2 Timothy on Success

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The Absence of Success

Author

Bruce Larson

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 11:13, John 15:15-16, Isaiah 6:8, Galatians 6:9, Exodus 4:10-12, 2 Timothy 1:9, 1 Corinthians 1:26-27

Quite often the absence of immediate success is the mark of a genuine call., My Creator, My friend.

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Faithfulness, Not Size: The Real Measures of Ministry Success

Author

Dan Baumgartner

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:11-12, 1 Peter 5:1-4, Acts 20:28, 2 Timothy 4:2

Success is a Long Obedience, Not a Quick Climb Let me start with this: I am predisposed to believing that the ideal church size is relatively small. Eugene Peterson has often been quoted as saying h...

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Author

Eddie Rickenbacker

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Scripture

2 Samuel 23:13-17 , Judges 7:2-7, 1 Samuel 18:6-7, 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Luke 10:17-20, Psalm 133:1

There is a peculiar gratification in receiving congratulations from one’s squadron for a victory in the air. It is worth more to a pilot than the applause of the whole outside world.

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Father, we confess to boasting in

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 9:23-24, James 4:10, 2 Timothy 1:7, Joshua 1:9, Mark 8:34-35, Galatians 5:16

Father, we confess to boasting in success and security. We have denied you rather that desire you. We have cowered when we needed to be courageous. Jesus, we long to be people who follow you, no matte...

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The Patterns of Our Achievements

Author

Malcolm Gladwell

Keywords

Achievement

Scripture

Isaiah 51:1-2, Colossians 3:16, Psalm 78:4-6, Proverbs 22:6, Acts 17:26, Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 2 Timothy 1:5

People don’t rise from nothing. We do owe something to parentage and patronage. The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all themselves. But in fact they are invariably the benefici...

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A Saxophonist's Spiritual Revelation

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Scripture

Luke 2:1-35, 2 Timothy 4:6-7, Colossians 3:23-24, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Ephesians 2:10

John Coltrane stands out as one of the giants of 20th-century jazz. His legacy is a generation of hearts touched and the light of God shining through his songs. Yet, for years, his work was haunted by...

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Everyone: Holy God, we live our lives

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:8, Luke 15:11-32, Luke 10:25-37, John 4:1-26, John 3:16, Ephesians 4:32, 2 Timothy 1:9

Everyone: Holy God, we live our lives struggling in our own burdens and failing to trust You with all the things that hold us down. Leader: Your Scripture says, "Come to Me all you who are wear...

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When the Mission is Clear

Author

Hugh Halter

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 14:28-30, Matthew 16:24, 2 Timothy 2:3, Philippians 3:8, John 12:24, Hebrews 11:38, Acts 20:24

A documentary about Ernest Shackleton’s early twentieth-century exposition to the South Pole shows the classified ad Shackleton put in a London newspaper: Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wa...

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Finding Your Blue Flame

Author

Jennifer Fulwiler

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 1:6, Psalm 37:4, Galatians 6:9-10, Matthew 5:14-16, Colossians 3:23-24

I had just started dating my husband, Joe, when I met international speaker and bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi. He was a friend of Joe’s …but on this day he was an intimidating public figure. I wan...

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The Bible a Great Comfort

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17, Romans 15:4, Isaiah 55:11, Hebrews 4:12-13, 2 Peter 1:19-21, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 24:35, Isaiah 41:8-10, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Psalm 46:, Genesis 37:12-36, 1 Samuel 19:, 1 Samuel 20:, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Acts 21:27-36

For seven years, Terry Anderson was held as a hostage of Shiite Muslim fundamentalists. The former reporter for the Associated Press had been taken captive and held as a political prisoner, and for se...

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ONE MORE LAP!

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 4:7-8, Hebrews 12:1-3, Philippians 3:13-14, Romans 5:3-5, Philippians 1:6

I recently heard a story about a race in which one runner had a significant lead over the rest of the field. As the man rounded the final turn, the crowd roared as he inched closer and closer to the f...

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Author

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, Hebrews 12:11, Isaiah 40:31, Proverbs 24:16, 2 Timothy 1:7

These periods of struggling to overcome challenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable times of their lives. A person who has achieved control over psychic energy and has invested it in cons...

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Author

Dave Barry

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 7:8, Nehemiah 6:15-16, 2 Chronicles 15:7, Philippians 1:6, 2 Timothy 4:7, Psalm 37:5

“My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far I’ve finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already.”

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Overcoming Fear with God's Grace

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:14-16, Acts 1:8 , Mark 5:18-20, 1 Peter 3:15, John 4:28-30; 39-42, Romans 1:16 , 2 Timothy 1:7-8

Merciful God, you have moved and changed our lives in amazing ways, yet we have kept these stories to ourselves. We confess the times we have kept these stories to ourselves out of fear of rejection a...

