As we come closer to the time of Christ’s return, there will be more and more perversion of the Truth. In Matthew 24:4-5 Jesus warns us, “See to it that no one deceives you…”
We seem to be living in an age when everything Christians do is under the microscope. I'm not complaining about that - we should have the kind of life in Christ that stands up to close scrutiny. However, even if we can stand up to the closest examination of people, the world will give us trouble just because we do stay true to the text of scripture. That's why we don’t need to bring more trouble on ourselves by re-writing the ancient text and making it say things it never intended to say. I cannot stress enough how important it is for us to rightly divide the word of truth!
Getting back to Matthew 24:4-5. Jesus warns us, “Take heed that no one deceives you…”
You see, anyone can say,
● “I am the Christ” or
● “I have a new revelation” or
● “I have a new revelation on how to interpret a certain passage of scripture.”
In the charismatic/pentecostal world, we are very prone to subjective understanding – experiential understanding of the Word of Truth. We must be very careful. Jesus concludes his teaching here by saying, “Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”
Later (Matthew 24:24) Jesus warns, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”
Think about it – who draws the crowds in crusades today? Those who are performing signs and wonders! Why? Because the people think they might see or receive a sign or a wonder. It has been demonstrated over and over – even in Jesus’ life – that people follow and are impressed by signs and wonders. I”m not saying we should avoid or deny signs and wonders. That's not my point at all.
But if a person can do something spectacular – no matter what they teach – lots of people will be swayed by them. They will win a following. So when you get into a situation like that, how will you react – how will you even know if someone that appears to be good – if they perform great miracles – healings, etc. – miracles that YOU are not walking in – how will you know if they are true or false? What will keep you from being one of the elect that is deceived?
The answer is in 2 Timothy 1:6. “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” That which will keep you from being deceived is the same thing that Paul tells Timothy to do in 2 Timothy. He tells him to “kindle afresh the gift of God” that is in him.
Now that word, anazopurein, translated “kindle afresh” is found only here in the New Testament and it is a very descriptive word – made of 3 different words.
Ana = again
zoe = life
puros = fire
So the word literally means to “put life into the fire once again.”
It talks about a resurrection of flames, but it also does not imply that the flames are completely gone – in fact, it carries with it a meaning of continuous action. That means we should always assume that the fire of the Spirit within us is in need of new life. We should never just let our fire burn. We should never be satisfied with the level of fire we currently have. We must always be about the business of making our fire hotter and brighter and stronger and more all-consuming.
More later - be blessed!
Tom
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