Our Purpose: Helping the most important men in the world
Our Method: Exegetical, scholarly, Reformed theological writing
The Primary Author: Pastor Kurt Jurgensmeier
Our Purpose: Helping the most important men in the world
The purpose of Training Timothys is to help equip the most important men in all the world today: Teachers of God’s truth. There is nothing on Earth more important than God’s truth, and therefore, there are no men more important than those called to the responsibility of teaching God’s word to God’s people.
God greatly desires, and the Church desperately needs, more men like Timothy to whom the Apostle wrote: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His Kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim 4:1-2).
The accountability
First of all, notice that there is a great amount of accountability here. The Apostle’s charge was given “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,” with the belief that they were watching. And the Apostle reminded Timothy that Jesus would be “appearing” to “judge” (2 Tim 4:1) men like Timothy who had the God-given responsibility to teach God’s word. We are reminded of the warning in James: “Not many of you should presume to be Teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1).
The challenge
The Apostle’s command to every Teacher is “Preach the Word” (2 Tim 4:2) [not just the Gospel] because this is perhaps the most important thing God’s people and the world needs. The importance of teaching God’s word to God’s people is repeated in the Apostle’s charge: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift . . . Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim 4:13-15). It is because of the great potential power of teaching God’s word, that it is so valuable, demanding, and held to such a high standard, all at the same time.
The requirements
Teaching the word of God in a way that pleases the Author and helps His people requires several things. First, the Teacher must “be prepared” (2 Tim 4:2). This preparation involves two things: 1) gaining the ability and knowledge to provide “careful instruction,” and 2) godly character including “great patience.”
The Apostle speaks to the former when he writes: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). Again, no endeavor undertaken by man is more significant than “correctly” interpreting, teaching, and applying God’s word, because to do otherwise is to misunderstand, misrepresent, and disobey the Creator and King Himself. As in all human endeavors, not even God expects perfection, but He certainly demands that we do our very “best,” diligently doing whatever it takes to “correctly handle the word of truth.”
Again, we do all of this under the watchful eye of the Author Himself, and will one Day be either “approved” or “ashamed” regarding how careful, diligent, humble, and Christ-centered we were in working to understand, teach, and apply His word “correctly.” The great promise is that if a minister “cleanses himself from” false teachers and teaching (cf. vs. 16-20), “he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work” (2 Tim 2:21).
Hopefully some help
Training Timothy’s is offered to help the man called and gifted by God to be one of His Teachers, to obey these awesome and sobering divine commands.
Ezra the priest, of course, is our example, of whom it is written: “the gracious hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel” (Ezra 7:9-10).
We take comfort in the fact that “the gracious hand of [our] God” will be on us as well as we answer His call on our life to be His Teachers. But like the Apostle Paul, that “grace to [Ezra] was not without effect” as he no doubt, “worked harder than all” (1 Cor 15:10) and “devoted himself,” his whole life really, “to the study” of God’s written word, so that he could obey and teach it in a manner, “worthy of the calling [he had] received” (Eph 4:1). We would like to help you do the same, and hope that some day we will stand before our God together, rejoicing in how sincerely, lovingly, passionately, and accurately we preached His precious word to His precious people.
More specifically, we are especially concerned for the growing number of Teachers in the Church who are being called into ministry without a seminary education. The reasons for this are many. First, formal theological training is very, very expensive. Secondly, it often requires full-time commitment. Thirdly, many seminaries are dangerously drifting into error and compromise, particularly as they have to be market-driven in order to economically survive. We simply want to be a place where particularly such people can get a very biblical, thorough, equipping, and life-changing theological education in order to fulfill their God-given spiritual gift of teaching (cf. Rom 12:7; Eph 4:11; 1 Cor 12:28).
Our Method: Exegetical, scholarly, Reformed theological writing
The majority of the content of the website is a series of theological writings under the title of Knowing Our God (KOG): His Word, Ways, Works, & Will. It is uncertain how many topics will be completed but there is a priority on covering the more difficult, controversial, and/or neglected topics of Christian theology.
We endeavor Knowing Our God to be exegetical, scholarly, Reformed, and practical, and we hope these characteristics will be obvious.
Exegetical
KOG is exegetical in that you will encounter a great deal of interaction with the text of Scripture, and some rather in-depth discussions on the grammatical-historical meaning of particular passages. We want our theology to be founded on a biblical theology. As a result of all the biblical commentary provided in the individual books, we have collected approximately 1000 pages of detailed commentary on many important passages of Scripture which can be found in the OT and NT Commentaries.
Scholarly
KOG is scholarly in that you will encounter the thoughts of the greatest Teachers and scholars of God’s word today and throughout the 2000 year history of the Church. Those who think only the more modern Teachers are the best, will discover in KOG that the old Teachers often understood God and His word better, and we can learn a great deal from them. Which is why C. S. Lewis counseled that we avoid a snobbery regarding old Teachers, and for every new book we read, we should read two old ones.
While KOG strives to provide the best insights of historical and modern Christian scholarship and theology, it is not simply a collection of quotes. Positions are taken and defended, and sometimes against the evangelical Reformed tradition on some secondary issues.
Reformed
By Reformed we mean specifically the core doctrines of the Protestant Reformation, including salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, all to the glory of God alone, and based on Scripture alone. We believe this Evangelical Reformed tradition has manifested itself the best through Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Spurgeon, Hodge, Warfield, Packer, Piper, Carson, and MacArthur, and if you have great disagreements with such men, Training Timothy’s probably is not for you.
Practical
Finally, we endeavor to make KOG practical to men who will be leading, pastoring, and teaching a local church. Accordingly, at the end of many sections, there will be a Pastoral Practices section designed to help you apply the doctrinal topic being discussed.
How You Can Help
As students of God and His word who are striving for humility and accuracy, we are eager to learn from others. We have no illusions that any one man or theology has all the answers. We believe “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Prov 27:17). Theology is best accomplished in community with other humble, diligent studiers of Scripture who want to please God.
We would greatly appreciate you taking the time or effort to give us feedback, whether it comes in the form of questions, corrections, or appreciation. We would only ask that you follow Rule #1 under the Rules tab.
Primary Site Author: Pastor Kurt Jurgensmeier
Pastor Kurt Jurgensmeier is a son and servant of God the Father (since 1984), the husband of his wonderful wife Brenda (since 1989), and the father of five fantastic children, Jessica, Joelle, Jenna, Joseph, and Joshua. Obviously, God has been very good to him.
He also helps to shepherd New Life Community Church in Cedar Rapids, IA (www.newlifecr.com) which he and fellow Pastor Pete Grose started in a living room in 1994. A full resume is available here.
You can visit the New Life website to hear Pastor Kurt’s sermons or read what he thinks a church should be. He can be reached for questions or comments at kurt@newlifecr.com.