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  • TFT – Lovest Thou Me?

    Hey Pastor John!
    I found this today when editing the Thought for Today book. You wrote this back in 2005. It is something how I understand it so much better now. This is one of my favorite stories after you read it a few Sunday’s ago in the meeting. I have listened to the cd on “Sifted” several times. Here is the TFT you wrote back in 2005.

    Thought for Today
    12-16
    “Lovest Thou Me?”

    One major flaw in the English language is that it has but one word for “love”, when in fact there are many different kinds of love: the holy love of God, the love of friends or brothers, romantic love, and perhaps others.

    The Greek language did a far better job at providing the speaker with alternatives when it came to referring to “love”. The Greeks had completely different words for completely different kinds of love. The word for God’s holy love, agape, does not even closely resemble the word for romantic love, eros, etc. When translating from the Greek into English, these different words for love are usually translated simply as “love”, and the reader is left to his own devises to determine what kind of love is being talked about. Most of the time, the kind of love intended is easy to determine. Other times, such as in John 21:15-17, knowing that there are different kinds of love being referred to by Jesus is critical to understanding what touched Peter’s heart and made him so heavy with grief.

    In John 21:15, the resurrected Lord asked Peter, “Do you love me”, using the word agape. This means that Jesus was asking Peter if he loved him with the pure, unshakable love of God. Now, Peter was not the same man that he was the night before Jesus had died. That night, Peter had boasted before the other disciples of his absolute devotion to Jesus, saying that he would even die for the Master. Not long after that, intimidated by fear of capture and torture, Peter found himself cursing and swearing that he had never even known Jesus. This humiliating event had crushed Peter’s boastful spirit. That same night, when Peter realized what he had done, he rushed out of the high priests’ courtyard, we are told, and “wept bitterly.” He was not now so self-assured.

    Therefore, in response to Jesus’ inquiry, Peter could only say, “Lord, you know I love you as a friend.” What the English cannot tell you is that Peter changed the word Jesus used for “love” to the kind of love a brother or a friend holds for another. Peter could no longer boast of his deep devotion to Christ; he had learned that what he thought he was and what he really was might be two different things. Still, he could not deny that he loved Jesus; he knew that in his heart there lived a love for Jesus of some kind. It might not be the kind of love that never fails, the love of God, but he knew he loved the Lord. So, he avoided Jesus’ question by replying with a different word for “love”.

    Shortly afterward, Jesus repeated his question: “Simon Peter, do you love me [with the love of God]?” Again, Peter avoided the issue and replied, “Lord, you know I love you [as a friend].”

    Finally, Jesus turned to Peter and asked, “Peter, do you love me?”, but this time Jesus changed the word he used for “love” to that which Peter had been using. This time, Jesus was asking Peter, “Do you really love me as a friend?”

    We are told that when Jesus questioned Peter’s claim that he loved him as a friend, “Peter was grieved when Jesus said to him the third time, ‘Lovest thou me?’ ”

    The reason Peter was so grieved at the question was not that Jesus had asked it three times. Jesus had not asked the same question three times, even though the English makes it seem so. In the original language, at this third time, Jesus had asked Peter an entirely new question! He had asked Peter if he was telling the truth when he claimed to love Jesus as a friend!

    After the episode of denying that he knew the Lord, Peter now possessed the humility necessary to admit that he was not wise enough or good enough to even love the Lord as a friend – if that had been the case. He was now a broken, not a boastful man. He was no longer confident in himself. At the same time, Peter felt in the deepest recesses of his heart that he loved Jesus–at the very least as a friend–and he could not deny it.

    He humbled himself before Jesus and said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you as a friend.” In other words, Peter was saying, “Lord, I know that you can prove me wrong if I am deceived again about myself and my devotion to you, but with all my heart I believe that I love you as a friend. Have mercy on me.”

