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  • Question regarding: John 3:5

    Hey Pastor John,

    I have a quick question about water baptism.  My Dad made sure to make mention to me today that if I do not believe in water baptism anymore, why did Jesus say it in John 3:5? He also made mention that the extra gifts are not required, which really made me question him because the Bible says we must be Born Again to enter into Heaven.

    I told him because they were all under the old law, water baptism was still in effect. I tried to explain how Jesus was the testator of the New Testament and how it wasn’t in effect yet.   My Dad had a hard time with that also.  Is my answer to him correct?  I try to be studied up for these questions, but want to make sure I’m on the right track since I’m still new to the Truth since I’ve been lied to in church religion my whole life.

    Name Withheld

    ============

    Hi ——,

    In John 3:5, Jesus was not speaking of water baptism.  Here is what he said that night to Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  But that is not all that Jesus said.  In the next verse, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  That is an explanation of what Jesus said in verse 5.  To be “born of water” is to be born “of the flesh”; when a pregnant woman’s water breaks, her baby is about to be born.  The Bible never says anything about a person being born by being baptized in water.

    Everybody on earth, saint or sinner, has been born of water; that is how we all got here.  And that is why Jesus then said to Nicodemus (verse 7), “You must be born again.”  That “you” in that verse is plural in Greek; Jesus was referring to all people, not just Nicodemus.  Then, in verse 8, he describes to Nicodemus what the born-again experience will be like: “The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it’s coming from or where it’s going.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  That is exactly what happened to Jesus’ followers on the day of Pentecost.  

    If people (all of whom have been born naturally) must be born by being baptized with water and then born by being baptized with the Spirit, Jesus would have told Nicodemus, “You must be born two more times”, not just “again”.  Jesus knew that Nicodemus (and everyone else on earth) had the first birth; he was telling him that they all need the second one.

    John’s baptism in water was still in effect at the time Nicodemus went to Jesus, as you said, but that fact has nothing to do with what Jesus said to Nicodemus that evening about the new birth.

    Keep praying for your Dad.  I am glad you had a conversation with him, and I hope that continues.

    Your servant in Christ,

    Pastor John

    Tell us what you think:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1896736036853796900

     

  • A Caveman Could Do It

    Hey Pastor John,

    I was listening to yesterday’s fireside chat. You had mentioned that you really liked a Geico commercial that had a caveman in it.  All I have to say:

    ITS SO EASY A CAVEMAN CAN DO IT!!! 

    That goes for any and everything. It’s easy as long as we follow His voice when He speaks to us. It’s a beautiful simple life we live. Wouldn’t want it any other way. Jesus speaks the truth to us, we just got to listen and follow by feelings. GLORY TO GOD, if God can make a murderer an anointed man of God. Just think about what He can do with us. 

    Alex S.

    Comments welcome:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1896733906667552992

     

  • Galatians 1

    Hey,

    I wanted to share some good things that I was feeling this morning. I was reading in Galatians, where Paul was saying that he didn’t get his gospel from man, he wasn’t taught it by man, and that he got it from a revelation from Jesus (1:11-12).  It made me think of how we need to be so sure of our own beliefs and our own testimony as Paul was, in that he knew it was from Jesus because it was a revelation.  Our testimonies of what Jesus has done is what is going to ground us in what we know.  It’s not something that was taught in a theology class by a man who was taught it by another man, who told him it was right without a revelation to back it up.  If you are teaching/believing the true gospel and serving the true Jesus, you’re going to have a testimony or a revelation to go with it.  And if someone doesn’t have a personal testimony to go with what they teach/what they believe, what does that amount to?

    Jesus works through revelations and testimonies, not through theology classes or man’s word.  I was thinking about all the people sitting and listening to men try and teach this [Sunday] morning without even a testimony to back up what they are saying, who are making the people listening think they don’t need or can’t even get a revelation or testimony of their own.

    Anyways, that’s what I was feeling this morning and wanted to share, even though it’s something we’ve heard a lot of times, but one more won’t hurt. 🙂 

    Samantha 

    Comments welcome:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1896732224319537381

     

  • The Submissive Wife

    Hey Pastor John,

    I have a question related to this part of the Colossians reading this morning: “Wives, be submissive to your own husbands, as is appropriate in the Lord” (Col. 3:18).

    Can you expand on that a little?  When Paul says, “as is appropriate in the Lord,” he is talking in a spiritual sense, correct?  Or could this be physical as well?

    ==========

    The spiritual sense of every exhortation includes the physical.  The whole being, the whole life is involved when spiritual guidance is given.

    ==========

    Does “appropriate” mean to the extent it does not take you outside of the will of God?

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    Always.

    ==========

    I am curious about that part.  I know that is not saying be submissive as the world views it.  Over the years, I had gained such a yuck for the word submissive, due to its misuse.  I know better now as I have grown with Jesus.  But I want to understand this a little better and my role as a newish wife. 

    ==========

    Being submissive as a wife, especially to a godly husband, is a happy life.  The husband has the more challenging role from God because it requires more humility and wisdom for him to love his wife as Christ loves the saints (Eph. 5:25) than for the wife to be submissive.

    ==========

    Also, is being a virtuous woman, the same thing as being a submissive wife?

    ==========

    Not exactly.  Virtue includes doing all the will of God, not just the submissive part.  One description of a virtuous woman is found in Proverbs 31:10–31.

