Manna from John

(ESV) John 3:31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. 

Do you notice how tightly believe and obey are correlated in in verse 36. Too many suppose that Jesus died for a fire insurance policy from Hell, that they can go through some process in a local church and magically, they get to go to Heaven. Even in the old testament, your belief affects your behavior. See this reference from Isaiah...

Isaiah 55:7      let the wicked forsake his way, 

      and the unrighteous man his thoughts; 

      let him return to the LORD, that he may

      have compassion on him, 

      and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 

The wicked and unrighteous must change <repent> and return to the Lord. Notice who left, not the Lord, you and I. We all have instances of rebellion that lead us away from His perfect plan in our lives. He is gracious to pardon us and accept us back because He sees us washed clean through Christ's blood.

If you are not close to the Lord right now, He is right there waiting patiently for your return. He doesn't need you, He wants the best for you and in order to reach that pinnacle your must be working out His plan for you.

Many Blessings,

Steve

Manna from John for lunch or dinner or whatever you call it :)

(ESV) John 3:25 Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him." 27 John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.' 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease."

What an amazing thing for a human being to say...He must increase, but I must decrease... Those words do not just fall off of the tongue of a fleshly man, the Holy Spirit was at work in John. Whenever I am obedient to the Holy Spirit and do something and receive any sort of a compliment, it is hard to glorify the one who did the work through me, but you cannot own the work or the results. If you yield to the Spirit and witness to someone who curses you out, it is no less successful than when you have the priviledge to pray with someone to receive Christ as their savior. Always remember to yield the floor to the one who deserves the recognition for the work. John's disciples seemed a little upset with "all" going to Jesus instead of John.

I think that attitude is where the competition comes between our local churches. Some tend to downgrade another local body because they do or don't have drums, or they preach out of this Bible or that Bible. The only serious disagreements should come from critical theological issues concerning God, Jesus or the Word. At the end, we all have the same head coach and the same playbook, but we are all not playing the same game. With our finite minds, we can only sell out to one game at a time, just play hard, play disciplined and let God be glorified in everything we do and be joyful when God uses someone else mightily to bring more brothers and sisters into the family.

Have a blessed day,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

 

The non Christians in church are often easy to figure out, not that you know for sure, but as spiritual fruit inspectors, you don''t see much fruit. Of course you never really know, but that's not our job, to pass judgement.When people either don't do anything or don't do anything without seeking recognition, you have to wonder. People who won't do any "behind the scenes" work make you wonder. People who say the most beautiful prayers on Sunday then know all of the nasty jokes on Monday make you wonder. I am not at all saying that you distance yourself from anyone, God calls us to love everyone, but pray for them, talk to them about the Lord and his beautiful grace. Also talk to them about sin, because of where we live there are a lot of good religous folks who don't know Jesus from the man in the moon. Until someone sees their separation from God, they can't see their need for Jesus.

 

 

I pray you have a blessed Lords Day,

Steve

Manna from John

(ESV) John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The word believe does not mean knowledge, the Devil knows about Jesus, he even tried to get Jesus to bow down to him. Believe means something so much more,it means to put your trust and faith in the original greek. Faith is trusting in someone or something, when you jump, you have faith that gravity will bring you back down. Believing in Jesus is trusting He will do what He said he will do, trusting that he will be faithful to the promises of being our provider and savior. Have you believed, I pray that you have.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

I have had this scripture in an email for 2 days.

(ESV) John 3:12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

This passage contains probably the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, it is great news! But the rest of the verses surrounding it really show the need for verse 16. In verse 14 the serpent that Moses lifted up saved the Israelites that looked upon it from dying, Jesus had to die to save us, that was why He was here was to die. God will do anything including turning over His own son to godless pegans and religous zealots to be murdered. God wasn't surprised that Jesus died, or rather was killed, it was part of the plan, just like this email is. Someone either reading this or someone you know needs to read it. God loves you and has made provision for us to be together for eternity. His Spirit is probably already working in your life to show you that love. He is convicting you of your sin and has shown you in these verses that you will die just like those in the wilderness that would not look upon the serpent.