    Peter was right. He did love Jesus, and I believe that he and the other disciples loved Jesus with all the love that humans can have for God. But they would need a far greater love for Jesus than that if they were to be able to stand for the gospel that would be entrusted to them. Paul would later say, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given to us” (Rom. 5:5). From that, we can see that until the holy Ghost came on the day of Pentecost, none of Jesus’ disciples loved him with the love of God. They couldn’t have loved him so, for the love of God had not yet been shed into their hearts. That is why on the night of the Lord’s arrest, “They all forsook him and fled.” They loved Jesus as a friend, but they could not yet love him with the love of God. After the Spirit came, those same disciples did have the love of God for Jesus in their hearts, and they proved that love many times over by suffering as they did for his name.

    In a sermon at Grandma’s farm in 1981, I pointed out to the saints there that at the Last Supper, when Jesus announced to his disciples that one of them would betray him, we are told that in response to this revelation from Jesus, they all began to ask, “Is it I?” The reason all of his disciples asked, “Is it I?”, is that they all had entertained the idea at one time or another. They all had considered betraying Jesus. At various times and places, Jesus had rebuked them all, either individually or as group. At various times and places Jesus had taught doctrines that shook them to the foundation of their souls. Many times, Jesus had put his disciples’ love for him through fiery tests, and it had almost been overwhelmed more than once. When he told them that one of them would betray him, they all felt shame. They all knew what they, at different times, had felt.

    If the disciples who walked with the Lord while he was on earth could not love Jesus with the love of God before they received the holy Ghost, then neither can any one else. You may love Jesus as a friend, and that is a good thing for anyone to do, including Peter, but that will not suffice. No man is able to endure the persecutions that obeying Jesus always brings without having in his heart the kind of love that only the holy Ghost baptism puts in it.

    You need the baptism of the holy Ghost because you need the love of God. You will fail if you love Jesus as a friend, or as a brother, just as Peter did when the fiery trial came. But you cannot possibly love Jesus any other way without the holy Ghost baptism that sheds God’s holy love into your heart. What devotion to Jesus that men claim without the holy Ghost baptism is only as dependable as was Peter’s claim of devotion on the night Jesus was arrested. He learned the hard way what we can learn from his example, if we are wise. Having the love of God for the Savior is not ours to claim; it is God’s to give. Ask Him today to help you love Jesus as only He can make you love him.

  • Bob – Daily “Pearls of Wisdom” – July 20, 2012

    How timely [this Pearl is]. For the first time in quite some time I thought I would just watch what was on TV for a few minutes. I went from channel to channel, we get just local channels and have no satellite or cable. What I saw was as filthy and inappropriate as one can imagine. One channel was vampires and gross killings, and on another channel were gay characters mocking prayer and making jokes about Jesus crucified on the cross accompanied by lots of canned laughter as if what they were saying was really funny. It felt so bad. I have never before seen such total control by such filthy spirits of what is presented as entertainment to the families of this country.during prime time in the form of television programming. God help this generation.

    Bob

    Jeremiah 9:23-24
    =============

    If we watch that kind of stuff, Bob, it will dull our senses, and in time, it will make God’s voice less recognizable to our hearts.

    jdc

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

    Daily Pearl July 20_ 2012

  • Tonight

    Pastor John,

    Tonight was such a good meeting. It felt like we were all sitting around the table as a family, sharing such wholesome thoughts and advice on how to live. To me, all that was said tonight seemed to be pointing towards how to live how Jesus really wants us to live- happy, healthy, and holy. All that other stuff- quirks, lying, not putting others first, etc. just prevent that. I loved when you said that God wants us to be as happy as we possibly can be. He wants us to be happier than we even want to be!

    Before we moved and we would watch the meetings on Justin.tv, I would take notes on my phone when something especially good was said. I haven’t been doing that now since we are actually in the meetings. I’ve missed writing those notes, though, because they are good to refer back to. Well, tonight when we got home, I started recalling some of the things that were said tonight, so I quickly typed them out:

    “I dont think any of us have truly been as happy as we possibly can be. But I believe we can be as happy as we possibly can be.” -jdc
    And God truly wants us to be at that level of happiness. He wants us to have happiness now and throughout eternity.

    – Are you happy, humble, and holy, and teachable only when something bad happens or only when you’re sick? Rarely can people be that way when they’re on the mountaintop. That’s not God’s first plan for you to be sick, but He’ll do it if that’s what it’s going to take.

