F4F | Hearing the Voice of God Part 2

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough, I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and set up this episode of Fighting for the

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Faith similarly to what I did with the last episode, dealing with Hearing the Voice of God Part 1, or Hearing the

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Voice of God Part 1. If you've ever heard anyone tell you, you need to be hearing the audio version of God's voice.

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He needs to be speaking to your heart, and you need to be hearing directly from Him. And if you don't, well, you know,

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Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice, then you're probably not even saved. It's all about that relationship with Jesus, you know.

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Yeah, if you've ever heard that, go ahead and hit the subscribe button down below. Don't forget to like the video, ring the bell so you can be notified when we update the channel.

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So what we're going to do today, this is Part 2 on Hearing the Voice of God. We're going to reemphasize a few biblical texts that we took a look at.

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In fact, we're going to start in the Bible today, and then we're going to listen to Priscilla Schreier as well as Henry Blackaby.

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We'll see how much time we have to get through everything. But let's get to it. The best way I can say, we've got some biblical groundwork we need to do.

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We want to build off the last episode. If you haven't seen Hearing the Voice of God Part 1, pause this video and go back and watch that one first, because the biblical texts, they all build off of each other, and you need to have the bigger scope.

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So all of that being said, here's my desktop, and let's pull up my web browser, voila.

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And that's the extent of my French, I think. And what we're going to do here, in fact, let me do this.

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I don't want to start with Priscilla. We'll come back to Priscilla. I want to say this about Priscilla. She is an extremely intelligent and gifted communicator, but she is one who twists

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God's Word, and she should be on your mark and avoid list. And I don't care how engaging this woman is, and she is ridiculously engaging.

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Her public speaking chops are top -notch. There are few that are even close to her, and maybe none better, best way

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I can put it. But that does not mean that she teaches the truth, because she doesn't. But all that being said, let's go into the biblical text first.

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We are going to be looking at the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, a portion of Scripture that y 'all are familiar with.

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You've heard of this portion of Scripture. It has a name. It is called the Great Commission, aha, the

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Great Commission. And I'm going to point out a few things that a lot of people don't pay too much attention to.

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All right? So, let's begin, then, verse 18. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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Now, note it says all, and all means all.

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All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. He's the one who calls the shots.

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And the church has been given a task by King Jesus, the one who has all authority.

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You do not have authority over Jesus. You don't get to veto his word.

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And there are no elections that take place that you can have in order to overturn

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Jesus's kingly reign and put in the person that you want with the progressive agenda that you're looking forward to seeing happening.

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So let's just make this clear. Jesus calls all the shots, not only in his church, in all the world, period, full stop.

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And you are either believing and obeying. Now, I'm going to say obeying here in this regard is going to be more along the lines of law, but understand this, that those who obey

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Christ are the ones who have faith in him, trust in his promises for the forgiveness of their sins, and they have been brought to real repentance.

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They have recognized that they were in the wrong. God is in the right. They have called out to Christ for mercy, and they are confident that Christ forgives them of all of their sins because of what he has done for them on the cross.

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And then Christians, in true fear, love, and trust in God, in penitent faith, they bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and they keep and they guard the words of God, the words of Christ, all right?

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So as a Christian, all authority has been given to Christ, and it's wonderful.

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I have retired from being a deity. I was a terrible deity anyway. And me vetoing

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Jesus, that makes no sense, and it doesn't make sense when you do it either. So let's begin with those words, all authority, all authority.

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So he calls the shots in heaven on earth, in the church, in the world, period. And you're either on board or you're in rebellion against him.

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That's all there is to it. So he then gives the church this task, go therefore, make disciples of all nations.

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And I'm going to note, the go is not in the imperative. The make disciples is in the imperative.

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Go is a participial phrase. So as you are going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then watch this last part, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

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Now, there's a lot of talk in the visible church regarding the topic of what's called sola scriptura.

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Here's the question I have for you. Since King Jesus, the one who has all authority in heaven on earth, has said to the church, they are to make disciples and what they are to be discipled in.

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By the way, a disciple is a learner, all right? So what's the curriculum? The curriculum is all that Christ has commanded.

