 Welcome back. After the break, all of you, we're going to continue our studies on the books of the Bible and hope you enjoyed studying Romans and the other books in the last semester. So in this class, we'll be studying 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus and Philemon. All of these are personal epistles or letters that Paul writes to individuals. It's a good, you know, letters where we can learn about church administration, how to relate to different people in different age groups in our churches, how to teach the uncompromised word of God, the doctrines in God's word, you know, and how to protect churches, churches, people that God has entrusted to us, the sheep under our care with the truth of God's word and from all false teachings and doctrines. So it's going to be a good learning experience. So what we're going to learn from 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus and Philemon, which are Paul's letters to Timothy, Titus and Philemon. I'd also like to welcome our e-learning students. Welcome to this course and just pray that you would be blessed and it would be a good learning experience for all of us. Before we look at the introduction to 1st Timothy, can one of you lead us in prayer, please? Anyone? Yes. Thank you, Divya. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful time that you've given us, Lord. It's a new year. It's a new beginning, Father Lord. We commit all our ways into your hands, the path that you guide us, Lord. You show us your ways, teach us your paths, Lord. Guide us in your truth. Lord, our hope is in you, Father, all day long, Lord, even as we endeavor, Lord, to learn these books in the Bible. Father Lord, you speak to us through Pastor Selena. You anoint her, equip her, Father, and power her, Lord, to speak your very words. Father, and these life-bringing words, the words that are sharper than a doublet, swore upon it, do its workiness, Lord. We completely submit to the working of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives, Father, committing all the students who are doing, Father, all the different modes of learning for these courses, Father Lord. I pray your blessing over each one, and over all the faculty, Father, in APC Bible College. Thank you and praise you in Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Divya. Also wishing all of you a very, very blessed new year, God's blessings on each one of you, and may it just be more glorious here for each one of us. Okay, so we look at First Timothy. I've already posted the notes on the stream page on Friday, so you can access the notes there. So any idea about First Timothy? Has any of you read this book before? If you have, you have any knowledge of who Timothy is? We all know about Paul, but any of you can share your insights, your thoughts on who Timothy is, or your learning experience, or what you receive when you read First Timothy is part of your daily Bible reading, your personal study, your meditation. Anyone like to share? Who's Timothy? Anyone knows who's Timothy? Okay. Timothy was Paul's mentee and Paul's... Yes. Yes, Charles. Yes, Timothy is a son to a lady, I think, Lois, and then Lois has a mother, and they are all Christians. I think they are from Greece. That's what I am thinking, and then the grandmother and the mother taught Timothy the word of God, and then Peter meets Timothy and picks him up to be his disciple. That's what I can contribute. Thank you, Charles. Thank you, Divya, as well. Yes, Paul mentored Timothy. He mentored young Timothy, and it was just amazing to see how Timothy was mentored so well by Paul that he took on responsibility of overseeing all the churches in Ephesus and surrounding that region. Also, he came to a place where he moved from being a son to being a co-worker, a co-laborer with Apostle Paul. It must have been such a wonderful joy and a wonderful experience for Paul to see one of the people that he mentored. Seeing them grow up to that stage where they can take on important responsibility of overseeing main churches, major churches in a major city, a metropolitan city like Ephesus and the surrounding regions when Timothy was very, very young. So Paul, apart from just being an Apostle, a pioneer, somebody who's written most of the books in the New Testament, establishing churches, doing such extensive work for the kingdom of God, also was somebody who built up teams, he worked in teams with co-workers, co-laborers, and also mentored young people. So the work of the ministry was not hindered after Paul was martyred, but it was continued by all of these people that he mentored. He had strengthened in the faith that these people who closely observed Paul's life, his ministry, learned from him, just continued to do the work of the Lord and just did such an amazing work after Paul and during Paul's time and after Paul was martyred. So like Charles said, yes, Timothy, his father was Greek and his mother was Jewish, his grandmother also, and they trained him up in the ways of the Lord. And yes, when Paul came to Derby and Lystra, that is the regions around Galatia, he Paul noticed Timothy and he took on this young man, he must have just been 17 years