The things which you have
heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these
to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2
Paul wrote these words to Timothy, a young
man he led to Christ. He was so close to
Timothy that Paul usually called him his son. Paul was in prison as he wrote 2
Timothy and knew his execution was coming soon.
In fact, this was the last letter that Paul wrote before he was beheaded. If you’re writing the last letter of your
life, you’re going to focus on the most important things.
He tells Timothy to disciple other people
who will do the same. We know this works
because we’re here today. Someone was faithful to share the Gospel with you and
someone else was faithful to share with that person as well. There’s an unbroken chain like this going
straight back to Paul and the other Apostles.
It’s been amazing to see this take place where we serve in India.
They laughed and told me that I needed a
turban on my head because I have such a great beard. I was deep in Punjab, less than a mile from
the Pakistani border. Punjab is the
birthplace of the Sikh religion. The men
aren’t supposed to cut their hair, they have long beards and wrap their heads
in turbans. The turban is more of a
cultural thing for them, because men wore them long before Sikhism was
established. So, I let them wrap me up
in a big, purple turban and kept it on as I taught that evening.
I met Bavinder, the pastor of the fellowship
and was really impressed with all he knew about the Bible. It turns out he was a third-generation
disciple from that original group from the training I mentioned before. Another pastor friend told me how Bavinder
had planted 14 churches over the past few years, and those churches have gone
onto plant other churches as well. In
fact, Bavinder had at least three generations of disciples he has trained as
well. I love to see 2 Timothy 2:2 in action.
Lord, I pray that you would move
in America as you are moving in India. I pray that we would see the importance
of sharing the Gospel and making disciples and that we would see Your church
multiply.
