Test Every Spirit

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 

                                                                               (1 John 4:1-6 KJV)

Try the spirits! Discern whether the words; the promises; the prophecies; that you hear or read of God or of the world?

Those who are not of God will refuse to hear or accept the truth. They will also  consequently refuse to proclaim it themselves. They will do everything in their power to keep others from learning the truth that whatever they do is to glorify and profit themselves. Do not follow in the way of the world and the worldly for it will only lead to destruction.

This world is not all there is. There is so much more to life than what the world offers. We can live that abundant life even here by being in relationship with God our Father. All people have the privilege of knowing him and being in that relationship by virtue of the sacrifice made for us on the cross by Jesus. That is the truth that we need to rely on and not on the lies that are being proclaimed as truth today. There is no need to listen to false promises from soothsayers when you listen to Jesus. When you listen to Jesus you have the truth.

The false prophets that we should not be giving heed to are not just some Christian prophets as some would propose. They can be of any religion or even no religion. False prophets, no matter who they are, will attempt to lead you away from the truth. They will attempt to lead you away from Jesus as they keep you focused on the world. They will lead you and the world to destruction even as they claim that they are trying to save you. They cannot save. Only the truth who is Jesus the Christ can save you. Listen to him!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Listen And Discern

Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. (Prov 19:20-21 KJV)

There was a time when the advice of elders was actually listened to. It was not always followed; but, it was at least listened to. The hearer would then decide for themselves whether the advice was good or bad advice for their particular situation. 

Some of us learned some hard lessons by not taking good advice. Sometimes we learned hard lessons by acting on bad advice. We can and should respectfully listen to advice of those who have much more experience than we do; but, then we must also decide whether that advice is good or bad. Just because something appeals to us does not mean that it is going to be good for us. Does the advice fall in line with what the Lord would have us do? Or, does it fall more in line with someone's personal agenda and ego?

Search the word of the Lord. Listen to the counsel of the Lord. "For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly." (Prov 2:6-7) "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

The Word; A Two-Edged Sword

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb 4:12 KJV)

For the past twenty plus years I have preached the Sermon on the Mount at least annually. I do not edit it. I do not preach anything other than the exact words according to St. Matthew (usually the NIV). The first year that I did this was at a youth correctional facility. The congregation was made up of teen-age felons mainly from Wayne County, MI. The next day I was called into the head office. It had been reported that I had said that one of the youths' mothers was going to hell. I had said no such thing. 

The Sermon on the Mount for the most part; at least the Beatitudes, has always seemed to me to be comforting. However, there are parts of Jesus' sermon that will strike at a guilty conscience quite severely. It is not as though Jesus pointed a finger at any specific person. He merely points at what is right and at what is wrong. 

The word of God is like a two edged sword. The two edged sword is swift to destroy with both sharp sides. But, the sword can be used for two purposes on the battlefield. The first, most obviously, is to destroy. The second, with today's modern warfare, is not so obvious. When heated, the metal  blade of the sword was used to cicatrize wounds; to seal open blood vessels as well as other wounds. 

On the one-hand the word of God can bring us quickly to our knees as our spirits discern the judgment we have brought upon ourselves by daring to stand against the word of God. But, the word of God has a much more gracious purpose. Once wounded by the word, we are healed by the same word of God who desires nothing less than the good for you.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Paul Speaks the Truth

Old Sheldon Church Pulpit

"I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." (Romans 9:1-2 NRSV)

This verse never fails to bring a smile to my face. It reminds me of a child when he's trying to justify something he's done by making up some story to cover him or herself. It can be very difficult to know when someone is truly speaking the truth and so we must depend upon the Holy Spirit to help us discern the truth. I do; however, believe that we can believe Paul when he says that he is telling the truth. 

Paul is grieved because not everyone who he would have accept Jesus as the Messiah has accepted him. He has come to terms with the fact that some Jews are merely God's people in the flesh and not of the spirit. So; too, many pastors grieve as they look out over the congregations they have served for years and recognize that not all who sit in those pews know Jesus as their lord and savior. They may have been "born" into the church and raised in the church; but, their spirits have somehow managed to not know Jesus.

It is hard to swallow that people whom we love do not love God; that they do not even know him. It grieves many pastors; many parents; many a spouse; and, many friends to know that their loved ones do not know the love of God or the peace that surpasses all understanding. 

