Truth?

Yesterday my pastor talked about being aware of false prophets, teachers, doctrines, etc. He implored us to be careful who we follow, since who we follow will be who we become and who we become will be who we reproduce. Who do you want to become? What kind of fruit do you want to produce? He talked about how important it is to know the word of God and to be able to recognize when something comes up against it. He brought up how there are many Christian authors, speakers, etc out there bringing messages to people, and much of what they say can be good and true and honor the word, but that sometimes, there will be stuff amongst the truth that doesn't line up. So we need to be aware of what people are saying, no matter how it good it sounds, and take it to the word and see what God says. If we don't know the word well enough, we can be lured into believing a false doctrine, even though we don't mean to. He mentioned how a lot of time what these people end up doing is minimizing the word of God and that is never a good thing.

Now, I love to read books on Christian life and issues and people, and all that. There are times that I get so pumped up and motivated and inspired when I read some of these books. I will recommend books and rave about a lot of the things I got out of them; God's word and message can come alive and be seen more clearly through giftings of writers and speakers. God uses many things in life to give us revelation, but true revelation must match up with the word.

We must be careful not to go around and promote these books as the "all in all" or worship any of the authors/speakers. I know I have caught myself before, jumping the gun and saying how much I am enjoying a book when I start it, only to find out later in the book some questionable material. I want to be careful not to promote something I cant back up with the word. So until we can take something to scripture and back it up, we shouldn't be out walking in it or teaching others. A book never replaces the bible. There are many times where I stop and say "I'm not too sure about that" or "I am going to have to do some study on that one" type of thing. We can take a lot of things away from the books we read, positive and negative; but we always must remember, that they are not the bible. Whenever we do get some message from a book we read, whether we like it or not, we need to take it to the Bible and see how it lines up. I also think, the sooner the better. For if we ponder on something in our thoughts for too long we can start making it part of who we are and if it is something contrary to the word, it will not be good for us. For only God's ways are good. Or the opposite, if God was trying to use something to awaken you to a truth of His and you didn't like that truth so you just pass over it as you read it or hear it saying it isn't truth instead of taking it to the word for conviction to come, then you won't grow in your relationship as God desires you to.

We must remember, that only the Bible is the word of God. The measure for everything. It is not just a book that we can take and leave info from. It is the very word of God. All other books are just books. They might contain the word in them, but you cant call them the Bible. There are many gifted and blessed speakers and writers doing amazing things for the Kingdom of God and they can be such a blessing and inspiration for us. Yet we always must be responsible with the information we receive. Our personal walks with God can not be fully based off of what someone says, writes, teaches, preaches, etc. We need to go to God and dig into His word ourselves and make sure we are living in tune with His ways. We need to have a real living/growing relationship with God and we should be seeking to know Him as we worship Him with our lives. Scripture is so critical in this walk. It can not be minimized. Prov. 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Be ware of who you follow; only the truth brings life. Only the Bible is fool-proof. 2Tim. 3:15-16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Are you learning the word? Can you detect false doctrines? Do you esteem the word above all else? Do you only rely on others to fill you and teach you truth? Do your beliefs line up with what God says? Do you have a growing personal relationship with God? Do you have strong accountability in your life to help keep you on track with God? Are you willing to let go of your ways and follow God's truth?

Brothers and sister, I pray you fall in love with the word of God and write it on your hearts and consume your thoughts with it. Be careful who you follow, for that is what you will become and that is the kind of people you will produce. Follow Christ and point everyone to Him! God is so worthy of worship and honor; He is the giver of life and His ways are above all others! Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."

Truth and morals

I had a class discussion assignment last week dealing with morals... this is from something that I responded to the fact that people create their own...

What do you think about right and wrong? Are there determined moral standards for us? There are a lot of people in this world that don't think there are. There isn't really a truth, truth can bend. They follow their own idea of what is right and go off emotions or intellect. They can't go with anything against with what they feel no matter what anybody else (including God) has to say about it. They go about life in a self-centered fashion. They want to base their life off of what they feel will make them happy or feel good or attain the goals they have. There is no "moral compass" from which to compare truth and line up to it. I don't see how that can work. With all the people on this planet, nobody thinks the same way, everyone has ideas and thoughts. Who is to say who is right? All people are equal right? Or are we? How could anyone make laws or govern people? What would be truth? There has to be truth. God and His ways should be the "moral compass"- He is truth. If there is no compass then there is no God. If there is no God, then there was no creation. If there was no creation, then there is no purpose to humanity. Therefore, would morals even matter? Why care?

