Month: May 2010

Why false teachers don’t want you to read the Bible yourself

There is a reason why cults and apostate churches demand the right to “interpret” the scriptures for their followers–it is because no sane person could ever read the scriptures for himself or herself and arrive at the conclusions the false teachers want their people to believe.
From the Vatican’s teachings that there is a purgatory, and that Mary is the “mother of God” and a co-mediator with her Son between God and man, to the “Jehovah’s witnesses” claim that Jesus is a created being that started out as Michael the Archangel until he was given a body in Bethlehem, that he was killed on a stake, not a cross, and that God is not omnipresent but lives on a particular star in outer space, to the mormons’ assertion that Jesus and Satan are brothers in a cosmic battle of petty sibling rivalry, to the eastern orthodox tradition of baptizing horses, selling communion bread, and doing a divination ceremony for 1 year olds to predict their future–the only way such beliefs can ever take hold is if the leaders intentionally keep the followers ignorant of what the word of God says.
That’s why I have repeatedly instructed those who are hearing my teaching here in Cluj on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, that they are being held responsible by God to read the Bible for themselves, and to not accept anything that I tell them if they do not find it to be the clear, plain teaching of the Scriptures. While I do not ever want to be in error in my teaching, and I pray and study to try to prevent it, I have to say that if I am wrong in my teaching, it would be a very joyful moment in my life to have one of my disciples bring the Bible to show me the error of my ways. I would commend them publicly and suggest everyone emulate their Berea-like spirit.
Another thought on a somewhat related note–I was thinking on the importance of obeying the scriptures’ admonition to not be too quick to “lay hands” on some young believer, ordaining him for leadership of ministry. The founder of the JW cult, which now has five million-plus members, started out his work as an 18-year-old who was given a Bible class to teach in New York. Another example–David Koresh of Waco, Texas, whose false claims to be the messiah led to the physical and spiritual deaths of many, also began his false “ministry” as a youth, when he was given an adult Sunday school class to teach in an evangelical church.

Don’t Kid Yourself (It’s about obedience, part 2)


“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
–James 1:22
Imagine you’re the parent of a ten-year-old child, and this evening you want your son to go clean up his messy bedroom. You go into the living room and find him and say, “Turn off the TV now, and go clean your room.” He nods, agreeing to do what you’ve said, so you go into the kitchen to start making dinner.
A few minutes later, you listen to the sound from the next room and realize that the TV is still on. Incredulous, you walk into the room and your son is still sitting right where he was when you told him to go clean his room. Raising your voice a bit to get his attention, you say, “I told you to turn off the TV, get up, and go clean your room.”
And he looks up at you and responds, “I know — I heard you,” and turns his head back toward the TV screen again. He sits there confidently, as if you have absolutely no reason to be upset with him.
A little louder now, you say, “Get up now, and do as you’re told.”
“I’m not ready yet,” he says. “I might do it later. But either way, I want you to know that I fully understand what you’re asking of me. You want me to stop watching this program, turn off the TV, and get up and go clean my room. So there is no need for you to repeat yourself, because I was listening closely and I heard you. That’s all that matters, right?” And once again he returns his focus to the television.
How would you respond to that blatant disobedience and rebellion?
Before you answer that, think about this: Is there an area of your life in which you’ve been just like that in your relationship to the Heavenly Father?
You’ve heard God’s commands that you witness to the lost, but are you obeying them?
You’ve heard God’s commands about sexual purity, but are you obeying them?
You’ve heard God’s commands that you give to His work, but do you do it?
You’ve heard God’s commands to praise and worship Him, but do you do so?
James warns us that we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are accomplishing God’s will just by knowing it. “Don’t kid yourself,” he says. “God is not pleased that you merely hear His word, but that you obey it.”
Partial obedience is disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Understanding God’s word and failing to obey it is sin. It is worthless to know the will of God if you refuse to do it. As one pastor put it, it is far less important how much you mark your Bible than how much your Bible marks you.
If you’ve made it your habit to listen to God’s commands and then pick and choose which ones you will obey and which you’ll ignore, some repentance is now in order.
God is great and glorious. He is our Maker and our Father. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. And He is completely worthy of our immediate obedience in all things at all times. Let us come into His presence with a renewed attitude, saying to Him, “Speak, Lord, Your servant hears with a willingness to know and to do Your will.”
And remember what Jesus told us about His commands: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” –John 13:17

By what authority?


