Good morning and a most blessed Thursday to you. 

I heard a really interesting story of a conversation between a pastor and a banker. The banker was explaining to his pastor that he had been trained as a high level bankers in Washington, DC for a week on counterfeit money. This pastor was very intrigued.

The pastor asked him how he was trained. He said, "Do you go into a room for a week in Washington, DC, and just look at various counterfeit monies? That must be so interesting. And you must have seen a broad range of fake dollars and counterfeit monies."

And his banker friend said, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't see any counterfeit money." And this perplexed the pastor. And he asked, "How did you get trained to recognize the counterfeit?"

And the banker said, "For a week in Washington, DC, I was in a row with real, fresh off the printing press money. And real currency has a specific color, has specific dyes, has a specific feel to it."  And for a week, hour after hour after hour, they handled absolutely real, fresh off the press American currency. And he said that after a week of handling the real thing, when he got back to his bank, the moment a counterfeit dollar would cross his path, he didn't even have to look at it. He knew it was fake. He knew it was counterfeit because he had known the real thing, and he had studied it and gotten to understand the real American currency. 

Now it matters of faith. This is an equal or an easily translated analogy, because in our world today, we have so many ideologies and philosophies and theologies that are thrown at us and that cross our paths, and even various versions of Jesus that are brought to our attention. And as Christian people, how do we make sure that we don't fall prey to a counterfeit Christ? As a Christian people, how do we keep from the false teachings?

Well, the answer is very simple. Just as the banker needed to know and be familiar with and, and handle the real currency, as a Christian people, we need to know and engage with the real Christ, the real Jesus, who died upon the cross to forgive your sins. We know him best by engaging with him in his Word, in Holy Scripture that was breathed out for us to know him and to know his promises. 

So what does Scripture tell us about the real Jesus, about who Jesus is in our lives and in the lives of all of creation? In Colossians, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote, "In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. And you, who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so that as so as to present you, holy and blameless and irreproachable before him," 

The real Christ....the real Jesus is fully man, fully God, walking on this earth, living the perfect life that we cannot live, so that in his death we may have forgiveness of our sins, and in his resurrection we too have the promise of the victory and the eternal resurrection to life eternal. This is Christ. And every time you engage with him in his Word, whether it is the Old Testament or the New Testament, we know the real Jesus. We know the real God... Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who has created us, redeemed us, and sustains us today and forevermore.

Open your Bible, open the Word of God, engage with the real Christ. And when you come to know him better and better, anytime a counterfeit Christ, anytime a false teaching comes your way, you will know without even having to dig deep, because you know Jesus so well that you will fall for no false teaching and no counterfeit Christ. God is so gracious to give us his Word. He is so gracious to open our hearts to understand his Word, and he is so gracious to never ever leave our sides. He has promised to send his Spirit, indeed we were sealed in his Holy Spirit in our baptisms, and he has promised that the Spirit would lead us in all things true.

Know that his Word is true, know that his Word is for you, and know that there is always his promise of light and forgiveness and love in his Word for you. 

Heavenly Lord, thank you so much for giving us the hearts and the minds to know you, the true you, the true God who, who has come to save us, who has been victorious over our sins and who has promised us eternal life in your presence, Lord, guide us as we engage with you in your Word, to know you better and better each time we read your Word. Help us to continue to grow in the faith that you have given us and guide us so that we would always speak truth, that we would always speak and share the true Christ who came to redeem our sins. Lord, we thank you that we are promised that you will lead us in all things that are true. And we know that in knowing you and knowing who you are in our lives and for our lives, that we will not fall for a counterfeit Christ or a false teaching.

Keep us always steadfast in your Word and keep us always standing firm upon the truth and the authority of your Word. For us. Today and always, Lord, we lift this in your name. Amen. Have an amazing rest of your week, and I very much look forward to worshiping our Lord and Savior, the true Christ, this Sunday.

God bless.

Pastor Malinak