{"id":27843,"date":"2023-09-06T22:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-timothy-1_1-11-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T15:15:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T22:15:41","slug":"1-timothy-1_12-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-timothy-1_12-20\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Protect Your Faith and Keep a Good Conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Timothy 1:12-20 <\/strong>Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a01\u00a0Timothy\u00a01:12-20.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Timothy 1:12-15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a012-15: \u00a0No matter how far Paul advanced as a leader in God’s kingdom, Paul never forgot where he came from, how he once was a persecutor of God’s church, “the worst of sinners” he calls himself.\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0may you never forget the depths from which God saved you, so that you will never take for granted His forgiveness, His acceptance, and the opportunities He has given you to serve Him since.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Timothy 1:16-17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-17: \u00a0Paul sees that a huge reason why God had mercy on him was so that others would see what happened to Paul and place their faith in Jesus too (v16).\u00a0 What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0The reason God saved you wasn’t just for you.<\/strong>\u00a0 It was so that others would come to know God through you and so that God’s name would be given honour and glory (v17). \u00a0God saved you because He had others in mind.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Who are the people God wants to help through you?<\/p>\n

1 Timothy 1:18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 18: \u00a0Apparently some Christians with the gift of prophecy, including Paul most likely, shared prophetic and encouraging words for\u00a0Timothy.\u00a0 Paul reminds\u00a0Timothy\u00a0of those prophecies that were spoken about his life and encourages\u00a0Timothy\u00a0with them, especially as\u00a0Timothy\u00a0gets ready to stand up to certain false teachers in his church.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this? \u00a0When you’re facing challenging or uncertain times, remember what God has said about you in the past<\/strong>, including promises from Scripture about who you are, pictures and prophecies about yourself that resonated with you.\u00a0 Doing this will renew your courage and your mindset as you face the challenge in front of you.<\/p>\n

1 Timothy 1:19-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-20: \u00a0Paul will mention the word \u201cconscience\u201d three times in this letter to Timothy.\u00a0 Here Paul links faith and a good conscience together, urging Timothy to hold on to both.\u00a0 He warns that those (like Hymenaeus and Alexander \u2013 v20) who didn\u2019t protect their conscience ended up wrecking their faith.\u00a0 It is vital that we protect our faith and our conscience (see also\u00a01:5).\u00a0 How?<\/p>\n

We protect our faith by feeding it every day\u00a0with God’s Word, going to church weekly, going to small group regularly, praying, and other spiritual disciplines that help develop our spiritual muscles.<\/p>\n

We keep a good conscience by doing our best to live a life that pleases God and, whenever we fail, by repenting of our sins to God and receiving His forgiveness.<\/p>\n

When we don’t protect our faith and our conscience, it is easy for us to become hard-hearted, side-tracked and shipwrecked spiritually.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What does Paul mean in verse 20 when he writes, “whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme”?\u00a0 He probably means that Paul had removed Hymenaeus and Alexander from the church, at least temporarily, as a form of discipline and as a warning (for them and for others) that they need to come back to the faith that had saved them.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for saving me, the worst of sinners, and showing me incredible mercy through Your Son Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Thank You for all the patience You continually show me and the words You have spoken to me.\u00a0 May I not forget them.\u00a0 Help me today and every day to hang onto faith and a good conscience, so that I can discern Your Word correctly and teach it well to others.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a01\u00a0Timothy\u00a01:12-20.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Timothy 1:12-15 (NIV)
\n12\u00a0\u00a0I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.
\n13\u00a0\u00a0Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
\n14\u00a0\u00a0The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a012-15: \u00a0No matter how far Paul advanced as a leader in God’s kingdom, Paul never forgot where he came from, how he once was a persecutor of God’s church, “the worst of sinners” he calls himself.\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0may you never forget the depths from which God saved you, so that you will never take for granted His forgiveness, His acceptance, and the opportunities He has given you to serve Him since.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27843"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27846,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27843\/revisions\/27846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}