Quiet whispers from His word
Col 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Rom 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 8:6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Mat 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Php 4:9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Isa 26:3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Jhn 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Isa 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
Jhn 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
1Pe 3:10-11 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
Php 4:5-8 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Psa 4:8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
2Th 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
Matthew 5:9 ~ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
John 14:27 ~ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Romans 12:18 ~ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Colossians 3:15 ~ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
2Co 13:11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
2Timothy 3:2-5 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
2Ti 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
John 16:33 ~ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
2 Thessalonians 3:16 ~ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
Isaiah 26:3 ~ You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Acts 6:3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business
Have you ever noticed how life’s distractions and temptations can change your spirit?
Think about it. You go into work in the morning with a smile on your face and a song in your heart, only to overhear a colleague denigrating your abilities in front of your boss. How do you react?
“Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.”
—Acts 6:3
Later you have an opportunity to work your way out of a difficult situation by bending the truth to fit your needs and cover your back. How do you react now?
Finally, you see an accounting error that could add some extra money to your paycheck if you simply stay quiet and do nothing. With all of these frustrations and temptations piling up, you probably would not be feeling overly spiritual at that point.
The fact of the matter is that in our fast-paced society, with so many different distractions around every corner, it is easy to be filled with a worldly mindset and not be filled with the Holy Spirit. That, however, is no excuse.
Frankly, we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? It means that you are to be under the total influence of the Holy Spirit—God, dwelling in you, ordering your steps.
Stephen, the first Christian martyr in the Scriptures, provides a beautiful picture of someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit, especially when compared to the Sanhedrin (religious/political leaders of the day). Acts 6:3 and 7:54-8:1 offer a few key characteristics of a man who was facing the cold reality of death at the hands of an angry mob.
First, someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit is of good report (Acts 6:3). It is not that having good report—being known by others as virtuous and pure—fills you with the Holy Spirit, but it is the Holy Spirit that allows you to have this trait. The members of the Sanhedrin were the opposite of this. They were called murderers, betrayers, stubborn, and disobedient (Acts 7:51–53).
Second, unlike the Sanhedrin, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit welcome the truth (Acts 7:55–56). Stephen sees Christ standing at the right hand of God, and he was glad to commit his spirit to God. Conversely, those who were not filled with the Spirit began to “cry out in a loud voice” because they heard the truth and wanted to drown it out by their own words (Acts 7:57). They also covered their ears, trying to prevent the truth from affecting them.
Finally, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit will intercede for others (Acts 7:60). Stephen was falsely accused, falsely arrested, and was about to be stoned, and yet he prayed for those who were about to murder him. What compassion! The only way Stephen could do this was because he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Like Stephen, being filled with the Holy Spirit needs to be a way of life for us. Too often we only want to be filled with the Spirit on Sundays, and as soon as we leave our church service, we return to our worldly routines of mundane tasks, acceptable temptations or angry confrontations.
However, a Holy Spirit-filled life has a lot to do with your effectiveness as an evangelist for the cause of Christ. If you are someone who truly wants to reach the lost (a motivation all believers should share), you need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. If you have been witnessing to a friend from work, but live a sinful life indistinguishable from the nonbelievers around you, you are likely doing more harm than good for the Kingdom of God.
Conversely, if you take the distractions, frustrations, and temptations of this world and handle them with the purity, truth and compassion of the Holy Spirit, others will want to know what it is that makes you tick. They will want to know what is missing in their life that is present in yours.
My friends, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Eternity is at stake. (Graham)
2Peter 2:12-15 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, 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. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.
In our society today, false beliefs and teachings are often accepted without ever being tested. People believe that social media memes and TV talking heads are the source of truth. They latch on to rumors, myths, and hearsay like it’s the final word.
Sadly, heresy (non-Biblical or anti-Biblical teaching) is even creeping up in our churches.
While we’re seeing this a lot in our modern world, it is not a new phenomenon. Even in the first century, false teachers were making their way into churches, and people were buying the lies they were selling.
Nearing the end of his life (likely in prison and soon to be executed by the Romans), the Apostle Peter had become very concerned about the heresy that was creeping into the churches in Asia Minor. False teaching had actively led followers of Christ away and was causing dissension.
It troubled Peter so much that he wrote a letter to these churches (his second letter to them, actually) in which he called out the heretical leaders that were causing so much trouble.
In doing so, he gave us several characteristics of false teachers. Nearly 2,000 years later, 2 Peter 2:10–16 still serves as a warning and guide in the church today.
First, pride is a sign of false teaching. Make no mistake about it. Pride is a serious and dangerous malignancy. The Scripture says that a false teacher is “presumptuous” and “self-willed.” In other words, they view their own authority as taking precedence over the Bible’s authority.
Perhaps they view the Bible as “inspired” by God, but feel like it needs to be updated to their modern understanding of societal norms. In doing so, their pride causes them to pervert the Holy Scripture in a way that was never intended.
Second, a false teacher is willfully ignorant. Whenever I see false teaching, I wonder how supposedly “Christian” teachers could say something that is so totally at odds with the Bible. However, Peter tells us in verse 12 that false teachers “speak evil of the things they do not understand.” They are willfully ignorant of Scripture on one hand, while claiming the moral authority of the Bible on the other.
In reality, they are much like Paul described in Romans 1:25. They “exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”
Third, lust is a sign of a false teacher. The passage describes false teachers by saying they:
Lust is a result of loving ourselves and pleasure more than God. The false teachers that Peter described were so brazen that they didn’t even wait until the cover of night but were openly pursuing depravity during the day. Further, they used sexual pleasure as a way of appealing to their flock with their heretical messages.
Finally, false teachers are covetous and are driven by greed. The passage says, “They have a heart trained in covetous practices.” In other words, they desired other people’s property and worked to exploit those around them.
As an example, Peter referenced the Old Testament prophet Balaam, who preferred wealth and popularity over obedience and righteousness. His covetous ways produced teachings of immorality and sin instead of truth and purity.
My friends, as followers of Jesus Christ, we must always view everything through the lens of truth itself: the Bible. I encourage you to spend time in God’s Word, digging deep in Scripture, meditating on it, and committing it to memory. The more you understand and internalize the Bible, the easier it will be for you to discern truth from lie and solid doctrine from false teaching.
Though heresy has been around for millennia, it’s as important as ever before to be on guard against it in today’s culture.