War Of The Worlds - Part 2 Series

War of the worlds - part 2

January 25, 2004 AM

[s1]

Let me review a few things from last Sunday morning;

One of the buzz words we hear a lot of today in religious circles is "God told me"

s2]

I want you to see that saying "God said" when "God didn’t say" is taking God’s name in vain -- and much worse than any cuss words you could ever verbalize.

Now the reason that we are looking at this is that when we think we hear from God we have to judge that feeling or prompting by something --

There has to be a guildeline -- some absolute to evaluate what we’re hearing or feeling --

Because what Paul taught us was that flesh is unreliable

[s3]

Today -- everyone is saying that there are no absolutes.

We are told that truth is relative, it’s based on the situation or circumstances were in.

But I have to disagree --

The law of gravity is an absolute --

Measurements are absolutes.

Everyone must use the same standard of measurment.

Just because you want a bigger inch doesn’t mean you can use a ruler with a bigger inch.

So there are absolutes -- things that do not depend on circumstances, situations, or what people think or feel.

When it comes to what we think God is saying to us --

[s4]

There is one absolute absolute -- The Bible.

Everything God says will line up with what the Bible says or it isn’t God.

And not just a few individual verses -- but it will line up with what the Bible teaches as a whole.

If it doesn’t line up with the written Word -- it isn’t God.

No matter how strong you feel it, or how great you think it is --

So why is it that sometimes people say "God told me" when in reality it wasn’t God or at least it wasn’t what God really said?

What happens that causes that?

Last week we explained and showed you that

[s5]

We have a mind, a body, and a spirit.

Now when we accept Christ, when we commit our lives to Jesus --

When we become born again --

It is our Spirit that is made righteous instantly.

But you have two other parts;

The mind and the body.

The mind is born again progressively.

And the body gets changed at the rapture or resurrection of the dead.

Spirit is born again instantly, mind is born again progressively, body is born again at the rapture.

When God speaks, or the Spirit prompts, or there is a feeling that we interpret as God saying something --

[s6]

We need to understand that it begins as a clear, pure Word in our Spirit.

But our spirit does not have access to the real world except through our minds and our bodies.

[s7]

Which means -- even though it starts out pure -- but it passes through our thought processes,

and eventually comes out of our mouths --

[s8]

And it is no longer pure.

It is colored, or tainted by our thoughts, and our personalities, and our wants, and our desires.

So what begins as a pure word from God is colored or tainted by us.

[s9]

Our minds and our mouths taint and color every thing that begins in our spirit --

No matter how spiritual or how pure it may have been in the beginning.

I am sorry -- but if Paul struggled with this - so do you and I.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul is teaching about the gifts of the Spirit and their use in the church --

[s10]

Chapter 14, verse 29 says -- (NKJV) Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

Now He’s talking about speaking in tongues, and interpretations, and prophetic words --

And he says "No more than 2 or 3 in a service at the most"--

And everyone else is to judge what is said.

What does he mean "judge what is said?"

It means, we try to see what the true pure word of the spirit was,

While filtering the color and taint that may have come as a result of the speakers mind and body.

Last week we dealt with prophetic words and interpetations in the local service --

Today I want us to look at the proper perspective on the ministry of the prophet and prophetic Word.

[s11]

First we need to ask are there prophets today?

Is the ministry and office of the prophet valid for today?

Well let’s look at the written Word;

[s12]

Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

These listed as gifts to the church -

The church did not exist until the new testament -- so it was for the church we are a part of.