Ask God and He will Tell You!

God said: "You shall know them by their fruit."

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

When we observe believers who are using worldly thinking and ways to bring the gospel we might be seeing someone who is not led by the Holy Spirit. Here is what God says about that:

Romans 8:14

"14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God."

Many people who say they are Christians do not understand the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who have been changed into a new creation by Christ.

This is why we see so many people who lack the fruit as mentioned in Galatians and who are not led by the Spirit as mentioned in Romans.

The Spirit in us will connect to the Spirit in another believer. If there is no connection.

Many times I have been with "Christians" but there was no sense of Spiritual connection and there was a lot of rejection of Biblical truth in favor of worldly thinking.

Even if a Christian is born again, if they fight and argue against the truth on a regular basis it is time to leave the friendship. God made it clear that we are to challenge one another daily so that we do not forget His Word. When someone refuses to consider the Words of the Bible and fights to defend the worldly way they like, then they will not be open to the truth.

Hebrews 3:12-14 "12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first."

Hebrews 3:12-13

"Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

We are accountable to one another so that everyone may grow in holiness. Those who want to be an entity unto themselves will not grow because they have neither encouragement to continue or correction to change. They are arrogant and self-willed.

May each of us love the Word of God so much that we are willing to hear from others and also willing to test what they say according to the word of God. And, most of all we are willing to ask God so that we will know when someone is telling the truth or not.

Worldly Ideas Have Infiltrated the Church

I have heard it said; "When you know better you do better" but this cannot be true because many people who know better choose to ignore what they know and keep disobeying God.

There are many sayings in the Christian church that people think are Biblical but are not and come from the world that thinks everyone is basically good.

Darwin taught that people are nothing more than animals who respond to stimuli. He taught that if we treat people well they will return the love with love.

Those of us who are born again and know our Bibles understand that this is false. We are not animals who respond to stimuli, we are born with a selfish nature that will treat others rudely when it suits us. The only remedy to this selfish nature is to become born-again through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Through the study of 2 Timothy 3 and observing people for more than 70 years of my life I know that often people react with anger and jealousy when there is no good reason for it. Their own need to be first and best will cause them to believe their targets of hate deserve to be disrespected.

We know this from the way the world treated Christ and the apostles. They were murdered, reviled, and mocked merely for telling the truth that would have helped save people from hell if they had heeded the warnings.

Matthew 10"21-23 "…21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. Truly I tell you, you will not reach all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.…"

We must present the truth in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave all the results to God. We will be accused of doing something wrong if others become angry merely because of the response. Ignore those who judge your delivery based on responses. This is unbiblical and devilish designed to cause us to worry about how we say something rather than trusting in the Holy Spirit for our conversation.

How Long Has the Apostate Church Been Growing?

40 years ago I heard two statements from former retired missionaries that left me with a sick feeling. These statements were that "we should compromise the gospel for the sake of unity" and the second statement was that "if we are too heavenly minded we can be no earthly good." Both of these statements were lies that flew in the face of God, teaching compromise and false principles while claiming they were from God.

This missionary couple were on the field for over 40 years and didn't understand the basic principle that Christ always comes before people and that compromising His gospel so that people get along was blatantly against God's Word.

The second statement denied that the more heavenly-minded we are the more we will carry out God's purpose for us on earth.

This encounter with these very old missionaries left me wondering how many missionaries have been on the mission field speaking things God never said and making friends with heathens just to be accepted and admired by them.

When missionaries bring a false gospel to the people they serve they are creating false converts. There may be a few people who come to the Lord in spite of the lies these missionaries tell, but many will believe them and follow them instead of Christ.

Is it any wonder "Christianity" has taken a turn toward apostasy in the past century? Many false practices and false beliefs have been in play, inching toward the apostasy we see today.

2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

We have more subtle lies that are moving through the churches, such as "we should say things in a way they will be received." This statement makes the delivery of a human being more important than the working of the Holy Spirit within the believer as the messenger.

We do not have to figure out how to speak to people when we are trusting the Holy Spirit. If we know the Word of God well we can speak what God said and the Holy Spirit will deliver it to the hearer.

Matthew 10:19-20 "…19 But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to respond or what to say. In that hour you will be given what to say. 20 For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

No matter what situation we are in the Holy Spirit is the One Who should be speaking through us. We don't have to be "careful" how we say something. Someone may need a gentle delivery and others may need a strong one. The Holy Spirit knows better than us what is needed for each individual. Anyone who teaches human formulas for anything is not trusting the Holy Spirit.

The idea that we are to use a generic response devised by man is not Biblical and only intimidates most believers into silence. Since many believers do not know the word of God and they have been taught to be very careful how they say something they worry more about the delivery than they depend on the Holy Spirit.

It has been my experience with most Christians that they do not understand the working of the Holy Spirit, do not trust Him and even seem embarrassed at the mention of Him. In other words, they do not depend on the Holy Spirit.

Exodus 4:12

"Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say."

Luke 12:12

"For at that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say."

Acts 13:9

"Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked directly at Elymas"

The Holy Spirit lives in every born-again believer, we have no need to trust in our own devices or human ideas about delivery or specific words. God's word should flow from us without worry or reservation.

John 14:26

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

Depend on the Holy Spirit and study to know God's Word well and you will not have to worry about the delivery.

John 16:13

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come."

Trust Christ Alone

Gossip, do not Listen!

"Be careful what you hear about others, you may be hearing it from the problem."