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Nothing more, nothing less. Your opinions, philosophy, speculations, mad ravings, fever dreams, dreams caused by the fact that you ate a bad burrito last night with a really awful beer.

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All of those things are ruled out, okay? In the church, the only thing that gets to be taught is what

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Christ has commanded, which begs the question, where do I go to find what

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Christ has commanded? Now, this should be basic. Jesus is none other than the

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Son of God in human flesh. There is only one God, and he exists in three eternal persons,

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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are not three gods, there's only one. So when the God of the Old Testament has spoken and commanded, that's

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Jesus speaking by virtue of the fact that he's the same God as the God of the Old Testament.

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And Jesus makes it clear in Mark 7 that God is the one who commanded through the

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Old Testament text. And we're going to note here that Jesus quoted from all three sections of the

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Old Testament and quoted them as authoritative and as having their origin in God.

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That includes the Torah, it includes the prophets, it includes the histories. So all three portions of the

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Old Testament, Christ quoted from and quoted from them authoritatively as coming from God.

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Jesus never quoted from the Apocrypha, keep that in mind. So all of that being said, we can say, all right,

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Christ has spoken to us, well, he's spoken to us via the

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Old Testament, for sure. All right? And you say, that's a weird way to talk. Jesus is in the

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New Testament, the God of the Old Testament seems cranky. No, no, no. Jesus is the

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God of the Old Testament, full stop. And you don't agree with that, you need to read your

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Bible, all right? So Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. Now, what about the other stuff?

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Well, we noted in the last installment of Fighting for the Faith, in John 17,

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Christ in his high priestly prayer on the night that he's betrayed before he's about to be crucified, so he's got less than 24 hours to live,

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Christ prays this prayer, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave to me out of the world, yours they were, and you gave them to me, they have kept your word, and now they know that everything that you have given me is from you, for I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them.

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So Christ received his message from the Father, Christ delivered his word, the words of the

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Father to whom? His apostles. All right? These are the guys who are going to go on to become the apostles.

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He reiterates that in verse 14, I have given them your word, and then

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Jesus says in verse 16, they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world, sanctify them in the truth, and watch this, your word is truth, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world, so I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

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So Christ commands the disciples, after all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to them, to make disciples, teaching all that Christ has commanded, and he has delivered to the apostles his words, and where do we go now to hear the words of Christ?

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Answer, the writings of the apostles, so that they may all be one, just as you are a father in me, and I in you, and they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me, how do we do that?

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Through the words of the apostles, everyone who believes in Jesus believes in the words that they spoke and wrote, that they wrote, and that's the only place we can go to obey

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Christ's command to teach all that I have commanded, all right? This is the reason why then, if you consider

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Hebrews chapter 1, long ago at many times and in many ways,

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God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. So note what it says here in Hebrews 1,

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God spoke to our fathers, how? By the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken, past tense, has spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

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So, where can I go to hear the voice of Christ if he has already spoken?

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Answer, any gospel, any letter, any book written by an apostle of Jesus Christ, one sent by him, has received from Jesus the words that Jesus received from the

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Father, and people are to believe in Jesus through their words.

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This is the only place I can go and know that I'm hearing the word of God. I'm hearing his voice.

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It's in the Old Testament, and it's also in the New, and there is no other place to go, none whatsoever, period, full stop.

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All other voices, I must assume, are false voices, the voice of the devil, the voice of my sinful appetites, the ravings of a lunatic.

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And if anyone comes to me and says to me, God sent me to tell you, I will say, whoa, what sign can you perform to prove to me that God sent you to give me a message?

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We're going to need some proof here. And so, full theological audit is in order, all kinds of things.

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Before I'm even going to let you utter a word, you're going to have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God sent you.

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I know that God sent the prophets of the Old Testament, and I know that Christ sent the apostles.

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As for everybody else, I don't know who they are. I don't know who they claim to be, because over and again, the people claiming to be hearing the voice of God and then speaking those words directly to everybody, over and again,

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I can demonstrate with this much effort that the words that they're speaking contradict the Bible, and that they twist

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Scripture. All right? So, let me give you another text along these lines, and that is going to be

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Ephesians 2, and consider the implications here. Ephesians 2, specifically verse 20, and so here's what it says.

