Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Seventeen
March 2, 2022
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17xli5pR8lfyg0p-rBbZdCm_oQ5_XRksc/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14vtR2JB6Ly_AxBplztZEyC_JPI8lLcjh/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
The 15th day of Abib
The 1st Day of Unleavened Bread, a Sabbath
* Beware the intelligence trap!
* The chief priests and Pharisees might have scoffed at the disciples if they found out the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant by "rise from the dead".
* ... but God was with the disciples, and that is all that matters.
The 16th day of Abib
The 2nd Day of Unleavened Bread
* At evening, that day ended, and the weekly Sabbath began.
* And when evening came, Jesus had been in the tomb for two nights and two days.
The 17th day of Abib
The 3rd Day of Unleavened Bread
* That Sabbath passed without incident.
* At evening, that Sabbath day ended, and the first day of the week began.
* And Jesus has now been in the tomb for three nights and three days, just as he said (Mat. 12:40)
The 18th day of Abib
The 4th Day of Unleavened Bread
* Without more information, the order of events on the morning of Jesus' resurrection cannot be known for certain.
* ... In Mark 15:4, we are not wold how long the stone had been rolled away --- not for Jesus to be able to come out, but for humans to be able to go in and see that he is not there.
* Nothing is said of the huge amount of perfumes, oils, and spices that had been used to wrap Jesus' body.
* Nor is anything said about how he looked, physically. His body had been horrible beaten and torn when he was buried.
* Nor is anything said about where he got clothes. The Roman soldiers had stolen his clothes, and so (unless Joseph dressed Jesus' dead body), Jesus was buried naked.
* It is THE revelation of the New Testament that God really was a Father and that His Son was revealed in Jesus.
* ... that is why no one can truly know God without knowing His Son.
* It is a dangerous thing to believe just some of what God says.
* Jesus' disciples, and all Israel, believed the prophecies about the Messiah's power and glory, but they did not believe any of the prophecies about his suffering and death.
* Jesus did not begin his ministry in Jerusalem. He ended it there.
* The remission of sins comes with the baptism of the holy Ghost, and that message had to start in Jerusalem.
* Peter was the first man on earth to preach remission of sins, and he did it in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
* ... the prophets never preached it; John the Baptist couldn't preach it; Jesus couldn't preach it. But Peter did (Acts 2:38, 10:43-44).
The Book of Acts
Acts 2
1. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord, in one place.
2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3. And there appeared to them divided tongues like fire, and it sat upon each one of them,
4. and they were all filled with holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit moved them to speak.
* With that, Jesus completed his mission to make god's kind of life available to man.
* Jesus lives. That is the message of the gospel, and God proves the gospel of His son is true every time He baptizes someone with His Spirit.
== Pastor John's study of Matthew and the four gospels combined is now complete ==
40
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Sixteen
The 14th day of Abib (Passover), continued.
Jesus' Crucifixion, Death, and Burial
February 27, 2022
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10VVQtOTtwgjQFucOb0j7CWwN4sMfGxGG/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lwTofI_psJJTu_wGojiQ5T9an1xxbhjb/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* We are continuing now with the aftermath of Jesus' trial, which happened on the 14th day of the first month, the day of Passover.
* Passover was a holy day, but it was not a Sabbath. The following day, however, the 15th of the month, was a Sabbath day.
* It will help you keep the time line straight if you keep the following in mind:
(1) The Old Testament Sabbath day was Saturday.
(2) Passover, the 14th of the first month, when Jesus was crucified, came on a Wednesday.
(3) The 15th, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, was a sabbath, even though it was on a Thursday.
(4) In the law, there were seven Sabbath days that were not weekly Sabbath days, and they could fall on any day of the week. That would change year by year.
(5) So, in the gospels, we have Jesus crucified on Wednesday, a Sabbath day on Thursday, a regular day on Friday, and the weekly Sabbath on Saturday.
(6) Those are the three days and nights that Jesus said he would be in the heart of the earth.
(7) Then we have Sunday, when the tomb was found open.
(8) In our reading today, it is still fairly early on Wednesday morning, the 14th.
* Crucifixion entailed three parts: the procession, the crucifixion, and the death.
* Crucifixion was a public spectacle.
* Death by crucifixion was a most horrific death. The point was not simply to kill, but to make the victims suffer so terribly in public that others would fear to commit the crimes they had committed.
* The "joy set before him" (Heb. 12:2) was you; it was his hope that you would believe and come to live with him in the presence of his Father, in peace forever.
* Death is an enemy, Paul said, but it is the way out of all the trouble of this life, and in Christ, it is a sweet hope.
* There is no way that anyone an love the truth in this life and escape being hatted and abused.
* God's righteousness has never been popular with this world, and never will be.
* God gave Jesus the choice: he could surrender his life for our sakes, or he could call out to God, and angels would have come and delivered him from the cross by God. That is, in the main, what Jesus meant by saying, "Nobody takes it from me; I lay it down on my own."
21
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Fifteen
The 14th day of Abib (Passover), continued.
Jesus' arrest and trial
February 19, 2022
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11pmV_PA2BKUlaynq22N0mzs4__hRmOZY/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10en_JFnCTGKGtNZvmx_Hu3L4O1v54wsh/view?usp=sharing
6
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Fourteen
The 14th day of Abib (Passover), continued.
February 16, 2022
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QtswqBWQ5vifB2t0KmNQDZF9vJ9hrtdE/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EEpNbKNCB5w-w9pKl-nBynLVzaoMjsQZ/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Jesus was determined to do his Father's will, of course, but he was also very afraid, nervous, and greatly dreading what lay ahead for him. He really was "tempted in every way that we are".
* Jesus was laboring hard on the night before his crucifixion to prepare his disciples for what lay ahead for them, both the good and the bad. And there would be much of both.
* Jesus' heart was so much back home with his Father that it was as if he was trying to block out, mentally, the approaching torture and horrific execution. He absolutely hated the though of what was coming.
* The gospel has always divided people because some people are chosen by God and some are not.
* Those in the Old Testament who loved God loved the prophets He sent because of the benefits brought to them by the truth.
* ... And those in the Old Testament who hated good hated the prophets He sent and blamed them for their troubles.
* ... And those who love God today love and obey the truth when they hear it, and they honor the men who preach it because of the fellowship with Christ it brings them.
* ... And those who hate God hate the truth when they hear it, and they blame the men who preach it for the divisions it causes.
* Saying the words, "in Jesus' name", is not a magic formula that makes things happen.
* Bearing fruit to Good is a requirement for being able to "ask in Jesus' name". And staying alive in Christ, and his words staying alive in us, is another requirement (cf Jn. 15:7).
* Whether we're talking about salvation, "asking in Jesus' name", or anything else, what is required is a holy life, not a ceremony, or a magical formula, with special wording that produces results.
* Jesus' promise of persecution is only for those who live their lives "in Jesus' name", that is, in the Spirit.
