Discernment Part 1

So this is a part one, part two teaching. The topic is discernment. Why discernment?

Because as we step out like this, like Remy did, like some of you are planning to do,

like the entire church is planning to do, and as we begin to go to different places,

we might have to be more and more discerning so that we don't let into our situations

things that are not good. So this is discernment part one.

How does this work?

Brandon?

Thanks.

Okay.

Okay, so discernment.

So there are two kingdoms, guys, and one is real and the other is false, but both are invisible.

There are two kingdoms.

There are two kingdoms. One is true, as in one is the true kingdom of God, the other one is a counterfeit.

But the thing is, both of them are invisible, and that's why we require discernment.

Both are invisible.

And therefore discernment is critical, eh?

And so that's why I think it's important to talk about it.

Hey, how do I get this to be like big?

I want to see, in here I want to see it bigger.

Okay, thanks.

He did something which now...

This needs a lot of discernment.

No, that's not true.

That's just not true.

Okay.

Brandon, could you please come and help while I start?

So guys, two kingdoms. One is false, one is true. Both are invisible.

And because both are invisible, we need discernment, eh?

We live in an evil age. We live in an age that is getting more and more evil.

The greater the darkness, I know greater the light, but we can't just ignore the fact that these are evil days.

And so, kingdom of God will always be under assault on three sides.

One will be the tolerance that will creep in. We will tolerate things.

Two is false teaching.

And three is signs and wonders that are false. False signs and wonders. False signs and wonders.

Tolerance of what? Tolerance of the culture around us.

False teaching as in doctrines that are in error and false signs and wonders.

False teaching also in terms of the prophetic.

And the intent is, can a culture be corrupted? Can a culture be corrupted?

Can a culture be corrupted?

Can a culture be corrupted?

And this is what Nebuchadnezzar was able to do with Israel except for three boys who stood up against it.

He changed their names, he changed their language, he changed their history, he changed their expertise,

he changed everything about them.

So much so that they grew up in a matrix full of astrologers, witch doctors, magicians.

That's what they grew up in.

And out of the close to 20,000 young, noble, honorable, Israelite young adults who were taken to Babylon,

three plus Daniel were the ones that did not partake of the king's feast.

Everybody else was contaminated.

Can you give an example of false signs?

False signs is feathers falling from the roof, people barking like dogs.

I call them false signs.

Now one may say no, that's part of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

That's part of the discernment process, right?

We've got to look at the scriptures and see what is and what is not

so that we can understand what is and what is not.

We've got to look at the scriptures and see what is and what is not

so that we can have an accurate measure of what is God and what is not.

That is the very essence of crux of discernment.

And if a congregation doesn't develop it, then what happens is someone who has a little bit of charisma,

like me perhaps, can pull a fast one on you.

And because of your liking for me, your loyalty to the church and the vision,

sometimes loyalty to me, sometimes the fact that I've done good in your life,

and the fact that I have a personality and charisma can then swing you into believing something

just because I say it and have had a track record.

That's a dangerous thing.

It's usually people with a track record that can bring in easy contamination

because discernment is suddenly lost.

So it's a congregation that needs to develop this, not the leader.

It's the leaders that lead people into error.

So we must be able to distinguish between good and evil.

That is sometimes easy.

We have to distinguish between the authentic and the insincere.

That gets difficult. Authentic and the insincere.

The insincere, another word for the insincere is when things look like God but are off the flesh.

Jesus had this ability to catch people at it so easily.

So a man comes up to him and he says, Good teacher.

And the moment he says, Good teacher, Jesus' immediate response is, Why do you call me good?

It's such an offensive statement to make.

I mean, if you came up to him and said, Hey, good morning Jacob, why do you say it's good morning

on a day like this? That's different. Sorry, that didn't go well.

But good teacher, and he immediately picks on the good teacher a bit

because he knew how the culture works.

The practice then was, if you go and say, Good teacher, you have to respond with, Oh, wonderful prophet.

You had to exchange niceties. Jesus didn't want part of it.

Part of discernment is knowing what is authentic and what is insincere.

What is authentic and what is flesh.

And sometimes a person saying it doesn't know that he or she is being insincere.

Discernment is not some kind of a sixth sense.

Discernment is something that is provided by the Holy Spirit.

So that's the other thing we sometimes mess up at.

We think discernment is, you hear people saying, right?

I mean, I meet a guy, I just know immediately what kind of guy he is.

That ain't the Holy Spirit. That's your preferences, prejudices, and perhaps some skill.

Sometimes presumption.

Or perhaps you're one of those counselors.

I mean, thank God we don't have any here who immediately know.

So you have to distinguish between good and evil, authentic and insincere,

but it has to be by the work of the Holy Spirit.

There is a gift of discernment. We are not talking about the gift of discernment.

One of the gifts given by the Holy Spirit is a gift of discernment.

We are not talking about that. We are talking about discernment. Go ahead.

How do we know that discernment is from the Holy Spirit?

Sorry?

How do we know that discernment is from the Holy Spirit?

Aha! That's exactly what this teaching is about.

Plus, you're not allowed to ask questions if you're on the sound table.

Kidding, Sadiq? You can.

Yeah, so authentic and insincere, false and true, false and true.

What signs are false? What signs are true?

That one's not easy too nowadays.

Partly because there are so many who say that false signs are true.

What do you do then?

Especially big names tell you that false signs are true.

False signs are true. What do you do then?

These are names of great repute. These are names that have changed the face of Christianity.

You said this is not about the gift of discernment.

Yeah.

Yeah, so one of the things Solomon had was discernment.

Wisdom has in it understanding. Wisdom has in it knowledge. Wisdom has in it discernment.

The ability to know... Hebrews chapter 5, we'll come to that at some point today.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 5 says that the practice of the word helps me to discern between good and evil.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

And he's not talking about the gift.

