1: So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ.
2: Pass on what you heard from me--the whole congregation saying Amen!-to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others.
3: When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did.
4: A soldier on duty doesn't get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders.
5: An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere.
6: It's the diligent farmer who gets the produce.
7: Think it over. God will make it all plain.
8: Fix this picture firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the dead. It's what you've heard from me all along.
9: It's what I'm sitting in jail for right now--but God's Word isn't in jail!
10: That's why I stick it out here--so that everyone God calls will get in on the salvation of Christ in all its glory.
11: This is a sure thing: If we die with him, we'll live with him;
12: If we stick it out with him, we'll rule with him; If we turn our backs on him, he'll turn his back on us;
13: If we give up on him, he does not give up--for there's no way he can be false to himself.
14: Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God's people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out.
15: Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won't be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.
16: Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they're not backed by a godly life,
17: they accumulate as poison in the soul. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples,
18: throwing believers off stride and missing the truth by a mile by saying the resurrection is over and done with.
19: Meanwhile, God's firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones: GOD KNOWS WHO BELONGS TO HIM SPURN EVIL ALL YOU WHO NAME GOD AS GOD.
20: In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets--some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage.
21: Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.
22: Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness--faith, love, peace--joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God.
23: Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights.
24: God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool,
25: working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth,
26: enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.