POWERFUL!!! The Gospel of St. John - Chapter 1, Part 2 - Bro. John "Ernie" Perez

This is one of the most Powerful podcast we have ever done!!!  We continue our class on The Gospel of St. John with Bro. Ernie Perez.  Get your Notebooks and get ready!

Light shows up on page one of the Bible and John says that Light has a name. We sit around the table and work through John 1:6-12, tracing how John the Baptist is sent to testify, not to build his own platform, but to point hearts toward Jesus Christ. The deeper we go, the clearer it gets: the Word who was with God and was God is the life that becomes the light of humanity, and the darkness still cannot overcome him.

We connect the Gospel of John to Genesis, 2 Corinthians, 1 Peter, Psalms, Acts, and the words of Jesus himself to build a full picture of biblical truth. We talk about Israel’s covenant story and why rejection of the Messiah was both tragic and revealing. Then we bring it home with a warning that feels uncomfortably modern: it’s easy to paint a version of Jesus from our own wishes instead of submitting to the Jesus of Scripture, the God we need rather than the God we want.

The conversation turns practical when we unpack “believe on his name.” We push back on faith that stops at a moment or a slogan and doesn’t produce repentance, obedience, or real fruit. We walk through discipleship texts like Luke 14 and John 14:15, and we talk about why taking up the cross changes what doors we can walk through. We close with reflections on daily repentance, Romans 8 hope, and a powerful testimony about the unseen impact of prayer.

If this challenged you, help someone else hear it. Subscribe, share the link, and leave a review, then tell us what line or Scripture hit you the hardest.

Ways to Give at www.m3mi.org...Thank you for your seed!  :)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I'm your home sister diamond. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so excited we're finally getting to continue our study on the book of St. John. It's just the gospel of St. John. Absolutely. It's my favorite John. I just love the way that he writes. So glad to be joined in the classroom today. We're all around the table. We've got Brother Hermany with us. Good morning. We got mama. Good morning. Sister Joyce. Good morning. Audia. Tammy or Cookie. And Sister Sandy.

unknown 1:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

So we all say good morning. We got one. It says good afternoon.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

It is afternoon, technically. It is afternoon. You know, we're kind of dragging this morning.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Always one in the class.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

But we're all here. And I'm excited. I I love our intro. Says I know you can't hear it. It says, let's just go open the word and see what Jesus has to say today. Okay. And I get so excited to see what he has to say. We hear a lot of voices that say other stuff, but I like when he when he comes out, right? So I'm so grateful to have you here. Thank you for this. We're going to be using this on the E3 school as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

So this is a it's a great pleasure for me to do this. It doesn't matter if we're doing this or if mama and I are just having devotion. I get a big thrill out of going through passages.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

You know, I think that the the meme that you posted the other day was you to a T. I mean, it's like, you know, it shows the the man looking, you're looking outside, and there's like torrential rains and tornadoes and all this stuff, and the man goes, Who wants to have a Bible study? I thought, yeah, that's you. And that's a good thing, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:30

If I don't have it with anybody else, I have a captive audience in the wife. That's so if she looks to you like she's been praying, she's probably been praying that he'd be quiet.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Yeah, well, that's another topic for another day.

unknown 2:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Well, we're so glad to have you. Thank you so much. Let's just delve right into the book of St. John, the Apostle of St. John, and that lesson. We'll start our video.

