Tag: faith

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Distinguishing between spirits

“discernment of spirits [the ability to distinguish sound, godly doctrine from the deceptive doctrine of man-made religions and cults]” AMP.

“the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit” NLT.

“the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God’s messages—or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking” TLB.

Is this God? Is this genuine? Or is it in fact demonic and more from the spirit of the world than the Holy Spirit? This is the gift that unveils the answer to those questions.

“….to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.” (1 Corinthians 12 v 10)

We need this gift. To be able to distinguish what is true and what is false is needed. To know what is good and what is evil is needed. To know whether a person is full of the Holy Spirit or is carrying a damaging spirit is needed. Seek this gift. You need it.

John told us to test the spirits and see if they are from God.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” (1 John 4: 1-3)

… do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

  • Not everything you hear can be trusted and believed blindly.
  • Not everything that is inspirational is from Him even though it might make you feel good.
  • Not everything that is false looks false at first otherwise there wouldn’t be a possibility of being led astray.

    … This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

    • Everything must be filtered through this one test: Jesus is the Christ in flesh sent from God.
    • Every religious experience must come under the submission of the orthodox teaching of and about Jesus Christ.

    … This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

    • Everything the Spirit of Christ does points to Jesus and if it doesn’t then it is the spirit of the antichrist.

    If you’re not sure then speak to a trusted person. See what they think.

    Last week I was speaking with a Church leader and his wife. He told me how his wife could see the truth in people far more than he could. He described how she had warned him about a certain leader a long time before he had betrayed him. I said that it was because she had been given the gift of discernment. This is the gift and we need it.

    Satan can appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

    Sometimes your friends may speak words that are not the words of God (Matthew 16:23 – ‘get behind me satan’ as Peter was trying to prevent Jesus going to the cross).

    We are warned by Paul that we will know a time when the devil will do miracles and that a powerful delusion will come on unrighteous people (2 Thessalonians 2: 9-10).

    We need this gift!

    Holy Spirit, I seek discernment. Help me to hear the words and see the actions of people through your heart and mind. Give me this gift so that I can discern your voice from the many opinions around my life. Show me how to compare the truth of your Word with other people’s truth and to know the difference. I cannot discern without you. I need to know what is true and what is false; what is good and what is evil; what is you Holy Spirit and what is another spirit. May Jesus be seen and glorified in my life as I discern what is good, what is from you and the direction I should take.

    Amen.

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    Follow my teaching not my example

    A strange title I know. But I do it for the reason you will see in this first paragraph.

    We are still reading about the food sacrificed to idols. Can we eat it or not? Paul will be saying NO but before he gets there he is addressing the real issue. That is some were saying as a Christian we are free to do so because idols don’t exist. If they don’t exist then of course it doesn’t matter if they eat any type of food. They have the right to eat. It still is the major problem in Church communities. My rights. Grace. I can do what I want. I can be who I want to be. Everyone else falls into line with my rights, right? Paul had the right to eat whatever he wanted. He had the right to have a wife. He had the right not to have to work so that he could be a full-time gospel preacher. He had the same rights as a soldier, farmers and shepherds who got paid for what they do, so he also should receive money for what he did, it was his right. Moses said he should be paid and even Jesus said it too (Luke 10:7) and Paul could have insisted he was paid for the Law and the Lord said so, it was his right. He is not advocating that everyone else followed suit but rather they understand the reason why he wouldn’t take payment. He did have an unusual dramatic conversion quite different to everyone else. There was a uniqueness about his calling and ministry. However the most important reason was his love. He laid down his rights for his love. That was the teaching point he brings through regarding the argument about the food and freedom.

    “Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8 Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”[b] Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. 15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9 v 4-18)

    Paul had rights and privileges as a Roman citizen. The right to vote and stand for public office. The right to make legal contracts. The right to hold property. The right to immunity from some taxes. The right to request Caesar hear his court cases as his journey in Acts describes. The right not to be tortured or whipped or receive the death penalty, unless he was guilty of treason. In the next letter that he writes to the Church Paul reminds them that “five times I received 39 lashes from Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I was stoned by my enemies” (2 Corinthians 11 v 24-25. That’s outrageous for a Roman citizen to receive. But it shows his heart of love. This was who he was. He was prepared to lay down his rights even if it cost him everything.