* People's reactions to someone walking in the Spirit now is just as if Jesus himself were here because men loved or hated Jesus because he walked in the Spirit.
* It is impossible to hate Jesus and love God. He is the living image of God.
* ... And anyone who hates you, if you are walking in the Spirit, hates Jesus. And it is also true that anyone who loves you, loves Jesus and his Father.
* Before a man receives the Spirit, all that he can truthfully confess is his sin.
* We all need to know ahead of time the cost for obeying Jesus.
* We benefit by knowing ahead of time that if we come to Jesus and walk uprightly before him, many people will misunderstand and hate us, and will try to hurt us. Settle that in your heart, then, and do what you can to prepare to deal with it.
* Jesus was courageous, we know, and full of faith, but he was also one of us. He is the one who said this through David:
"In God have I put my trust. I will not fear what man can do to me!" (Psalm 56:11
And this, too, the the same Psalm:
"What time I am afraid, I will trust in [God]."
* The disciples did not understand that Jesus was about to be killed, and then would be resurrected, and then would ascend to heaven.
* Jesus prayed that you and I would be one THE SAME WAY that he and the Father are one.
* You do not have to be concerned about the Devil. Fear God, and keep His commandments.
* Our fellowship is the greatest testimony that we can give to the world that God sent Jesus.
* Not only will more people believe that Jesus is of God if we are united, but more people will believe that WE are of God if we are united.
8
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Thirteen
The 14th day of Abib (Passover), continued.
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q6aa32sNP__8anBWjm7TK2JAAyX_CRNP/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TK3HX9yO9B0H9HQCB3v81hd7rMIHnMuN/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Every one of you who has received the Spirit did the same thing the disciples did to receive it: You loved Jesus and kept his commandments (Jn. 14:15)
* If Jesus whispers anything in our ear, we have been blessed.
* The "ruler of this world" in Jn. 14:30, is Satan, and it still is, but only because Jesus did not accept that position from Satan during the Temptation.
* Lesson: Only those who are walking in the Spirit can truthfully say that there is nothing in them similar to what is in Satan, and that no confusion remains in them as to what is God and what is of the Devil.
* The inability to discern the difference between God and the Devil is the root cause of all the ills of the world: all the heartache, all the wars; every disease and injury.
* We humans do not want to admit that what we like and what we want is akin to what Satan likes and wants, and that what we think about good and evil is akin to what Satan thinks.
* Both Satan and men have their minds on this physical world and what goes on in it.
* Jesus was betrayed by a friend who loved him with a carnal mind!
* All human religions hold some carnal things to be holy, and condemn some holy things as being bad. By this, by redefining good and evil, man's religions hinder people from believing the truth and coming to the knowledge of God.
* ... They hinder people from recognizing evil when they see it, including the Evil One himself.
* The hideous, mythological Satan of medieval Christianity is a bad joke. Christianity's mythological Devil has nothing in common even with carnally-minded men, but the real one does.
* We know that Jesus loved God and obeyed Him because God sent us the proof of it, the holy Ghost.
* Luke 22:31: "And then the Lord said, "O Simon, Simon! Satan has earnestly asked for you men, that he might sift you like wheat."
This brings us to another great lesson....
* "No failure need be final except the failure to repent." -- George C. Clark
* Question: Who would Satan have asked?
Answer: God
* Question: Did God give Jesus' disciples over to Satan to sift them?
Answer: Yes, and they all failed the test, no doubt just as Satan had predicted when he asked God for them.
* Luke 22:32: "But I have prayed for you, that your faith will not give out. And when you are converted, strengthen your brothers."
* Jesus obviously knew that Peter would be converted. Jesus knew that his prayer for Peter had been heard and that God would forgive Peter and heal his broken spirit.
* In 2001, when pastor John was dealing with so much, trying to rescue some of the saints in his congregation, things were, at times, very confusing, and very discouraging. But Jesus spoke to him one night and said, "Go ahead and try to make a mess that I can't fix."
* ... With that came a question: "Do you really know this about me?" The real question being something like, "Do you really know ME like this?" Or, "Do you really know that I am this way?"
* In other words, "Do you know how much I love you all, and how much I am willing to go through with to keep you all, and how determined I am to save you all?" In short, "Do you really know me?"
* Satan may have asked for Peter, to sift him like wheat, but it was God's idea -- just as it was God's idea to try Job.
* We all have but two choices, to be cut on or be cut off, pruned or destroyed, broken or altogether crushed.
* Without having Christ in us, there is nothing in the kingdom of God that we can do.
* If you have received the Spirit, you have taken the Lord's name. Now, you are expected to bear acceptable fruit to God.
* God may have loved us unconditionally before we were born, but now that we are here and He has translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, don't thing for a minute that disobedience will be excused on Judgment Day because God once loved you unconditionally. That was before you were born.
* Our altar is invisible, and it is outside the gates of all of man's religions. That is why carnally-minded men scoff at us, but we see Jesus standing out there, and every time God touches a heart, that person can see him, too, and can hear the call to go to Jesus outside the gate:
"So then, let us go to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach" (Heb. 13:13.
It will be worth the effort and all the scorn of men.
38
views
1
comment
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Twelve
The 14th day of Abib (Passover), continued.
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v40ahh3n6EAy18t4tNNMIJiPUVSJrVVv/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yy-JobGdxH9Aewi-deYMOlaIvhXWfAYd/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Every one of the disciples was uncertain as to whether or not he was the one who would betray Jesus, because every one of them had entertained thoughts of turning away from Jesus.
* We have been no better.
* But be of good cheer. We're all in good company, with Peter, James, and John. I survived my foolishness and pride, and you can, too.
* Nobody can occupy two bodies at the same time. Satan could not enter into Judas' body while he was in his own body; he had to abandon his body in order to enter into Judas.
* Judas is the only person in history that Satan abandoned his perfectly beautiful body to possess -- that body of which he was so very proud.
* ... that tells us something, because nothing except the expectation of some extremely great compensation would have motivated Satan to leave his body.
* The Son of God, hidden from the beginning of the world from all men and heavenly beings, was, during the Temptation, still hidden, but this time inside a fleshly body.
* It never pleased God for an angel to abandon his body to possess a man or an animal's body. And once an angel did that, he could never return to his original home, or as Jude calls it, his "domain", or his "proper abode".
* Jesus knew from the start that Judas would betray him (Jn. 6:64), but he loved Judas, and treated him with such respect that the other disciples did not even suspect Judas. They suspected themselves before they suspected Judas!
* My father used to say that Jesus never gave his disciples a commandment they could keep. This (in Jn. 13:34) is one of them.
* It was impossible for Jesus' disciples to love one another as Jesus had loved them because the kind of love Jesus had was the love of God, and Paul said,
"The love of God is poured out within our hearts by the holy Spirit which is given to us" (Rom. 5:5). And the Spirit had not yet been given to them.
* What does it tell us, that Jesus told both his disciples and his enemies that they did not know him or his Father? But he also told his disciples they did know him and his Father.
