2 Timothy 3:10-17 The Word Fuels the Mission

God has given us a mission to make disciples of all nations. To proclaim the gospel, baptize the nations, and teach them to obey everything Christ has commanded us.

That is why Jesus calls His Church the Light of the World.

He is the light of the nations. And now he has commissioned us to shine the light of his gospel so that all the nations might be saved.

But we live in difficult times. We live in a hard season where counterfeit Christianity runs rampant deceiving the world away from the gospel of Christ.

And as our world grows more and more antagonistic towards Christ it is imperative for the people of God be the church. To be the people, the disciples, God has called us to be.

Disciples make disciples. And if we want to disciple the nations we need to be disciples of Christ first.

Otherwise how can we glorify God in our own life, much less teach others to glorify God in theirs as well?

True Discipleship follows Christ by holding fast to God’s Word with an “all or nothing” faith.

The call to follow Christ is a call to die. To lay down our lives, our hopes, our dreams, everything and take up our cross and follow him.

And from 2 Timothy 3:10-17 we are going to answer 2 questions.

What does true discipleship actually look like?

And How do we grow in that?

Let’s start with point number 1...

I. True Discipleship says “Its All or Nothing”

2 Timothy 3:10-12 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

When Paul says You, however, he’s pointing back and comparing Timothy to the False Christians and False Teachers Paul had just talked about.

He’s contrasting the vices that mark false Christianity with the virtues that mark Paul, Timothy, and every true disciple of Jesus Christ.

He’s saying Timothy, They are lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and because of that their life is filled with all sorts of sin.

They claim Christ, they have the appearance of godliness, but they deny its power.

Without faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, they can say they are Christian all they want, but they are still dead in their trespasses and sin.

And among them are false teachers who creep in and capture people who need the gospel most, people burdened and overwhelmed with their sin, and they lead them away from the only gospel that can save them and forgive all their sin.

You, however, Timothy, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings.

If the vices are what mark counterfeit Christianity, then these virtues are what mark true discipleship.

And here’s what’s so cool. Right before this verse in verse 9 Paul says the false teachers who are wreaking havoc, leading people away from the gospel, will not get very far.

They won’t succeed in what they are trying to do.

And now, because Paul immediately goes from that, and contrasts the false teachers with Timothy, what Paul is implying is that Timothy, if you continue in these things, you will get far.

God will help you carry out what he’s called you to do.

Because remember the context of the book.

Its a passing of the torch. Its a commissioning to Timothy to finish the mission.

To make disciples of all nations. To make disciples who make disciples who make disciples who gather around the throne one people out of every tribe, tongue, and nation, to worship praise and glorify Jesus Christ.

That’s the goal. That’s what we want to do as a church.

But if we want to do that, if we want to be disciples who make disciples, we need to know what a discipleship is. What does a disciple look like?

Not only for us so that we can faithfully follow Christ, but so that we can show others how to faithfully follow Christ as well.

So what is true discipleship?

Paul gives us a summary in verse 12. All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

That is what it means to be a disciple in a nutshell.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Because we can read that verse and say, Ok. I gotta live a godly life. We can immediately start focusing on what we need to do as disciples.

But those three words, in Christ Jesus, are absolutely key.

A godly life, one that honors God, glorifies him is only possible in Christ.

And before we can even start talking about living a godly life and being a disciple, we have to talk about being born again. Being born from above.

Gospel

The Bible says we are dead in our trespasses and sin.

We have broken God’s Law, disobeyed his commands and because of that, we stand condemned.

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

And there is nothing we can do to forgive our own sins.

We have sinned against a holy and perfect God.

And God would not be righteous, just and true, if he just glossed over all of our sins. If he just said "You know what? Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. We’re all good.

What would that say about his holiness, majesty, and glory?

And so our sin needs to be paid for. Which means we deserve to die under the just and righteous wrath of God to suffer all eternity in Hell.

But here’s what’s amazing about Romans 6:23. It doesn’t just stop there. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Christ, we are forgiven.

Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, left his throne in heaven and took on human flesh.

God became a man. And he lived a sinless life that we were called to live, as a man.

And he suffered and died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.

He had no sin of his own to die for, but on the cross he offered his life as a a sacrifice and God poured out the wrath we deserved on his only beloved Son.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).

And Jesus rose again three days later, conquering sin, Satan, and death on our behalf and he ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father where he reigns over all creation as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The King who died and rose again for his people to save them from their sins and give them eternal life.

And that grace is a gift. It is the free gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

You can’t do anything to earn it. All you can do is bring your sin, lay it at the feet of Christ, and say, “I can’t carry this anymore.”

