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Four Tests for False Teaching · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Well, what is the danger of bad doctrine destruction? That's
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  Speaker 1: the danger. It's a very real danger when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to distorted theology, and that's what we saw on Monday.
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  Speaker 1: The stakes are sky high. False doctrine and false teachers
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  Speaker 1: aren't simply misleading, they are soul endangering. So we must
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  Speaker 1: be on a high alert with a discernment deeply rooted
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  Speaker 1: in the truth. Today in our Bible reading, it takes
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  Speaker 1: us into first Thessalonians One, where Paul authenticates his gospel
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  Speaker 1: message in compelling ways. The Gospel didn't come to the
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  Speaker 1: Thessalonians as mere words. It arrived with the Holy Spirit's
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  Speaker 1: power and with deep conviction, the proof their radical transformation.
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  Speaker 1: Despite intense persecution, they embraced the message of the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: with spirit given joy. They turned from idols and devoted
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  Speaker 1: themselves to a living God. Their faith was so vibrant
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  Speaker 1: that news of it rippled across the Mediterranean world, making
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  Speaker 1: them a model of gospel rooted faith in action. True
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  Speaker 1: gospel preaching is authenticated by the results in the lives
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  Speaker 1: of believers. So, on the other hand, how do we
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  Speaker 1: descern false teaching? The question is on the mind of
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  Speaker 1: a listener named Kraiker. I love Pastor John. I'm a
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  Speaker 1: huge fan and love listening to these podcasts. Ask Pastor
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  Speaker 1: John has really helped me grow in my faith and convictions,
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  Speaker 1: as well as in making me better at helping others
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  Speaker 1: in their own struggles. Amen to that. That's why we
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  Speaker 1: do what we do to equip you to serve others.
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  Speaker 1: Craiker continues to say this. My question is this, The
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  Speaker 1: Bible gives us a lot of warnings about false teachers,
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  Speaker 1: But how can I identify if someone I listened to
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  Speaker 1: on the internet is a false teacher. A number of
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  Speaker 1: people have been accused of being false teachers over the years.
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  Speaker 1: How would I discern this? What should we be looking for?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I would start by saying, don't at the bar
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  Speaker 2: so low that you only stop listening to people if
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  Speaker 2: they can be properly called false teachers. Lots of people
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  Speaker 2: are teachers who are simply misguided and unhelpful in many ways,
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  Speaker 2: but might not come under the ban of being called
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  Speaker 2: a false teacher. Set your standards high. Listen to people
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  Speaker 2: who are truly God centered, christ exalting, Bible saturated, spirit dependent,
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  Speaker 2: who bear the marks in their lives of authenticity, but
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  Speaker 2: Since you ask about identifying false teaching and false teachers,
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  Speaker 2: let me give you four biblical ways to assess whether
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  Speaker 2: someone is a false teacher. And I do this just
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  Speaker 2: because the Bible agrees with you that we should be
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  Speaker 2: alert to the reality of false teachers, and it gives
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  Speaker 2: us tests. First, there's the test of the fruit of
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  Speaker 2: their lives. Jesus says in Matthew seven fifteen, Beware of
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  Speaker 2: false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but
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  Speaker 2: inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.
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  Speaker 2: Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles.
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  Speaker 2: So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased
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  Speaker 2: tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit,
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  Speaker 2: nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree
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  Speaker 2: that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
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  Speaker 2: thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by
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  Speaker 2: their fruits. Now, Paul put a huge premium on this
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  Speaker 2: principle of holiness and righteousness in his own life, giving
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  Speaker 2: credibility to his gospel. I saw this recently, just because
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  Speaker 2: I'm working my way through first Thessalonians in look at
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  Speaker 2: the book and it just leaped. I mean, he made
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  Speaker 2: such a huge deal out of it for two chapters.
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  Speaker 2: But here's what he says in first Thessalonians one five.
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  Speaker 2: Our gospel came to you not only in word, but
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  Speaker 2: also in power and in the Holy Spirit, with full conviction,
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  Speaker 2: just as you know, what kind of men we prove
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  Speaker 2: to be among you for your sake? Amazing And then
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  Speaker 2: he unpacks that for two chapters, what kind of men
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  Speaker 2: we prove to be, so judge us by the fruits
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  Speaker 2: of our lives. Now, of course, it's not always easy
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  Speaker 2: to see the behavioral fruit of a teacher, especially internet
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  Speaker 2: teacher r which is which is why you need to
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  Speaker 2: look carefully and take time and belong to a church,
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  Speaker 2: a real live human being, flesh and blood in person
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  Speaker 2: church with a real live preacher whose life you know,
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  Speaker 2: so whether whether it's hard or not, Jesus said you
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  Speaker 2: will know them by their fruits. Second, there's the test
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  Speaker 2: of sound central doctrines, for example, the doctrine of incarnation
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  Speaker 2: in one John four to one to three, where John says, beloved,
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  Speaker 2: do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to
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  Speaker 2: see whether they are from God. For many false prophets
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  Speaker 2: have gone out into the world. By this you will
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  Speaker 2: know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that
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  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
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  Speaker 2: and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not
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  Speaker 2: from God word words. If someone denies that Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 2: is the God Man God come in the flesh, he's
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  Speaker 2: a false teacher or a false prophet. John doesn't mean
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  Speaker 2: to say that if you get the incarnation right, there
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  Speaker 2: no other mistakes you can make that are serious. That's
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  Speaker 2: not the point. He was simply dealing with that particular
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  Speaker 2: issue in that church, and on that issue, confessing that
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  Speaker 2: Christ had come in the flesh meant that you were
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  Speaker 2: speaking the truth of God. You got that one right,
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  Speaker 2: and that was the issue in that church. Paul emphasized
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  Speaker 2: the same doctrinal importance the doctrinal test in One Timothy
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  Speaker 2: sixty three. He says, if anyone teaches a different doctrine
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  Speaker 2: and does not agree with the sound words of our
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  Speaker 2: Lord Jesus and the teaching that accords with godliness, he's
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  Speaker 2: puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: we need to measure the doctrines that are being taught
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  Speaker 2: by the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and
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  Speaker 2: by their implications for godliness. That's test number two doctrine
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  Speaker 2: sound doctrine. Third, there is the test of submission to scripture.
