Hey, everyone.

I’d like to share something of what I’ve experienced while I was teaching in Center for Premier International Language Studies (CPILS).  

I had a student from Taiwan. He is 13 years old. He was the only one who traveled from their country. His parents wanted him to study English so they sent him to CPILS to study. During his stay at the school, he got positive for covid. He got isolated in a room for 4 days. After his isolation, he got back to the classroom to study again. He said to me that he had no roommate and someone to talk to even his parents didn’t care. He felt that no one likes him and he was just annoying to his roommate. I felt that this boy was sad and need someone to talk to. Sometimes when he goes to the classroom he just sleeps. I asked questions about his personal life. And he shared about what he likes and dreams in life and that his birthday would be on Sunday. On Monday, I wrote a note that says: “Happy birthday, Justin! Always smile”. And he said, “thank you”. On his last day at school, we ate Jollibee (fast food) inside my classroom. He wrote a letter to me. I was happy to meet this boy.

A group of high school students from Japan came to CPILS. I had 4 students from that group. They were not allowed to use their phones for the entire 7 weeks and really focus on studying English. There was one girl who could make cranes out of paper. The English book talked about art so I told her to create art. She made 3 origami cranes. I was amazed by that time because cranes are tall birds with long legs, necks, and usually long bills. I didn’t know how to create origami and it originated in Japan. I was glad because I could put them on the bulletin board. “Japanese people are respectful however they have a cold personality” one of my Japanese students said.  She got sick for 4 days. After her isolation, she gave me many colorful cranes.  I decided to decorate my bulletin board so that she can feel that I value her effort in creating cranes. Eventually, we became close. Before their last day, they had a graduation speech. She said during her stay at school, she often cried because she missed her family and she felt comfort if she make origami. I was touched by that. On her last day at school, she gave me origami paper and a turtle, and a kind of colorful Rubik’s cube. She said:  “When you make origami cranes, please take a picture of it and send it to me”.

I had a Taiwanese student who came from the military and her leg was broken because of running. So decided to stop and rest. During the pandemic, she realized that she wanted to take care of sick people. She went to the university to study nursing. She went to the Philippines to study and improve her English to communicate with other people. She was willing to share her culture and make friends with other countries. On her last day of school, she said that “Can I have a hug?” and we became friends. 

The other one was a Japanese man. He is 35 years old. He was depressed for months before he went to CPILS because his boss always scold him at work to the point that he felt terrified to go to work. Japanese workers are known to be workaholics and loyal to their companies. Even though they don’t like the work they need to stay in the company. However, he quit the job. He didn’t go to college because his father is a taxi driver and couldn’t afford it. He decided to study English to write songs because he likes music since he was a teenager and get a better job. He said he was happy that he enrolled at the school and met me as his teacher and he can share his problems with me. 

I was sad that I didn’t pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and often times I doubted my ability in speaking English. I had fear of speaking thinking that I could make mistakes in English. However, God planned it to be part of CPILS to make me realize that there are people who are struggling too. I was happy that I could help them even in small ways. I won’t forget this experience and met different students that helped me grow in some way. Their letters have encouraged me. 

Thank you,

Leika

Hey Pastor John,

I was reading the “Thought for the Morning”.  It makes me want to go back and slowly read the Song of Solomon, what a sweet story.  For the past several weeks I’ve been asking Jesus to teach me what time it is.  After reading this, it really stirred up that prayer again.

Michelle G.

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Thought for the Morning
10-21

The Song of Solomon*

A letter from Brother Frank in Nigeria

Good day Pastor John,

I read the book of Songs of Solomon, the whole of it and I could not understand any verse at all, please, do you have any teaching on it or any how you can make me understand it better. And I am even wondering, I hardly see or hear anybody teaching the Songs of Solomon. Why so, is it not important?

Regards,

Thanks for your help

Frank

Lagos, Nigeria

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Hi Frank:

The Song of Solomon is a parable of the consuming devotion of the bride of Christ for the Lord, and of the consuming devotion of the Lord Jesus for his bride (the faithful saints). The best lesson I have received so far from the Song of Solomon is how very good it is for us to give our whole hearts to whatever we do. When it is time to love, Solomon would tell us, love with all your heart. When it is time to give, give with all your heart. When it is time to dance, dance with all your heart. A person who lives that way can be greatly used by God.

For example, the apostle Paul fought against Jesus with all his heart until he learned that Jesus was the Messiah. After that, he served Jesus with all his heart. In fact, he put more effort into the work of God than any other apostle. He wrote, “I am the least of the apostles, I who am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the called-out people of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace upon me was not in vain; on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them. . . .” (1Cor. 15:9-10).