    – He’s bigger than all your hang- ups, but don’t be the type of person that has those quirks that make it difficult for people to be around you – like you only will eat a certain type of food or you hate the sound of people chomping their food so much that it causes you tormoil inside. If it’s not eternal, it shouldn’t have control of your feelings like that.

    – Esteem others to be better than yourself. Dont make others have to go way out of their way to accommodate your quirks. Be easy to be around, and likable.

    – Lying is not just in word, but in action. If you cause someone to believe a lie because of your actions, you’re being a liar, a deceiver.
    – God is bigger than all our problems “…can or cannot see…” That includes microbes 🙂
    – We learn to obey by obeying His voice. That’s the goal – to learn to hear, to listen to, and to follow His still, small voice so that we can be led to happiness. What good would it do to hear His voice (or be too busy to hear it at all) and choose to not yield to it and choose to instead go in the other direction?

    I’m sure there was much more said, but those are some of the points that stood out to me.

    Thank you for the meal tonight. Goodnight.

    Anna

  • tonight

    Hey,
    Tonight when you were standing and praising God and praying you said, “…Hold our hands….”
    That felt so sweet, and last night I was reading in Psalms and came across some verses that I had underlined years ago.

    Ps. 73:23-24 Nevertheless, I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

    I remember praying for Jesus to hold my hand before and feeling his tenderness come down on me. Those verses felt so sweet to me today and when you said that tonight, it was even sweeter 🙂Cris

  • Wed. night

    I can only echo what Stuart is saying. It is only God that put us here. God put the thoughts and feelings in our hearts that would eventually lead us to a place where He knows that it will make us the happiest and bring the most honor to his Son from us. We all were searching for God — more than just receiving the holy Spirit. Look around and see what songs, testimonies, preaching, and teaching that God has allowed us to have because of the love of Truth and his Son. It is an honor and a privilege to have what God has given us.

    billy m.

  • Body and Nature

    John,

    After reading the new section and scanning several times through chapter 2, I have a question concerning what you wrote about Satan’s nature being different from his external body after he sinned. Today, man’s body/nature is sinful, but what was the nature of Adam’s body before he sinned? Not sinful? Was the nature of Adam’s body changed when he sinned (to be sinful)? Or have human bodies always had the nature of sin in them, including Adam’s body before he ate the fruit (just ignorant of sin before that)? Just wondering after reading the new section.

    Thanks!
    Lyn
    ===============

    Hi Lyn.

    Good question. It appears that you are confused about the body and the nature being one and the same. They are not. They are closely connected, but they are not the same thing. The natural, human body is not sinful, even now; it is just carnal, material substance, something made of flesh. It is neither good nor evil. It is man’s nature that is evil, and that nature is in man’s “heart” – not his physical heart, but deep down in his soul. How do I say it? It is impossible to describe apart from the body, but it is not the body!

    Adam’s physical body remained the same after he sinned, just as Satan’s beautiful heavenly body was unchanged. But the nature within man and Satan’s body “fell”, and became perverse. So, both man and Satan continued to look normal after they sinned, continued to look the way they looked before they sinned even though they were very much changed.

    Hope that helps a little.

    jdc

  • Taking Jesus with me

    Pastor John,

    Hi Pastor John. I hope everyone is well. I enjoyed the videos on livestream very much. I have another question for you. I am recently went back to work at an automotive factory. I work 7 days a wk, 12 hr shifts. There is so many filthy spirits here Pastor John. I am having a very hard time feeling Jesus. I spent a year and a half not working and, everyday was filled with Jesus. I dont know how to stay close to Him right now. I have thought about leaving this enviroment but I honestly feel Jesus wants me to learn to walk with Him through any condition. How do I do this? How do I surround myself in filth everyday and stay close to Jesus? How do I know if Jesus wants me to stay or to leave this job? My spirit feels awful around all of this. I have to work closely with these spirits everyday. If you have any advice on how to do this, I could sure use it. I hope it doesnt bother you, that I write and ask questions. I just trust that you definitely know Jesus, and I am still getting to know Him. I f by chance you would rather me find someone else to seek advice, I completely understand and will do so.

