Today's Passage - Luke 20:1-8

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 20:1-8   One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him.  'Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?'  He replied, 'I will also ask you a question.  Tell me, John's baptism - was it from heaven, or from men?'  They discussed it among themselves and said, 'If we say, "From heaven," he will ask, "Why didn't you believe him?"  But if we say, "From men," all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.'  So they answered, 'We don't know where it was from.'  Jesus said, 'Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.'   From this passage, we can see the wisdom of the Lord.  The Lord knew that when the priests and teachers asked the question, they were not looking for any answers, and they wanted to find fault in His words to accuse Him.  No matter how Jesus answers, He will fall into their trap.  So, Jesus countered their question by asking: where did the baptism of John come from?  This was also a dilemma for the Pharisees, therefore the Lord escaped from falling into the enemy's trap.  Today, as we live in a complicated and intertwined society, don't we need such spiritual wisdom more than ever?  When we face all kinds of attack from the enemy, we need to distinguish which is the voice of God and which is the deception from the enemy, but on the other hand we need to distinguish which is the voice that tends to our own body, or carnal desires.  If the voice is from God, we must follow it; if it's from the enemy, we must rebuke it; if it's from our body, we must reject it.  This is how we can see God's way in all type of circumstances.   In addition, we need to seriously train our tongue.  In the church, many people seriously pursue the truth through doing devotions, praying, sharing the gospel and bearing testimony; however, because their words have not been trained by God, they may speak things that not only don't edify people, but incidentally hurt them.  Most of the time they are not intentional, but because they have never been dealt with by God, their words are filled with nails and knives that will hurt people whenever they are released.  Many people don't say much, but whenever they speak it's worse than not talking.  We may be like that ourselves, for we can often accidentally hurt others.   In James 3:1, James encouraged the brothers and sisters in the church: "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly."  He didn't mean that we shouldn't say anything in the church, for we still should share, teach and preach whatever we need do; however, we need to make sure that we will say things cautiously, and we want to edify people instead of hurting people with our words.     Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because you are a wise God, for you can resolve any attack from the enemy on earth.  I ask that you place spiritual wisdom inside us, so that our words are filled with wisdom, mercy and comfort, and all who hear our words will be edified.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!