Sermon notes for July 25, 1999
By Pastor William R. Cunningham

Introduction

We think we hear the truth or we convince ourselves that we know the truth. However, what we really have is lots of speculation. Sometimes truth (any truth) is hidden under a sea of speculation. We listen to the news and sometimes they talk as if they really know and we later find that they didn’t. We listen to people speak about religious or Christian things and sometimes never realize that what we heard was speculation and not truth. Why is speculation so prevalent? Why do people speculate and others believe the speculation as though it was fact? This document contain my thoughts about these questions and perhaps provide some insight that will help you become more sensitive to the truth of God’s word and not the speculation of people pertaining to God’s word. The principles herein apply to all areas of our life and not just religious or Christian ones.

You may notice that I distinguish religion from Christianity. Christianity is more than a religion. It is a way of life. Religion is simply a way in life, which consists of rules, regulations, and rituals devised by people so that the religious practitioners can in essence save themselves without Christ. Yes I do feel strongly about religion, or should I say against religion. True religion is revealed in the Bible.

Of course, true religion is more than this scripture dictate. True religion before God is to meet the needs of the people. If there are rituals and rules that you want to follow, then follow the "rule" of love and help people and actively love them by deeds as well as confession.

Again, I hope to increase your sensitivity to the pursuit of the truth. The truth will eliminate the need to speculate about the things of God because you will know God’s will.

A Sign From God

I’m sure you have heard something like the following:

"It must have been God’s will that those people died" or "It must be God’s will for you to lose your job" How do they know what God’s will is? It amazes me when people say things like this. They never stop to think of the real cause of an event. Sometimes, I believe that it has nothing whatsoever to do with God’s will. How would they know even if it did concern God’s will? Do they have a hotline to God where he informs them of his purposes? Does God choose certain people to reveal his plans and the reasons for events? No. Most if not all of these statements are mere speculation. How can I say that? Am I speculating? No. Let me explain.

Evidence

If someone has evidence that demonstrates a correlation then his or her statement about that event is not necessarily speculative. Their comments are based on evidence or fact and are conclusions founded on reason. In other words, speculation only "sees" the event and presupposes a cause without any evidence. So if I tell you that you are sick because God wants to teach you something then I am only speculating unless the Bible reveals that sickness is due to God’s desire to teach, which it does not. How could I know and how would I know the reasons for your sickness? The only way that I could know is if I saw it in the Bible, which I definitely will not. To say what God wants or desires without evidence is speculation.

However, there are some things from which we can extract evidence. For example, I may conclude that the reason for your backache is probably due to lifting heavy boxes all day without support. I have evidence and I present that evidence. I can’t say that the backache is God trying to tell you something or some other sign. We don’t have to go to fantasy land when we want to determine the cause of an event. If you are in poor health for example, then you need to ask yourself what you have done to contribute to your poor health. Do you exercise regularly? Do you eat healthily?

The same cause and effect relationship is presented in churches without the benefit of evidence or sometimes reason. Many times we are told to give our money in order to get a blessing. We are told to tithe so that God will open the windows of heaven. We believe these things so much that whenever something good happens, we conclude that it was because of our obedience to the pastor’s voice. We assume that our good fortune is due to the fact that we tithed or that we sowed seed into someone else’s life. I have news for you! Blessings come as a result of obedience and not necessarily because you did what your pastor or anyone else told you. God meets your needs because you pursue him. Consider the following scripture.

How are your needs met? Seek God and his righteousness. Seek God and his kingdom. It’s that simple. It has nothing to do with whether you tithe or whether you gave at the weekly revival. It has nothing to do with whether you gave to help Susan with her baby so as to sow seed into her life. As a matter of fact, practicing the latter is selfishness and a form of self-righteousness. See my study called "Tithing, Giving, Sowing and Reaping" for more information about that.

Please understand that I am not saying that you should not give to your local church or to help others. I believe in giving to your local church and in helping others. However, these activities should originate from your heart and not out of obligation. Consider the following scriptures.

Also, read Matthew 6:19-34. These scriptures give us insight into the importance of the motive of an activity over the activity itself. It is therefore more important to have a pure heart to give instead of giving grudgingly or with the idea that God will reward us for the ACT of giving. Any righteous acts that we do are futile. God is not impressed by your activity. Consider the following scripture.