Its too heavy for me. And every day it just get’s heavier and heavier.

I don’t deserve to be forgiven. But I believe you died and rose for me. Will you please save me? Will you take away my sin? Will you make me clean and give me eternal life?

And in Christ God promises to take your sin and remove it as far from you as the east is from the west. To throw it in the depths of the sea to never be remembered again.

God promises to take out your heart of stone that hates God and loves your sin, and give you a new heart.

One that has God’s Law written on it, with new desires to live for Christ instead of the slavery of our sin.

That’s why before we talk about a godly life, we need to talk about being born again.

We don’t live a godly life to get God to forgive us. We live a godly life because God has forgiven us in Jesus Christ.

Its like Paul said in Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ.

He paid for my sins. And now because of that...

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So a disciple, first and foremost, is someone who has been crucified with Christ. Who has put their faith in Him, His sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection, and been forgiven of all their sin.

And now, live all of their life for Christ by faith in Him.

Well what does that look like? What does it actually mean to live a godly life? That is where this list of virtues comes in.

Paul says, You have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings.

So True Discipleship that follows Christ is marked by all these things.

When Paul says you have followed, that Greek word means to follow faithfully or follow as a rule, a standard.

When you follow something like this it means you take something out there and it becomes a part of your life.

Another way to say it is that Timothy followed what Paul had and made it his own. He believed it. Took it in. Absorbed it. Lived by it.

These things that marked Paul’s discipleship were no longer just Paul’s, they were Timothy’s too. He had made them his own.

Paul said. Imitate me as I imitate Christ (1 Cor 11:1).

And so Timothy took that to heart, and he learned what it meant to follow Christ and live for Him.

Teaching

First, teaching.

True discipleship holds to sound doctrine. That’s what teaching is. Its not the act of teaching. It is a defined set of beliefs. What we might call Christian orthodoxy.

Things like Jesus is fully God and fully man. God is Trinity, three persons, One God. Jesus died for our sins and rose again bodily. The Bible is the inerrant and sufficient Word of God.

It is the totality of Christian faith and belief.

Jude calls it the faith that was delivered once for all to the saints (Jude 3).

And Paul lists teaching first, because sound doctrine is fundamental to the Christian life.

In Titus Paul said teach what accords with sound doctrine and then talked about how the people of God were to live in their everyday life with the hope that …in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. (Titus 2:1; 10).

Likewise in 1st Timothy Paul gives a list of sins and finishes that list by saying and whatever else in contrary to sound doctrine.

Sound doctrine leads to a sound life.

What we believe affects how we live. Theology matters.

For example, if you believe you can lose your salvation, that it somehow depends on you and not entirely on the righteousness of Christ, you will always be worrying "Was today the day. Was today the day I sinned too much and now I’m out of the Kingdom of God.”

And you will spend all of your life trying to earn God’s love.

Or if you believe that we evolved from a single celled organism instead of created by God in his image, you’re going to get into a whole mess of problems.

Why is abortion wrong? We are just clumps of cells.

God didn’t make us male or female. Gender is just a construct. Be who you are. Be you’re true self.

Or if all we are is just a bunch of bags of meat with electrical synapses firing off in our heads, then people don’t have any intrinsic dignity and worth endowed to them by their Creator.

So what’s the big deal to force people into an experimental medical procedure they don’t want to do?

And really, the one driving everything in our culture right now is this. “There is no God. There is no One over all this who’s going to hold people accountable in the end. Therefore, Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.”

Do you see how theology matters?

The more we know God in true, biblical theology, sound doctrine, the more we know who He is, who we are, and what it means to worship Him.

Conduct

Conduct.

Conduct is someone’s way of life. How they live.

This is the only place this word is used in the NT but it was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament that Paul sometimes used.

And in Esther 2:20 it says this Esther had not disclosed her country—such were the instructions of Mordecai; but she was to fear God and keep his laws, just as she had done when she was with him. So Esther did not change her mode of life.

Esther’s conduct was fearing God and obeying his commands.

I can’t think of a better description of the True Disciples way of life.

We fear, honor, revere the Lord, and out of love for Him, like Jesus said, we keep his commandments.

Aim

Paul’s aim in life was his purpose. Focus. His reason for living.

That of course was the glory of Christ.

True Disciples live for Christ. Not themselves. Not their wants, passions or desires.

They live for Jesus and only Jesus and they aim every single aspect of their life to glorifying him.

Faith

Next is faith.

