Listen or You May not Pass the Test

It seems like the closer we come to the return of Christ the farther more believers move away from faith. The Apostle Paul exhorts believers to "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith..." Paul was not exhorting believers in a nebulous general faith that stops at the day of rebirth, but a true faith in the gospel as well as faith in Jesus Christ, and in the promises of God through him. Paul also tells us that the gospel is the power of God to us who are being saved. Everyday in a believers life the power of the gospel should be experienced in a tangible way, being saved, delivered, healed, preserved, being made whole. But is this true for most believers? Are most believers "in the faith" as Paul is exhorting? Let's be honest, most believers in the USA are not functioning in the faith that Paul is talking about.

Test all things; hold fast what is good. (I Thessalonians 5:21) There are two important principles in this short verse of scripture that believers need to consider at all times. We will consider "Test all things" first. The Apostle Paul exhorts the church not to believe everything that is spoken through prophecy, teaching or preaching but to examine what is spoken. We examine these things through the weapons of our warfare that are mighty in God, His Word. The apostle John tells us, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
(I John 4:1) The word spirit here is used to express the man who was teaching as to whether his teaching was influenced by the Holy Spirit or his human spirit.

Unfortunately today there is more teaching and preaching coming from pulpits filled with the human spirit than with the Holy Spirit. How can we know this? Let's look at Mark 16:20...
 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. When the Word is preached by inspiration of the Holy Spirit then it is confirmed through signs.

About four years ago I became frustrated and discouraged because church had become dull and I wanted to know why. The LORD spoke to me and said, "Preach my word, not your word, tell people of my plan not what you think my plan is or what you want my plan to be and you will see my works". Naturally I took a look at what I was teaching and preaching to get a better understanding of what the LORD was saying. I noticed that I was teaching and preaching from the Bible, but adding things that I had learned or thought to be true. I came to realize that I was actually inoculating myself and other believers with concepts that did not build faith, which brought me to repentance. From then my eyes have been opened to see a spirit of error that is growing in the USA that works at twisting Gods Word and is deceiving many believers especially leaders. It stands against the teaching and preaching of faith, because faith, faith in the name of Jesus is what releases all the promises of God. Satan knows this an is hard at work using his arsenial of deception to keep believers from having great faith.

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.
(Hebrews 11:39) Do we see what is here? The Old Testament believers believed God but did not receive the promise of Christ. In Christ believers have been given everything that the Old Testament believers were only promised. Today, the promises of God are avaiable to every believer because they are a reality, they are fact! The world needs to see believers who truly put actions to their faith. Faith without corresponding actions is dead! Just because a teaching sounds good or preaching gets you excited does not mean it's the Word of God. So beloved, it is time to listen and "Test all things."

Not to Loud, We are in Church

I always find it interesting that so many believers can burst forth with excitement and emotion over a new product on the market, sporting or social events but in a church service be stoic and show little to know emotion. ACTS 2:5-13 reveals that the early church was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke to the people the "wonderful works of God." There was so much excitement that those from other parts of the world thought that they were jacked up on wine. Unfortunately the same holds true today, but instead of the world shouting the loudest, more times than not it's believers criticizing other believers.

Think about it, when did a new product, a sporting or social event ever have the ability to turn a person from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God? Yet when a believer expresses their extreme gratitude for "wonderful works of God" in their life, they are labeled a fanatic, to emotional or drawing attention to themselves. Somehow, someone has determined that shouting, clapping or lifting hands in a church service is disrespectful to the LORD and a church building has become a holy sacred shrine. The Apostle Paul tells us in I Corinthians 6:19 that a believers body is the temple of the Holy Spirit not a brick and mortar building.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem just days before He would be put to death, Luke 19:37-40 reveals that as Jesus drew near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise GOD with a LOUD VOICE for all the mighty works that they had seen. But the religious leaders, not to different from today, did not like what the multitude was doing or saying and wanted Jesus to rebuke His disciples, but Jesus answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."

Rejoicing and praising the LORD with a loud voice is powerful. It has brought down impenetrable walls of a city (Joshua 6), it has been used to defeat an army of enemies (II Chronicles 20) and it has been used to turn a seemingly bad situation around to save souls (Acts 16). In Peter 2:9 the word praises means virtue, excellence, manliness. Why won't believers act more like David the King when he brought the Ark of God to the City of David. David was not acting out of order or being disrespectful to the LORD as he danced with all of his might before the Ark of God, (although that is what his wife thought). On the contrary David was acting virtuous, excellent and manly. (I Samuel 4:9, I Corinthians 16:13)

So let us no longer be silent, but proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, because we were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. PTL...