    • Your rights and privileges may become a stumbling block to some, so hide them.
    • Your rights and privileges are there not for luxurious living per se, but to sustain you in the mission and others too.
    • The ultimate price which is what Jesus paid is when you forgo completely your rights and privileges for the cause of love.

     We have a citizenship in heaven. We have been born again, a new birth, new creations in Christ Jesus. We have been given power, rights and authority. There are times when we will choose to move in those elements and we will know the protection and the power of God against circumstances that are unbearable. But there are days when we need to surrender our rights. There are times when we know it is the right thing to do, when our immunity from suffering is waived, when we become dust again and we know the pain of living.

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    Just stay as you are whether married, single, divorced, widowed, remarried or whatever …

    When I get married I will walk with God. If I was only single then I would walk more closely with the Lord. I’ll wait for the divorce to come through and then I will be free to see God use me. If I get remarried then I will back on track and God will start to work through me again. Nonsense. Just stay as you are. Stop playing around with whatever circumstance you find yourself in. Ignore whether others are more happier than you. For you, right now, you can have a walk with Jesus no matter your circumstance. That’s the pastoral advice from the Apostle.

    “Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. 20 Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. 21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24 Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.” (1 Corinthians 7 v 17-24)

    So embrace your current situation, the season you are in, who you are. Just stay as you are. God can use you right now as you are. Stop trying to change to prove or earn favour. It’s just tiring.

    Of course Paul isn’t saying remain in a sinful profession or continue to live sinful lives. We are called out from such. Neither are we being forbidden from changing our status whether married or single. This is about motive.

    If you’re waiting for something perfect to come along to begin to live out your faith and work for God then you will be waiting a long time.

    Afterall transformation happens not because you have changed your external circumstances but by allowing God to work through them.

    One more important thing to ponder on is verse 23. In a culture where everyone was used to seeing men and women in the market place with price tags around their necks, Paul says ‘do not become slaves of human beings’. This command is pertinent to us not because of the threat of literally being a slave but because of the various potential masters that overshadow our lives:-

    • The opinion and expectation of others.
    • Cultural pressures and societal norms.
    • Religious legalism and human traditions.
    • Unhealthy relationships.
    • Material possessions and the pursuit of them.
    • The approval of others.

    Just stay as you are. That list is nonsense. It is degrading. It is enslaving. You belong to Christ. He bought you for a price. It cost Him. So stay as you are.

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    How to approach people who are in the wrong, part 2!

    I have come to realise as I’ve got older not everything is what it seems.

    A numerically growing church doesn’t mean all is well backstage.

    A Christian who quotes the Bible doesn’t mean the Bible lives through their life.

    I think of a lady I used to Pastor who passed away many years ago. I can picture her in my mind right now standing in worship with her hands in the air and yet at the same time her head revolving around (not quite 360 degrees) watching everyone else, it was quite amazing to see. Was she worshipping? In one sense we could say she was. Was she being nosy? Again in one sense yes! This wasn’t synergy. This was 2 activities working against each other.

    I see that today in Christians and the Church. I see it in my own life.

    There were things in this Corinthian Church that were not healthy. These Christians were wrong and yet there were aspects that were true and right: they were saved, they were filled with the Spirit and they operated with the gifts that the Spirit brings.

    This letter did not start from verse 10 but verse 1.

    What I mean is Paul didn’t start addressing what was wrong with their lives. He does and he certainly has a good go but he shows us how to get there.

    This has become a very important leadership principle for me recently. Last week I was advising a Pastor caught in the middle of a difficult confrontational matter to firstly talk about Jesus; talk about all that Jesus has done for them; talk about the common ground; talk about the good. For starting with the positive is a good springboard to address the negative. 

    As with the opening verses you would not believe that the following verses were to a Church that was anything but healthy. Paul does this deliberately.

