“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” – Matthew 7:15-17

Jesus warned us! We’re currently in an era where many are claiming to be receiving prophetic words or visions and publishing or proclaiming them from platforms in the name of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we must ALWAYS be discerning about the teaching, preaching, and messages we consume from those claiming to be Christian leaders, pastors, preachers, prophets, or experts.

God will never contradict Himself or His nature. Any Christian teaching or claim, no matter how amazing it sounds needs to first be evaluated against Scripture. If the message isn’t consistent with God’s Word or His revealed nature, will, and plan for the world, that prophecy is false and so is that prophet.

Second, if a prophet, preacher, or teacher’s lifestyle, character, or behavior is inconsistent with that of Jesus, then he or she is a false prophet, teacher, or preacher. Even if he or she was once an excellent teacher, if we don’t presently see the increasing fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) we must be extremely cautious. If we see qualities of behavior, fruit of character, or fruit of ministry that are inconsistent with the teaching, preaching, and example of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must reject that messenger.

Christian, the Bible devotes enormous amounts of space toward the danger of false teachers, preachers, and prophets. We have always needed to be discerning, but here in these troubled times, we must redouble our guard and filter every word against God’s Word, God’s nature, God’s will, and God’s Son!

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:43-45a

Christians, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we must deprogram every natural instinct and all our cultural training and instead learn to love and pray for our enemies and those opposed to Christ, to the church, and to us. When persecuted or humiliated, our answer can’t be thoughts of revenge. When slandered, our response can’t be more lies. Our actions, words, and even our innermost thoughts need to be Christ-like, not human.

This is unbelievably important. Note well those last few words, that we must love our enemies and pray for them, “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” Do you understand the profound significance of what Jesus is saying here???

To be a son of God is to be saved. If we aren’t being conformed and transformed into the likeness of Jesus Who absolutely loved and prayed for His enemies, then it means we aren’t saved. Loving and praying for our enemies won’t save us, but if we’re saved, we should be growing in our capacity to love our enemies. Period.

Take time to reflect on your own heart. Do you truly love your enemies? Do you faithfully pray for your them? Are you harboring deep anger, bitterness, rage, contempt, or hatred for others? If you are, you need to confess that to God and then battle every day to kill those sinful feelings. Refusing to fight this battle indicates a deep soul sickness that must be dealt with before it’s too late.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” – Matthew 5:38-39

This may be one of the hardest and most unnatural teachings of Jesus. It goes against ever fiber of our being and the predominant teaching of our culture. But that should be irrelevant to Christians, because Jesus, our Lord, commands this of His people. Moreover, He demonstrated it through His own experience of betrayal, arrest, injustice, abuse, suffering, and death. He lived this way and expects us to live this way as well.

This is the way of Jesus. Conceptually we love it. Personally, we hate it when it involves ourselves. Often we read these verses and come up with extreme hypothetical cases to argue against the word of Christ. We need to stop! Rather than grimacing about this truth, ignoring it, or trying to explain it away, we must instead think through what it really looks like in our lives and prepare ourselves to obey.

We need to embrace this truth, understand this truth, and apply this truth in our lives. To respond to personal injustice with Spirit-filled passive resistance requires immense strength that only God can provide. We need to intentionally cultivate our relationship with God so that when the time of testing comes, Christ in us will triumph over fallen humanity in us.

What’s at stake here is eternally significant! This isn’t just about our own faithfulness and obedience to Christ. It’s also about the startling witness to Jesus Christ that occurs when we stare personal injustice and persecution in the eye without blinking and without fighting back. In those moments, Christ is held high and glorified before watching observers. For 2000 years, obedience to Christ in this way has brought some of the most hardened opponents to Christ to saving faith. Do you have the courage and strength to obey Jesus?

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5:11-12

How many of us REALLY believe this…when it happens to us? Jesus is crystal clear about what we should expect as His followers and the blessing that comes with it. However, the truth is we’ve seldom experienced it in this part of the world in recent decades. As a result, our ability to recognize the blessing of persecution for ourselves seems limited.

Are you prepared to receive this blessing? Is your faithfulness and loyalty to Christ sufficient to help you embrace the blessing of being reviled – hated, lied about, mischaracterized, and blacklisted socially or professionally? Are you willing to embrace the blessing of serious legal consequences for following Christ? Are you prepared to suffer the loss of health, freedom, or life for Christ – and to do so in the meek, humble, peacemaking, righteous way Christ described in the verses before these?

Such persecution may or may not come. Nonetheless, every Christian should spend time thoughtfully and prayerfully reflecting on the truth of these verses. Take time to meditate on them and whether you can embrace this blessing, because we’re called to. The time to prepare yourself and discipline your heart to follow Christ wherever He leads no matter the cost isn’t in the middle of persecution, it’s beforehand. So take time today and ask yourself what price you’re willing to pay for this reward in heaven!

“And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” – Matthew 4:19-20

Jesus extends the same invitation to everyone who calls him or herself a Christian: “Follow me”. While that doesn’t necessarily look like abruptly quitting your job, it’s always an invitation to 100% commitment to follow, obey, imitate, and become like Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you.

Yet for most of us, following Jesus is only a part of our lives. Our commitment is half-hearted, quarter-hearted, or less. How different would the world be if every follower of Jesus actually committed to truly follow Him? What would be different about churches and the advance of God’s Kingdom if we all actually loved God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength?

Most Christians settle for lukewarm commitment to Jesus because of fear and comfort. We’re afraid of disrupting our life and losing what we know by diving headlong into the unknown. We’re far too comfortable with what we know and love. Truly following Jesus takes us out of all that and leads us into the greatest adventure of our lives. Truly knowing and following Jesus is vastly superior to the pitiful comforts we numb ourselves with, if only we’d just take the leap of faith to truly follow Christ whole-heartedly.

What about you? What about now? Will you follow Jesus this year? Completely? Fully? Wherever He leads?