Jesus As Word And Light

Genesis Light And New Life

Israel Chosen By Covenant Love

Rejected Messiah And The Jesus We Need

Power To Become God’s Children

What Believing On His Name Means

Take Up The Cross And Follow

SPEAKER_00 2:55

All right. Well, we have covered the first five verses. And this first lesson actually is through the first 18 verses, but there's been so much to talk about. We're just not making in in a block of 18 verses. We have to break it up a little bit. And we're going to start with uh verse 6 today. And and I'm going to read verses 6 and 8, and then we're going to go back and talk about them. And then we'll we'll continue from there. So it's a little bit different. You know, usually like we read a large block of scriptures and then come back. But because I don't know how far we're going to get, we're just going to do it this way today. So reading 6, 7, and 8, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. So John has been talking about starts out with in the beginning. That's so powerful the way he associates Jesus with the beginning of all time. And we'll we'll move through those first five verses. And you you can see those on our previous lesson on our YouTube channel and on all the podcast platforms. So let's see. John the Baptist is sent by God to bear witness, or that is, to testify of the life that is the light, so that all men might believe. Believe what? They were not to believe John the Baptist was the word that was with God, that was God, and was the life that was the light of men. This is what we must believe about Jesus. So to make sure that's making a little bit of sense. Now I'll back up to verse one and we'll read those scriptures because I want to put a nail on some things again. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Now let's go back and look. In the beginning was the word. So as as we get to this scripture, we're going to talk about the light and how is that associated with the word. In the beginning was the word, the same verse 2 was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, that is the agency of the concept of Christ, and without him was not anything made that was made. Now look at this. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. So when we say that John came to testify of that light, this is why we say this was the light that was with God, that was God, it was the life that was the light of men. And this is what we have to see about Jesus. So uniquely the expression of God, that when doubting Thomas finally saw the Lord, and the Lord invited him, you know, stick your your hand in my finger and in my side, Thomas fell to the ground and said, My Lord and my God. So what he saw, the revelation of Christ that he saw, was expressed in his statement. He saw beyond the Son of God that this is the reflection of the God who fills all time and space. And that's what we believe when we believe in Jesus. And when John came to testify of him, this is what we must believe about Jesus, the testimony of John, and we'll learn even more than that. Now, this man was sent from God, the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light. John came to pave the way for Jesus, to get hearts ready to receive Jesus. He came to point to Jesus. He's at one point he says, uh when his disciples ask him, What's going on? Jesus is making more disciples than you are. John says, He must increase, and I must decrease. If there's anything that we should pray in our lives, is that Jesus will increase, and that we will decrease. That is, that he will be more readily seen than our own characteristic, especially our flaws and failures. When someone, when you witness to someone and they come under conviction, you realize they have seen past all our flaws and failures. That's a miracle in itself. Now, John was not that light. Later, we'll talk about how they queried John about this, but was sent to bear witness of the light. He came saying, There's another one coming after me who is mightier than I. I'm not worthy to tie his shoes. He came to prepare the way for him. Now I'm gonna read verse nine. He came to bear witness of that light, verse eight, verse nine, that was the true light which lighteth every man that come into the world, cometh into the world. Very quickly, turn your Bible back to the book of Genesis. And let's look for just a moment at verse 3. Genesis 1, verse 3. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light, and God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and morning was the first day. So the first thing created was light, and Jesus is the light. So before anything existed, the concept of Christ was in place. He was that true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The knowledge of him. Turn there with me. We won't read the whole chapter. We're just gonna snatch something out of it. But you should go back and always study what comes before and after verses that we discuss. Verse 6 says, For God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness. This is to me so beautiful, hath shined in our hearts, because our hearts were filled with the darkness of sin. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Notice the preposition. It doesn't say with God. It says the glory of God, not with Jesus, but in the face of Jesus Christ. So intimate is this bond that God's glory is seen in Jesus Christ. Something that Thomas understood and fell on his face and said, My Lord and my God. Now we'll also see First Peter. Turn with me to First Peter. First Peter, we're gonna look at chapter two, verses nine and ten. We used to sing this when mama and I first were going to church together. