“We are either in the process of resisting God’s truth or in the process of being shaped and molded by his truth.”
Andy Stanley
Passage
12Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
13But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:12–17 (NASB95)
"Storm 6/1/06 |" by Dr Stephen Dann is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Background
Quote-Charles Andrew Stanley (born May 16, 1958), known as Andy Stanley, is an American who is the founder and senior pastor of North Point Ministries, a nondenominational evangelical Christian church with several campuses across the north metro Atlanta area. Stanley founded North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, in 1995.
Stanley is the author of more than 20 books, including Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets; The New Rules for Love, Sex & Dating; Ask It; How to Be Rich; Deep & Wide; Enemies of the Heart; When Work & Family Collide; Visioneering; Next Generation Leader; and Irresistible. His television program Your Move with Andy Stanley has been broadcast since 2012.
Passage-The book of 2nd Timothy is a Pastoral Epistle (letter from Paul to a church leader). The author is the Apostle Paul who wrote it approximately 67 A.D. and is probably his last letter. After Paul’s release from his first imprisonment in Rome in AD 61 or 62, and after his final missionary journey (probably into Spain), he was again imprisoned under Emperor Nero c. 66-67. The key personalities are Paul, Timothy, Luke, Mark, and many others.
Its purpose was to give direction to Timothy and urge him to visit one final time. From the somber nature of this letter, it is apparent that Paul knew that his work was done and that his life was nearly at an end (4:6-8).
Lesson Notes
Opening Statement
Everyone wants to live. Everyone wants to be thought of as “good.” Everyone wants to believe they have and understand what is true. Sometimes it is hard to tell truth from deception. If only we had a definitive document on truth to help us weather the storm.
Ask: Re-read verse twelve. Do you desire to “live godly?”
Point: One assumes we do, yes.
Ask: What does that mean to “live godly?”
Point: It means to live by God’s ways.
Ask: Why do we want to live by God’s ways?
Point: please read the following:
28“Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
29“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,
30beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’
Deuteronomy 12:28–30 (NASB95)
Ask: We want it to “be well with you” don’t we?
Point: Yes.
Ask: Why?
Point: Because it makes life easier when things go well.
Ask: Will life always be “easy?”
Point: please read the following:
12Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
2 Timothy 3:12 (NASB95)
Ask: If following the truth of God’s ways won’t make everything easy, why do it at all?
Point: Please read the following:
13But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
2 Timothy 3:13 (NASB95)
Ask: “But I’m not evil so why are things not easy? That doesn’t really answer the question.”
Point: Please read the following:
14You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:14–15 (NASB95)
Ask: Does that answer the question: Why do it at all?
Point: Yes because scripture leads to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Ask: Okay, so we know why now but how do we do that? How do we use scripture to get through the hardships, the storms of life?
Point: Please read the following:
16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NASB95)
Ask: Why do I want to be “…adequate, equipped for every good work” if my life is already “easy?”
Point: Please read the following:
12So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
13“You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.
14“If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15“For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
16“Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.
John 13:12–16 (NASB95)
Closing Statement
What is truth? Truth is God’s Word. It is God’s Ways. It is Jesus Christ. He said He is the truth. He also said He is the way and the life. These are things we all want, but sometimes we resist the path to get them. Einstein said doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Perhaps it is time to try the way laid out for us over two thousand years ago? The storms of life aren’t new. Jesus knew what they were, and He spoke about how to navigate them. We have only to read, comprehend, and put into practice His ways to master the storms of life.