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Key Bible Verse: What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV). Bonus Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-14

Paul charges Timothy to select some—not all—to entrust with the ministry of gospel multiplication. So, whom to select? The criterion could not be simpler: it's "faithful men." A man who is trustworthy, dependable.

Paul (in today's Bonus Reading) gives faithfulness as the reason that God chose him for ministry. Likewise, those Paul personally selected to minister alongside him were often listed as faithful. Of Timothy he writes, "he is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord"

(1 Corinthians 4:17). He speaks similarly of his associate Tychicus, calling him a "faithful helper in the Lord's work" (Ephesians 6:21). Onesimus, Paul says, "is a faithful and much loved brother" (Colossians 4:9), and he calls Epaphras "Christ's faithful servant" (Col. 1:7).

Of course whether someone is faithful isn't always immediately clear. How can you tell? Phillip Jensen, dean of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, has a category of young men he calls "Blokes Worth Watching." These are men to test against the descriptions of faithfulness in Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Those who measure up may be entrusted with the gospel ministry.

—Jon Dennis in Preach the Word

My Response: Who do I know who would measure up for ministry? Would I?

Thought to Apply: God has no larger field for the man who is not faithfully doing his work where he is. —source unknown

Adapted from Preach the Word (Crossway, 2007) by permission.

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

Ask God for the resolve and discipline to be consistently faithful with routine matters in ordinary times.

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