BIBLE EXPLORE / NEW TESTAMENT / 1 & 2 TIMOTHY

Books of ​1 & 2 Timothy

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In these two letters to Timothy, Paul instructs him on how to address these teachers and lead the church effectively. We see that what a church believes will directly shape how its members live and behave. In Paul's first letter to Timothy, Paul shows Timothy how to restore order and purpose to the church in Ephesus which has been disrupted by false teachers. In the second letter to Timothy, Paul is near execution and offers a personal challenge to Timothy to keeping following Jesus no matter the sacrifice and risk.

1 Timothy 1:12-14 (Thankfulness to God)

Activities

Gratitude Stones (Fireflies and Mudpies)
Straw Rocket Thankyou Prayers (Flame Creative Kids)
Lego Blessing Tower (Future Flying Saucers)
Thanksgiving Placemat (June Pfaff Daley)
Gratitude Pick up Sticks Game (The Bump)

The Love of Money (1 Timothy 6:6-19)

Teaching Kids About Money

This passage in Timothy is a great launchpad to talk to your kids about money and finance. As they grow up, they will have choices to make about how they spend their pocket money, who they spend it on (themselves or others) and what they save for. Kids who have a healthy understanding of the value of money will become good stewards with all that God gives them. 
An interesting Infographic from makeuseof.com which looks at how you can help teach your kids about finance. 

Sermons4kids

Sermons4Kids has some resources for the Rich Man and Lazarus See here

Opportunities for giving

As we head towards the end of the year and with Christmas looming on the horizon in a few months time, it could be a good time to think about how you are going to approach the festive season. For some, Christmas can be a financially crippling time of year, when it is meant to be a celebration of God's grace and redemption. 
You might like to think about 'doing christmas differently' with one of the following:

• Angel Tree -- an initiative from Prison Fellowship, NZ
• Advent Conspiracy -- with the 4 aims of worship fully, spend less, give more, love all
• Create a Reverse Advent Calendar

How can we be a church that is marked by our extravagant generosity? 

2 Timothy

2 Timothy 2:22 Dirty Water Object Lesson (Ministry to Children)
2 Timothy 2:21 Toothbrush Object Lesson (Ministry to Children)
2 Timothy 3:1 Bible Verse Game (My Cup Overflows)

Media

Young: Seeds Family Worship

1 Timothy 1-3 (Instructions on Doctrine, Prayer and Leadership): Crosspaint

God's Story (Timothy): Crossroads Kid's Club

2 Timothy 3:16 (All Scripture): The Rizers

Passing on our faith (2 Tim 1:1-14)

Generational Faith

In the opening lines of of this Paul talks about the faith that lived in Lois and Eunice, and that he is sure is alive in Timothy too. This is a great way to highlight the passing on of faith between the generations, and how this can be a beautiful part of an intergenerational church. 

As we see in our gospel passage, Jesus talked about having faith as small as a mustard seed, yet this is big enough to make a difference in our lives and to other people’s lives.  

Guarding our treasures

In 2 Tim 1:14, it says "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." Our faith is our treasure and it’s the most important treasure we will ever have. 

Brainstorm ways we can guard that treasure:

• ​Praying
• Reading the Bible
• Coming to church
• Saying thank you to God
• Saying sorry to God and to each other and forgiving others and ourselves
• Talking to another person who follows Jesus about how you can follow God in our everyday life, outside of church. 

Reflective Activity

• Draw an outline of yourself and colour round the outside in yellow to represent the light of Jesus that surrounds you. 
• Write the words: grace, love, light, courage, faith, power inside the outline. 
• These are the things that God gives us and that are inside each of us giving us strength to follow Jesus.
• Spend some time thinking about how you can share all these things with others. 

Who was Timothy?

Paul was a man who spread the news about Jesus in many countries of the world and Timothy worked with him. Paul wrote to Timothy to support, help and guide him in his faith.

About 2 Timothy

In the second letter to Timothy, Paul is near execution and offers a personal challenge to Timothy to keeping following Jesus no matter the sacrifice and risk. The Bible Project have some helpful resources in understanding this letter.

Handing down your faith

Think of a someone who has taught you about/shown you what it is to live for Jesus. Has there been someone in your family who has shared stories about Jesus with you? What was it about them or about what they said that made a difference to you?

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Prayers

St Patrick's Breastplate

​The prayer of St. Patrick's Breastplate calls on the protection of Christ in specific ways. This could be good to use as a Communion reflection, or in times of worry.

A guarding prayer
Christ be with me, Christ within me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ to comfort me and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend or stranger.

Click this link for a printable of the prayer that you can colour and decorate yourself, from Look to Him and Be radiant blog'

Porters Gate song

The Breastplate of Saint Patrick · The Porter's Gate

The Sarum Prayer

You can make up actions to go with it; there is also a sung version
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​God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at my end, and at my departing.

Everything

Prayer for our church

God of all people.
We thank you for our church, for all the people who worship here and for all the people who have followed you and passed on their faith to us.
We thank you for the courage of those who have followed you when it has been difficult or dangerous.
We thank you that you give each of us treasure that doesn’t cost anything, that never goes rotten and that we can never lose so long as we hold onto it: the treasure of your love for us and of your son Jesus who gives us light, grace and strength.
Help us to keep following you, especially when we are afraid or sad or tired, knowing that you are always with us.
​In the name of Jesus,
Amen.

Prayer of confession

God of love,
When we forget to pray
Fill us with your love and warm our hearts.
When we are embarrassed about following Jesus
Grant us courage, joy and a sense of God’s presence with us
When we are afraid
Fill us with your love and strengthen our faith.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

Intergenerational prayer

(inspired by 2 Timothy 1:7)
                                                                                         
“…for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice,
but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”

Dear God,
Sometimes we feel afraid.
Give us your spirit of power.
Sometimes we feel upset.
Give us your spirit of love.
Sometimes we feel confused.
Give us your spirit of self-control.
Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to live in us.
Amen.

