Our world has many preachers and teachers who claim to speak for God. How can we know among the many who speak the Word of God guided by His Holy Spirit?  First we seek His Holy Spirit for ourselves and ask God for wisdom and discernment.  Then we read God’s Word for ourselves to “factcheck” what we are hearing.  God answers prayers from those who seek Truth whose hearts are fully committed to Him.  In fact, God is looking for those hearts even today so that we might bless and support them in our work, commanded by Jesus, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

Preachers and teachers are human like all of us. But, because of they are called, chosen, ordained, and equipped by God to lead others to Him; their commitment to God is judged more closely as they do the work of Jesus among God’s created. The top priority is to imitate Jesus with humbled surrender to God (Philippians 2) while seeking to think, say, and do what the Father tells them. Pastors, preachers, teachers, and others ordained in ministry to lead others to Christ learn to serve; not to be served like our Master Teacher demonstrated while He walked the earth as the Son of Man/Son of God.  Look for the signs of Truth.

Jesus, our Perfect Example to live our lives for He was without sin, reminded the people often who God was and who He was in relationship to God.  Throngs of people came to listen and couldn’t get enough of the Truth he declared and demonstrated with His own life.  People of all nations listened eagerly to every word with awe and wonder. They exclaimed; “we have never heard teaching like his before!”  Jesus then would tell all within listening distance, including other skeptical religious leaders lurking in the shadows; “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”—Jesus, John 12:49-50

How do we know for sure when preaching prophets and teachers are telling God’s Truth?  It’s sometimes difficult, but not impossible with God who leads those who seek Him first to discern who is led by His Holy Spirit.

The King of Israel has 400 prophets hired to tell him want he wants to hear at his beckoned call.  The King of Judah wants to hear Truth no matter what—for it is a matter of life or death!  Read on…  

2 Chronicles 18

Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab

Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor, and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage. ² Some years later he went down to see Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and the people with him and urged him to attack Ramoth Gilead. ³ Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat replied, “I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will join you in the war.” ⁴ But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the Lord.”

⁵ So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I not?”

“Go,” they answered, “for God will give it into the king’s hand.”

⁶ But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”

⁷ The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.

⁸ So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”

⁹ Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. ¹⁰ Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns, and he declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”

¹¹ All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious,” they said, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

¹² The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.”

¹³ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.”

¹⁴ When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I not?”

“Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for they will be given into your hand.”

¹⁵ The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

¹⁶ Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”

¹⁷ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”

¹⁸ Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing on his right and on his left. ¹⁹ And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

“One suggested this, and another that. ²⁰ Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’

“‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.

²¹ “‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

²² “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

²³ Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from the Lord go when he went from me to speak to you?” he asked.

²⁴ Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room.”

²⁵ The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son, ²⁶ and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’”

²⁷ Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people!”

Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead

²⁸ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. ²⁹ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

³⁰ Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” ³¹ When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, “This is the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him, ³² for when the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.

³³ But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the breastplate and the scale armor. The king told the chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” ³⁴ All day long the battle raged, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. Then at sunset he died.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND TODAY?

We learn that compromise creates distance from God who is Truth.  King Jehoshaphat’s son was married to Ahab’s daughter, so Jehoshaphat had to be friendly toward Ahab and help him fight his battles. He was disobeying the Lord when he took this step, but one compromise often leads to another as we will find out later.

Four hundred against One. All the court prophets were hired, not chosen by God, and paid to agree with King Ahab.  They knew who paid their bills so they told him what he wanted to hear—oh surely, you will win the war with the enemy.  But Jehoshaphat, who was not completely lost stood firmly to inquire of one who would tell them the truth!  He was still wise enough to ask Ahab for some word from God. They had to go find one!  King Ahab knew him but never liked what he had to say. But to save face with King Jehoshaphat, he sent for his enemy Micaiah.

Micaiah was the one who told the Truth!  The Lord gave Micaiah two visions, both of which announced judgment to King Ahab. First he saw Israel wandering hopelessly, like “sheep without a shepherd, obviously a description of a nation without a leader” (Num. 27:15–22). Jesus used this same image to depict the Jewish people without spiritual direction (Matthew 9:36). When words of a prophet are spoken with the perimeters of God’s Word, Truth is uncovered. Ahab got the message: he would be killed in the battle.

Our hearts reflect our character and will be displayed in our behaviors.  Warren Wiersbe comments;

“A lying spirit would give Ahab false confidence, so he would enter the battle. That the God of truth should allow a lying spirit to accomplish His work is a puzzle to some people, but this is no different from God permitting Satan to attack Job (Job 1–2) or Judas to betray Jesus (John 13:21–30). God deals with people on the basis of their character: “With the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd” (Ps. 18:26). Ahab was fighting against God, and like any good boxer or wrestler, the Lord anticipated his moves and countered with the right response. Ahab was a consummate liar, and God dealt with him according to his character.”  Wiersbe Study Bible

Finally, imagine the pressure building in the One prophet who told the Truth—directly from God through his lips!  When summoned, the messenger even warned him to speak what pleased the king for his life depended on it.  We find that often in God’s Word, the minority represents God’s will, and Micaiah was determined to be faithful, not popular.

Centuries later, Paul will warn the church buil on Jesus to watch for false prophets!  “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” 2 Timothy 4:3

Steps to take in our pursuit of Truth:

1. Seek God. Offer ourselves to Him as an offering to Him. (Romans 12:1-2)
2. Surrender to His will. Seek His purpose for us. Trust and obey what He says.
3. Ask for discernment, powered by His Holy Spirit who guides us to Truth.
4. Discern words spoken by preachers and teachers by comparing their message to God’s Word with the help of the Holy Spirit. This requires being in God’s Word daily while listening to God speak personally to us with heart for Truth.  Warning: This is not a an exercise in judgement of how words were spoken but of the Truth of the words delivered.
5. Guard and evaluate our hearts often, asking God to remove all that does not belong.  Our hearts are the center from which our behaviors come.  “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23
6. Imitate Jesus and seek His heart who is Truth.  Jesus taught us that a person’s heart—our inner self, thoughts, and will—reflects our true character and the depth of our faith.  Actions follow from the heart through our speech and behavior “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45) and “As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person” (Proverbs 27:19).
7. Allow God’s Holy Spirit to stir our hearts with correction—a holy, loving discipline from God. “My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children.” Hebrews 12:6

Here’s your sign;

If the pastor of your church does not stir your heart to change he/she might be shading the truth to gain more popularity. 

If the message does not cause you evaluate  your heart, mind, and soul’s thinking and behaving with a response of repentance, praise, and thanksgiving to God, the words might be just to appease us.

God is indeed good, but if that is all that is spoken to make us “feel good”; then we are missing out on learning the fullness of God and all His ways!  God created us “in his own image” with these requirements: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

If repentance is not offered and the teachings of Jesus are not taught openly and lovingly as The Only Way to God in relationship through Jesus, along with the truth of how to walk humbly with God; then we are merely attending a club that does not affect society but is a place of infection by society.

I know this is probably not what you want to hear but I believe—wholeheartedly! And I am resolved to follow Jesus as Lord with all my heart, mind, and soul from a heart filled with love for Him.  It’s is costly but oh so worth it all! 

Eternal Life or death is a choice.  Choose wisely who you listen to and learn from and follow.

Lord,

Thank you for the flood of thoughts from Your word to my heart this morning. Help me to meditate on it and be transformed by Truth.

In Jesus Name, Amen