May God open the hearts of all people during this Advent and Christmas season to know; not just know about; but, to know Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. 

God's Peace - Pr. J

Cannot See As God Sees

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 

                                                                                     1 Sam 16:7 NIV

I am color blind. Both of my sons inherited that gene from me, as well. When my oldest son was first learning his colors he had a rough time of it. He did great in Math and reading; but, the color chart was something else. It did not help that it was me who was also unable to clearly discern colors who was helping him learn.

When my youngest son came home and showed the family his new "dark green" car he found out that it was purple. That misperception was kind of understandable as it was speckled paint that changed a bit when the sun shone on it. John is a photographer. It amazes me that one who is color challenged can produce such awesome work. He also works at for an electrical company and does various kinds of wiring and running cable jobs at which he really needs to be able to discern the various colored wires clearly. Recently, he received a pair of glasses for color blind people to help him at work. I tried them on. Wow! They work! I could see the colors around me much more vividly.

We all see things from slightly different perspectives. Our eyes do not see exactly the same things as others do. Sometimes the difference in our perceptions is totally physiological. It may be genetic or a health issue. Other times it might have more to do with our environment and the impact our experiences have had on our perspective of life and of people and even of God. 

Neither are any of us truly capable of seeing as God sees. We have a tendency to see only what is visible; the outward appearance. But, God sees right through the visible to know who we really are. His vision is not limited to those things that are seen; but, the things that are unseen, as well.

What we see with our eyes we often accept as the only truth for us. Yes, we judge others by what our eyes see. We fail to see that there is more to them than the outward appearance. What we see with our eyes often puts the brakes on so that we cannot go any further to see the real person. We refuse to go further to see and to know the heart.

Samuel was to anoint the new king of Israel. He saw Jesse's son, Eliab, an outstanding man in appearance and thought for sure this would be God's next choice for king. But, it was not. God chose the youngest son of Jesse, a mere shepherd boy. 

Our vision is not perfect only God can see all things perfectly. May God help us to see past the seen to those things which we cannot see so that we might learn to not judge as quickly as we have a tendency to do.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Discernment By The Holy Spirit

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

                                                                                                                1 Cor 2:6-10 NIV

Others may not have a clue to the mysteries that the followers of Jesus comprehend and sometimes we may forget that they don't. We expect them to understand what we might even call "common sense." But, it is not common sense that leads us to follow Jesus and to discern God's will for us. It is the Spirit of God who does this.

By the Spirit of God we are united in Christ. We are one. We who are of the Body of Christ have the mind of Christ. He is our head. Is it any wonder that we should be able to discern the things that come from God?

My constant prayer is that God would open eyes, ears, hearts, and minds of all whom we love so that all people might discern God's gracious and loving will for them and for the world around them.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Just Stop Doing Wrong!

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. Isa 1:16-17 NIV

I just finished reading a bit of news on the internet as I do every morning. There were some articles that I chose not to read because the headlines pointed to some pretty gruesome and despicable conduct. I get tired. I imagine much of the world gets tired of reading and hearing about the evil that is done. Some of the evil is so bold and in your face that it is nauseating.

Other evil deeds are more behind the scenes and are often looked at as lesser evils or maybe not even evil at all. What is evil is sometimes called good. This lesser evil can have an even more far reaching effect on the world than some of the seemingly worst atrocities because this type of evil has become generally accepted in society as something that we just need to learn to live with. It is often justified with the excuse that someone was exercising their personal rights without considering that someone else's personal rights just got trampled on. Just because one thinks that the damage they do to others is not as horrible as what others do does not make it right.  

Other evil deeds are perpetuated daily by a world that has forgotten what evil is. Sin abounds. The Lord's name is taken in vain. People curse one another and act like their words are said in jest. The filth that is seen on television makes it appear that these words and activities are actually good things. The list goes on. Do we really think that the youngest people who see and hear this evil can discern what it good and what is evil unless someone teaches them? And, who can teach them if we ourselves no longer know?

Evil is evil. Sin is sin and when we say that sin is no longer sin it changes the world's perception of what is right and what is wrong and wrong gets perpetuated and approved at an even more alarming rate. There is way too much evil in the world. Let us focus on doing what is good and right.

Create in us clean hearts, O God, And renew steadfast spirits within us. (Psalm 51:10)

God's Peace - Pr. J