God-Speak or Made-Up Stories?

2 Peter 1:12 [show] [12]Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. (ESV)
– 3:3

• what do you look for in a church? what leads you to a certain one?
• in Timothy, we saw false teachers teaching what people WANTED to hear (and would not be biblically correct)
  • so who is teaching you the right things?
• orthodoxy: straight teachings
• orthoproxy: straight practice

Important tips for knowing the difference between God-speak and man-made stuff…

1. look for confident commitment to the origin, authenticity and importance of the revealed words from God (2 Peter 1:4,16-21 [show] [4]by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (ESV) [16]For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. [17]For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," [18]we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. [19]And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, 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 in your hearts, [20]knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. [21]For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (ESV)
   )
   • Emergent Evangelical churches = social liberalism
     • “I don’t know about Creation, Salvation, Hell, etc.”
     • work of devil is to deter us from confidence in God’s words (ie. Did God really say that?)
   • can’t have actions without knowledge of Christ and bible
   • so many afraid of Absolute, let alone ancient absolute
2. Look for interpretation of Scripture that is rarely novel and not privately derived (2 Peter 1:20-21 [show] [20]knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. [21]For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (ESV)
   )
   • prophecy not derived from one’s interpretations
3. Look for teaching that sets you free to serve God and be changed by Him, rather than being set loose to leave Him (2 Pet 2:1 [show] But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (ESV)
   )
   • destructive heresies removing full trust in God (and places trust in self), removes sovereignty of Jesus
     • “lets remove all boundaries and just focus on Jesus; He’ll forgive me even if what I’m doing is wrong, right?”
   • who or what owns you? what dictates what you do?
4. Look to avoid teaching that sets you up for self-righteousness (2 Peter 2:2-3 [show] [2]And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. [3]And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (ESV)
   )
   • ie. Word of Faith movement??
   • greedy; want ownership of own lives
   • many intentionally sanitize the self-centeredness of pain relief so it can be the ultimate Christian quest because God has advertised his judgment in the past concerning these things (2 Peter 2:4-10 [show] [4]For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; [5]if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; [6]if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; [7]and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked [8](for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); [9]then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, [10]and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, (ESV)
     )
5. look carefully at life of the teacher (2 Peter 2:11-19 [show] [11]whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. [12]But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, [13]suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. [14]They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! [15]Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, [16]but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. [17]These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. [18]For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. [19]They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. (ESV)
   )
   • ultimately what you are is what you live