TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #13: KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Posted on June 2, 2014 by randscallawayffm

I was passionately explaining the use of vowels and consonants at the reading table one day to first graders. One little girl seemed to stare intently at me as I “over explained” phonic rules to what I thought were eager, listening ears. When I finished my complicated explanation, the little girl, said with a big smile, “Mrs. Callaway, I love the necklace your wearing…it’s so cute.” Sigh. Just when you think you “had” them.

Yes, sometimes we make what we are saying so complicated that our listeners depart from the bottom line of our message and mission that Jesus so carefully and concisely gave us. Go and make disciples, teaching them to obey my commandments… (Matthew 28) in the name of Jesus Christ. Simply Jesus. He is the what, why, when, where, who, and how of our lives. He IS the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Worldview complicates the message with opinion masks simple truth. Paul warns Timothy one more time in the final words of his letter to him.

“I can’t impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity, keep on your watch. Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don’t ever quit. Just keep it simple.” 2 Timothy 4, Msg

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Dear Heavenly Father, 
Help us to always keep it simple. Give us boldness and passion, but always simple in telling Your Story. May we listen and follow your lead when opportunity is given to tell with Your Words, Your Message to help others love you, too. In Jesus Name, Amen

 
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TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #12: HIS WORD, OUR WALK!

Posted on June 1, 2014 by randscallawayffm

TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #12: HIS WORD, OUR WALK!.

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TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #12: HIS WORD, OUR WALK!

Posted on June 1, 2014 by randscallawayffm

TIMOTHY AND TITUS
Leadership Principle #12: HIS WORD, OUR WALK!

Our church has a simple yet powerful statement about who we are in Jesus and the mission of God’s Word in us. “His Word, Our Walk”. God’s Word, not what we think about God’s Word, is taught each Sunday from our Lead Pastor. We are challenged then to walk what we are taught in our lives, no matter what we do in life. It who we are, because of God’s Word in us. 

Paul is reminding Timothy of the same mission of God’s Word. He also warns him against those who will exploit the faith for their own purposes. Don’t become one who manipulates but one who persuades. There is a difference. How can we discern this difference? Listen with understanding and watch their lives. If God’s Word is used out of context to prove their own point to get ahead or to lift up themselves for their own purposes, then that’s manipulation. 

On the other hand, if God’s Word is studied well, researching the background and how it applies today, then humbly lived with what the lesson taught them and becomes helpful to others, then that’s persuasion to come to God and live his Word. His Word, Our Walk. Simple, yet profound.

“Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers–why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.” 
2 Timothy 3, Msg

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Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for Your Word that teaches us. We thank you for Your Holy Spirit that is living in us to help us understand Your Word, one bite at a time, as we correct our mistakes so we can become more and more like you created us to be. Thank you, dear Jesus, for being the Word in flesh for our salvation. We love you with all our heart, mind and soul. 
In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Posted on May 31, 2014 by randscallawayffm

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TIMOTHY AND TITUS
Leadership Principle #12: BUCKLE UP!

My granddaughter was about two years old when we buckled her up in the van, ready to go places with her. Randy buckled up and began to pull out of the driveway. I was busy getting situated with all of Gracie’s stuff and my stuff. I had not bucked up, yet, when a little voice shouted, “Gramma! BELT SEAT!” She said it with so much passion and fear that I would be injured that I immediately buckled up! She taught me to buckle up! Every. Time.

I remember that time with a smile, but then I think of her fear for me because she loves me. That same kind of love and passion is expressed in our next leadership principle as I read Paul’s warning to Timothy with the same fear for him as my granddaughter had for me. He does’t spare the words to tell him to buckle up with Truth! It’s going to be a rough ride!

“Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes their animals. Stay clear of these people.”
2 Timothy 3, Msg

Do any of these words describe our world today as it was in Timothy’s day? Where are we in the “list”? Cleanse us, LORD! Bring us under Your protection as we fasten our seatbelts with YOUR Truth. Don’t let us compromise Truth. Don’t let us limit who you are in our small thinking. Give us boldness to simply believe Your pure, Truth. Truth that is unchanging. Undeniable. Absolute.

