PROTECTING FROM DISTORTED TRUTH. By Pastor Fernando

SCRIPTURE - Acts 20:27-31

For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

OBSERVATION

Paul's final charge to the leaders of Ephesus was given with a sense of urgency and as a warning. Having a well established role of spiritual father and shepherd, Paul exhorts them to follow his example of always relying in the truth declared in the Scriptures. Starting with themselves, the leaders must watch over the flock. If the leaders are not in the truth, the flock will not be in the truth. People from outside will come like wolves to distort, to deceive, to pull away, and to devour the flock. Even some insiders will raise up full of jealousy and selfish ambition to build their own flock by distorting the truth. So full ef emotion, Paul exhorts them to be on guard, to be willing to die for the flock, to keep warning people about distorting the truth.

APPLICATION

The Holy Spirit in this passage is also charging us, those who God called to be shepherds of the flock, to be on guard and always protect the flock from any form of distorted truth. Day after day I can see how trueish beliefs start affecting the flock I oversee. The way information becomes available in the 21st Century also contributes to the way trueish beliefs spread so fast. So starting with myself, I need to guard what comes to me. Not all Christian books contain the truth. Not all Christain leaders live the truth of the Scriptures. I need to protect our church from any outside influence that brings a different message that the one clearly declared in the Scriptures.

but when the threat comes from within, it's a little more difficult. I've already encountered people in our church that believe in a distorted truth, become deceived, and try to pull away people in their deception. With great sorrow in my heart, I have been firm standing against them, patiently showing them why thy are walking away form the truth of the Scriptures. I need to keep my guard on becasue there are more coming today and they will keep coming in the future. That's why I have an urgency to preach and teach the Word of God, not my own opinions or the opinions of others. What God says is what it goes in my life and in our church.

PRAYER
Dear Holy Spirit, please reveal any distorted truth among us. Help us to unroot any trueish belief in our own hearts first, and then among the flock. Give me discernment and boldness to confront the volwes. Also give me wisdom to teach the truth in such a way that poeple are capable to refute trueish beliefs on their own. Have mercy on those who unintentionally do not understand the truth and distort it to deal with their own insecurities, personal hurts, and fears. Help them to be open and submitted to your truth. Amen!