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  • Teaching the Law to the Gentiles

    Pastor John, 

    After last night’s meeting, I was thinking about God revealing the purpose for Moses’ tabernacle to you.  Jerry and I were talking about if Paul would have taught the Gentiles about its heavenly shadows, or would he have stayed away from the law because the Gentiles didn’t need to be taught about the law.  This has my head spinning because if the Spirit leads you into all truth, then it would lead you into understanding the law and why it was there…right?

    Well, here is my thought (new to me) from my conversation with Jerry: 

    There was no Christianity then; it had not yet been formed.  Paul had to be removed from Judaism.  God revealed the truth to him to remove wrong ideas and thoughts he had taken in from his earlier religion.  You had to be removed from Christianity’s wrong thoughts and ideas, and so, God revealed the truth to you about the tabernacle and the law. 

    Do you feel like God taught you this to remove all those wrong ideas or to know God better?

    Paul did not have to remove Jewish traditions and understandings of the law from the Gentiles.  They didn’t have those wrong ideas and thoughts.  They didn’t follow or know the law.  So would they have needed to learn about the law to learn of Gods heart?  Would Paul have taught them the law to show them the heavenly shadows?  Jerry said they had so much more power from the Spirit than we do that they may not have needed to learn of the law.  I love seeing the heavenly shadows.  I love the story.  I love learning of my Father through all of this.  Yet I had to come out of Christianity and God has to remove wrong thoughts and ideas.  So, back to the question.  Do you think God showed you the purpose for the tabernacle and the law to remove wrong ideas,  or to teach you of God’s thoughts and heart?

    Beth

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

    Hi Beth.

    You two questions are one and the same, for whenever God shows us His heart, he removes from our heart the wrong ideas we all have stored up in there.

    Whether or not Gentile believers knew the law before they heard the gospel, Paul would certainly have taught them about the law (and Israel’s history and prophets), from the perspective of the law being fulfilled in Christ, of course.  And if those Gentiles really took in and understood Paul’s teaching, they were then inoculated from the poisonous doctrine of those who wanted them to add the law and its ceremonies to their faith.

    Good questions!  Thanks.

    Pastor John

     

  • Rest

    Hi Pastor John.

    Recently I applied for another job. When I was updating my resume I was having a hard time listing my skills. I am not really happy with where they are. This really bothered me for a few weeks. 

    When we recently read Job I had the best feelings. Here on earth it is about how much you know, how well you know it, how fast you can do this or how long you have done it. But with Jesus We do not have to know ANYTHING. No skills required. In fact Jesus just has to get rid of everything you think you know anyway. I was thinking about when our friends came to the meeting recently.  I wanted to tell them “just come in, get on your face, and let Jesus give you everything you need.”

    How absolutely wonderful and easy this life with Jesus is. I love the rest in Jesus. I love that there is no burden. His yoke really is easy.

    This world has always seemed so hard to me before Jesus. Everyday it was a struggle to get up and do the daily task required just to make it. I am so thankful for the rest Jesus gives because I would not make it here without it.

    Beth

  • God’s Plants by Pastor John

    Hi John, 

    I have a question about this verse from the BLOG (below): “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted” (Mt. 15:13).  Is this people with the holy ghost?  Or is it that God’s people are in such bad shape they don’t know who God has planted?

    Thanks

    Stuart

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

    Hi Stuart.

    When God baptizes someone with the holy ghost, He has planted them in His kingdom. That is why we warn every man that, even though God’s people do not know who God has and has not planted (because they do not know the holy ghost baptism is the new birth), God does know. As Paul said, “The Lord knows who are His.”  And when God cleans house, He will cast out every soul He has not really cleansed with His Spirit, no matter how religious that souls is and no matter what men think of him.

    May God grant us the grace to truly live in His Spirit, and not content ourselves with merely being praised by men who think that we are righteous.

    Pastor John

    God’s Plants

    “Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

    In old age, they shall still bring forth fruit; they shall be fat and flourishing, to show that the LORD is upright.

    He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

    Psalm 92:13–15

    The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek . . . to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified – Isaiah 61:1a, 3.

    Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted – Matthew15:13.

  • Gentiles and Learning the Law

    Hi Pastor John!

