TOPIC: HOLD FAST SOUND WORDS
Read: 2 Timothy 1:13-18
2 Timothy 1:13-18 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.
On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.
May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.
MEMORIZE: What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:13).
EXPOSITION
Word is important for continuity in life. Kings and rulers rule by words (c.f.Eccl.8v4). God also created the world by His Word (Jn.1v1-3). We came into being through the Word. The blind heard the Word and saw. Merely sending the Word to the servant of that Centurion, by Jesus made him well. The Word of God is so sound that it produces changes and transformations.
That is the real acid test of whatever you preach. It must produce change or conversion, whether behavioural, attitudinal, emotional, or physical. May God restore sound preaching of the true Word of God on those pulpits where it has been lost. Amen.
Sound word makes you seek to live righteously. It makes you heavenly-minded and hungry for more of God. It makes you heavenly-minded and less thoughtful of the things of the world. Sound word makes you seek to serve and please God the more, and have less love for the things of the world.
Many of the words flying around these days are unsound and so, unedifying, because they tend to emphasize materialism and worldliness, rather than the things of God. Some of the words are also exploitative, deceitful and selfish. Some have turned the Word to unsuspecting or hypnotized ‘customers’. Such words don’t produce Christians that would stand the test of time.
Christians who hold fast sound word withstand the test of time. When the wind of life blows, they remain unmoved like Mount Zion. As you go out today, hold fast sound words, i.e. what God says to you from His Living Word.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Lord, help me to keep Your Word in my heart, so that I will not sin against You.
2. Lord, let Your Word spread like harmattan wildfire in our churches in Jesus name.
3. Lord, back Your words with unction and power, and let anointing penetrate all strong hearts.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Proverbs 14:10 – 16:4, 2 Cor. 8:21 – 10:3