SERMON INTRO
If you are presented with someone offering you the good news first or the bad news first, I wonder if you’re like me.
“The bad news first.”
This time, there is no bad news. Truly, it is ALL good. In 2 Timothy 1:1-14 (below), Paul writes to a young, budding Christian named—ah, you guessed it! Timothy!
In this text we have Sunday, I want to point out in this intro what Paul shares not just to Timothy but to us all. In verse 9 he says, “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life.
He did not do this because we deserved it; he did this because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
The good news with the good news? We are surrounded by grace from God. The very One who called Paul and Timothy also calls each of us. This call leads to a connection. The connection is even more good news. from it continues this Sunday as we step in faith to make room for others, which was this past Sunday’s sermon message.
Paul greets us in our text Sunday.
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2 Timothy 1:1-14 NLT
Greetings from Paul
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1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I have been sent out to tell others about the life he has promised through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 I am writing to Timothy, my dear son. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.
Encouragement to Be Faithful
3 Timothy, I thank God for you—the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.
4 I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.
5 I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.
6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
8 So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News.
9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
10 And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.
11 And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.
12 That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him[a] until the day of his return.
13 Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.
14 Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.
PRAYER: Lord, help us hear, live, and most definitely share this good news and this good news! Through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, amen.