We need to line everything about our lives up to the word of God and see what He has to say and make that our answer.

Any thoughts?

Conflicts & Problems: Pass them on or Hold on

In small group last night we were talking about how we could be more loving to people around us, especially our enemies. We discussed how we need to be strengthened by God and real Agape love only flows from God.

We really must tap into the Lord daily for life to flow from us. He is the source of life. God is love. The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We can not attain these things in the correct manner or full capacity without God.

A thought cam to my mind in referencing our need to go to the Lord with everything. He asks that we lay our burdens at his feet, seek his wisdom, rest in Him, etc. He is our Father who loves us and has plans for us and desires for us to have a fullfilled life.

I thought about how when you are a parent and your children have issues amongst each other or with their friends and at first when they are toddlers you handle the problems teaching them what is proper and improper in how to behave and how to treat others. As they grow, the children run to you so trusting and so freely handing over their problems to you desiring for you to solve them. We get to the point where we tell them, handle the problem yourself. I don't want to deal with it. Stop hitting each other, you know better, be nice, say kind words, no throwing stuff, share toys, etc etc etc... typical parent to child lingo. We get tired of being burdened by such trivial matters that we feel don't call for intervention.

So kids grow up, learning to handle their own problems, which is good because they can not rely on someone else to fix everything for them for the rest of their life. They need to grow up and become responsible, right? But at the same time, if we have not taught them the correct way to figure out the wise choice for whatever obstacle, problem, fight, mishap, decision, etc that comes their way, they might not be successful in defeating it or solving it in the way that will glorify the Lord and benefit their life and the lives of the others involved.

We as adults a lot of times want to hold on to our problems thinking we know what to do or can figure it out. We don't run to God as much as we should. We don't run to Him trusting and freely handing over our struggles to him, like our young children do to us. He so desires for us to come to Him! He wants us to seek Him. He wants us to lay it all down. We try to do it in our own power, in our own wisdom and get frustrated and depressed and bitter, etc when things do not go right. We wonder why we cant be smart enough or able enough. We think we should be.

The great thing is that we don't have to be. We have a loving Father who always has time for us, who is always available, who is always willing to jump in and take control, who will always lead us into truth, who will always forgive us, who will guide us, disciple us, mold us, grow us, etc.

If we were not raised to know those things, if we were not taught to run to the Lord, to bring Him everything, to lay our life and our struggles at his feet, then it will probably be hard to get to that point where we do it automatically. But I pray if you are not doing that right now as of today, start! Make today the day where you abide in Him, seek, Him, run to Him and let Him love you.

And if you have children may you start today, if not doing so already, teaching them how to turn to God. Showing them how to pray, building their relationship with Him, knowing they can access the God of this universe to guide them into all truth and he will mend their heart and heal their soul. Teach them to pray for a forgiving heart, to better love the people around them, to draw closer to God, for wisdom to root and grow inside them, etc.

The answer isnt just, dont hit, share, be nice, etc. The answer is in teaching them those truths that can be found in the scriptures but also including the important aspect of prayer and the awesome power that is found in it. Teach them to understand what happens when we disobey, how the devil gets a foothold, how it hurts their heart and the heart of others, how love falls away and bitterness sets in, how everyone is broken and hurting and desiring love no matter how they act. Don't just mention what to do and not to do, but explain the truth behind it and then go to God together about it. Then as they grow they can know the answer is to seek God, not having to run to you first, or anyone else in the world who might lead them astray. God needs to be our first contact. He is our refuge. We all want whats best for our children and so does God. His ways are perfect because He knows us as humans. He knows how we work, how we think, how we feel, etc. He made us. You as a parent do not have to know all the answers, nobody does. Yet as you can always seek the Lord as a family.