The word "righteousnesses" means righteous acts (as it is stated in the NIV Bible). How much of your life is governed by speculation?

How many times did you run to the offering plate to give your money because the preacher told you that God wants you to do it? How many times have you done something only because your pastor or minister told you that you should do it to fulfill God’s will or something like that? How many times have you done something because YOU knew it was right and not merely because someone told you to? How often to you respond to the word of God that you discover in your pursuit for the truth? Do you pursue the truth?

Source

It is a shame that nonsensical religious statements govern much of our lives? It is amazing how much of our actions are influenced by what we are told in church or by religious leaders. Why do we believe speculation? We haven’t examined the evidence and we therefore don’t know the truth. There are many things that I heard ministers say that I have later found to be false. There were many reasons given for things that happen that I found to be unfounded in scripture. There are many reasons for incidences that I hear that do not have the evidence to support the claims. I am reminded of Hosea 4:6 that says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…"

Our source is the Holy Bible yet many Christians do not use it. The facts of our Christian faith and the revelation of God to humans are in the Bible yet too few seek its riches. Truth is priceless yet many Christian don’t consider its true value. Truth will uphold you because nothing can defeat truth. Truth is and it will always be and there is nothing or no one that can change it. However, many Christians profess the "sayings of the pastor or minister or preacher" instead of the truth from the source—the Holy Bible.

A Word From Above

One of the greatest practices of speculation is "I have a word from the Lord." The only word that we can have from the Lord is the Word of the Lord that is already written down in the Bible. Who is going to check though? If the pastor said it then it is true. If one of your favorite TV evangelists says it then it must be true. Who’s going to check? I’ll tell you. It’s the seekers. The seekers, those that pursue truth, will know the word of the Lord and will be able to distinguish it from the word of the minister. Jesus told us in John 8:31-32 that those who seek the truth (his disciples) will know the truth and that truth (that they know) will liberate them.

Please understand that I am not saying that you shouldn’t listen to your pastor or your favorite TV evangelist. What I am saying is not to govern your life blindly on what they say. They are resources and you will have a degree of trust for these people depending on your experience with them and the evidence you have in order to trust them. I am trying to bring home the point that WE HAVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH FOR OURSELVES! We have to be capable of recognizing the truth and the will of God for ourselves. We can know these things by the evidence that God has given us in His most gracious and holy word—the Bible. Your pastor or favorite TV minister may very well be true seekers of truth. However, that does nothing for your life because they can’t make decisions for you and they can’t be around you all of the time to hold your hand through situations. You must know Christ. You must know the operation of the Kingdom of Heaven. You must know the truth for yourself so that you can apply it to your life and stand firmly on it in all situations. The words of people will fail you but the word of the Lord will sustain you because it won’t change and it won’t fail. Consider the following scripture.

God’s word is true and sure. God is faithful and will never fail. If he said it then you can depend on it. If he didn’t say it, and you think he did, then look out—you are probably building on sand (See Matthew 7:24-27).

Why Bother?

So why bother listening to preachers when all you have to do is study the Bible for yourself? Think about the principle or the implications of that question. You could also ask yourself "why go to school when all I have to do is read the books and learn?" The instructor brings an extra degree of insight and experience into the subject matter. They can explain things to help you understand. They can clarify some points that you may have trouble with. They can help you in the learning process.

Likewise, preachers, Bible teachers, evangelists, prayer warriors, and more are gifted by God to provide a service to humanity. The preachers and Bible teachers expound on the word of God. They help explain the truths that they understand in terms that may be easier for you to grasp. Not every Christian is going to spend hours and hours studying various texts, use the Bible dictionaries and concordances, and other such resources to bring insight into the word of God. My pastor, Pastor Tony Angelo of Oasis Christian Fellowship taught me that the people that spend such time studying the word are a gift of God to everyone else. This doesn’t mean that we are better than anyone is. It simply means that God has gifted us to expound on the truths that we have gained from spending so much time in actual study of the Bible and we are commissioned to share what we have learned.