Faith, here, is an absolute trust in and dependence on God.

The Bible says the righteous shall live by faith. That means we will be given eternal life through faith in Christ, but also that we live every single aspect of our life by trusting God.

Trusting his promises and what he has said so that when the lies of the world come up with whatever bait on the line that tempts us most, we cling to Christ and depend on Him.

That every step of the Christian life is one that says, “I trust you. I trust you. I trust you.”

Patience/Steadfastness

Patience is forbearance.

It can also be translated as steadfastness or endurance but you’ll notice that Paul uses another word for steadfastness just two words down the list.

That means this means something different.

Its this idea of bearing up. Its remaining content under the pressure of endurance.

So as where steadfastness is the actual act of enduring something and getting through it, patience is getting through it faithfully.

The way Paul talks about it in Philippians is doing all things through Christ who strengthens him.

True disciples patiently endure every trial that comes their way. They trust God and remain faithful even as the pressure mounts up and up and up.

James says it like this. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (James 1:2-3).

Love

Then you have love.

Its love for God and love for others.

This stands in direct contrast with false Christians who love themselves, money, and pleasure more than they love God.

Persecutions/Sufferings

And finally persecution and sufferings.

And here’s what’s interesting. Paul expands on this part of the list.

He mentions Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra.

These persecutions are mentioned in Acts 13 and 14.

In Antioch Paul was driven from the city by religious leaders.

In Iconium Jews and Gentiles both plotted a conspiracy against him and tried to stone him.

And in Lystra the Jews from Antioch and Iconium came to town, and this time, actually stoned Paul.

The Bible says they dragged them out of the city supposing that he was dead.

Oh and here’s what I didn’t mention. All of these persecutions happened in Paul’s first missionary journey in some of the very first cities he went to.

This is why I said true discipleship follows Christ saying its all or nothing.

Who would have kept going if that was your first toe in the water of serving Christ.

But Paul says Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus promised that?

He said A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you (Jn 15:20).

And earlier in John 7, Jesus said the world hated him because he testified about it that its works are evil (John 7:7).

The reason why the world persecutes us is because it hates Christ. And Christ convicted the world of sin.

And now we are his body. And it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

As Christ sanctifies us and makes us holy, we start to convict the world of sin too. And so if the world can snuff out the light they can keep living in darkness.

I think this brings up an important question. Are we following Christ so much that it convicts the world of sin?

Are we, by God’s grace, holy like that? Or are we just like the world with a little bit of Jesus sprinkled on the side so that we might be inconvenient, but they don’t really hate us?

Here’s one thing we should notice. Paul mentions persecution 3 times in this short passage. He’s driving at an idea.

And that Idea is that true discipleship follows Christ no matter the cost. Its all or nothing.

Because that’s what persecution is trying to do. Get you to abandon Christ. To walk away.

And true discipleship says, “My whole life is for Christ.”

But true disciples follow what Christ said. Luke 9:23-25 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

Counterfeit Christianity has the appearance of godliness but denies its power. True Christianity follows Christ no matter the cost. All or nothing.

We deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Christ.

And what that looks like is:

Holding fast to sound doctrine

Fearing God and keeping his commands

Living all of our lives, every single part, to glorify Christ

We trust Christ each and every step

We patiently endure every trial

We love God and love others more than anything else

And we rely on Christ and trust him to rescue us from denying him no matter what persecution or suffering comes our way.

That’s true discipleship. That’s what an all or nothing life for Christ looks like.

And that is how we are called to live and how we are called to disciple others to live as well.

And that brings up the only logical question. How? How do we do that?

And that’s where point number 2 comes in...

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II. True Discipleship Holds Fast to God’s Word

2 Timothy 3:13-17 … while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.

So after describing true discipleship, Paul returns again to the false teachers and counterfeit Christians.

That’s who he means when he says evil people and imposters. They are the ones that have the appearance of godliness but deny its power.

And here is what is so interesting.

If you look up at verse 9, Paul assures Timothy that these evil people and imposters will not get very far.

And then here, he says, but they will go on from bad to worse.

That’s the same Greek word.

So it’s like Paul is saying they will not get very far in their counterfeit mission to spread their counterfeit gospel. God has set the limits for their false teaching to accomplish His purposes.

But they will get far in going from bad to worse. In deceiving and being deceived.

In other words, their false teaching will lead them and everyone who follows them off a cliff to their own destruction.

And in light of that, Paul tells Timothy, but as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.

Timothy, these evil people and imposters, they are going to do what they are going to do.

You can’t stop it, you can’t change it. You can’t fix this false teaching and counterfeit Christianity problem.

