Diving into Discernment

Did you know that February is “discernment month”?  Well, it will be around here.

In February I’ll be doing a special series on discernment here in Ixtapaluca.

Mexico is a rapidly changing country.  If you want to find good Christian materials in Spanish, it’s still surprisingly difficult.  Christian media hasn’t been big here in the past (or even allowed in the past).  But more and more “Christian” resources and teachings and churches are arriving in Mexico.

Yes, aside from the various flavours of Roman Catholics, you’ve got the Presbyterians, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Apostolic Assembly, the Light of the World Church, Mormons, the World of Faith churches, Bible churches, the Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . all groups who claim to love Jesus.

In bookstores and on the internet and on the radio you can learn from such dramatically different teachers as Joel Olsteen, Gary Chapman, Sarah Young, Rick Warren, Elizabeth George, Cash Luna, Benny Hinn, John MacArthur, and Stormie Omartian.

If you have people from three different faiths come to your door in a single week, your son is listening to Hillsong, your sister goes to a church that won’t allow women to wear pants, and your grandmother is getting a ritual cleansing from evil spirits – well, are we surprised that people get a little confused?

As usual, a lot of this study will come from questions that I’ve gotten from people here in the past.

There never will be a definitive list of good or bad teachers.  We would check our brains at the door if there were.

No, God actually calls us to learn a skill – the skill of discernment (Hebrews 5:11-14).  Discernment leads to salvation, sanctification, and a relationship with a God we can know.

So here’s what we’re going to do.  On Sunday (the 2nd of February) I’ll be preaching on discernment – hopefully some basic, memorable things that people need to know.

Then, on the following four Tuesdays, I’ll be leading a study on discernment, covering such topics as what discernment is, why we need to practise it, how to be discerning, and how to respond to truth and error.

Obviously we can only cover so much in four studies, but the idea is to give some very basic, Scriptural, memorable and practical ideas that people can use.

The series will not be a list of good or bad teachers – few if any will be mentioned.  However, in the last study we will be putting what we’ve learned into practice by talking about four basic issues that are key areas of confusion here in Mexico (Who Jesus is, what the Gospel is, the sufficiency of Scripture, and … I’m still waffling on number four).

I’d also like to make some of the material available online in Spanish, and hopefully post some thoughts here as well.

Now if you think I’ve already become controversial, heretical, or nasty just by putting the word “discernment” in the title of this post, then you’ll have some idea of the dangerous waters we’re entering here.  And yet if we can’t know the truth (John 8:31-32), if we can’t distinguish the evil from the good (Romans 12:9), we’re lost.

So we would certainly appreciate your prayers as we study this sometimes complex issue in God’s Word throughout the month of February.