JPhillipJones.com

Greetings in Jesus' Name. Let's talk about

discernment for a moment. We, as Christians

are the target of Satan. Satan does not have

any direct power over us and the Holy Ghost

gives us authority over him. Sometimes he

likes to use governments and rulers to

persecute Christians. However, that has

historically proven not to destroy the gospel,

and sometimes even helps it spread and grow.

So what type of weapon does that leave the

enemy? In a word... infiltration.

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to

you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening

wolves.

Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men

gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good

fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,

neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Here Jesus is laying out a simple guide to determining

who is on our side, and who is not. We don't have to

have some special spiritual gift to weed out those that

would come in and do us harm, we just have to know

what to look for. If we are looking, God will make their

fruit manifest to us.

We should not always accept people at face value.

We need to know them that labor among us. The Bible

not only instructs us to be as harmless as doves... but

also as wise as serpents. The apostles did not tolerate

pretenders in their midst.

Now, I'm not saying that we should grab every new

minister we meet by the throat and drag him off to an

interrogation room (stuff like that tends to start gossip :).

But we should be on the look out. Usually, though there

are a few exceptions, you can tell pretty quickly if someone

is really of God by keeping a watchful eye out. If someone

comes in claiming to be a saint of God and their personal

like sounds like something from some supermarket tabloid...

they're probably not going to edify your congregation.

Look for the fruit. Look at what they teach. Then

look at what they really do. If they have children,

observe how they behave, particulalry toward issues

of faith. Some people are obvious on sight and

manifest themselves quickly. I'm sure most of us have

seen someone walk in the church door that didn't

feel quite right. The Holy Ghost will show us where a

bad spirit is. Remember the woman that followed

Paul and Silas. What she was saying was true, that

they were men of God. But she had a bad spirit that

was up to no good, and Paul saw it and rebuked it.

Other people may seem really good at first, but are

really not what they seem to be. But even those are

become obvious if you have your eyes open and your

heart tuned toward God.

And finally, regardless of anything else, church

leaders should protect their congregation. The

enemy likes to look for the young and weak in the

Lord that are vulnerable. Extra care is needed to

ensure that the wolves don't come in and carry

these away. And a big part of that is discernment.

God Bless!

Greetings in Jesus' Name. Let's talk about

credibility for a moment. If we who have

truth are going to persuade and reach those

who do not have truth, we need to make sure

that everything that we are preaching comes

from the scripture. We should not take away,

but we also should not add. Many good people,

seeing through the traditions of the Catholic church,

will turn right around and add their traditions and

claim that they came for God. Jesus does not like

this.

Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees

sit in Moses' seat:

Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you

observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after

their works: for they say, and do not.

Mat 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and

grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's

shoulders; but they themselves will not move

them with one of their fingers.

Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,

hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and

cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of

the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye

to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat,

and swallow a camel.

Now the Pharisees did teach what the law of Moses

commanded. Indeed, Jesus told the people to do

what the Pharisees said to do because they sat in Moses'

seat. However, they had created for themselves

traditions and held them in higher esteem that the true law

of God.

I was recently in service with some Apostolic

Commandment keepers. During the service most of the

preachers got up and belittled the Commandments and

then proceeded to talk about what they considered to be

weightier matters, like church yard sales. We shouldn't

have them.... apparently the Bible say's they're wrong

although no scripture was sighted. The scripture was

very seldom sighted during the whole night and there

was no message given. Instead the preacher of the

evening paced up and down the church talking about

yards sales, how he had a 2005 model car and new

house on the hill, and that it's wrong for a woman to

wear a skirt with a split in it... even if she sows the

seem up and there is no longer a split... because there

once was one there.

This man has known the truth of keeping all of the

Ten Commandments for years. But his children are

not in them, because he has not been credible. He will not

convince many of the truth in the Commandments,

because he regularly shouts things from the pulpit

that he has no Bible for. Where could anyone discern

where traditions and his ideas end and the way of God

begins?

Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be

teachers, ye have need that one teach you again

which be the first principles of the oracles of God;

and are become such as have need of milk, and

not of strong meat.

Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is

unskillfull in the word of righteousness: for he is

a babe.

Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are

of full age, even those who by reason of use have

their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

My dear friends, I care very much for the people

that were present at that service. I hope very much that

that preacher's ministry would be effectual and I care for

his family and church greatly. But I don't care for confusion.

Everything that we believe, we should be able to back up

with the scripture. Man is not perfect, and if we try to add

to the Word ourselves, we are no better that a child

scribbling on a master piece.

