{"id":1794,"date":"2023-01-15T21:39:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T20:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2023-01-15T21:40:46","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T20:40:46","slug":"continue-in-what-you-have-learned-and-believed-the-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1794","title":{"rendered":"Continue in what you have learned and believed &#8211; the book"},"content":{"rendered":"<span itemprop=\"description\"><p>In one of his last letters, the apostle Paul wrote to his apprentice, Timothy, \u201cWhat you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus\u201d (2 Tim 1:13). He repeated that exhortation. \u201cAnd the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others\u201d (2 Tim 2:2). As I reach retirement from pastoral ministry, I have been reflecting. Which of \u201cthe things you have heard me say\u201d would I most hope the churches I have served might remember and wish to pass on?<br \/>\nThrough the years, I hope my ministry has made it easier rather than harder for other people to follow Jesus. Within that, here are ten vital truths which have shaped and characterised all my preaching and teaching, beginning with the most important.<br \/>\n1\tGod loves you!<br \/>\n2\tEternal life is our relationship with God<br \/>\n3\tPrayer is at the heart of our relationship with God<br \/>\n4\tThe work of the Holy Spirit is essential<br \/>\n5\tThe Bible remains central to Christian life and faith<br \/>\n6\tEffective outreach to today\u2019s world is vital<br \/>\n7\tBeing a disciple is very important<br \/>\n8\tChurch is not an optional extra for Christians<br \/>\n9\tScience and Christian faith \u2013 not either\/or but both\/and<br \/>\n10\tThe church still needs ministers<br \/>\nThese principles have always been important to me, and this compilation of sermons and articles explores them in turn. Paul also urged Timothy, \u201cBut as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it\u201d (2 Tim 3:14 in the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021). That is my hope and my prayer for myself, for my friends and for my churches: keep on going.<br \/>\nI have put these important messages together in my new book, &#8220;Continue in what you have learned and believed&#8221;, published by the College of Baptist Ministers. If you would like an free electronic copy, or to buy a print edition, do get in touch!<\/p>\n<span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"excerpt\"><span itemprop=\"description\">In one of his last letters, the apostle Paul wrote to his apprentice, Timothy, \u201cWhat you heard from me, keep as the pattern of&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p btn-align-left\"><a class=\"blue zoom-btn\" href=\"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1794\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1797,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/1797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}