 There is no higher authority than the Word of God. Now we say that, it's almost a church cliché. We believe the Word, we believe the Word, we believe the Word. How can you believe the Word if you don't know the Word? I believe the Word, I believe the Word. When was the last time the Word of God corrected something you believe? Really ask yourself that. When was the last time the Word of God corrected something that I believed? Because if the Word of God always agrees with you, it's probably because you're forcing your beliefs into the Word, rather than using the Word to form your beliefs. Word of God is final authority, highest authority. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. This generation, sadly, and this is not something I'm saying from a place of anger or from a place of arrogance, my heart is broken for the fact that at least in America, this generation suffers from word deficiency. We just don't know the Word. We just aren't firmly established in the Word. The Instagram reel of the day has replaced devotion to study of God's Word. Tweetable quotes have replaced time in God's Word. Netflix series and YouTube binging have replaced time in God's Word. Psalm 119.89 says, The Word creates boundaries. And without boundaries, it's impossible to build. If you were to build a structure and you laid a foundation, and that foundation didn't have a shape that was definite, a surface that was even, then as you begin to build, you would find that the structure would fall. You see, we think that freedom is throwing off all restraints and rules, but true freedom is found within the boundaries of Scripture. We have to stop adding to the Word and creating our own ideas, especially when it comes to spiritual matters, especially when it comes to the spiritual realm. We add so much to the Word, and we do our best to cram it in there. Why? Because that's what I was taught, or that's what I experienced, or that's what I believed it was, or that's what I want it to be, or that's what makes me feel special. When in fact, we ought to humble ourselves before the Word of God and say, if there's anything in that Word that contradicts anything in me, then that which is in me will bow to the authority of God's Word. The Bible is not a fortune cookie. It's not up for however you want it to be that day. We say things like, well, that portion of Scripture, yeah, I get that it means that to you, but you know, to me, this is what it means. You realize that when the Holy Spirit inspired the Scripture, He inspired the writers with actual intention, with an actual message, with actual truth He wanted to communicate, and what do we do? We take the stories of Scripture and just kind of make up anything we want from it. I'll give you an example. The book of Acts we read of a man who fell asleep during a sermon. He fell out of a window, died on the road, and then he was raised from the dead. You know how many sermons I've heard on that text? Do you know what it's about? It's about a church account, a historical narrative that was about God's power over death through resurrection. Do you know what we make it about? I heard it preached so many different ways. Well, you know, the guy fell out the window because he had one foot in the world and one foot in the church. So this portion is talking about lukewarmness. That's what it means to me. I've heard it said, well, you know, that represents your dreams and it may have fallen a long distance and you may feel like God, it's impossible for me to accomplish these dreams and God's going to come and resurrect your hopes and dreams. I'm thinking that's not even what it says. They say, well, that's what I got out of it. People go, oh man, I never saw that before. I'm saying that's because it was never there. Why do we do this? Well, spiritual laziness is one of them and we don't want to study to get actual truth. We just kind of slap a truth on that. That seems like a good allegory. The other is because we do have our own preferences that we would rather believe. We do have certain lenses through which we see the world. People use the word like a thermostat when they should use it as a thermometer. See, a thermostat changes the temperature. A thermometer measures it. We try to get the word and use it to adjust to our comfort. When the word is actually a thermometer that tells you what temperature you are. The Bible says in Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24 through 27, anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with the mighty crash. Here Jesus is talking about building your life on the foundation of his word. So many times we build on other things. We build on church traditions. We build on what our family taught us. We build on our preferences and the way that we see the world. Society has already lost its reverence for the word and the church is losing it too. That's happening. In our church, in this world, that's happening. I'm talking about the church at large. People are falling away from the faith. People are denying the truth of God's word. Why? Because the further that culture gets from truth, the more offended it is by truth. What's actually happening is that society is slipping further and further into darkness. And the further and further they go in darkness, the more irritated they become by light. So it's not that we need to readjust the word. We need to reaffirm the word and stand by it. It's time to