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Continue Your Good Work

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:13-20, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, Ephesians 2:1-10, Colossians 1:1-14, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Beautiful and Blessed Creator, Maker of Heaven and Earth, You work for reconciliation and grace, wholeness and hope. Empower us to share abundantly in your good work through creativity and co...

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Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

Keywords

Scripture

Numbers 20:1–13, Nehemiah 6:3, Jeremiah 20:7–18, Mark 8:31–33, 2 Timothy 4:1–8, Psalm 78:70–72

Resilience for faith leaders is the ability to wisely persevere toward the mission God has put before them amid both the external challenges and the internal resistance of the leader’s followers.

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Author

Napoleon Bonaparte

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 2:1-2, Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 15:13, Isaiah 40:31, Hebrews 13:7

A leader is a dealer in hope.

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Author

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Keywords

Adversity

Scripture

1 Peter 4:12-13, Matthew 5:10-12, Isaiah 40:31, 2 Timothy 1:7, Proverbs 29:25, James 1:2-4, Galatians 1:10

Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity. Before any great achievement, some measure of depression is very usual.

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Loving and faithful God, You save and

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 6:8, Acts 8:26-40, Matthew 28:18-20, John 4:1-42, 2 Timothy 1:7-8, 1 Peter 3:15

Loving and faithful God, You save and sustain us. What marvelous good news You give us through Jesus!Yet we are oblivious to opportunities to share Your grace and love. We fail to see, as Your Word sa...

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Author

Ken Untener

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 15:58, 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Hebrews 11:13, Galatians 6:9, Philippians 1:6

"Oscar Romero's Prayer" It helps, now and then,to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime onl...

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Author

Nelson Mandela

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 29:11, Isaiah 41:10, 2 Timothy 1:7, Romans 8:15, Psalm 27:1, Philippians 4:6-7

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

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Embracing God's Unfailing Promises

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 15:1-7, Hosea 3:1, Romans 8:38-39, Jeremiah 31:3, Matthew 23:37, Jonah 1:4, 2 Timothy 2:13

Our gracious God, you repeatedly move towards us, even when we pull away. You are not deterred by our rejection of you nor our running from you. Your love is persistent. We confess our distrust of you...

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Seeking Mercy Through Confession

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17, James 1:22-25, Psalm 119:105, Luke 15:11-32, Isaiah 55:6-7 , Psalm 103:8-12 , Ephesians 2:8-9

Gracious God, you have given us all we need for life. You have provided instruction that gives you glory, serves others and satisfies us. Yet we have ignored your words. We have not done what you aske...

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John Mark: The Comeback Kid

Author

Bryan M. Litfin

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 12:12, Acts 12:25, Acts 13:13, Acts 14:19, Acts 28:16, Colossians 4:10, Philemon 24:null, 2 Timothy 4:11

We all love a good comeback story. In such tales, the young upstart rises like a meteor, fails big, then fights back against the odds to win the victory. Tech whiz Steve Jobs was like that. After prod...

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The Agony & The Ecstasy

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 3:13-14, Hebrews 12:1-2, 2 Timothy 4:7, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Romans 8:18, James 1:12, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

During the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Japanese gymnast Shun Fujimoto broke his right knee while competing in the floor exercise. At the time, Japan and the Soviet Union fielded the world's ...

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Do your best to present yourselves to God as one approved by him

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 66:, 2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourselves to God as one approved by him, giving him praise, and singing the glory of his name. And bless our God, O peoples, even as you are filled with his blessings in Chris...

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Resilience Defined

Author

Rebekah Lyons

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Hebrews 12:1-2, 2 Timothy 1:7

The word resilience derives from the Latin term resilire , which means “to recoil or rebound,” and made its debut in the English language in 1627. The first entry in the Oxford English Dictionary...

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Author

Florence Nightingale

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 27:1, Joshua 1:9, 2 Timothy 1:7, Romans 8:15, 1 John 4:18, Deuteronomy 31:6

How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.

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Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 1:7, Ephesians 4:1-3, Philippians 2:3-4, Proverbs 3:5-6, Hebrews 13:7, Isaiah 42:16, 1 Timothy 4:12

So the first and most basic task of the Christian leader in the future will be to lead his people out of the land of confusion into the land of hope. Therefore, he must first have the courage to be an...

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Eternal and Glorious God, Your grace

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:2-4, Colossians 3:23-24, 1 John 3:1-3, 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 51:10-12, Hebrews 12:1-2

Eternal and Glorious God, Your grace calls us toward growth and service in You. Yet today we acknowledge the many times we have forgotten Your mercy and rejected Your love. Forgive us when we sin agai...

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