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For through him we have both access in one spirit to the Father. This is verse 18 for context.

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So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and you are members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

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The household of God, according to God the Holy Spirit, through the apostle

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Paul, who was an apostle of Jesus Christ, the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

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What's that referring to? The Bible. Any other voice that's coming to you is not the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

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It's something different altogether. Okay, so you got that, and let me throw into the mix here then two other texts that I go to on a regular basis.

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Second Peter chapter 1, and this is the last epistle that Peter writes before he's martyred.

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He's going to end up being crucified upside down. It's going to take him three days to die. And this is the last letter he writes before that.

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And here is his last will and testament written to the church at large, and pay close attention to where he points people to, not to inner voices, not to spiritual experiences or anything like that.

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He points them to something very specific. And so Peter says, We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the

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Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved Son with whom

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I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

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Now I've said it before, I'll say it again. Patricia King would be willing to sell her mother into slavery in order to have a religious experience like this.

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And yet Peter here is going to make it very clear that what we have as Christians now is even more sure and certain than the voice he heard speak from heaven, and that's the point.

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So, and we have, listen to what he says, we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed.

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The prophetic word, what's he referring to? The prophetic word.

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He ain't talking about Cain Ash, he ain't talking about all the people we feature on Prophecy Bingo, he ain't talking about Ebola Adelante, no, he's talking about the

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Bible. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises.

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So you've got to note this. Until the return of Christ, the prophetic word is the thing that speaks to us.

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This is the voice of God. Knowing this, first of all, no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

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And notice what he calls it. Prophecy of what? Scripture. All right?

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For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the

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Holy Spirit. So Peter, before he dies, what's he pointing us to? No still small voice, no hearing

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Jesus speaking into your heart, no, he's pointing us to the prophetic word. God has spoken to us through his

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Son in these last days, and the only place I can go to hear the words, the voice of the

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Son of God, is in the apostolic text in the New Testament. Straight out.

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That's all there is to it. So last text along these lines, understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

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This is 2 Timothy 2. This is Paul's last letter before he's martyred. He's going to have his head taken off his shoulder by a

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Roman centurion. Understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty. People will be lovers of self, check, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal, not loving, good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, denying its power, avoid such people for among them are those who creep into household and capture weak women, burdened with sins, led astray by various passions, always learning but never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth.

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I think of Hillsong, Saddleback. I think of Carl Lentz and his spectacular fall.

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But nobody should have been surprised about his spectacular fall at all, because for years we've been warning people about these seeker -driven, charismatic churches, that they're ticking off all of the boxes here, that the people there are lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, unappeasable, slanderous, full of all kinds of passions that are sinful, right?

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And they don't call people to repent. They scratch itching ears and tell people what they want to hear. And so then

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Paul then says, just as Janice and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also, they oppose the truth, they are corrupted in mind, they are disqualified regarding the faith, but they will not get very far.

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Their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness.

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My persecutions and sufferings, yes, that's right, if you're a Christian, expect those two things.

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And if you're not getting them, you need to question a few things. It's like, I must be doing it wrong, uh -huh, all right?

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Persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, which persecutions

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I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters, they will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

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But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believe, knowing from whom you have learned it, how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, all

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Scripture is breathed out by God, theanoustos, is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work, not some, every.

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This is the only place you can go to hear the voice of God, is the prophetic writings of the

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Old Testament, and Moses was a prophet, as well as the apostolic writings of the

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New Testament. It's the only place you can go to hear the voice of God, and since Christ, the one who all authority has been given to, who said that we are only to teach and disciple people with the things that he's commanded, nothing else gets to be added.

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Only the Scriptures, rightly taught, rightly divided. So I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word.

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That's it. Be ready in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience in teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endorse sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.

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They'll turn away from listening to the truth, wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober -minded, endorse suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

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Scripture is the only place I can go to hear the voice of God. And if you read your Bible, you will come to the same conclusion.