    “I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

    So how do we approach people who are in the wrong, part 2!

    1. Point out the good that you see in them.

    Paul reminds them that God has been generous to them. He can see that. He can see the grace that was given and experienced in Jesus. He sees the blessings that Jesus has given them. Jesus has given them everything they need. Paul builds a platform of thankfulness. He is attempting to lift them back on to that stage so that they themselves can see how far they have fallen from it.

    • Point out the growth that you see in them.

    Paul says that the good he sees has come about because they responded to the testimony that he and his team had given them about Jesus. “I see the growth in your life. I see the lessons you have learnt. You were really listening to my advice/to my preaching!” This is a challenge to us preachers to preach for long-term growth not short-term response. It is also an encouragement knowing that even the Apostle’s preaching didn’t bring about a perfect church!

    • Point out the hope for tomorrow.

    Everyone needs a future to live for. Paul is keen to show how God is faithful to them. They have hope because of God and it is found in Jesus. They are kept by Jesus. They have the presence of Jesus. Paul expects them to make it and so should we.

    What a beautiful way to confront?!

    One more thing. Let’s read the whole 9 verses again and let me identify something to you. Again this is Paul about to confront this Church for things that are not consistent with their faith.

    “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

    Every sentence contains God, Lord or the name Jesus. There are at least 16 references that are to do with Christ Jesus, God, Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, God our Father, Christ, He, Son and Jesus Christ our Lord. So finally maybe the best way to approach people who are in the wrong if they are Christians is to get their eyes off themselves and others and get them on Him alone who can help to bring about any change that is going to be needed.

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    But you/you however

    Paul is about to write that Titus should give practical instructions to the different age groups in the church. Sound doctrine is not mere theory for it must flow into practical living for everyone. There are 2 words he uses to move into that section and they are really important for Titus and for us.

    “You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.” (Titus 2 v 1)

    In the original it reads ‘but you’. The emphasis is on ‘you’ and the ‘but’ (or here in the NIV, ‘however’) is in contrast to:-

    … rebellious people… meaningless talk … deception, v10; But you/You however …

    … disrupting whole households … teaching things they ought not to teach… dishonest gain, v11; But you/You however …

    … myths … merely human commands, v14; But you/You however …

     … corrupted … do not believe, … minds and consciences are corrupted, v15 But you/You however …

     … by their actions they deny him … detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good, v16 But you/You however …

    But you/you however:

    • You don’t have to drift theologically.
    • You can live an authentic life.
    • You can be a disciple that is continually formed like Christ.
    • You can keep to a standard of evaluating what you hear.

    You don’t have to follow suit.

    You can stand in contrast to the culture around you.

    You can make and be the difference.

    You can walk into the same environment but speak differently.

    You can create a better sound.

    It can be said of you:- But you/you however.

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    Why are Churches old?

    Titus is in Crete (1:5), an island which was not easy to live on as a follower of Jesus. But he was there as a light in the darkness. Paul had left him there to complete the work. He writes to encourage him to do so.

    “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour, 4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.” (Titus 1 v 1-5)

    Paul was a Jew and Titus was a Gentile and yet the common faith meant that the Gentile was the true son of the Jew. He writes to his son but he knows this letter will be read to the churches in Crete and so he lays down his credentials in the opening of the letter: a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ and preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.

    Here he is his true son, Paul has at least another spiritual son, Timothy. But in the letters of Corinthians Paul describes him in other ways:-

    My brother in 2 Corinthians 2:13 and my partner and co-worker in 2 Corinthians 8:23.

    Paul’s visit to Crete is not mentioned by Luke in the book of Acts and so presumably his mission took place after his first imprisonment in Rome and after Luke had written his account to Theophilus. The task for Titus was to appoint elders/leaders for the churches that had been established in the mission of Paul.

