0:00 Uh open our Bibles. Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1 verse 9. So this is a prayer for Philippians. Uh Paul is saying and this I pray that your 0:19 love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the word 0:38 you have for the church today. Even as I seek to communicate, Lord, help me. Help me Lord to share the word as um your as the oracles from God, not as my opinion. Help me Lord and strengthen 0:55 me. And I pray that you'd accomplish what you want to accomplish through the word that you have given to us. Let not the word return void uh as you have promised. I pray that you prepare our hearts to receive your word gladly and 1:10 bear much fruit for you. Please help me Lord in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Okay. So uh we know we are all living in the s end times right? So there are so many 1:29 signs of uh that we are living in end times. And during the Jesus uh when Jesus was walking on this earth uh he had a conversation with his disciples in Matthew chapter 24 um Matthew chapter 24 1:46 he says uh verse 2 um uh verse three onwards as he was sitting on the mount of olives the disciples came to him privately saying tell us when will these things happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of 2:05 the end age. What will be the sign of your coming and of the end age? So if you ask any average Christian, any any person what is a sign of end of what is a sign of end times? Many people I think they will say we will hear lot of wars 2:21 and rumors of wars which is true. It is coming in the following verses. But he it is interesting to see that Jesus begins with with this one. See to it that no one misleads you. Verse four. And Jesus answered and said to them, see 2:37 to it that no one no one misleads you. So that deception is rampant in the last days. Jesus is uh telling the disciples be prepared. See to that make sure that no one will deceive you and mislead you 2:55 and for many will come in my name saying I am Christ and will mislead many and then he will say about wars and rumors of the war and all of that. Um so there is a false teaching there is a lot of uh confusion in the world. Uh we are we 3:11 have access to the world there's so much available uh freely available accessible and let us take the words of Jesus seriously so that we our church as a family or individual we are not misled by anyone. 3:28 And um today uh the Lord has laid in my heart the burden to uh share on the discernment the verse that I started with Philippians 1:9 because there is so many so much of deception so much of misleading so it's important to take 3:46 these words and warnings seriously. Um one story I want to share before I begin is from Joshua the Old Testament. Uh let's open Joshua chapter 8. Um uh actually chapter 8 and chapter 9 I 4:04 want to cover quickly. So in chapter 8 uh Joshua they conquer a city of AI. When I read this word AI I thought it is artificial intelligence but it is I. So my engineering brain was 4:21 thinking AI. Wow. Okay. So I uh so God gives such a tremendous victory to Israelites and Joshua was given this mantle to go and conquer the land. And you see the story in conquest of Ai uh Ai about how God helped them, how they 4:40 kind of burned the city to down uh to rubble and God gave them a wonderful wonderful victory. And um then uh what chapter 9 we see a story uh we see what happened later on in chapter 9:3 when 4:58 the inhabitants of Gibon heard he heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai and they also acted craftily and set out as envoys and took worn out sacks on their donkeys and wine skins worn out and torn and mended and worn out and 5:17 patched sandals on their feet and worn out clothes on themselves and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumble. And they came to Joshua and they said, "Make a covenant with us." Verse six, they were very prepared. 5:32 Uh they they were deceiving Joshua with all these things, old wine skins, worn out wine skins, dry and moldy bread, patched sandals, and worn out clothes. And but uh you see that later on the men of Israel said to him, "Perhaps you're 5:48 living within our land." They kind of doubted their statement. How shall we make a covenant with you? Um but then they said to Joshua, "We are your servants." Uh then Joshua said to them, "Who are you and where do you come from? 6:02 Your servants have come from a very far country because of the fame of the Lord your God. For we have heard the report of him and all that he did in Egypt." So later on you see I I can I don't have time to read all the verses and verse 14 6:19 and 15 is what I want to focus on. So when this thing when the Gibeonites came and deceived uh Israelites especially Joshua after a great victory and they're kind of complicent and that's a time when enemy hits us uh very strongly 6:36 after after victory we are complicent we are we think that we are in good shape that's when uh you know this is verse 14 so the men of Israel took some of their provisions and did not ask for the counsel of the lord did not asked for 6:51 the counsel of the Lord. And what happened? Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them and let them live. And the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them. And then we see later on they find that they 7:05 they were deceived and they becomes uh they become uh heroes of wood and drawers of water for the congregation. So obviously here Joshua stepped out of the will of God and the reason is he did not consult. He did not ask for the counsel of the 7:23 Lord and God has been guiding him step by step because Joshua took out the leadership from Moses. But here he made a mistake because he did not discern what is good and what is evil. Uh whether these are friends or enemies he 7:38 did not discern. One is the reason is they did not seek the counsel of the Lord. And likewise uh this is a story from Old Testament. All scripture is given by the inspiration of God for our instruction, training and righteousness. 7:52 So we can always go back and see Lord if I were in that position what I would have done. I would have judged them by what I see what I hear uh without consulting. And I tell you some of the decisions I have taken without 8:04 consulting the Lord are the decisions that I regret most in my life. And uh we have to bear the consequences and the repercussions of that. So these are the warnings where we can say Lord I if we need to make a decision I I want to seek 8:19 the counsel of the lord. I want to wait on the lord. So one of the thing that I noticed these days is we are becoming impatient. We want to take decisions quickly. There's no waiting on the lord. There is no seeking the lord. Uh I feel 8:30 this is a good thing to do. Let us do it. But as Joshua and the Israelites had to face uh the consequences of it. we will also face and there are so many other warnings I want to uh I want all of us to look at from the New Testament 8:43 also uh let's open first John for 1 John chapter 4 verse one beloved he's is calling the believers beloved do not believe every spirit and test the spirits to see 9:03 whether they are from God because many False prophets have gone out in the world. Test the spirits. So we know people who are in software engineering, there's a QA, quality assurance. We test the software to make sure that there are 9:19 no bugs. Test every spirit. Don't accept everything that is given to you. Test the spirit. Do not believe every spirit because there are lot of false prophets gone out into the world. And in Matthew chapter 9 also Jesus says the false 9:33 prophets are like wolves, ravenous wolves in sheep's clothing. So we have to protect ourselves from them. And so the best thing is to test. Um and then in actually if you look at interesting that first second John also let's go to 9:49 the next book 2 John um it says verse 7. 2 John: 7, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, and those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and antichrist. Watch yourselves and that 10:08 you do not lose what you have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. There is a danger if you are not uh if you allow these deceivers who have gone into the world uh impact your lives. He's saying, "Watch 10:21 yourselves because you may lose what you have accomplished. You may lose your progress and you may you may lose your reward. But in the uh following verses verse 10 especially if anyone comes to you does not bring you this teaching do 10:35 not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting. The Bible who which talks about being hospitable loving and all that the same Bible it says if anyone comes to you which does not align with his teaching do not even 10:48 give him a greeting do not bring him into your house. Yeah, it is good thing to be um hospitable and to be uh to open our homes and all of that. But that's where it comes. That's why Paul prayed. I pray that you'll abound in love more. 11:02 But more in all real knowledge and all discernment, we got to discern whether this person is bringing the right teaching or not. Yes, our hearts we want to we want to serve others and all of that. But let's also look into this 11:15 warnings from the scripture from 2 John and verse four. He says in the same uh book, I was very glad that some of you uh some of your children are walking in truth, walking in truth. The same expression comes in uh 3rd John 2 just 11:31 as we have received the commandment to do from the father. The protection for us is the truth. Uh even the verse one in the same book, the elder to the chosen lady and her children whom I love in truth. I also I but also who know the 11:47 truth, the truth, the truth, the truth. Uh he emphasizes that so many times. 