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GREAT QUOTES AND A BULGING MEMBERSHIP FILE

I have a couple of Friday quotations to share with you today, and both of these are good enough to tape up on the dashboard of your car. Here's the first one:

"The Christian life is not just our private affair," writer #1 tells us. "If we have been born again into God's family, not only has He become our Father but every other Christian believer in the world, whatever his nation or denomination, has become our brother or sister in Christ. . . . But it is no good supposing that membership of the universal Church of Christ is enough; we must belong to some local branch of it. . . . Every Christian's place is in a local church . . . sharing in its worship, its fellowship, and its witness."

Isn't that good? Even though I'm a radio preacher, I agree with that 100%, friend — your place is in a local Christian congregation where the Word of God is preached and where the spirit of Jesus is present. Unless you're living a hundred miles away from the nearest church, or unless you're on a bed of illness, this radio should NOT be a substitute for church.
Now here's quote #2 — just as good, as I think you'll agree:

"The Lord has His eye on you. He loves you. He knows you. He knows your triumphs and your trials, your successes and your heartaches."

Isn't that a beautiful thought too? And of course, that borrows from Isaiah 43 where God promises us, "I know you. I love you. I know your name. I chose you to be Mine."
Well, the question you want to ask is obvious: what are the sources? Who said these wise things?
Quotation #1, about belonging to a local Christian church and being part of the Body of Christ, we got from the April 2, 2001 issue of Christianity Today, and the great evangelical writer and preacher, John Stott, excerpted out of his book, Basic Christianity. We've used him a lot on this program, and appreciate his humble wisdom. Quote #2, about God knowing our triumphs and our trials, we found on the official web site for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And that was Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
In a way, here as we close up our series on IS THAT GOD'S VOICE I HEAR?, these two exceptional written testimonies give us a challenge. John Stott, as many of you know, is a true evangelical pillar, a member of the Anglican Church. Here in the U.S., that would be Episcopalian. Elder Wirthlin, of course, is with the great worldwide movement known as the Mormon Church. And most of you realize that you're listening at this moment to a radio broadcast affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. These three global bodies of believers have some stark differences with each other. In all candor, I would have to tell you that we find more areas of agreement with Dr. Stott than we do with our friends belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Especially when in recent years he had the holy boldness to break with traditional evangelical thought on one doctrine and came very close to a view our faith community has long held. (We always admire the wisdom of people who agree with us, don't we!) But when a person who doesn't belong to any church at all picks up Christianity Today, or goes on the Internet and happens onto the web site from Salt Lake City, or turns on the radio and hears an Adventist perspective for 13 minutes on a Friday morning, how does he or she know if God's voice is present? Especially when conflicting opinions are expressed?
Believers love to quote this verse as protection — and as we've said all week, when we go to the Bible itself, we can know that this is God's Word. Radio programs and Internet sites might or might not contain truth from heaven, but these 66 books compiled into the Word of God are a sure thing. And here's Isaiah 8:20:

"To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn."

In other words, when a Stott, or a Wirthlin, or a Yours Truly expresses a spiritual concept, it contains light if it's given "according to this Word" — meaning the Bible. If we say something that is contrary to what you find in your own Bible, then what your ears are hearing doesn't contain light. Believe me, that's a challenge we take so very seriously here at this ministry — wanting the Bible to be the basis of every program.
But right here in this discussion we find a word of warning. It should be obvious that just because a teaching has many, many people behind it doesn't mean it's right. The Episcopalian Church has many millions of members at the present time. I happen to know that the Mormon religious community numbers upwards of 11 million, and interestingly, that's about where the Adventist Church is as well: 11 million and growing. But for me to come on the radio and tell you: "Listen, I see such-and-such doctrine this way, and so do 11 million other people. And that ought to settle it" . . . should NOT settle it for you! What should
settle it for you is this: what do the pages in your own Bible say?
I remember an old sound bite that came from the pen of the late Marjorie Lewis Lloyd, who used to write television scripts for our sister broadcast, It Is Written. She passed away in the Lord before what we know today as the "Religious Right" really grew to its full strength, but she had an astute commentary about the penchant of spiritual people to legislate morals, not just for themselves, but for their neighbors. Listen to this:

"We have been educated," she writes, "to believe that the people are always right, that the majority should rule, that democracy is sacred. And certainly no better form of government is available on this planet — now. But just as a monarchy is no better than its king, a dictatorship no better than its dictator, just so a democracy is no better than its people. The pulse of the people is not always a safe guide. If the heart is not right, the pulse will not be right!"

That's thought-provoking, isn't it? Back in the days of Noah, the vast majority of people living made the wrong choice, followed the wrong god. In the Dark Ages, the majority church, the medieval church of the masses, slipped into serious apostasy — creating the need for the courage of the Reformers. The heart got to be wrong, and so the pulse was wrong too. And today, friend, there are great global movements numbering in the hundreds of millions, and their statement of beliefs, put side by side with the Bible, reveals tragic discrepancies. Let me say it again: you don't know you're hearing God's voice just because it comes on a letterhead claiming 11 million supporters.
In the New Testament, by the way, we find a prediction that here in these last days, people will actually find it easier to follow error than truth. The majority will be wrong again. Notice this from II Timothy:

"The time will come," the apostle Paul writes, "when people will not listen to sound doctrine but will follow their own inclinations and gather together teachers who will tell them what their ears are itching to hear. They'll turn away from hearing the truth and will turn to fables and myths."

Well, radio friend, maybe this is a little discouraging to hear. Please don't be downhearted. Remember, we do have this Book right here. The Bible is always right even when you and I might not be right. And let me also say that God apparently allows men and women of good will and faithful consciences to disagree on some Bible teachings. The Holy Spirit hasn't yet moved in such a way as to mold us all into one unified denomination. I firmly believe that if you read your own Bible carefully and prayerfully, and specifically invite the Holy Spirit to protect you from error — and for sure from fatal error — as you read, that is a promise heaven will always honor.
Let me close with this final word of encouragement. In that same Christianity Today magazine John W. Yates III did a profile on Pastor John Stott, who had just celebrated his 80th birthday. This great man of God still gets out of bed at five in the morning and begins the day with prayer. Always the same "Trinitarian Prayer": worship, self-surrender, bowing at the foot of the Cross. Asking for the fruits of the Spirit. And then a time of Bible study: three chapters daily, carefully, carefully read and examined and prayed over. Then more prayer, over a tattered, bulging notebook, a journal, of people and ministries and programs and causes and worldwide needs he's praying for.
And then on to the day at hand. Lectures. Writing. And also fun: especially during the summer months in Wales, he cleans weeds out of a fish pond. He goes bird-watching. He does the evening dishes. Little things he calls "pottering"; in fact, the title of the article is Pottering and Prayer.
That's an effective combination, wouldn't you say, for a person who wants to hear the true voice of God? Daily work, daily living — pottering — and then prayer. Two "P's" which lead to a third one: protection.