Tomorrow I will talk about what believing is and what one must do to be saved.

Many blessings,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Nicodemus knew that there was something different about Jesus, but he didn't want to ruin his rep with the other Pharisees by seeing him during the day. Some have said that coming at night might have meant that he just wanted to be able to talk with Jesus for a longer time, uninterupted. That is possible, but Jesus was not very popular with the Pharisees, he was taking their glory by not merely talking a good game and making the exterior look good, He impacted people's lives in love.

In order to enter the kingdom of God, be saved, we have to be born of water and born of the Spirit. There are a variety of possible interpretations of water, from ceremonial cleansing to natural birth, but the Spirit is clear. Unless you have the spiritual birth of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, you are not born again or "begotten from above" as it may be translated and therefore will have no entrance into God's kingdom. This is God's work in your life.

Many Blessings,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 2:23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus is not surprised by our behavior, He knows us better than we know ourselves. If we have that understanding, it will free us to confess our short comings (sins), sometimes many, many times to both God and brothers or sisters in Christ. It is foolish to put on airs with God, He knows you, He knows if you are genuinely saved or are just playing church.

It is easy to believe when we see miracles, but we start questioning when we don't keep seeing them. A miracle isn't necessary, the Bible and the Holy Spirit are adequate to witness the Gospel message, but sometims He uses us in the process. What a great priviledge, that work is mandated to everyone, but many are unwilling and miss out on seeing the miracle of a regenerated Spirit.

Let each of us who know the Lord actively seek the opportunity to brag on Jesus and watch for the Holy Spirit working in someone. But let me say, "success" in witnessing is you being submitted to God, not necessarily someone accepting Jesus. Saving is His grace and His work, we just get to play a role sometimes.

I pray each of you have a blessed weekend,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

I fell asleep before I hit send last night....I shared this tonight at our prayer meeting, but for those that were not there, I spent most of Wednesday in the truck driving. I listened to someone who talked about being saved at a young age. My mind wondered wishing that I had been saved much earlier in my life. It was just a few days before my 25th birthday that I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I had the thought that I had wasted those years. But the Lord has showed me that He has used my whole life to write my unique testimony, but even more than that, I don't need to worry about past wasted time, I need to focus on tomorrow and not waste it and to actively serve the Lord.

(ESV) John 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

We often hear about "born again Christians", that is redundant, If you have not had a spiritual birth, you have not been saved and are not a Christian. There is not another path to cross the great divide of sin to reconcile ourselves to God.

Being in the south, we often encounter people who are strong in religous tradition, but are very weak on the understanding that Christianity is about a relationship with Christ through grace alone. We can't muster it up ourselves or do anything to earn it. It is a gift from God that we do not deserve. Christ's death on the cross is the only thing that will satisfy God's wrath against our sin. If there was another way, Jesus would not have had to leave Heaven to suffer here.

If you don't have a true saving relationship with Jesus, talk to someone about it, the Devil uses tradition and religion to pacify our needs for God, but we will only end up frustraited.

If you do have that saving relationship, its our duty to share the good news with others. You don't have to be a pastor or scholar to do it. It's a simple message of love.

Have a blessed day,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 2:13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make wmy Father's house a house of trade." 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

I am probably going out on a limb here, so let me know how your feelings...This is still the bain of the Church, I go to a very conservative church in the country, we do not have anything for sale. I'm not really saying that selling a cup of coffee or a book in a church building is necessarily bad. The temple was where Jews went to fellowship with God through sacrifice and held the very presence of God.

Understanding that your body is now God's temple, not the church building, we need to be careful about the motivation in our hearts about which ministies we support and where we place our church membership. Too many times, especially in big churches, it becomes a business decision as to which body you join with in service to the Lord.

