Study the Genuine Teachings

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Today I'm posting a blog I wrote about one year ago. It was right after attending the Missouri Christian Convention for the first time. In light of all the discussions I was reading last night, I think it's a good one to post today. So before I start rambling and write a post before I put up the other, here it is: 

Study the Genuine Teachings.

This weekend I had the privilege of going to the Missouri Christian Convention. I have heard lots of great stuff about his convention in the past but this was the first year I was able to attend.
It was definitely worth the trip.

Not only was the convention held at a beautiful resort in Osage Beach, MO but the content of the convention was amazing as well.

There was one set of Workshops that my wife and I decided to attend. They were being taught by one of our old professors, Mr. Reese. He spent about 4 hours total going through the book of 1 John. I loved every moment of it.

1 John was written to the church to help guard them against false teachers. These teachers were mixing different sorts of religious ideas and saying that they were the only truth.

They taught that Jesus did not save you but that salvation came through their particular brand of knowledge.

One of the pleas that John offers is that Christians would cling on to the teachings that they had from the beginning. He implores them to not forsake what they have been taught by Jesus and the Apostles but that they would hold steadfast and not be tempted to falter away to these other teachings.

Mr. Reese used an example to illustrate the point here. There are people who's job it is to detect counterfeit money. They become so good at identifying the counterfeit they can spot it very quickly. How do you think they are able to identify it? Is it by studying all the different kinds of counterfeit? No! They study and get to know the genuine bills so well that they can even tell a counterfeit blindfolded. 

That's how it should be with us and the word of God! 

We should know God's word and His teachings so well that we can recognize when someone is teaching something false. The "counterfeit" teaching will stand out like Waldo on a blank page (I'm still waiting for that picture, then I would finally be able to find him). 

It is so important that we do not fall away to false teachings. They are everywhere. They penetrate our culture as well as our churches and we must stand guard against them. 

But we can only stand guard against them if we can identify them when they appear.

And we can only identify them if we immerse ourselves in the true and genuine teachings of God.

What are you doing to guard yourself against false teachings?