Crunching through some delicious Bible exposition:
- Either you're ashamed of the gospel or you suffer for the gospel.
- The Pastoral Letters are very important because they are a link from the apostles to us - the apostles passing the pattern of ministry on to the next generation. We must beware of those who want to undermine the Pastoral Letters.
- Usually Timothy is called Timid Timothy. I'm not convinced of that. Paul's saying: 'I'm about to be martyred, but step up and take my place'. I'd call him psychologically healthy!
- Quoting from "Tortured for Christ" by Richard Wurmbrand (about Christians in Communist Romania): 'Everybody was happy: we were happy preaching and they were happy beating us'. There's one other funny story in the book, but I won't use it, in case I need it some other time.
- Those scary opportunities where we're tempted to be ashamed always sneak up on us.
- I was at my last confirmation, where a lady stood up who was converted when she was 76: 'I've got so much to learn, I'm in such a hurry'.