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people. That means priceless, treasured, delicate in the sense that you're priceless, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. The realm of Jesus Christ is the absence of the darkness of sin. And he takes us into his marvelous light. Verse 10, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God. That's why we're in the light, which had not obtained mercy, we were in the darkness, but now have obtained mercy. He, Jesus, was the word that was with God, that was God, that was in the beginning, that was the life, that was the light, which was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. If God didn't give us the breath of life, we would not be here. Remember, when he made Adam, he was just a lump of clay on the ground. But then God breathed into him his own spirit, and man became a living soul. Not long ago, I saw a reel on Facebook that gave us a view of the moment of conception. Now, when I was in school, they had some high-powered medical stuff that they could see inside of a person's body, but not like now with the with these fiber optics. That was never thought of when I was a kid. They watched conception. And at the instant the sperm pierced the egg, there in the womb of the mother to be was simultaneously a flash of light caught by the camera. This light is biblical proof that life was present. He is the light of the world. In him is life, and it's still that way when a human being is conceived. Now let's read verses 10 and 11 of John chapter 1. He was in the world, and the world was made by, or that is, through him, by is as agency, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. All right, he that was the word, right? We looked at that, he said, he was the word, which was the life, which was the light, that lighteth every man that cometh to the world. He that word was in the world. But the world was too self-centered to recognize him. He even came to the people that he chose to separate unto himself. You have to remember that. The Jews were not chosen because they were holy. When you read in the Old Testament about why God chose the Jews, it doesn't say he chose them because they were holy. It doesn't say he chose them because they were superior to all the other ethnicities. It was fulfillment of a promise that he made to Abraham. And you have to remember there were no Jews in the book of Exodus, in the book of Hebrews, or I'm sorry, Genesis, there were no Jews. There were no Jews until the kingdom of Israel split because of the idolatry that permeated them, because Solomon dropped his watermelon, as it were, the kingdom split, and there were ten northern tribes that became one nation, and they kept the name Israel. So they were Israelites. But the southern kingdom composed of primarily the kingdom of Judah with a part of Simeon and a part of Benjamin. And then there were remnants of the twelve tribes that when Jeroboam took over and begins to institute idolatry, many of them from each tribe came back to Judah to live there because they didn't want to be part of the idolatrous practices of Jeroboam. So they were like refugees. But the tribal inheritance land was Judah. And instead of being thought of as Judahites, it was shortened to Jews. But they're all Israelites. But the Jews are a certain group of Israelites who held to the teachings of Moses. But then it just through history began to cover all Israelites. Now, we said we were going to look in Genesis, so let's look at Genesis 19. I'm sorry, Exodus 19. Exodus 19. All right, so we're going to look at Exodus 19 and verse 4. God speaking through Moses. Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians. And how I bear you, talking to the nation of Israel, on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself. When I married my wife, I brought her unto myself. These people were separated that they might become a reflection of the goodness of God by the testimony that they live. No other nation had the laws they had. No other nation could see, as a nation, we heard the voice of God. They couldn't say it like it happened to the Jews at Mount Sinai. Or that we saw God come down on top of the mountain and fire and smoke and lightning and thunderings. We were there. Deuteronomy chapter 7. We're going to read verses 7 through 9. The Lord speaking to Israel. This is like his final address. The book of Deuteronomy is his last words before he dies. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people. For you were the fewest of all people, but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Verse 9, know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. We, the church, are the Israel of God, made up both of Jews and Gentiles. And we are loved and we are cherished by God, and we have the opportunity to be the reflection of his grace, his nature, and his character to this world that they might be saved. We already read 1 Peter, right, chapter 2, verses 9 through 10. You are a chosen generation, that's who we are. To be a part of his light. What light? The light, which was from the beginning. The firstborn in creation is the light. The first thing that came into existence is the light. Now they did not recognize him. Verse 10. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. Verse 11, he came unto his own, and his own received him not. These are all things that John is familiar with. They even rejected him, the Jews who were the vehicle, the descendants of Abraham, specifically the descendants of Israel, Jacob, the descendants of Judah, specifically of the tribe of David. This is who the Christ is descended from. And they rejected him. They rejected him because scripture is always true, but remember, God is everywhere and everywhere. So history to him is a snap. To us, it's an ongoing event, and we're in there somewhere. Time. But to him, it's a snapshot. So all his prophecies never miss because he's only telling us what he sees. Now we're going to look at Psalm 118, and we're going to read verses 21 through 23. Psalm 118. And verse 21, beginning, I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation. So he's saying to Jehovah the Creator, I'm going to praise you, for you have heard me and are become my salvation. There is no Jesus if God is not in Christ. There is no salvation for us. Verse 22, the stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. Look at the preaching. Well, the defense, when Peter and John are on trial, look at what they have to say about Jesus. Acts chapter 4. Caiaphas and his group are on their case because of the man that was healed at the gate called beautiful. And Peter says to them upon his examination, be it known, verse 10, unto you all, to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ, not just any Jesus, because Yeshua was a common name, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, the one you murdered, whom God raised from the dead. Even by him does this man stand here before you whole. Now he reaches back by the unction of the Holy Ghost to quote from Psalm 18. