Can you believe greater things than what you were taught?

Man (i.e. your pastor/teacher/priest) is limited in understanding, limited in knowledge, limited in ability to express things to you in a way that you will understand.

God is unlimited in understanding, unlimited in knowledge, unlimited in ability to express things to you in a way that you will understand.

God promises that the Holy Ghost "will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance..." (John 14:26) and that you "need not that any man teach you" but that the Holy Ghost himself is willing to teach you (1 John 2:27).

Question is... "Are you willing to seek God privately, alone in your prayer closet, and trust what He teaches you?... or will you ONLY trust the limited abilities of Man (i.e. your pastor/teacher/priest) who teaches from the pulpit?

Food for thought for those who follow Jesus.

Matthew 10:27 KJV
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

In john 14 .26 is that talking about the disciples? I'm not saying I disagree with what your saying. Just curious about that verse ?

You have basically created a strawman argument. Christians are to be taught personally by the Holy Spirit, and are also to be taught within the local assembly by gifted evangelists, pastors, and teachers (as found among the elders), who have also been taught by the Holy Spirit.

EPHESIANS 4: THE NECESSITY OF EVANGELISTS, PASTORS, AND TEACHERS
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
[Note: the apostles and prophets are found within the Bible itself].

So if your are opposed to this, you are actually opposed to God.

Your question is reasonable to ask.

To ask it another way:
"Does the John 14:26 only apply to people who physically heard Jesus speak...in Jerusalem..in the 33-ish years prior to his death (+ 40 days after his resurrection)...or does this benefit also apply to anyone with the Holy Ghost?"

My answer is this: Since the Holy Ghost is the same today, and there is no reason to expect he would forget anything, Yes, he will speak those same words of Jesus to any disciple who has the Holy Ghost.

However, I also believe that "Ye have not because ye ask not" still applies along with the other stipulations about getting answers to prayer. "Such as "According to your faith, be it unto you" So it is important to grow in faith by reading the word, and find out what promises are available.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

Hi Nehemiah,
Good to see you posting.

Notice I didn't ask "Will you trust God OR your pastor/teacher/priest?" which would go against God's appointment of those offices. I'm not suggesting that.

Instead what I asked was"Will you ONLY trust your pastor/teacher/priest?" which would elevate a pastor/teacher/priest to a status he is not intended to hold in the hearts of God's people. God himself desires to be our primary source of understanding. That happens in our prayer closets and as we spend time in the word. Listening to a pastor/teacher/priest is no substitution for speaking to, and hearing from, God.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

I think if we were to just use the inductive method we can only say that the diciples will recieve something specific from the Holy Spirit . I think were going into speculation about what the verse does not say . It makes sense within the context that those hearers will have things brought to mind later . Especially as things unfold they don't have the completed scriptures until much later.

I think all the Holy Spirit points us to and all good teachers should point us to is Scripture. I'm not saying I think you disagree with that ,Just that would be a better way of putting it ?

Test everything by the whole contextual Word of God, and how the Holy Spirit reveals it to all of God's children. If someone else's interpretation of God's Word does not make you feel at ease with what you are reading in the Scriptures, seek further truth from God's Holy Spirit, and seek to become at ease with a broader section of God's Word, referring to the same topic. Do not be afraid to seek help from your fellow man, if they can help, with the uncertainties you are still struggling with, which had not been revealed to you fully by God's Holy Spirit.

Gifts of the Spirit are just that gifts given by the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter promised by Jesus. Holy Spirit gives the gifts of Pastor, Teacher, Evangelist and others, then these persons become vessels through which the Holy Spirit imparts understanding to those who seek it, right? I would think so.

I think a better question would have been "will you trust in the ideologies of various Denominations, or in the Word of God?"

the truly ironic thing here, is that no matter what spiritual gifts a person may have, they are just as fallible as the person who thinks the Holy Spirit will speak only to those individuals

Paul makes it clear this is not the case at all

What then is it, brothers? When you may come together, each has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. I Corinthians 14:26

PARTICIPATION rather than sitting mutely on a hard bench waiting for 12 pm

all things should be done in order as well though so take into account all of what Paul states

further, the Bible itself speaks for itself...God's word to us...so how many actually study it so that they can discern what the will of God is?

primarily to conform us to His Son, but the evidence of that seems to be getting a little thin

there is truth to what you say, but the Bereans are commended for doing their own research and proving whether or not what they heard was actually so

as this world moves further and further in the direction of deception, is imperative that each secures their knowledge of the truth and not depend on someone else who may or may not be a false teacher, as false teachers and prophets abound these days

Yes indeed, as you say, for us to receive the gift of faith, by God's grace of salvation, to conform us to his Son, who walked in perfect obedience in accordance with his Father, God's will / law / 'rules' / commandments of love, and died as a sacrificial offering for those who cannot, but receives his gift of faith.