    I had a pretty amazing experience this morning. I feel like I need to add a disclaimer to the beginning of this email stating “content may include wrong thoughts.”

    I got up at 5:30 am this morning.  I couldn’t sleep so I put on a Netflix show called “Full of Grace”.  It is about Mary, Jesus’ mother.  About halfway through the movie, there is a scene where Peter and James (some other disciples were there but not named) were discussing Saul and Barnabas teaching Gentiles that they did not have to follow the law. James was concerned that by the Gentiles not following the law, they would not walk in the spirit every day, but would fall away to false teachings and sin. James said that the Gentiles did not even know the law.  I was amazed to even see this on TV.  There were some good parts to the conversation.

    Well I started thinking about what TV James said.  I thought about what learning about the law in the Old Testament taught me.  I feel like it helped have a better understanding of God’s heart.  I know the spirit is all we need, for the spirit will lead us into all truth, but I am so thankful to have learned about the law. The Gentiles would have been blessed to have learned about the law from the Jews if they could only have learned it just to learn more of God.

    It makes me so thankful to have the spirit and learn of the law and to understand what God used the law for. I also thought, “Well, maybe the Gentiles would have been hungry for the knowledge and would have sought every scripture or law just to know more of God.”  God had me, a Gentile, read the Bible.  That was one of the first things God put on my heart.

    Would the Gentiles have learned any of the law?  Would Jewish believers and Gentiles have spent a lot of time together or would they have been separated because of the law?  Would Paul have taught them the law to show them the heavenly shadows of Christ?

    These are unfinished thoughts, but I wanted to share them.  I feel like there is this big obvious point that I already know but can’t put it all together.

    Know what I mean?

    Beth

    ===========

    Hi Beth.

    I love it.   Please keep having those unfinished thoughts.  They are beautiful, and who knows? Jesus might just answer those questions and finish your thoughts for you.

    Pastor John

  • Knowledge of Good and Evil

    Good morning!

    I found myself singing this old song in my heart this morning, “Some day, some happy day, from sin set free.  I’ll be with Christ forever, some day, some day”.  I got to thinking about being in heaven and I remembered a scripture that stated something like “the former things would not be remembered or come to mind”.  And then a question came to mind.  When we get to the new earth, will knowledge of good and evil be taken away?  Or, will we be so much like Jesus that knowledge of such will simply become irrelevant?

    Billy H.

    ===========

    Hi Billy.

    Isaiah said, “The former things will not come to mind.”  And in Revelation, we are told that God will wipe away all tears, which means, I assume, that He will take away from us the memory of loved ones who refused to obey the gospel of Christ and were cast into the Lake of Fire.  Otherwise, how could we ever be happy?

    Other than that, we are told little about what we will be allowed to remember. It makes me want to cry now, while I can, for those who are not living in the will of God.

    Pastor John

  • Only What God Decides

    Quick question regarding today’s BLOG (below), “Only What God Decides”.  I thought that when Jesus descended, he went to offer his testimony to those in Paradise, not Hell (though they are close together). Does the Bible say he preached to those in Hell?

    MD

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

    Good question, Michael!  I realized that might be a problem to someone who carefully considered what I wrote.

    Before Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, hell was divided into two sections, Paradise and Torment.  People in Paradise were geographically close to the damned who were in Torment, but they, like Jesus, were not close to being damned by God.

    I hope that clears things up.

    Pastor John

    Only What God Decides

    “A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.”

    Psalm 91:7 

       Ordinarily, if 10,000 people fell dead at your right hand, you would say that death had come close to you.  But this man didn’t think so.  He had faith, and faith knows that if God decides that death will not touch you, then death is not close to you no matter how many people die nearby.

       Consider Jesus’ example.  After his crucifixion, Jesus descended into the hell, but that doesn’t mean that Jesus almost lost his soul.  Damnation was never close to Jesus, even when he was in the presence of millions of damned souls.  Likewise, death and damnation are far from those who love Jesus now, in this condemned, death-filled world.

       Only what God decides matters.

     

  • A Clear Conscience

    Bro John,

    What you said tonight about not having any condemnation is what Jesus has been telling me to be thankful for.  He would bring it to my attention, as if to say, “Don’t you love how that feels?” And I would just start thanking him.  I know that not everyone gets to have that opportunity, to even feel what that feels like.  To be clean before Jesus is worth everything.