2+ 2 is four. 4.1 is not uh truth. Four is the truth. So any deviation from the truth is not truth. So let's be very careful. Let us take these warnings from 12:05 John seriously. John has lived many years of being Christian and he's writing all these warnings. Let's look at the next book. Move on to the just turn your page to third letter of John. And uh here he's commending he's 12:19 commending again. I have no greater joy than this to hear of my children walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than this to hear of my children walking in the truth. If uh if my children accomplish a lot in my li in their 12:36 lives, yeah, I'll feel happy. But this verse tells me that I need to be happy and my joy should be greater if I hear them walking in the truth. Um that should be my desire. And that's what John is talking about his spiritual 12:50 children. I have no greater joy than this. You know, think about brother Zach has a apostolic uh ministry over us. If he hears that, oh ACFC is walking in the truth, there is no greater joy than that for him. Rather than hearing that our 13:04 church is growing in numbers and we have lot of activities and all of that, the joy that will bring to his heart will be children walking in the truth. Um and then apostle Paul also has some warnings. This is John. Apostle Paul had 13:19 some warnings in 2 Corinthians 11. Please open the Bible. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2. For I am jealous for you with godly 13:38 jealousy. For I betrothed you, you means all the believers to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. We are engaged to one husband that is Christ. And he wants to present 13:54 us as pure virgin, not beautiful virgin, pure virgin, purity. And I am afraid the the warning comes in verse three. But I am afraid that as a serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the 14:14 simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. So the Eve just like Gibonites right uh Eve was deceived by the craftiness of the serpent and our minds will be led astray slowly slowly devi deviated from the simplicity and purity 14:32 of devotion to Christ. What it means like what is that simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ? Gospel is very very simple. Uh Jesus died and rose again so that we may no longer live for ourselves but for him who died and rose 14:45 again. Christ becomes everything and it is about devotion uh and love to Christ, love for Christ and doing everything out of that love. And when we make a religion out of all Jesus teachings, we have deviated from the simplicity and 15:00 purity of devotion. We come up with a lot of rules and regulations, lot of traditions. We have deviated from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. And uh we see that traditions have overtaken churches. Uh so that's 15:12 why Paul is warning I have I'm a I have I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy because I want to present you as a pure virgin. So let us take these words seriously. The serpent deceived Eve by craftiness. Craftiness. So our 15:28 minds will be led astray. And um same Paul again in Acts chapter 20. Please turn to Acts chapter 20. Um this is the final warning to Ephesus, the church at Ephesus. He was there for 15:45 3 years I think. Uh he was preaching to uh church at Ephesus. He poured out his heart every day. He preached there and then the and then he he realized that he may not see them again. So even the first John, second John, third John, 16:00 whatever verses we saw towards the end of his life, he wants because when you talk to someone, you know that your end is coming. you want to really prepare our family like who whomever you are talking to. So even Paul is thinking 16:14 that he may not see the Ephesus elders again. So he's warning them and he they come to him in chapter 20:18. When they had come to him, he said to them and then uh I want to go to the verse um verse 25. And behold, I know that all of 16:33 you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face because he's thinking that he may not see them. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I'm innocent of the blood of man. For I did not shrink from 16:46 declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Throughout these years he preached uh day and night and whole purpose of God. So he is telling the elders, the leaders at Ephesus, be on God for yourselves and for all the flock among 17:02 which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his blood. Again, G the church is purchased with the precious blood of Christ and God has appointed some overseas elders so that 17:20 he's warning them be on God. Be watchful because verse 29 and 30 are very very serious. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And the shepherd's duty is to protect the sheep 17:35 from these uh uh savage wolves, ravenous wolves. And from among you, not outside, among you, among your own selves, men will rise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. What a serious warning it is. Ravenous wolves 17:52 coming and men raising among ourselves, speaking perverse things and to draw away the disciples after them. And he's saying remember all that I have. Verse 31, be on alert. Alert remembering that day and night for a period of three 18:07 years I did not cease to admonish each one of you. 3 years so much of teaching they received. Remember, he's saying remember them. And uh verse 32 is what I like. Then he says, "And now I commend you to God and to the word of his 18:21 grace." So he's commending them. These are the things that are going to happen but I'm commending them to God and the word of his grace. The word of God, the scripture is our protection dear brothers and sisters because these 18:34 warnings and we see that in church of Ephesus was one of the most spiritual church and uh Ephesus Ephesians you don't see much correction there one of the most spiritual church even that church needed this warning that ravenous 18:48 wolves are going to come and disturb the flock sparing not sparing the flock and we see that even in revelation one of the first warnings is to either right so you have left here first love. So if we are not careful, we can be led astray. 19:04 So let's take these warnings seriously. Um um yeah. And then Philippians 1:9, that's the verse I started with. 19:23 I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. All discernment and um uh 1 Thessalonians 5:21. Let's open that. There's so many verses I don't have time to take you through all of them. 1 19:41 Thessalonians 5:21 it says, "Test all things, test all things or examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good." Um, so the previous verses, do not despise prophetic utterances. When you hear the 20:00 word, hear these prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. Hold fast to that which is good. We got to have the discernment. Examine everything carefully, test everything again. So 20:14 because we have a lot of charismatic, gifted speakers uh in this world in Christian uh circles and they can preach very good sermons. But if we are not careful, if you don't examine the teaching, we can be led astray. That's 20:29 why uh scriptures again and again saying do do not believe in every spirit, test the spirits. And uh Jesus also said a tree is known by its fruit. A tree is known by its fruit. Right? A good tree will not produce bad fruit and a bad 20:47 tree will not produce good fruit. You know their lives the fruit in their life and the speakers in the in the preacher's life is very very important. Uh that's why Jesus warned in Luke chapter 6 uh 43 to 44. You don't have to 21:02 look it up right now but you can make a note of that. Um there is there is lot of uh there is a lot of deception lot of false teaching. Let's guard ourselves and let's examine uh when we follow certain preacher for certain teaching 21:17 examine their lives carefully. I myself uh was impacted by one of the you know he's almost like a celebrity in the Christian world. I followed him because his teachings helped me to become a believer. But later on many years later 21:31 I we found that he fell into sin and deep sin for many years and I was like wow taken back. I was shaken up how I could follow this person. That's why from then onwards I am very guarded. I want to be careful when I want to follow 21:46 certain teachings, certain teachers. I want to see their lives. How is how is their life? Uh that helps me to develop that confidence. Um even Jesus warned uh right some sometimes Pharisees claimed the spiritual heritage Abraham is our 22:02 father like sometimes uh we get associated with uh godly people holiness will not is not like contagious it just uh it just is not it doesn't come because we are connected to some godly people Abraham is godly man is a man of 22:16 faith but that doesn't mean that everyone who claims Abraham is father is is a godly person. So we want to be careful when people claim their connection to godly people and leaders um leaders may fall into sin. So we got 22:32 to be careful. We see so many uh so many stories out there and every time I see uh a famous leader in the Christian world fall has fallen or sin is discovered. It just uh disturbs the entire church entire uh flock. Uh it's 22:47 sad but it is happening and uh I I this is my burden and my this is the warning in the scripture for myself for my family and for the church. Do not believe everything test examine everything carefully uh because of the 23:03 deception is all around. So having defined the problem so let's see what God has provided to us to protect ourselves. Um I have few verses I want to take you through. Um, Acts chapter 17 23:20 verse 10 to 12. So did you have ever hear um is any any letter in the Bible written to Berian like Philippians, Ephesians? Did you see that there is no book burian? Why is that? We have the answer there. Acts 23:39 chapter 17 vers 10 to 12. And brethren, immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to bury. When they arrived, they went into synagogue of the Jews. Now these are more noble-minded 23:59 than those in Thessalonica. For they received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. So this is Holy Spirit calls barriers noble-minded because they're examining everything. 