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That is the only place you can go to hear the voice of God, to hear the voice of Christ, and in Christ's church,

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Scripture and Scripture alone is to be preached. He has said that.

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All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, make disciples, teaching them all that I have commanded.

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Nothing more, nothing less. Only the voice of Christ, only the voice of God gets to speak in Christ's church.

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The job of a pastor is to preach the word. And when a pastor preaches anything different, or any

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Christian preaches anything different and says that's the voice of God, they are liars, they are deceivers, and they are causing you to try to get you to trust in words that are lies from a voice that is not the voice of God.

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You can trust the Bible and no one else, and nothing else, period.

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All of that, that's our foundation work for today. So let's listen to Priscilla Schreier, and this was from a conference speech she gave in 2018, and expect to hear the voice of God.

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We'll listen to the setup here and see what she does. And again, this woman is skilled.

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She is an amazing communicator, but she is a disobeyer of the voice of God in so many ways, and she's a twister of Scripture.

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Listen in. I have three siblings. I have an older sister, her name is

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Crystal, and then I have two younger brothers, Anthony and Jonathan. I'm second in line, I'm sort of right in the middle.

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And we're all very, very good friends. My sister, my older sister, Crystal, and I are extremely good friends.

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We actually were next -door neighbors for a large portion of our life, five or six years. We live right next door.

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She has five children. So notice, she's not starting with a biblical text. Expect to hear the voice of God.

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This were really, truly a biblical teaching. All she would have to do is say, open up to this passage, follow along.

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This text clearly says that God's going to speak to you, the end. I mean, that's all she needs to do.

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But she begins with a life experience to create an analogy regarding what your attitude should be.

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But if this were really a biblical doctrine, all you would have to do is open up a biblical text. Her three boys, she has two older daughters, but her three boys are pretty much the exact same age as my three boys.

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It's like we planned it or something. We just kept having these boys and we lived next door to each other, homeschooled our children really together.

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So she did all the hard stuff, I did recess and lunch, that's what they came to my house for. And it was just a zoo basically all day long, six boys just running back and forth.

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So we have spent a lot of our adult years really being very close friends. But of course, in our younger years, we were sisters growing up together, so we butted heads quite a bit.

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Crystal and I probably had a rivalry that started very, very, very early in our lives because my sister,

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Crystal, was the very first child, obviously in my family, but the first grandchild for either side of the family.

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So paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents, she was the first grandchild. Her name was

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Crystal because she was the light of everyone's eyes. And by the way, so many people who call themselves

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Christians, the way they determine whether or not a speech, a lecture, a sermon, a message is a good one is based upon how it made you feel.

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Oh, she was so engaging. I was totally tracking with her. And she was so funny, and I could totally relate to the things she was saying.

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That's not the way you determine whether or not a Christian sermon is a good one. The question is, what did she do with the

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Word of God? Did she rightly handle it? And I would say that this woman, I have video after video after video of her delivering sermons in churches, that it's clear to me that she doesn't obey the voice of God.

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So we got some big problems here. Stop determining whether or not a sermon is a good one based upon how it made you feel.

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And ask yourself the question, is this person bringing to me the accurate, true voice of God, or are they perverting it and twisting it?

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And it doesn't matter how engaging they are. If they are perverting and twisting God's Word, you are dealing with a wolf, and Scripture says you are to mark and avoid them, not reward them with your money.

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So my grandparents were so thrilled that they finally had this grandbaby. And of course,

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I know there's something about that first grandbaby that you just are so thrilled and excited about.

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I've heard that from lots of grandparents, and my grandmother in particular, on my father's side, she was so excited about this first grandbaby girl.

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So for Christmas, every year from the moment Crystal was born, she would send this box of stuff for her for Christmas.

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Inside of this box, there would be things that little girls used to wear. Not this, you know, sort of casual skinny jeans stuff, uh -uh.

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I'm talking about the hoop skirts, you know, with the ruffles on the bottom. Do you remember when little girls used to wear those little fold -over socks that had the lace around the trim?

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Yeah, those big hoop skirts and stuff where in church on a Sunday they'd be spinning around because they'd want to see how high their skirt could get.