* The life we have in Christ is an impossible life.
* What men call impossible is the norm in the kingdom of God.
* There is no such thing as a "miracle" to God.
* Let's expect God to be God for us!
* Pastor John's credentials -- his testimony --- of what Jesus created him to be.
6
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Eleven
The 13th day of the Jewish month of Abib
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BkT_MOw30NBtjYpZ-XwtInGi45A-BnaP/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-P5wWNXWIAopM426GtgyedpEENT9aFkO/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ before Jesus ascended and was glorified in heaven.
* "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord', but by the holy Spirit" (1Corinthians 12:3).
-- because the Spirit is God's proof that Jesus is Lord, and Christ, His Son, and Savior of the world -- not evidence, proof! There is a difference.
* The baptism of the Spirit is the only proof we have that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ, because the holy Spirit is God's personal testimony about Jesus, as John said:
"The Spirit is the witness because the Spirit is truth. This is the witness of Good that He has given concerning His Son. He who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has given concerning His Son" (1JJohn 5:6, 9, 10).
* But if you receive Good's personal testimony that Jesus is both Lord and Christ, just the opposite is true:
"He who receives his witness has set his seal that God is true" (John 3:33).
* Without the holy Ghost, the most celebrated minister on earth is making God out to be a liar "because he has not believed in the witness that God has given concerning His Son."
* Receiving God's testimony, the holy Ghost, is the ONLY thing that makes you a witness of His Son -- not believing the evidence, but believing God!
* In John 13:3-7, we see Jesus washing the disciples' feet. When Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus responded, "You don't know now what I'm doing, but later on, you'll understand."
Question: If Peter didn't know what Jesus was doing, then what was Jesus doing?
Answer: He was acting out an attitude he wanted them to have, the attitude of a lowly slave.
* Under the law, everyone who loved and followed Jesus was clean. But there was another kind of cleanness coming by the Spirit which no one except Jesus had experienced.
* Here is how Jesus described the spiritual condition of the disciples:
- They were clean, but they were not sanctified.
- They believed, but they did not believe.
- They belonged to God, but they did not belong to God because they did not yet have the Spirit of God in them.
- They loved Jesus, but the love of Good was not in them.
- They knew that Jesus came from God, but they did not know Jesus.
- They had obeyed god, but there was truth that they could not bear to hear.
- They were not of the world, but they were not in Christ, nor was he in them.
Spiritually, the disciples were like unborn babies, nearing the hour of their birth.
* The very reason Jesus was passing out the wine, and next the bread (at the Last Supper), is because what he was really talking about was not available to them. If the holy Ghost had been available, he would not have done it. The best he could do for them at that time was to act it out, but to act it out was never the point; the point was to receive the real thing.
* When this life is over, we want to be together.
* ... but if we wait until after death to drink of the Spirit together, and share one another's life, it may never happen.
16
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Ten
The 12th day of the Jewish month of Abib, continued
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hZ5yFh4ufrr2lyWv2RXs8MwZ49fAp8IK/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UAxO-jyzpY2jO6tD-8SYiiTeKD5XP0p6/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Your heavenly Father does not require you to destroy yourself financially in order to help someone else.
* If God has blessed you with enough for yourself and your family, but no more, it's OK. Be thankful for the gift you have, and enjoy it.
* ...and if He has blessed you with more than enough, and you see a brother in need, share your blessing with him, as the Lord leads you to do it.
* There are no second chances to prepare to meet God. This life is it, for you and for me.
* In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus called five of these ten virgins foolish in spite of them doing every single thing the Wise did, except bring extra oil.
* The single difference between the wise and foolish virgins was this:
The wise acknowledged the Bridegroom's absolute freedom to do whatever he wanted to do, at all times and in every situation, including -- and this is key -- doing something other than what he said he would do if that is what pleased him.
* The wise virgins' extra vessels of oil were evidence of their knowledge of and submission to the Bridegroom. By taking that extra oil, they were saying, "The Bridegroom is our Master.. We do only what pleases him, and he does only what pleases himself."
* The only reason you believed the gospel of Jesus is that it pleased God to touch your heart.
* God drew you to His Son, and He did it only because He wanted to! God wanted you to be in His family!
* ...And then, the only reason you repented was that it pleased God to make your heart feel a godly sorrow for your sins.
* ...And for the same reason, you were given the holy Ghost.
* Doing right things without having right relationships is devilish.
* Before Jesus came, everything the Bible tells us Satan did was right. You will not find one verse that reveals that Satan did anything wrong. That is how he has deceived the whole world -- and himself.
* Satan is the god of man's religions, which all teach people to do right things instead of telling them how to be made right with God.
* The wise value their only chance at life!
* To sum it all up, the Foolish Virgins of Jesus' parable are children of God who do not know him.
* It is a wonderful thing to know the Bible, of course, but after we know it, let's make every effort to know God, that is, become acquainted with the way He thinks and the way He feels.
* To be led by the Spirit is to know God.
* Then, Jesus describes the Final Judgment in another way: with the parable of the talents.
* An "unprofitable" servant of God is one who, in the end, had only what he had received from God in the beginning. The unprofitable servant does not testify to what God has done for him, and does not grow in the knowledge of God.
* Men did not decide the time of Jesus' crucifixion. God did, and Jesus knew it.
* Men did not decide any of Jesus' times. And men do not decide any of yours.
* All your times are in your heavenly Father's hands.
16
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Nine
The 12th day of the Jewish month of Abib, continued
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FwHyQ12VVqk5Wj8oQq2jwyZvnZRZQUc9/view?usp=sharing
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yj2y8NcOLSviVsgtI4UP41RhPi89MZaF/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* What makes a place God's temple is that it is a place where God lives, and as Stephen said in Acts 7, God does not live in buildings made by hands.
* When God exposes the wicked spirit which God's people have taken into their temples, thinking it was God, then you will know that you are living in the last days and Jerusalem is about to be destroyed by the Beast.
* The "elect" (Mark 13:22) are those who have kept their conscience clear, walking faithfully with Jesus and treating people right, and their hearts cannot be deceived.
* The Second Coming of Jesus will NOT be an individualized, spiritual experience. It will be Jesus coming to earth in his physical body to reign on earth a thousand years.
* When Jesus comes from heaven to earth, it will be to rescue Israel from annihilation at the hands of the world ruler whom God calls "the Beast".
* After Jesus destroys the Beast, and the surviving Jews get to see their heavenly Rescuer up close, they still will not know who he is. But someone among them will notice something odd about him:
"And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds in your hands?' And he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'"
Then, the Jews will realize who their Hero is.
* In Mark 13:37, Jesus tells his disciples, "What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"
* Praying and being spiritually alert is the biggest part of that "watching".
20
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Eight
The 12th day of the Jewish month of Abib, continued
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cUuiWycWrknf0FZbF4LEmlusyNcE4gR6/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E_RaShhxv-ewefIF6QhbystvgXJRzBQE/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* It would be foolish to deny that there is some pleasure in sin and that some things in this world are magnificent.
