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Day 343, or December the 9th. Tell me the old,

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old story. Our thoughts today are rooted in 1

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Timothy chapter 6, verse 20. Timothy, guard what

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has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from

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godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what

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is falsely called knowledge. Now the big picture

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surrounding this verse. Paul warns Timothy about

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specific false teaching that is invading the

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church, and encourages the young pastor to remain

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true to what he has been taught according to

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the Scriptures. Whenever a new idea raises its

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head, there is always a crowd of folk who will

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tell you how you can improve it. It's happened

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to me many times since introducing the ministry

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of Walk Through the Bible into the UK in 1984.

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and as following Christ was a new and novel idea

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in the days of Timothy and Paul there would undoubtedly

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have been many who wanted to tweak it to conform

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to their own particular ideas. Paul warns Timothy

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all these are false teachers we need to stick

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to the truth based on the Bible i e the Old Testament

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as the New Testament was still being written

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and formulated in his letter. Paul gives considerable

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detail about choosing future leaders and how

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important it is for them to recognize their godly

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gifts in order to lead the church in the truth.

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And now today's action step. If ever a verse

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was written for the 21st century, surely our

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verse for today could be it. We have become so

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smart and have such sophisticated technology

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that some have thrown out the truths of the gospel

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simply because they are ancient and contain parts

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that are hard to understand and therefore are

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obviously out of date and irrelevant, or so it

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is claimed. There are new ideas now, and new

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is always better than old, but we know that's

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not true. We have nothing to fear from new ideas.

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We are followers of the truth, so why would we

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be afraid? It's simple, really. If an idea agrees

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with Scripture, then accept it. If it contradicts

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it, discard it. It may sound too easy, but it

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has to be simple, so that all can understand

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it, just like the Gospel.