Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Rekindle the gift!

1 Paul, an apostle of Messiah Jesus by God’s will, according to the promise of life in Messiah Jesus; ² to Timothy, my dear child. Grace, mercy and peace from God the father and Messiah Jesus our Lord.

³ I serve God with a clear conscience, as my forebears did, and I am grateful to him that I remember you all the time, as I pray for you night and day. ⁴ I remember how you cried when I left, and I’m longing to see you and be filled with joy. ⁵ I have in my mind a clear picture of your sincere faith—the faith which first lived in Lois your grandmother and Eunice your mother, and which, I am confident, lives in you as well.

⁶ That’s why I now want to remind you that God gave you a gift when I laid my hands on you, and that you must bring it back into a blazing fire! ⁷ After all, the spirit given to us by God isn’t a fearful spirit; it’s a spirit of power, love and prudence.

Don’t be ashamed!

⁸ So don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as his prisoner. Rather, suffer for the gospel along with us, in accordance with God’s power. ⁹ God saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. He gave us this grace in Messiah Jesus before all time and ages, ¹⁰ but has now made it visible through the appearing of our savior Messiah Jesus, who abolished death and, through the gospel, shone a bright light on life and immortality.

¹¹ I was made a herald, apostle and teacher for this gospel; ¹² that’s why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the one I have trusted, and I’m convinced that he has the power to keep safe until that day what I have entrusted to him.

¹³ Keep a firm hold on the pattern of healthy teaching which you heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Messiah Jesus. ¹⁴ You have had something very important entrusted to you, too; make sure you look after it, through the holy spirit who dwells in us.

⁵ The apostles said to the master, “Give us greater faith!”

⁶ “If you had faith,” replied the master, “as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

⁷ “Supposing one of you has a slave ploughing or keeping sheep out in the field. When he comes in, what will you say? ‘Come here at once, and sit down for a meal?’ ⁸ No; you will be far more likely to say, ‘Get something ready for me to eat! Get properly dressed, and wait on me while I eat and drink! After that you can have something to eat and drink yourself.’ ⁹ Will you thank the slave because he did what you told him?

¹⁰ “That’s how it is with you. When you’ve done everything you’re told, say this: ‘We’re just ordinary slaves. All we’ve done is what we were supposed to do.’ ”