Paul's Podcast

Final two verses of 1 Timothy... what does Paul have to say to his spiritual son, his young soldier in Christ, before he signs off his letter and the fight continues?He says: ‘O Timothy’! An exclamation of feeling and concern and exhortation. When we get into the details today we will understand this as:-O Timothy: fight, don’t fail. -O Timothy: keep going, don’t quit.See, failure was not an option for Timothy. It was possible, he just couldn’t let it happen.I wonder what that means for us, as we fight the good fight of faith today... let's find out...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

There is an old fairy tale about a character called Rumplestiltskin; a made-up creature who had the ability to spin straw into gold. He was able to take something of relatively low value, and turn it into something of extremely high value.That is the lesson that comes out of today's passage – we can be modern-day, real-life Rumplestiltskins.Here we will see that if we don't trust our uncertain riches, but we do use them, we can turn our uncertain riches into certain ones...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Have you ever run out of petrol in the car?It has happened to me. It’s kind of silly because we can see that the vehicle is running low, but - for some reason - we don’t fill up, we just wait, thinking we might just make it to the next destination.What about spiritually speaking? Have you ever run out of that kind of petrol? Would you like to hear about a source of fuel that is free, that is unlimited, that will give the believer what they need to keep fighting the good fight of faith until it is done?Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

One Christmas Day challenge most kids probably remember is opening a present and being excited about it, but it doesn’t have the batteries included, so you have to wait until your parents find some batteries (and a tiny screwdriver) and put them in. Until then, you have this amazing gift in a box, and you can look at it and think about it but you can’t actually do anything with it.Often times, us Christians can fall into the trap of seeing our lives a bit like that. That is an incorrect perspective.Today we'll see Paul exhort Timothy to 'lay hold' of his eternal life now... and we get to think on what that means for us...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

I attended some football training with a good friend of mine way back in my late teens. After a few years not playing, this was to be my glorious come back. Not long into the session, I received the ball in the middle of the pitch, perfect control, I turned and caressed the ball straight into the back of the net: goal.It was the wrong goal. I’d got nervous, turned around the wrong way, tried to pass it back to a team mate but he had moved, and it went in. It is hard to win a game of football when you are aiming at the wrong goal.Same can be said of our good fight of faith - let's jump in...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Most of us would agree that a good teacher can make a big difference. Have you had one before? Maybe at school as a kid...What about the impact of a bad teacher? Ever had one of those?Much more significant than the experiences we had in school growing up, how much more important is it to have a good teacher when it comes to the things of God?Today Paul points the finger at these false teachers and, more specifically, gives us 3 reasons why we have to stay clear of them…Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

The average person spends about a third of their life at work. One study revealed that's - on average - 90,000 hours over a lifetime.Our work can provide a great opportunity to be distracted from God's work, or it can provide a great opportunity for us to jump into it.Which will it be...?Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

We have a bread maker at home.It has a timer, so, sometimes, on particularly delightful evenings, Emma puts the ingredients in and sets the timer so the bread starts baking in the morning before anyone is awake.This means the bread bakes for 3 hours AS we’re waking up. We are greeted with a perfect, full, rounded loaf in the morning - that tastes delicious - and the smell, my goodness...This bread maker also has a speed-setting. It’ll knead and cook the loaf in under an hour… but it’s not quite the same... looks almost the same, but the loaf is a little less full and a little less tasty...Sometimes things just need more time.What has this got to do with the Apostle Paul, his spiritual son Timothy, and our good fight of faith? Let's find out...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Believers aren't lemmings.The thing with lemmings is they migrate and they can swim. So as people observed this, they would literally see lemmings following each other over hills and off cliffs and into the sea. The myth became that lemmings were so foolish, they would follow their leader even if it meant walking into certain catastrophe... hence the phrase “like lemmings to the sea.”Though the phrase might not portray the real life of a lemming completely accurately, it does illustrate a real problem many face today.This problem seems especially tricky for Christians to handle.The problem is this: how do Christians respond to bad leadership?Let's find out what the Apostle Paul has to say...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

