Behavior

 "You can speak with spiritual eloquence, pray in public, and maintain a holy appearance... but it is your behavior that will reveal your true character." (Steve Maraboli) 

1 John 4:1-6, the Message

My dear friends don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world. ^2-3 Here’s how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought.

 ^4-6 My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.

How can someone be tested spiritually?

1.     What do they claim about themselves? (See John 4:1 above)

^15-20 “Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned. (Matthew 7:15-20, the Message)

 

If someone says, “God told me to tell you…” You should be cautious as their comments may be driven by spiritual pride. Do they have spiritual knowledge from God or is it useless, non-biblical clichés? Words can sound like they come from God, but they are really aren’t. (Be wise.)

2.     What do they claim about Jesus? (See John 4:2-3 above)

The Lord says, “These people come to honor me with words, but I am not really important to them. The worship they give me is nothing but human rules they have memorized. (Isaiah 29:13, Easy-to-Read Version)

 

52% of Americans believe Jesus was not God. Are they the centerpoint of their own lives because that will ultimately lead to a catastrophe?

3.     What do they claim about the Bible? (See John 4:5-6 above)

No matter the source of the false gospel, even if it is preached by us or a heavenly messenger, ignore it. May those who add to or subtract from the gospel of Jesus be eternally cursed. (Galatians 1:8, the Voice)

Make sure you are being led by the pastor of a church that takes the entire Bible as the final word of truth on any matter. Is God’s biblical spirit of truth what’s leading the pastor, who in turn is leading his congregation? Research whose leadership you are under.

God loves and uses broken people in His kingdom. (Aren’t you happy about that?)

You may feel too weak to handle your own challenges. (You are.) When you are connected to God, the two of you together have the power to break your chains of addiction and defeat.  The God you serve is greater than all of your failures (emotional and physical).

From the 1939 movie, Wizard of Oz: (The movie clip with this dialogue was shown at the introduction to the sermon.)

The Wizard of Oz: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The great Oz has spoken.

Dorothy: Who are you?

The Wizard of Oz: I am the great and powerful Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy: You are? I don't believe you.

The Wizard of Oz: I'm afraid it's true. There's no other Wizard except me.

The Scarecrow: You humbug.

The Cowardly Lion: Yeah.

The Wizard of Oz: Yes, that's exactly so. I'm a humbug.

Dorothy: You're a very bad man.

The Wizard of Oz: Oh, no, my dear, I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad wizard.[i]

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[i] Inspired by the sermon “Frauds Revealed: Revealed” (installment seven) Sunday August 1, 2021, Pastor Dave Jansen (CPG).  In-person services are available at all four U.S. CenterPoint campuses. CenterPoint also has an online Sunday morning service (10am) that can be viewed at centerpointchurches.online.church or centerpointchurches.com/live.

Frank Morgan as the Wizard of Oz