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She'd send little patent leather shoes, little white and black patent leather shoes, and just lots of sweet things.

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She would send them. The box would come with Crystal's name on it, and I know what my grandmother was thinking.

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She was thinking that she was going to send things in Crystal's size, and then all of us could just grow into all of the hand -me -downs and all of the stuff that she would soon grow out of.

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And I remember being so excited every year when the box came. The box would come. Watch what she does with this life experience that becomes the metaphor for this message.

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She's speaking at a conference, not a church, so keep that in mind. Crystal's name on it.

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We would stand together, and we would open up this box, and I would be so excited as we took out every little skirt and every little pair of socks and every little pair of shoes because I remember thinking that soon, sister girl, you're going to grow out of all this stuff, and it will all be mine.

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But I remember there was one particular year, I don't know, it must have just been because I was a little bit older that year, maybe nine or 10 years old, that I'm opening up this box with my sister, and I remember that year not being excited about this situation anymore.

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I remember opening up the box. I remember pulling out the stuff, and I remember feeling a little bit disconcerted about the fact that this stuff had not been specifically chosen for me.

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This stuff had been chosen for her. And I'd been okay with hand -me -downs, with second -hand clothes all of these years, but all of a sudden,

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I wanted my own stuff. I wanted something to come with my name on it that had specifically been chosen for me.

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There ought to come a time in your relationship with the Lord where hand -me -down revelation just doesn't do it for you anymore.

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There ought to come a time in your relationship with the Lord when hand -me -down revelation just doesn't cut it anymore.

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Let me ask you the obvious question. Is the Bible quote -unquote hand -me -down revelation then, according to the way she's describing, hand -me -down revelation?

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Yeah, you bet it is. Now, to her credit, Priscilla Schreier does believe that the primary way that God speaks to us is through Scripture.

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But when you say that God speaks to us primarily through Scripture, you are admitting that you believe that God speaks to us outside of Scripture.

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And I have no reason whatsoever, based on what Scripture says, to believe that any other voice coming to me outside of Scripture is the voice of God.

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So now we—this entire affair—no, she didn't begin with a biblical text. God's Word says that we need to expect that not to receive hand -me -down revelation.

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This is a problem. There ought to come a little bit of disconcerting, a little bit of maturity in your walk with God where you become a little bit unsettled to only be spoon -fed the

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Word of God from someone else to you. What biblical text says this?

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Paul, writing to Pastor Timothy, tells him to preach the

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Word. And so, according to Priscilla Schreier, this is a different voice. This is not the voice of God.

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In fact, what she's saying contradicts the voice of God. What she's saying is that the people in Timothy's congregation, once they hit a particular level of maturity, they should become discontent hearing

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Pastor Timothy preach the Word of God to them. This is so dangerous.

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Now, we thank God for our pastors and our teachers. Of course we do. We thank God. Is there a but in there?

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I'm just wondering, because if there's a but, it's going to erase it. And our leaders that help us to rightly divide the

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Word of truth, but there ought to— But! But! You see? We thank God for our pastors, but!

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Listen again. The Word of God from someone else to you. Now, we thank God for our pastors and our teachers and our leaders that help us to rightly divide the

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Word of truth, but there ought to come a time in your life where you've decided, you know what? I want fresh revelation with my name on it.

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I want fresh revelation. Where in the Bible does it say you need to expect fresh revelation with your name on it?

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It has come straight from God's Spirit for my life. No biblical text says this.

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So forget the fact that she is an amazing communicator. I mean, brilliant, clearly sharp mind.

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And her engagement skills as a public speaker, I've rarely seen anybody even approaching this level of skill.

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But what she's saying is not the voice of God. What she is saying contradicts what the voice of God has spoken in Scripture.

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She must be marked and avoided. Now, I'm going to fast forward—well, actually,

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I'm going to go to a different one. I'm watching my time here. This is one of those episodes where I think I got a little more than what

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I can get in in one episode. We're going to go—this is Priscilla Schreier and her husband on TBN.

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What does that tell you? And they're going to be talking about discerning the voice of God.