Do we hold the temple of God now in high esteem as Christ did? I do not think so, the local body that are Christ's hands and feet are 80% inactive. If you look at George Barna's numbers, that may be generous. We cannot reach the lost when we are chasing dimes around...God is our provider, not our career or our ability in salesmanship. I have seen it too many times, when we need work, we get it, a project just "falls out of the sky" for no reason. Prayer to the Father does more than becoming a member at "First Business" Church.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 1:35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39 He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 

This is almost a spiritual baton passing from John to Jesus. John had fulfilled his role in preparing the Jews through repentance, which is always the first step to Jesus. But the real interesting thing here is the immediate following of Jesus by John's disciples. They didn't merely just follow him, they went to stay with him for a time. I struggle with the immediate following sometimes. I think I know what I am supposed to be doing, but then I sometimes second guess it. I look for some confirmation, when I should just say yes to Him. I am not alone there, many people do the same thing and miss out on the Holy Spirit's enabling to do things that maybe we aren't good at. 

God has been working in interesting ways in my life. He has shown me that too often I chalk up any spiritual success to my own ability and steal God's glory. God wants to use my weaknesses to help others because I know that He had to enable me to do it and He will get the glory. That reliance on God to do His work is exactly where he wants all of us. We have to quit worrying about failing when its God doing the work through us. The only catch is to make sure that we are walking with Him enough to know the difference between last nights pizza and the Holy Spirit's prompting. Spending time with the Shepard is how the sheep learn his voice.

For Him,

Steve

Manna from John

(ESV) 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." 32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." 

Churches are filled with people who have only received the baptism of water and not the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That difference is the difference between religion, which gives more misery than comfort, and a saving faith in Jesus. Too many people have been baptised out of guilt or wanting to make someone else happy and never have met Jesus, they have merely gone through some form of religious rite which only resulted in wet clothes. 

Belief in Christ is not just head knowledge, the Devil knows everything about Jesus and even believes that He exists, but for a saving faith, the difference is the calling of the Holy Spirit, the feeling of intense sorrow that you have not followed God's standards (not that you got caught), believing that Jesus' death and resurrection was necessary to pay for your sins, mentally turning away from your past sins and committing your life to following Christ. That is a lot more complicated than coming forward after a service, saying a prayer and getting baptised. Being redeemed from death is more complicated, there isn't much outward evidence of that happening other than a huge smile after feeling the weight of sin fall off of your shoulders. 

If none of this makes sense, email me or message me and I will walk through it all with you, I can say pretty confidently that if you have never been convicted (felt overwhelming sorrow) of your sins and realized that there is nothing that you could do about your problem, you have NEVER been saved and your name is not yet in the Lambs Book of Life.

All for Him,

Steve

Manna from John

(ESV) John 1:25 They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even whe who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."

John had the proper view of where Jesus was in relation to him. Slaves took the sandles off of their Master's feet, which would be a detestible job for a Jew. John said he was unworthy to do even that menial task for Jesus. We need to taste that picture of holiness, He was absolutely blameless and deserved the respect that John was showing him here. The people questioning John were the ones later who would select a prisoner to be released and plead to have Jesus killed.

Sin blinds us. We need to pursue holiness, the renewing and transforming of our minds through bible study and prayer and fellowship with other believers. Without this we will look just like the world and be completely ineffective for doing God's work. This is the single biggest problem of the Church today, too many people try to absorb enough on Sunday morning every week or two from the preacher and never knock the dust off of their bibles. That would be like trying to eat enough on Sunday to last the week.

All believers need to be in the word often to allow us to see what God would like to change.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 1:19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22 So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said, "I am tthe voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."

The Pharasees knew their scripture. But it never entered their heart. John the Baptist ministry was not to replace Jesus, but to set the table for him. Many people did the same in my life. I had several people preach into my life well before I repented and believed in Jesus.

But my question for us is do you love Jesus enough to do this for someone else? God calls each Christian to be a witness to others. If youe love Jesus, you will care about the lost souls in this world. John's ministry, like ours, pointed to Christ.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

I appologize for missing the last couple of days, the recliner bit me! Hopefully I can make the transition to mornings again.