* But while the author of Hebrews, and Jesus, and others acknowledged that there are pleasures in sin, they also understood that sin's pleasures do not last.
* The first thing Jesus gave as a sign that the world had begun its arduous journey to the end of this age was the rise of a special kind of deceivers.
* These deceivers were successful mainly because of two things:
(1) They promoted and justified their religion by using Jesus' name.
(2) They obtained the political might to impose their religion on the world.
* There is a difference between using Jesus' name and walking in his name, that is, walking in the Spirit.
* If you are walking in the Spirit, you are not using Jesus' name; his name is using you!
* Nothing can deceive the person who keeps his conscience clear.
* . . . and you will always have a clear conscience if you are faithful to what you know is true, and if you treat people right.
* We all have experienced frustration and disappointment with life. But let us never forget that no matter what, our heavenly Father is supremely good and wise, and that He is working all things together for our good.
* The thought of Jesus coming again, not to suffer this time, but to take over and set things right forever, is a very great comfort.
* That hope is a comfort to us in a world where doing good is rewarded with slander and hatred, and doing evil is rewarded with popularity and success.
* "With your patience, win your souls" (Luke 21:19)! He who endures to the end, the same will be saved" (Mat. 24:13).
* Question: What is Jesus talking about enduring?
* Answer: God's decisions about your life.
* The number one person you must learn to have patience with is God.
Number two is Jesus, who represents the Father perfectly.
Number three is whoever most perfectly represents Jesus.
* Nobody but the pure in heart can be faithful through the hard things in this life that God and Jesus will certainly put us through.
* It is absolutely true that something good is going to happen to you in this life.
* But is is just as true that something bad is going to happen to you in this life, too.
* You can't find a godly person in the Bible that bad things didn't happen to. And it seems that the more righteous they were, the worse things got for them.
* You need to know that and prepare your heart for it so that you will overcome it.
* Jesus hated every agonizing pain he suffered, but he would gladly suffer them all again, many times over, to be where he is today.
* Let us live so that we can be with him and share in his joy. If we do, when this life is over, we would be willing to go through it all again, gladly, just to be where we are then.
6
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Seven
The 12th month of the Jewish month of Abib, continued
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f85NJ4AqkewF6AkQWRREvYWs_260J2Ph/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18nlak17bwpg-CPG2JdTwWSsXSiCYBdUA/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* There are two main things that Babylon is known for in the Old Testament:
#1 The Tower of Babel - later called Babylon (Genesis 11:1-9)
Question: What were these people doing that was so wrong?
Answer: What the people were doing wrong at Babel was that they were trying to make their own way up to heaven.
#2 Babylon became the place to which God's people were taken into captivity because they refused God's law and began trying to make their own way into heaven instead (2Chronicles 36:11-20).
* So, these are the two things for which Babylon is best known:
(1) A place where people attempt to make their own way into heaven.
(2) A place where god's people are taken and held as captives.
* God had those stories written down because He had a purpose for them. That was revealed to Paul, and he passed it on for us:
"These things [Old Testament events] happened as examples for us, that we should not desire evil things, as those people did" (1Corinthians 10:6).
* God shaped history in a way that would bring His son the greatest glory - when it was revealed what He had done.
* God recorded the events that happened with Babylon because there was a spiritual Babylon coming that we would have to deal with.
* In this covenant, to "make your own way to heaven" means living as you think best, with your own, natural understanding and ability. Or, as Paul would say it, "walking in the flesh".
* Jesus came that we might have the Spirit and be led by it to where God is. That is the way into heaven that God has chosen.
* In Babylon, the only place the spirit leads God's children is out of it.
* Inside Babylon, things are not done "in the Spirit".
* Its ministers baptize people with water, washing the flesh in physical water.
* Its ministers pass out bits of bread and little glasses of grape juice or wine, feeding the flesh.
* They adorn the flesh with fine choir robes and impressive ministerial vestments.
* Religious councils have formulated doctrines, devised traditions, invented religious titles and offices and conferred them on one another, etc.
* But these are only man trying to make his own way to heaven.
* Jesus' baptism is spiritual, and no man can do that.
* Jesus feeds his saints with the knowledge of God and gives us to drink, Paul said, of the Spirit. No man can do that.
* Jesus dresses his saints with the robes of righteousness and garments of praise, and no man can do that.
* Jesus reveals his Father's doctrine by the Spirit, and anoints men by the Spirit to occupy places in his kingdom. No man can do that.
* As in the tower of Babel story, God has cursed those trying to make their own way to heaven today with thousands of conflicting "denominations" or sects worldwide. And they cannot work together because they speak different spiritual languages.
* God's people now are in the place where people are making their own way to heaven. And God is calling, or He will call His people out of it.
* Question: Do you know what that place is? Give it a name! Say it. "Sanctify the LORD in your hearts," and give it a name!
It is not what it claims to be; it is a lie, a pit, a dwelling-place of demons, God's angel told John in Revelation 18:2, a prison that holds fast to every unclean and loathsome spirit.
* If you choose God's will over your own, those who love their life, and prefer their own will over God's, will think there is something wrong with you.
* It is an honor, directly from God, for Jesus to baptize someone with the Spirit.
* It is an honor to walk in that Spirit with Jesus in this life.
* And in the end, it will be a very great honor to be given a new body and granted eternal life on a new earth.
* If we serve Christ, the Father will honor us with all that.
* Jesus, hanging in agony on that rough-hewn cross, was in the process of conquering the whole world.
* No one at the time understood it.
* But when he sent back the Spirit, the Spirit revealed what he had done to those who loved him, and they began to spread the good news everywhere.
* . . . and they were despised and persecuted, ostracized and slandered, for spreading that good news.
26
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Six
The 12th day of the Jewish month of Abib, continued
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12l8_Dt4pf1UaUXtWuViRY7hDknfmS7HX/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r-CoSC_tN25pLrBp75WcMowTPhwnQ0sZ/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Jesus said, "You must be born again" (Jn. 3:7).
* Whatever you do, don't miss out on that!
* People don't have to do things the way we do things here; that is just our custom. People don't have to be here with this little group. People don't even have to know we exist.
But everybody must be born again!
* And Jesus described the experience so that we would know when we are born again: he said you will hear the sound of the Spirit:
"The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it's coming from or where it's going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (Jn. 3:8).
* You must have that experience (of being born of the Spirit). That is what Jesus suffered and died for, and it is not optional.
* It is not just an added blessing, as Pentecostal and Charismatic believers teach, reserved for just some in God's family.
* It is the way into God's family, and it is for "whosoever will".
* "He who loves his life shall lose it, and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life" (Jn. 12:25).
Have you lost it yet?
2
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Five
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o_-okSwk1TesOUEffFw4sl-xawsPFHmr/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AGBuYmsnOvfN0zi_vpTNQYDs37w1V09Y/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
Lesson #1: Authorities
* What ruler, anywhere, has God not put in power?
