2 Peter 1:19-21 

¹⁹We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. ²¹For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Fire! Fire!

            Somewhere around the globe, the audience was very attentive watching a movie of a lifetime. All seats in the theater were taken; people were sitting even in the aisles. Suddenly, someone shouted, “Fire, fire!” What do you think? What do you do when you hear “fire” while watching? Run! Where? Run to the exit.

            Right! The one who shouted, “Fire, fire!” laughed at the confusion, sat at the best part of the theater and watched the movie. It’s fictional story though.

            Truly, many people are easily deceived when their safety is threatened, and they won’t take time to deliberate or ponder upon what frightened them. Church attendees can be confused when sermons trigger them to react emotionally.

Make sure that you subscribe or follow preachers who teach biblical truth.

            We can learn from the Bereans in Acts 17:10-12, ¹⁰The believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. ¹²As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

            We search the Scripture to read personally and be familiar with the word of God. What is it for? Familiarity of the Scripture helps us discern if a message is biblical or heretical; if it is biblical, we consider it, but if it is heretical, we reject it.

            Who are prophets in our generation? The Old Testament prophets were spokesperson, speakers or messengers of the Lord. The New Testament prophets were gifted at expositing and explaining divine truth; preachers are messengers of the divine message of God. Jesus Christ our Lord gave prophets to his church.

            It recorded in Ephesians 4:11-13, ¹¹Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

            It has been observed that where genuine things exist, there will always be counterfeit or fake things that may appear and created, and that does not exempt apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in the church.

            It is very advisable to be prayerful for godly guidance from the Holy Spirit, so that, we won’t waste our precious time listening to counterfeit messengers of the dark world. How can we know when a message is completely reliable or not?

1.  Complete

¹⁹We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 

            The prophetic message of Apostle Peter is something completely reliable because he personally experienced what he preached. He did not cleverly devised story just to attract an audience. Prophetic message is inspired by the Holy Spirit of Christ. And, when listeners respond positively to prophetic message, we expect personal transformation into godly lifestyle. Transformation of life practically proves that prophetic message is completely reliable, not heretical or unbiblical.

            Peter advised us, “You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” Peter preaches that if we follow a completely reliable message, we’ve got bright hope that shines deep within us even when situations around us are bothersome. Pray to be filled and inspired by the Holy Spirit; he guides us into all reliable truth.

Capital Letters

            Someone had predicted that recession or collapse of economy is worrisome in the near future. You heard a story beyond the border about the collapse of a well-known bank. Accordingly, some personalities sent messages with CAPITAL LETTERS on social media that triggered an alarm about the instability of the bank.

What happened? Bank customers panicked and withdraw about $42 billion just in a single day so that the bank had negative cash balance of $1 billion.

Crisis in banking can easily spark worry and panic among many businesspeople.

Ponder on that reality of economic problem for a while. If people who have much money in the bank are inclined to panic when they read unverified social media articles, how will the ordinary citizens react or be affected?

The article that sparked a panic among social media subscribers, was it honest or corrupt? The challenge of Apostle Peter for life transformation is very valuable and useful at problematic times. We’ve got to rely upon the Lord more seriously, why? Our Lord wants us to escape the corrupt lifestyle of this world.

Let’s reflect again on what it declared in 2 Peter 1:3-4, ³His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

If by faith we believe that Christ has given us everything we need for godly life, what could we worry about? Christ told us not to worry because it is human tendency to worry. We worry when stability of our situation is threatened. And if we sense worry in our heart, we should evaluate our spiritual status before God.

            So, whenever you read an article that may fascinate you, ask this question:“Is it biblical truth?” If it is biblical, then, we should not ignore it. We ask the Lord to increase our faith and wisdom to know if it originally comes from the Scripture.

2.  Come

²⁰Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 

            When articles catch your attention, do you normally appreciate the writer? Are you disturbed if you personally know that their lifestyle contradicts the article they published? Do you think preachers who don’t practise what they preach are not credible messenger? Have you been warned not to trust the skinny chef?

