{"id":15757,"date":"2025-05-20T19:19:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T00:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/?p=15757"},"modified":"2025-05-21T19:23:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T00:23:50","slug":"being-useful-in-the-kingdom-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/15757\/being-useful-in-the-kingdom-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Being useful in the Kingdom of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u00a0One morning last week I was reading through the book of Acts.\u00a0 When I got to chapter 16 where Paul and Silas were thrown in jail, I had a thought that I hope I can convey here.<\/span><\/p>\n

Acts 16:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. And it happened that as we were going to prayer, a certain slave girl met us who had the spirit of Python\u00a0and\u00a0who brought her masters great profit by fortune telling.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. This girl, following after Paul and us, kept crying out, saying, \u201cThese men are servants of the most high God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation!\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. This she kept doing for many days. But Paul grew very annoyed, and he turned to the spirit and said, \u201cI command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!\u201d And it came out that very moment.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. But her masters, seeing that their hope for profit was gone, seized Paul and Silas and dragged\u00a0them\u00a0before the rulers in the Agora.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. And when they had laid many blows on them, they threw\u00a0them\u00a0into prison and commanded the jailer to keep them securely,<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      After reading the above verses I asked myself,\u00a0I wonder what happened to the slave girl once the evil spirit was cast out of her.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

      The Bible does not tell us what happened to her or give her name.\u00a0 One thing we know for sure is that she became\u00a0useless\u00a0to her masters.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. But her masters, seeing that their hope for profit was gone, seized Paul and Silas and dragged\u00a0them\u00a0before the rulers in the Agora.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Her masters became very angry because the slave girl could no longer participate nor benefit them in their evil deeds.<\/span><\/p>\n

        I started thinking about how some of us could have been involved with others in wrongdoings prior to receiving the holy Ghost, perhaps with friends, family members, acquaintances, etc.\u00a0 We then become miserable and cry out to Jesus for help.\u00a0 If we repent, Jesus fills us with his spirit, giving us a new nature, and as a result, we become useless to the ones we were once mixed up with.\u00a0 They may become angry and even threatening, just as the slave girl\u2019s masters did because we no longer benefit them by our sinfulness.<\/span><\/p>\n

        This can happen with children of God after receiving the holy Ghost. They may become involved with wrong business practices or other ungodly affairs.\u00a0\u00a0Later, they may get under conviction, repent and stop participating in evil.\u00a0 Those they were involved with may become angry or threatening as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Good news!\u00a0 Once we become\u00a0useless\u00a0to the world, we can begin to be\u00a0useful\u00a0in the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 But as we all know, we can\u2019t have it both ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0In January 1970, at the age of 19, I joined the US Army Reserves.\u00a0\u00a0It was a six year commitment, but it was one of the best alternatives to keep me out of the Vietnam War.\u00a0\u00a0My unit could still have been mobilized to Vietnam, but I reasoned that the risk was better than being drafted.\u00a0\u00a0Our mission was to set up mobile fueling stations in the field, supplying gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0During my six-year enlistment, I became proficient at my job and was promoted to buck sergeant.\u00a0\u00a0When my sixth year ended in January 1976, I enlisted for another year.\u00a0\u00a0I may have been good at my job, but I also gained a reputation that I am too ashamed to even think about, let alone talk about it here.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t the worldliest person among my fellow reservists, but I was a grave sinner nevertheless.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0My platoon sergeant was a Korean War veteran.\u00a0 He expressed how pleased he was at the way I handled myself and my job.\u00a0 I, and certainly others, were useful to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0Sometime around September of 1976 I received the baptism of the holy Ghost, becoming a new creature in Christ.\u00a0\u00a0I was not the same person.\u00a0 I no longer \u201cfit in\u201d with my comrades.\u00a0\u00a0I became\u00a0useless\u00a0in a worldly sense. (I still performed my duties, but not with the worldly zeal and old nature I once had.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u00a0I still had to fulfill my commitment and serve out my time.\u00a0 It was not easy for me the next four months at our monthly drills.\u00a0 I was not the old person that my buddies were used to.\u00a0\u00a0My platoon sergeant, who was once pleased with me, was disappointed that I did not accept another promotion on the condition that I enlist for another year.\u00a0\u00a0I was finally discharged in January 1977.<\/span><\/p>\n

        I thank Jesus for rescuing me from myself.\u00a0 Instead of my sinfulness benefiting other sinners, I want my godliness to benefit my family in Christ, as I am benefited by them.<\/span><\/p>\n

        May we all remain useful for His honor and glory!<\/span><\/p>\n

        Tom<\/span><\/p>\n

        Tell us what you think:<\/span><\/p>\n

        https:\/\/x.com\/WitnessofSpirit\/status\/1925346657568268701<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        John, \u00a0One morning last week I was reading through the book of Acts.\u00a0 When I got to chapter 16 where Paul and Silas were thrown in jail, I had a thought that I hope I can convey here. Acts 16: And it happened that as we were going to prayer, a certain slave girl met […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15757"}],"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=15757"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15759,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15757\/revisions\/15759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}