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. You are rejecting the God of Israel when you reject the Messiah. Neither, verse 12, is there salvation in any other? Wait, we just read the psalmist said that salvation is in Jehovah God, Elohim. It's right. But God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. So neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name. That name is Jesus or Yeshua under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. This is it. The name of Jesus. We're learning some things in John chapter 1. If we don't tie them to other scriptures, it may not make sense to us. Because John has such an intimate insight into Jesus. All the gospel writers are great and they give us great information. But John, it seems, was Jesus' cup buddy. The kid he took under his wing personally. And his insight into the character and the nature of Christ is a little bit different, therefore, than the others. He came into his own and they rejected him. They did not want him because they he didn't come as the Messiah that they were looking for. I remember walking from the little shotgun trailer that we lived in across the compound when we were on the Navajo reservation to the church house. And I had my message all prepared, and it's probably hour and a half, two hours before church. And as I'm walking across the compound, God speaks to me and says, Aren't you glad I decided to be the God you needed instead of the God you wanted? Needless to say, I didn't go with my morning lesson. That went out the window. God is the God we need him to be, not the God we want him to be. Be careful not to paint a picture of Jesus according to your own imagination and not according to the scripture. Because there's not another Jesus. And you can have another Jesus in your mind and be worshiping him and say there's no results to this. That's not Jesus as the scripture has said. That's Jesus as we have wanted him to be. Verse 12. But as many as received him, so they didn't receive him, they rejected him, meaning they rejected not only his identity, but his teachings. For you cannot accept his identity unless you are ready to obey his teachings. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Now I want you to understand something. Sometimes after we've been walking with Jesus for a little while, we can become very arrogant. Because we think we already are, instead of we are becoming. We don't say that's a man or that's a woman when the child is born. Why? Because they have power to become, we have to let that happen. And that only happens with time. So if you begin your relationship with Jesus yesterday, two weeks ago, three months ago, and you're wondering why you're having to repent all the time and why you feel prompted by the Spirit of God. Don't do this, don't do that. And these things are all new. It's because you've received the power to become, and it's working. It's making you say, I need you, God. It's making you say I can't be satisfied with the person I see in the mirror. Why? Because I know that's not the reflection of what I am to become. And I don't have to accept that. I can see that I am in the process of becoming like him. Because I've received his teachings, even to them that believe on his name. So, what does it mean to believe on his name? This is something we really need to talk about. Because there is a multitude of different doctrines going around on what that means. One of the most famous and most widely used. There's 30,000 people in the arena. Stand up, close your eyes, bow your head, lift up your hand, and say, I received Jesus. Now you're born again. Life has not changed. Repentance has not happened. There's not even been a recognition of Jesus. I need you to wash away my sins. I need my life to change. What does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? It doesn't mean mental ascent that He is a true historical figure. Not even recognizing you can say He was crucified and He rose from the dead. But if your life doesn't line up with His teachings, you have yet to believe on the Lord because if that doesn't change your life, if that doesn't make you guilty over sin. Some of the greatest Christians I've ever known were just people who live in repentance. Paul told the Corinthian church, after years of successful ministry, I die daily. That's a culturalism, for every day I find things that I need to change to be more like Jesus. This is what the apostles said. It is foolish for us to try to conduct ourselves arrogantly in our experience with Jesus. When we need to grow to become. Okay? So do we have time to look at some scriptures about that? All right, let's look at this. It's not to bow your head, close your eyes, and lift your hand. Look at Luke, the gospel of chapter Luke, verse 14. Look at that. 14. Luke chapter 14. Now, I'm gonna read just from 25 through 27. And I suggest you go back later and read the rest of that chapter of Luke. Because it's going to put a nail in what I'm telling you. You've got to know it for yourself. You can't believe it because somebody you know and trust said it. You believe it because the Spirit of God rings in your heart, it's true, or you believe it because you opened up your Bible and you took the time to study and to verify this is true. You can't go to heaven riding on the tail of somebody else's salvation, of somebody else's experience with God. 25 through 27. And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said to them, So there's a great crowd following Jesus now. He says, If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not hear, excuse me, bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Why did he say you cannot be my disciple? You see that there was a multitude following him. Let your mind go back to when they tore the roof off the house and they let the man that was paralyzed and sick down through the roof, right? On his couch or on his bed, and and Jesus looked at him and said, You know, thy sins be forgiven thee, and everybody got upset. All the Pharisees and the scribes in their hearts said they were upset. Who can forgive sins but God alone? But Jesus, the writer says, knowing their thoughts, yeah, he knew that this is what they thought. Said, makes no difference. I want you all to know that if I say, Be healed, or if I say, Thy sins be forgiven, I have authority to do both. Why? Because God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, and only God can erase sin.

