{"id":12554,"date":"2021-12-18T20:35:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T20:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=12554"},"modified":"2021-12-18T20:35:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T20:35:00","slug":"works-not-feelings-by-pastor-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/12554\/works-not-feelings-by-pastor-john\/","title":{"rendered":"Works, Not Feelings by Pastor John"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greetings everyone.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

My son John and I have recently been discussing\u00a0a matter related to the Final Judgment that will interest you.\u00a0 It is a thought that I had never thought before, and it has benefited me.\u00a0 He pointed out last week that if a person keeps his eyes on the single, unalterable fact that he will be judged\u00a0solely\u00a0on the\u00a0basis of what he does, not on the basis of how he feels, then that person\u00a0can ignore the\u00a0spirits of depression, doubt, fear, etc.,\u00a0because\u00a0they cannot control his actions.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Psychological\u00a0diagnoses\u00a0are irrelevant to the person who truly believes that\u00a0what he does, not\u00a0how he feels, is all that will matter in the\u00a0Final Judgment, for he will\u00a0keep his\u00a0mind on doing good in\u00a0God\u2019s sight instead of being obsessed with how he\u00a0is feeling.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We all feel the spirits that are in this world, but we will not be judged on the basis of what we have felt!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest communication from John.\u00a0 I thought it was worth passing on:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about the uselessness of feeling encouraged, blessed, etc., without deeds.\u00a0\u00a0Those feelings are as useless as depression, without deeds.\u00a0\u00a0Tonight, while reading James, I\u2019m realizing it\u2019s not just feelings [that are worthless without deeds] but it\u2019s also understanding and wisdom.\u00a0\u00a0Everything that is intended to bring about worthy deeds is unperfected without those deeds.\u00a0 \u2018Do you see that faith was working together with Abraham\u2019s works and that faith was perfected by his works?\u2019 (Jas. 2:22).\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re looking for something from Jesus, just as he is from us.\u00a0 When we are being blessed and encouraged by Jesus, he is doing something.\u00a0 In that moment, we can see more of who we really are, but those feelings must mature into deeds.\u00a0 Any understanding or feeling that doesn\u2019t mature into deeds is lost.\u00a0 I think that goes for depression as well as blessings.\u00a0 What we DO decides where we end up:<\/span><\/p>\n

James 1<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Wherefore, laying aside all\u00a0filthiness, and every wicked excess, receive with meekness the implanted word that is able to save\u00a0y<\/em>our souls.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding\u00a0y<\/em>ourselves.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man contemplating his natural face in a mirror,<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. who observed himself and went away, and immediately forgot what he was like.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, and perseveres, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in his doing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I think Jesus wants us to judge him by his deeds.\u00a0\u00a0We are supposed to learn to judge everything he does as good.\u00a0\u00a0But we have to judge what he did in order to judge it to be good \u2013 no doubt, judging it to be wrong many times as we learn.\u00a0\u00a0This feels so good!\u00a0 We think we are going to decide if something is good or bad when we judge it.\u00a0 But when it is Jesus, the verdict comes with the action.\u00a0 He is always good,\u00a0but we will miss it if we\u00a0judge it otherwise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    This is what Jesus was talking about in John 12:48: \u201cThe word that I have spoken, that will judge [you] on the last day.\u201d\u00a0 The only thing that will matter on that day is, did Jesus\u2019 word produce good works in us who heard it, or not?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Some of us are struggling with feelings of depression, fear, doubt, etc., but so what?\u00a0 Those spirits are real, and they are around us, and we feel them.\u00a0 As long as those feelings do not determine our actions, and our faith keeps us doing what is good in God\u2019s sight, we will be OK because our actions, not how we feel, will determine our judgment from God.\u00a0 And in time, if we keep doing the will of God, we will no doubt lose sight of those spirits, and have peace.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    John 5<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Don\u2019t marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear [Jesus\u2019] voice,<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. and they will come out, those who did good things unto the resurrection of life, but those who did bad things unto the resurrection of damnation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Greetings everyone. My son John and I have recently been discussing\u00a0a matter related to the Final Judgment that will interest you.\u00a0 It is a thought that I had never thought before, and it has benefited me.\u00a0 He pointed out last week that if a person keeps his eyes on the single, unalterable fact that he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}