OUCH! You're standing on my foot!

1 Corinthians 14: 29-33

 ²⁹ Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. ³⁰ And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. ³¹ For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. ³² The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. ³³ For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

Have you ever been in a service, and the preacher preached on a subject, and everything he said seemed like it was aimed right at you? Some people call it “getting their toes stepped on”.

I think sometimes the pastors should have STOMPED on them, maybe the lesson would have stuck. I’ve seen people say they got “stepped on” and then go on and do the same things over and over. It’s because they haven’t been “instructed.”

We think it is wise to send our children to school and teach them so that they can succeed in life. We even go back to school as adults sometimes. It may be to get a GED, or to further our college education.

Yet we do not seem to see the reason to “instruct” ourselves when it comes to the bible. We “read the bible through in a year.” So what. I can read a Physicians Desk Reference in a year. I still won’t understand most of what I read, or how I can use it to help myself. I suspect most of the anatomical language would be above my head. And what I did understand, I probably could not diagnose or treat most illnesses or injuries. Why? Because I haven’t gone through medical school and completed any residency programs.

Same thing for the bible. But just like a medical student, when I study the book, then sit in class, the instructor will talk about things, explain how I can use them in my medical practice, and I’m sure light bulbs will go off about how to apply what I have studied to bettering myself and helping others.

But if I read the manual. Then listened to the instructor read the manual, then maybe make some comments and then dismiss class, would I understand anything? Could I perform a successful surgery? Diagnose an illness correctly? No. Poor sap would be dead before they could climb off the table.

No wonder our Christian lives are dead too. We don’t have a clue how to use what instruction God has given us because no one has taken the time to teach us.

Preachers, teachers, evangelists, prophets. Educate. Then when you prophesy, people will understand that it is the word of God, and fits the guidelines given in the bible. Then they can accept your word as prophecy and a word from God.

Then when people listen to Gods word, and study His word, surely they will start to obey His word. Then they will become “distinct” in their lives, and the world can see how “Like Christ” Christians really are.