unknown 34:25

Yeah.

Obedience Over Lip Service

SPEAKER_00 34:26

And that's what they were saying. Only God can erase sin. But listen to me, the Lord knows every thought we think. That makes me to understand there were people in the crowd thinking, man, I wish I could have been there with Jesus. Man, and demons was being cast out and folks was being healed. I wish I could have been like one of his disciples. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, You cannot be my disciple. Why? Because he didn't love them? No, because he knew they were not willing to make a commitment of love to him that was permanent, that was life-changing. And so he said, it's it's teaching in the form of a parable. If you don't love me more than you love anyone else, including yourself, you'll never be my disciple. You cannot be my. I know you thought you wanted to be. Don't you know you have to pick up your cross and follow me? They all knew what the cross looked like. They all knew when they saw another Jew or a Roman soldier who failed, or a Greek who goofed up and was being crucified as punishment for breaking the law. When they saw that person carrying the cross beam, they understood where they're going, they're not coming back from. Are you willing to take up the cross of Christ? Because there's some places the cross won't go. You wear the cross, there's some doors you can't get through. The cross restricts your movement. It determines where you can and you cannot go. Let's don't stop there. Let's look at John chapter 14. My Bible is so old the pages stick together now, but I don't want to get rid of it. John 14, verse 15. This is the night of the Last Supper. This is part of the conversation that Jesus has, very intimate with his disciples. And he looks at them and says, If you love me, go out and live any way you want to. Continue in your drunkenness, continue in your gossiping, continue in your lying, continue in your greed and your selfishness, continue in your sexual immorality, continue in your idolatry. No, if you love me, keep my commandments. If there's not an effort on my part to live that repentant life that is continually pushing myself in the direction of obedience. See the gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 15. Well, look there. You might get there faster than me, like I said. This is my old Bible and it's sticking together, but I don't want to get rid of it. Matthew chapter 15, verses 7 through 9. Jesus looks at the people that are his detractors and says, You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. It's not enough to say it. Furthermore, verse 9, but in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Let me tell you something. Whatever traditions you decide to live by, if you decide to label your traditions or your personal convictions as doctrine, you're goofing up. If these things help you and enhance your testimony, great. But if you start thinking you're saving yourself, you're saying I don't need Jesus because I can make my life everything it needs to be. I can do it by myself. See, in the morning you get out of the shower, you don't put holiness on. And when you get ready to put on your pajamas, you don't take it off. Holiness is the nature and the characteristic of God Almighty. All right. Matthew chapter 4. When Jesus launches his ministry, this is the stone, as it were, that's first laid as he's building his church. Matthew 4, verse 17. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He didn't say every head bowed, every eye closed, please raise your right hand. Come down, shake hands with the preacher, sign this fellowship card, start giving money. Be sure you attend service, and all those things can be good, but they need to be a response to repentance. Not something that you initiate that you think can save save yourself. Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18, we're going to look at verse 20. Okay, we'll stop here. And next week, or our next lesson, we'll pick up and we'll go through these scriptures, closing out verse 12 with Matthew 18. We'll follow through with those scriptures and then we'll read 13 and continue there as far as we can go. Let me put a little circle here. This is where we gotta begin. That's for our next lesson. Thank you for your time.

Repentance As A Daily Life

SPEAKER_01 41:22

My goodness, that's a lot. That's a lot in in 37 minutes that you just dropped in there. And and honestly, what was so awesome about it is because Audi and I were having the conversation just this morning. And and you know, I'm uh I get agitated with the whole repeat after me prayers. But I think it has something to do with you know, the way I was raised is you gonna come and blow some s you gonna go, you're gonna go down you did. I mean, in the day you were so compelled to get down to that altar to just repent.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Your conscience provoked repentance.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

It it just, you know, you couldn't help but to do that, you know, and that's that's the point I think that sometimes we're missing is because there's not true repentance, and because there's no true repentance, then there's no fruit.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Right. Without a real awareness that my sinful nature is doomed, yeah, and Christ has decided I'll take care of it for you. Without a real awareness of that and the need to obey his command to repent. To those that believe on the Lord, it doesn't mean you signed a fellowship card and that you're now a member of some church, and it could be a great church, could have great worship. We're not saying it doesn't, but we're saying when we launch our experience with Jesus Christ, faith in him should breed repentance.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Yeah. Like repentance, you know.