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And we're going to note that the guests here, the hosts, are going to be asking all kinds of questions regarding hearing the voice of God, but let's let

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Priscilla Schreier set up the scenario here, and we'll point out what's wrong along the way.

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This facet of our faith is what separates our faith from every other so -called faith on the face of the earth, that our

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God lives. Yeah, God does live. He's alive, and he speaks to us. We have an actual relationship with him.

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Now, there it is again. So we have a relationship with him, and he speaks to us. I agree. I do have a relationship with God.

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It is the relationship of adopted son who's been set free from slavery.

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So I'm formerly a slave to sin. My father is the devil. I've been bled for, died for, and adopted into the family of God.

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God is my father, my adopted father, and he does speak to me through his word.

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Period. Nothing else. So, yeah. Okay, yeah. That's so casually thrown around, this whole relationship thing, but what good is any relationship if nobody's talking to each other?

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Again, the analogy here, she's not in a biblical text. There's no communication if there's not.

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There is communication. God is speaking to me through his word. A connectedness that is ongoing and continual.

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So this issue of discerning the voice of God, first of all, believing that he does speak, but second of all, trusting in the fact that as his kids...

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She's got a book she's selling on TV on discerning the voice of God. You have the privilege to actually discern and have a distinction of his voice between all the other voices that also want to get a word in edgewise.

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That's something that really can change and transform the trajectory of your entire Christian experience. Okay. So that's kind of the setup.

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And you can find this online. Again, she recognizes that God speaks through his word.

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She doesn't deny that. But already she's saying things that God's word doesn't say, and she's contradicting what

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God's word has said, the voice of God. So here comes kind of a salient question, one that it would make sense that it would come up.

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In fact, let me back this up just a smidge so we can get the context. Which to hear him in the first place. Start us out on...

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Because I know so many people wonder, oh, how can I hear God's voice for ourself?

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And I know... Or trust it. Or trust... Yeah. How can I trust it? And see, that's the thing. You're going to know people trafficking in this doctrine saying, you need to hear the voice of God.

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Always and again, people go, well, how do I know that's God's voice? And they're really hesitant and they're really not sure.

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And the reason why is because they're not hearing the voice of God because no biblical text says there's things you've got to do to hear it.

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Or trust it. How can I trust God's voice when I do hear it? Is that really him? Is it me?

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Is it... Yeah. Well, let me just start by putting a little grace over this entire situation.

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Yeah, you go ahead and do that. Put a little grace over the situation. There's no biblical text that says that God's going to speak to my heart.

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The reality is that sometimes you do not know until hindsight that what you heard was the voice of God.

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There you go. And the reality... Which biblical text says this? No, it says this teaching goes beyond scripture, well beyond it.

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Is that there is grace and mercy to cover our missteps and that the Lord in his graciousness toward us, his knowledge of our frailty and our humanity for the willing heart who desires to do his will, even when we make mistakes, he allows them to become our greatest teachers for hearing him correctly.

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Oh, so when you make mistakes and you thought that was the voice of God, that becomes your greatest teacher so that in the future you can more accurately hear the voice of God.

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Says no biblical text anywhere. In fact, I want to do a little search here.

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I'm going to do a search for Abide. Hang on a second here. Let's see, because truth abides in us, everyone who goes...

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There it is, 2 John 9. All right. 2 John 9. You say, well, what chapter?

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There's only one chapter in 2 John. Here's what it says in 2 John 9, voice of God speaking, everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have

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God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. So you're going to note here,

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Priscilla Schreier is going beyond scripture. She's adding to it in order to defend her doctrine that God's going to speak directly to you.

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But in doing so, she's gone beyond the text. She's now adding to it. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have

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God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. We continue.

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Future. He does not hold it against us because we've misstepped along the way. So God doesn't hold you accountable when you say words that you believe

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God is speaking and you say them to other people or you believe them, and it turns out those were not words from God.

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God doesn't hold you accountable to that. The commandment says you will not take the name of the

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Lord your God in vain. So speaking false words for God that didn't turn out to be from God is a breaking of one of the commandments, the 10.

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So listen to what she said. Listen again. Even when we make mistakes, He… They're not mistakes.