24:12 Even if I say whatever I say here, examine the scriptures. I that's that's why I show you the scripture. These are not my opinions. These are not my words. And bian were like that. Examining the scripture. Jesus was like uh he was when 24:27 he was lost in the temple. He was asking questions. Why is it so? I mean he was debating and uh and talking and asking questions. So through the scripture they are protecting themselves. Even apostle Paul preached but they are not 24:40 convinced. They want to examine everything through the scripture if it were so. Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword is living and active. It can pierce to the penetrate to the dividing ascent of 24:56 soul and spirit and of joints and marrow. And it can discern the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The word of God is like you won't find anything that is sharper than the word of God. You can't find any sword that is sharper 25:08 than the word of God. It can divide. it can go deeper. Sometimes we we get confused when there is some teaching which is soloulish uh and teaching which is spiritual. So word of god is the one which is going to help us to because it 25:21 can penetrate into that and the spiritual discernment is very important because that comes through regular study of the scriptures. Uh Ezra Ezra is a great example. You can note down this verse Ezra 7:10. Ezra has purposed in 25:35 his heart to study the word of God to obey and to teach. that was his protection right and um 2 Timothy also um uh 2 Timothy chapter 3:16 the verse that I mentioned all scripture is given by the uh inspiration of God everything 25:51 we all have Bibles I think on Friday you know I was asking anybody has Bibles if you don't have Bible please come and to see one of the elder we will get the Bible but all of us should have this source of truth this is the truth for us 26:03 and let's diligently study and even Paul is telling second Timothy uh is in 2 Timothy is encouraging uh be diligent be diligent in studying of the scriptures. Let's read that verse. 2 Timothy um chapter 2 verse 15. 26:22 2 Timothy chapter 2:15. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth. So there is a diligence that is needed. It is not directly given to you. There 26:37 is a hard work. We can study the scripture. We can be diligent so that we can accurately handle the word of God. This is not just for Timothy. By the way, my dear brothers and sisters, this is for all of us. I think Joseph was 26:48 showing how much time we are spending on reading news, Facebook, social media and all of that. How much time he is spending in the scripture. If you don't read the scripture, we are the prime targets to be deceived. Uh Jesus, he himself being the son of man, 27:03 he studied the scripture. That's why you can see in the on the road to Emos when he was talking to his disciples he was explaining the scriptures starting from Moses and all the prophets what did the disciples feel they were they felt that 27:15 there was something burning in their hearts as Jesus was explaining he lived the scripture he explained the scripture that was his protection when Satan came tempting Jesus he compared scripture with scripture like the best commentary 27:28 for the word of God is the word of God itself right we need to know to find the balance of the truth there's a teaching that some people take one verse out of the context and bring a major doctrine. The best protection is to compare the 27:40 scripture against the scripture all the time. Uh so let us make it a habit. We are we are almost end of the first half of this year. Just examine how much I have grown in the word of God. If we have neglected, let's start today. Today 27:55 is a new day. Let's resolve like Ezra. Ezra purposed in his heart to study, to obey, and to teach. And uh and then that's the main protection for us. And then we also see uh God has given us this promises. Uh James 1:5, if any of 28:13 you lack wisdom, let him ask of God and he will give to everyone generously. So there are a lot of complicated situations we face in our lives. Uh we don't know what to do. Lord help me. Help me with wisdom. And God will give 28:28 to everyone who ask. This is this promise by the way James chapter 1:5 is the for the people who think that they lack wisdom. This is not for the people who are already wise. If you lack wisdom and I'm one of them I that's why I go to 28:42 this promise often. Lord give me wisdom. Um and I was also very encouraged we hear from Solomon's request right in in first kings chapter 3 when Solomon became a king after David and he asked one thing to uh to God and that pleased 29:00 God. He did not ask for riches and all of that he said God give me wisdom so that I can judge your people. Give me wisdom so that I can discern what is good and evil. Let's read that. First Kings chapter 3 verse 9-11. 