old, and from that time on he trains him and we see how he oversees the churches at Ephesus. So just the introduction, you know, Paul during his first missionary journey, which we read in Acts chapter 13 and 14, you know, Paul goes along with Barnabas, he travels with Barnabas throughout the regions of Galatia, which are the three cities of Iconium, Lystra, and Derby. They're preaching God's word, teaching God's word, and also establishing churches. So that is what they basically do during the first missionary journey. And during the second missionary journey, which lasted about three years, we see that Paul does not travel along with Barnabas as he had done in his first missionary journey because there was a sharp dispute between Paul and Barnabas. Sorry, Paul and Barnabas wanted to take his nephew, John Mark along with them, but you know, Paul did not want to take John Mark because of, you know, he felt that John Mark had deserted them during their first missionary journey. He thought maybe he was not fit for missions to do mission work, to travel. And so there was a sharp contention or strife disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. So Barnabas, you know, takes John Mark and goes on his missionary journey and Paul during his second missionary journey takes Silas along with him and a team of other people and they go to basically places in Asia Minor and Europe. And again, preaching God's word, teaching in the synagogues and also establishing many local churches there. So when Paul comes to Derby and Lystra, which is the regions of Galatia, which he had visited during his first missionary journey, we know that Paul, you know, even though he was in his second missionary journey or in his third missionary journey, goes back to the places that he has ministered prior and, you know, just to see how the churches are doing, just to encourage them, just to build them up in their faith, strengthen them, kind of bring in order in the churches. So we see he goes back to the region of Galatia, which he had visited during his first missionary journey. He comes to Derby and Lystra and there Paul notices Timothy and he hasn't joined him in his team. And Timothy must have been a very young man. He was just 17 years of age and like I just said, you know, his father was Greek and his mother, grandmother was Jewish. They trained him up in the ways of the Lord and we know we read this in Acts chapter 16 was three. Second Timothy chapter one was five and Second Timothy chapter three was 15. So we just get a basic background of who Timothy was from these references. But we read in these references that, you know, that Timothy was, you know, the believers in that it was a disciple. It mentions him as a disciple in these references and the believers in that region spoke well of him. So he already had a good reputation, maybe a good believer, strong in his faith, zealous for the Lord, just like any other Jew. And so, you know, Paul, it might have just strengthened Paul's belief and trust in him that this was a capable man to go on mission trips. Somebody could be a co-laborer, somebody who he can mentor in the faith and build him up so that he can also be, you know, do mission work, extend God's kingdom along with Paul. But we also see that in these references we read that, you know, Paul circumcised Timothy so that he could minister, you know, without any problem, without any difficulty among the Jews because we know that, you know, many of the people that Paul was teaching and preaching to were the Jews and the Greeks, of course the Romans as well, but Greeks mostly and Jewish people. And the Jews would not, you know, would not receive anything or accept the truth from somebody who had not, you know, was following the Jewish rituals. Even though, you know, Timothy was half Jew, but maybe he was not circumcised. So he hasn't circumcised so that there is no hindrance for him to minister the gospel and for people to receive the gospel. So sometimes we might think that, you know, people have to receive us just as we are. You know, we don't have to, you know, dress in a certain way or behave in a certain way or act in a certain way. But sometimes, you know, those things, simple things like just the way we dress, the way we conduct ourselves, maybe in some churches they would not like us to wear footwear on the pulpit. Some churches they're okay. Some churches you can just go and preach with jeans on, but some churches they won't accept you that way. So, you know, based on, you know, all of this we need to see that nothing is a hindrance or stopping us from people receiving what, you know, God has laid in our heart or what we are going to minister to them. So it's okay, you know, sometimes we don't have to be very strict or hold on and say people have to change their mindsets have to change. But it's important that we change, we just, you know, fit into where people are able to accept us, receive from us. Of course, you know, Paul was not somebody who was saying that everyone who had to minister had to be circumcised. We know that we read it in Acts. I'm sure you learned Acts. So you went through Acts in the last semester. You see that