* "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God; the powers that exist are ordained by God. Therefore, he who opposes the power is resisting the ordinance of God, and they who resist shall receive to themselves damnation" (Romans 13:1-2).
* Of course, we are not to submit to anyone who would have us do something contrary to the will of God.
* Never Do something evil out of respect for a man -- any man.
Lesson #2: Customs
* The scribes and Pharisees required God's people from Moses' seat to obey the customs of Israel.
* God required His people to obey the scribes and Pharisees. That is why Jesus commanded his disciples to obey them; it was God's will
* Jesus himself observed the customs of his time, such as the Feast of Dedication.
* The only time Jesus had a problem with the customs of his time is when those customs took precedence over the commandments of God.
Lesson # 3: Appearances
* In the main, those around the world whom God has called are poor and cannot compete with those who are expert in appearances. But the good news is that this is not a competition.
* If you serve God spiritually and truly, as Jesus said, that is all there is to it. No better service than that can be rendered to God.
Lesson # 4: Grand Titles
* The word, "Rabbi" means "my Great One", understood as "my Leader" or "my Teacher".
* Why would Jesus demand that no one except himself be called "teacher" when the scriptures plainly state that Jesus gives teachers to God's people? Such literal contradictions are found in many places in the Bible.
* Only with the Spirit's help can we see how it all fits together.
* It is a dangerous thing to try to put scriptures together without being led by the Spirit. Men can and have put scriptures together in myriads of ways, thinking they were right.
* If a man is not speaking words that came from God, then God has not sent him.
* In the kingdom of God, the only people who are telling the truth are those who are copying and repeating what Jesus says.
* In sum, Jesus condemned men for conferring high-sounding religious titles on one another; he was not condemning the spiritual experiences we have in him.
Lesson # 5: Conversion
* Converting a person to somebody's version of the gospel is not the same thing as converting him to the Lord.
* When someone is converted to the religion called Christianity, to what has he been converted?
* How does one become a member of the religion of Christianity? If we enter it in a way different from the way we enter the body of Christ, then they cannot be the same thing.
* Does Jesus baptize a person with the holy Ghost into Christianity? Of course not. Men join Christianity; Jesus does not baptize men into it.
* Then, what is this thing, really, that has granted itself the prestigious title of "Christianity" and claims to be the body of Christ? It is the lovely, highly esteemed, "mother of harlots and abominations of the earth", just as the angel told John in Revelation 17. And God is calling for His children to come out of her. Thank God for the call!
* He has called us out of Christianity so that we may learn to worship Him in spirit and in truth, together.
Lesson # 6: Confused Priorities
* To a heart gone astray, priorities get mixed up.
* By Jesus' time, THINGS had become more important to Israel's leaders than God's people, whose welfare they were supposed to be watching out for.
* God is, first of all, a God of relationships, and we want to be like Him.
* The most important part of your life is your relationship with God, His Son, and one another. That is "the mind of Christ" because that is the mind of God.
Lesson # 7: Blindness
* It is a most terrifying aspect of the wrath of god, that if pushed to it, He will curse someone with such darkness that he doesn't even realize he is in the dark.
* If God blinds you, you do not know that you are blind.
41
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Four
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HBXP33KpTAzLno9wkb7h54yH9tPQ6S5Y/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Scientific definition of "Absolute Zero": At zero kelvin (-273 degrees Celsius [-459.4 degrees Fahrenheit]), the particles stop moving and all disorder disappears.
* There is a spiritual "Absolute Zero", where all "wavering", as Jesus called it, stops, and all disorder ceases.
* And as in the case of physical Absolute Zero, spiritual Absolute Zero is not found in this world.
* Jesus, by the power of God's Spirit, will make us completely still before God in our souls, where all disorder ceases -- if we want it.
* Without the Spirit, people cannot know God.
* When the light of God's Spirit shines in our hearts, it creates an awareness within us of the vanity of all our own thoughts and ways, so that we can earnestly call on Him.
* All the religions of man are only opinions about God, how He should be served, what He thinks, what He wants us to do, etc.
* This world is a veritable madhouse of opinions about God, some better than others, but none of them from God.
* Opinions are heresies, and only God can save us from them.
* Regardless of how wrong someone is, it will never be the will of God for you, in this life, to punish that person. That is God's job.
* All human differences will disappear in the resurrection.
* All the dead are alive somewhere, either in hell or in Paradise with Christ.
* God is a God of relationships (see pastor John's book, God Had a Son Before Mary Did, online:
https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_books.ht...)
15
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Three
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RManE6-WQddJ-PWw9KCMn4PepVDqKVIL/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1It8F_IY6eBH4yZU8GE0yw6yx0XM3cmgt/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Nobody but Jesus knew that his crucifixion was coming, not even his worst enemies. On the contrary, Jesus' followers expected him to establish an earthly kingdom.
* When God's people go wrong, it is the worst wrong on earth.
* To do the greatest evil requires a connection with God.
* The world cannot compete with God's children in doing good or in doing evil.
* Without the connection with God that Satan had, he could never have become as wicked as he did.
* The False Prophet in the book of Revelation, right-hand man to the coming Beast, will be a backslidden man of God who was once Spirit-filled, but who went back to his vomit and was turned over by God to be possessed by powerful demons. He will look and sound good to the world, but his soul will be as black as night, forsaken by God.
* The truth does not change just because people wish it was something else. The truth is the truth.
* Many try to shape the truth to meet their wants.
* What we want does not determine what is true.
* Being "just" means being able to admit to yourself what the truth is, regardless of anything else.
* In the Bible, in the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament, the word "just" is the same word for "righteous".
* The secrets of God are kept from those who do not speak the truth in their hearts.
* The kingdom of God is a place where nothing of earth has power over us, no demon (which are now of earth, not of heaven), no man, no government, not even laws of nature.
* The Son of God has never been subject to anything but God's will, and God wants you to be just like His Son.
* If you have the holy Ghost, you have been called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
* From those who have been called, however, there will be a choosing, or "an election" of those deemed worthy to attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
29
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Two
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1suumulcq56xYK_4wvnNtns_uc4I2WZ6Y/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SNLsZM7E5z0QQeIlvgyZzn7ZuRv5NIFg/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Every person who comes to Jesus will have first received something from God that caused them to come to him.
* Every person who has heard and learned from God comes to Jesus.
* With Jesus' baptism, he cleanses from sin every soul that his Father sends to him. That baptism is the only way to know if the Father sent that person to Jesus or if somebody else got them to come.
* Nobody has ever just figured out the truth. It had to be revealed.
* Nothing about Good or His Son is true except what is revealed.
* God is completely unknown without revelation.
* Nothing can edify God's people but revelation.
* The foundation of the household of faith is revelation.
* Spiritual life begins with a miracle of God's grace, and Jesus and his apostles labored to persuade God's people:
1. To live in that miraculous world of revelation.
2. To trust nothing but what comes by revelation from God.
3. To walk worthy of the miracle of God communicating with them.
* It was only after the disciples received the holy Ghost that they began to understand the things Jesus had told them.