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In this case, when you're speaking for God and believing that's

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His voice and it turns out that it isn't, you've blasphemed. …tells them to become our greatest teachers for hearing

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Him correctly in the future. He does not hold it against us because we've misstepped along the way. So… Really?

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Okay. You see, He doesn't hold it against us when we've misstepped. They're just missteps. They're slipsy -dipsies. They're oopsies and stuff like that.

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No, that's flat -out blasphemy. Just grace for those of us… Yes. …who have ever heard God wrong.

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Grace for hearing God wrong. You didn't hear God then. And I wish we could get it right.

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One of the people I sort of interviewed when I was first writing that book many, you know, over a decade ago now,

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I interviewed Henry Blackaby. Henry Blackaby, another person that needs to be on your mark and avoid list.

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The whole curriculum, Experiencing God, is a master course in how to twist

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God's Word. I've done an entire series on Experiencing God, critiqued it in the podcast of Fighting for the

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Faith. So if you go to fightingforthefaith .com and type in Blackaby, I've done an entire series demonstrating that this man's teaching is poison to be avoided.

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And Blackaby is one of the guys that Rick Warren heavily relies on. So note Priscilla Schrier and Rick Warren both go back to Henry Blackaby.

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If you're a pastor and your church is teaching Blackaby, run, because they're teaching you to hear other voices than the voice of God and call those false voices the voice of God.

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Who wrote Experiencing God. And I, you know, had my notebook out, my pen. I was going to take a seminary class from Henry Blackaby, you know.

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And I said, how do you know when you're hearing God? And he gave me lots of incredible answers to that question, but really he summed it up this way.

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He said, the more you know God, the more clearly you can hear God. What biblical text says that?

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There's no biblical text that says that. Every time I open up my Bible, I hear the voice of God.

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So let's take a look at Blackaby. I'll give you an example of how he twists God's word. This is a video titled

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Recognizing the Voice of God. And we'll be in Deuteronomy 30. In fact, let me open up, let me duplicate this tab here, and we'll go to Deuteronomy 30.

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And I'll demonstrate that this fellow is a wicked twister of God's word. I mean, absolutely wicked.

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And let's throw our Hebrew up just to be good in case I need it.

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Let me make that a little smaller, fit a little bit more on the page. Here we go. Here's Henry Blackaby.

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Chapter 30, beginning at verse 11. All right, so he's having people open up their

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Bibles. The message is recognizing the voice of God. And Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 11, and immediately my spidey senses are going off.

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And the reason why, I should call them my pirate senses. Yeah, I'm not a spider, I'm a pirate. My piratey senses are going off.

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And the reason why is because I want to know the context here. So let me show you the context because he starts at verse 11 in Deuteronomy 30, for this commandment that I command to you today is not too hard for you, neither is it too far off.

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So note, he's starting in the middle of a discourse, bad sign. All right, I always sit there and go, oh, teacher of God's word, why are you so busy that you can't actually teach

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God's word in context? So Deuteronomy 30 is in the section of the

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Mosaic covenant where the blessings and curses of the Mosaic covenant are spelled out, very clearly spelled out.

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Obedience results in blessing, disobedience results in curses and God's judgment.

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Now we're not under the Mosaic covenant, you keep that in mind. The ancient Israelites didn't keep the covenant and they were punished thoroughly for that.

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But here's what Deuteronomy 30 says, and when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which

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I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where Yahweh your

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God has driven you. So you'll note here, this is talking about how God punishes those and scrapes them out of the land of Israel for their disobedience.

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And then you return to Yahweh your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today.

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Deuteronomy 30 is another passage that clearly teaches the voice of God is found where? In the scriptures.

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Long ago in various times, God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets, today he's spoken to us by his son.

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So obey his voice in all that I command you with all your heart, with all your soul, then Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you.

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He will gather you again from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.

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If you're an outcaster in the innermost parts of heaven, from there Yahweh your God will gather you and from there he will take you.

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And Yahweh your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

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And Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your

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God with all your heart, with all your soul, and that you may live. And Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecute you and you shall again watch, obey the voice of Yahweh and keep all his commandments that I command you when?