he goes to Jewish Council and he talks about this. And then the elders, the other apostles, you know, they agree that it's not necessary that, you know, people have to be circumcised. So, even though it was, there was room given for that, but yet Paul, you know, has Timothy circumcised so that he can travel and minister, you know, comfortably without any hindrances. Well, let's look at a church in Ephesus, because Timothy is basically overseeing the churches there at Ephesus. So during Paul's second missionary journey, Paul, you know, makes a brief stop at Ephesus. He preaches in the synagogues at Ephesus. We read about this in Roman, in, sorry, in Acts, chapter 18, verses 18 to 10 and verse 19. He does not stay there for too long during his second missionary journey, because he wanted to go to Jerusalem. He wanted to reach there. He had plans to go to Jerusalem. So he leaves Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, and then he moves on to Jerusalem. But during Paul's third missionary journey, which we read in Acts, chapter 18, verses 23 to Acts 21, verse 15, we see he spent a good three years in the city of Ephesus during his third missionary journey. He preaches in the synagogue for three months. But, you know, even though he preached there for three months, we read this in Acts, chapter 19, verse 8. We see that, you know, the hearts of the people were so hardened, they did not believe, and they started speaking evil of the way, you know, the truth to Jesus Christ before the other people. So Paul felt that it was, you know, useless or baseless to continue ministering or teaching to them in the synagogues. And also he might have perceived that, you know, because these people were speaking evil of the way of the gospel to others, there can be an uproar. The Jewish people can come against him. It will be a hindrance to his ministry. So he quietly withdraws with his disciples and he begins teaching and preaching in this tireless hall, which becomes like a school for him. And this is a place where he, you know, he teaches many young men and women as well. I think, you know, it's not mentioned, but many young men, yes, because many of them are trained in the Word and, you know, they launch out into ministry and they go out into places surrounding Ephesus, you know, and that is how we read about the seven churches in of Asia in Revelation chapter two and three, the seven churches of Ephesus, Brinna, Pergamot, Titeria, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, which is all of these churches which are established close by to the city of Ephesus. And it was this time, you know, when Paul was teaching in the School of the Terrorist Hall where he was teaching and preaching and mentoring people that many of them launched out. His co-workers were there with him, his team, you know, they launched out and many young people as well launched out in the surrounding areas. The ministering there and as a result of their ministry, their preaching and teaching, they, you know, led to establishing of churches. And these are the, some of the churches that we read over the seven churches of Asia that we read in Revelation chapter two and verse three. So we see that, you know, when Paul was in Ephesus, there was a great work that he was doing, not just preaching and teaching and establishing the church at Ephesus or the churches at Ephesus, but also training people, building up young people and, you know, sending out teams to areas surrounding them, you know, so that they could preach and teach and establish churches. So this kind of gives us, you know, a good idea of how, you know, to be pastors. Some of us are going to be pastors, apostles in the future. Some of you are already pastors now. So not just focusing on, you know, on just preaching and teaching the word, but also how to equip young people, train young people, mentor them, and send them out in the surrounding areas to go out and to, you know, start churches, to minister, to preach and to extend the kingdom of God. So a good thing that we can learn from, you know, Paul's style of what he did, of his ministry, of how he extended God's kingdom. So Paul was not just thinking about, hey, you know, I have to do everything I want to do it. If I have to start churches in the surrounding areas in Ephesus, it has to be me. But we see here that Paul was somebody who co-labored with others. He co-worked alongside with others. He gave the others the benefit of, you know, doing what he was doing, of copying his style of, you know, how to preach, teach and launch out and to start new churches. And that is how, you know, the word just spread and the kingdom of God just extended in such a mighty way. So I think this is a good style, a good model that we can follow. This is something that even Jesus did, you know, Jesus did not just preach and teach, but what he basically first did was, you know, he built up a strong team who would carry on the work after, you know, he was going back to his father after he returned back to his father. So these 12 apostles were there, 11 of them continued the work and more of them, you know, we see that Jesus sends out the 12 and he sends out the 70 