Where is your Discernment? Part 1

Where is your Discernment?

Part 1

You hear them every day.  False philosophies presented as truth.  Ways that seem right to a man, tickling your ears and tempting your heart.  So many people fall prey to Satan’s deceptions and find themselves in relational ruins.  As a follower of Christ, God has opened your eyes to the truth of His Word.  And with His Spirit, you can distinguish truth from lies.  In this message on discernment, James MacDonald challenges you to let God lead and direct you, developing your ability to choose His will.
 

Part 1 

What if I told you that aliens were coming into the world and that most of the people around you right now maybe even you had been taken over.  Super humans, had special powers they were consuming and that they were seeking to free themselves?  In fact, they were seeking to free themselves in the entire world of anything that is negative in anyway.  And by freeing themselves of the negative, they are insuring that they would have another lifetime to live on this Earth, and that eventually through a series of lifetimes, coming back as super humans, aliens, but taking on the form of humans.  That eventually they were going to free our galaxy from anything negative of any kind.  What would you think if I told you that?  Well that’s what L. Ron Hubbard taught beginning in 1953.  That’s a fundamental doctrine of Scientology.  You say to yourself, “That sounds like something a science fiction writer would say.”  Correct.  Hubbard was a science fiction writer.  And he wrote something and people said that is real, so he said, “Great, then it’s real.”  Where is the discernment?
 

Knowing completely is using discernment.
 

1 John 4 1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try/test the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.  2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God:  3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.  4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.  5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.  6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us.  Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

There it is right there.  That is what we desperately need.  We need to know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
 

First thought, discernment is needed.

 1 John 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.  And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Every follower of Jesus Christ who has repented of their sin and embraced Jesus Christ by faith and received the free gift of eternal life gets the Holy Spirit, at conversion.  This is what the bible teaches.  

Romans 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, [1] whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

When the spirit of God came into your life by Jesus Christ, he came to stay.  You might try to get away from God, but the reason you can’t get away, if you’re really converted, is because God’s spirit will not let you go.  He will take hold of you.  He has many reasons for coming into our life.  He gives us comfort.

 John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

He gives us strength, assurance, peace.

 John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

 He gives truth, wisdom, and discernment.

 1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try(test) the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

 Beloved is a term of endearment.  John is so loving using this term.  Do not believe every spirit.  Spirits, which can be a demonic spirit, can mean an attitude or thing that brings destruction to yourself.  When people have a negative spirit it is demonic and draws us away from the will of God.  Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit.  Prove through careful scrutiny.  Do this and keep doing this for the rest of your life.  Test the attitudes, the things that people assert to you.  Why, to see whether they are from God.

Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

That’s what’s going to happen in the last days.  That’s what is happening in these last days.  The spirit said this expressively.  So in those last days discernment will be needed like it’s never been needed before, because the competition for what is right and wrong will become more intense than it’s ever been before.  And many will depart from the faith.  They’re going to get a visitation from a spirit.  The Bible says Satan will disguise himself as an angel of light.  Mormons claim their founder Joseph Smith was directed by an angel to a secret series of golden scrolls that had to be read with a particular pair of spectacles.  Are you kidding me?  He claimed to have been visited by an Angel.  But the spirit expressively says that in the last days many will fall away listening to doctrines of demons.  That one began September 21, 1823.  Muslims believe that Mohammad got the Quaran from the Angel Gabriel.  The angel gave a new Bible called Quran in A.D. 610.  But if they just read the only book God wrote, they’d found in Galations 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.  Paul said though we or an angel from Heaven teach you any gospel other than the gospel you have received, let him be cursed.  Where is your discernment?  Discernment- Is the spirit given ability to distinguish God’s thoughts and ways from all others.  Without the Holy spirit, there is no discernment.  No knowledge of what is right and wrong, to distinguish.

Five unbiblical beliefs pounding people today:

