by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Paul was passionate about defending the original apostolic teaching that was given by the Holy Spirit. He wept about men corrupting that original teaching and passionately appealed to the elders at Ephesus to be on guard for themselves and that of others who would creep into the flock (Acts 20:28f).<\/p>\n
Paul’s last letters to Timothy urged him to be alert and careful. I wonder what Timothy did with Paul’s last two letters? As he heard that Paul, his special father in the faith, was executed for the faith he held, I would think that these words kept ringing in young Timothy’s mind through the years:<\/p>\n
“O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge – by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. <\/em>Grace be with you. Amen<\/em>“(I Timothy 6:20-21 NKJV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God has committed the perfect law of liberty into our trust. It needs no improvements. It is all-sufficient. God is counting on you to guard it and use it. Don’t get sidetracked from it. God has entrusted it to you and is counting on you to protect and share the pure form of that original teaching. It is committed now to your trust. What are you doing with it?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton Paul was passionate about defending the original apostolic teaching that was given by the Holy Spirit. He wept about men corrupting that original teaching and passionately appealed to the elders at Ephesus to be on guard for themselves and that of others who would creep into the flock (Acts 20:28f). Paul’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78,54],"class_list":["post-95179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority","tag-obedience"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17798,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-nehemiah-have-to-rebuild-the-walls-of-jerusalem-what-happened-to-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":0},"title":"Why did Nehemiah have to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem? What happened to it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did Nehemiah have to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem? What happened to it? Answer: God had the Babylonians come to take Israel into captivity because of Israel's sins. The Israelites resisted and the Babylonians (also called the Chaldeans) broke into Jerusalem and leveled the city. \"And in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47305,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-watchmen\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":1},"title":"What are watchmen?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Mr. Jeffrey, I have a question: In Psalms 130:1-8, \"My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.\" Who are these watchmen? What are they doing? Answer: Watchmen were a part of a city's guard. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-gamble-so-what-should-i-do-with-gifts-of-lottery-tickets\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":2},"title":"I don’t gamble, so what should I do with gifts of lottery tickets?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My fianc\u00e9e was given lottery tickets at work. We share the same stance on the principles of gambling. My family also likes to give lottery tickets for Christmas. This is my first Christmas being a member of the Lord's church. How would you suggest Christians handle gifts like that?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51528,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-countenance-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":3},"title":"What does “countenance” mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Genesis 4:4 says, \"and Cain was very angry and his countenance fell.\" Is countenance holiness? Does this scripture mean that anger can cause us to lose our holiness? Answer: \"Countenance\" is your facial expression. \"His countenance fell\" is another way of saying he started frowning. Question: Numbers 6:24-26 says,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28452,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-roman-soldiers-involved-in-the-arrest-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":4},"title":"Were Roman soldiers involved in the arrest of Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How many Roman soldiers came to arrest Christ? Answer - None - the guard force was from the Temple guard. A Roman guard would not have taken Jesus to the High Priest's house but to the Roman fortress to be held. Answer: \"The band of soldiers (t\u00ean speiran). No\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49632,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-return-after-committing-fornication-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":5},"title":"How do I return after committing fornication again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wrote to you before regarding fornication and God's forgiveness. I prayed and straightened my life back out -- until about a month ago I stumbled again. I am writing to you for help. I've been praying for forgiveness and asking for the Lord's help in overcoming this problem,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95182,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95179\/revisions\/95182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}