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John 14:23-27 Part 2

May 24, 2013 Merlin Gonzales FHL Indiana, Message

It’s been almost 3 weeks since my past posting.

So, how can we resist the devil and sin? Jesus said in verse 26, that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. The Holy Spirit is the same Spirit that Jesus had while He was here on earth. He is our Comforter and He provides us power to live a life of joy and peace. A believer can be filled by the Holy Spirit again and again in his life. The Holy Spirit will reside inside of us. He enables us to be strong to resist the devil.

The Holy Spirit is our Helper, which means that we can do the things through Christ who strengthens us. You may say, I continue to sin but I don’t have the strength to resist it. Ask the Holy Spirit for strength and He will provide you supernatural power not only to resist sin but also to overcome your weakness.

As we yield to the Spirit, our relationship with the Lord will go deeper. We will be able to live a victorious life. As God resides in us, we will hear more from Him, we will have peace that surpasses understanding. Verses 27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

One of the best ways to have a peaceful heart is to immerse ourselves in the love of God. When we become saturated with His love, our heart will beat with His heart, our thoughts will be dominated with what’s pure, rather than unclean thoughts. Our action will manifest our love for God and will be evident by our lives. We will be able to forgive others and release the toxin of unforgiveness.

Let me tell you a story of unconditional love that transcends the life of a person who was abused for many years. This is a story of a woman born in Sudan more than 100 years ago. Her family was rich and she grew up in luxury. But she was kidnapped by Arabs and sold her as a slave. She was forced to walk 600 miles barefoot. She was sold as a slave several times. As a slave, she experienced beaten so bad that she was not able to get up from her bed for a month. One of her masters beat her every day for years. Her suffering was so severe that she forgot her name.

Her most terrifying memories was when her master carved images on her breast and stomach with a razor knife and then putting salt on the wounds to leave a deep scar on her body. She was resold again to an Italian family who was very kind to her.

Later in her life, she served the Lord as a cook and a door keeper for religious organization. She was later known as a missionary. Her gentleness, calming voice, and ever-present smile became well known and Vicenzans still refer to her as Sor Moretta (“little brown sister”) or Madre Moretta (“black mother”). During the Second World War (1939–1945) she shared the fears and hopes of the town people, who considered her a saint and felt protected by her mere presence. The war passed without one single casualty in their town.

A young student once asked Bakhita: “What would you do, if you were to meet those who kidnapped you (captors)?” Without hesitation she responded: “If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian…”.

When she became old, she used wheelchair and was in a lot of pain. But she retained her cheerfulness, and if asked how she was, she would always smile and answer “as the Master desires”.

God is above everything and everyone

Through the cruelty of man, God can show His love to you. Jesus showed His love to humanity through the cruelty of the Roman soldiers who tortured Him and crucified Him.
Through your life circumstances, God can show His power over your life. Many people are hurting right now. You can provide hope to those who are dying for someone to talk to.

As Christians, we can be an example of God’s character in our neighborhoods. God is above everything and everyone.

We cannot do these on our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit to empower us. The Scriptures said that Jesus left the earth but promised His disciples a Helper, Comforter and will bring heaven on earth through the Holy Spirit in us.

Today, you can receive the Holy Spirit again so you can do supernatural things that will expand the Kingdom in your neighborhood.

John 14:23-27 Part 1

May 6, 2013 Merlin Gonzales KIOM, Message, Speaking Engagements

John 14:23-27, “Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

²⁵“All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Let me give you a background of these verses to help us understand its context or the circumstances that precede this situation.

The Sunday before Jesus was crucified, he entered Jerusalem. This day is what we now call Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week. It’s the Sunday before Easter that was called “The Triumphal Entry”.

The following day, Monday, Jesus entered the Temple in Jerusalem and He drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the moneychangers and the chairs of those selling doves.

On Tuesday that week, He had confrontations with the religious leaders who were trying to trap Him with a question about paying taxes to Caesar to get evidence for His arrest.

The following day, Wednesday probably was a day of rest.

That Thursday, Jesus asked His disciples to find them a place to observe the Passover on an Upper Room. This was the night of the Last Supper. This was the time when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet and that was the same night that the Bible records as John Chapter 14, which is our Scripture reading today.

Jesus talked about love many times before these passages. In verse 23, He said, “All who loves me will do what I say.”

Love and obedience are a single package; they come together. Love manifests obedience and obedience manifests love. Jesus is saying to us that if we love Him, we should obey Him. This verse is described well by these verses in John 8:3-11, ³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Jesus is saying to us today, that He loves us as He loved the woman who was caught in adultery. However, He told the woman to obey Him, to stop doing what she had been doing – adultery.

Friends, God loves us that He does not want us to hurt ourselves. Although God had forgiven our sins (that is, if you received Jesus Christ in your heart) like the adulterer, there is consequence when we continue to sin.

Let’s continue on verse 23. Jesus also said to His disciples that His manifestation to the disciples’ lives would be in response to their love and obedience – that’s why Jesus said that God the Father and Himself will make their home with those who love and obey Him. Not only Jesus would take residence in us but also God the Father. In addition to loving us, but He takes pleasure in loving obedient believer.