1. Salvation by works- By being a good person, being better than the average person, by being smarter than the average bear, that somehow God is going to accept me someday, and that he’s going to weigh up the good and bad that I’ve done.  I can get to heaven by myself.  That’s a lie.  People think they can get to heaven by being a good person, but by God’s grace and by God’s spirit they are able to discern and know they have been on the wrong program.  And they turn from self-salvation to the free gift of eternal life offered by Jesus Christ.
2. Sanctification by works- I might not have been able to save myself but I can sure make myself righteous.  No you cannot.  If you are trying to get victory over sin in your own flesh, if you’re trying to do the right thing by the power of your will, then you are falling down a lot.  You can’t save yourself.
3. Be true to yourself- That is everywhere!  That is on every poster in every store.  Shakespeare said this, “This above all, to thin own self be true.”  Is that true?  That you don’t have any obligation outside of yourself?  I tell you what, that is the surefire way to set sail to the shore of misery.  Be true to others!  Be true to God!  That’s the way to live life.  That’s not what they teach out there or at school.  They teach you to pump yourself up, to do what makes you happy in the moment.  Where is the discernment?
4. Morality is personal- Personal issue, guy with a guy, girl with a girl, me with her before I’m married, and me whatever I want on the first date.  If it works for me, you shut up about it.  If I feel fine, then why is it any of your business?
5. Truth is unknowable- Let me ask you this.  Is the truth about oxygen knowable?  Why don’t you go for a few minutes without that truth.  How about this, James and His wife, while raising their kids they didn’t wanna mess them up with truth claims and all( just an example) said, “Well if you wanna touch the stove, touch the stove.”  Because what didn’t work for me, who am I to say that might not work for my kids.  And what was an unsatisfactory thing to me to put my hand on that burner, what if one of my kids appreciated that?  They say that the truth is unknowable because it is unfindable, unfashionable.  Jesus said Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away.  They say the truth is unknowable because the truth cannot be fixed.  It’s different from each generation.  No, sin stays the same.  And the solution is the same.  Where is the discernment?

Worship for the Soul

“Authentic Revelation”
From the teachings of James MacDonald
 

Revealed As: Worship for the Soul
John 4:24

Worship is the most powerful joy producing hope sustaining life altering thing we can do.  I don’t know where you are today but I hope you can hear this.  Politicians are constantly asserting overstatement.  “I will” or “I promise.”  I want you to know that I am not over stating anything here.  Worship is what it’s all about.  When Jesus said out of the heart the mouth speaks, he was punctuating the absolute centrality of worship at the determinate for every human future.  Pride is the condition of heart that leads to placing worship in the wrong object. Even sometimes in ourselves.  Worship is what God has to displace what pride leads me to; which is sin.  Commandment #1 “You shall have no other God before me.”  The greatest sin is idolatry.  Worship is the highest and most human experience.  Love the lord God first.  Idolatry insulates our hearts from the delight we were created to revel in.  A lot of things come to mind when you hear the word “worship”; like your encounter with God when you see something magnificent, like the Grand Canyon, the stained glass windows in the church, the sound of an organ recital, or a walk in the woods.  I don’t know what comes to your mind, but to talk about this the whole message, let’s make sure we have the right definition.  The Old Testament version means to touch your head to the ground.  In the New Testament, two words describe the action of worship.  One is proskuneo, to kiss the hand. The second word is latreuw, to give or pay homage.  When you worship you are saying this is worth more.  Letting go of what is worth less and embracing what is worth more.  Some people are fond of saying “Worship is more than singing.”  “I can show God worship by the way I cut my grass, by the way I prepare a meal for my family.”  False!  Those acts may be worshipful or like, but this is key.  Worship is not the act of doing things that evoke awareness in God, or even indirectly can ascribe worthiness to him.  Worship is the conscious, direct, specific adoration of someone or something greater than ourselves.  Arch Bishop William Temple quoted, "Worship is the submission of all our nature to

God. It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of the mind with His truth; the purifying of the imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of the will to His purpose and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is original sin and the source of actual sin.”  When I worship I am taking an ax to the base of the tree that has caused pain and misery in my life.
 

I’m always looking for something fun to do, something to bring humor or joy.  I’m saying this because I’ve had a lot of fun but no extent of it can touch the border of the joy that I’ve experienced in the joy of worship.  I have filled my life with the worship of God and it has produced so much joy and it is hope sustaining.  I know what it is to weep, to face dark nights, where I can’t even think of what to ask God because it seems so far gone, I can’t even think of a way to ask God to resolve it.  But all those things have passed.  People ask how I got through it.  Worship is taking hold of the Lord.  And in worship we find that not only does he alter us, not only does he give us joy, but in the dark times, worship is what sustains our hope.  When problems are big, God is small.  But in worship, when we say magnify the Lord within me, all of a sudden the holiness of the greatness of God begins to eclipse those things, like they will never happen.  So worship is the most powerful joy producing hope sustaining life altering thing we can do.
 

So what does Jesus Christ think of worship? In John 4, the Samaritan woman was a sinful woman and to be avoided. She was so filled with shame and regret. She might have wrongly assumed that worship was for other people, better people, but worship is for everyone. Jesus was talking about the water that satisfies the soul. (Last week’s lesson.) In order to see the Lord fill what is empty in me, to satisfy what is hungry in my soul, I have to be exposed for who I am really am. She perceived he was a profit. In John 4:20 He finally exposes who she really is. Then she wants to have a debate about worship. Talk about jumping across four lanes and going in a different direction. The truth is, we don’t know why. Don’t supply a motive though. She’s of a different faith. How often do people of different faiths get to talk? Whatever her motive was, we can learn a lot.
 