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Today. So keep that in mind. Henry Blackaby avoided verses 1 to 10 because a discerning

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Christian would have been able to spot the fact, well the voice of God is in the

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Bible there. That's what God's referring people to. So keep that in mind. So let's listen to Blackaby.

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This commandment, I'll give you a chance to look for it. This commandment, does your

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Bible say which I suggest? God never gives suggestions.

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He gives commands. And when God gives a commandment, you ought to pay intimate attention to what he's commanding.

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It is your life and you'll see that in this passage here. He says this commandment which

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I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it a far off.

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It's not in heaven that you should say who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it.

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Nor is it in Atlanta, no, nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it.

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But the word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart.

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Talking about the written word. That you may do it.

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See I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today.

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Note the today part. To love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments.

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Which are found where? His statutes. Which are found where?

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And his judgments. Which are found where? That you may live and multiply.

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And the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

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But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear.

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Now note what he just did there. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear.

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And he's stopping there. See I've set before you today life and good, death and evil.

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If you obey the commandments of your God and statutes then you shall live and multiply. But here's verse 17 and watch what he does.

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If your heart turns away and you will not hear. So he's trying to make it sound like oh your hearts have turned away and you're refusing to hear the audible voice of God and are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them.

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I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. But this, so note he stops with hear, but the context makes it clear the refusal to hear is the refusal to read and believe and hear the written word of God.

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Blackabee's twisting this. Let me back it up just a little bit, listen again. If your heart turns away so that you do not hear.

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If you are not hearing the voice of God, your heart has shifted.

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Oh, so it's your fault. So if you're not hearing directly from God your heart shifted. All because why? Because he twisted

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Deuteronomy 30 verse 17 terribly. That's not what this text is saying at all.

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If you refuse to hear the written word of God, the voice of God in scripture, it's because your heart has turned away.

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That's what this text is saying. Your problem is not hearing, your problem is your heart.

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And so he says if your heart turns away and you do not hear.

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And this is my expanded version. And if you're not hearing the voice of God, you were drawn away and worship other gods and serve them.

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I announce to you today that you shall surely perish.

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Watch what he does. Now if you look at each of those phrases, what he's saying is, if a child of God is not hearing the voice of God.

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That's not what he's saying. He's talking about hearing the voice of God in the scriptures. You're in the process of perishing.

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Now I don't think he's entirely meaning your eternal salvation. I think he's just saying the wages of sin is death.

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You'll find that your marriage seems to perish. Your relationship to your children seem to perish.

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Your co -workers in the workplace. Your life in the life of the church.

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That's not what that text means at all. So I think you get the idea. Blackabee, again, mark and avoid.

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Priscilla Schreier is a disciple of Blackabee. And the book that she's put out on hearing the voice of God is based upon the false teaching and the

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Bible manipulation of men like Blackabee and others. Again, if God wants to speak to me directly, why is it that these people have to twist the word of God to make it appear like that?

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That that's the case? If they were telling us the truth, they would be able to just go to a clear text and show us from that clear text that that's the case.

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And the reason why they can't is because there are no texts that say that. Now in the days ahead, just so you know, we're going to continue this series.

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We have another installment we'll do on YouTube on the podcast, which also includes video versions now too.

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We are going to do full sermon reviews of a sermon by Erwin McManus and Rick Warren in this regard.

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So keep that in mind. Now if you found this helpful and compelling, again, get into the word of God.

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And if you don't agree with me, that's fine. I never ask people to listen with an open mind to me.

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Always listen with an open Bible. That's why you can see the scriptures in front of me when I'm teaching from them so that you can fact check me on the spot if you needed to.

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But don't ever listen with an open mind. Listen with an open Bible. Watch with an open Bible. That's the idea.

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But here's the thing. There are no texts that says that God's going to speak to your heart. None. We'll cover some of the other kind of loose ends, you know, some

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Bible twisting along the way, but in the Rick Warren and in the Erwin McManus sermon reviews, full sermon reviews that we're going to have at FightingForTheFaith .com,

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we're going to cover some more of the facets of this. So if you found this helpful, all the information on how you can share the video is down below in the description.

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And until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ, his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.