He's talking about our ability to have a plumb line drawn from the word and the spirit that quickly knows which wall is crooked.

This is not even the gift of discernment.

So how... I don't understand what the gift of discernment is.

The gift of discernment is the supernatural ability that the Holy Spirit gives a person to know that which is from God and that which...

That is which is from the Holy Spirit and that which is from the... from false spirits.

To know that which is from the flesh and that which is from the Spirit of God.

That is the gift of discernment where it is not even something you try.

It is something that clicks on almost like a switch going on.

Yes, you need faith for it, but it is a supernatural ability given to people.

And it's a... it's the least sought gift in the church because nobody wants it because there's nothing that comes out of it.

Meaning, who wants a gift of discernment?

I've never had people coming saying, please, please pray for me that I get the gift of discernment.

Never heard that line in my life.

Because that's at the bottom.

Because all the other gifts are more high profile gifts.

The gift of discernment is not seen at all.

Plus, the problem with the gift of discernment is if the pastor is not discerning and you have the gift of discernment,

there'll be no way you're going to get anything through.

Because if I don't discern it and you tell me there's a demon sitting there, I'm not going to believe you.

Because I don't... then what do you do?

That's why these are things that a body should develop.

It was not meant to have happen to a leader.

It was supposed to have happened to the body and then we get to practice it.

But the discernment we are talking about here...

Let's go to Hebrews chapter 5 just so we clear that up.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

So 1 Corinthians 12.

1 Corinthians 12.

Yeah, go to 1 Corinthians 12 first.

And there we see the gift.

1 Corinthians 12.

And it says there in verse 9,

By means of the same Spirit, to another faith, by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing,

by the same Spirit, miraculous powers, to another prophecy,

to another discernment or distinguishing between spirits.

That's the gift of discernment.

Distinguishing between spirits.

What's of the Holy Spirit?

What is of the human spirit?

And what is of the demonic spirits?

That's the gift of discernment.

Now, now let's look at Hebrews chapter 5.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 5.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

Verse 14.

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use...

So let's start a little higher.

Verse 11.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers,

you are not taught to be teachers.

You are taught to be teachers.

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers,

you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word all over again.

You need milk, not solid food.

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant,

is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use,

have trained themselves to distinguish or discern good from evil.

This is not the Holy Spirit giving you a sense of this is not me, this is a false spirit.

Because the Word is so solid in you and the practice of the Word is so solid in you,

that you'll be sitting somewhere and you'll listen and you'll know whether it's the truth or whether it is false.

The Word itself becomes a plumb line.

It's not a supernatural ability given to you.

It is the practice of the Word that has made you so acutely conscious of that which is holy and that which is not,

that which is God and that which is not, that which is tainted and that which is pure.

And that is what a church should develop.

The Spirit of God will give the gift of discernment as he pleases.

But this is something that we are all supposed to develop.

So we distinguish between the false and the true.

We distinguish deception.

We distinguish how worldly thinking infiltrates the church.

Worldly thinking, worldly thinking infiltrates the church.

And we know false or harmful workers from helpful workers, harmful workers from helpful workers.

We know a different spirit or a different gospel when we hear it or see what's happening.

These are all from scriptures.

I'll give you...

We know demonic doctrines, even when they start so that they don't have time to take root.

We know masquerading...

We know angels of light, meaning guys who pretend to be godly but are actually masquerading angels of light.

We know humanism.

These are the things that we begin to discern.

So Paul actually had a set of principles where he says,

Hey, this is how you distinguish helpful workers from harmful workers in a church.

Just because people volunteer, just because people say, I want to help you with this,

doesn't mean that just because you volunteer, you're a helpful worker.

Paul ran into this problem again and again.

So in the end, he begins to outline in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, 1 Thessalonians,

he outlines what's a helpful worker and what's a harmful worker.

There's a teaching on that that perhaps we can go over.

What about demonic doctrines?

In 1 Timothy, he says that in the end days, there'll be demonic doctrines that will seduce even the elect.

Part of the reason you need to develop discernment is so that I don't go into error and you don't follow.

Because remember, all error comes in through leadership.

Error doesn't come from the right hand side.

Because remember, all error comes in through leadership.

Error doesn't come from anyone else but leadership because leadership has influence to cause error.

So when a church becomes discerning, let's put it this way, this kind of discernment is what the Berians had.

The Berians would go and they would look over the word.

And why did they look over the word?

It wasn't that the gift of discernment was at work.

It was their ability to look at the word and use that as a plumb line to examine whose writings, Paul's writings.

In 1 Timothy, he talks about demonic doctrine.

Then in 2 Corinthians 2, he talks about, hey listen, if anybody comes to you.

And preaches to you a different gospel than the one we have preached and you have accepted or a different spirit that they come with.

Then make sure that you don't accept them because you've been accepting them too readily, he says.

Too readily.

So this was a problem in the church then.

I would suggest to you it's still a problem now.

The difference is then people had to travel long distances to come and spread falsehood.

Today, it's the click of a button.

It's the click of a button.

And if we are to step into what we are saying is a time where believe me if I do the works of the Father,

then we have to make sure that we have plumb lines that distinguish the works of the Father from the works of another spirit.

We are saying most revivals collapse because of error.

Or most revivals get distorted or perverted because of error.

It's a story of revivals.

I have a book which some of you may have read.

It's written by Robert, Robert Learden.

It's called God's Generals.

There's not a single general in the book God's Generals that did not end up in horrible error.

Not one.

These are God's Generals.

These are the men and women who shifted the landscape of Christianity in the last 150 years.

Men and women.

Not one.

Walked through without error.

Some of them were so into error that they started building cities called Zion.

And the more influential you get, the less you will listen to people unless they are discerning.

And so he talks about different spirits, demonic doctrines, angels of light, humanism.

