Some thoughts for Today, True Christian Leadership

1 Timothy 6

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

6 If you are a slave, you should respect and honour your owner. This will keep people from saying bad things about God and about our teaching. 2 If any of you slaves have owners who are followers, you should show them respect. After all, they are also followers of Christ, and he loves them. So you should serve and help them the best you can.

False Teaching and True Wealth

These are the things you must teach and tell the people to do. 3 Anyone who teaches something different disagrees with the correct and godly teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 Those people who disagree are proud of themselves, but they don’t really know a thing. Their minds are sick, and they like to argue over words. They cause jealousy, disagreements, unkind words, evil suspicions, 5 and nasty quarrels. They have wicked minds and have missed out on the truth.

These people think religion is supposed to make you rich. 6 And religion does make your life rich, by making you content with what you have. 7 We didn’t bring anything into this world, and we won’t take anything with us when we leave. 8 So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes. 9 People who want to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. 10 The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.

Fighting a Good Fight for the Faith

11 Timothy, you belong to God, so keep away from all these evil things. Try your best to please God and to be like him. Be faithful, loving, dependable, and gentle. 12 Fight a good fight for the faith and claim eternal life. God offered it to you when you clearly told about your faith, while so many people listened. 13 Now I ask you to make a promise. Make it in the presence of God, who gives life to all, and in the presence of Jesus Christ, who openly told Pontius Pilate about his faith. 14 Promise to obey completely and fully all that you have been told until our Lord Jesus Christ returns.

15 The glorious God

    is the only Ruler,

    the King of kings

    and Lord of lords.

At the time that God

    has already decided,

he will send Jesus Christ

    back again.

16 Only God lives forever!

And he lives in light

    that no one can come near.

No human has ever seen God

    or ever can see him.

God will be honored,

and his power

    will last forever. Amen.

17 Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that is easily lost. Tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with everything we need to enjoy life. 18 Instruct them to do as many good deeds as they can and to help everyone. Remind the rich to be generous and share what they have. 19 This will lay a solid foundation for the future, so that they will know what true life is like.

20 Timothy, guard what God has placed in your care! Don’t pay any attention to that godless and stupid talk that sounds smart but really isn’t. 21 Some people have even lost their faith by believing this talk.

I pray that the Lord will be kind to all of you!

Opposing False Teachers (6:2-5)

The Christian leader must not forget the responsibility to protect the faith. Those of Paul's readers who fell into this category, including Timothy, were to discharge this duty by teaching and urging the true faith (v. 2). The command that sets Timothy in this mode again (see also 3:14; 4:6, 11; 5:7, 21) also reminds them that in this operation the Christian leader is not unarmed. Paul has given specific teaching (these . . . things) for confrontation with the false teachers.

Having repeated the command, Paul issues a kind of "wanted poster." It is the counterpart to the "job description" given in chapter 3. Notably, each begins with the general if anyone (compare 5:4, 16; Tit 1:6). Here, verses 3-6 consist of one long sentence in the Greek, beginning with the "criminal" and the "crime" and going on to give identifying characteristics in a list of vices. By using the list (compare 1:9-10; 2 Tim 3:2-4; Tit 3:3) Paul meant to create a strong stereotype or caricature of the false teacher that would communicate primarily two things: an authoritative denunciation and a solemn warning. Readers, after seeing this "poster," would not be likely to form or maintain casual attitudes about the false teachers or their doctrine.

IVP New Testament Commentaries are made available by the generosity of InterVarsity Press.

The words of Christ are the best to prevent ruptures in the church; for none who profess faith in him will dispute the aptness or authority of his words who is their Lord and teacher, and it has never gone well with the church since the words of men have claimed a regard equal to his words, and in some cases a much greater.

 2. Whoever teaches otherwise, and does not consent to these wholesome words, he is proud, knowing nothing; for pride and ignorance commonly go together.

 3. Paul sets a brand only on those who consent not to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to godliness; they are proud, knowing nothing: other words more wholesome he knew not.