stand by the word. And when you stand for the word, there will be resistance, believe me. Always resistance to the truth. The most truthful messages I preach are the most controversial. Now, I'm not trying to be controversial. We shouldn't get joy out of upsetting people. We're not being antagonistic for the fun of it. That's not at all the spirit of Jesus. But we declare the truth despite offending people. We declare the truth despite rocking the boat, stirring the waters. Atheists don't like what I have to say. People in the world don't like what I have to say. Religious Christians don't like what I have to say. Because it's based on the word and you will stir the waters. But preach that truth anyway. Know the authority and bow to the authority of God's word. Embrace that. That's what you have to do if you want to be truly discerning. Because the moment you step off the authority of God's word, the moment you step away from that, now you've left a firm foundation and you're left trying to feel around in the darkness by your own understanding. This is where people will base their so-called discernment off of their minds and emotions. Spirit is easy to discern. Spirit aligns with the word. Satanic will contradict the word. Secular, ah, it's this nuanced. Kind of does, kind of doesn't sometimes. That's why it's so difficult. Now this is where problems are created. And this is where I really want to challenge you people of God. It's when we start to get into our own minds and emotions and calling it the Holy Spirit that we get into trouble. As I mentioned earlier tonight, I love one of my favorite things to do is to champion other ministries. And you've seen it on my social media. You've seen it on our broadcasts. I'm constantly promoting other ministers and ministries. I recommend other ministers to you because that's what I believe we should be doing in the kingdom. It's about unity is so important to this ministry. Unity is so key. So I was working really hard for I think it was like a year and a half almost on getting one of my good friends onto a very popular television program, a Christian television program. Because I knew if we could get this guy on this TV program, it would just, their ministry would skyrocket and people would love it. I said it for years. That TV audience with this ministry, it's match made in heaven. The audience would love them and their ministry would just explode. So finally one day it happens. We make the connection. I had lunch with one of the heads of the program and I said, you got to get this. He said, okay, give me the name. Write it down. I wrote it down. They looked into it and he got on the program. I was excited. So I'm watching the live stream premiere of this show on Facebook. Facebook is filled with Facebook theologians and keyboard warriors and computer profits. Anyway, so I'm there watching all these comments. Most of them are great. They're going, oh man, this guy is anointed. I'm going, yep, yeah, he is. Oh man, this guy's speaking truth. Yep. That's what he does. He's very bold. So I'm just enjoying it and wouldn't you have it? Someone commented. Well, I don't really know. Something about this just doesn't sit right in my spirit. And then somebody else chimed in. You know what? I can picture them like this. I was thinking the same thing. As they said, I was thinking the same thing. And like three or four people jumped on that. Me too. And you know what they said to each other? This confirms that you were right. But my question is, who are you doing that to? How many wonderful servants of God and people of God and churches are we just believing stories about? You know, there's a lot of preachers you'll hear who are my friends that don't see eye to eye in every doctrine with me. And I've had people write to me thinking that I'm going to celebrate it. They said, I just heard you're teaching on this and I heard they're teaching on that. And now I'm unfollowing them. I say, don't do that. Why would you do that? Because on one side issue, they disagreed. We're so dismissive with each other and then we call it discernment when it's actually the flesh, suspicion, cynicism and skepticism. And we blame the Holy Spirit for our undisciplined flesh. When people say this doesn't sit right with my spirit, what they actually mean is this isn't what I was taught. This isn't what I believe. I find it amazing that if someone gets up and boldly declares what you believe to be the truth, you say, my goodness, they're bold. But if someone else gets up and boldly believes what you don't believe to be the truth, you say, my goodness, they're arrogant. We are to judge people of God, but we need to judge with righteous judgment. With the Word, by the Spirit, we take our own personal discomfort and we try to blame the Holy Spirit for it. Our own preferences, people of God, if you want to be truly discerning, you're going to have to set aside your preferences, exchange the lens of how you were raised, exchange the lens of your political ideology, exchange the lens of your preferences, and put on the lens of the Word. See it through the Word of God. See it through His Word. The gift of discernment is not the gift of criticism. The gift of discernment is not the gift of complaint. With all that's going on in the world, with all the chaos we're facing today, we need to be grounded on the Word, the Word. Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.