Greetings! and thank you for the opportunity to come your way and spend a few moments in the word of God and prayer. This week, I want us to address a is very important and perhaps a troubling area in the church and the body of Christ at large and it has to do with strange doctrines. Hebrews chapter 13, verses seven through nine says, ‘Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be cared about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods that have not profited those who have been occupied with them.’ So, the writer of Hebrews here is encouraging believers, he's saying, remember those who've spoken the word of God to you, follow their faith and look at the outcome of their life and then in the middle of that, he says, look at Jesus, He's unchanging, the same yesterday, today and forever. Then he says, verse nine, don't be carried about with various and strange doctrines, but he says, for the heart to be established, you need good food, otherwise, these strange doctrines are like foods which have not profited those who take them in. So strange doctrines are a problem in the church today. Many pulpits spend a lot of time talking about things that are not essential, things that have more to do with matters outside of the word of God and whole congregations and masses of Christians are swayed by these things and you wonder whatever happened to the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God, with pulpits so preoccupied with other things these days. So, what we're going to do this week, is not talk about the strange doctrines, but talk about what the bible does tell us to focus on. So, that we as believers, in our listening to the Word of God will choose these kinds of preaching and teaching that are aligned to the instruction of the word of God and do away with various and diverse, strange doctrines, which actually is like eating bad food, it's not good for you and could potentially destroy you. The first thing that we must look at in the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God, is to make sure that it is Jesus focused and Cross centered. When you listen to the preaching that comes from any pulpit, the first question to ask is it Jesus centered? Is it Jesus focused and cross centered? The apostle Paul wrote in first Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 23 he said, ‘we preach Christ crucified.’ In second Corinthians chapter four and verse five, he said, ‘we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord.’ Is the preaching and the teaching of the word of God, pointing us to Jesus Christ and is it emphasizing the Cross of Jesus, what Jesus did on the cross and why He did it and how we need to relate to His finished work on the cross? If that is missing, then you need to question what you're hearing and avoid diverse and strange doctrines which are not useful for you spiritually and could also potentially destroy you. Is the preaching and the teaching of the word, Jesus focused, Cross centered? The first criteria let's pray, Father, we ask that you help us discern what's happening in the church today, in what we feed our spirits with, may we be wise and discerning to receive that ministry of the word that is Jesus focused, Cross centered, pointing us to the finished work of Christ on the cross. We thank you, Father, in Jesus’s name, Amen.

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