There has been much to pray for over the last several weeks. A number of families have been facing difficult seasons, and we added two more in the hours after worship this past Sunday with Kelley and a former deacon in the hospital. Be sure to take some time praying for the many ongoing needs in the church. I know that each family covets your prayers.

And as we continue our series in the letters to Timothy and Titus, we’ve finished 1 Timothy and pick up with 2 Timothy 1 this week. As is typical for Paul, he has packed each chapter with more than I could possibly talk about in any single sermon. But as we hone in on the overarching main point of the chapter and really the book as a whole, I think we would do well to meditate on the astonishing perspective that Paul has in this letter. When Paul wrote this letter, he was in prison. That prison, by tradition, was little more than an underground chamber, accessible only through a small hole in the ceiling. It would have been dark, smelly, and likely filthy. He would have been awaiting execution as a political prisoner and enemy of the state. And yet, this farewell letter to Timothy is a soaring letter of hope, life, and the surpassing privilege it was for Paul to serve as an apostle. Far from a lament, it rather points Timothy invariably to the Gospel, to face the good, the bad, the important, and the mundane. It’s all about the Gospel for Paul and for Timothy. In our season of difficulty, what better way to persevere than to fix our eyes upon Christ and see just how precious a Gospel we have. We will see you Sunday.

~Frank