True or False

How do we steer clear of falsehood?

• The source of truth is God; the source of falsehood is the devil.
• Paul writes this first letter to Timothy to encourage him and teach him in the pastoral care of the churches.
• Timothy is young but Paul has invested in him and he believes that he will do a great job leading the church. 
• Pauls is taking the opportunity to write to Timothy because he doesn't know when he will be back in Ephesus where Timothy was.
• 1 Timothy 1 v 1-11
• Paul warns Timothy of the dangers of false teachers and the damage they can do.
• A lot of the issues hung on Gnosticism and old Jewish practices.
• Gnosticism is the where people believe they can have salvation just by good deeds and their possessions.
• Here are some of the things the false teachers were teaching or the issues that were going on...

1. Teaching of false doctrine.
2. Teaching Jewish myths.
3. Wanting to be teachers of the Old Testament.
4. Building up endless far-fetched stories based on genealogies.
5. Being argumentative.
6. Using words that mean nothing.
7. Not knowing what they were talking about.
8. Being conceited.
9. Teaching of Gnosticism.
10. Using their religious leadership positions for financial gain.

• A lot of the issues still exist today in the Church.
• Paul told Timothy to go back to basics and make the love of God the root of all they do in the church and then out of this will come the correct preaching of the Gospel.
• The false teaches were causing many problems because the teaching practices didn't just start over night it was a process where these things were slowing seeping in.
• Matthew 7 v 15-20 - "¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
• We need to ask God for Wisdom to see where things are slipping early on so we don't just notice in our own lives but in the church as well. So that it doesn't get to the stage of disaster before anything is done.
• We can tell whether someone has integrity and does what they say because of the fruit they produce.
• The best thing we can do is keep a constant check on ourselves and MOT ourselves regularly.
• We need to allow God to regularly refresh and clean us out.
• Do we need to learn what we are talking about?
• Are we too argumentative?
• If we have the truth of God inside of us because of the love of God then what will come out is the truth and love. But if this truth is corrupted by sin then what comes out will be corrupted and false.
• What are our motives?
• What is coming out of our mouths?