I agree that all people should study Scriptures, but they should not discount those servants anointed by God to preach/teach His Truth.

I believe that if one trusts in the Holy Spirit, He will show them when a false teacher confronts them. The Spirit has a way of making one feel uncomfortable when they hear/read something that is not Truth. That feeling that says "Hey, heads up, this does not sound right..." I know I have had this feeling more than once, and when I turn to Scripture, I find that the Spirit was correct in warning me.

What was being said, or what I read was NOT in agreement with Scripture.

I might sound overly optimistic, but every person has the truth in their spirit.

John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

People might deceive themselves, or misinterpret things, or be confused by what they see, but the basis precepts of truth are unscathed in every man and cannot be robbed. It's because of this that no one will have an excuse. Knowledge such as: God is just, God is good, God is vast, God created everything, God is eternal, wages of sin is death. Everyone knows this. My mother, who is an atheist, would often say "there is Something out there", "there is some justice in the world" (as in, the law of reaping and sowing).

Even atheists recognize these truths - that God cannot be anything but - they just reject believing in Him. This is why you will hear them argue, isn't God supposed to be good, God wouldn't do such and such (list something random in the Old Testament that they perceive as evil). So they know the truth, but their perceptions of events that they attach to their observations are wrong because they choose to believe what enemy feeds them.

But it is relieving to observe that everyone actually has an opportunity, and was given the truth written on their hearts. God is in control.

There is a time in our spiritual life where we become a new creation where we
become one in christ as is illustrated in 2 orinthisns : 5. When we cast off
our old life in the flesh and surrender our life completely to God at which point
we are living in the Spirit. Wecant go back because there is nothing to go back
for. Written words can not advance our spiritual life any further because we are
in the heart of God and he is in our heart.

Illumination by the Holy Spirit is supernatural thing and I agree that it is our goal. And yet we have an abundance of scriptures that reveal that it is God's method to anoint a man or woman with the Holy Ghost to preach the word and that there will be a supernatural communication from faith to faith as a result. This is also our goal. To be that man or woman whom God can use to preach and teach.

I think unless we have a personal relationship with God, having learned in the slow gradual process to release our own council and quietly listen for God's leading, that we can be made confused by teachers who may not be led in that way themselves.
God knows there are bad pastors out there. The ones easy to discern are on television.

Meanwhile, I think it is a concomitant undertaking if we find a pastor who's teachings resonate as truth within our heart. Because I think the holy spirit will forewarn us to be wary of the band ones and to flee asap the really bad ones.

Can a Christian walk their path without a pastor? Sure, why not? The greatest evangelist that ever lived was Jesus Christ.

It seems to me that there has been so many men (man and women) who have added their theories to scripture interpretation that we are asked to untangle all of it from scripture. Each church denomination uses interpretation, they call it, of scripture and many differ drastically so some of them has to be wrong. If they were all right they would agree.

If we all say the Holy Spirit teaches us, yet one teaching disagrees with another teaching, then we can know something is amiss. The only way to straighten all this out is to check when the disagreement first started, and what prompted the disagreement. That would mean that it is right to add history to our study of the word, and to check that history for accuracy. We know history has to be somewhat flawed, for it would need to report two sides to every issue honestly.

As I began a study of the old testament late in life I used a man who said OT was scripture from the Lord just as the new testament is scripture from the Lord. He said the Lord never changes His ways. Yet when James pointed out that the Lord did not expect gentiles to honor Jewish customs, there was a major change made. It makes hearing the Lord's voice in truth very difficult, there has to be errors made or we would agree. What is scripture and what is Jewish custom?

If we put the four gospels at the head of our beliefs and do not sway from it with any doctrine, we can't go wrong. We all feel the Lord wants us to live with Him forever and we can't do that without Christ.

But the gospels teach that to have eternal life we must be perfect, so following Christ to repent of our sins and try to be perfect seems at the heart of the gospels and that perfection is impossible for us. That Christ wiped out the rules is what the church tells us Paul said. Paul tells us we must take on the spirit of Christ, not just follow rules.

The gospels, again, give us the answer . "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26.

We can attain eternal life only through Christ, it is the perfection of Christ that we accept in ourselves that gives us this life. That is the heart of scripture, all else is extra blessings.

When we have thoughts about scripture they often come from the Holy Spirit, but there are times they come from somewhere else. Historically, our church councils and popes ascribed their thoughts to the Holy Spirit when that is not where they came from. We can know that if they added or took away from scripture. The Holy Spirit is the lord and it never speaks anything contrary to scripture that comes from the Lord. We must check our thoughts with scripture.