* We should pray, not just to be used by God (God uses everybody, including Satan), but to be worthy to be used for good.
9
views
Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part One
Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along
Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1suumulcq56xYK_4wvnNtns_uc4I2WZ6Y/view?usp=sharing
Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HXQIVycY9S1-mzsdAq9Olz0ZKqYjnBLw/view?usp=sharing
Highlights:
* Jews began each new day at evening
* Israel's leaders, guardians of the holy law of God, had decreed that it was an unforgivable crime against God for anyone to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
* People trembled at being excommunicated by these men, for to be excommunicated means to be cut off from communion with God and His chosen people.
* But as it was, their excommunication was excommunication from a religion that they and others had devised.
* They had already excommunicated Jesus, and he still enjoyed his communion with God; so, their excommunication meant nothing in heaven.
* Nobody wants to be reviled and excluded. It's a bad feeling.
* But in this world, for a child of God, to be liked and welcomed into men's company comes at a terrible price: the price of silence.
* God's children are good people, and for the most part, the world likes them -- as long as they do not confess ALL that they know.
* "The world" in Israel hated Jesus, not because Jesus was a murderer or a thief, nor because he disobeyed the law, but because he preached God's righteousness to Israel, and that exposed their sinfulness and vanity.
* The Son of God was not sent to earth to be good. He was sent to earth to do something he could not do in heaven. That "something" included dying for our sins and sending down the Spirit to us.
* God's over-arching purpose for sending His Son was to make God known -- His thoughts and His feelings. It was to create a connection between man and God that had never existed before.
* We're not "beseeching" anybody "in Christ's stead" if we are not telling them the whole truth.
* To tell God's people that the baptism of the holy Ghost is good is a lie if you know how good it really is, and do not tell them.
* The world will stop at nothing to keep the truth suppressed, to keep it from being heard. But the holy Ghost cannot be stopped by anything of earth from speaking it.
* We who have been given the light are alone in this world. We are strangers here, and we are blessed to have each other. We need each other's love and help.
* You have no friend who is not walking in the light of God. No such friend exists for a child of God.
* It is the nature of every person born into this life to oppose the work of Christ, even when we try to do good. And our human nature opposes his Spirit every moment with all that it is.
* Be friendly; be kind; be good. But above all things, be like Jesus and remember the purpose for which God has called you!
* You will be fooled if you judge by appearances.
* Whoever has the mind of Christ is your friend!
* Stick close to him, and be refreshed.
* Nurture that relationship, and be strengthened.
* Feast on Christ with him, and come to the knowledge of God.
* Grow with him into the fullness of the stature of Christ, and be saved.
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translat...
Exodus 13:3-5
Leviticus 23:5
1Corinthians 5:7-8
Genesis 1:5, 8
John 9:15, 18-23
Luke 6:22
John 7:7
Luke 16:15
Romans 14:17-18
John 17:3
John 18:37
Psalm 71:16
Galatians 6:14
1Corinthians 10:17
Psalm 87:4
2Corinthians 5:20
Psalm 145:10-12
Psalm 22:30-31
Acts 1:8
Ephesians 6:18-20
Romans 8:26
1Corinthians 15:33
Isaiah 11:3-4
Deuteronomy 12:2-5, 7
1Timothy 5:22
6
views
Matthew 20:17-34 Press Along
Highlights:
* If anyone on earth could have helped Jesus, it would have been his disciples, but they could not.
* Jesus was utterly alone. He was the only person on earth with the Spirit of God.
* Take a moment to imagine what it would be like with no one on earth to understand you or encourage you. What a great blessing it is for us to have each other!
* The most precious gift we have is one another,
people who have the Spirit, too, who understand our testimonies and who can encourage us with theirs.
* Here is an important lesson: In spite of how good some people appear, if they are without the Spirit, they cannot edify you any more than the disciples could edify Jesus.
* Here is another important lesson: Those who are walking in the Spirit experience what Jesus experienced in this world, specifically, feeling the burden of those who are not in the Spirit but think they are doing well, spiritually.
Jesus; disciples, before they received the Spirit, were nothing but a burden to Jesus.
* Dead spirits are a burden to spirits that are alive in Christ. And the opposite is true: Spirits that are alive in Christ are a burden to spirits that are dead.
* Dead or dying spirits are NOT a burden to other dead or dying spirits. And spirits that are alive are not a burden to other spirits that are alive.
* If our unconverted friends and loved ones are not a burden to us, then we are a burden to Jesus and to everyone who is like him.
* Hear what the Spirit is saying!
"In flirting with the world, and in turning to the world for companionship, you are gambling with more than your soul; you are provoking the Lord to jealousy and gambling with the lives that are around you!"
* There is NO equality between the Father and the Son.
* In every way imaginable, the Father is greater than the Son.
* "He is anti-Christ, who denies the Father and the Son" (1John 2:22).
* There is a Father who never has been and never will be the Son, and there is a Son who never has been and never will be the Father.
* Stay away from that Trinitarian spirit; it's a malignant and contagious spiritual disease.
* If all God's children would take on the humble attitude of a slave, every conflict among them would immediately cease.
* To a foolish man, wisdom sounds wrong, and correction feels like a personal attack, not because wisdom is wrong, and not because correction is an attack, but because of this:
"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes" (Prov. 12:15).
* When God becomes very angry with a fool, He will bless him so that the fool will think everything is just fine with his soul, and then die and go to hell.
* As much as God loves His children, and as patient as He is with us all, He can reach a point at which He ceases to try any longer to correct a soul.
* I don't know how anyone could have less hope than a fool, but if God says that a proud man has less hope than a fool, then a proud man has less hope than a fool. So, avoid pride at all cost!
* May God save us from being either foolish or proud!
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html
Psalm 69:20
Isaiah 63:5
Mark 3:21, 31-32
Mark 16:14
Luke 24:25
Jacobus (James) 4:4
Romans 8:26
1Corinthians 15:34
Mark 14:50
John 14:28
The Church "father" Athanasius: "And in Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another, but all three Persons [the Father, Son, and holy Ghost] are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must think thus of the Trinity."
Mark 3:31-32
John 5:26-27
Proverbs 8:22-23
Revelation 3:14
Hebrews 5:7
John 12:49-50
1Corinthians 15:24-25, 27-28
1John 2:22
Proverbs 13:10
Proverbs 1:7
Proverbs 12:15
Proverbs 1:32
Proverbs 27:22
Proverbs 17:10
Isaiah 1:5-7
Hosea 5:15
Amos 8:11
Proverbs 26:11
Proverbs 26:12
Proverbs 6:16-17
Proverbs 16:5
37
views
Matthew 19:1 - 20:16 Obeying God Is the Only Requirement
Highlights:
* Paul said that the law was added to what God had already done because of man’s sinful nature.
* One reason we need the Spirit so badly is to help us solve problems about which the Bible says nothing.