    The Church in 2024 needs more spiritual fathers (and mothers) who have spiritual sons (and daughters) but not that they lord it over them or suppress them, restricting them from fulfilling the call of God on their life. But these relationships should be seen also as brother (and sister), true family and even more than that, partners and co-workers. How can Titus a spiritual son be a partner and a co-worker of the Apostle Paul? Only if Paul understood the economics of God. The Church that has held back the younger generation and not released them to levels of authority looks around and wonders where that generation has gone to. The spiritual fathers and mothers who have acted with weak, immature and controlling parenting skills now have no one to pass the baton on to. The Church that is old and dying is the church that rejected its young.

    I am excited going into this letter sent to a spiritual son and a brother, partner and co-worker, to someone who was given authority to lead when the spiritual father left him to do so.

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    Paul responds to the allegation.

    Paul moves us forward in his second letter to speak of the Anti-Christ and the return of Christ. But he does so with a background noise of false rumours. Though we need to understand what these false rumours are it may encourage someone reading these next 2 verses that Paul and his team had to handle allegations that were simply not true.

    “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.” (2 Thessalonians 2 v 1-2)

    It would appear some false teachers had got hold of something that Paul had said or had written and twisted it completely. For example, Paul had said in 1 Thessalonians 5 v 8 that the believers belonged to ‘the day’ and so this must mean the day of the Lord has already come because we belong to it. If the day of the Lord has come and the persecuted are still here on earth then they must have missed His coming!

    How did they hear of this rumour? Paul says it could have been a misquoted prophecy of Paul’s; or a preached message of Paul; a letter that Paul supposedly had written. We don’t know anything more about those 3 examples but Paul cites them as the possible means of which has unsettled and alarmed the believers.

    • There are times when you will experience an attack on what you have believed you heard from God. The NASB states, “that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us”. The word is pneuma which the NIV translates as prophecy but as you can see it simply means ‘spirit’ and so it could mean any kind of gift. The main point is that you can face an allegation that you have said something from God which you did not say.
    • There are times when you will experience an attack on what may have originally been a message of encouragement that you were bringing. To see people you love now being unsettled, alarmed and disturbed because some have twisted your message can be hurtful for you because it is the opposite of your intention.
    • There are times when you will experience an attack on being misquoted from something you have written. People can easily misread into what you wrote. You may wonder how on earth they can interpret what you wrote in that way but they can and they do. As you read what you wrote it stuns you to think how it can be read that way but it has been.

    What do you do?

    Go again. Repeat. Write another letter as Paul has done.

    Bring it to the surface. Expose the false allegation. If it is a lie call it what it is. You may not be able to stop people speaking badly of you but you can do what you can do.

    Paul used it to speak the truth of the coming of Christ and we will see that next. However, Paul wanted them to know what he hasn’t said and what he doesn’t believe.

    “It is a lie. Don’t believe it. Don’t accept it. That’s not what I said.”

    There are times when you just have to move on. But equally there are times to say ‘NO THIS IS A LIE’.

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    Christ who is returning is the Christ who died for us; 3 truths that promise our eternal security.

    Yesterday I wrote about the hope of salvation that is ours. If you haven’t read it you should, it will encourage you! But how can we be so certain that we are saved and will be saved when Christ returns? It is because of 3 truths.

    “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 9-11)

    How can we be so certain that we are saved and will be saved when Christ returns?

    1. God appointed us for salvation, v9. It was God’s intention that we wouldn’t be left out in the cold or rejected. God wanted us and He still does. He wanted us to be forgiven through the action of His Son, Jesus Christ. So how can I be certain? God decided that salvation be ours.
    2. Jesus died for us, v10. This wasn’t an act that simply is a benefit of kind. No. This is that Jesus died in our place, it was our death that He took. So how can I be certain? He was the substitute. So that we will never be in that place of death.
    3. We have a promise of living with Him, v10. Whether we are awake (it means being alive when He comes) or asleep (having died and immediately with Christ) how can we be certain? we have a promise of life with Jesus.

    So the promise of eternal security is based on God’s decision and purpose for our salvation resulting in the Son of God’s death on the cross. It is not based on our performance of holiness for how much holiness would be needed to secure it? It is not based on our feelings for how do quantify feelings? It is all based on God, who He is, what He has said and what He has done!

    This is what we should be continuing to encourage one another with, v11.