Saturday, January 10, 2009

"Prophets" and Listener's Discernment!

I put the word, "prophets" in quotation marks because many times people think that loud preaching is often spirit-filled and God-led. While that may be true, sometimes it is just loud and not really spiritually powerful. Sometimes the Spirit moves in a service where the message is delivered in a quieter manner. One is not better than the other. Actually the best is to be able to both, and to match the manner of speaking with the content of the message, and where the message is thoroughly biblical in the principles that are proclaimed.

Lots of times, you think of someone "being like a prophet" when they preach boldly, strongly, and forcefully.

Of course, anytime we speak in such a manner, we should make sure what we are saying actually matches what the Bible has to say. Otherwise, no matter how forcefully we say it, the statement really doesn't have any godly power--even though it may be loud.

That is why people who watch preachers on TV (or listen to them on the radio, or even hear us in our churches) need to be equipped with biblical discernment and also need to know that they need to compare what they hear with Scripture.

May God give us wisdom in the preparation and delivery of messages, and may He grant all who listen to messages wisdom and biblical discernment!

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