others. So, you know, a good model for us to follow. Some of us think that it's I, me, myself, who has to do everything, you know, so that everyone acknowledges you as a leader, but it's important for us to train others, equip them so that they can go out and minister as well. So a good model to follow. We also see that the city of Ephesus, you know, was a very important city in Asia in the region of Asia Minor. It was a metropolitan city, a metropolitan city in Asia. And it was very famous city because it had the Temple of Dina or Artemis, which we also read in Acts, so it's Temple of Dina and the other name is also Artemis. And we know that this temple which existed for this deity, you know, was the largest building that was there. It was one of the seven wonders of the world. It was constructed of pure marble and the streets that were leading to this temple, but also paved with marble and it took 220 years to construct this whole temple. So the whole city of Ephesus, their whole ideology, their philosophy, their way of living, their style of living, their lifestyle, everything was centered around this deity. And this Dina, this deity was, you know, a multi-breasted goddess. We'll talk about it more when we're looking at, in detail, when we're studying first and second Timothy. And the people at Ephesus believed that, you know, this deity just fell down from the sky. We read about this in Acts chapter 19, verse 35. During Paul's ministry here in Ephesus, we see that we also read in Acts chapter 19 that, you know, Paul did extraordinary, you know, miracle signs and wonders, a supernatural work was so prevalent and evident that people just touching his handkerchief or his apron that he used. You know, people were healed, restored. And it was, you know, it was something that was a talk of the town, the whole city. And there was many people who tried to imitate Paul, especially, you know, the Jewish people, some of them were casting out demons. And they were casting out the demons in the name of the god of, you know, that Paul believed in and that he was preaching about. And we see that, you know, the seven sons of Scewa, who was a Jewish priest, they also went around, you know, casting out demons. And we read about this in Acts chapter 19. And when they went to a home to, you know, set free a man who was demon possessed, the demon tells the man, Paul, Jesus, I know, Paul, I know, but who are you? And, you know, the demon just leaves this man, comes on them, seven sons and, you know, beats them up black and blue and they run naked. And we see that it was just known throughout the city. And after this, people had such high regard and fear and reverence for the name of Jesus. And there was great fear for the name of Jesus and reverence for him. And after this, we see, we read also in Acts chapter 19 that, you know, people, many of them repented the turn from witchcraft and sorcery and black magic. And we know that, you know, all of these, you know, the scrolls on witchcraft sorcery, everything was burned. So a great impact that Paul's ministry in the name of Jesus had, or the gospel had in the city of Ephesus. And Ephesus, another major thing that we can see is Paul's ministry is that he trained many young leaders. So some of the names are given in the notes. So Peter and Aristakis, Secondis, Gaius, Timothy, Taikikus, Trophimus, Erastus, Philemon, and Epiphrus, both who were from the city of Colosse, who were overseeing the churches at Colosse, of course, Erastus, who was from Corinth and, you know, Taikikus from Trophimus of Asia. All of them were part of Paul's team, but doing the ministry. And so we see that, you know, all of them were built up and trained by Paul here in the city of Ephesus. So all important major leaders were trained here and grew, you know, mentored and set them, and they launched out and, you know, ministered in various cities as well. So Paul also raised leaders who he called as elders or overseers to shepherd the believers at Ephesus. And, you know, later on we see towards the end of his third missionary journey on his way to Jerusalem. You know, we also see that Paul meets with the leaders of the church at Ephesus at Miletus. And, you know, he just talks about, he talks to them because he's heard that there are a lot of false teaching, false doctrines, that he also encourages Timothy, you know, to teach the truth and to be aware of these false doctrines. So it was even before he writes his letter to Timothy, there was this major problem of false teaching and false doctrines in the church at Ephesus, you know, which is nine years prior to him writing first Timothy. He meets all of these elders in his third missionary journey on his way to Jerusalem where he's going to, you know, be imprisoned. His first imprisonment and then his, again, his second imprisonment where he's martyred later on. But he meets with the elders who he had appointed in the churches at Ephesus. And we see that he is, you know, telling them about, be aware of these false teachers, false doctrines, what to do, church administration. But we see that, you know, things did not change. And, you know, during the end of his third missionary