4. We learn the sad effects of doting about questions and strifes of words; of such doting about questions comes envy, strife, evil surmisings, and perverse disputings; when men leave the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, they will never agree in other words, either of their own or other men’s invention, but will perpetually wrangle and quarrel about them; and this will produce envy, when they see the words of others preferred to those they have adopted for their own; and this will be attended with jealousies and suspicions of one another, called here evil surmisings; then they will proceed to perverse disputings.

 5. Such persons as are given to perverse disputings appear to be men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth; especially such as act in this manner for the sake of gain, which is all their godliness, supposing gain to be godliness, contrary to the apostle’s judgment, who reckoned godliness great gain.

 6. Good ministers and Christians will withdraw themselves from such. “Come out from among them, my people, and be ye separate,” says the Lord: from such withdraw thyself.

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Why do people still fly the Confederate flag?

By Tom GeogheganBBC News, Washington

Continue reading the main story

In today's Magazine

• How the Pisces III was rescued
• Quiz of the week's news
• Should Chicago be called Stink Onions?Watch
• Paper Monitor: Out and about

A row has erupted in Virginia over a proposal to fly a huge Confederate flag outside the state capital, Richmond. One hundred and fifty years after the Civil War, the flag can still be seen flying from homes and cars in the South. Why?

For millions of young Britons growing up in the early 1980s, one particular image of the Confederate flag was beamed into living rooms across the UK every Saturday evening.

The flag emblazoned the roof of the General Lee, becoming a blur of white stars on a blue cross when at breathtaking speed, the Dodge Charger took the two heroes, Bo and Luke Duke, out of the clutches of the hapless police in The Dukes of Hazzard.

Thousands of miles from the fictional county of Hazzard in Georgia, it seemed like an innocent motif but in the US, the flag taken into battle by the Confederate states in the Civil War is politically charged - not a week goes by without its appearance sparking upset.

Recently, there's been a row in Texas over car licence plates bearing the flag, a man arrested after shouting abuse while waving it at a country music concert, and the ongoing fallout from South Carolina flying the flag in front of the State House.

Now plans by a heritage group, the Virginia Flaggers, to erect a large Confederate flag on a major road outside Richmond has drawn considerable fire from critics who say it's a symbol of hate.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

If you're going to be offended by a flag, why not the Union Jack?”

Barry IsenhourVirginia Flaggers

That's not true, says Barry Isenhour, a member of the group, who says it's really about honouring the Confederate soldiers who gave their lives. For him, the war was not primarily about slavery but standing up to being over-taxed, and he says many southerners abhorred slavery.

"They fought for the family and fought for the state. We are tired of people saying they did something wrong. They were freedom-loving Americans who stood up to the tyranny of the North. They seceded from the US government not from the American idea."

He displays a flag on his car but lives in a street where the flying of any flags is not permitted. They are a dwindling sight these days, he thinks, because people are less inclined to fly them in the face of hostility - monuments honouring southern Civil War generals are, he says, regularly vandalised.

Denouncing the "hateful" groups like the Ku Klux Klan who he says have dishonoured the flag, he adds that people should be just as offended by the Union Jack, the Dutch flag or the Stars and Stripes, because they all flew for nations practising slavery.

Annie Chambers Caddell explains why she hangs the flag from her porch

Others strongly disagree with his analysis. African Americans, especially older ones, are traumatised when they see the flag, says Salim Khalfani, who has lived in Richmond for nearly 40 years and thinks it risks making the city look like a "hick" backwater that is still fighting the Civil War.

"If it's really about heritage then keep the flag on your private property or in museums but don't mess it up for municipalities and states who are trying to bring tourists here because this will have the opposite effect."

Continue reading the main story

“frican-American author Clenora Hudson-Weens saw people waving the flags on the street in Memphis a few weeks ago. "I just said to them 'This is 2013' and they just smiled. I personally believe in some traditions but this is a tradition that is so oppressive to blacks. I wouldn't be proud waving a flag that has an ambience of racism and negativity."

Many Americans will be familiar with the arguments on either side but perhaps not with the convoluted origins of the flag itself.

The flag seen today on houses, bumper stickers and T-shirts - sometimes accompanied by the words "If this shirt offends you, you need a history lesson" - is not, and never was, the official national flag of the Confederacy.