Avoid debate.  In John 4:21 what Christ is saying is it’s not a place, it’s a pattern.  It’s just not worth having the fight.  They devalue people and the Lord.  Instead of debating with her, he decides to instruct her about what her soul really needs.  The biggest debate is the worship debate.  What our soul needs the most is worship.  And when people debate worship, they are hurting peoples capacity.  Let the passionate adoration of God grow and leave the debate at the door.
 

Start with salvation.  He says to her, “You worship what you do not know.”  People say they’re going to figure out God on their own.  Well God wrote a book that told about himself.  We don’t have to go sit somewhere and make up God. I f you want to know about God, turn to “And it is written.”  If you want to have a worship relationship, start with salvation.  People know about him but not him personally.  Do you remember when
you were in science and you would read about a physics formula?  But then there was the day you got out of the text book and went into the laboratory and did something.  And you could see the light going on in everyone’s mind saying, “I get it!”  That’s what salvation is.  It’s when you move from text book information about God to I know.  It begins with removing the barrier of sin.  We’ve all fallen short.  The wages of sin is death, both physical and eternal.  The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, the gift of eternal salvation.  God’s wrath was poured out on the death of Jesus Christ.  Salvation is when I turn from my sin and place my faith on Jesus Christ for my forgiveness.  You have to make it personal and know that you have it.  Everyone that is saved has a story.  Here is James’s story.  He remembers his Grandfather.  He was 7 and went to church on Sunday night, remembers the message his Grandfather preached and says to his Dad that he wanted to go down front.  His Dad said no, we are going home.  His Dad didn’t know what he meant.  So when James got home from church he ran in and took off his church clothes and threw them on the floor.  He walked to the kitchen and he asked why they didn’t want him to be saved.  His Mom took him into her bedroom, opened her Bible, kneeled down by the bed and showed him this verse and told him Jesus died for him and his sins could be forgiven.  So he turned from his sins and he embraced Christ by faith for his forgiveness.  That little moment he was 7.  It started then and he tried to get away from the Lord, but the Lord would not let go of him.
You’ve got to avoid debate.  If you don’t have strong convictions about what matters in worship, you’re going to get your train jerked off the right tracks every time someone shows up with their preferences or no preferences at all.  Avoid debate and start with salvation.  If someone doesn’t even know the Lord yet, then you REALLY can’t have the debate.  If you can’t come into a temporary relationship with a human being that allows for many years of your life till you go to heaven.  Then what makes you think you can come into an eternal relationship with God of the universe without knowing him.  What is your story?
 

Enter in fully.  He says the hour is coming and the time is near when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking people who truly worship him.  God wants true worshipers.  Truth matters, but it is spirit and truth.  It’s not just head, it’s heart.  It’s not just mind, it’s soul and strength.  It’s whole being adoration.  It’s vertical.  We sing about the Lord but not to him.  He’s leaning in listing.  It’s simple.  The songs sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord.  If the songs are simple it makes them easier to become emotive.  We should feel what we are saying.  Don’t just say I love you without feeling it.  Direct that love to the person you are saying it to.  Enter in fully.  When Jesus says to the Samaritan woman God is spirit, and those who worship do in spirit and truth.  And she says to him she knows the messiah is coming, he will tell us all things.  He said I am him.  

 

The final point in worship should be clear to us.  Worship should absolutely and categorically avoid debate, start with salvation, enter fully, and focus on Jesus Christ.  When James sits down at the piano he plays the same song every time, now for 20 years.  (Here is a link if you want to hear the song… http://youtu.be/DobvWwqTYhw)  The song was written by a man who founded what became known as the Vineyard Movement.  They would have a lot of doctrinal differences but a lot in common in what is preached in the church today.  One of the things we would have in common with them was a commitment to a passionate heartfelt worship. John Wimber was his name.  He was not only a preacher but a gifted song writer.  Spirit song is the name of the song.  The reason James plays this song is because it has become a symbol of what he desperately needs.  All of the things we do can become a barrier in the heart of a worshiper.  And when we worship we say this is worth nothing and you are worth everything.  The song is very tender of our dependence upon the Lord.  People who turn, run, receive or depend on the Lord are depicted as a child of innocence.  Jesus is like a Shepard and we are like a lamb.  In the song, Wimber says, “Oh let the Son of God enfold you with his spirit and his love.  Let him fill your heart and satisfy your soul.  Let him have the things that hold you and his spirit like a dove will descend upon your life and make you whole.”  The chorus “Jesus oh Jesus, come and fill your lambs.”  What a humble thing to say to the Lord.
 

 

Prayer: “Father, I pray that our worship today would be honoring to you.  I pray today that our worship would come from tender and humbled hearts.  Thank you that in drawing near in worship you welcome us.  Thank you that we are wrapped in the robe of Christ’s righteousness through faith in him and that we are welcomed into your holy presence.  Help us to come as the little children and hungry lambs that we are.  And as we sing a song of love to you, may we sense you drawing near to us, even as we draw near to you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.