Session One:
(Book of Second Timothy)
(In life, there are a lot of things which pull us apart; but there is a bond which holds Horsemen together! On the racetrack, we operate on Faith. We live by Hope. We are bound by the Love of the Horse!)
(As Christians, “Young Soldiers of Christ,” our goal is to live according to the standard set by Jesus. In a world run by evil, we are surrounded by evil- so much that we find ourselves acting in sinful ways at times! We must be strong by setting the example for each other through our WORDS, our ACTIONS, by letting the Light of Truth shine from within us! We need to share our Faith, our Hope and our Love with others!)
(God has recruited us as soldiers of His war, and, as it says, in SECOND TIMOTHY 2:4,) “…To satisfy the one who recruited him, a soldier does not become entangled in the business affairs of life.”
(In EPHESIANS 6:12, Paul.wrote:)
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and against the worldly governors, the princes of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, which are in the high places.”
We do not fight against each other in this physical world. There is a battle going on which we do not see, (in the high places,)… but we FEEL it,: … we are PART of it!
Again, we all have different strengths; but we all came here tonight for the same reason. We are all of one body, one mind, one family; … if not just the family of Horsemen, but the Family of Christ!
MATTHEW 18:20 records Jesus ensuring, “For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.”
Now, as we have all gathered in His name, He is here with us,…
Today, meeting here as the Horsemen’s Bible Council, we are going to focus on three verses:
SECOND TIMOTHY, Chapter 2, Verses 24,25 & 26. They are the words of Paul in a letter he wrote to Timothy.
“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
To understand what this letter from Paul to Timothy was all about,first, you need to know:
Who Was Paul?
Paul of Tarsus, Rome
Paul is first introduced in the Bible in the book of ACTS, chapter seven (in) verse fifty-eight. At that time, he was know as, “Saul”. He is not to be mistaken for the Saul of the Old Testament, in first and second, SAMUEL; they are two different people.
Born with the name of, “Saul,” Paul grew up in Tarsus, Rome. He became a fierce and unforgiving Pharisee who spent his days dragging Christians from their homes and having them stoned outside the walls of the city.
The first time Saul appears in the Bible, a crowd of Romans had drug a man named, Stephen, from his home to outside of the city’s walls and began stoning him because he was teaching the Words of Jesus. It reads, in ACTS 7:58-60; 8:1,
“and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death.”
Who Was Stephen, the First Martyr for the Cross?
Stephen is the first man recorded to have been a Martyr for Christ. Soon after his death, the Catholic Church recognized Stephen as a saint, making him Patron Saint of altar servers, builders, casket makers, deacons, horses, masons, and quarrymen.
He was chosen as one of seven men to help care for widows and manage urgent, physical needs in the early church. Not only was Stephen the first Deacon of that church, Stephen is most likely the first Deacon in the history of the Christian Church, ever!
He publicly debated religious leaders who challenged whether the Gospel was true or not.
Approximately one to two years after Jesus’s Crucifixion, (around 33 or 34 A.D.,) Stephen was wrongfully accused of blasphemy by false witnesses in the Roman town of Tarsus, and was brought before the high priest (a Jewish priest).
After the high priest listened to Stephen plead the Truth of the Gospel, Stephen was drug outside the city walls and stoned to death for his belief in Christ.
Stephen was about the age of eighty at the time of his stoning.
After Stephen’s death, Saul, who later became known as “Paul,” “… made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison .” (ACTS 8:3)
Paul is a key figure in the Bible for two reasons:
1. Paul is credited with writing thirteen books of the Bible, (nine of which were letters to churches- 4 of those letters were written while he was in prison in Rome; and four of Paul’s letters were written to individual people. There is debate that Paul also wrote the book of HEBREWS, which would make it fourteen books of the bible credited as written by Paul!
Reason Number Two:
2. Paul is a figure of REPENTANCE in the Bible, because he went from a life of dragging Christians from their homes and stoning them to death to becoming a leader of that same, Christian church, and, ultimately, ironically, getting killed for doing the same thing he used to kill people for doing (which was preaching the word of the Gospel)!
Because Paul was a Roman, it is likely that he was beheaded by the sword rather than stoned, for death by the sword is a, “fitting death for a Roman”.
Paul is the ultimate example of the REPENTANCE from a life of murder and sin to a life lead by the way of Christ.
So, … that’s Paul, known for writing the books of: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians 1, Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and, possibly, Hebrews.
We are talking about a Letter Paul wrote to Timothy (which he wrote between 63 and 67 A.D.)
Who Was Timothy?
Timothy was a preacher of the early church and became the first Deacon of the Church in Ephesus (now, modern-day Turkey). Timothy traveled with Paul, spreading The Gospel, and he was Paul’s personal letter carrier.
Timothy spent his young years studying the Old Testament, including old Hebrew texts. His mother was thought to be a Hellenistic Hebrew, (Or Jew,) who, later in life, converted to Christianity. His father was as thought to be Greek. Because of his upbringing, Timothy spoke (at least,) Aramaic and Greek. Since early texts of the Bible were written in Greek, Latin, Sanskrit and Aramaic, he had a great understanding of the Bible!
Why Did Paul Write Timothy?
At the time, Christians were being assaulted and murdered by the Romans! Paul wrote Timothy to encourage him to remain strong in fighting the good fight.
…. We all need a bit of Brotherly encouragement once in a while, don’t we?
As it says in PROVERBS 17:17, “A friend loves at all times, and brother is born for adversity.”
So, how do we Fight The Good Fight?
As Soldiers, in Service, “… a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility- correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
2 TIMOTHY 2:7 implores us, “Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.”
(Closing Prayer, Invoking God into Our Heart:)
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.” (PSALM 136:23-24)
-Ride Tight.