    Sincerely
    Beth D
    ===================

    Hi Beth.

    Thanks for writing.
    Isaiah said, “He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him.” That’s a promise. Go to work with your mind on God, and talk of His praise and wonderful works all day.
    That’s the answer the Lord gave me when I was a young construction worker. My soul was vexed, like Lot’s (2Pet. 2:7-9), “by the filthy conversation of the wicked”, all day long. One particularly bad day, I went home heavy-hearted, sick to death of my co-workwers’ nasty minds and mouths. I prayed about it that evening and spent some time reading my Bible. Then, in Psalm 71, God gave me His answer (especially the bold verses, below):

    [1] In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
    [2] Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
    [3] Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.
    [4] Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
    [5] For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.
    [6] By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.
    [7] I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.
    [8] Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.
    [9] Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
    [10] For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,
    [11] Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.
    [12] O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
    [13] Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
    [14] But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.
    [15] My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.
    [16] I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
    [17] O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
    [18] Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
    [19] Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!
    [20] Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
    [21] Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
    [22] I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
    [23] My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.
    [24] My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.”

    I went to work the next day on the offensive, with the weapons of praise and singing! I was amazed at the change it wrought on that construction site. It wasn’t long before some of the guys started approaching me when I was alone, confessing shameful sins and wanting me to talk about the Lord.

    jdc

  • Wed. night’s meeting

    Hi John,

    We had a good night on justin tv, good video and sound. I am so thankful that I have this life, life in God, and what he has done for us. We are so blessed! God put us here, and that is the only reason we are here. It was not even a thought in my mind to be where we are right now. If we really believe that in our hearts, we will always be so very thankful and happy in him. Thank you Jesus! As Betty’s song said, “it gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by.” It makes you want to make sure you are doing your part. All he wants us to do is love what he is doing for us and the rest of his children, and hold fast to it, and keep his standard always. I loved hearing brother Gary singing the songs he sang. Brother Glen’s song brought tears to my eyes. Very sweet. Let us live it and love it with all of our hearts, God!!!

    As for the part of the book, “What did Satan think he was doing?” Wow! Out of this world! “Never a man has spoken like this man.” Who has heard such things as God has shown you through this book, John? Only through his spirit can we know such things. Wow!!!

    Stuart

  • Solomon’s Wisdom

    Pastor John’s House Teaching Materials and Music Store

     

    Hi John.

    We finished reading your Solomon’s Wisdom book. I can’t begin to describe the feelings we shared together as we read the last pages. Afterwards, we felt the reward of finishing something together. There was one passage on page 190-191 (the last sentence), “You are not commanded to watch over God; He has promised to watch over you”. We had to stop there and praise God, it was so wonderful, especially after reading and understanding the pages before that sentence. We know and saw that God is watching over (all) people, and a reward is waiting for all, whether it is good or bad. The reward is not in this life, but on the Judgment Day. Rebekah said this book was a God-send when she first read it as a little girl and it is the same today. The C… girls also said how good the feelings of the reading were. This has been a good reading. We are off to the next reading, your book, All Things (Suffering and the Saints).

    Billy M.

  • Michelle – OT thoughts

    Hi Pastor John

    Last week I saw my friend Joellen. I was telling her about the OT class and how much I enjoyed it. I was explaining how I liked learning about the people in the bible. To get to know them, their lives and then how you can relate to their stories. Feel sad at their tragedy’s and happy for their blessings. Then tonight I was listening and you made a comment “I’m looking forward to meeting them”. I just had to pause and stop about that for a minute. When we get to our wonderful new home we will get to meet all of those saints! Wow………that is really a neat thing.

    Another thought……..dad and I were talking about the Lord this weekend and I told him how amazing it is to learn how Jesus was all in the old testament but hidden (something neither one of us knew until we met you). We talked about how God was preparing a better way. You know during that process there were some hard, tough and troubling times but through it all God was there guiding His people, always guiding them to a better way………..a better place. I thought about that on my drive home how in our lives sometimes it gets hard, situations get tough and there are some heartaches………..but if we stay right there with God it’s always guiding us to a better way………a better place. That was just real good to me.

    I’m so happy we’ll get to see some of you this weekend!

    Michelle

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