Al Stewart - 2Timothy 1

Crunching through some delicious Bible exposition:

  1. Either you're ashamed of the gospel or you suffer for the gospel.
  2. 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.
  3. 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!
  4. 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.
  5. Those scary opportunities where we're tempted to be ashamed always sneak up on us.
  6. 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'.