Who are you listening to?
Anchor Scripture for June 10
“In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow.”
2 Peter 2:1-2 ERV
Scriptures
2 Peter 2 (*ERV)
2 Timothy 3
Acts 17:10-15
A Warning to the Body
A few weeks ago, the Lord showed me a dream about the state of young believers in the body of Christ. The first group (consisted of 2 people) were unaware of how lukewarm they had gotten while at a Sunday service and it showed in their lack of reverence for God. They were most concerned about their looks and maximizing their personal comfort. There was no sign of Christ or depth in them. The second group consisted of zealous Christians, but their excitement for deep revelation led them astray and they advocated for strange doctrines and teachings that derived from a flawed revelation of the book of Ezekiel. The last group were skeptical unbelievers that were curious about Christianity, but you could tell it challenged their personal beliefs.
What’s interesting about all of these groups from the dream is that it just takes one voice (one teaching, one scripture, one video etc) to redirect and correct their path, just as it could’ve taken one voice, one opinion, one agreement to direct each group away from God. Who we listen to and come into agreement with is so key to the people we become and how our faith plays out.
2 Timothy 3 ERV: “Remember this: There are some terrible times coming in the last days. People will love only themselves and money. They will be proud and boast about themselves…Instead of loving God, they will love pleasure. They will go on pretending to be devoted to God, but they will refuse to let that “devotion” change the way they live. Stay away from these people!”
I believe that the Lord is calling all of us, including myself, to once again reflect on where we are and to come up higher to know Him through His word for ourselves. We are also being called to seek Him about who and where we are getting our teaching from and discerning what their source is. There is a lot of information out there which is great, but not everyone is preaching the same gospel. As a result, we have to guard our ears and be mindful of who we are listening to learning from. A reoccurring phrase I’ve been hearing is that “people are hearing about and building their faith on a Jesus and gospel that does not exist” and it’s causing young people to leave the faith when the “Jesus” they were told about doesn’t meet their expectations.” In reality they never met the true Jesus nor heard the gospel.
Being a Berean is going to be key in this year to protecting ourselves from deception. Acts 17:10-12 NLT:
“10 That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. 12 As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.”
June Focus
Today and for the rest of June, I recommend reading and meditating on the scriptures and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal any pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles, evangelists, ministers and or content creators that are no longer for you to follow in this season, but also for Him to lead you to new voices that will be edifying for your current season. As Jeremiah 3:15 NLT says: “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding”
Sometimes it’s not that there is anything wrong with a particular person or ministry, but there can be many reasons that God calls you to separate from a ministry.
You’ve outgrown the teachings (Every believer is supposed to go from ‘milk’ to ‘meat!’)
God is shifting you to learn from a minister that specializes in something (ex: deliverance, healing, relationships, the prophetic)
God’s appointed time for you to be there has ended (“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” - Eccl. 3:1 NLT)
The ministry or the leaders have become a crutch to your walk with Christ and God wants to mature you
Sometimes you are called to separate from the ministry and/or leader because they are deemed unhealthy. These are some things to keep in-mind while seeking God about a particular ministry:
Have you learned more about “deep mysteries” than the gospel and core Christian teachings (the gospel, repentance, prayer etc?)
Are they affirming my sin, bad character, and/or lack of repentance?
Are you growing in your faith? Is your love for Christ and His people growing?
Are they preaching the Word of God or is scripture consistently being taken out of context to fit a topic?
Has the Lord clearly told you to leave or have you been convicted when listening to their sermons? (lack of peace, unease etc)
What is the fruit that this leader and their ministry produce? (Not just accuracy in the prophetic or prophecies coming to pass, are the fruits of the Spirit present? Do they only preach about what you can gain outside of Christ, no real care for the gospel, souls being won etc?)
Is the Holy Spirit present when they are preaching or do you feel like you are just being entertained?
Focus on self (2 Timothy 3:2 NLT-> “For people will love only themselves and their money…)
Prayer Points
Lord, reveal to me and deliver me from any false teachings or doctrines that I have unknowingly come into agreement with or internalized.
Lord restore my fire for you and forgive me for falling into lukewarmness.
Lord have mercy on this generation and remove any spiritual laziness, spiritual pride and spiritual blindness that would make us susceptible to deception.
Lord, give me a desire to read the Bible and your Holy Spirit to understand it.
Help me to be more sensitive to your voice to know who and who not to listen to and when to shift.
Sharpen my discernment to identify false teachings, doctrines, teachers and prophets.