WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: How is the Christian faith coming under attack in the country where you live? And how well is the church standing up to these attacks, do you think? False teaching This letter is prompted by a sudden and serious outbreak of false teaching (vs 3,4). Deviant or deceptive teaching often goes hand in hand with a lifestyle that is contrary to the gospel. Jude focuses less on what the infiltrators are teaching than on how they are living. As Jesus said, ‘By their fruit you will recognise them’ (Matthew 7:16,20). Arrogant and immoral, they are destined for the same fate as some of their Old Testament counterparts (vs 7,11). Using a cross-reference Bible, you could profitably look up one or two of the examples highlighted by Jude. The genuine article American FBI agents are taught to spot counterfeit bank notes. But they do this by spending weeks familiarising themselves with every detail of the genuine article. Then, as soon as a fake does surface, it is spotted immediately. We will never get our heads round all the deviant teaching that is out there, but the more fully we are acquainted with genuine biblical truth, the safer we will be – and the stronger the foundation of our Christian lives. Respond: If a member of a sect (a Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon, for instance) turned up at your door, how would you explain to them from scripture what you believe about the person and saving work of Jesus? http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-10-06