Hi Pastor John,

Lee Ann’s response to Preacher Clark’s pearl about hiding your talent was exactly what the Holy Spirit was showing me recently.  I just want to share something that the Lord has allowed me to discover about myself.

In my wildest dreams and imaginations, I never would have thought I had a passion for dancing! Jesus really placed that desire in my heart to want to do it.  Dancing, in the flesh, surely was not my forte, as I was terrible and I knew it!  But when there’s a place in Christ, where you are liberated and free to dance in the spirit, it makes a huge difference!  Here, in our meetings, the Spirit is in our music, and we are so blessed to have great musicians.  I understand now that music, singing, and dancing, if in the Spirit, is the most beautiful thing because it’s holy!  It doesn’t even have to be perfect.  It’s another way to express our testimony.  When I dance, I’m dancing with the Spirit in the music, as it moves me in my body. The flow of the Spirit and feelings that the Spirit gives.  There is a flow of an ebb or tide in the Spirit, much like in water, and it’s beautiful.  Dancing, to me, is basically a testimony of the power and love that’s in me from God!  So, Jesus helped me discover for myself the talent of dance, which I never knew existed, and never would have known, had I not obeyed the Spirit.  

When I first came to the meetings, earlier this year, I didn’t really know what to expect.  Well, let’s just say, it was way beyond my expectations and glorious!  Full of love, and overwhelming joy flooded my soul!  When you started playing the song, “Finding Glory All Along the Way”, I started to have feelings in my spirit to dance.  But at first, my flesh was holding me back out of fear, saying to myself, I can’t dance and I’m going to look like a fool!  Well, my flesh was telling the truth, as I can’t dance.  But in the Spirit, all things are possible!  There was a real battle between my flesh and the Spirit.  But eventually the Spirit in me compelled me so much that I had to break out of my comfort zone!  I had to “break through the roof”, as Gary’s song says, in order to get what I truly wanted from Jesus!  As I was coming out of my fleshly shell, I heard Gary say out loud, “He’s moving out!” or something like that.  When I heard Gary say that, that’s all it took for me to go out there on that floor and dance.  I finally felt free and became myself that Jesus created me to be!  The Spirit is always in motion and is fluid!  He wanted to give me this gift or talent of dance so I can be made available for Him!  I learned that we’re valuable to the Spirit only if we are willing to be made available to Him.  I don’t want to hide my talent inside of me and bury it.  It has to be put in operation or motion, just like the Spirit.  It’s only profitable when it’s in use, and for the benefit of the body.  When it’s not in motion, it dies, and we eventually become an unprofitable servant. Being given talents bring with it a responsibility to Him that gives them.  I need to be fully yielded, and be led by His Spirit so I can be of some use to this body that He placed me in.  

Jesus also has shown me that there are many that are hiding their talents or have not discovered them yet due to fear; just like me.  The only way to combat that old man (our flesh) is to stay so full of His Spirit.  That’s our weapon.  Amen!  My desire and prayer for all of us is just to be available, and we will all discover our talents and use them!

Love in Christ,

David

I thank Jesus and I praise Him for a blessed day at work. Early in the morning, after waking up, I asked Jesus to bless my day, that He would give me, as well as to the inmates working under me the right heart and the right attitude; I also asked Him that we would “produce” a lot of milk today. And that is exactly what happened! Throughout the day I felt Jesus being with me, I felt His favor through my colleagues, through the inmates (they did work well, even the more rebellious ones had a good attitude); the weather was better than in recent days, and we ended up milking well above the average amount.

Then, as I was walking home, I knew I would walk past a grocery store that is open even on holidays, and I knew they usually have cakes, and I was thinking how I would really enjoy a piece of cake now. But Jesus has been speaking to me about self-control, as well as being a good steward of the money at my disposal, so I decided to skip this opportunity, and I was fine with it, I felt it was the right call. Even before I got home though, I had the thought that God might just bless me for doing the right thing – and He did 🙂 Getting home I found out that my mother, about an hour earlier, decided to walk to that same grocery store, and she bought two pieces of chocolate cake; one for herself and one for me. I was smiling, and told her about what I was thinking and praying about on my way home, and I could tell that my testimony blessed her.

So, after taking heed to the gentle voice of the Spirit, I was not only surprised with a piece of (very delicious) chocolate cake, but it was much more than just that. It was a kind gesture, a simple blessing from Jesus AND, through that, it was an opportunity to testify of Him to my mother.

This is how Jesus blessed me today. I’m looking forward to a good day of rest tomorrow.
I hope y’all are doing well.

Zoli

Pastor John,

I think I failed to see during the last reading (in the beginning for sure, but I don’t believe I ever fully got it) how it wasn’t “right vs. wrong” or “good vs. bad” as much as it was “good vs. better” or “good vs. holy”.  Or even, “where God was vs. where God is.”

Which is so different!

These were God’s old men vs. God’s new men, and I recall portraying my character (God’s old man) as an obviously bad man for the first half of the reading.

