Accessability of The Word
What God is doing in the earth right now is simple. You don't need an MDiv to understand it. Uneducated fisherman...Peter, James, and John...were entrusted with the messages we pour over to understand what is happening. The Bible was given to all men and women, and the vast majority of all people on earth for the last 6,000 years have been poor, uneducated farmers.
God didn't write the Bible to narrow our vision down to the views of a handful of scholars. God gave the word to engage our own conversations with Him about His heart for creation so He might use us to accomplish His will...not so we could be servants to those who claim to know God! I don't want to just know someone who knows God...I want to know God. Thankfully, He wants me to know Him too!
We shouldn't be careless with the Word, but we should not boil it down to a secret science either. This is the classic mistake of every Pharisee....to think they have some sort of esoteric (secret) knowledge that can only be handed down by educated or popular men. Jesus offered a scathing critique of this arrogance:
John 5:37-47 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. “I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
Jesus was addressing the false "culture of honor" that was operating in Jerusalem at the time of His appearance. Men were receiving each other in "their own name" but missing the ones sent by God. To "receive someone in their own name" meant the people would only pay attention to the famous or "inside" ones...but they would completely cast aside the ANOINTED ones if they weren't popular.
The Pharisees did not value the anointing of God as much as they craved the higher positions other people more important than themselves could invite them into. That is why they couldn't believe Jesus would chill with outcasts...there was nothing to be gained.
This is a huge problem in the Church right now. A cult of celebrity has crept into the Church. It is actually acceptable to receive someone in their own name. People want to be near the most popular people, generally because the popular ones have something to offer those one step below: acceptance and elevation. This is dangerous water to swim in ESPECIALLY IN THIS HOUR. The signs of Jesus' return are increasing in an unprecedented way. The warnings in the Bible are primarily for OUR generation. Jesus said "be careful when someone is popular":
Luke 6:22-23, 26 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
...Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.
The world values reputation because the world sees other people as the gatekeepers to their next place of power. The Church is very susceptible to not paying attention to thorough Biblical study if someone with a national reputation is spewing some nonsense, but we use a fine tooth comb to try and discredit someone with no reputation, especially if they are saying something new or uncomfortable or potentially damaging to our desire for comfort. But EVERY prophet in the Bible was a nobody with an intense and new message. There are hundreds of warnings in the Bible about this dynamic!
There are so many warnings in the Bible about being wary of the popular preachers because it is human nature to be drawn to power. I do it, you do it...we all do it. It is because we find safety and opportunity in the opinions of the crowd.
"Group-think" is a problem in the church. The crowd killed Jesus at the prompting of religious leaders. The crowd of religious leaders wanted to stone the woman God protected. The crowd of power players completely rejected Jeremiah because he was called by God to run against the multitude of self-gratifying false prophets who were telling the people everything they wanted to hear.
The ones we want to hear are rarely telling us what we NEED to hear. BUT, God has a time coming, called "the end" when truth will come either way. There are instructions I need to hear! It will all work out, but how will it work out for me? That depends on what and who I receive:
Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
Jeremiah 23:16-22 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord . They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord , And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.
Group-think led to the utter destruction and captivity of the entire nation of Israel despite the fact that Jeremiah gave the people clear instructions for how to completely avoid the trouble! Group think led to the murder of the Messiah in the very city He was promised to come into. The people believed the traditions that had developed surrounding what the Messiah would do and say, rather than the prophets they claimed to love. Isaiah prophesied Jesus to a "t"...but the Pharisees interpreted Isaiah for the people, and the people desired the approval of the gatekeepers of the Temple, rather than the smile of God on their fidelity to Him! Even Nicodemus, a high-ranking Pharisee, had the instinct to recognize the anointing of God on Jesus, but lacked the guts to actually stand with the God he claimed to represent!!
John 3:1-8 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus was teaching new and true things and Nicodemus knew it, but he could not handle the risk of falling out of favor with the others. Nicodemus certainly regretted his choices later. He clearly stood with Jesus in his heart, but was unwilling to stand strongly before men and the group ran right over him:
John 7:50-52 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
The group was wrong, and Nicodemus got a footnote, rather than a history of faithfulness.
Every prophet in the Bible had zero reputation before the things they prophesied happened. Moses was a shepherd for 40 years before he had to go to the leaders of Israel and tell them God appeared to him as a burning shrub. Jeremiah was a nobody...so was Isaiah, who walked around Israel stark naked for 3 years! The very ones whose words we still care about 3,000 years later were nothing in the eyes of men, but WERE anointed in their day. The prophesied for our day.
Right now we are in a crucial hour. Tribulation is hitting the church in a new way. No, you are not feeling it here yet, but it is coming. Like all spiritual moves, it has started in the epicenter of the world...Christians are dying and suffering persecution in extreme magnitude all around Israel in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and throughout the middle east.
Unlike Las Vegas, what happens in Jerusalem doesn't stay in Jerusalem. The entire earth is "Israel-centric." Adam and Eve were placed in the middle east and told to subdue the earth from there. Sin entered the earth in the middle east and subdued the earth from there. Jesus sent His disciples in to Jerusalem first, and they were to go to the ends of the earth from there. The end-time trouble starts in the persecuted middle eastern church, and will extend to the rest of the Church from there:
Matthew 24:9-13 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
There has never been a time like this to search high and low for true prophets. Now is the time to throw off popularity and group think. Look for the anointed prophets. Listen to them. What do they teach? "Peace and safety" or repentance and a wholehearted turning of the heart to Jesus?
