The Webster Bible Church Podcast

Elder Essentials - 1 Timothy 3:1-7

Transformative Truth:
Overseeing the church is excellent work, which requires men of excellent character.

 

1. Overseeing the church is an excellent work.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Acts 20:28

You know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
1 Peter 1:18-19

Overseeing the church is excellent work, which requires men of excellent character.

2. Overseers must be men of excellent character.

Above reproach

The husband of one wife

Sober-minded, Self-controlled, Respectable

Hospitable

Able to teach

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instructions in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Titus 1:9

Not a drunkard

Not violent

Gentle

Not quarrelsome

Not a lover of money

Must manage his own household well ...

Not a recent convert

Be well thought of by outsiders

 

 

A Seven-Fold Summons To Praise - (Thanksgiving) Psalm 100

Transformative Truth: Worship God joyfully, for we have many reasons to rejoice!

Worship God joyfully, for we have many reasons to rejoice!

1. Shout to the Lord! Psalm 100:1a

This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace. Colossians 1:6

2. Serve the Lord! Psalm 100:2a

3. Sing to the Lord! Psalm 100:2b

4. Know the Lord! Psalm 100:3

We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God: an infinite, intelligent Spirit, the Creator and Ruler of heaven and earth. He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all honor, confidence, and love. He eternally exists in three persons, who are equal in every divine perfection, and who execute distinct but harmonious roles in the work of creation, providence and redemption.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my other's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it. Psalm 139:13-14

5. Praise the Lord! Psalm 100:4a

6. Thank the Lord! Psalm 100:4b

7. Bless the Lord! Psalm 100:4c-5

 

Gender Specifics - 1 Timothy 2:8-15

Transformative Truth:
How men and women behave in church impacts global evangelism.

 

Men and Prayer 1 Timothy 2:8

Women and Propriety 1 Timothy 2:9-15

Concluding Counsel (A - B - C)

Align yourself with Scripture, not culture.

Beware of compromise and excessive cushion.

Celebrate the complementary contributions of both sexes to the body of Christ.

Pray For All People - 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Transformative Truths: 
 Prayer requires no special skill, secret method, specific place, posture, language, or time. 
 The key to prayer is a heart and mind trained to bring everything in thought and life before the throne of God. 
 No one on their deathbed ever complained of having prayed too much. 
 Let prayer always be your first resort. 

Sermon Outline: 
1 - The Priority of prayer 
2 - The Power of prayer 
3 - The Pleasure of prayer 
4 - The grand Purpose of prayer 
5 - The Person of prayer 
6 - The Empowerment of prayer

Fight The Good Fight - 1 Timothy 1:18-20

Transformative Truth:
The truth of the gospel is worth fighting for.

Exhortation 1 Timothy 1:18-19a

A "good conscience" is a state in which one's moral self-evaluation accurately registers that one has been obedient to God.

"A bad conscience is the mother of all heresies." 

Excommunication 1 Timothy 1:19b-20

The truth of the gospel is worth fighting for.

"The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing." 
- Paul the Apostle 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Testify! - 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Transformative Truth:
As we guard the gospel, let us celebrate the gospel.

Gratitude 1 Timothy 1:12

1 Tim. 1: 12: "because he judged me faithful"

1 Cor. 7:25: "one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy" 

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 Corinthians 4:1

Grace 1 Timothy 1:13-14

"I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities." - Paul the Apostle Acts 26:9-11

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:4-5

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.... Ephesians 2:4-5

Gospel 1 Timothy 1:15

Glory 1 Timothy 1:17

 

The Lawful Use Of The Law - 1 Timothy 1:8-11

Transformative Truth:
The law restrains sinners, but only the Lord redeems them.

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:8-10

"Paul reserves the word 'fulfill' for Christian experience; only Christians, as a result of the work of Christ and through the Spirit, can 'fulfill' the law." - Douglas J. Moo 

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." - Jesus Christ
John 13:34

"Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." - Hebrews 13:4 NIV

The Primacy of the Gospel
1 Timothy 1:11

The law restrains sinners, but only the Lord redeems them.

"But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God's grace." - Paul the Apostle Acts 20:24

Guard The Gospel - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

Transformative Truth:
Oppose whatever draws people away from gospel truth.

The Commission
1 Timothy 1:3-4

29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard!
Acts 20:29-31 NIV

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.
John 10:11-13 NLT

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have received that you have heard from me.
2 Timothy 1:13

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
Titus 2:1

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
1 Timothy 3:14-15

The Contrast
1 Timothy 1:3-5

"Love is the overflow of joy in God which gladly meets the needs of others."
- John Piper

It was not so much that they set out to be heretical. They simply wanted to "go deeper" into the Scriptures. They wanted to go beyond the "simple" exegesis of Paul, and by giving the people and events allegorical meaning, simple stories would reveal fantastic truths. They did not set out to abandon the gospel ... but in fact their progressive accretions smothered the gospel.
-Hughes and Chapell

 

 

A Greeting Worth Repeating - 1 Timothy 1:1-2

Transformative Truth: A healthy church thrives on the blessings of salvation.

 

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope.
2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Timothy 1:1-2

1 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, ... the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
Acts 16:1-4a, 5

28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. 32 "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Acts 20:28-32

Grace

"Greetings!"  "Grace!"
 (charein)    (charis) 

Mercy

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
They are new every morning;
Great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Peace

 

The 3-Es - The King’s Messengers - Matthew 9:35-10:5a

Transformative Truth:
Rescuing lost people requires our compassionate, prayerful participation in God’s mission.

 

1. DIVINE PERSPECTIVE Matthew 9:37

2. DILIGENT PRAYER Matthew 9:38

3. DIVERSE PERSONNEL Matthew 10:1-4