“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”
My brother told me about a practical joke he played on his good friend Jeff. Jeff was helping my brother in the garage and they were working on his hot rod. My brother told Jeff to go get him the headlight fluid. Jeff, hurried over to the shop bench and tried to find the headlight fluid. Ten or so minutes passed and my brother and Danny were just rolling on the ground laughing at Jeff looking for headlight fluid. There is no such thing as headlight fluid. Jeff didn’t know anything about cars and he walked to that garage believing everything my brother told him. Jeff was and is a super smart guy but that day he was clueless.
How often do we find ourselves in the same boat when it comes to the Bible? Some preacher says this or that or a radio show blabs on about some topic and we buy it hook line and sinker. In short, don’t be a Jeff. Read the Bible and know what is in it. Sorry Jeff but God gave us the Bible to read and understand through the Holy Spirit. We must read the Word daily in order to understand it and righteously judge what is being preached at us on a daily basis.
Paul is giving the followers of Christ a directive in verse 17. He is telling the followers that in order to spread the gospel we must know the Word and pass it along correctly. Too often we take a preacher’s point of view and call it scripture. I am all for good preaching, but it needs to line up with the Word of God. We can look back at some really famous preachers who had the gift of speaking and persuading people who fell into some really dark places because what they preached did not line up with the Word of God. If faith comes by hearing the Word of God, then we must open our Bible and get to know what it says so we can righteously weed through what is being preached and see if it lines up with the Gospel.
Many of us can climb the ladder of faith only to realize that it is leaning on false promises that are not supported in the Bible. We must read the Bible and go to a church that preaches from the Bible. Any church that advocates the belief that we need a preacher or man of God to rightly discern the Bible is preaching false doctrine. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will reveal the hidden mysteries of the Bible to you. Your relationship to Christ is personal and it should grow that way as well.
Today, be on guard against false doctrines and good feeling messages that do not line up with the Word of God. It is your personal job to get into the Word daily and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in your faith walk.
Prayer: Faith is the currency of heaven and we cannot go anywhere without it. Father, help us to remember that faith without works is dead and to dive into your Word daily. We also ask the Holy Spirit to open up the truth of the Word of God and burn it on our hearts and minds. Help us to have discerning eyes and ears to hear what your Holy Spirit is teaching us. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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