God calls us to love Him with all our hearts; in fact, Jesus said that the commandment given to Israel to love God with all their hearts was the greatest commandment ever given. But from what I have seen, most people do not know how to do anything with all their hearts, and if we cannot do natural things with the whole heart, how can we love God that way? The apostle John said as much: “. . . he who does not love his brother whom he has seen is not able to love God whom he has not seen” (1Jn. 4:20).

In the Song of Solomon, it is the time of love for the young woman, and loving her beloved is all that the young woman has on her mind; thoughts of the young man over-ride every other consideration, even her own personal safety (3:1-4; 5:7). It is wisdom to give your whole heart to anything when it is time for it, and the young couple in the Song of Solomon are wise. To them, at this time in their lives, “love is strong as death” (8:6). And this was true for them because, at this time in their lives, love was their only purpose.

That is the lesson I received from the Song of Solomon when I prayerfully read it before the Lord some years ago. I feel certain that there is more wisdom hidden in that unsurpassed love story, but I am passing along to you all that I have received from the Lord thus far.

Your servant in Christ Jesus the Lord,

Jdc

*  Going to Jesus.com – The Song of Solomon

I was thinking tonight of the feelings we have here in the body and the feelings of some who have drifted away from the Lord.  The word malice kept coming to my mind, so I searched it on the bible app to see what the scriptures say about malice.  This is what came up, and it struck me that we do not have these feelings here.  We do not have bitterness, wrath, anger, rage, slander, filthy talk or evil speaking, deceit, hypocrisy, or envy by any heart that is following Jesus and staying full of the holy ghost. Those feelings do not live among us towards each other, the world, or even any of God’s children who have left Him. We are free from those feelings. 

We have feelings of sadness, mercy, prayer, hurt, and maybe frustration, too, but only because we know what others could be with Jesus. 

It touched me tonight to go over some of what we are free from.

Here is the definition I found of malice and the scriptures that came up in my search:

malice măl′ĭs

noun

A desire to harm others or to see others suffer; extreme ill will or spite.

The intent to commit an unlawful act without justification or excuse.

An improper motive for an action, such as desire to cause injury to another.

1Co 5:8 so that we might keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

Amen! 

Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

Col 3:8 And put away all these things as well: anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy talk from your mouth.

1Pe 2:1¶ Therefore, having put away all malice, and all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, and all evil speaking

Beth D.

Hey Bro John:

I asked Amy to send me what she had on The New Past to try to jog my memory on the timeline of when the Lord showed it to me.  Still not sure exact date, but after I read what you wrote here in this blog, no matter when it came from the Lord, what you wrote in this blog is WONDERFUL!  I think it would benefit us all to read this again and take it into our hearts.  It surely blessed me all over again!  Jesus is serious about giving us a New Past and all the blessings that come with it!  

You really covered some wonderful things in this blog!  It is rich with wisdom!

So glad I got to read this again.  Thank you Amy for finding and sending this today.

Sandy  🙂

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The New Past

John Clark, Sr.

7/18/2001

The “new past” that Jesus offers everyone who trusts in him is what Paul referred to in 2 Cor. 5: “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.  Old things are passed away; behold ALL THINGS are become new.”  If we have the faith to believe it, one of the “all things” that become new in Christ is our “old past”, that is, our history before Jesus took us in.

The “new past” is also what Paul referred to in Romans 11, where he told the Gentile believers that they had been “grafted” into the olive tree of Israel by the power of God.  Now, when we are grafted into the olive tree of faith, the history of that olive tree becomes ours.  That olive tree’s sap is our sap; its root is our root, and its future is our future.  This “new past” which becomes ours includes the testimony of Abel, Job, and Noah, of Abraham and David, of Daniel, Jeremiah, and the prophets, and the righteous, wise men and women of all time.  Our past includes the testimonies of Paul and of John and of Peter.  It includes (praise God!) The testimony of the Lord Jesus “who witnessed as good profession before Pilate”.  The men and women of faith are our ancestors now, if we are in Christ, and he is our elder brother. 

The phrase “new past” confuses the unbelieving because the “new past” is in faith, and faith is foreign to them.  It confuses the rebellious because the “new past” is in obedience, and they do not obey the will of God.  The message of a “new past” troubles the trouble-makers in the Church because they new past is in peace, and peace irritates those who irritate God.  What does it mean that “old things are passed away”, if our old habits, our old complaints, and our old sins still cling to us, confusing and discouraging us?  Are they passed away or are they not. 