So this is the reason I think this is important.

I don't know how far we'll go.

We started at 315.

Let's go till 530.

We landed at 530.

Any questions, guys, before we go on?

Go ahead.

How would you differentiate between this is a false teaching versus this is a different interpretation?

For example, there are some people who believe that the Bible is false teaching.

Or women can't preach that kind of thing.

And I would say well, that's a heresy.

Yeah.

You can say that's a heresy, but...

Yeah, so let's say women can't preach.

That can be an interpretation.

And we can put that on the interpretation.

But the gifts these are, the gifts that we have, are the gifts that we have to hold on to.

And I think that's a good point.

Can be an interpretation.

And we can put that on the interpretation.

But the gifts ceasing cessationism is a distortion.

It's a false teaching.

So John MacArthur and what he teaches is false.

So does that mean that everything else John MacArthur says is wrong?

No.

But when it comes to cessationism, John MacArthur is blatantly false.

And anybody who follows him or follows anybody who follows him is following a doctrine that is false.

It is possible for us to follow a false doctrine and have 70% of the rest of it right.

But the thing with anything false is there's creep.

As in anything false begins to creep further.

So what may begin as a cessation of gifts, now will go into a cessation of what the Holy Spirit can do, can go into something.

In the end the Holy Spirit is only about getting us saved, convicted of sin, and bringing the Father real to us.

And then there are like she's saying, certain things that are up to interpretation.

Where can women speak? Can women not speak?

One of the easiest ways to figure, not easiest ways, one of the smarter ways to kind of come to a place where you begin to decipher for yourself what is true and what is not, is to go to the Father's nature.

That's a, that should be a sure fall back.

Is what I am learning right now, is what I'm hearing right now coming out of the nature of a God who is a good, good Father.

It begins to simplify things. I'm not saying it gives you concrete answers. It begins to simplify things.

It's one of the best ways to interpret the Bible, the nature of the Father.

Yeah, please feel free to ask these questions because this is just a teaching that will help us.

It doesn't give us answers as to what is right or what is wrong, but it will give us a better way to measure it.

Yeah. But, and if I really think something is wrong, I'm going to say it is wrong.

So what I said about John MacArthur, I've got, I make no apologies for it.

But I'll only say it's wrong if I'm sure.

And you'll have to take it and do with it what you think is best.

Why is discernment important? Because Satan is subtle.

We saw that early.

Satan is subtle.

Genesis chapter three, verse one.

He was more subtle than any beast of the field because Satan is an angel of light.

Don't marvel.

Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Why else?

That's second Corinthians 11, 14.

Why else?

Because the Bible says that towards the end days, there'll be seducing spirits.

That's in 1st Timothy 4, 1.

Why else?

Because the Bible says that there'll be seducing spirits.

That's in 1st Timothy 4, 1.

Why else?

Because the Bible says that there'll be seducing spirits.

Why else?

Because the Bible says that there'll be seducing spirits.

That's in 1st Timothy 4, 1.

The Spirit clearly says that in the later times, some will abandon their faith and follow deceiving signs and things taught by demons.

Deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

What else?

There will be signs and strange signs and fears, strange signs and fire.

That's one way the Old Testament used to call it.

Strange fire or signs.

And what that means is in Matthew 24, Jesus is talking and Jesus says that,

There shall arise false Christs, false prophets.

They shall show great signs and wonders, so and so that if possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

They shall deceive the very elect, meaning the guys who are creme de la creme will be deceived too.

And so when signs and wonders get mixed with false prophetic,

when signs and wonders get mixed with false prophetic,

the deception is great.

And the deception is both great and the deception is slow poison.

You don't see it happening, but the whole church gets contaminated over a period of time.

And whenever these things happen guys, there's always immorality that finds a way in there.

Sexual immorality is natural when these things begin to happen in a church.

It happens to the leaders, it happens to the people.

When you look at this list you realize that we don't think of it much,

but this is a predominant pattern with the satanic realm.

Satan is subtle, he is the craftiest of all.

He appears as an angel of light.

He appears to whom as an angel of light?

To other angels? No.

To other demons? No.

To the people of God?

To us. To you. To me.

There are seducing spirits that bring demonic doctrines.

Is it at work? Yes, amongst us.

Are there strange signs and strange fire that we can believe? Yes.

This is true, it's a 24-7 activity of the enemy.

So to ignore it is...not to ignore it, to not be prepared to combat it should it come up is silly.

What's a seducing spirit?

Seducing spirits are spirits that have the ability to come up with a doctrine

that will slowly begin to draw you towards it either because it pleases the flesh

or it appeals to the ears because it satisfies itching ears

or it allows you to...allows you a certain liberty in a certain area that you so badly want

because you don't want to change in that area

or it prevents you from stepping into something that God is calling you to

because now you have a reason to stay back.

It promotes the traditions of men. It is Christ plus something.

All these are...the idea of seducing is like a dog that is given a piece of meat

that has nothing wrong with it

and then the next day you put a little bit of poison, then the next day you put a little bit of poison

till one day you wake up and your dog is dead because it has been killed over a period of time.

Seduction is slow, it's not immediate.

If you want to see how seduction works read Proverbs 6, Proverbs 7.

She stands in the streets and she calls out and like simpletons the fool goes into her house

and she says, I have spread a banquet for you.

The sheets are satin and he walks in like a sheep going to slaughter.

It is slow, don't even walk down those streets.

That's the other thing, eh?

There is a curiosity in Christianity today

because of immediate availability of anything we need.

There is a curiosity in Christianity today that is willing to listen to what you know is patently false

but is sensationally attractive.

And so we listen a little.

We will read a little bit of the Facebook thing, we will read a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

Seduction always works like that.

Why go down the street that you know is dangerous?

Saw what happened in Korea, horribly.

154 people died in a stampede in a narrow lane

where more than 100,000 people gathered for Halloween celebrations.