The design by William Porcher Miles, who chaired the flag committee, was rejected as the national flag in 1861, overlooked in favour of the Stars and Bars.

It was instead adopted as a square battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Lee, the greatest military force of the Confederacy. It fast became such a potent symbol of Confederate nationalism that in 1863 it was incorporated into the next design of the national flag, which replaced the hated Stars and Bars.

The saltire - or diagonal cross - on the battle flag is believed to have been inspired by its heraldic connections, not any Scottish ones.

Continue reading the main story

How a flag was born

• The first national flag of the Confederacy was the Stars and Bars (left) in 1861, but it caused confusion on the battlefield and rancour off it
• "Everybody wants a new Confederate flag," wrote George Bagby, Southern Literary Messenger editor. "The present one is universally hated. It resembles the Yankee flag and that is enough to make it unutterably detestable."
• Its replacement was nicknamed the Stainless Banner (centre) and it incorporated General Lee's battle flag, designed by William Porcher Mills
• A third national flag, nicknamed the Bloodstained Banner (right) was adopted in 1865 but was not widely manufactured
• After the war, the battle flag, not any of the national ones, lived on

So has the flag historically been more about slavery or heritage?

You could say that both sides are correct if you look at how the flag has evolved, says David Goldfield, author of Still Fighting The Civil War.

When the Confederacy debated the adoption of a new flag in Richmond in 1862, it was clear this was to be a symbol of white supremacy and a slavery-dominated society, he says.

After the war, the flag was primarily used for commemorative purposes at graves, memorial services and soldier reunions, but from the perspective of African Americans, the history and heritage that they see is hate, suppression and white supremacy, says Goldfield, and the historical record supports that.

"On the other hand, there are white southerners who trace their ancestors back to the Civil War and want to fly the flag for their great-grandfather who fought under it and died under it." And for them, it genuinely has nothing to do with racism. However, he thinks they should respect the fact it does cause offence and not fly it in public.

The flag is commonly seen at Nascar races

The flag wasn't a major symbol until the Civil Rights movement began to take shape in the 1950s, says Bill Ferris, founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, It was a battle flag relegated to history but the Ku Klux Klan and others who resisted desegregation turned to the flag as a symbol.

He likens it to the swastika but others see it very differently. Indeed, the flag has been compared to a Rorschach blot because it means several things at all at once, depending on who is looking at it.

"All symbols are liable to multiple interpretations but this is unique in its power and ability to inflame passions on all sides, and the volume of interpretations and preconceptions about it make it unique in American history," says John Coski, author of The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem. He has even seen it displayed in Europe, where it has become shorthand for "rebel".

Continue reading the main stor

Since attempts by campaigners in the 1990s to remove the flags from public buildings, he thinks the issue has died down in the US. In 2001, Georgia changed the 45-year-old design of its state flag after pressure to remove the Confederate symbol.

Although the number of incidents is diminishing it's not going away, he says, because it just takes a couple of well-publicised episodes to get it back on people's radars, and feelings inflamed.

"We can all write the script ourselves - they will say this and they will say this." It's a predictable pattern, he adds.

"I think it will die out," says Ferris, who thinks flag-wavers feel like an embattled minority. "The south is changing, with the growth of Hispanics and Asian and a growing black population, and you can be sure that the Confederate flag has no place in their world."

The South, he says, needs a new emblem to reflect its changing character.

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2 Dating Truths for God’s Man

A recent study reports one-third of new marriages start with online dating; obviously making the computer the latest, greatest cupid’s arrow. I can see where online dating websites can play a role in connecting two people, but they don’t replace two of God’s timely dating truths:

1. Where to Begin?

You can do relationships your way or God’s way.So many adults take a vacation from God in the dating and sex arena only to wind up paying a steep emotional and relational price that will harm them for the rest of their lives. You may relate to thinking either you know better than God (pride) or that you will “miss out” (fear) if you honour him. Both impatience and arrogance breed horrible dating decisions.

God knows more. God loves you. God has your best interest in mind. That’s the mentality I wish more people approached dating with, and looked to God for how to do it right. God’s way in dating involves trusting in Him, His plan for your life, and trusting Him for your future partner—before you even start dating.