journey, Paul, after his first Roman imprisonment when he was set free, he goes to Crete where he ministers there, he leaves Titus there to oversee the churches at Crete. And then he goes on to Ephesus and he leaves Timothy, young Timothy there to oversee the churches there because the problem had not yet settled of false doctrines and false teachings and church administration and things that had to be done at the churches at Ephesus. So, you know, after his third missionary journey, we see that Paul visits Jerusalem and he's imprisoned there and, you know, for two years. And then, like I said, you know, during this time, you know, when he was in prison, he writes the epistles of to the church at Colosseum. He writes to Philemon, the church at Ephesus, and the church at Philippine. So he's writing Philippians, Ephesians, Philemon and Colossians. And then, so we see that he has a great burden for the church at Ephesus because he's, you know, just before this he meets with the elders before he goes to Jerusalem. And then he feels a need to write to them. And again, we see that, you know, after he's released from his first Roman imprisonment, you know, he goes to Crete and then where he leaves Titus and then he goes to Ephesus and he feels the need to leave Timothy there because maybe there was a lot of problem in the churches there. He needed somebody mature to oversee and also Paul knew maybe he's drawing, you know, end to his days. And there was a need for someone to consolidate the work, build up the church, strengthen the churches there at Ephesus. And so it was a very important assignment, appointment that he gives young Timothy. And then he writes to him two letters because just to encourage him. So he's after he leaves Timothy at Ephesus, he goes on to Macedonia and maybe he's heard about, you know, maybe Timothy was feeling it too heavy or burdensome to take on the role and the responsibility. So he writes to him and encouraging him and telling him what to do. And even as, you know, during his second Roman imprisonment, you know, Paul knows he's drawing to the end of his life here on earth and he sees the importance of writing again to Timothy and encouraging him because he was a son in the faith, somebody who's mentored him. And so he writes a second Timothy as well. Okay. So we see that Timothy served alongside Paul for about 18 years. When Paul left Timothy at Ephesus, he was about 34 years of age. And the churches at Ephesus were like the spiritual headquarters for the other churches that Paul had, I mean, Paul's co-laborers, his team, the people that he mentored and started around those regions. I talked, I told you about the seven churches of Spritna, Pergamot, Staityria, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. And we see that, you know, young Timothy had a huge responsibility, not just of looking at one church at Ephesus, but there were many churches at Ephesus and also the churches surrounding Ephesus in Asia, many other regions around Ephesus. And, you know, the great responsibility that Timothy had and hence the need for Paul to write to him and encourage him, encourage him, encourage him, encourage him through these two letters so that he can continue the good work that God has started through him in the city of Ephesus. Any questions so far on the, on the introduction? Anyone has any questions? Are you all clear about Paul's missionary journey, how he started the churches at Ephesus, the work, the city of Ephesus, and about Timothy? Anyone has any questions? All of you there? Yes, no. Okay. So the biggest question is, do we know why Timothy was chosen? Not exactly, but like I said, in Acts chapter, yeah, in Acts chapter 16, you know, sorry, one minute. Acts chapter 16 verses one to five, you know, Paul notices Timothy. Maybe it was just the prompting of the Holy Spirit, you know, prompting Paul to choose Timothy as somebody who was potential minister or somebody who had the potentiality to, you know, the potential to to build God's kingdom, to preach, to teach. So I'm sure it was the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We know that Paul was always dependent on the Holy Spirit, led by the Holy Spirit in all times. So I'm 100% sure, even though it's not given the Bible, but, you know, just from Paul's writing what he says, you know, he says in other places, do I do it on my own? But it's not mine, but it's what the Spirit of the Lord is telling me or leading me or God telling me to do. So, you know, God, the Holy Spirit would have made Paul notice Timothy. The other thing that we have from Scripture is that, you know, people in that region spoke well of him. So maybe Paul would have seen good leadership capabilities, responsibilities that Timothy, you know, shouldered well. His relationship with people to be well known, to be well accepted, to be spoken well of, you know, you need to be well known. You have to have that good communication skills, you know, that relationship with people. So maybe he saw him as a good person, somebody who was good enough to build God's kingdom, maybe teachable, somebody who was able to receive young, who he can build up and trust the work of the kingdom