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  Speaker 2: Paul said in First Corinthians fourteen thirty seven. If anyone
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  Speaker 2: thinks he's a prophet or spiritual he should acknowledge that
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  Speaker 2: the things I am writing to you are a command
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  Speaker 2: of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he
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  Speaker 2: is not recognized. That's amazing. The authority of the apostles
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  Speaker 2: must be submitted to or you're a false teacher. You're
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  Speaker 2: not recognized. John said it this way, First John four
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  Speaker 2: to six. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens
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  Speaker 2: to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen
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  Speaker 2: to us. By this we know the spirit of truth
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  Speaker 2: and the spirit of error. In other words, the Apostles
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  Speaker 2: elevated their teaching to the level of a test of truth.
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  Speaker 2: If a person does not submit his thinking and his
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  Speaker 2: teaching to the authority of the Apostles, to the authorized
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  Speaker 2: teachers of Christ who wrote the New Testament, then they're
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  Speaker 2: not going to be reliable teachers. Doesn't mean they won't
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  Speaker 2: say true things. Everybody says true things from time to time,
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  Speaker 2: even the devil, but that doesn't make them reliable teachers. Finally,
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  Speaker 2: there is the test of the gospel itself. Paul is
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  Speaker 2: just red hot about this one Galatians one eight and nine.
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  Speaker 2: Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach
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  Speaker 2: to you a gospel contrary to the one preached to you,
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  Speaker 2: let him be accursed damned. As we have said before,
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  Speaker 2: So now I say again, if anyone is preaching to
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  Speaker 2: you a gospel contrary to the one that you received,
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  Speaker 2: let him be accursed. And the gospel had in mind
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  Speaker 2: when he said that was the gospel laid out in
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  Speaker 2: the book of Galatians, and it's the gospel of justification
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  Speaker 2: by faith alone, apart from works of the law. And
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  Speaker 2: he sums it up like this in chapter five, verse two. Look, I,
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  Speaker 2: Paul say to you that if you accept circumcision, that is,
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  Speaker 2: as a step toward getting right with God in justification.
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  Speaker 2: If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage
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  Speaker 2: to you. I testify again to every man who accepts
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  Speaker 2: circumcision that he's obligated to keep the whole law. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, if you insist on lawkeeping as a way
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  Speaker 2: of justification before God. You got to keep it all,
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  Speaker 2: and you got to keep it perfectly. And then he
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  Speaker 2: ends with this terrible warning, you are severed from Christ,
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  Speaker 2: You who would be justified by the law, You have
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  Speaker 2: fallen away from grace. So there are at least four
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  Speaker 2: biblical tests for false teaching. One the test of the
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  Speaker 2: fruit of behavior, two the test of sound doctrine, three
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  Speaker 2: the test of submission to scripture. Four the test of
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  Speaker 2: teaching the pure Gospel of justification by faith. And I
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  Speaker 2: would end by simply reminding us that the best way
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  Speaker 2: to protect ourselves from false teachers is to be part
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  Speaker 2: of a healthy Bible preaching church and to be prayerfully
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  Speaker 2: saturated with the Bible every day.
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  Speaker 1: The four tests of discerning a false teacher from a
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  Speaker 1: true teacher, they were the test of character, the test
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  Speaker 1: of sound doctrine, the test of submission to scripture, the
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  Speaker 1: test of the Gospel. Thank you, Pastor John, it was
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  Speaker 1: very rich. Ministry is about faithfully proclaiming the Word of God.
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  Speaker 1: I've heard from many of you who have been impacted
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  Speaker 1: by hearing about Pastor John explained his whole ministry methodology
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  Speaker 1: in one text. He does that all from Psalm one
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  Speaker 1: nineteen versus ninety seven to one hundred. If you haven't
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  Speaker 1: heard that episode, you really want to check it out
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  Speaker 1: and study it carefully. See the apj book on pages
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  Speaker 1: thirty seven to thirty nine for more worth mixing that
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  Speaker 1: into this episode and there also see the section on
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  Speaker 1: Bible reading at the beginning of the book on pages
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  Speaker 1: one to forty six, a big section on learning to
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  Speaker 1: read and study and memorize the Bible more effectively well
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  Speaker 1: as we diligently read our Bibles. Together, we discover that
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  Speaker 1: the missionary t travels of the apostle Paul were once
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  Speaker 1: hindered by Satan. That's one Thessalonians two. At another point,
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  Speaker 1: Paul's travels were hindered by the Spirit of Christ. That's
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  Speaker 1: at sixteen. So when our lives get blocked and our
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  Speaker 1: good aims are impeded, who is doing the blocking? Is
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  Speaker 1: it Satan or is it Jesus? And how do we
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  Speaker 1: know the difference? That is a great question. It's up next.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony RANKI see you on Monday.