In Psalm 37:4-5, the Bible says “Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do this”. How does this play out in the dating arena? Invest your time and energy in knowing God, delighting in the process, and committing to honor Him with your actions. If you trust and obey His plan, He will match you with the ideal mate when you are ready.

A healthy relationship requires two healthy individuals who are both seeking God and His plan for their lives. A relationship with God is the ultimate common trait men (and women) should seek in a future mate. Without that common bond, there are too many weaknesses -- or targets—for the enemy to shoot at.

2. The Dating Litmus Test

The quality of your dating relationship will directly reflect the quality of your character. Men are prone to believing a culture that throws relationships to the wind, preferring to ‘score’ with chicks, get in-and-out of the sack without any harm, and racking up babes while protecting their hearts and avoiding commitment. But God’s ultimate dating litmus test is this: The quality of your relationships directly reflects the quality of your character.

God’s plan is a character-development plan, working on your true nature, and developing you for a future of adversity and abundance. If your character needs work, then your relationships are going to fail and be filled with hurt and pain. But as God prepares your character, you will be prepared for a relationship that honors God, your mate, your family and future.

Consider what the Bible says in Matthew 12:35, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.”

If you are committed to dating God’s way, then you will be patient with the process of knowing God and allow for character development so that when God puts your mate in your path, you are ready and able to carry out God’s plan.

Please add a comment on the bottom of this article to let us know what your biggest challenges with dating are.

If you would like to be ready for God’s mate for you, find Godly men to hang out with, focus on Jesus and your character development. Additional resources available HERE.

Kenny Luck, founder of Every Man Ministries and Men’s Pastor at Saddleback Church, provides biblically-oriented teaching and leadership for men and pastors seeking relevant, timely material that battle cultural, worldly concepts threatening men and God’s men. Follow Kenny and Every Man Ministries now on Facebook, Twitter (@everyMM) and YouTube.

Words for the Wise, Discipleship

2 Timothy 1

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Timothy Charged to Guard His Trust

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. 12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

15 You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me— 18 the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day—and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.

2 Timothy 1

V 1–2: BELOVED Although writing with apostolic authority, Paul salutes Timothy with his usual, heartfelt greeting, calling him ‘a beloved son’. Paul takes a fatherly interest in Timothy, notwithstanding his existing spiritual maturity and leadership ability.

 V 3–7: BACKGROUND He prays daily for Timothy, greatly desiring to see him. He is joyful in recalling the godly example of Timothy’s mother and grandmother that brought him to faith in Christ. Paul’s spiritual fatherhood role encourages him through discipleship to maturing leadership. He urges him to serve by stirring up God’s gift in service with a fearless, powerful and loving mind from God.

V 8–12: BEATEN! Jesus Christ has beaten death, and through the gospel has brought ‘life and immortality to light’. Paul is neither ashamed of the gospel nor of his Saviour, who will keep him through life and eternity, despite his own imprisonment in Rome. He urges Timothy not to be ashamed of him either, but to share in his sufferings.

V 13–14: BASIS Timothy must hold the pattern of sound teaching given him by Paul through faith and love in Christ. Timothy’s gift of ministry and service, and his commission to serve Christ, is to be kept through the Holy Spirit who dwells in them both.

V 15: BEREFT Paul relates to Timothy that all those in Asia turned away from him, including Phygellus and Hermogenes. Sometimes it is a lonely task to be a Christian leader and gospel preacher.

 V 16–18: BOLSTERED But Paul has been bolstered by the refreshment gained from the household of Onesiphorus, who ‘zealously’ sought Paul out in Rome to minister to him as he had done at Ephesus. Paul commends to God his unashamed, supportive and faithful co-worker in the gospel.