God didn't write the Bible to narrow our vision down to the views of a handful of scholars. God gave the word to engage our own conversations with Him about His heart for creation so He might use us to accomplish His will...not so we could be servants to those who claim to know God! I don't want to just know someone who knows God...I want to know God. Thankfully, He wants me to know Him too!
We shouldn't be careless with the Word, but we should not boil it down to a secret science either. This is the classic mistake of every Pharisee....to think they have some sort of esoteric (secret) knowledge that can only be handed down by educated or popular men. Jesus offered a scathing critique of this arrogance:
John 5:37-47 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. “I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
Jesus was addressing the false "culture of honor" that was operating in Jerusalem at the time of His appearance. Men were receiving each other in "their own name" but missing the ones sent by God. To "receive someone in their own name" meant the people would only pay attention to the famous or "inside" ones...but they would completely cast aside the ANOINTED ones if they weren't popular.
The Pharisees did not value the anointing of God as much as they craved the higher positions other people more important than themselves could invite them into. That is why they couldn't believe Jesus would chill with outcasts...there was nothing to be gained.
This is a huge problem in the Church right now. A cult of celebrity has crept into the Church. It is actually acceptable to receive someone in their own name. People want to be near the most popular people, generally because the popular ones have something to offer those one step below: acceptance and elevation. This is dangerous water to swim in ESPECIALLY IN THIS HOUR. The signs of Jesus' return are increasing in an unprecedented way. The warnings in the Bible are primarily for OUR generation. Jesus said "be careful when someone is popular":
Luke 6:22-23, 26 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
...Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.
The world values reputation because the world sees other people as the gatekeepers to their next place of power. The Church is very susceptible to not paying attention to thorough Biblical study if someone with a national reputation is spewing some nonsense, but we use a fine tooth comb to try and discredit someone with no reputation, especially if they are saying something new or uncomfortable or potentially damaging to our desire for comfort. But EVERY prophet in the Bible was a nobody with an intense and new message. There are hundreds of warnings in the Bible about this dynamic!
There are so many warnings in the Bible about being wary of the popular preachers because it is human nature to be drawn to power. I do it, you do it...we all do it. It is because we find safety and opportunity in the opinions of the crowd.
"Group-think" is a problem in the church. The crowd killed Jesus at the prompting of religious leaders. The crowd of religious leaders wanted to stone the woman God protected. The crowd of power players completely rejected Jeremiah because he was called by God to run against the multitude of self-gratifying false prophets who were telling the people everything they wanted to hear.
The ones we want to hear are rarely telling us what we NEED to hear. BUT, God has a time coming, called "the end" when truth will come either way. There are instructions I need to hear! It will all work out, but how will it work out for me? That depends on what and who I receive:
Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
Jeremiah 23:16-22 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord . They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord , And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.
Group-think led to the utter destruction and captivity of the entire nation of Israel despite the fact that Jeremiah gave the people clear instructions for how to completely avoid the trouble! Group think led to the murder of the Messiah in the very city He was promised to come into. The people believed the traditions that had developed surrounding what the Messiah would do and say, rather than the prophets they claimed to love. Isaiah prophesied Jesus to a "t"...but the Pharisees interpreted Isaiah for the people, and the people desired the approval of the gatekeepers of the Temple, rather than the smile of God on their fidelity to Him! Even Nicodemus, a high-ranking Pharisee, had the instinct to recognize the anointing of God on Jesus, but lacked the guts to actually stand with the God he claimed to represent!!
John 3:1-8 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus was teaching new and true things and Nicodemus knew it, but he could not handle the risk of falling out of favor with the others. Nicodemus certainly regretted his choices later. He clearly stood with Jesus in his heart, but was unwilling to stand strongly before men and the group ran right over him:
John 7:50-52 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
The group was wrong, and Nicodemus got a footnote, rather than a history of faithfulness.
Every prophet in the Bible had zero reputation before the things they prophesied happened. Moses was a shepherd for 40 years before he had to go to the leaders of Israel and tell them God appeared to him as a burning shrub. Jeremiah was a nobody...so was Isaiah, who walked around Israel stark naked for 3 years! The very ones whose words we still care about 3,000 years later were nothing in the eyes of men, but WERE anointed in their day. The prophesied for our day.
Right now we are in a crucial hour. Tribulation is hitting the church in a new way. No, you are not feeling it here yet, but it is coming. Like all spiritual moves, it has started in the epicenter of the world...Christians are dying and suffering persecution in extreme magnitude all around Israel in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and throughout the middle east.
Unlike Las Vegas, what happens in Jerusalem doesn't stay in Jerusalem. The entire earth is "Israel-centric." Adam and Eve were placed in the middle east and told to subdue the earth from there. Sin entered the earth in the middle east and subdued the earth from there. Jesus sent His disciples in to Jerusalem first, and they were to go to the ends of the earth from there. The end-time trouble starts in the persecuted middle eastern church, and will extend to the rest of the Church from there:
Matthew 24:9-13 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
There has never been a time like this to search high and low for true prophets. Now is the time to throw off popularity and group think. Look for the anointed prophets. Listen to them. What do they teach? "Peace and safety" or repentance and a wholehearted turning of the heart to Jesus?
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