{"id":15905,"date":"2025-08-13T10:18:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T15:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/?p=15905"},"modified":"2025-08-15T10:23:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:23:14","slug":"loving-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/15905\/loving-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Loving the truth!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Last Wednesday when Damien was telling his testimony and what Jesus opened (https:\/\/youtu.be\/h4p69MHkybk?si=BNUxYDpBKs-Xg-qP<\/span><\/a>). When he said Jesus took a seat beside his Father but something else\u00a0[the Spirit]\u00a0came out, I felt that come straight from heaven.\u00a0 The\u00a0Spirit fell on me and I said out loud, “Oh Jesus,\u00a0I can feel that!”\u00a0 I love to feel the truth!<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the same experience when Jerry testified yesterday about\u00a0the irrefutable\u00a0proof that the Gentiles had been adopted into the family of God.\u00a0 I felt that truth bubble out of my heart,\u00a0and my soul was thrilled.<\/span><\/p>\n

It feels like Jesus is fine tuning, sharpening and packing down deep the truth we have been taught!\u00a0 I rejoice in it!\u00a0 Every time I hear it, any way it comes, my heart rejoices!\u00a0 This is why we live!<\/span><\/p>\n

I keep thinking of what Sue said, “We are the chosen of the chosen!”\u00a0 Amen!<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerry\u2019s Testimony:<\/span><\/p>\n

Convincing Evidence<\/span><\/p>\n

The earliest saints were not confused about the importance of the sound of the Spirit, and that knowledge played a critical role in Peter convincing the doubtful leaders of the Assembly in Jerusalem that Gentiles had received God\u2019s Spirit.\u00a0 Peter and the six Jewish brothers with him knew that God had given Gentiles the Spirit because they \u201cheard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God\u201d (Acts 10:46).\u00a0 They were astonished to hear the sound of the Spirit coming from the mouths of uncircumcised Gentiles, but that sound is what compelled them to believe what God had done, and when Peter brought his report back to Jerusalem, it also compelled the elders of the Assembly there to accept it.\u00a0 They were, at first, displeased that Peter had gone to a Gentile\u2019s house (Acts 11:2\u20133), but they could not deny Peter\u2019s testimony when he told them,<\/span><\/p>\n

Acts 11<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cAs I began to speak, the holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he used to say, \u2018John indeed baptized with water, but\u00a0y<\/em>ou will be baptized with holy Spirit.\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Inasmuch, then, as God gave them the same gift He gave to us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. When they had heard these things, they fell silent, but then they began glorifying God, saying, \u201cThen, God has granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles, too!\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The above is an observation brought to my attention some years ago by a dear brother, Jerry Durham, whose testimony was sent to me in an email, a copy of which follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

    One morning, I was getting ready for work, making my lunch for that day, and as I began crossing the kitchen floor, the Spirit of God started preaching in my inner being.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t audible in the room, but it was loud and clear to me.\u00a0 So I just listened.\u00a0 This\u00a0is what I heard: \u201cWhat was it that convinced the Jews that the Gentiles had been grafted into Christ?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    God\u2019s people at that time, the Jews, knew that the Gentiles did not belong to God; in the minds of Jews, that was an impossibility.\u00a0 Jesus himself had called us Gentiles \u201cdogs\u201d (Mt. 15:26), and He sent His disciples only to the house of Israel (Mt. 10:5).\u00a0 And so, the Israelites \u2013 all Israelites \u2013\u00a0knew<\/em>\u00a0that the Gentiles did not belong to God \u2013 and we truly did not (Eph. 2:11\u201312)!\u00a0 If any Gentile had claimed to belong to the God of the Jews, that Gentile would have been laughed at, at the very least.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It is impossible that any Gentile, or \u201cdog\u201d, as Jesus had called Gentiles, could have persuaded a Jew that he was\u00a0in covenant with the God of Israel simply by claiming it was so.\u00a0 And a Gentile surely couldn\u2019t have persuaded a Jew that he belonged to God by claiming that he\u00a0\u201cgot saved\u201d\u00a0or that he had \u201caccepted Jesus as his personal Lord and\u00a0Savior,\u201d as Christians say now.\u00a0 There was absolutely nothing that would have convinced a Jew that any of the Gentiles were also the children of God.\u00a0 Both God and Jesus had taught them otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n

    When God grafted us Gentiles into this\u00a0New Covenant in His Son,\u00a0He had to send the Jews a convincing witness from heaven that such a thing\u00a0had taken place; otherwise, who among them would believe such a thing?\u00a0 God had to send a\u00a0\u201ctestimony,\u201d a\u00a0\u201csign,\u201d from Himself that nobody could doubt, an irrefutable\u00a0sign\u00a0so that His people, the Jews, could not deny it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Now, for that sign!<\/span><\/p>\n

    When Peter was sent to Cornelius the Gentile\u2019s house to preach the gospel of Christ, it says in Acts 10:44\u201346, \u201cWhile Peter was still saying these things, the holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the Word.\u00a0 And those of the circumcision who believed, as many as came with Peter, were astonished because the gift of the holy Spirit had also been poured out on the Gentiles!\u00a0\u00a0They knew this\u00a0<\/em>because they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    So, a sign, God\u2019s proof from heaven, was given that day which astonished those Jews, something that caused Peter to confess in verse 47 that\u00a0the Gentiles had received God\u2019s Spirit, as well as the Jews.\u00a0 That sign is what\u00a0proved<\/em>\u00a0to Peter and the Jews with him that something impossible had just happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Scriptures tell us that\u00a0tongues\u00a0are a\u00a0sign\u00a0for unbelievers (1Cor. 14:22).\u00a0 Who could have been in a state of unbelief more than those faithful Jews with Peter on that day?\u00a0 That is, unbelief that God would give Gentiles \u2013 \u201cdogs\u201d! \u2013 His holy Spirit.\u00a0 But God sent the Jews a\u00a0sign that day, an irrefutable\u00a0sign\u00a0that their God, Jehovah, had done it,\u00a0so that they would not stumble\u00a0in their faith at the mercy of God which had been poured out on us poor Gentiles!<\/span><\/p>\n

    God poured out His sign of this covenant\u00a0on the Jews first, in the second chapter of Acts, and they staggered under the power of God.\u00a0 Then, after\u00a0the Jews\u00a0were fully saturated with the truth and convinced of how the Spirit is received, He poured it out on us Gentiles, His adopted children (cf. Rom. 8:15\u201316).\u00a0 He washed us Gentiles of our sins and gave us the same\u00a0sign,\u00a0in love, for the whole world to understand.\u00a0 And how we need the same type of conversion today for the body of Christ, staggering under the power of God, the kind of conversion that would convince even an unbelieving Jew!<\/span><\/p>\n

    God taught me this in my kitchen, bro. John.\u00a0\u00a0I can tell this truth, for it is my testimony.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

    Pastor John, Last Wednesday when Damien was telling his testimony and what Jesus opened (https:\/\/youtu.be\/h4p69MHkybk?si=BNUxYDpBKs-Xg-qP). When he said Jesus took a seat beside his Father but something else\u00a0[the Spirit]\u00a0came out, I felt that come straight from heaven.\u00a0 The\u00a0Spirit fell on me and I said out loud, “Oh Jesus,\u00a0I can feel that!”\u00a0 I love to feel […]<\/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-15905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15905"}],"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=15905"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15907,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15905\/revisions\/15907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}