    ==========

    Have enjoyed thinking on things like this lately! 

    Thank you,

    Margo 

    ==========

    You are very welcome.  I am glad to know that you are thinking on these things.

    Your servant.

    Pastor John

    Tell us what you think:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1896730996080611729

     

  • Jesus is an Optimist

    Pastor John,

    I want to tell a testimony about last night’s meeting.  The recent talks about believing have really hooked my heart.   That’s what it feels like, a big hook.  I found myself talking to Jesus and saying, “How do I just believe Lord?  I want to, but how do I just believe?” 

    I ended up telling Jesus that I can’t just make myself believe, and asking him to put that belief in me.  I felt like that story in Mark 9:24: “And immediately, the father of the child cried out with tears, “Sir, I believe! Help my unbelief!”

    I was having that conversation with Jesus as late as yesterday morning.  Then, after a phone call with one of my children, I found myself telling them that they need to see things differently, more positively. 

    I found myself thinking that I, myself, tend to look at things negatively.  So, I was talking to Jesus about making me an optimist instead of such a pessimist.  Those were my exact words.  So, I was shocked to hear those words used last night.  And this morning, I had to smile because the thought flooded my heart that Jesus is the ultimate optimist. 

    Jesus sees what we can be, even when we are wallowing in the gutter.  There is no bigger optimist than Jesus!  So, if we are gonna be like Jesus, we are supposed to be optimists! 

    I wanna be like Jesus.

    Beth D.

    Tell us what you think:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1896728208822923564

     

  • Reading in Colossians 2

    Hey Pastor John,

    I loved what we read yesterday morning in Colossians 2!

    1. And you, being dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made alive with him, forgiving us of all transgressions,
    2. after he had blotted out that which was against us, the handwriting of ordinances that was contrary to us, removing it from between us when he nailed it to the cross,
    3. by which, stripping the rulers and authorities, he exposed them publicly, leading them along in a Triumph.

    After you read this, I thought, “Wow!  I’ve been looking at that all wrong!”   I know that you’ve explained this to us before, but it did not go in like it did this morning!  I had the thought, there is nothing about Jesus that is downtrodden!  There is a wonderful purpose for everything!  So, so good!!

    Michelle 

    Comments welcome:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1895124731952841071

  • Question regarding: Isaiah 49:16

    Hey! 

    I was reading in Isaiah this morning, and I had a question on something that I came across. In Isaiah 49:16, our version says “Behold I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands. (Going to Jesus.com – Bible Translations)   Your walls are always before me.” Specifically the beginning, is that one of the Old Testament references to the crucifixion, that because of Jesus’ sacrifice we have been engraved on His hands?

    Thank you! 

    Samantha

    =========

    Yes, Samantha.  And I am glad you picked up on that.  It seems sweet to me that the Lord would say that.

    Pastor John

    Tell us what you think:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1895122726370570518

  • Was It God or Satan?

    Hi, John.

    Listening to the morning coffee after I left, Sue said something that I have a question about. Sue told Martha and Vivie that the God that saved Donald Trump’s life was the only God that could. 

    I know Donald Trump said it was God who saved his life, but could it have been Satan (or one of his demons) that saved Trump’s life?  Did God grant Satan the power to kill and save humans?

    ~Allison

    ========

    Hi Allison.

    I the opening chapter of Revelation (v.18), Jesus said to John that he (not Satan) held the keys of death and of Hades.  And in Acts 3:15, Peter called Jesus “the Prince of life”.  So, we know that Jesus has the power of both life and death, though Satan once did have the power of death, according to the author of Hebrews 2:14.

    Regardless of who God used to do it, God is the One who decided that President Trump would not fall victim to an assassin.  So, Sue told little Martha and Vivie the right thing.  To God belongs all the responsibility for the president’s survival.  As God said through Moses in Deuteronomy, “I kill, and I restore to life” (32:39).

    Hope that answers your question.

    Pastor John

    Tell us what you think: 

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1895119627979559345

     

  • Christianity after reading about Vigilantius this morning

    Pastor John,

    I have been reading your book on Montanus, and while we were reading this morning concerning Vigilantius, I felt something go in deep, and instead of a thought it became knowledge.

    In my words, I express it this way: “Christianity is just a rebranded Pagan Religion.”

    This knowledge immediately erases what seems like a thousand wrong ideas, and there is a liberty that comes with this understanding that I have no idea how to express.

    🙂
    Wendell

    Comments welcome:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1895117678748033172

  • Jesus prophesying?

    Hey Pastor John,

    After the meeting Saturday night, Aaron and I were talking about the scriptures we read, where Jesus was speaking of another baptism, his, that never will incorporate water.  As we were talking, I asked him if we could look at what Jesus said as being him prophesying of his baptism before anyone ever knew it?  I was wondering what your thoughts were on this, to help feed my hunger. 

    Alex S.

    =========

    Hi Alex.

    Yes, Jesus was certainly speaking of his baptism, which (1) no one knew about, and (2) was not available, and (3) does not include water, and never will.  Much of what Jesus said should be considered prophecy, for he was speaking of life in the Spirit, which was not available for anyone except Jesus until the day of Pentecost.

    Hope that helps.

    Pastor John

    Baptism in the NT – PDF

    Tell us what you think:

    https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1894802535971438686

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