Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

A Friendly Reminder

A friendly reminder, saint:

Turn on the lights, turn off the music, and separate yourself from the antics that seek to hype you up and disengage your mind. Now, read the transcript.

If you were to read the words that have been spoken, would it produce in you the same emotional response?

Testing Our Emotional Responses

How can we know if our emotions are being manipulated or if our feelings are truly a response to God’s Word being rightly handled and the Holy Spirit working in us?

One way is to separate ourselves from all the hype—the screaming, the manipulative words that tell us what we should expect and should experience—and simply read the transcript.

Was anything of substance actually said? Was God’s Word rightly exposited? Not merely used or mentioned, but opened and faithfully explained? Is it truly the work of the Holy Spirit, or is it hype leading you to experiences falsely attributed to Him?

John Owen wrote:

“Unless the Word is rightly divided and applied, the soul is never rightly affected. The Spirit works through the Word, not through emotion or spectacle.”

Test Everything Against Scripture

The Apostle Paul instructs:

“Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Saint, always measure what you hear against the authority of Scripture. Emotional highs are fleeting; truth is eternal. Hype can excite, but the Word of God transforms.

J. C. Ryle observed:

“A sermon is not judged by the tears it produces or the thrills it excites, but by whether it faithfully delivers the Word of God and pierces the heart with truth.”

Grace and Peace, y’all

Soli Deo Gloria