“Ezekiel 3:16-19
This is part of the calling of a pastor… I must speak the truth for two reasons… First, I love you… Second, it’s required of me…
• I don’t want us to be deceived, so I must warn us…
Please beware of listening to prophets that tell us what we want to hear… We must value truly hearing from the Lord over what our desires are…
• The measure of a prophet is truth, and scriptural alignment. If they say it’s from the Lord, and it doesn’t come true, please do not put your trust in them.
Jeremiah 28(verses 6-9, 17)
Deuteronomy 18:18-22
• “Presumptuously” – Is this what the Lord is really saying? Or is this our best advise? Or is this something we really want to happen?
Not judging motive… that’s God’s job… only asking us to guard our hearts.
• Not all that is emotional and heartfelt and well-intentioned is of the Spirit… being genuine doesn’t equal truth… On your own please read Acts 20/21…
Acts 20:22-23
Acts 21:10-12
1 John 4:1-8
V1 “every spirit” even from people that sound good, that are exciting, that are dynamic, that seem smart… test everything… Not just those that seem strange to you, but those that would seem trust worthy… test everything I say!!!
• It’s easy if something is said in a certain way, and seems familiar, to simply accept it. Let us be discerning, even with those that would seem spiritual…
• And why do we test? Because “many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
V2-3 Gnostic claimed that Jesus didn’t truly come in the flesh, but temporarily inhabited His body… do not even entertain this type of teaching (2 John 1:9-10)…
• So our first test is; what does the teaching say about Jesus…
• Gnostic’s would claim to have secret knowledge… these are the teachers that (1 John 2:27) is referring to…
• Those that received this letter, there teachers were those with John himself and the Apostles… so this was saying beware of these new teachers that always seem to have secret knowledge about God… that carry themselves as though they have the corner on truth…
• They may be smart and seem to know a lot, but pride has a funny way of making foolish the intelligent…
V4 You don’t have to live in fear of these false teachers and doctrines, we can overcome them and not be bound by them because we have Jesus Christ within us… We can have courage in a world filled with deception…
V5-6 “us” = Apostles/ and there teaching… we see two things here… first one more test;
• Are the things that are being taught, being fully embraced by this world… “the world listens to them…” if they are, beware…
• Second, “he who is not from God does not listen to us…” is it lining up with the word of God…
V7-8 I believe the final test is the love test…
• If we are to truly be found in God, His love must be found in us… beware of a loveless teacher… (1 John 1:7-11)
• Is their grace, is there love for the body… Is the teaching in love for brothers and desire for transformation, or is it a desire to control…
So, (back to verse 4) by the test of what the apostles taught, what exactly did they teach?
A few highlight that touch the culture of the day…
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Jesus invites us to come as we are, but does not coldly call us to remain as we are… Jesus calls us to a radical re-organization of our lives, one centered around Him and His godly desires for our lives, and not our own self-will…
• Jesus calls us to be transformed… to need Jesus, a savor, means that something is wrong… Jesus calls us to repentance… God is not cold in this, He cares more about our character and truth and our well-being than we do…
• When the creator God of all this universe comes into our lives it’s going to change us… He gives us life and protection…
Our lives become transformed by His words and presence… Our truest self, our truest identity is found in Christ alone… not in the desires of our old man… there is an eternal reward for saying no to that old self… Be careful of any ‘gospel’ that would tell us otherwise…
Concerning our nation, I’m a patriot… but I have dual citizenship… I am first a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven/ God…
Kingdom of God/Heaven is used 107 in the New Testament… here are just a few…
Matthew 5:3, 10-12
Matthew 6:10
Matthew 13:44-46
Luke 9:61-62
Luke 12:30-34
Luke 21:10, 31
John 18:36
There is difference between the kingdoms of this world, even ones we love, and God’s kingdom…
In fact, when Jesus was taken to the high place during His wilderness temptation part of the temptation was one of seizing power, and the human lust for power and control…
“We must keep America first in our hearts. We must keep freedom alive in our souls. And we must always keep faith in America’s destiny. That one nation under God, must be the hope, and the promise, and the light and glory among all the nations of the world. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America…” – President (In an address to congress)
• Who is the hope, and the promise, and the light and the glory among all nations… It’s not America, it’s Jesus Christ…
• Yes, Jesus can use nations… Who must be first in our hearts? It must be Jesus Christ…
• If Jesus is first in our hearts we will be better citizens, and as a nation has more people are genuinely in love with Jesus, that nation will honor God better in it’s direction… but we cannot get the cart before the horse…
• Our allegiance is first to Jesus, and following that, all other allegiances must be secondary…
• I love our country, but I must love Jesus more to live in alignment with God’s word…
We’re not looking for a middle ground here, we’re looking for a holy ground… the ground the Lord walked on… there are extremes we need to be leery of… but we must find the holy ground…
I’ve seen the scares from false prophets and false teaching, I’ve had to walk people through the hurt…
• I’ve seen people wrestle with false teaching and I’ve seen it cripple their faith… I’ve had to be a help in rebuilding it…
• It’s not about me being right, I don’t believe I’m the oracle of all that is right… it’s about centering ourselves on the compass of God’s rightly divided word… and not allowing what we want to happen to cloud what God is actually saying is going to happen…
• With all sincerity, the seemingly good things we want to happen can sometimes overpower the truth, and what is real and what is not…
• I’ve seen the end of those roads, too much damage & hurt has been done to the children of God…
• My warning is giving in love, my warning is giving in care, my warning is giving in hope, I want what’s best for everyone here, I love you guys, guard your hearts against these things… it would be easier to whistle past this, but if I love you, I can’t, I have to share truth, I love you guys…
I know this wasn’t an easy word… if you have questions or thoughts, please connect with me…”