Resilient Faith Series
2 Timothy is Paul’s final and most personal letter. Paul wrote these words looking death in the face. It is around 64AD and he was sat in the Mamertine Prison in Rome. His cell was probably a dark, damp dungeon which could only be reached by a rope or ladder from the floor above. He had no windows, no lights, no toilet no furniture and no running water. As Paul sat on the cold hard floor in the darkness, he dictated probably to Luke these final words to Timothy. One of the great themes of the letter is to keep going, don’t slow down, run into all that God has for you and stand firm in the faith. Or to put it another way have “Resilient Faith”. Paul knows he is about to be killed for his faith, and with a sense of destiny, security and glory says in 2 Timothy 4:7 these incredible words “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He is encouraging Timothy it is possible to run with Jesus with a passion until the very end, it is possible to not give up or slow down but to be passionately on fire for Him until your dying breath.
In Alive we long for every person to have a faith that runs with and for Jesus through every season of life. Our prayer is that everyone of us, as we are drawing our final breath before heading into glory, and seeing Jesus face to face, will be able to look at our earthly lives and say with Paul “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” In order to do this we will need to have “Resilient Faith”. A faith that endures, that lasts and that learns to navigate the battles and seasons of life with and for Jesus.
Over these six weeks we are going to see six characteristics of Resilient Faith:
1. 1:1-7. Resilient in Power
In this week we explore our need for power, our hope for power and how God gifts us this power.
2. 1:8-18. Resilient in Freedom
Resilient Faith is one which lives life from the peace, security and freedom of God’s love. We see we live in this freedom by knowing Jesus, swimming in God’s grace and doing life with God’s people.
3. 2:1-13 Resilient in Grace
In this week we will unpack how we can be strong in the grace of Jesus as Paul commands Timothy to be in v.1. We can be strong and resilient in grace by being focused and alert, disciplined, hardworking, authentic.
4. 2:14-19+23/3:1-5 Resilient in Purity
In this week we will see how we need to be pure in doctrine, focus and friendships. We are to avoid false teaching, distractions from Jesus and allowing the wrong people to get close enough to influence and speak into our lives.
5. 2:20-3:17 Resilient in Truth
In this talk we look at the importance of standing firm on the Bible and God’s truth. We will look at the battleground of truth, the way of truth and the word of truth.
6. 4:1-22 Resilient in Life
In this final talk of the series we see four foundational things that help us have resilient faith. We need to continually place ourselves under the Bible; we need to be accountable to friends; live in total forgiveness and finally live in the power of the Holy Spirit.