~ written by Joanna Harader, and posted on Practicing Families. http://practicingfamilies.com/

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Activities

Treasure Hunt

What you need

• Nine containers to represent a treasure of faith
• Words to go inside each container: Holy Spirit, Love, peace, kindness, courage, life, fellowship, grace, freedom. You need enough words in each box for the number of children in your group. You could print these words on coloured paper, or print them in outline so the kids could decorate the words.
  Download treasure words here
• You could add some more or adapt them to the age of your group. You could find a prop or image to go in each one if you have time (e.g. a candle for holy spirit, love heart, dove for peace, key for freedom, lion toy for brave)
• Glue sticks
• Bright coloured card

​What you do:

• Put the nine different treasures inside each container, and before the children gather, hide each container.
• Talk to the children about treasure, and what kind of treasure people look for. (eg. gold coins, valuable things). Talk about how God gives us treasure too -- he gives us faith. While it doesn’t look like treasure and isn’t money, our faith is the most precious treasure we can ever find and hold on to.
• Explain that hidden around the room are 9 boxes of treasure. Tell them to find each one, open the box and take a piece of God's treasure inside. 
• When the children have found each piece give each child a piece of brightly coloured card and the children can then glue the words on to make a collage and decorate it. 

Pass The Parcel

What you need:

• Pass the Parcel! Start by wrapping up enough lolly pops or lollies for every one in the group. You want to have a 'treasure' for everyone in the group when they final treasure is uncovered. Us bright coloured wrapping paper for this layer so you know its the last one
• Wrap up the parcel with many layers, putting in pieces of paper in each layer with the words: faith, hope, love, freedom, holy spirit, jesus,courage, grace, light. 
• Music

What you do:

• Talk about treasure and how you have love playing pass the parcel because you never know what the treasure will be like inside.
• Get the children to think about what treasures God gives us. Brainstorm different ideas and let them come up with as many as they think of! 
• Start the music and pass the parcel around the group
• When the music stops, get the child to open the parcel. Get them to read out the word and think about what this means. Why does God give us love? Why is it a treasure? 
• Continue until the final layer is exposed, and when the lollies are revealed, talks about how God gives good gifts to all his children. He doesn't only have one present for one person, but the treasure he has (love, freedom, faith, courage, etc) is for everyone. We all get to share in the treasure. 

Saint Luke the Evangelist (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

In today's reading we are encouraged to have strong hands and firm knees!

God is our strength

Today's lectionary readings have the theme of strength running through them, which can be drawn out and expanded on in your age groups

• In our Old Testament passage, Isaiah asks God to strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. For those who have a fearful heart, Isaiah asks for a reminder to "be strong, don't be afraid", and that God will come and save those in trouble. The imagery of a lame man being strengthened to walk and the mute having the power to not only talk, but to sing, talks of restoration and abundance. The strength God gives is not only for the basics of life, but to help restore us to live a life to all its fullness. 
• In our passage in Luke, Jesus commissions 70 of his followers to go out and share the good news. He doesn't send them out alone, he sends them in pairs, and nothing they take with them will be of use. The provision and care that Jesus talks about, speaks of accompaniment, shared mission and accepting the hospitality of others. And from this, they will know God's peace. 
• And finally in our New Testament passage from 2 Timothy, Paul says "But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." The strength that kept Paul going in all his travels, trials and adventures was from God. Not only do we have others to walk alongside us in our mission (like in Luke), but God stands alongside us and strengthens us too. 

'I have run that race' kids talk

A great kids bible talk on today's 2 Timothy verse, given by Andy Gawn. This is a new video filmed in August 2020, and includes some funny jokes and drama.  ​

Sports ministry

If finishing the race' catches your kids attention, then a great way to connect with your local community is through sports outreach programmes. Here are a list of sports themed resources and organisations to connect with. 

• Family Fit https://family.fit/en/seasons/growing-together/1-how-to-be-kind-to-others/
• Sport: Connecting your church and your community - an article on Youth and Children's Work
• Sports Chaplaincy New Zealand
• Ready Set Go! Making disciples for Christ in all nations in the world of sport and play.
• Scripture Union's Champion's Challenge Holiday Programme

Games and activities

Most of the resources for this bible passage focus on verse: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7; NIV)
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Some of our favourite ideas include:

• Where's the finish line? -- a running race object lesson
• Overcoming obstacles -- setting out a race track around your space with obstacles to overcome (like soft toys, cones)

Marble run

Get the children to make a marble run and set up obstacles along the way that stops the marble from running the course.

Popsicle race car craft

Click here for this fun idea.

Bible verse race track

Bible verse race track -- make a race track and write on the bible verse from today. The link uses a different verse to our one, but you could include one rom the reading today. 

What is 2 Timothy about?

In Paul's final and most personal letter in the Bible, 2 Timothy encourages church planter Timothy to accept his calling and deal with corrupt teachers. Paul urges Timothy to remain faithful and confident in the gospel message.

​You can watch a video about 2 Timothy from the Bible Project here

​The Bible Project also has a great downloadable poster with an overview of 2 Timothy

There is also a kid friendly version of a 2 Timothy overview by Crosspaint on YouTube

Running the race

Similar passages that reference 'the race', can be found in Philippians 3:7-14; 1 Corinthians 9:23-27; Hebrews 12:1-13
Here is a video from LifeKids, about how we have to be disciplined and driven when it comes to winning the race that God has set before us. Run as if to win the prize. ​

Overview

BibleProject - Overview: Colossians video, and Letters to Timothy overview posters. ​Download for free here

Download for free here

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Download for free here