Proverbs 4:20: “My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to MY sayings.”
In the above passage of Scripture, the Lord is asking us to incline (cause to lean) our ear to what HE is saying to us. Jesus also told us in John 16:12-15 that He still had many things to say to us, so He sent the Holy Spirit to declare THE TRUTH to us. Unfortunately, many of the Lord’s children are not leaning their ears towards HIS sayings or voice; they are leaning it towards men.
Don’t misunderstand me, I know that the Lord has sent teachers to help us, but He hasn’t asked us to be goats who eat anything that they are fed; He has called us to be HIS sheep who KNOW HIS voice. (John 10:27)
When the Lord began to lay this word in my heart, He said to me “many of His children are parrots of men. They just repeat what they are hearing from men and never study the Word nor ask the Holy Spirit if what is being taught is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH.”
Yes, teachers are using Scripture to “backup” what they are saying, but just like Jesus told the leaders of His day “they were mistaken because they did not know/understand the scriptures”, He is saying the same thing today. Also, men are taking Scripture out of context, not studying history, and not analyzing who the writer is writing or speaking to. All of these things are factors when presenting a teaching.
We must be like the people in Berea. When the Apostle Paul came teaching them, they “searched” the Scriptures daily to see if the things which Paul was teaching was the “ABSOLUTE TRUTH!” (Acts 17:11) The word “searched” has a greater meaning than just to flip through the pages and see if what he was saying was actually in there. The word “searched” is the Greek word “Anakrino” which means to scrutinize, sift through, examine the accused, and to hold an investigation as a judge.
Let me give you an example. Recently we experienced some “blood moon” sightings. Many people began to teach or reteach that this was the “sign” of end times that is spoken about in Acts 2:20.
“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.”
As I said earlier, context is everything and so is history. If you look at Acts chapter 2, Peter is standing up to address the people to explain what is taking place on the day of Pentecost, and he is quoting Joel 2:28-32. In verses fifteen & sixteen, he makes this statement, “for these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 BUT this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” Peter is explaining to them that what they are seeing NOW is what was spoken by the prophet Joel back THEN.
In the beginning of Verse 17 Peter says, “It shall come to pass in the LAST days.”
What last days is Peter talking about? Aren’t people preaching that we are in the last days?
Verses 19 and 20 which speak of the “blood moon” and various other signs, are prophetic language that speaks of the destruction of something. The day of Pentecost was the sign of the “END” of the OLD COVENANT age and the beginning of the NEW. This is not some in the future sign of Christ’s return.
The problem with learning something new is that we must be completely stripped of the old. Jesus said that you CAN NOT put new wine (revelation) into an old wineskin (old mindset), because the new wine will destroy (burst) the wineskin and it will be good for nothing.
Friends, I want to encourage you today to lean upon the heart of the Lord and listen to what He is saying in this hour. Stop running from camp to camp, from one prophetic word to another, and take some time to truly listen to what Holy Spirit is saying to the church. One key principle of hearing the truth is to be willing to ask the Lord to empty ourselves of what is NOT the truth.