The other thing that we need help with in terms of discernment is the traditions of men.

Traditions of men.

Traditions of men.

Or in other words, legalism.

Legalism.

Colossians 2 verse 8 says,

Colossians 2:8

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.

After the tradition of men.

After the elementary principles of the world, not after Christ.

Colossians 2 verse 8.

Colossians 2:8

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.

Traditions of men is another thing that we need to discern.

When is it okay to cater to someone who has a certain legalistic outlook

because you know that it will be helpful to help them transition?

When is it that you should not tolerate the demand being made on you

by petty Christians who have been around for 30 years

and insist that we follow their ways of thinking?

When is it?

The Spirit of God and the Word of God help us determine this.

Discernment is only, this kind of discernment is not by the power of the Spirit in that gift sense.

This kind of discernment is by the Word of God making you so able to become a plumb line.

And the last one for now.

Identifying false apostles, identifying false apostles and workers,

identifying false apostles and workers.

2 Corinthians 11 verse 13-15.

2 Corinthians 11:13–15

2 Corinthians 11 verse 13-15.

2 Corinthians 11:13–15

When you're teaching discernment we better have scriptures, eh?

Because that's the basis for discernment.

2 Corinthians 11 verse 13-15.

2 Corinthians 11:13–15

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,

transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

Transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

So there is this idea of, there are a lot of false apostles,

prophets, teachers walking around me.

And most churches that have guest speakers will invite them by the dozen.

See you, Pavan.

Yeah, this idea of guest speakers is dangerous

because you don't know what you're getting.

I'm not saying don't invite anyone from outside.

I remember inviting this person who came and conducted multiple meetings at Acts 29.

And then I was with the person in another country.

There was a particular lady that was having an odd relationship with him.

So I called him on it and he said,

GKB you're so discerning, that's so prophetic, thank you for warning me and all that stuff.

And he was here and he was using my extra phone.

And when he was leaving, he gave me back the phone and cleaned it up continuously.

I went to the airport, dropped him off.

He's going through security and this lady sends another message.

And he was married to another woman.

He had a wife in one country and he was married to someone else.

I remember talking to Paul's dad, Eddie, about this.

And Eddie said, talk to the church about it, talk to the leaders about it,

and repent of it because if that man could live in that kind of deception

and bring that into your church and you gave him room,

then it'll hop from head to head to head and you need to repent of it.

And this man is a powerful man.

He meets kings, governors, roams around the world,

gave me a break in Southeast Asia, but this is the kind of person.

So it's very... why didn't I see it right off the bat?

Because I wasn't discerning.

When leaders are not discerning, the flock is unprotected.

When leaders are not discerning, the flock is unprotected.

One of the things we have to guard is just because you have a group of friends

in the leadership, do not invite them.

So let's assume I'm friendly with ten pastors and we meet on a regular basis every month.

Just because someone invites me to their church doesn't mean that I invite them back to our church.

This quid pro quo should stop. It's foolish.

Many alliances are formed, many pastoral group meetings are formed,

and they may call you and you may go, but that doesn't mean you have to return the favor.

Do you think that this kind of discernment is the gift of discernment?

Yeah, knowing that guy should have been a gift of discernment,

because there was absolutely no proof.

He was really...

Though there were telltale signs, but we don't see telltale signs once we get friendly with people.

It's harder to spot something when you get friendly.

The word then, if it becomes discerning, is such a powerful thing,

because it becomes a plumb line. You know what is crooked even if it's your friend.

This was that part of the experience too.

Yeah.

Experience, which is why in Hebrews 5.14 it says, the practice.

The practice, meaning it has to be actually put into practice.

It's not enough to know the word.

The practice of the word is what makes us able to distinguish between good and evil.

So those that hear the word and do not practice it will never arrive at a point of discernment.

They'll just have to depend on the Holy Spirit giving them the gift of discernment.

It's also important to be in a body where there's others around you that are practicing.

That are practicing and that help you. Yeah.

Part of the reason we should allow questions to be asked, even if it's uncomfortable,

even if it makes a message longer or whatever,

is because once the freedom to ask questions comes,

a person has to now answer or take back or change or whatever.

When we know that there is something about it, then how do we go about it?

Yeah. So if I discern that there was something wrong with the dish you were making,

the first person I'd go to and say is to George,

George I think something slipped into that dish.

It's supposed to be sweet. It's actually pretty sour.

And so I go to someone who knows about it first. That's my first step.

What happens, and we'll talk about that too, once we discern something, how do we go about it?

This is why Paul put this in so plainly when it comes to prophetic words.

1 Corinthians 14, verse 29.

1 Corinthians 14:29

Let one prophesy, let two or three others weigh what is being said.

The idea of weighing was to assess, to find out whether it was of substance or not.

And so what happens with present-day individualistic Christian discernment is we discern something

and then we put it on Facebook or on whatever the next media thing is.

And it is as undiscerning as the discernment.

Instead, what if now I go to George and I say, hey there's something wrong with this dish.

It's supposed to be pysom, but it's really sour.

Pysom is supposed to be a sweet dish.

So now we begin to find out what went wrong.

The intent of discernment is not to judge. The intent of discernment is judgment.

Not judging, but judgment. This is right and this is wrong.

Now that we have judged what is right and what is wrong, how do we go about fixing it?

If it is from evil, we shut it out.

If it is error, false teaching, we go and try and see if it can be corrected.

Please remember, this is for us to practice.

It is not for one or two people to practice.

It is for us to practice.

So these were the reasons Paul gave for just to convince us that we need this thing.

So how do we develop discernment then?

I'm not talking about the gift of discernment. I'm talking about how do we develop discernment.

One, the word. The word in you discerns.

The word in you.

Just remind me when it's 5.30. I really want to stop at 5.30

because some of you have had a long weekend.