    I’m very thankful tonight!

    Natalie

    ============ 

    Pastor John,

    That was a wonderful message from the Lord last night (9/7/2016) about being free from condemnation which brings fear of everything – except the right kind of fear, that is, the fear of God. You could feel the love of God in your message for us from God.  How he does want us to be free of this flesh and walk in his Spirit!

    The message was very sobering, and it definitely makes you self-check yourself and pray, “Is there anything I need to change or do . . . or not be changing or doing?
    It really comes down to the two commandments, and then the other one, that Jesus gave:
    1) Love God with all of your heart, mind, soul & strength.
    2) Love others as yourself.
    3) “Love each other as I have loved you”.

    There are good things that Jesus has given to every one of us and wants to give to us from the Father.  condemnation will hinder us from receiving those good things, and bury them if we don’t walk in the Spirit.

    I love love.  I didn’t get to experience much love growing up, but Jesus has put me here where I can experience it everyday, and I thank him and you very much for that.  Someone who cares for my soul. That is no small thing!

    Billy M.

  • What We Have to Overcome

    Pastor John,

    Among everything else today that was beyond description, the following, spoken by the Spirit through you, was a gem that “takes the cake”.  You said something like this:

    “Do you know what you still have to overcome?  You still have to overcome whatever it is that you aren’t yet thankful for!”

    That is perfect Pastor John. It is Truth!

    Thank you for today, Jesus! 

    I don’t have to worry about overcoming that… It overcame me!!   🙂

    Jerry

  • Random Thought

    Hi Pastor John,

    Knowing and loving the doctrine of God will save us.  I love the Random Thought for today.   The doctrine will keep us, protect us, love us rightly, and help us to grow and change.

    This world has a “come as you are” doctrine or “you are a unique individual” doctrine; no change is required by such doctrines, or necessary.  What is left out is repentance and living in the Spirit.  I loved the reading in Titus last night in the meeting, but knowing that Titus would eventually leave Paul, it was sad.  Nevertheless, Paul endured in “sound doctrine” even when all of those around him did not.  His eyes were on the prize.

    This race is a marathon and not a sprint.  And to follow what the spirit is saying now)will give us the endurance to run it, and be saved at the end.  The prize is an eternal life of joy and peace in a body that will know only joy and peace. 

    http://goingtojesus.com/gtj_thoughts.html?tname=rdt09-01

    Just makes you want to shout.

    Billy

  • Dream about Jesus Coming Back

    Hey John, 

    After the meeting last night a few people came to me saying they liked my testimony, and I asked them if they remembered me telling the dream a few times in the past, but no one did.  Anyway, I thought I would share it, because it was a great dream and I am very thankful for it!

    When I was around 11 or 12 years old I went to bed thirsty and for some reason I didn’t want to get up to quench my thirst.  When I fell asleep I dreamed getting up to get a glass of water.  While drinking the water I pulled back the curtains to look out the window and I saw the stars falling, and they would disappear before hitting the ground.  They stopped falling and began to spin in a circle to the right in the sky (When you mentioned the angels ascending and descending with Jesus I wondered if these were angels spinning in the circle instead of stars).  All of a sudden Jesus came like a super hero through the center of the stars that were spinning saying something loud, but I don’t recall what he said.  I immediately raised my arms speaking in tongues.  The next scene Jesus was calling out names of who was prepared to meet him.  He called out my father’s name and I asked if he would wait on dad.  He took a moment and nodded yes and that was the end of my dream. 

    A few years after my father passed away, I was writing this dream in a book of testimonies I have started and when I got to the part of the dream about my dad, Jesus reminded me of something I asked when dad almost died in 2010.  I was at the hospital the night before dad was about to die and I prayed to Jesus, “I am not ready for you to take my dad.”  Dad pulled through and he was with us almost another year.  I know it is a little out of context with Jesus coming back, but I know that part of the dream goes with what I prayed in the hospital. Jesus reminded me.

    Matthew 24:29-31:

    Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

    Mark 13:24-27:

    But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”

    Cathy B.

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