* God’s calling has nothing whatsoever to do with the will of man, as Paul said, “It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God, who shows mercy” (Rom. 9:16).
* It is important to note, in the light of this generations’s spiritual condition, that Jesus did NOT say (in Matthew 19:17), “If you would enter into life, repeat Romans 10:9-10 after me,” or “If you would enter into life, join the church of your choice,” or “If you would enter into life, perform the appropriate ceremony,” but, “If you would enter into life, obey God [keep the commandments].”
* We all know that obedience to the will of God is a requirement for obtaining eternal life.
But the truth is more than that. The truth is,
OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL OF GOD IS THE ONLY REQUIREMENT FOR OBTAINING ETERNAL LIFE.
* When you are asking God what to do, it is prudent to include a prayer for grace to be willing to do whatever God says.
* And every time you find that you have done the right thing, thank God for it!
* Ephesians 2:8 states, “You are saved by grace, through faith.”
Grace is God doing something.
Then, AFTER God has done something, if we respond, that is faith.
* In the way of salvation, God is the only actor; we are merely reactors.
* God calls -- we turn toward Him.
* God convicts -- we repent.
* God gives the Spirit -- we receive it.
* God commands -- we obey.
* No creature in heaven moves ahead of God; that only happens among people on earth.
* Nothing in God’s Kingdom is of the will or mind of man.
* Multitudes have felt things from God, but did not respond.
* Those who respond in faith to God are not only called; they are chosen. John said in Revelation that when Jesus returns to earth, “. . . those with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14).
God help us be among them!
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html
Galatians 3:19
Deuteronomy 24:1-2
Romans 9:16
Hebrews 5:4
Isaiah 56:3-5
Mark 3:35
Acts 5:32
Hebrews 5:9
1John 2:17
Isaiah 7:14
John 14:16-23
Ephesians 2:8
Psalm 127:1
Matthew 23:15
Hebrews 11:39-40
James 1:22-25
Revelation 17:14
8
views
Matthew 18:15-35 The Authority of the Body of Christ
Highlights:
* The Spirit said through David (Ps. 133:1-2) that unity among believers carries the same authority that Israel's high priest bore.
* To do anything in Jesus' name means to do it with his authority.
* Without the Spirit, nothing can be done in Jesus' name. Nothing else has come to man from God in Jesus' name but the Spirit.
* When those who are walking together in the Spirit come together, they are gathering in Jesus' name. And the authority of that gathering is as if Jesus is there, in person.
* It is impossible for people to gather in Jesus' name without the Spirit.
* Remember this: In earthly matters, the judgment of believers who gather in Jesus' name. . .
(1) is backed by heaven,
(2) and is the standard by which the members of that body will be judged.
* We must show Good's kind of mercy toward others. It is required.
* You have heard it said that we must forgive everybody. Jesus never taught that, nor did he ever do that.
GOD HAS NEVER FORGIVEN ANYONE WHO DID NOT FIRST CONFESS HIS SIN AND REPENT OF IT.
* Words of truth are in the Bible, but they can be handled rightly or wrongly, depending on whether or not you are led by the Word of God.
* The Word of God is much more than the Bible; it is the Son of God. In him, we can know God even if we don't have a Bible.
* True ministers, like Paul, preach Christ, not the Bible.
* Christ is "the power of God and the wisdom of God", and if he is in us, we may know God's power and God's wisdom.
* Christ is the way of God, the truth of God, the life of God, the love of God, the mind of God, and he is that Spirit, Paul said, and "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html
Psalm 133:1-3
Deuteronomy 17:8-12
Psalm 133:3
Romans 8:10
2Corinthians 3:7-11
John 14:26
1Peter 1:12
1Corinthians 7:16
Luke 17:3
Matthew 5:42
2Corinthians 3:6
Luke 16:8
2Timothy 2:15
1Corinthians 2:13
1Corinthians 1:23-24
John 5:39-40
Matthew 8:8-14 Despise Not One of These Little Ones
Highlights:
* Jesus used the parable in Mat. 18:8-9 to let us know that sometimes, his ministers must make the hard decision to cut off a member of the body, that is, put someone out of the Assembly who is endangering the well-being of the whole congregation.
* Whenever Jesus mentioned Gehenna, he was referring to the Lake of Fire, not to hell.
* THERE IS NO VIRTUE IN BEING INCLUSIVE IF WHAT YOU ARE INCLUDING IS EVIL.
* AND THERE IS NO VIRTUE IN NOT JUDGING RIGHT FROM WRONG.
* No body part can cause you to sin.
* In Jesus' parable in Mat. 18:8-9, he wasn't talking about parts of a human body. He was talking about members of his body, the body of Christ. Jesus was saying that an ungodly believer, left unchecked, can cause a whole congregation to go bad.
* When Jesus said it is better to cut off a diseased member before it infects the whole body, he was talking about a believer who is committed to some form of ungodliness -- an attitude, or lifestyle, or doctrine -- so that he is endangering the spiritual well-being of God's "little ones", those who are especially open to influence.
Such a person is despising the young ones in God's family by being a bad example for them.
* The example we are for God's "little ones" matters a great deal to God.
* When a member of the assembly here ridiculed sister Sandy in front of some of God's "little ones", including children, it was an unthinkable crime against Christ, and a danger to the body.
* Differences in opinion, we can tolerate. But in the face of such a great work of God as is described by Sandy's testimony in this video, there should not even be any opinions.
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html
1Corinthians 5:1-6, 13
1Corinthians 6:15
Ecclesiastes 9:18
Matthew 18:6
2
views
Matthew 18:1-7 To Be Alive Is to Be an Influence
Highlights:
* The disciples were not yet "new creatures in Christ".
* It is a dangerous thing to influence a child of God to cease from pursuing the calling of God to become as a little child in His sight.
* God is going to make it manifest who is who in the body of Christ. It is just a matter of time.
* God uses unwise believers to try the hearts of His children.
* You want the benefits and eternal results of righteousness more than you want life itself, even if you don’t realize it.
* You do not want the results of not having fellowship with the body, whenever God decides to bring those results around.
* For us all to walk together in the light, “to speak the same thing, be of the same mind and of the same judgment, and to have the same love for one another” is more valuable to you than your life.
* To be alive is to be an influence.
* You cannot keep from being an influence, especially the children of God, because, as Paul said, we are “members one of another” (Rom. 12:5).
* You don’t have to say a word to anybody to be an influence on everybody.
* The souls of your brothers and sisters in Christ are more important than your liberty.
* We can “destroy” a brother (1Corinthians 8:8-11) by influencing him to do something his heart condemns him for doing.
* Your liberty in Christ is absolute. All things really are yours, and all things really are pure to those who are pure. But your liberty is so complete that:
(1) You are free to walk in it, and
(2) You are free not to walk in it
. . . the whole issue is this: What can we do that will make it more likely that God’s children will continue in Christ to become like a little child?
* In 1993, when Jesus finally got us out of Christianity, he taught me that if we developed a disdainful attitude toward Christians, he’d rather we still be one.