And by long weekend I mean long weekend.

The word in you discerns.

So Hebrews 4 verse 12. Some of you know it by heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Hebrews 4 verse 12.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is quick and powerful.

It's sharper than any two-edged sword,

piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

And it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Beautifully.

The word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Break the word and you will see both Judas and John.

Break the word and you will see both Judas and John.

Both of them are seated next to you.

The scripture is Hebrews 4 verse 12.

Hebrews 4:12

You will see both Judas and John immediately revealed when the word is broken.

What do I mean by that?

Sometimes guys I can stand here and I can break the word to you

and I can know without you even speaking a word what you're actually thinking about it.

Whether there's resistance or whether there is acceptance.

Whether there's guilt or whether there is repentance.

Whether there's squirming because you're uncomfortable

or whether there's uncomfortability because you know you're wrong and you need to repent.

It's very evident once a word is broken.

The word itself discerns.

When you even know the word is broken?

As in when it's shared.

I remember going to a, let me not name the denomination.

I remember going to a denomination conference where I was asked to speak on hearing.

And everybody sitting there, about 40 pastors,

I was speaking about hearing and you can see just through body posture what the word is doing.

That is tolerable.

One guy didn't even want to hide it.

Pulled out his laptop and started typing away as loud as he can.

That didn't need discernment.

That just needed years and nights.

But you could see that the word is not discernment.

But you could... Donner.

Oh, you're typing.

So the word discerns.

It has the ability.

It's a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart.

You will see this many times.

When you actually take the word and give it to someone in a situation,

you will know where their heart is at.

It reveals the heart.

The second one is the practice of the word.

The practice of the word.

The practice of the word.

This is when you are the one practicing the word and it has become such a plumb line in your life

that you have now the powers of discernment trained by constant practice.

Trained by constant practice.

Trained by constant practice.

So let's think of an example.

Let's say you're a kind and compassionate person.

You have decided that you're someone who will always show kindness and compassion.

Or you're someone who will always speak the truth.

It doesn't matter how much it will hurt you, you will speak the truth.

You will be honest.

Once you begin to practice any truth, you will be able to spot what is false very easily.

Because that character of God becomes a plumb line in your life.

You measure up to Christ's standard of things.

Once you measure up to Christ's standard of things, whatever area it is in,

you will find it very easy to know that which is not of God.

And all of us are different areas in this, eh?

For some it will be faith.

And when you have walked in faith for very long,

you know every person who is actually faking faith or pretending faith when it's fear.

When it's kindness, you know every person who has these occasional bursts of compassion but is not kind.

When it's honesty, man, when I go and sit next to honest people,

I want to quickly straighten up because I know they'll find everything crooked about me.

The practice of the word helps you discern, surprisingly.

If you're a joyful person, you know that even the devil doesn't like it.

When we laugh, ha, ha, even that won't cut it.

You can go ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

I told you I was in a church where the pastor said we need to be joyful.

And so he said just follow after me.

And he said ha, ha and the entire church is going ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

And I'm thinking as I'm sitting in the front row, what am I supposed to do?

Because the cameras are on you.

So I'm sitting there going ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Because I didn't want to participate in it but then I didn't want to look like I was not participating either.

That is not a person who walks in joy.

Man, he's so able to distinguish a place that is not joyful.

Each of us have these characteristics.

When a body joins together, it is easy to spot.

This is what culture is formed of.

Next one.

An understanding heart from God.

An understanding heart from God.

An understanding heart.

Not as an oh, I understand.

No.

An understanding heart from God is a heart full of wisdom.

An understanding heart from God.

Second Kings, sorry, First Kings 3.9.

Give therefore your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and bad.

For who is able to judge this great a people?

Beautifully.

First Kings 3.9.

It should be the prayer of some of us as leaders.

It should be our prayer.

This is a prayer I should pray when I leave and put someone in charge.

That, oh God, could you give this servant of yours an understanding heart to judge your people that they may discern between good and bad.

For who is able to judge this great a people?

It's a prayer that you should pray for me, that I should pray for myself, that you should pray for yourself.

The only one before whom we stand absolutely naked, our heart and mind completely exposed is God.

Otherwise, who knows what's happening in your head right now.

Part of the prophetic is the ability to sit with someone and discern what's happening.

The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the gift of the word of wisdom, the gift of the word of knowledge, the gift of the prophetic and the gift of discernment is part of the whole prophetic package.

Where you're sitting with someone and they're telling you something, but if you then have this ability to discern using the word and then the gift of discernment that the Holy Spirit provides, you will sit there and you will listen to them and you will know what is true and what is not.

People don't like it when you cut them short and respond, eh?

But it saves so much time.

Next one, be wise as serpents, be wise as serpents, be wise as serpents.

Meaning, part of walking in discernment is being shrewd, being shrewd.

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, be therefore wise as serpents, be wise as serpents, be shrewd.

Don't be gullible. Some of the most gullible people on earth are Christians.

They'll believe anything any Christian says.

Worse, they'll believe anything Trump says.

Sorry, that, I could have withdrawn that one.

Yeah, too late. No discernment there.

Hearing sharpens discernment. Hearing sharpens discernment. Hearing sharpens discernment.

John 10 verse 4, And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice, for they know his voice.

John 10:4

For they know his voice. Hearing sharpens discernment.

Because you hear God in the midst of the storm and you know what's really happening.

Then there's the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's John 10, 4.

There's the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of discernment, the gift of discernment.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for common good.

To some, the ability to distinguish between spirits.

So that's a gift given to you.

Two more.

Appoint overseers. Appoint overseers.

It's good to appoint leaders because it helps the discernment process.

Appoint overseers.

In Acts chapter 20, verse 28 onwards, Paul says, Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Acts 20:28

Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

What happens if you have good leaders, good overseers who actually care for the flock?