In the last message from Luke, Jesus was overturning tables of those who used God’s temple for their own money-making. In today’s study, Jesus turned the tables on them in another way. Thinking they could trap Him with a question He’d be unsafe to answer, He shows their true motives and their lack of authority to speak for God, when they thought they would expose His own lack of authority for ministry. The message from Luke 20:1-8 was recorded at the church this morning, in English and Romanian, and you can listen to it on streaming audio here.

It’s about Obedience


“Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”
–Psalm 119:11
Manifold reasons abound to study the Bible. Not the least of those reasons is the one taught us in the verse quoted above. We must learn God’s word to develop a lifestyle of obedience to the Lord and avoidance of sin.
Sins are the “bricks and mortar” that build the wall of separation between an unsaved person and the God Who wants fellowship with him. In like manner, sin in our lives as regenerated believers can put up higher and higher walls that prevent the increase of our intimacy with Him and usefulness to Him. If we’re going to be Spirit-filled and be used of God for His glory, the walls have to come down. So we need to know God’s word. And, more specifically, we need to read God’s word with a humble desire to obey.
That’s why we hide the word in our hearts. Not just to know God. Not just to feel good. Not just to tickle our ego and make us feel intellectually superior that we understand deep doctrinal truths. But to be transformed, and to be made increasingly holy in our conduct.
How tragic it is when we as Christians don’t act on what God teaches us. We hear a great sermon and say “Amen,” but when the service is over, we don’t do “Amen.” The message is forgotten before we reach the parking lot, because we didn’t approach the word with a desire to obey.
My brothers and sisters, let me speak plainly: If the word of God is not continually changing the way you think, speak, and act, then something is seriously wrong with your approach to it. Because God’s word, when served up by gifted teachers and applied to hearts by the indwelling Holy Spirit, produces not just good feelings, but deeply convicting ones. It is a sharp sword, cutting us to the quick and dividing bone from marrow. It searches the core of our being and brings to the surface every impurity, every falsehood, every evil passion, and every defect in our character. It places before us everything in us that prevents us from being conformed to the image of His perfect Son, and says, “This is the way you really are. Now let God change you.”
The flesh all-too-willingly trains itself to ignore the promptings of the Spirit and the Word. If you look into your heart today and find that you have been so trained, run to God’s word like a man parched with thirst in a scorched desert would run when he catches a glimpse of an oasis in the distance. Kneel at your bedside or in your prayer closet with Psalm 119 open before you, pleading with God to return to you a heightened sensitivity to His word and a broader vision of its value. Allow Him to re-train your mind, so that from this day forward, when He speaks, you listen with an ear willing to obey. That’s why His word is in your heart–so that you will obey Him. “My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin.” (1 John 2:1a)
Has church become a place you go each week and unwittingly miss opportunity after opportunity to be changed by God’s correction, encouragement, and instruction? Don’t delay in asking the Lord to remedy the situation. Allow God’s word to awaken you from spiritual slumber this very hour. Then praise Him for this wondrous truth: His word, hidden in your heart, will teach and enable you to “go and sin no more.”

My favorite passage

Tonight at the home fellowship, we studied a passage of the Bible that has probably been the most meaningful portion of scripture in my personal life, Philippians 2:1-11. The study audio, in English and Romanian, is available for your listening here, and I hope it blesses you in your walk of faith.

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Thursday’s upcoming home fellowship

Looking ahead to Thursday home fellowship: Lord’s supper, worship, prayer and study of Philippians 2:1-11. There’s no Bible passage more important for followers of Christ to meditate on and make the drumbeat of our lives. Pray that I’ll be given power to teach it to young disciples in a way that opens their hearts to let this passage be a basis for continuing spiritual growth for the rest of their lives, as they continue to study it.

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 1 Study audio

Here is the audio of Thursday night’s Bible study, which was part 3 of a study through the book of Philippians, and looked at chapter 1, verses 15-30.