As a side note, I used to think that all Christians should spend hours studying the Bible. I couldn’t understand why so many Christians were content to go to church on Sunday, take notes on what the pastor says, regurgitate that teaching, and call it a day. It amazed me that people weren’t interested in actively pursuing the truths in the Bible. I get excited when I discover a nugget in the Bible but others seem not to really care. Again Pastor Tony Angelo helped me in this area greatly. Paul also reveals this very same thing in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

So we should listen to the teachings of others. However, we are responsible for knowing and discerning the truth. For example, suppose I tell you that it’s OK to make a left turn on read as long as there isn’t a car in sight. What if you decide to act on what I told you because for whatever reason you believe me? Now what do you think will happen when a police officer stops you? Will he care that you believed what I told you or do you think that his concern is that you broke the TRUE law? You are responsible for knowing the truth no matter what. The same applies to the Bible and our life. We are ultimately responsible for knowing what "this saith the Lord." We have the responsibility to know what God really said in His word.

Decisions

What is the most important and most influential activity of your life? Think about it carefully now. The answer is—making decisions. Everything you do is based on a decision. Your decisions are, or should be, based on information. Now I am not going to get into a big discussion on life’s decisions. That is a subject that is discussed in other study guides (Making Effective Decisions for example). However, I would like to discuss the decisions that we make based on religion. The Bible says…

We eat and we eat. A former pastor of mine once said that we should eat and digest the word of God. So we eat food to sustain the body and we eat the Word to sustain our souls. What does the word do?

(Rom 12:2 KJV) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

It renews our mind. I believe this is part of the sanctification process. So if our mind is renewed then we can make more effective decisions based on the foundation of the Word of God. What if the foundations of your decision making process is not the word of God? What if the foundation of your decision making process is the doctrine of your denomination, the teachings of your pastor, or the revelation of the TV evangelist? You have the potential of being in a lot of trouble if the answer is yes. Why? Your decisions won’t be made based on the foundation of the word of God. It’s that simple. Whether your pastor is right or wrong is not the issue. The issue is whether you know the truth. In order for you to believe your pastor, you must know the truth for yourself or be able to discern the truth. Consider the following scripture.

We see first that we are encouraged to follow Christ. Paul says in the next scripture to follow him (follow his example) as he follows Christ (follows Christ example). Here is a question for you. How do you suppose that someone would know when or if Paul is following Christ? What would be the test? The test would be the evidence that we know of Christ. In other words, we would have to know Christ in order to know if Paul or anyone else is following Christ.

Too many Christians rely on the words of their pastor to live by. This is unfortunate because they never grasp the reality and power of the word of God for themselves. Why is this so? I believe that many Christians are simply lazy and want the easy way out. Living by faith takes work because your faith should be based on fact. Why should we have faith in God for example? Is it because the Bible says so? No. That is the reason WHY we SHOULD have faith in God. However, the reason we actually have faith in God (trust God) is because we know that he is faithful and we can therefore depend on him with confidence to do what he says he will do. This involves our experience with God and is why obedience is so important. As we act on God’s word we come to realize that God is indeed faithful to his word. Many Christians don’t know what God said because they do not read their Bible.

The average Christian is more in tune with their church’s doctrine and sayings of the pastor instead of being familiar with what the Bible really says. Our activities are therefore based on the pastor, the evangelist, the deacon, the church’s statement of faith, and other such things instead of on the word of God. What are your life’s decisions based on? Are they based on the word of God or the words of another person. Please do not think that I am saying that you should listen to people. You will listen to your doctor because you trust his or her knowledge. You will trust your mechanic and do what he or she says because you are confident in his or her knowledge. You will also heed the pastor’s voice because you are confident with their relationship with and knowledge of God based on your experiences with him or her. The bottom line however is to know the word for yourself.

Speculation Buster

So how can we avoid living by speculation, either our speculation or that of others? Know the truth. The Bible is readily available to everyone. God is not hiding from us. There are men and women who are gifts to you for Bible knowledge and insight. Use them and ask God for guidance. God will not deceive you. He will not lead you astray. He will reveal himself to you. Why do you think the Bible is such an important book. It contains the revelation of God to us. Therefore, we should at least know what it says.

Speculation does not exist where the truth is known. Speculation cannot survive amongst those who know what God says. Unsubstantiated doctrines and the dogma of denominations of churches cannot stand if they contradict the truth in God’s word. What do you live by? Do you live by the word of God—the truth or do you live a lie—the doctrines of men and women? Jesus says it very clearly.

Speculate no more! Know the truth and speak the truth. Just the facts. Just the facts. What are the facts? The word of the Living God.