2 Timothy 3
2 Timothy 3:1-17 (NKJV)
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;
9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,
11 persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
In a world depicting this description of the last days, it is necessary to turn away from its influences that would affect us in any way. By remaining true to the teaching we’ve received from the Word and faithful to the relationships we’ve been called to, there is hope to remain pure from those destructive and condemning patterns of darkness. It’s not just remaining true to the things learned, though, but in the knowing of those that have imparted them – Vs14-. It’s in the community of both receiving and imparting the truth that there is a successful turning away from the world and joining them on a path to destruction. This turning from the world comes with an assurance of persecution and difficulty, but it is also in these oppositions that our overcoming rises to the moment with overwhelming force. Those foundational revelations from the scripture that have been weaved into the core of our new nature will equip in every way those who are pressing to the heart of God in obedience to His Word. Not only will there be preservation through the troubled times, but victory and triumph with rejoicing through the greatest of trials and fires – fixed forever on the source of life together in Him.
A spiritually weak woman will listen to any teaching and not have any revelation of truth. Ouch.
There is a need to filter what and whom you’re listening to. Not everyone who teaches, teaches truth, and we are to be so built up in the Holy Spirit that we know immediately and are able to discern truth.