Text: 2 Timothy 2:1-2 Exegesis
- Theme: Multiplication of Leaders
- Topic: How Timothy can multiply leaders
- Truth: Multiplication happens through personal and intentional mentoring.
- Thrust: Timothy must personally and intentionally mentor potential leaders who can do what he has been doing.
Exposition
- Theme: Leadership Development
- Topic: How leaders can develop other leaders
- Truth: Leaders are developed through personal and intentional mentoring.
- Thrust: Leaders must look for potential leaders who they can personally and intentionally mentor to do what they have been doing.
Exhortation
- Type: Both
- Take Home Message: To accomplish our mission we need intentional multiplication.
- Trailing question: How can we multiply more leaders?
- Talk (sermon):
A. Take-off (intro)
Multiplying leaders is the lifeblood of any movement. Without leaders, a movement stops. This is the reason why Jesus spent majority of his time developing leaders (i.e. the Twelve). Paul understood this principle as well. So he instructed Timothy to make sure that the movement doesn’t stop with him. Timothy needs to focus his energies on developing new leaders. What Paul taught Timothy can serve as our pattern today for multiplying more leaders.
B. Teaching outline (body):
- We must intentionally live grace-full lives (v.1).
- We must intentionally live fruitful lives (v.2).
C. Touchdown (conclusion)
To accomplish our mission we need intentional multiplication. To do this, we must intentionally live grace-full lives. We cannot afford to rely on ourselves — our gifts, our accomplishments, our reputation, etc. — to fulfill God’s agenda. We will always fall short. If we focus on ourselves, we will always end up discouraged or sidetracked, either because of failure or pride or both. The courage to move forward as a leader is always dependent on grace, not on self-effort. In the same way, we cannot multiply ourselves unless we intentionally live fruitful lives. A tree will bear its own kind of fruit, not another kind of fruit. In the same way, leaders must produce leaders like themselves. Followers cannot produce leaders. This involves intentional and personal selection, training, and mentoring by leaders to produce potential leaders. Remember, to accomplish our mission we need intentional multiplication.