We know we should be subject to our authorities.We know we should esteem very highly our authorities within the church.Here we learn that we should count our authorities in the church that do a good job worthy of double honour.How do we practically do that?Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Last week we learnt that pretty much 9 times out of 10, we can get what we need by just doing the basics: reading our bible, being in prayer, serving through our local church, looking after ourselves physically...Occasionally though, life does throw something at us that we can't deal with ourselves. We need help. (This might be a financial situation, a work situation, a health situation whatever.)There is only one thing worse than being in a situation as tough as this: seeing someone you love in a situation as tough as this.Seeing something we love experience something incredibly difficult is very hard for us, and we can feel helpless. We really want to help but we’re not sure how.1 Timothy 5:11-16 should change that. How? Let's find out...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Us believers say with pride: "true Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship."And that’s true and it is wonderful. Thanks to the decision we made about Jesus, we get to enjoy a relationship with God.But, we can forget, that one of the clearest ways a great relationship with God is demonstrated is through our relationships with other people, especially other Christians.What principle do we need to understand to make sure we treat people right? Let's find out...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Two weeks ago we said, as concerning The Good Fight of Faith, to win it we have to stay in it.Last week we learnt that to win it, we have to train for it.This week we'll see that to win it, we have to focus on it.What does this mean and how do we do that? Let's take a look...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Let me start by showing you a training schedule that will benefit your faith......and we look at this and, though it may well be a benefit to our faith, we think "eurgh! That looks less like a relationship with Jesus and more like a week in the workhouse."This highlights a problem to us: often when it comes to godliness, the question we struggle with is not 'how do I train in godliness', it is 'why should I train in godliness'.That is what the Apostle Paul is going to teach us today... Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Today, we look out on a new battlefront. We have studied the battle front of doctrine (chapter 1) and the battle front of authority (chapters 2 and 3). Chapters 4, 5 and the first two verses of 6 focus on the battlefront of people.How are we to be with people to ensure success in the fight?Tellingly, the first person we need to put under the spotlight here is not our nosey neighbour, not our frustrating family member, nor our bothersome boss… its us...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Growing up as kids, we’re always told to ‘behave properly’ in church.Usually this meant keeping quiet, dressing slightly more smartly than we would usually, being polite to people, not mucking around during the songs.Those might be good things! But as we grow up, we realise there might be other behaviours we ought to display 'in church'.What are these other behaviours and why are they so important?Let's take a look...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

We have some family chores in our household: Isaac is in waste management, Robin is in hospitality. The boys, of course, want a raise. Like good capitalists, they’re thinking 'if I had a little more money, I could use it really effectively.'The parents, of course, are happy for them to have a raise… but something we want first is to see them be faithful with what is currently on their plate. Once we see that, we’ll know they’re ready for the promotion to greater responsibility and more work.How does this principle work out in the life of every believer? And what does it have to do with the qualifications of a deacon? Let's find out...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

Today we see that a pastor needs to be proven.He's not the only one...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

1 Timothy 3:1 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.Here’s the truth: if a man wants the job of pastor, he wants something very good indeed.Last week we saw that, for a church to Fight the Good Fight of Faith, they need a Fully Qualified pastor. (And we saw 7 things in particular that God expects a pastor to be).This week, the flip-side: 6 things a pastor cannot be.This will help us ensure we don't follow a bad one, and it might tell us a little about how the flesh wants to ruin our personal ministry efforts too...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org

"This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." (1 Tim 3:1)If a bishop/pastor is supposed to watch over themselves whilst overseeing the flock, meant to be sharing the gospel with the lost and ministering the word to believers, watching out for wolves whilst cheering on the congregation - how important is it that we get the right man in charge?Very.Here are 7 things our pastor must be...Find out more about us here - crossroadslondon.org