Your ability to understand this message will be determined by how many times you have read the Bible, and by how much time you have spent in a good Bible teaching church. Only about 1% of christians will be able to understand this message. If your understanding of spiritual things is lacking, go to another message and come back to this after you have grown more spiritually aware.
When is the last time that you heard from God? Most people are so deaf to God's voice, that if you told them that God told you something, they would think you were crazy. The truth is that most people hear from God every day. They just reject it as a random thought.
Every once in a while, a person accused of a crime tries to say that God told them to do such and such. Sensible people usually reject this kind of defense. This brings up an important point. God can speak to us in a number of ways. He speaks to us through His word, the Holy Bible, if we take the time to read it. That is also one of the best ways to determine if something is from God, or not.
Let's say that there are no " thou shalt or thou shalt nots " on a particular subject. There are easy ways to determine the source of a inner voice, or spontaneous thought. Jesus supplies one method in John 10:10. In this verse, Jesus contrasts Satan ( the Devil ) with Himself. The Devil's agenda is always evil,- to steal, kill, and destroy. He tries to put disability and sickness on people. On the other hand, Jesus came to bring life, and that, more abundantly. A spontaneous thought should be tested. Did it come from God, from Satan, or from your own selfish motivation?
Here's how you can tell. If the thought is a good thought,- one that relates to life, health, prosperity, doing good to your neighbor, obeying God's commandments, it is most likely God's voice. If the thought relates to something which would cause harm to yourself, or to someone else, it is most likely the voice of the Devil.
Using this method, you can quickly see, that a thought that encourages smoking, drinking, misuse of sex, or use of recreational drugs, is not from God.
What about seemingly neutral thoughts? How can we know whether they are from God, from Satan, or from our own selfishness? In Psalm 1, we have stern warnings about the people, with whom we spend most of our time. There are many similar warnings throughout the Bible. This gives us another way to test our spontaneous thoughts.
What about the people who are doing the things that your spontaneous thought suggests? Are they people who are living according to God's commandments? Do they always seem to be doing the right thing? They may profess to be christians, but do they read their Bibles and pray every day? Do they pray in the Spirit? Do the things, that they depict in their drawings and writings, relate to life and happiness, or do they relate to sickness and death?
This gets into the subject of what the Bible calls fruit. Jesus said that a good tree brings forth good fruit and a bad tree brings forth bad fruit. That idea or thought that you are testing,- is it something that good people do, or is it something that rebellious people do?
Following the method described here, you can determine whether a thought or idea is from God. Your thoughts are important. Your thoughts guide your actions. Your words and actions may determine your eternal destiny !
If you have questions, or comments, feel free to e-mail us, by clicking on the E-mail pastor Tim link below.
Our Sunday morning services are being held at the Mexico Beach Civic Center. In accordance with federal laws, we have permission to use this beautiful, heated and air conditioned, facility on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM central time. The Mexico Beach Civic Center is at 105 N. 31st Street. It is the white building with the dark green roof, which is just behind that new Mexico Beach restaurant, Mango Marley's. It is behind Parker Realty, and is on the northeast side of Rte 98. It is about 7/10 mile south of the Mexico Beach Welcome Center. For a map showing the Mexico Beach Civic Center, click here:
Map of Civic Center Area Have a wonderful week. May God bless you, and your family!
Would you like to know more about the return of Jesus Christ?
Check out this site: Jesus Is Coming Soon!