29:16 First Kings chapter 3. So uh verse 9. So give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people to discern between good and evil. For 29:35 who is able to judge this great people of yours? And verse 10, it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that the that Solomon had asked this thing and God not only gives wisdom and he adds lot of bonuses to him, right? But look, God is 29:50 pleased when Solomon asks for wisdom. How much more our father will be pleased. Father, I need wisdom. I need discernment. This so confusing. I don't I cannot understand. It's so short or spiritual. It's very close. It's 4.1, 30:03 but it's not four. I want to distinguish what is the truth. Uh because I want to walk in the truth. Help me, guide me. And we have the Holy Spirit. The third one, Holy Spirit is given to us who will guide us into all the truth. Holy Spirit 30:16 is we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and he will guide the believers into all the truth. John 16:3. And Jesus also said one thing uh my sheep will recognize my voice. So how can we distinguish from a familiar voice from unfamiliar voice? By constant 30:34 listening to that voice. Listening to this voice. I whether I mean we know our children can recognize mother's voice or father's voice because of the familiarity. So we know when someone is coming and teaching you know is it is it 30:47 spirit of Christ is it something that is aligning with the teachings of Christ we know my sheep will recognize my voice. So let us cultivate this familiarity with the spirits because when we walk with the spirit when we listen to him 31:02 and we go through the prayer and asking spending time with with God seeking counsel we tend to recognize his voice and um I want to also uh I want us to read one verse from 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I'm showing a lot of verses but uh I 31:24 hope I'm not overwhelming you. Uh 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse14 to 15. But a natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are 31:42 foolishness to him and he cannot understand because they are spiritually apprised. But he who is spiritual apprises all things. Yet he himself is apprised by no one. When so there is a natural man, there's a spiritual man 31:57 that when the spiritual man is led by the spirit of God, he is able to apprise all things. But a natural man for him it is foolishness. Why? Why do you think this is wrong? This is this is sounding good. It looks good. It sounds good to 32:10 me. But natural man does not understand the things of the spirit of God because it's foolishness to them. But when you are spiritually app when you are spiritual you are led by the spirit you uprise everything you check everything. 32:25 So the holy spirit given to us will guide us to all the truth we'll recognize his voice and we will apprise everything. And then the fourth thing that I want to just share quickly is the judge righteous judgment. We are called 32:38 not to judge right or don't judge anyone but don't take it to the other extreme again scripture with scripture but we need to do judge righteously. uh Jesus himself said judge righteously not by appearance. We are very very very good 32:52 at judging by what we see what we hear but Jesus was not like that. Jesus judge righteously. Jesus judgment was always right. We are called to judge. We are called to judge. And um uh let's read Hebrews chapter 5. I'm almost coming to end. Uh Hebrews 33:12 chapter 5. Verse 14. But solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. So if we end up like oh I want to be a baby all the time spiritually this is this 33:32 verse is not for us. But if we want to grow and mature solid food uh moms will be excited when they switch from their kids like feeding their kids uh milk to solid food. Solid food is for the mature as they grow and who because of their 33:47 practice constant practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Discern good and evil. I know one of the brother who is a recruiter uh I can say that he would be very good in distinguishing what is a fake resume 34:02 what is a resume with uh real genuine experience because he would have seen hundreds and thousands of resumes uh that are sent to him and he has to make a judgment is it uh because there's a lot of fake resumes in the world and 34:15 resumes written by AI and so you need to have this sense of train to discern what is fake what is real same thing practically we always like is it real is fake you are given a currency note you know it should be is it the real one or 34:28 the fake one discern good and evil it comes by practice uh so just finally I just want to conclude u there is so much of deception in the world as Jesus himself said in the last days see to that no one 34:45 misleads you test every spirit and in some cases don't even invite people into your home because they're bringing wrong teaching Just be careful and um don't uh and scripture is our protection. Uh holy spirit is within us and he will guide 35:02 us. Seek the counsel of the godly. In the multitude of counselors there is safety and protection. Learn to discern good and evil by practice. Train our senses. Um always don't compromise on the truth. Truth will set us free. Walk 35:17 in the truth. Um traditions versus scriptures. There's a lot of traditions in Christianity and we often get confused is this a truth or so if