Let us then walk with understanding and be skillful in

the Word that we may be credible. It's really worth the

effort. Furthermore I believe that we all have this ability

as long as we follow the leading of the Holy Ghost and

lean not onto our own understanding.

God bless!

Greetings in Jesus' Name. I'm sorry

that I seem to be getting a little slack

in posting. Time is the most precious

commodity of all... and it's precious

because we often have so little of it.

The one thing on my mind tonight is

probably the church's witness to the

world. Well, actually there are a

couple of other things but they pertain

mostly to sleep and setting my alarm

clock... so I'll talk about one's witness.

I know too many people who have

seen so much hypocracy, sin, and

sometimes just plain foolishness in

churches that they've gone to that

they now find it hard to really trust

anyone that goes to church. This

should not be.

Pastors must hold their people

accountable and chasten them when

they do wrong. Pastors must know

the people they put in leadership

positions and if they don't measure up,

remove them from their position!

When we leave them in as song leader,

youth leader, deacon, whatever... we

are essentually taking away their

opportunity to repent. Remember

the man in first Corinthians that Paul

told them to put out? We find in the

second letter that that man did repent.

Leaving them in will destoy those who

are really trying to live right.

Finally, we should not get caught up

in signs, prophets who tell us what we

want to here, or even often times the

interpretation of tongues.

God will sometimes give a sign, but

it is usually in His works; the sick being

healed, people filled with the Holy

Ghost, etc... It's been my experience

that most people looking for signs are

just superstitious.

Most true prophets tell mostly of

unpleasing news. Why? Because when

something bad is about to happen, or

may happen, God wants to warn us.

He's looking out for us. Good things

are prophesied too, but if you look

in the Bible, most of the prophets

gave warnings and admonitions.

The people who come passing pleasing

words as prophecy do so because they

know people want to here it and will

come out to have good prophesies

spoken of them. Remember Ahab.

And last, yes even supposed

interpretation of tongues can be a

guise for falseness. Often, like with

prophecy, only pleasing things are told.

God usually doesn't need to give us a

prophetic pep talk... He gives us the joy

in the Holy Ghost. I have heard of a number

interpretations of tongues that I knew

were false based on the lives of the poeple

that they supposedly prophesied of.

So let's keep the church in order and truth

so that our witness is not tarnished.

He that have an ear... let him hear...

God Bless!

Greetings in the name of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I praise the Lord for giving us

the prophecies that down through

time have validated the faith of the

saints.

2Pe 1:18 And this voice which came

from heaven we heard, when we

were with him in the holy mount.

2Pe 1:19 We have also a more sure

word of prophecy; whereunto ye do

well that ye take heed, as unto a light

that shineth in a dark place, until the

day dawn, and the day star arise in

your hearts:

Now here is Peter who, having been

in the mount at transfiguration and having

been with Jesus and having talked with

him, still points out that more sure

word of prophecy that proves that Jesus

was the Christ and that God is true.

Peter said that they had not followed

cunningly devised fables, and these the scriptures

of the Old Testament prove indeed that

Jesus is no fable. Look what Jesus

said:

Joh 5:39Search the Scriptures; for in

them ye think ye have eternal1 life: and

they are they which testify of me.

And indeed they do. Imagine men

writing down the events of Jesus' life

centuries before they happened. I love the

passages in Zechariah:

Zec 13:5 But he shall say, am no prophet, am

a husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle

from my youth.

Zec 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are

these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall

answer, Those with which I was wounded in

the house of my friends.

David also writes:

Psa 22:1 ...My God, my God, why hast thou

forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping

me, and from the words of my roaring?

Psa 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all

my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax;

it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

Psa 22:18 They part my garments among them, and

cast lots upon my vesture.

And of course Isaiah:

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his

name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty

God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace

there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon

his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment

and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal

of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

And there are many more. The point being of course

that we are blessed that we need not some elaborate

festival or some large order of religion to believe

and trust in our God. We need not the cunningly devised

fables. For we have our proof in these and many other

prophecies of how God moved on the holy men of

old and that they spoke by the Spirit of things that

had not as yet transpired.

Having then this proof and the experience of the

Holy Ghost which being obtained by faith is also witness

to the unbeliever, let us have no lack of faith or doubt in

the very real God. Let us come to Him and claim His

promises with that reassurance of His ability. Let's

claim our healing, our deliverance, and our victory

for ourselves and our loved ones. It only requires

our belief in a sure thing.