds great things. Along the way between suffering and hope, character is produced.

Read also Psalm 139 and think about how character is developed and how hope is expressed by the writer.

Enjoy! See most of you on Friday at Mondo. Those who are not going, please please please be praying for the students to be really challenged to live a courageous faith!