Can you spot a lie that has been carefully wrapped in truth? The sermon starts with headlines, adverts and everyday excuses, and moves to Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 3 that counterfeit godliness can look almost identical to real faith. The story of Corrie ten Boom, who years later shook the hand of her former camp guard, shows where a strength we do not possess on our own comes from. Listen in and ask yourself whose voice you are giving room to in your spiritual life today.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Paul describes people who have an appearance of godliness but deny its power (2 Timothy 3:1-9). How do you understand the difference between the form of godliness and its power?
- The sermon pointed out that Timothy knew not only Paul's teaching but also his way of life, patience and persecutions. Why does watching someone's everyday life reveal more than just listening to their teaching?
- The speaker compared false spirituality to the Trojan horse and to a lie wrapped in truth. Which half truths about God or faith are easiest to accept today without discernment, including from the internet and social media?
- Paul writes that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Where at school, work or in your family does faithfulness to God require you to go against the current, and how do you handle it?
- Corrie ten Boom found the strength to shake the hand of a former guard when she remembered the words of Scripture about forgiveness. How does God's Word help you do what you cannot do in your own strength?
- Paul urges: continue in what you have learned, because all Scripture is breathed out by God. What will you change this week so that the Bible is more to you than a collection of motivational quotes?