In our lives, we catch ourselves praying for God’s power to manifest in our lives and wondering why (after months of praying) His power is not manifesting to us. We can pray for God’s help but if we don’t help ourselves, meaning, we disobey Him, we therefore do not receive what we pray for. We are actually hindering ourselves for the manifestation of God in our lives and robbing ourselves of the blessings.

On the next verse, He said “Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”

Here, Jesus is saying the same thing in different way. Not obeying Him, is not loving Him. Saying I love you to your spouse is not enough; it’s loving him or her with action. Taking action in loving your spouse is a demonstration of real love. Disobedience is a serious matter. There are consequences for our disobedience.

I would like to pause here before we move on to the next verse. Like many of us, I used to live in sin and continue to do the same thing even though I know I am disobeying God. The harder I tried to keep away from sinning, it seemed like I cannot get away from them and do the right thing.

I tried going to church every Sunday and still finding myself failing.

I tried going to Bible studies and still disobeying God intentionally

I started volunteering thinking that doing good things will get me to heaven.

It was until I decided to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior that I had the strength and grace to break away from the bondage of sin. Friends, the Bible said that God sent His one and only Son to the earth to be one of us. He was tempted in everyway possible, but never sinned. He came to this earth to release us from our bondage to sin by dying on the cross. The Bible said that those who confess their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be saved from their sin and will inherit eternal life. When the sinner repent of his sin, trust Christ and confess Him as His Lord and Savior, he is born again. His sins are forgiven and He can be assured that he will go to heaven when he dies. Jesus paid the price for us by dying on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin. He rose again and is now in heaven. If you are ready to accept Jesus in your heart, please repeat this prayer. “Jesus, forgive me. I sinned and I am sorry. I repent from my sin. Jesus, please come into my heart and be the king of my life. I accept you as my Lord and Savior, in Jesus Name, Amen.” If you pray that prayer and you are serious about it, you can be sure that you now have eternal life.

If you have questions about finding out more about Jesus, His death and His resurrection, please contact Merlin by responding to this Blog.

Update on the Classes

April 30, 2013 Merlin Gonzales blog

When you’re having fun, things and events seem to go fast. The Session #5 is coming up May 1st. We will spend half of our time about the 7 Influencers of a society and about some practical applications such as preparing a Project Proposal and Plan. In this session, students will learn how to identify needs, resources and how to mobilize volunteers. You don’t want to miss it.

It has been my intention to make my classes available online. The class at Martindale Church of Christ became our launching pad to publish the class online with the ArtSees Diner. Thanks to my friend Mary who have worked hard unconditionally to make it happen.

The teachings are now available via YouTube through Artsees Diner. We are still working on finding the right device for better sound. Please let us know if you have suggestions.

I am thinking of expanding my teachings that will span for a few months starting in Fall of 2013. Please pray for our team for the Lord’s direction. However, our next regular class may start as early as mid or late May.

For the meantime, I am offering personal coaching, mentoring and training to a few individuals who want to experience more on Living in God’s Dominion here one Earth. You can contact me to set up a for personal assessment via [email protected]

Don’t ask for a miracle; be the miracle!

Our awareness directs our action

April 30, 2013 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, FHL Indiana, KIOM

In Genesis 28, Jacob was running away because of his lies in the past. He was at a low point in his life – in the desert both figuratively and physically. However, God reassured His promises even though Jacob knew that he messed up repeatedly. Jacob was in no position to earn God’s favor but God promised to be with him. This event marked the beginning of Jacob’s lifelong relationship with God. Since then, he operated his life at a higher level, he believed God even through the tough times in his life. He trusted God’s promise in the midst of being taken advantage of by his Uncle Laban over and over again. His awareness expanded beyond the physical realm.

‎”Our awareness directs our action and our collective action changes our culture.” ~Merlin Gonzales

We are aware of the benefits of exercise. How about eating healthy foods and getting enough sleep, living a less stressful life and the importance of education? All these are good information that everyone should know about. It could change how you feel, how you look and how you live. But they are only information; unless you act on them, they will remain in your head and they may not have a direct effect in your life.

Awareness directs our action but only when you act on it, then it will have impact on your life. You act on things that are important and according to your priority. A good example that all of us can relate to is breathing. Everything stops in your life until you have your next breath. If you are under the water and needing to breath, you don’t stop to think about the nice coral or fish next to you. All your energy, all your focus will be to swim above the water. The information of not breathing is good but until you act on it, you’ll die.

Our next step is to expand our awareness of the Kingdom so we can see what’s available to us and how we can act on it. If all the aspects of your life, your family, your work, your money, your business, your promotion and your future depends on the Kingdom of God, what would you do today, tomorrow or the rest of your life? How would your priorities change, how would you rearrange your schedule, where will your focus be?

My next Blog will be about simple steps to expand our awareness of the Kingdom.

The Next Step

April 6, 2013 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, FHL Indiana, KIOM

Previously, I wrote the article about Missional Community and the most recent one was about taking the time to be intentional to have a transformational community.

I mentioned that I will be writing about the next step towards building missional community. In order for us to have lasting changes, we need to build a strong foundation. Our foundation is the Biblical Principles.

I am currently conducting a teaching series on “a study on Living in God’s Dominion Here on Earth.” Here’s Session #1 Introduction to the Kingdom

Be blessed!

Merlin