It's one thing when leaders care for the vision.

It's another thing when leaders care for the one who appointed them.

So let's put it this way.

It's one thing if people like me.

It's another thing if people like the vision of the church.

It's another thing if they have great leadership capacity.

But the main thing that a leader must have is a desire to protect, watch, nurture, feed the flock that he or she is in charge of at cost, even to their own loss.

That is the nature of the shepherd.

Because it's easy to get into leadership by being loyal to the head honcho or being even loyal to the vision.

But if I don't have a love for the flock that I'm placed over, then everything else is good.

But it ain't good enough.

Paul literally appoints these elders over the flock and he says to them, Listen, savage wolves are going to come your way.

Some of them will be from inside the church.

Guard and protect. I've told you everything I need to.

Who are we guarding and protecting against?

I want you to be aware of things that we protect the church against.

One, Korahs.

Korahs. Not the breakfast place. Korahs. It's a different spelling altogether.

Korahs. In Jude we find that Korah fomented rebellion.

Cain.

Jealousy. Rivalry.

Anger.

Or basically strife.

Korah, Cain, Balaam.

These are put together in one sentence in Jude. Jude chapter 1, verse 9 or 12 or something like that.

Jude 1:9

Balaam. Balaam was who he brought in false prophecy.

And divination.

Then there is Absalom.

Absalom is someone who is a son in the church but begins to do what Absalom did with David.

Ah, did David give you two burgers? Come, I'll give you four and they're much tastier.

And they begin to gather their own cart. They'll never be part of the church.

They'll always be on the outskirts of the church.

They won't leave. They will never be fully central.

But they'll hang around and then they'll begin to say come, come, come.

Let me give you four burgers. Let me give you three cartons of milk.

Absalom's are the ones that draw away for a later time.

And their end is not good, eh?

And then the last one.

Here's the other thing I want to say about Absalom's.

You have Absalom's because you don't have good fathers.

So part of the responsibility of raising Absalom's in the church lies on the ones who lead the church.

David was responsible for Absalom.

So if there are Absalom's in a church, let's assume there are Absalom's in this church, part of the fault lies with me.

Why is it that David could not deal with Absalom in a way that would have drawn him in?

Why did he deal with Absalom wrongly when the Tamar incident happened?

I'm not saying all the responsibility is on David.

But we need to realize that before we call someone an Absalom,

you as a parent or a father or a leader must have done everything possible to draw the person in.

Because if you don't, then you are partly responsible for the Absalom's that are formed within a house.

That was a weakness in David himself.

That was a weakness in David himself.

I want to throw in one last name, which we find in 3 John 1, verse 2 or thereabouts, diatrophis.

3 John 1:2

These are guys who have great leadership capacity.

You appoint them and then they begin to think of themselves as first.

And they scorn the counsel of others.

Think of themselves as first and scorn the counsel of others.

Where the leader becomes an authority unto himself.

So you read about that in 3 John 1, 9.

These are the things that we sometimes have to guard against.

I've got 8 minutes.

So we'll just do one more section and then stop.

Any questions upon this guys?

There are other things that we need to guard against.

But these are recurrent themes in the New Testament church.

Paul says diatrophis was someone I set in place.

But now that I've set him in place, I regret it because he thinks of himself as first.

And he denigrates our counsel, doesn't pay attention to anything.

And then he says, so I'm coming.

Let me see what he's up to when I come there.

We'll talk about that part another day.

Any questions guys before we deal with the last section?

How would you obviously in all people there's a certain level of deception working.

Because we're not following the true kind of state.

How do you deal with that in your own heart?

It's so easy to point out other people's deceptions on TV and all this kind of thing.

Yeah.

So who do you have in your life that points out your deceptions?

So that's a question.

I'm not asking you.

It's a rhetorical question.

So that's the first question.

Two, who do you go to and actually ask that they point out deceptions?

Someone you trust.

Not some counselor, not some mentor, not some coach.

Who does that for you?

Three, who are you that ridiculously transparent with?

These are super protections that will prevent that from happening.

And four, once it's pointed out, this amazing thing happened yesterday,

the young adults to highlight this next point.

The fourth point was once it's pointed out, what are you doing about it?

So Tate, little kid, he told us why he's bold and not afraid of speaking about Jesus.

And then he goes and sits down with Anilay.

And he says, Anilay, out of all the things I said, what is it that you find yourself deficient in?

And so Anilay told him, this is what I find difficult.

So what are you going to do about it?

I'm going to try and do better.

I'm going to pray.

No, no, no.

What are you really going to do about it?

This is a 10-year-old kid asking a 20-year-old person, what are you going to do about it?

And that is the hard part, that after everything is exposed, Jacob,

are you going to do anything about it?

And please, the other thing that I think we need to understand is that,

yes, Jesus said, do not look at the speck in Emily's eyes before you pull out the log in your eyes.

But as a leader, I will have logs in my eyes, but my God, it's my responsibility to pull out the speck in her eye.

If I'm going to wait to pull out the speck in her eye till all the logs in my eye are removed, we'll both die blind.

Since she's younger, let her live longer, and I can die with a log in my eye.

So as leaders, we cannot afford to, because some leaders are scared of pointing out things in others' lives because their lives are not circumspect.

Yes, your life should be circumspect.

Yes, you should have people imitate the way you live, but that should not prevent you from helping another.

Paul points out something in Peter's life. You think Peter wasn't pointing it out in other people's lives?

Peter was the guy who said, Satan, get behind me.

So may it not stop us from discharging our responsibility?

So it's held in tension. On one hand, I discharge my responsibility.

On the other hand, I become circumspect in the way I live.

And when both those collide, it's great. Until it collides, keep working at it.

So those are the questions I would ask you to protect you from deception entering and staying in your life.

The last bit. How do we test spirits?