I think many who would have opposed Paul at the Jerusalem Council,*  would have been sincere, and earnest in their pleadings (of course), without malice. It might have been difficult for onlookers, even those with the spirit baptism, to judge between the two opposing sides, at least for a while.  But then, whatever was keeping God’s old men from loving the truth from God that was delivered to Paul would have started to come out later.  The shell would have cracked, perhaps, and a wrong spirit would have begun showing itself.  Their tone and attitude would have changed, maybe even to the surprise of the men behaving that way.

The “right vs. right” dilemma in the Jerusalem Council kind of reminds me of watching/listening to the parents of some young folks who have recently come to the truth.  It is old love vs. new love; or the world’s love vs. God’s love.  And the first of these is seemingly the best love for a time, for it is the only love available to men.  It is the love that kept their children safe, and it never intends to be evil, as far as the one wielding it is concerned.

No wonder God was so slow and merciful and kind when transferring his people from the Old Testament way of loving God to the new way of loving God.

And how kind should we be when seeing people misunderstand God’s love, especially for their children.

There is a sweetness and gentleness in that, and not a battle of wills, it seems.

Jerry

* Going to Jesus.com – The Jerusalem Council

Good morning, Pastor John!

I had a wonderful time on my trip, thank you all and most importantly, I thank God!

I have started the book, God had a Son Before Mary Did,*  since returning home.  I believed that message when you revealed it to me, but knowing something and truly knowing it are not the same.  I thought about reading other books since I assumed I already knew the message of this book.  How wrong I was!  And how glad that God put it into my heart to read this one.  And how I love His Spirit guiding me!  

When I read this and try to take it all in, I can only read a few pages.  Then I must stop and pray to really take it in.  This is a whole new kind of love, to leave heavenly comfort and happiness, knowing the torment of this world He would face, GLADLY to do the will of God.  I pray I can learn to show this kind of love for God, Jesus, and his family, from my heart.  There’s so much I thought I knew.  This deepens my whole way of thinking.  There are precious treasures in here I pray I can take in and live!  I just started reading, but I had to relay my gratitude for the Lord giving you these words to write and your faithful work in doing so. 

Love,

Mark

* Going to Jesus.com – God Had A Son Before Mary Did

I absolutely love this TFE on charity, based on 1 Corinthians 13:

https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_thoughts.html?tname=tfe04-05

“The love of God does not insist on having its own way; nor does it absolutely have to get its point across, in order to be happy. It is willing that others speak, and is content to be quiet when they want to. It is willing to be last; it is willing to have the smallest piece of the pie; it is willing to stay at home to make room for another to go on a trip; it is willing in all things not to have the pre-eminence because it loves God, and it understands that God dwells with the lowly in heart”

This kind of love is not human, we cannot improve our fleshly nature to slowly turn into someone who fits this description. We need to die daily, and let Jesus live His life through us, in order for this kind of love (the love of God) to become the very thing that determines the way we think, the way feel, the way we make decisions, the way we live our lives. I love the fact and I’m thankful to God that the Spirit is, indeed, making us into such people, if we are willing. And I love that as we are becoming such people, Jesus gets all the glory for it!

Zoli

John,

What you preached today was so good!!  It was made so much clearer today to me, how important the law was to God’s people, and how important it was to Him that it was kept the way He gave it to Moses. What an honor to understand such things as He has given us!! Thank you!!

Stuart

Hi John,

I love these kinds of studies, when you find a phrase or a topic and you follow the path through… there is always more light on something when you’re done.  The phrase, “by this” seems to have a lot to do with obedience.  Thanks for sharing this.

I used to sit with my coffee in the morning and work bible things out like this.  One morning in particular, I remember reading the Old Testament prophets like Habakkuk and Hosea, etc., and I saw the similarity among what the Old Testament prophets were condemning, and what the current generation of Christianity’s ministers were preaching.  Something inside rang a bell – and I saw that Christianity’s ministers (and God’s people under them) were so confused. We were doing just what the prophets said NOT to do.  What hope was there?  I cocked my head back, and looked up at the ceiling, and with all my heart I said, “Oh God, there has to be truth out there somewhere.  Jesus, send me truth!”

A few weeks later I had your tracts in my hand.*  Who knew?!  🙂

Praise the Lord!

Gary

*  https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_tracts.html

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“By This” in 1John

When reading through John’s first epistle, I was intrigued by a phrase repeatedly used by John.  It was, “by this, we know”, or “by this,” such-and-such is known.  So, I made a list of the twelve times John said we know something “by this”.  Here they are:

1. Who Knows God?

1John 2:3. By this, we know that we have come to know him: if we keep his commandments.

1John 2:4–5. He who says, “I know him,” and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, the love of God truly is perfected in him.  By this, we know that we are in him.

Lesson: Every person who knows God obeys Him.

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2. Who Loves God and His Children?

1John 5:2. By this, we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.

