While I have looked for reliable teaching materials for many years, so far the most helpful teacher I have found is David Pawson. He seems to be less influenced by theological tradition than others I’ve come across. The most important thing I’ve learned from him is to take the Berean approach of searching the scriptures for myself to test all teaching and revelation against scripture.
Along with that I have learned NOT to rely on “texts” from the bible – but to rely on the overall revelation of God given through the bible. Scripture was not given in chapters and verses, and yet today we tend to concentrate on those small divisions to highlight little bits of scripture as if they individually contain all we need to know about a particular issue.
My own understanding of God and His ways was severely lacking until I gained an overview of the whole bible and saw how it all fits together. (Of course my understanding of God STILL has a long way to go – but it has improved significantly since I turned to [the whole of] scripture for myself instead of always relying on others to tell me what should be believed).
One reason I respect Mr Pawson’s teaching is that I resisted so much of it at first – but after taking the time to assess his teaching against scripture I found most of the time he had been right and I had been wrong. Later, when I started to address scripture for myself, I found his teaching was starting to becoming a confirmation of what I was already learning from scripture instead of it being something new I was hearing from him.
I find this is the best way to learn:
1) Search the scriptures for yourself
2) Trust the Holy Spirit to give understanding of scripture.
3) Expect to receive confirmation/correction from other believers of the things you have learned though steps 1 and 2.
It’s easy to make mistakes, it is easy to get things wrong – but step 3, fellowship with Spirit-led believers you can trust and through the help of reliable teachers those mistakes can be minismised and kept in check.
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See the link to David Pawson in the side bar. It gives access to a huge library of his teaching covering 40 years of more of his ministry. Keep in mind his teaching has matured over that time .
Onesimus Files 