I prayed and prayed and prayed, I asked others to pray for the lesson that I was to give this past Saturday on "Instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines", 1 Timothy 1:3 (NASB). There have been a lot of discussion about doctrine in Brazil these past years.
I was speaking at Elicamp, a conference for workers from all over the Northeast of Brazil. After each lesson, the floor was open for questions on the lesson taught. I wrestled with this subject for weeks. I studied 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Ephesians, a part of Revelation and some of Philemon, Romans, Acts, Matthew & Luke. Where to begin? How to present God's Word and His Will to bring about unity? Many other questions and fears went through my mind.
The afternoon before my lesson, I prayed once more but this time as I talked with God, I was reminded that after study and prayer, now it was time to God to work, and His will is best.
I explained in my lesson what sound doctrine is as it is described in 1 Timothy and in other passages of scripture. We looked at many passages but the summary of them all is that God, in His Word, is telling us the story of how and why He saved us from a life without meaning and His desire for us to live out His Will in our everyday lives being light to all who see us. That is a very short and incomplete summary.
Some passages that might help explain better what I taught: Acts 2:42-47; Acts 7; Acts 13:14-49; Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:4-6; Deuteronomy 4:5-8; Romans 1:3-4,16-18; 1 Timothy 1:3-5; 2:1-4; 1 Peter 2:9-10. There are others, but hopefully these will give you an idea that God has a mission to reconcile the world to Himself and that He chose Christ's body to accomplish this mission. Living a life of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7) saves us from a life of ungodliness (Romans 1:18-32). This is sound doctrine and what we should all be teaching through our everyday lives.
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