Ep. 24 | Encouragement to Practice Discernment

Speaker: Jesse Turkington

Summary: A short message from Jesse about his desire for spiritual growth among Christians. Always be careful in your Biblical learnings and always compare what you hear with what the Word of God says. Trust is built through repetitious consistency, however, never let somebody's influence hinder your spiritual health. Be a Berean (Acts 17:11).

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Music created by Chad Hoffman
Artwork created by Anthony Kuenzi

Jesse’s Personal Notes:

To Be Wise

Introduction

 I’m not approaching this lesson in the way I have in the past. I want to be very clear in how I use my words and communicate because this is a topic that needs to be fully understood. 

Also, I caution you, topical lessons typically involve a lot of Bible verses so that it’s grounded in something other than my opinion. But because we won’t be working through a specific passage and we’ll be jumping verse to verse, there is a danger of taking a small passage out of context. So, I would encourage you to double check what I say today. 

My hope is that you do that all the time with everything I say. I don’t want you to trust me simply because I might sound trustworthy. There’s an unfortunate sediment in our communities today where we latch on to people who sound trustworthy, or people that we particularly like and we allow them to speak into our lives without a guarded filter. 

Now, I don’t say this to create paranoid people. I want to create careful Bereans. Sometimes pastors or even Bible teachers are viewed as like Levitical priests who are able to approach the Most Holy of Holies on behalf of the church or the student body. 

But as when Jesus died, the temple curtains were torn open and through Jesus Christ people are allowed full and complete access to God the Father. 

As it says in Hebrews chapter four:

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16 ESV). 

I want to encourage you to be people like those of Berea. Who when they heard the teachings of Paul went to the ultimate source of authority and compared his teachings with the Word of God. 

It’s recorded in Acts chapter seventeen:

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so (Acts 17:11 ESV). 

So all that to say, use discernment and compare what I say with the Word of God. You have that ability. Though Christ, you have the Holy Spirit and He is able to reveal and confront the lies of this world. So, don’t put your life on auto pilot and allow people of influence to spoon feed you baby bits. You will not have spiritual growth if you do not exercise your spiritual muscles. 

However, I am aware that there are those who need excellent Biblical exegesis, as the Apostle Peter said:

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— (1 Peter 2:2 ESV).

But I want to contrast this with something that the author of Hebrews said:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:11-14 ESV). 

 Our goal at Parable Ministries, the reason that this podcast exists, is so that listeners – you – might be taught through the Bible in an effort to promote spiritual growth. 

I want to see you grow up and stand in your salvation with confidence, ready and eager to serve the church and reach the people of this world. I want you to be mature in your faith, filled with wisdom and discernment, and able to lead others in their spiritual growth. 

I want you to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all you mind! To love what He loves and to hate what He hates, to be in line with His desires and to be effective ambassadors for Christ. 

I want you to be children of God who are spiritually mature. 

That is my desire. 

And with this ministry we’re specifically focusing on the age group of 18 up to 30 because I think they need this the most but really this hope is for anyone.  

I want you to be wise. 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Be intentional. Don’t coast.