That’s God’s business. So focus on what God calls you to do instead.

And that is continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.

And there’s little bit of word play here. Paul says these false teachers will progress. They will go on.

Timothy though needs to stay put right where he is. Not in his physical location. But in his discipleship and faith.

That’s what Paul’s talking about when he says what you have learned and firmly believed.

He’s pointing back to all that discipleship. He’s saying, continue following my teaching, conduct, aim, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, persecutions, sufferings.

Continue following Christ, all or nothing.

And then Paul gives Timothy two guiding stars that can keep him going the right direction in his faith.

He says knowing from whom you learned it.

That whom is plural. So Paul is talking about himself, but he’s also talking about other people who discipled Timothy. Mainly his grandmother and mother Paul talked about in chapter 1.

The idea here is discipleship is taught and caught.

We can continue in what we have learned, by following the example of those that have gone before us in the faith.

You want to live a godly life, look at the lives of godly people you respect and follow them.

Ask them questions. How do you do this? How do you do that? Take their life and make it your own. Imitate them as they imitate Christ.

The second guiding start Paul points Timothy to is the Scripture.

And this is fundamental to discipleship because all those godly men and women that we respect, that we are called to remember and follow, what makes them godly by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, is that they live their lives according to God’s Word.

Paul says and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

These verses and the two that follow it show the absolute necessity of the Word of God in the life of the believer.

Usually when these verses are taught, all that’s focused on is the inspiration of Scripture.

That the Word of God is inerrant. Its God’s very Word, 100% true in every respect.

That Scripture is also sufficient. That God has revealed everything we need to know about Him, ourselves, salvation, and what it means to live for Him so that we can know how are sins are forgiven and live a life that worships and glorifies God.

But what I want to focus on here is how God’s Word makes disciples. We know the Word is important.

It is the foundation of our life and faith. But how does God use the Word to grow us. Sanctify us. Disciple us in following Christ?

Paul says the Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation.

You might read that and think that Paul’s just talking about conversion. As if the Scriptures just reveal the good news of the gospel.

They do, but that’s not all Paul has in mind.

In 2 Timothy, salvation is the fullness of salvation.

It is forgiveness from the condemnation of our sins, but its also freedom from the power of sin, and our future hope where every trace and stain of sin will pass away forever.

So when Paul says the Scriptures make us wise for salvation, he’s saying that they are able to make us wise in the gospel and all that it means to live out the gospel in our everyday life.

That’s why he says through faith in Christ.

The Scriptures point to Jesus. Every page is about Christ.

The Law shows us our sin and need for forgiveness.

The Historical books, Prophets, and Writings anticipate Christ. Look forward to Christ. And proclaim the blessed hope Christ will bring.

The Gospels and Acts lay out in detail the work of Christ in his death and resurrection. How Jesus saved sinners.

The Epistles instruct the church in how to live out the New Covenant as the True Israel because of what Christ did.

And Revelation proclaims Christ’s Kingdom. How he is King of kings and Lord of lords and he will conquer the nations either by breaking them with the Rod of His judgment or cutting them to the heart with the Sword of His Gospel.

So being wise in salvation is really worshiping Christ and living for Him.

And that’s what the Word of God is profitable for.

Profitable is useful. Beneficial. Valuable.

And the Word of God stands in direct contrast with the false teaching and irreverent babble that Paul said earlier is useless; it does no good but only ruins or destroys the hearers.

Worldly wisdom brings death and destruction. God’s Word brings life.

And Paul even tells us why it is so profitable for our discipleship. Verse 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The words complete and equipped, side by side, gives the idea lacking nothing. Thoroughly prepared, equipped, and capable.

Having everything you need to carry out every good work that God has prepared beforehand for you to walk in (Eph 2:10).

In other words, the Word of God, through faith in Christ, is our manual for an all or nothing life of discipleship.

The question most Christians have is “How do you use it?”

Well Paul says its profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

Teaching

Teaching obviously applies to Doctrine.

God’s Word tells us what is True. Who God is and what God commands.

This is where the Scriptures have to shape your worldview.

How you think about, view, understand and live in the World.

You’re always going to live by some truth. Whether its your own, the zeitgeist of the culture, or God’s Word.

For True Disciples there’s only one option: What God says goes.

We don’t question it, resist it, minimize it.

We receive it and live our lives by it.

Reproof

Reproof means to expose or convict.

God’s Word reveals our sin. It shows us where our lives are out of step with Christ and the gospel.