Sorry, I didn't give you the last point. The last point is try the spirits.

Try the spirits.

We are talking about how to develop discernment. Try the spirits.

Try the spirits.

Prove all things. 1 John 4.1. Believe not every spirit.

Try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out.

Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5.21.

1 Thessalonians 5.21.

And the second one is 1 John 4.1.

Try the spirits. Test the spirits, because too many false spirits have gone out.

Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good.

So we will end with this thing about how do we test spirits?

How do we test the spirits?

What do you mean by how do we test the spirits?

It's not like we can capture them in a bottle and then try and pour some liquid and see what happens.

How do we test the spirits? It's when someone is saying something.

When you sense that something falls. When you are in a church and certain things are happening.

How do you know which is the Holy Spirit and which is not? How do you test the spirits?

And so here are some of the scriptural ways.

One is the more you familiarize with the Father's nature,

the more you familiarize with the Father's nature,

the more you familiarize with the Father's nature,

and the more you are accustomed to the Jesus of the Gospels,

the more you are accustomed to Jesus of the Gospels,

the easier it is to spot the false.

The easier it is to spot the false.

The more you familiarize with me.

I mean if I told Annie that I went up grouse grind, she might actually say, well done Jacob.

But if I told Derek that I went up grouse grind, Derek will call me a liar.

The more you familiarize yourself with the Jesus of the Gospels and with the nature of the Father,

as in in essence God is a Father, you can never tire of repeating that.

The easier it is to spot a lie, spot a falsehood, spot that which is not of the Spirit of God.

That's the first one.

Second one is, test the spirits by having people weigh what is said.

Test by weighing, test by weighing.

1 Corinthians 14.29, test by weighing.

1 Corinthians 14.29.

When someone prophesies, when someone speaks, are we weighing it?

One of the things we'll have to at some point change in this church is right now we encourage people to speak words.

And it's good.

It follows the pattern of 1 Corinthians 14.1 and 2, words that are encouraging.

But at some point we'll also have to go to the next phase where we'll have to take what someone says and say,

okay, why did you say this? Why did you say this? Why, how does this match up with the word?

And that gets quite sticky, but we have to do it.

Otherwise people will develop prophetic fatigue.

And we'll do that. It has to happen.

Any questions on that?

So where do you get the point that you say that it was prophetic, right?

It's probably saying it's because you said the words.

Yeah, but what if it doesn't match up with the nature of God or the substance of the word?

But that's not so much why you said it that doesn't match up with the nature of God.

No, no. So if I sit with you, I'll ask you why did you say it?

Because I want the reason you said it.

Because I don't think it matches up with what the nature of God or what the spirit of God says.

So I'd ask you why you said it.

Because what if you have a reason? What if you saw something and didn't explain it properly?

Yeah.

How do you know when a discernment is supposed to be just kept between you and God and then between opening your mind up to other people?

Yeah. So how do you know when something is just meant for you or something that's meant for people?

If it is not for the benefit of the people, keep it to yourself.

Anything that is spoken publicly must be to the benefit of people, benefit of the body.

If it is not to the benefit of the body, keep it to yourself.

But having kept it to yourself, if it has to do with you, I would absolutely suggest that you go and check it with somebody.

Because if I'm discerning something and it might change the direction of my life or set me on a course that might alter things for me or somebody else,

I would like to go to somebody and say, hey, this is what I'm thinking. What do you think?

And I give you my word. I do that every time I discern something with people in this church.

I'm not even talking about people outside this church.

I go and ask people in this church, hey, this is what I heard. What do you think?

Nothing like someone discerning something and going off on their own without having checked with somebody else.

It's a really bad idea, especially in a body like this.

The problem with checking with other people is what if they say no?

That's when you discern that the person is also wrong.

This discernment thing is so flawed and so like water that's constantly moving that it's not an easy thing, which is why so much contamination gets in, right?

Just I guess one kind of caution that we're checking with other people is sometimes they may steer you away from what God has come to do.

I've had a couple situations.

Yeah, Paul had it too.

Where he said he did not confer with flesh and blood, but knew what God had said and he went ahead.

And again, it's not either or. It's holding it in. Tension.

Third one. I've got six here. I'm down to the third one is criterion of exaltation.

Is Christ being exalted? Is Christ being exalted?

Or is it some pagan fascination with some spiritual activity that you say is the Holy Spirit? Is Christ being exalted?

This is such a cool test, man. The test of spirits.

In a situation where you think something is not right and things are going all over the place, you're not sure. You don't even know how to discern it.

One of the questions you should, one of the plumb lines you should hold is at the end of the day after two and a half hours is Christ being exalted?

In this particular spiritual activity, is Christ being exalted?

Is Christ being exalted in two ways? After a manifestation, is there a voice?

As in any manifestation without the voice of God following it must be questioned.

Any manifestation which is not followed by the voice of God must be questioned.

By the voice of God I mean the word of God explaining it or Christ being exalted.

Whenever it doesn't happen, immediately have what Christians call a check in the spirit.

Please explain what it means by manifestation.

So anytime in the Old Testament or the New Testament any manifest sign of God was shown.

The voice of God preceded it or proceeded from it.

That is not a single place in the Bible. Be it a dove, be it a writing on the wall, be it a rainbow.

It doesn't matter what happened. Every time God put a sign or a symbol or anything, he either preceded it with the voice or proceeded it.

I mean the word or a voice followed it. It was never left on its own.

It is amazing how God doesn't leave things for a personal interpretation when he puts a manifestation.

There is not a single incident in the Bible.

Manifestation is a sign or some kind of a thing which happens where now everything is set up with the Holy Spirit.

Here is where the error creeps in certain churches from California.

The spirit of God has fallen over all flesh. Therefore flesh can react any which way and anything is possible.

In the New Testament anything was possible. They hadn't seen it before. So why should we stop the Holy Spirit from doing new things?