Some years ago, as Sister Sandy was in the midst of a sad visit with her elderly, unbelieving mother, the Lord spoke to her and said, “You are not a product of that union any more”.  We who are in Christ “are not debtors to the flesh”.  That is, we do not owe our existence to the human beings who produced our physical bodies.  God had our names written in His Book of Life before the world was created; He had claims on us before our natural parents were even born.  In Christ, we are no longer a product of that physical union of two human bodies; we are the product of the will and Word of God.  It was His choice alone, not theirs, that we are here.  If our natural parents had tried to prevent our birth, the stones themselves would have brought us forth!  We are the offspring of a race of men created by the power and love of God, beginning with “the new man Adam” who was nailed to a tree in ancient Judah.

 There is no unbelief in our “new past” because the new past includes only men and women of faith.  There is no confusion in our new past because the new past includes only men and women with the knowledge of God.  There is no grumbling and ill will in our “new past” because that past includes men and women who trusted God and loved people.  The testimonies of the upright become our history when our history itself becomes new.  When our father becomes Abraham, then our history includes leaving Babylonia behind!  When our high priest becomes Christ, then our new history includes the Levitical priesthood that foreshadowed his work.  In Christ, OUR FOREFATHERS built an ark out of gopher wood and waited for the rain, OUR FOREFATHERS crossed the Red Sea in faith, looking toward the Land of Promise, our forefathers trembled before God at the base of Mount Sinai, our forefathers willingly brought gold and silver to David for the building of God’s temple, our forefathers waited for the Promise of God in an upper room in Jerusalem, and our forefathers proclaimed the truth of Jesus to the ancient Roman world.

In Christ, they were also our forefathers who were despised by men, who wandered about with no shelter, who were stoned, who were imprisoned and persecuted.  And for those in Christ, it was our “everlasting father” who was crucified for the sins of the world.

This is what the “new past” means.  In Christ, there is nothing that we fear because our forefathers were fearless, and holy courage is all that runs in our veins.  There is nothing that can discourage us because in the blood of our new family runs nothing but faith that we “can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.”  There is no sin of the old past that can drag us back into darkness because in our veins runs a holiness that terrifies Satan himself.  We cannot be overcome with confusion because the knowledge of God infuses our spirits.  No weapon formed against us can prosper.  All things are ours, and we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.  There is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God because the love of God created and fills both our history and us.  God created our new past for us, had that new past written down, and encourages us to read it every now and then.

Do you doubt God?  You’re living in the old past.  Do you hold a grudge against a brother or a sister?  You’re trying to resurrect the old man.  Do you fear the future?  You are believing a lie, as if the old past still has any power over you.  Are you not free to praise the God of the whole earth?  You are digging into God’s garbage can to eat the rotten food of your old carnal nature.

Our forefathers “danced with all their might” before the Lord.  Our forefathers drove away the armies of the enemies of the Lord who exalted themselves against the saints of God.  It is beneath the dignity of our new past to remain in the quiet, smelly death chamber of Christianity.  That abomination is NOT a part of our new past in Christ.  And for that reason, the holy Ghost is pleading with the children of God to “come our of her my people!”  Our old past is in bondage.  Our new past is “free indeed” because the Son has made us that way!

Good morning, Pastor John,

I wanted to tell you about an experience I had last night.  I was tired from a busy weekend, so last night I thought I would sit down and watch a movie.  It was one of those “clean, Christian” movies.  It was about a new youth pastor working to get a group of teenagers interested in the bible and in Jesus. As I watched it, there were some very sweet moments, some good things being said.  But at the end of the movie someone died and the ending message was something like: read Romans, accept Jesus, and you’ll be home with him forever.  I turned the TV off, and I had this anger and disgust bubble up.  I said, “Jesus, I hate Christianity!  It is a lie.  Any small bit of goodness is snatched up and devoured.”  I don’t think I’ve ever felt a hate for Christianity like I did last night.  I went to bed talking to Jesus about it and praying for the honest souls that are in it.  I fell asleep with the thought, “Jesus, get your people out of it!  I pray for its destruction.”  I woke up this morning singing Gary’s song “The Straw Man”.

I felt like something else in my heart was cleaned out.  The wrong thought, that there is such a thing as a “clean Christian” movie was fixed.  There is nothing clean about Christianity, no matter what form it takes.

Michelle 

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Thank you for this, Michelle.  Jesus is showing you his heart, and the Father’s.

Pastor John