1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, who is our hope,

2 Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

3 As I besought thee when I went into Macedonia to abide still at Ephesus, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

4 neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which promote questions rather than godly edifying in the faith, so do!

5 Now the aim of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, with a good conscience and with faith unfeigned,

6 from which some have swerved and have turned aside unto vain jangling,

7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.

8 But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully,

9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

10 for whoremongers, for those who defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine

11 according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry--

13 I, who was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious. But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief;

14 and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus.

15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

16 Nonetheless, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering as a pattern for those who should hereafter believe in Him to life everlasting.

17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before concerning thee, that thou by them mightest wage a good warfare,

19 holding faith and a good conscience which some, having put aside, have suffered shipwreck concerning faith.

20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

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Beware of false teachers, we see this repeated throughout the New Testament.  I believe there are false teachers, (preachers) today.  Some knowingly chose to mislead people for their own gains while others are unknowingly misleading their flock.  I believe with all my heart we have been given the Bible to be able to verify what we are being taught.  But why do so many of us just ignore the Bible and follow whatever we are taught without verifying it.  Are we that trusting, that naive, or just that lazy that we don't want to pick up a bible and read it on our own??

We seem to think that, we have done our duty going to church on Sunday and that is enough.  Those who have a little more energy or perhaps just like getting out, might go to a mid-week service as well but then that is it.  If we don't learn the bible through some sort of church function we don't pick it up and study it on our own.  Shame on us!!!  How do we know if our pastor is teaching us the truth or manipulating the scriptures to his or her own advantage if we do not read it for ourselves.  We can not and must not go by just the few verses that are quoted.  You should know that things can be taken out of context.  How many times was something you wrote in a letter or an email mis-interpreted and taken out of context?  It's not always intentional, sometimes it just happens.

When learning from the bible I do not believe that one or two verses are enough to get the full meaning of the text.  You must read before and after to get the full meaning.  That is why I like doing a chapter a day rather than a verse from here and a verse from there.  This is straight from God's word and there can be no twisting, manipulating or mis-interpreting on my part.

It is up to each individual to read and study the Bible and to understand it.  Don't trust someone else to do it for you.  It is your responsibility and if you don't live up to it, you won't make it beyond the pearly gates.

Have a wonderful day in the Lord.

Blessings, Alice 

PS. Don't forget, if you want to join me for a chapter a day in the old testament I have that posted at:  http://thebibleachapteraday.blogspot.com