There is a reason why the 66 books are called canon. You know what the word canon means? Canon means a measuring read.

That this is the read we use to measure. The 66 books were provided to us as a canon.

This is the measure that we will use to measure the things of God going into the future.

Therefore we cannot take what happened in the New Testament now and say since it happened in the New Testament and it had it happen in the Old Testament, let's expect more things that can be added.

No, there is a measuring stick. There is a measuring read. That is why it is called a canon.

When we talk about strange fire, I will give you a really long list. Feathers will be the least of our problems.

I admire the men who run these churches. I read their books. I listen to them.

But my God, just because you are right about 50 things doesn't mean you are right about the next 50. Right?

The same applies to you and I. The same standard must be applied to me.

The same standard must be applied to me.

Is Christ being assaulted? Fourth one.

I already said it. Test the standard of manifestation by the word.

Test the standard of manifestation by the word.

Psalm 119, verse 105.

Psalms 119:105

Your word is a light to my feet. It is a lamp to my path. It makes things clear. It illuminates things.

Where is the precedence in the word? If there is a precedence in the word, then I will look at it and say, this is possible.

Fifth one.

Test the spirit. Jesus said this. I love this. Test the spirit by looking at the fruit of lives.

Test the spirit by looking at the fruit of their lives. Looking at the fruit of people's lives.

Looking at the fruit of lives.

Okay, so this person is saying that he is speaking for the Holy Spirit. How does he treat his wife? How does he handle money?

Is he arrogant? Is he proud? How is he at home? How does he deal with his employees?

How does he deal with people who come to work for him?

How does he deal with church folk when he is in church and how does he deal with them when he is in a grocery shop or when he is with his mother or his sister?

The fruit of lives betrays the kind of spirit that is behind. Jesus said it very plainly.

Lots of false prophets have gone out. But you shall know a tree by its fruit.

This is why closed lives are the easiest way to keep things happy.

Close your life. No one will know and you can be whatever you want for three hours.

Open your life and now you will have to cause your life to be continuous.

Last one. Test spirits by the degree of freedom. Test spirits by the degree of freedom. Test spirits by the degree of freedom.

Test spirits by the degree of freedom afforded. Sorry, test spirits by the degree of freedom which is, let me explain that.

The spirit of the living God will always bring people into greater freedom and greater freedom is always seen in growth.

The spirit of the living God will always bring you into greater freedom. For freedom I have set you free and freedom will always show in growth.

Not just in spiritual growth, in all forms of growth you will see in a person's life.

Because freedom is what causes a child to develop an internal monitor, not external controls.

Once an internal monitor is developed that child begins to grow at a rate you cannot imagine and the growth doesn't stop because it is less influenced by external factors.

Freedom is not jumping and dancing. That is freedom till you run out of breath.

Which in some cases happens within two minutes. But real freedom is when there is an internal monitor and it shows in growth and it shows in the growth of a community.

Don't conflate freedom and order. Order is super important for freedom to flourish.

Order is super important for freedom to flourish. But freedom will always show itself in growth.

There is a reason, and please don't think I am exalting the United States of America or stuff like that.

There is a reason most of the inventions, most of the breakthroughs come from the United States.

In our decadent corrupt world that nation still affords a degree of freedom that very few nations do.

Most breakthroughs, most inventions, most things that shake the world happen in that country.

But freedom is not just a way to get rid of it.

We will stop there. Any questions guys?

I know this is kind of a half yawn topic but even if we yawn halfway and discern that is better than yawning all the way and not discerning.

So, I am going to stop there.

I know this is kind of a half yawn topic but even if we yawn halfway and discern that is better than yawning all the way and not discerning.

So, part two will happen next week but we will be meeting in the morning so there will be less yawning.

That rhymed. We will be meeting in the morning. There will be less yawn.

Sorry, go ahead. You had a question?

What did you mean by freedom of the way it shows itself?

Sorry, growth of the way it shows itself in the community? Did that mean like...

Yeah, when it comes to a church, if the spirit of God is present in a church, there will be freedom in the church and the freedom will show in the growth of the community.

Not in numerical growth but people will mature. In a home.

If Paul's house, if Paul and Kiara actually afford their children the kind of freedom that is required, you will find that in that home there will be growth.

That they can let their kids out and their kids will still not eat sweet things unless they come to Jacob's house.

So, I love it when Eric, Eric and Penny, Eric is someone who really teaches his kids how to have an internal monitor.

He wants the kids to develop an internal governor where God's ways are inside so that even if nobody is watching, they still behave the same.

India is slightly different.

My God! It didn't matter where I go, there was someone watching.

When in school my mum used to teach us. She would know everything. I tried to hide my marks, she'd know before I got my marks.

Go to church, my uncle was a priest.

I was a teacher. I was a teacher.

I was a teacher. I was a teacher.

I was a teacher. I was a teacher.

I got my marks.

Go to church, my uncle was a priest.

Go to Sunday school.

Sorry, we've ended, you can shut the thing down.

Alright guys, let's pray and send you home.

You know Father, I often wonder how you pick these topics.

topics. I just think it's a matter of timing and you choose to pick certain things for

us to learn at certain times. It sounds very discontinuous because we were doing prosperity

gospel, then we did Kavu, ceiling and visibility unlimited, now we're into discernment. But

you know best, we want to learn. I really want, we just want you to know that we want

it as a church. We want to learn it as a church so that leaders are protected, so that new

people that are coming in are protected. But more than anything else, that your flock that

you died for is protected. There's a desire, Father, please help us to take, sometimes

what sounds a little dry and it's not a hallelujah kind of a topic, but help us to learn so that

we can leave on this earth a legacy for other churches too. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Bless you guys, thanks for coming in the evening. Young adults, thank you for going for that

retreat for two days and still coming for the evening. You might get a small crown for this.