(ESV) John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

The 10 Commandments and the rest of the law are impossible for us to follow perfectly and just one slip up separates us from God eternally just like in the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were sent out of the Garden forever and separated from God.

The law was designed to show us our faults, not bring us closer to God. The Jews took following the law to the highest level, the most devout, still today will not do anything on the Sabbath (Saturday) to the extreme of paying Gentiles (that's us) to turn their light switches on for them. Absolutely ridiculous!! You are not more holy if you don't turn on a switch and notlove your neighbors.

The law works the same today. If there isn't a problem, there doesn't need to be a law, all a law does is make your flesh rebel from it. For instance if I say do not think of a pink polka dotted rhino, most people have never considered that before and everyone who reads this will think of a pink polka dotted rhino. But grace and truth came through Christ. He will teach us the application of Gods real teaching in the law not the letter of the law.

For instance, Jesus taught that the Sabbath is made for us, not us for the Sabbath, meaning if we choose to work on our Holy Day, whether Saturday or Sunday or whenever, it affects us negatively by being more tired and not being refreshed by a day of rest.

For a believer, the law is just a reminder that we have not arrived, for the unbeliever, it is a flashing warning light that you have a sin problem to deal with, both of us need grace.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.' ") 16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

Jesus, being God, clothed himself in the flesh of a poor family's baby. He grew and began working with His earthly father Joseph in near obscurity. Apparently he nor his mother Mary related much about his younger years to the disciples, or it never entered their minds when writing scripture. But GOD in the flesh came and DWELT among US yet did not sin. He had all of the struggles that we have. He faced all of the temptation that we face. Yet He did not fall short of God's standards as we do.

We are still partaking in the truth and grace that Jesus revealed today through the Bible. God did not withhold ANYTHING that we would need to be reconciled to him. He loves us that much. But He doesn't just want us to be walking with Him in the future after we die. He wants us to be learning to walk with Him now day in and out. His grace is also for learning to walk with Him now, placing ourselves in the back a truly making Him our Lord.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

To receive Jesus means you accept His claims of being God and more than that, like you receive a gift, take possession of His promises and more than that, take on his mission. He came only to glorify the Father, that must be our mission.

If it is good, it can only be from God. We have no capacity to do good without Him. We always have a motive, maybe it make us look like a nice person, maybe we feel guilty about something else we have done. In Christ, everything is done for the good of the person receiving the gift, as was evident on the cross. Whenever we seek recognition for our good works, we are stealing the glory from God. this is why He uses our weaknesses, if He used our strengths, we would take credit for the good works ourselves.

Have a blessed day,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(ESV) John 1:6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

John the Baptist came into the world with a similar mission to modern Christians. Where John was witnessing about the coming Messiah, we must bear witness to the risen Lord, because the world still does not know him. Christ is the opposite of the world, we have to recognize that. The passions of Christ are to reconciole people from the clutches of the world to himself. Verse 9 talks about enlightening every man, Christ has revealed himself in many ways pointing to a creator, that revelation leads either to salvation or condemnation.

Our responsibility, like John the Baptist is merely obedience.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(NASB) John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

It is clear that in this text that without Christ, we never really live and also that if you don't know Christ, what I just said will make no sense. When we believe in Christ, we have His life, light, in us and will be shining His light in this dark world. When you accept Christ, you will be changed, without a change then we have to question if the belief really occured. Light alwys impacts darkness.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna from John

(NASB) John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

So Jesus was not only there when the world was made, He made it. But even more, everything that exists has come into being by Him. That is to say that there are no accidents out there. We were all created for a purpose by Jesus. Finding that purpose is one of the fundamental issues that we all feel the need to address. What is it that makes you get out of bed, but more so that makes you feel fulfilled. All of that exists in Christ who fulfills people as they enter into the purpose that he designed them for. What has He designed you for?

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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