The Bible Panorama. Copyright © 2005 Day One Publications.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary

III. He exhorts him to hold fast the form of sound words, 2 Tim. 1:13. 1. “Have a form of sound words” (so it may be read), “a short form, a catechism, an abstract of the first principles of religion, according to the scriptures, a scheme of sound words, a brief summary of the Christian faith, in a proper method, drawn out by thyself from the holy scriptures for thy own use;” or, rather, by the form of sound words I understand the holy scriptures themselves. 2. “Having it, hold it fast, remember it, retain it, adhere to it. Adhere to it in opposition to all heresies and false doctrine, which corrupt the Christian faith. Hold that fast which thou hast heard of me.” Paul was divinely inspired. It is good to adhere to those forms of sound words which we have in the scriptures; for these, we are sure, were divinely inspired. That is sound speech, which cannot be condemned, Titus 2:8. But how must it be held fast? In faith and love; that is, we must assent to it as a faithful saying, and bid it welcome as worthy of all acceptation. Hold it fast in a good heart, this is the ark of the covenant, in which the tables both of law and gospel are most safely and profitably deposited,

 Ps. 119:11. Faith and love must go together; it is not enough to believe the sound words, and to give an assent to them, but we must love them, believe their truth and love their goodness, and we must propagate the form of sound words in love; speaking the truth in love, Eph. 4:15. Faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; it must be Christian faith and love, faith and love fastening upon Jesus Christ, in and by whom God speaks to us and we to him. Timothy, as a minister, must hold fast the form of sound words, for the benefit of others. Of healing words, so it may read; there is healing virtue in the word of God; he sent his word, and healed them. To the same purport is that (2 Tim. 1:14),

 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us. That good thing was the form of sound words, the Christian doctrine, which was committed to Timothy in his baptism and education as he was a Christian, and in his ordination as he was a minister. Observe, (1.) The Christian doctrine is a trust committed to us. It is committed to Christians in general, but to ministers in particular. It is a good thing, of unspeakable value in itself, and which will be of unspeakable advantage to us; it is a good thing indeed, it is an inestimable jewel, for it discovers to us the unsearchable riches of Christ, Eph. 3:8. It is committed to us to be preserved pure and entire, and to be transmitted to those who shall come after us, and we must keep it, and not contribute any thing to the corrupting of its purity, the weakening of its power, or the diminishing of its perfection: Keep it by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us. Observe,

 Even those who are ever so well taught cannot keep what they have learned, any more than they could at first learn it, without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. We must not think to keep it by our own strength, but keep it by the Holy Ghost. (2.) The Holy Ghost dwells in all good ministers and Christians; they are his temples, and he enables them to keep the gospel pure and uncorrupt; and yet they must use their best endeavours to keep this good thing, for the assistance and indwelling of the Holy Ghost do not exclude men’s endeavours, but they very well consist together.

Yours by His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside

Britons tell Cameron NO to war: Only EIGHT per cent want urgent strikes on Syria

Britons tell Cameron NO to war: Only EIGHT per cent want urgent strikes on Syria

The poll results, which come as MPs begin their historic Commons debate on military action, show 80 per cent of people are against David Cameron launching an immediate attack, while 12 per cent are undecided.

A significant 41 per cent of people are against action by Britain in any circumstances, while 39 per cent would only agree with a launch if the UN confirms chemical weapons have been used by the Syrian regime and then sanctions a strike.

The results are a blow to David Cameron who has been arguing for intervention amid a growing chorus of MPs urging caution following the lessons of the Iraq war 10 years ago.

The Prime Minister believes the use of chemical weapons in Damascus last week, which the UK and US argue was ordered by Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, represents a breach of international law.

Top 10 reasons to visit Cornwall

Top 10 reasons to visit Cornwall

IT’S got beautiful beaches and great coastal walks. Cornwall is also the setting for the new time-travelling romantic comedy, About Time, due to hit our screens in September. Here are 10 reasons to go now…

By: Anne Gorringe

Published: Thu, August 29, 2013

Columnist: New Guides’ oath is ‘secular totalitarianism’

Columnist: New Guides’ oath is ‘secular totalitarianism’

Changing the Girl Guide promise to remove reference to God is “nothing other than secular totalitarianism”, a columnist has said.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Melanie Phillips said the oath which replaces “love my God” with a pledge to “be true to myself” is now “actively discriminatory” against Christians.

In June this year Girl Guiding UK adopted a secular promise for the first time since the movement began in 1910.