THE MESSAGE PART 6. BEYOND EXPERIENCES AND SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTERS

THE MESSAGE PART 6. BEYOND EXPERIENCES AND SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTERS

The Message is Christ and Him crucified. This message is superior to experiences and supernatural encounters. Many times people attempt to use their encounters and experiences to interpret the message of Christ, this is not suppose to be so. We ought to use the message to interpret our experiences and encounters. Any experience or supernatural encounter that is not in line with what Jesus has done must be subjected to the knowledge of Christ.
From part one of this series, we have established many details  of the message of Christ. Please do well to click the links below to read the previous parts.
PART 1 CHRIST THE ONLY MESSAGE WORTH PREACHING FROM THE BEGINNING
PART 2 THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST AND THE GLORY THAT SHOULD FOLLOW
PART 3 ONE MESSAGE, DIFFERENT TOPICS AND EMPHASES
PART 4 MINISTRY IS IN THE MESSAGE
PART 5 THE MESSAGE IS BEYOND RESULTS
In this sixth part, we will be looking at how to subject our experiences and encounters to the message of Christ.
The beginning of error is to believe that you can say or preach anything you like especially because you saw it in a vision or you can use experiences to support it.
2 Peter 1
15  Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
16  For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17  For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18  And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost
Peter reminded us of the need to give attention to the message of Christ documented in the speaking of the prophets. He gave an account of their experience with Jesus during His transfiguration. Luke 9:28-31.This experience was to confirm the speakings of the prophets.   It is this message of the prophet that is a sure word of prophecy. In the part two of this series, we established that this message is as old as the beginnings. We saw that it was what the prophets kept speaking about. They spoke of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.1 Peter 1:9-12.  These words of the prophets can never be given private interpretation. You can't have an opinion of yours concerning what is written. Even your experiences and encounters can not changed what is written.
The MESSAGE OF CHRIST IS BASED ON WHAT IS WRITTEN.  Did you noticed that even Jesus stuck with what is written when He was on earth. Never forget He was fully God and fully man. He never one  day gathered the disciples and started telling them stories of His encounters with the father. All He did was to explain what was spoken of Him by the prophets. This should teach us to follow same. The disciples as Peter  reported also followed  the same step.
I must say that experiences are important if used in line with the message of Christ. I have heard people say, experience is the best teacher. God didn’t give us the experience to teach us. He gave us His word. Though we can learn from our experiences and the experiences of others,  but it must never be against the message of what CHRIST has done and who we are in Christ.  For example, if a believer prays for a sick person and the person didn’t recover. The believer shouldn't start looking for excuses and Bible verses to support the bad experience, knowing fully well that in Christ, we lay hands on sick persons and they recover according to Mark 16:16-17. That is the standard. We can only keep looking at it until our experiences align with God’s word. You can only interpret your experiences in line with who you are in Christ.
What of supernatural encounters? They are good and are to be enjoyed by believers always as spirit beings that We are. Encounters help us to be more convinced of who we are. The supernatural encounters  of a believer start with praying in our spirit language ( tongues ) to  different  kinds of visions even divinely granted appearances of Angels and Jesus. All of these are good. But you must ensure that what Jesus told you is not contrary to what the Jesus on the cross did and who He is in you. Imagine Jesus appearing to you and telling you that only five persons will make it to heaven in a city of over 500 persons saved by the blood of Jesus. That can never be Jesus. It is the voice of your wrong doctrine that created the vision. The Jesus in the message is the one that died for men’s sins so that any one that believes what He has done can never perish in hell. John 3:16-18, 36, 5:24.  Funny enough, the people that see such revelations always say it is because of the sins Jesus died for that the people couldn’t go to heaven. They also always see themselves as part of the few that made it to heaven with all their mistakes. Religion and hypocrisy are twin brothers.  Just repent, be humble and accept that what Jesus has done is more than enough. Another message will bring another spirit and another Jesus different from the Jesus in the message. 2 Corinthians 11:3-4.

I have heard people say, Paul got all he preached BY REVELATION. The question is by revelation of who ? let’s look at scriptures.
Galatians 1.
11  But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12  For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Please read carefully the scripture  above again. You will notice that the gospel Paul preached was by revelation. Revelation of who? Of Jesus Christ. From WHERE ? Is the revelation from the encounters? We know Paul was not taught of men. So where did he get these revelations of the gospel of Christ from ?
Acts 17
1  Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
2  And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
3  Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. note
4  And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
Notice from verse two of the above scripture, that Paul had a custom, as his manner is, he is teaching from THE SCRIPTURES, not from his visions or encounters. It was so bad that Paul never preached once from his supernatural encounter during his conversation in Acts 9. 
Obviously, when Paul said he got the gospel by revelation of Christ, It is revelation of Christ from the scriptures. Even before his conversion, he was skilled in the law and the prophets. So while he reads the scriptures, his eyes were opened to the revelation of Christ. It is this revelation that he documented in his epistles so we can read. Therefore, that Paul said he got it by revelation means the revelation of the scriptures.
Ephesians 3
1  For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2  If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
3  How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, note
4  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
6  That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
7  Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power
Paul explains above that an administration(dispensation ) was given to him to know the secret of the message of Christ. It was a secret hidden for ages in the scriptures but has now been revealed to him from the scriptures  by the Spirit of Christ. In this revelation is he made  a minister. We have explained in part 4 that ministry is in preaching the message of Christ.Remember before Jesus  left, He told His disciples He has yet many things to tell them but they cannot bear it but the Spirit will reveal it to them.
John 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
The people couldn’t bear the clear  explanation of the message of Christ then because of death reigning in them. Hence, the Spirit of Christ will reveal all to them after the resurrection unto life. This is why it is madness to think Paul and the apostles knew more than Christ  when it was Christ that gave them the revelation from the scriptures by His spirit in them.
In summary, whether an angel,  Jesus, or any experience tries to preach another message apart from the message of Christ, we must treat such as a cursed thing. We must not have anything to do with such encounters or experiences. In fact, Paul warned the Galatians church  against this.
Galatians 1:
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
PLEASE READ  AGAIN THE ABOVE SCRIPTURE.  You will observe that there is the grace of our Lord Jesus and there is another gospel  which  is not even the gospel. The gospel (good news ) is the graciousness of God in Christ. Now, Paul tells us that if an angel, or even himself preaches another message outside this message of Christ hinged on the graciousness of God, let the person be accursed. To be accursed  (anathema) means to be treated as a cursed thing, to be excommunicated. You shouldn't have anything to do with such. You shouldn't say let’s us listen to them, after all everybody has his message. Therefore, we can say fully that we cannot take anything gotten from supernatural encounters or experiences to be true except it is in line with what Jesus has done and who we are in Christ. The Message is beyond experiences and supernatural encounters.  The message is centred on what Jesus has done and who we are because of what He has done. Watch out for the next part of the series, the message is in the Spirit, not in mediums.

BY OBIAZIKWOR EMEKE MODESTY
www.emekemodesty.com