Studying
THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp
Wednesday April 9, 2008
1 Corinthians 2:12-14 (NIV)
12. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
14. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
A person may go to seminary and get a piece of paper that says he is able to teach the Word of God, but if he does not have the Holy Spirit inside him, or he does not listen to the Holy Spirit inside him, he will not correctly discern the spiritual truths of the Bible, for they are spiritually discerned.
The minds of men have come up with all kinds of strange doctrines. Some say that it is water baptism that saves you; but the Bible doesn't say that. Some say there is no baptism of the Holy Spirit; but the Bible says there is. Some say that God doesn't do miracles any more, but the Bible says He doesn't ever change.
There are a host of ideas that are entirely man-made, but which are presented as fact because the person who taught them had a piece of paper saying he is qualified to teach the Bible. We need to study the Word for ourselves; discerning the spiritual truths of the Word with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us:
Acts 17:11 (NIV)
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
The Bible tells us that the Bereans had a noble character because they examined the scriptures for themselves to make sure that what Paul said was true! We should show the same noble character:
2 Timothy 3:16,17 (NIV)
16. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
According to another verse in Timothy, scripture must be RIGHTLY DIVIDED:
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
That means it's possible to WRONGLY divide God's Word! People use God's Word to teach falsehood all the time, following the devil's example of quoting scripture while tempting Jesus in the desert.
Baby birds receive everything the mother bird gives them, and just simply eat it all up. That's because they are babies, and they need to eat even when they are unable to find food for themselves! Some pastors and Bible teachers are teaching things that aren't in the Bible, but the listeners eat it all up anyways, just like baby birds!
A dog won't just eat poison because you give it to him; to poison a dog you'd have to put the poison on a good piece of meat! In the same way, many pastors and Bible teachers use a portion of truth from God's Word to spread a lie!
We should be like the Bereans and study the scriptures for ourselves, to make sure that the teachings we hear are true!
PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your wonderful and powerful Word. Thank You for all the great and precious promises You have given me. Help me think the way You do about me. Help me understand Your Word so I can allow You to govern every area of my life.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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