Seek Christ in You not Men!

Acts 17:11
"11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so."

Interesting isn't it, it was Paul the apostle who was preaching, that the Bereans were testing. No man is so high up the ladder of spirituality that they cannot be questioned and tested. A true man of God would be excited that those listening were doing this. Only a prideful man would be angry at being questioned. Perhaps often we run into these prideful preachers, who really aren't sure of answers themselves aside from what was fed them in those man centered places of knowledge.

1 Timothy 3:7
"always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Paul taught the people to test all things through the Word. So why do we have so many preachers walking in pride thinking because they attended a Bible college or Seminary, they are above being tested?

Perhaps these learning institutions have created more pride than humility by fostering the sense that as long as you have been properly trained, you are on top of the heap.

When I once challenged a person about their actions, based on scripture, they told me that the pastors they spoke with agreed with their decision, therefore they knew what they were doing was right. I pointed out what the Scripture said that proved the pastors were not correct, that they were going with human traditions rather than the truth of God's Word.

I was rebuked, that I could not know because I didn't go to seminary. I laughed a little and asked a question; "Oh, does the Holy Spirit only go to seminary?" Then I asked another question; "does the Holy Spirit dwell in all believers." Silence occurred, I was dismissed as prideful and the visit was over.

Strange how quickly truth can silence a disobedient believer, if in fact this person was born again. But even more interestingly, we encounter these people all the time in church, they claim to love God, but refuse to admit they were not seeking Him, but were seeking human counsel for their solutions, heavily peppered with secular psychology.

Egypt is a picture of sin and the occult, when someone goes to Egypt for their counsel, they are following the ways of the world rather than Christ.

Isaiah 30:2
"Who proceed down to Egypt Without consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!"

We are to look to the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, for our counsel, we start by reading His Word while praying to seek His direction. If we will not read His Word and ask Him to enlighten it, then He will not speak to us.

1 Corinthians 2:16
"Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"

1 John 2:27
"As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him."

John 16:13
""But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."

I don't see anywhere here where God tells us to seek out those who have seminary degrees for our counsel. I see no place in the Word where God indicates we cannot know unless we have gone into some sort of human formal training.

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 said to you."

Romans 8:26
"In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;"

1 Corinthians 6:19
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?"

Isaiah 11:2
"The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD."

Acts 1:8
"but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

Acts 4:31
"And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness."

Matthew 5:6
""Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

Romans 8:9
"However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him."

John 16:12-15
"12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."

2 Timothy 3:15-17
"16 All Scripture is [a]inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

So you see, when Christ came to dwell in us at the moment of our salvation, He imparted to us all the wisdom necessary to be able to know truth.

James 1:5
"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

All these verses were written to all believers, everyone who has the Holy Spirit by virtue of being born again, has the same ability, different gifts but all they need to perform the gifts God has for them.

The Scriptures are the Standard

Those who walk closely with Christ will be willing to expose evil even at the expense of friendships or family. When we value Christ above anything or anyone, we will speak no matter what hate is thrown at us.

The Holy Spirit speaks through us and we must obey. All believers have the Holy Spirit and can know truth because of God Who lives in them.

The pope, Rick Warren, Imams and other "clerics", are not born again, we know that because of their violation of many scriptures. They speak with smooth words to flatter and disarm, keeping simple minded people off guard failing to evaluate what he says.

1 Peter 4:11
"Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

If we are born again and what we say matches the words of God in the Bible then we are speaking as the oracles of God. Speaking in the flesh our own opinions are not speaking as the oracles of God, we must learn the difference.

It is not a good idea to trust the words of men, or the teachings in the seminaries. Everything anyone says must be filtered through the Word of God, evaluated on that basis and accepted or rejected on that basis alone.