Skinny Chef

            You may have heard this fictional story. A prominent celebrity demanded and told the waiter, “Before I order my food, I would like to meet your chef!” The waiter was puzzled and asked, “Why do you want to meet the chef?” “Well, I want to personally see if your chef is skinny or chubby!” he replied. “Uh, Sir,” the waiter hesitated, “Our chef went out to eat at a nearby restaurant

            Do you ask at your favorite restaurant if the chef eats what he cooks?

If a chef doesn’t eat the food he cooks, do you still want to eat there? Similarly, if preachers don’t practise what they preach, what do we do? We should personally check the Scripture to see if the message they preach is biblically correct or not.

            Christ Jesus had warned in Matthew 23:2-3, ²The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

            The teachers of the law and the Pharisees preach the commands of Moses, but they exempted themselves from responsibilities. Christ warned, “You must be careful to do everything the teachers of the law and the Pharisees tell you.”

            Interestingly, Christ did not advocate defiance or rejection of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, but he had instructed not to follow what they do, their lifestyle or behavior, for they do not practice what they preach.

            This could be irresistible temptation. When motivational articles inspire them, they publish on social media without hesitation. Do they publish anything just to have a sense of belonging or not left out of the social media trend?

Be prayerful publishing articles. There are possible consequences.

It recorded in Acts 19:13-16, ¹³Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” ¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

            Do we indirectly invoke the name of the Lord when we use the Scripture to argue against a particular dogma or popular belief? Bad element in the spirit world could provoke people to publish articles you cannot agree. It is a click-bait for you to respond. Be aware of your personal welfare when publishing opinions. You could be disappointed when responses contradict your expectations.

            In all things we do privately or publicly when we preach, teach or publish biblical truth, we need inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We practise faith in Christ always; anytime anywhere, we carry the name of Christ Jesus our Lord.

3.  Carry

²¹For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

            Prophets are preachers of divine truth. Ordained or not, official or not, when you talk about the word of God, you do the work of preachers or prophets. Any preacher may claim to be prophet sent from God. If they are inspired by the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit in us inspires us to listen and obey him.

            We should not be careless when it comes to sharing of the word of God. We have to be spiritually sensitive to discern when the Holy Spirit speaks to us.

            Apostle Peter said, “Prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit himself reveals divine truth to his chosen messenger. What do we sense when we hear the word of the Lord? Normally, we sense resistance, unless, of course, we are prayerful and inspired by the Holy Spirit to obey him.

It declares in 2 Timothy  3:16-17, ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

            Do you normally appreciate it when you are rebuked? Personally, how do you normally respond to sermons on missions, evangelism, giving, invitation to involve in the ministry, love the unlovable, submission to authority? Ecstatic!

            Natural human instinct opposes righteousness. It’s natural instincts to be ecstatic if sermons amplify, intensify our ego or pride. It’s not from God.

When God speaks, he teaches, rebukes, corrects, trains for righteousness. Desire to be righteous comes from the Lord. We obey completely not partially.

Samuel

            There is no reward for partial obedience. When the Lord told King Saul to destroy all the Amalekites, he partially obeyed. Prophet Samuel rebuked King Saul for his partial obedience. He said in 1 Samuel 15:28-30:  ²⁸“The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. ²⁹He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” ³⁰Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.”

            Like King Saul, we unmindfully crave and long for the praise of mankind rather than praise from God. Really? How? We display certificates, trophies, medals, material abundance. We upload on social media what we achieved, attained or accomplished. Why? We want others to appreciate what we have.

Together, we pray that the Holy Spirit transforms us to seek the praise of God!

May our life be a testimony of his grace and peace now and forevermore! Amen!

><((‘> .. ><((‘> … ><(((“> tmec\2023 <“)))>< … <‘))>< .. <‘))><