I've Been Challenged

Several things have occurred in the past six months that have led me to this post. I have always been someone who has just believed and never doubted anything. I heard, I read, I believed. I am thankful that I have always been under good sound doctrine since I just believe without question. This week I was challenged by a new friend because of something little he said about the gospel being part of the preaching I hear weekly. Then tonight Matt challenged me in reminding me to watch myself, to know what the gospel is and what it is not. I will say this blog would have been much longer, but I got most of my thoughts out in conversation with my new friend so I just leave you with this same challenge and with these scriptures.

This is the passage I've been wrestling with since May, 2 Timothy 4:3-5 "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."

2 Peter 3: 16b-17 "His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position."

1 John 4:1 "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

1 Timothy 1:6-7 "Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm."

So I challenge you to know that the gospel is and what the gospel is not. I challenge you to spend time in scripture seeking out truth and not just hearing what your pastor says and taking it to heart. May you be challenged in the same way that I have and be thankful for sound doctrine because I know I am!