to him. So that is all we know and we can infer from what we have in Scripture. And also looking at what Scripture says, we see that, you know, Timothy did prove himself. You know, if Paul had to entrust him with this great responsibility, then, you know, Timothy would have proved himself faithful, shown himself as capable for, you know, Paul to leave someone as young as Timothy to oversee the churches there. And just imagine to, you know, he was young and also the churches already had leaders because nine years before he writes for Timothy, he meets the leaders at Miletus and he's speaking to them. All these leaders were already maybe very mature, older people and Paul knew the hindrances that young Timothy will have to face when he tells people, you know, this is what you need to do, this is what you're not supposed to be doing. But he had this, you know, he had this confidence that, you know, Timothy would do his job well and he would be able to get people around, relate to them and because of what the prior experiences that he had and he's heard about him. So yes, that is why he would have chosen him. Good question, Divya. Thank you. Yeah, I was just wondering because he's just 17 years old. And if Paul would have noticed him, what a testimony it would have been. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. But Paul gives his responsibility when he was almost 34 years old. So he's grown and mentored. Yes, Elisha says in my church, before you are called into full-time ministry in the local church community must speak well of you. Yes, I think that's an important thing. Speak well of you, you know, even when you're doing your ministry because people see our life. So we, you know, through this introduction, we just learned some good important points about Paul's ministry, how he handled it, how he extended his ministry, working in teams, training young people, giving them the opportunity to launch out to start churches, how he goes around strengthening churches. And what he does, even after he goes to place, he goes back ministers, or if he's not able to go, he meets with the leaders, you know, he meets with the team, how he writes to them, how he entrusts people with responsibilities of overseeing the church. So all this, all of this is something that of church administration, church leadership or responsibilities that we can learn even as we looked at the introduction to First Timothy and from Paul's ministry and from his life. Okay, anyone else has any things, anyone, anyone wants to say anything? No. Okay, so before we look at First Timothy in detail before we do and kind of an exegetical study, let's all turn to First Timothy in your Bibles. I hope all of you have your Bibles alongside with you. So like all of you to quickly read First Timothy, I'll just give you some time. And then I'd just like to, you know, a couple of us to highlight one or two things that, you know, that the Spirit of God ministered to you even as you read something that just, you know, popped out of scripture, the pages, something that's left out, something that you were reminded that you, you heard, you know, years back, something that you read, something God spoke to you through First Timothy. So we'll just do that before we look in, do a detailed study of chapter one. Okay, so can we just take some time to read quickly through First Timothy, please, all of us. And then we'll come back and just share any words that really minister to you, some words that, you know, some phrases that left out of scripture, something that spoke to you or the Spirit of God ministered to you even as you were reading. So let's just take a couple of minutes to do that now. And when you finish, you can just, you know, just indicate by, you know, posting it on the chat section so I know all of you are done. Yes, First Timothy chapter one. Yes. Not the entire book, just First Timothy chapter one. Did you all finish reading? Okay. So I think a couple of you have done reading so you like to share anything that really like to highlight something that really caught your attention. Something that just left out of the pages of scripture for you. Something that you remembered God speaking to you before or God spoke to you right now. Anything like to share from First Timothy. Yes, Charles. Thank you so much. I see when Paul is writing to Timothy and is telling him about the people that are injurious that are bad. And then he supports this scripture by showing him that he himself, Paul was also in that he was really bad. But he was being eaten and believed. And now he is, he received mercy. And now he is different. So he is warning him, but still in Timothy, that those people, those who are many stealers, those who are thieves and all that, but also even me, I received mercy. So I am looking at this that I, that he was supposed to also speak the word of God to those so that the mercy of God can. Working them as they did in the life of Paul. Thank you. Thank you, Charles. Good way of looking at it. Thank you very much. Okay, we'll stop here. We'll pause here and come back and after break you can share. We'll go for a break and come back and see you at 11. Okay. Thank you.