Page 54 - Pastoral Epistles student textbook

Read Psalm 1:1-6. What does it mean in V15, to be diligent in these matters and to
give yourself wholly to them? What is Paul talking about and what does this look like
in a disciple’s life?

Why do most Christians live with the attitude that … we could and should do more for
Jesus, but we seem content to – in many ways – to just live mediocre lives. Why?

When the Apostle Paul used the phrase in V1 … in later times some will abandon the faith and follow
deceiving spirits he was not necessarily talking about those days just before Jesus returns. He was
more than likely talking about something that has been going on throughout all Christian history.

I am not familiar with all Christian history within Africa but in the United States we have had a series of
cult-like groups come into existence one after the next especially in the last 150 years.
Mormonism arrived on the scene in the 1820s. Then there was the Jehovah Witnesses in the 1870s
and then a group calling themselves Christian Science in 1875. In the 1950s we had the Moonies from
Korea and then a group known as Hara Krishna arrived in the 1960s - with their shaved heads and silk
robes and they would stand on the corner and chant Hara Krishna repeatedly.
It has been one group after the next – all claiming to be God-fearing but solid, mature Christians
understand these people are not Christians. In 1 Timothy 1 Paul talked about the importance of
identifying false doctrine since we live in a time when cults continue to practice and promote their
false doctrines.

Paul says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits. He said that
these teachings will come from hypocritical lairs who come up with all sorts of rules to live by including
but not limited to:

Make a list of some of the strange religious groups you have encountered and list some of the strange
teachings that these groups are trying to promote.
1.
2.
3.

How do you know that what they are teaching is not correct?

Luke 6:45. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in
his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For
the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

As people observe our life – in the same way that we observe the way other people live their life – it
doesn’t take long before we can begin to understand the spiritual condition of someone’s heart.

People who discipline themselves to follow Jesus will reflect that kind of life to those who
are watching.
James 2:14-19. What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
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if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can
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such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is
without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to
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them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does
nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In
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