there is any tradition question it where is a biblical backing for this tradition and 35:32 also question is it I mean is it man's idea there's a lot of work in Christianity that is originated in man's mind I mean someone thinks okay this is a great thing to do and they will start it is not initiated by God so let's be 35:48 let's discern whether it's man's idea whether is Ishmael or Isaac? Is it God's promise? Is God's work or not? Is it God who initiated this work? Let's have that discernment. Uh because there's so much of teaching, there are a lot of teaching 36:02 given to us through various means. Let us make sure that when we follow certain leaders, watch their life. Watch the fruit in their lives. Make sure that we don't get confused between soloulish teaching and spiritual teaching. Test 36:15 all things. Prove all things. Um even when we when we share your intimate details like you are sharing a prayer request be discerning uh to share the confidential information not everyone is at the same mature level. So be careful 36:29 uh to whom you open up uh evaluate the fruit in the lives of the leaders. Uh always always brothers and sisters grow as Paul prayed for Philippians grow. I pray that you would abound in love more but more in real knowledge and in all 36:45 discernment. Uh may the Lord help us, guide us, preserve us, protect us from the deception that is in the world uh our individual individual lives, our churches and also um our communities. May the Lord help us. Thank you. 37:10 Thank you brother Surin. I just wanted to reemphasize that point that you know we have words God's word with us right nobody here says something like oh I don't I don't know what's God's word is right and we have plenty nobody should be 37:27 complaining that problem is that I myself I admit I'm the first one who said I need to do more I wanted to read and study God's word more so that we can know what God wants us to do and you heard about the Bereans right the 37:43 quality that they had was even when Paul was preaching what was their thing they were examining at that time they didn't have the New Testament right they had the old testament they wanted to see whether Paul saying is right this is the 37:57 super apostle Paul how much more we should dear brothers and sisters that all of us have access to God's word and if we don't read and study then we can never we never be able to discern what is right and wrong. Like in other words, 38:14 you know, there's a lot of interpretations out there. Everyone claims that this is all from the Bible. Nobody says an interpretation say, "Oh, this is not from the Bible." Right? You don't even pay attention to that. But 38:25 everybody talks about, you know, the interpretation is always from the Bible. But it is important for us each individual to know and learn. Some interpretation may have uh a better benefits like it it may help you but you want to make sure 38:42 that it is coherent with the scripture for that the only way is that we must take time we must invest time and learn the scripture I love that verse sur mentioned this in Esra I think it's 7:10 it says study 38:59 obey and teach right what's the first thing study if you don't read the Bible, you don't know what God wants you to do, right? God's will is revealed in his commandments. So what what God wants you to do primarily mentioned in the 39:19 scripture. So if you don't spend time reading that, the fault is with us. I love what brother Zach said this. I mean it's it's not scripture, but this is an opinion. He said something like this, right? You deserve to be deceived if you 39:35 don't take time to read the scripture. Right? Because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path. Children, I want to encourage you study the scripture. You are growing up a home where scripture is revered like your 39:51 parents uh are always talking about the scripture. Your church is always talking about scripture. Are you taking time to study the scripture? You know, a lot of people ask me, "Oh, how did you get this? How did you memorize all this 40:04 scripture and stuff like that?" I tell people it was not automatic. It's not like I struggle with the memory just like anyone else. But I remember on my the the days when I was born again. Right after that, I was working in the 40:18 US Postal Service. At 15 minutes break, I have a New Testament in my pocket. I just read. To this day, I remember some of the words that I memorized that time. I invested time in it. Dear children, please invest your time learning the 40:35 scripture. Adults, remember that we heard from Joseph G earlier, right? How much time we reading the new news, the news and all these things, which is not bad. But what is your first thing? Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek ye first the 40:50 kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." So I want to encourage all of us starting today invest time reading studying the scripture. This is God's love letter for us. I want to encourage 41:05 all of I want to lovingly challenge all of you that take your time, invest your time in learning the scripture which will help you as we heard today to discern and when the holy spirit is in you guiding you but if you don't know 41:19 the word right like psalm 19:11 says I have hidden your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you. This is how the holy spirit help you. He brings the verses to you that you learned in the time of need. So let us make sure 41:34 that we take time to study and uh the word. Yeah. Thank you brothers um for the reminder 41:57 and the warning. Uh I'm very thankful to be back from um the trip to Korea. Uh one one of the things I wanted to accomplished through the trip was to visit with my family especially with my 42:13 children another church. Um to see if they can discern difference of our church versus other churches. uh and we were able to visit one church and immediately I think all of us had a 42:35 sense that something was different and some part of the message we felt our spirits being troubled by the things that we're hearing in that meeting and I think it was a good test 42:53 for for us. And my goal through that exercise with experience was to see one to appreciate our church more of the truth the new covenant truth that are taught here and also see that to 43:11 recognize importance of discernment as they grow as we grow. Um, and as we heard this morning in as in Philippians 1:9, as Paul was praying that as our love 43:29 grows that your love may abound still more and more, but with the love that our also discernment, our wisdom will grow together with it. It's not enough just for us our love to grow because 43:46 we may think we're doing the right thing, but in God's eyes it may not be wise. Um, you probably know the verse, do not give in Matthew 7:6, you know, do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before 44:05 swine the pigs, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. And you probably heard that verse before. I can't give what is holy, what is valuable or what is treasure pearls to because they will not appreciate it. And also 44:24 you also know the Matthew 25:13 the 10 virgins as they are waiting for the groom that all the virgins woke up and when they all fell asleep and when they woke up from the they started trimming their lambs to get ready for the groom. But the foolish 44:43 ones said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out." Meaning they all had oil in the beginning. They all had limited resources. But the ones that did not have extra oil, um they the lamps are 44:59 burnt out. And out of the abundance of love, the five virgins could give their uh oil, extra oil to but they said no cuz there must been some discernment. There may not be enough for both of us and you instead go to those who sell oil and buy some for 45:18 yourselves. So in all these as we grow and as we emphasize love we also need to emphasize wisdom as our church grows. Um, I want to end with this warning. 1 Corinthians 10:12. Therefore, let the one who thinks he 45:38 stands watch out that he does not fall. So, if we have any inkling, lest examine our hearts. Oh, I think I if I think as I was hearing this morning, I know all of this. If I think I can stand, I'm the one who will fall. Pride goes before the 45:56 fall. And also in Proverbs 16:2, all the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives. As a man, I only see the outside. So I have to ask the ultimate judge, God, you know the motives of the 46:14 man's heart. And as we heard this morning, the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as division of soul and spirit, which is the motivation of the man. Um, I'm so thankful that we get to hear 46:34 these truths in these last days. And if there are areas one another encouragement I'd like to add is uh if things are confusing we have a lot of resources um please um also submission is also 46:52 protection for us in the areas that we do not fully understand. Look for those that you can submit to freely submit to that have may have more discernment in certain areas of life. um please go to that godly brother or godly sister that 47:09 you look up to spiritually and ask for advice and to submit. Um so we also recommend that as well. Let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning and I ask for um as he the Lord may abound, the love may abound that he will add also 47:26 discernment to us this his church. Heavenly Father, we thank you for warning us in these last days that we do not just seek for experience or emotions or happiness but discernment. Lord, 47:45 as we will if not we'll be deceived in these last times. Lord, give us help us to be alert and be aware and be diligent in seeking your word and your wisdom. 48:02 Pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you. Thank you family for joining us this morning. I'd like to also acknowledge uh sister um another person who came back Reinnie. Sister Reinnie and Evelyn Alana welcome back as well for they've been away for 48:18 two months. And uh we'll conclude this meeting. Thank you for joining us on Zoom.