1John 3:10. By this, the children of God and the children of the Accuser are distinguished: everyone who is not doing righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother.

Lesson: Every person who loves God and His children obeys Him.

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3. Who Showed Us What Love Is?

1John 4:9. By this was the love of God made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, that we might live through him.

1John 3:16. By this, we have come to know love, in that he laid down his life for us; and so, we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Lesson: Jesus showed us what love is by suffering and dying for us.

Paul explained this when he wrote, “Rarely will someone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, one might possibly bring himself to die, but God commends to us His kind of love, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:7–8).

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4. How Do We know We Love People as Christ Loved Us?

1John 3:18–19. My children, let us not love in word or with the tongue, but in deed and in truth.  And by this, we know that we are of the truth, and we will assure our hearts before Him.

1John 4:16b–17a. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  By this, love has been perfected among us.

Lesson: We love as Christ loves when we put love into practice.

Jesus told his disciples, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, so you also must love one another” (Jn. 13:34–35).  But they could not obey that commandment until the kind of love Jesus was given to them at Pentecost, as Paul said, “The love of God is poured out within our hearts by the holy Spirit which is given to us” (Rom. 5:5).

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5. How Are We Perfected in the Love of God?

1John 4:16b–17a. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  By this, love has been perfected among us.

Lesson: We are perfected in God’s love by abiding in it.

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6. How Do We know that Christ Is Still Living in Us, and We in Him?

1John 4:12b–13. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.  By this, we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

1John 3:24b. By this, we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit that He gave us.

Lesson: The Spirit tells us if we are walking in love and if God is living in us.

Paul told the saints at Philippi that if they were in any way failing to walk in the perfect way of Christ, then God (through the Spirit) would let them know (Phil. 3:15).

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7. How Do We know That We Have Received the Spirit of God?

1John 4:2. By this, the Spirit of God is known: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ when he has come into a person is of God.

Lesson: The Spirit of God confesses Christ every time he enters into someone’s heart.

Jesus described this experience to Nicodemus when he said that the Spirit of God would always make a sound when someone receives it (Jn. 3:1–8).  The disciples experienced this on the day of Pentecost, when they received the Spirit and it spoke in tongues through them (Acts 2:1–4).

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8. How Do We know Who Is of God and Who Is Not?

1John 4:6. We are of God.  He who knows God listens to us; he who is not of God does not listen to us.  By this, we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Lesson: Those who are of God believe and obey what John and the other apostles taught.

The children of God who have gone astray may still be God’s children, but they are no longer “of God” if they no longer will listen to what the apostles taught.

Hey!

I wanted to tell you more about what blessed me during Sunday morning’s discussion, when you were answering Johnny’s mother’s questions.   There were three things that really helped me in that conversation.  

First, when Barbara was telling her experiences about makeup and jewelry, etc., I felt like some wrong ideas I had about that got washed away.  I’ve known for years that it isn’t sin for women to wear makeup, etc., but somehow in my own conscience, I wouldn’t have felt the liberty to wear it.  I don’t know how that got so ingrained in me.  But hearing Barbara talk about her experiences, I felt like more of that wrong idea got washed away from me.  It was a reinforcing of something I knew, but this time it felt like it settled in more.  We just need to fit in with the decent people around us, and sometimes that might even require us to wear makeup or dress up more for an occasion.  Thank God for that conversation!

Then, I got a clearer understanding about the scriptures that talk about the cutting of women’s hair – specifically where Paul said, “we have no such custom”.  I guess I have always read that as if Paul was saying that “we have no such custom for a woman to have short hair and no such custom for a man to have long hair.”  But how I understood it Sunday is that Paul was saying we don’t have a custom either way – whether to have short hair or long hair.   We are to just blend in with the decent people in our time/culture, etc.  Did I understand that right?

And last, about the scriptures in 1Corinthians that talk about speaking in tongues with an interpreter present.  I never understood before that the reason 1Cor. 14:28 is misunderstood is because of the mistranslation of the word church.  Paul wasn’t talking about a building!  He was saying if you speak in the Assembly (to the Assembly) in tongues, to let there be an interpreter.   It’s okay to speak in tongues in the building if you’re speaking to God!

That was really good to me. I’m so thankful I got to hear all of that!

Lyn

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Hi Lyn.

You are one of several people who later told me that our discussion Sunday morning of the questions Sister Lisa sent helped clarify some things for them.  I am thankful for that.

As for the custom Paul mentioned concerning the length of one’s hair, the way you have always understood Paul’s comment was right.  Paul was indeed saying that the saints at that time had no custom of short hair for women or long hair for men.  But the larger point was what you next suggested, which is that customs change, and wise children of God change with them.  No style or custom applies to all people at all times in all places.  Only the doctrines of God have unchanging authority over believers at all times and places.

If anything stands out about us, it is to be the goodness, wisdom, and power of God in Christ Jesus, not our style of dress or hair.

Again, I am thankful that you and others were blessed by the answers given to Johnny for his dear mother.

Pastor John