Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Click Here to Read of Listen to 1 Timothy 6   Click Here for an Animated Version of 1 Timothy 6 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. 2 Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves. Paul continues to outline for Timothy instructions on how he should lead the church at Ephesus. In this section he instructs Timothy on how to handle those in the church at Ephesus who were slaves.  Christianity arose in a social setting where slavery was commonplace. There were some 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire. Some slaves held privileged positions; other slaves were treated with great abuse. While the Bible never commanded slavery, it did permit it and regulate it. - Guzik The bo

Click Here To Read Or Listen to 1 Timothy 5   Widows, Elders and Slaves 5 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.  3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7 Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Paul continues to give i

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Timothy 4 4 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. Note that the Holy Spirit speaks through people in the church. We often call this "prophecy" or " words of knowledge" . We need to be very careful when we say, " Thus sayeth the Lord" , or, " The Holy Spirit is giving me these words to say. " There are some in the church who will purport to be teachers, but will be led by demons, not the Ho

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Timothy 3 Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons 3 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 5 If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap. An overseer is the same word for " bishop " or " overseer " or " elder ".  You see the high bar Paul sets for this kind of

Click Here to Read or Listen 1 Timothy 2 Instructions on Worship 2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. Since Timothy was a young pastor, Paul gave him very practical instructions on how to run a worship service. At the heart of the service is prayer. Although preaching, worship, and communion are all important parts of a worship service, prayer is at the hea

Click Here to Read or LIsten to 1 Timothy 1   1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,  2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:  Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the first of what are called the pastoral letters. Rather than being written to a church, this letter is written to a person, in this case Timothy. We know that Paul mentored Timothy, as Timothy followed Paul in his second missionary journey. Timothy matured to the point where Paul left him to pastor the church at Ephesus. Paul needed others to pastor the churches he planted, or he could have not continued his calling to be an apostle. An apostle is someone who is sent as an ambassador of Christ and a messenger of the gospel. They usually plant new churches.  Click Here to Read an Introduction to the 1 Timothy Timothy Charged to Oppose False Teachers 3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you