“These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them, women who, depressed by their sinfulness, take up with every new religious fad that calls itself “truth.” 2 Timothy 3, Msg

“But nothing will come of these latest impostors. Everyone will see through them…” 2 Timothy 3, Msg

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Dear Heavenly Father, 
Continue to protect us from anything that is not You, Truth. Remind us to keep our belt’s of Truth fastened tightly around us so we will recognize untruth in people and circumstances. Trump our naiveness with your wisdom, insight and understanding flowing through us. You are God…and we are not. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Posted on May 31, 2014 by randscallawayffm | 1 Comment

TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #11: GOBLETS OR COMPOST?

Posted on May 30, 2014 by randscallawayffm

TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #11: GOBLETS OR COMPOST?.

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TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #11: GOBLETS OR COMPOST?

Posted on May 30, 2014 by randscallawayffm
It is important to present Jesus Christ, in all HIS glory, by telling HIS story and then living it well. To tell it well is all in the presentation. Who we are serving is of greatest importance. HOW we serve, as vessels Christ can use is the next important challenge. What kind of vessel are you? Am I extending grace as grace was given to me?

EXTEND GRACE…
What would you rather drink from, a pretty goblet or a compost container? Paul is telling Timothy that Jesus can turn your life into something beautiful that blesses and attracts others back to HIM. It’s all in the presentation. I want to be a crystal goblet, something of value to Christ, someone that is crystal clear about who HE is so others may drink from it and find living water for their souls like I have found it for myself. So, I must keep it clean, without blemish or spots…Christ’s work in me! As grace was extended to me, I must be gracious to others!

“In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets–some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.” 2 Timothy 2, Msg

HOW?

“Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness–faith, love, peace–joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights.”

“God’s servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.” 2 Timothy 2, Msg

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Dear Heavenly Father, 
Help us to present Your gift of salvation as a blessing to others and not as a hindrance to their search to fill the emptiness in their souls. Cleanse us, make us holy before You. Then give us boldness with beautiful words that lift others up before you so they can choose You, love you and learn from You, too. We love You. Give us Your words when You give us opportunity to tell Your Story. Thank You. In Jesus Name, Amen.
 
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TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #10: GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT!

Posted on May 29, 2014 by randscallawayffm

TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #10: GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT!.

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TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #10: GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT!

Posted on May 29, 2014 by randscallawayffm

I was raised by parents and grandparents who taught me by their words and their own lives, “When you decide to do it, do it well.” “Give it all you’ve got.” “A job or work worth doing is worth doing right.” People say I am a passionate person. Maybe this is a hint of where that comes from, along with what God’s Word through Paul to Timothy is saying. There is no one more passionate than our Savior, Jesus Christ who gave it all for us.

KNOW YOURSELF
“So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me–the whole congregation saying Amen!–to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2 Msg

“When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain.”
2 Timothy 2, Msg

KNOW YOUR MESSAGE

“Fix this picture firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the dead. It’s what you’ve heard from me all along. It’s what I’m sitting in jail for right now–but God’s Word isn’t in jail! That’s why I stick it out here–so that everyone God calls will get in on the salvation of Christ in all its glory. This is a sure thing:

If we die with him, we’ll live with him
If we stick it out with him, we’ll rule with him
If we turn our backs on him, he’ll turn his back on us
If we give up on him, he does no give up–for there’s no way he can be false to himself.” 2 Timothy 2, Msg

THE METHOD

“Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.” 2 Timothy 2, Msg

LIVE IT

“Words are not mere words you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul.” 
2 Timothy 2, Msg

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Dear Heavenly Father, This is a tall order that without You we cannot possibly fulfill. So, be with us, cleanse us, teach us, fill us to overflow with Your Holy Spirit to others, all that You are teaching us. Help us to be life-long learners, always transforming in every way to be more and more like You, to please You, to be helpful to others seeking You, resulting in bring you all the glory, honor and praise. We love you, Lord. Apart from You we can do nothing. We are all in. We are Yours. In Jesus Name, Amen

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TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #9: IT’S NOT ABOUT US!

Posted on May 28, 2014 by randscallawayffm

TIMOTHY AND TITUS Leadership Principle #9: IT’S NOT ABOUT US!.

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