And when God’s Word reveals our sin, True Disciples confess and repent of our sins knowing God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Correction

If reproof is conviction, showing how we’ve gone the wrong way somewhere in our life, correction is shining a light on our path.

Shows us the right way. The way we should go to live a godly life, and then encourages us and exhorts us to run on that path.

Training

Finally training in righteousness is God showing us how to live a godly life.

Correction is just showing what a godly life is after we’ve fallen so short.

Training is a word used for raising up or disciplining a child.

Just like our children have to be taught, reproved, corrected and shown how to live, so do God’s children.

So let me boil it all down for you.

If you want to grow in Christ, if you want to continue in and live out an all or nothing discipleship out of love for Jesus and everything he did to save us, then you must hold fast to God’s Word.

And by hold fast what I mean is take what God has said in the Scriptures and bring in to bear on every area of your life.

That is what it means to be a True Disciple.

All Scripture is breathed out by God. That means it is our highest authority. Period. Full stop.

His Word is the rule, the Law, the standard by which we live every single part of our life because he bought and paid for us with His own blood.

So because of that, I don’t want to stop there, but close this sermon with some practical application. How do you do this?

I’m going to do this two ways. First we are going to look at the detailed way of letting the Word be profitable for us, then I’m going to give you a cheat sheet.

Application

1. Study God’s Word

How you can let the Word be profitable for you, is first you have to study it.

That can be reading it, listening to sermons that exposit it, or even reading sound biblical books that dive into the Word.

Somehow someway if the Word of God is going to be profitable for you, you’ve got to get it in you.

And before you say Well I’m not a theologian, I don’t know how to do that. Remember God’s given you the Holy Spirit and the same one who inspired Scripture to be written, now lives in you to illuminate, convict, and apply its truth to your life.

2. Reflect on God’s Word

This is where you ruminate on the Word. You think about it. Like the Psalmist says, store it up in your heart (Psalm 119:11).

We chew on the Word of God. We don’t just let it go in one ear and out the other, we think about what God has said.

Like a cow that chews the cud. We chew on the Word. Swallow it. Bring it back up and chew on it again to get every single nutrient our of God’s Word.

We do not live on bread alone.

And then we ask what does this look like in my life? How do I live this out?

Where have I fallen short? What is this teaching me about God, who he is that I might worship Him, or his will and purpose that I might trust and follow him?

How is God’s Word teaching me, reproving me, correcting me, or training me in righteousness.

3. Confess Our Sins

That leads to confession.

We come to Christ on the throne of grace, we lay our burdens down, and we ask God to forgive us for all the ways we’ve fallen short and to give us grace and mercy to put our sins to death.

4. Consecrate Our Lives

And finally, consecration.

Knowing we are forgiven of all our sins and loved by Christ, we commit ourselves to love him in return.

To live out whatever he has said in His Word, and ask for his help to walk by the Spirit, as we make every effort to follow him with an all or nothing faith.

Study, reflection, confession, consecration.

God’s Word is profitable, but only if we are intentional about using it as God intended.

Now let me give you the cheat sheet.

Cheat Sheet

No matter what you’re doing, whether its reading the Bible on your own, listening to a sermon, reading a book, or even having an edifying conversation with another believer where you are celebrating the Word and bringing it to bear on one another’s lives, it really boils down to just two questions.

And parents, this is a great way to disciple your kids on the way home from church because no matter how old they are they can do this.

The first question is: What stood out?

What was convicting, confusing, encouraging, or challenging?

Just make it one thing. One thing that stood out and made you go “hmm....”

And then you ask, What does it matter?

How does God want me to apply this and live this out in different parts of my life?

In my family, individually, church, job, community, whatever.

How do I bring the Word of God to bear on every part of my life?

And then by God’s grace and the power of the Spirit, you live out God’s Word being made wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

True Discipleship follows Christ by holding fast to God’s Word with an “all or nothing” faith.

Christ, the Word incarnate, and Scripture, God’s Word, is what makes disciples.

Disciples are made through the Word.

First, we trust in the Word, Jesus Christ.

He is the image of the invisible God and all things were created through him and for him.He is before all things and in him all things hold together. In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross (Col 1:15-20).

And then, being bought by the blood of Christ we live all of our life holding fast to the Word of God. The Scriptures that exalt Christ and show us what it means to live for him.

And here is God’s promise. His Word is always effective. Its always profitable.

Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

If we honor God’s Word, God will grow us, our families, and this church into holy disciples who follow Jesus, to the glory of God, with an all or nothing faith.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

John 15:4-5; 8-11 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing...By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

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