BE ON GUARD!

THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)

DATE: MONDAY, 30TH OCTOBER, 2023 

TOPIC: BE ON GUARD!

TEXT: 1 TIMOTHY 1:1-14

1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,

2. To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, [and] peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

3. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia -- remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

4. nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.

5.  Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, [from] a good conscience, and [from] sincere faith,

6.  from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,

7.  desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

8.  But we know that the law [is] good if one uses it lawfully,

9.  knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for [the] lawless and insubordinate, for [the] ungodly and for sinners, for [the] unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

10.  for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,

11.  according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

12.  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting [me] into the ministry,

13.  although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did [it] ignorantly in unbelief.

14.  And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

MESSAGE: 

With the state of insecurity in our society, country and the world generally today, every citizen, particularly Christians, must be on guard. However, a greater insecurity exists currently inside Christendom. We can term it 'doctrinal war' which calls for declaration of an immediate state of emergency by the church.

In our text today, Apostle Paul told his son, Timothy, to stay at Ephesus with a specific duty and assignment: To guide and guard against wrong and false doctrines including fables and endless genealogies (v.3) and to propagate charity out of a pure heart, a good conscience and faith unfeigned (v.5). Paul also observed that the problem also manifested in people teaching the law but with little or no knowledge of what they teach. Today, we have such teachers with a good number of them having no Bible School training, no seminary experience, no mentoring but who desire to enslave the church or ministry using emotional blackmail.

Paul did not only condemn these acts but stated clearly that the law is not meant for the righteous alone but also for sinners (vv. 8-10). The duty to guard the doctrine, that is, the sound teachings handed over to us by Apostolic succession, is for all believers who will give themselves to right grooming and discipleship. Again, we must be careful of what we listen to, where we worship and also take our time to crosscheck every teaching. 'Test all Spirits', says the scripture but the truth is, if you don't know the original, you can't identify the fake.

 

PRAYER: 

Lord, help me to give myself to continuously abide by the sound doctrine of Your Word, Amen.