He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught. Then he’ll be able to comfort others and build them up with the true teaching, and he’ll be able to prove that people who oppose it are wrong.
Preach the word, be ready to serve God in good times and bad, correct people’s mistakes. Warn them, encourage them with words of hope, and be very patient as you do these things. Teach the people carefully,
Then we won’t be babies in the faith anymore. We won’t be like ships tossed around by the waves and blown here and there by every new teaching. We won’t be fooled by the tricks that people use to hide their real plans.
Don’t be led astray by all kinds of strange teachings. It’s good for our hearts to be made strong by God’s grace, not by eating foods that the law requires. Those foods don’t do anything for the people who eat them.
Make sure that no one misses out on God’s grace and that no bitter plant grows up, because if it does, it will cause trouble and make many people impure.
“Be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with partying, drunkenness, and the worries of life. Then the day when the Son of Man returns will close on you suddenly like a trap.
If you point out these things to the brothers and sisters, you will be serving Christ Jesus well. You’ll show that you’ve been strengthened by the truths of the faith and by the good teaching you’ve obeyed.
As I told you when I went into Macedonia, I want you to stay there in Ephesus. I need you to command certain people not to teach things that aren’t true and not to spend their time on made-up stories
I warn you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and who trip you up by teaching you things that are the opposite of what you’ve learned. Stay away from them,
So I put up with everything for the good of God’s chosen people, so that they also can be saved through Christ Jesus, with glory that will last forever.
“Look out—you’ll be handed over to the local courts, and you’ll be whipped in the synagogues. You’ll be brought in for questioning by governors and kings because of me. But in that way, you’ll become witnesses to them.
But God has helped me right up until this very moment. So I’m standing here and speaking about him to everyone, whether they’re kings or just ordinary people. I’ve been saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses said would happen.
by trying to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles in order that they can be saved. By doing that, they’re continually increasing their sins to the maximum. But God’s anger has come on them at last.
God wisely planned that the world wouldn’t be able to understand him through its own wisdom. Instead, God was happy to use the foolish things we preach to save those who believe.