* There is absolutely nothing that is wrong for you to do IF GOD WANTS YOU TO DO IT.
* At the same time, there is nothing right for you to do UNLESS GOD WANTS YOU TO DO IT.
* Everything in this universe is nothing. All that matters is, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
* God is not asking us to do whatever others say is right. We are no longer “debtors to the flesh , to live after the flesh.” He only asks us to walk in love and do whatever the Spirit leads us to do. And we can do that. That standard, in fact, is what we will be judged by.
* The purpose for God giving us the mind of Christ is to make us one. The great goal is fellowship. Let’s work together, with Jesus, to that end.
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translat...
Matthew 20:20-21
Mark 9:33-35
Luke 22:24-26
Luke 8:1-3
Matthew 27:55-56
1Timothy 6:4-5
1Corinthians 11:18-19
Philippians 2:1-5
Romans 14:7, 13, 15-21
1Corinthians 8:8-11
Romans 14:23
1Corinthians 8:8-11
1Corinthians 8:12-13
1Corinthians 8:1-2
1Corinthians 9:19, 23
Romans 14:22
1Corinthians 6:12, 13
Romans 15:1-3, 5-6
10
views
Matthew 17:22-27 - "A Word to the Wise Is Sufficient"
Highlights:
* A true minister of Christ is not much more than an echo of what the Spirit is already saying to God's people.
* If you hear the truth, whether from me, or a testimony, or a song, or a dream, or directly from the Spirit, or anywhere else, you are hearing it from Jesus.
* UNDERSTANDING IN THE THINGS OF GOD IS ALWAYS A REVELATION
* God will help us to want what He has given us.
* If you believe and receive what comes from heaven, you are eating and drinking the way Jesus was talking about (in John 6:54-58, for example).
* When Paul said, "the letter kills," he meant that the Bible kills, as men understand and use it. To trust the Scriptures as you understand them can be a deadly error.
* May God deliver us from believing the Scriptures as we understand them, but to believe them as the Spirit reveals them to be!
* Holy men of God were moved by the Spirit of God to produce the Scriptures, and we must be moved by the Spirit to understand them rightly.
Or, as my father, "Preacher Clark" taught us, "It takes the same anointing to understand the Scriptures that it took to write them."
* Christianity is the best that men without God can do with the Bible.
* The reason the Son of God kept the law was to avoid offending God's people.
* Jesus was free not to keep the law, but he was also free to obey the law if that is what the Jews needed him to do. Jesus was free to live for others whose conscience was still "in bondage" to the works of the law that God had given them. How do we measure up to that humility and love?
* To be like Jesus includes willingly humbling ourselves to earthly laws and customs for the good of those around us whom God may call.
* It is our purpose on this earth to be ambassadors for God's heavenly kingdom, and Jesus showed us how to do it right.
* Our heavenly Father wants us to follow Jesus' perfect example and use our liberty for good, and not to gratify ourselves, demand our rights, and show off our liberty.
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html
omans 10:8
Philippians 2:13
John 6:35, 38, 49-50, 54, 56-58, 63, 66
Leviticus 17:10
2Peter 1:20-21
Exodus 30:12, 15-16
2Corinthians 5:17
1Corinthians 15:45-47
Isaiah 66:18
Philippians 2:5-8
1Peter 2:16
1John 4:7-8
9
views
Matthew 17:5-21 - "A Voice Crying in the Wilderness"
Highlights:
* Just because a person is perplexed does not mean that he is in a poor spiritual condition.
* Never write someone off because he is confused.
* In saying that Elijah had already come, Jesus was referring to the spirit with which John the Baptizer came.
* In the prophets, much more is said about John the Baptizer coming before the Messiah than is said about Elijah coming before Him.
* The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
* One of the deadliest things to your soul in this universe is the Bible -- as men understand it.
* Many a person is in hell tonight who trusted their souls to the Bible -- as they understood it.
* As we draw closer to the end of this age, faith in Jesus is going to be tried as faith has never been tried since the world began.
* If you stay full of the Spirit and keep your conscience clear, the Spirit will preserve your heart and mind, no matter what comes. You have nothing to fear.
* But if you are slack, and do not store up food for the coming winter, or have an extra supply of holy Ghost oil, you will certainly be deceived and weeded out of the kingdom of God.
* Isn't it obvious that if Jesus' own disciples, before they received the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, were evil in God's eyes and were not prepared to escape damnation, then, no one can be holy in God's eyes and prepared for the Final Judgment before receiving the Spirit?
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html
Malachi 4:5-6
1Thessalonians 5:21
John 3:4
Luke 1:17
Isaiah 40:3-5
Luke 3:2-6
John 1:19-23
Malachi 3:1
Mark 1:2-4
Matthew 11:27, 8-10
John 5:39-40
Luke 18:7-8
Matthew 24:9-13, 24-25
Luke 7:33-34
Matthew 6:16
Matthew 9:14-15
John 4:31-32
John 6:32-35, 48-51, 53-58, 63
John 6:27
5
views
Matthew 16:28 - 17:4 - It Has Been Given to You. . . If You Want It
Highlights:
* In Matthew 17:1-4, Peter and the others with him knew who those two men were who were talking with Jesus.
* Peter's knowledge of the identity of the two men who were talking with Jesus was not learned. It was knowledge that God alone possessed, and in this case He shared it with Peter, Jacobus, and John - and then, they just knew.
* When God's faithful children are gathered home to be with Jesus, they will know each other. No introductions or name tags will be needed.
* At times, when we meet certain of God's children, it feels as if we have known them forever, but that is because God in us HAS known them forever.
* It is perfectly normal for those with God's Spirit to feel God's feelings and to think God's thoughts. That is, in fact, the very reason God gives us His Spirit.
* We are called to follow Jesus' example of committing ourselves to what God, by the Spirit, is feeling and thinking within us.
* We are created to live together and to edify one another.
* Private opinions are a deadly trap. Never allow yourself to entertain them.
* COMMUNION WITH GOD, DAY AND NIGHT, IS YOURS, IF YOU WANT IT.
That is to say, if you want it badly enough to slow down and have it!
* Jesus wants to tell us things that our human minds cannot believe, things not subject to human reason, explanation, logic, or understanding.
* The thoughts of God are inaccessible to mankind; they must be revealed.
* The ways of God are inaccessible to mankind; they must be revealed.
* Everything in the kingdom of God is inaccessible to mankind.
* Again, THE THINGS OF GOD HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO YOU -- IF YOU WANT THEM.
Scriptures referenced in this video:
(Scriptures are from the PJV version, found online at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html
Mark 9:1
Luke 9:27
Romans 14:17
Exodus 20:4
1Corinthians 13:12
1Corinthians 2:12
2Timothy 2:19
1Peter 2:21-23
Romans 8:5-9, 14
Ecclesiastes 5:3
1Corinthians 2:6-11, 13
Jeremiah 33:3
4
views