{"id":474,"date":"2009-08-27T14:27:06","date_gmt":"2009-08-27T18:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/Correspondence\/?p=474"},"modified":"2009-08-27T14:27:06","modified_gmt":"2009-08-27T18:27:06","slug":"acts-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/474\/acts-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Acts 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Wanted to share that I was able to get hooked up on the Skype and take part in listening in on the\u00a0meeting last night.\u00a0 Was great to hear everyone.\u00a0 The testimony about the elderly man calling in on the radio, and the brother’s obedience to follow the Spirit’s direction was beautiful.\u00a0 Very touching!\u00a0 I kept thinking how that man has lived all his 80 yrs, and how good God is to bring such joy and truth to him during this time of his life.\u00a0 How blessed he is.\u00a0 And how good it feels to know that the Lord is blessing him spiritually!\u00a0\u00a0 I’m sure it’s a joy\u00a0for him to have his new chair, but God had much more planned with that delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is definitely our blessing as well, when we see our bro\/sis’s\u00a0being blessed!<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, in reading the Thought for the Evening on line this morning, you began with one of my all time favorites (bunches of them I guess) Acts 5:30-32:\u00a0 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him”.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve always loved how direct and to the point this one is!\u00a0 Those Jewish leaders were not a bit confused at what Peter was telling them.\u00a0 That’s why they were furious and wanted to kill him.\u00a0 You can just about picture it.\u00a0 They totally understood that he was implying that they were simply disobedient<\/em>…or in other words… the ones whom God hath <\/em>not<\/em><\/strong> given to them that <\/em>disobey<\/em><\/strong> him.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Those\u00a0beginning commands that Jesus said so many times over to obey: just believe and repent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every time I read that scripture it has been so clear.\u00a0 This is one of those scriptures where, by saying one thing, it actually states two facts…God gives the holy Ghost to those who obey, which only leaves that He does not give the holy Ghost to those who disobey.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve pondered many times on how to “lovingly” address this flip flop question, of this scripture,\u00a0to the many who do not have the Spirit.\u00a0 You know what I mean?\u00a0\u00a0It’s such a good one!\u00a0 Reminds me\u00a0again how Peter stated in Acts 2:39, “For the <\/em>promise<\/em><\/strong> is unto you,….even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”<\/em> If He promised you something, and you hadn’t gotten it, wouldn’t you be questioning that???\u00a0 Goodness, we get hurt and question it when even a man breaks his promise to us!\u00a0 This is in regards to the\u00a0many who think it’s just ok, and you don’t have to have the holy Ghost.\u00a0 But GOD<\/strong> promised it, to those he calls.<\/em> So again, if a person believes they are called of God, then that scripture states it\u00a0is\u00a0their\u00a0promise from God, and He would’ve given to them. \u00a0 And he doesn’t break a promise…no matter what a person may personally think.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0feel and hope that\u00a0these are a few of those scriptures that could really make someone begin questioning some things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you ever had any experiences where you have shared and addressed those scriptures (and hopefully helped inspire\u00a0their\u00a0self questioning) with anyone?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Melissa<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Hi Melissa.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

That is a very good point about questioning why the promise is not given, if we have not yet received it.\u00a0 My father said it this way:\u00a0 If a parent promises a small child anything, the longer time goes on, the more excited and insistent they become.\u00a0 That is how we will be if we become “as little children”, the way Jesus aid we must, if we hope to receive the salvation of the Lord.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I have pointed out that Scripture in Acts 5 many times, but I have learned that it does not matter how clearly I can see it, or how well I can explain it to someone.\u00a0\u00a0 If God does not have mercy on that person as He has had mercy on me, then that person cannot understand it.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

After God reveals truth, it seems so simple!\u00a0 But it must be revealed to the next person, or the simplicity of the gospel will seem to him very complicated and confused.\u00a0 That is one thing that should prove to us that the gospel must be revealed and that it is ONLY by the mercy of God that we understand it.\u00a0 It IS simple!\u00a0 If understanding God’s truth were simply a matter of intelligence, masses of\u00a0 people would understand it.\u00a0 But because of God’s choice, only a few understand it now, or ever will.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

If we rightly understand anything, let us bow very low at Jesus’ feet and thank him for showing mercy on us, and pray that he will show others the same grace.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Good Morning Pastor John, Wanted to share that I was able to get hooked up on the Skype and take part in listening in on the\u00a0meeting last night.\u00a0 Was great to hear everyone.\u00a0 The testimony about the elderly man calling in on the radio, and the brother’s obedience to follow the Spirit’s direction was beautiful.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474"}],"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=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}