SPEAKER_00 43:04

And that and that's not a one-time event.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

No, salvation is a process.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

Yeah, it has a beginning, but it is a lifestyle, it is a life experience, lifelong experience. Remember, during the lesson, we said Paul made the statement to the Corinthian church, I die daily, which is a culturalism for I have to repent every day.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Every single day.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

If you read Romans 5, 6, and 7, Paul confesses about his own battle. Yeah. But none of that stops him. Because in Romans 8, he says, in spite of all that, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

No, that's that's just a powerful, powerful word right there. Wow. I'm just gonna urge you guys. You heard this. I know it touched you the way it touched me. I know everybody in this room's been going, wow, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. So uh we're we're gonna upload this today, and I want you to go and share it. Put it on your pages. Go get the YouTube link and put it on your pages if you want to watch it, you know. Share it. This is just a powerful word people need to hear.

SPEAKER_00 44:27

And and man, I you know what makes it so powerful? It's not something we dreamed up. Oh, it this is all it's a plan. This is all from the Lord Himself.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Yeah, it was the plan.

SPEAKER_00 44:40

Yeah, it's just uh His ideas are what we I love the fact from from Acts chapter 2, verse 22, that all things that were done were done according to God's determinant counsel and foreknowledge. That means God imagined. Oh yeah, and out of his imagination we became. Oh, yeah. That that is yeah, yeah. We we are the product of his imaginations, his mental ruminations.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

He and and the object of his affections.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

Oh my gosh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, and that but that should excite, that should excite us. We're chosen. We're chosen right now. You're chosen. You weren't an accident, you weren't a mistake, you know. No matter what your mom and daddy did, it didn't matter. It wasn't even in their control. He he pre-planned and he knew. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 45:38

How much time do we have?

SPEAKER_01 45:39

We got a few minutes. Go ahead.

A Prayer That Changed A Birth

SPEAKER_00 45:42

When my mother When I was about I don't know, just before my dad died, I sat alone with my mother in her dining room and she wanted to explain some things to me. A lot of family in the house, but it was just my mother and I. And she says, I want to tell you why we don't have any baby pictures of you. I had never thought about it. But I guess Patty was showing her pictures of our kids and stuff, you know. And I had never thought about that. She says, Because your body, all the blood vessels could be seen in your body, in your skin. Everything had come through. When I went into labor and was about to give birth, yeah, my mother. She says, the nurse came in there, the attending nurse, you were about to leave the birth canal, and she crossed my ankles and held up.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Oh my gosh, I've heard that. I've heard that.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

And I was a breach birth, and she didn't want to fool with it. And she said, I was in a lot of pain. During that time the doctor came in and he gets rid of the nurse, he's very irate. And and you're born, but because you were oxygen deprived, probably why my wife prays for me now. She thinks my brain's obscure. Well, that's another topic for another day, right? But but she said, but you came out and for months we wouldn't want to take a picture of you in that way.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

And then she says, and there was a lady just before you were born living next door to me in the apartment. I used to hear her praying all the time. I didn't like it. She was loud and I could hear her praying, but she did that thing where you speak and people don't understand you. You know, I'm saying, well, talking in tongues. Yes, yes. She said, I I stepped out of my apartment and she was there. And she looked at me and said, I saw your baby born in a pool of blood. And God immediately took me back in history to that moment. I thought, Mom, you only heard one thing because she said, But I prayed for you. And I prayed for that baby. And I want to I want to tell you something. In that woman's prayer was my birth. In that woman's prayer was my deliverance. And my ministry, my anointing. Please do not underestimate when the Spirit of God moves on you to pray. Because this woman, I'll never know, heard the voice of God and obeyed it. I'm here with you today.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

Right, right, right. That's powerful.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

So nothing is an accident for us. I know the Bible says time and chance happens to all men, and in that sense, mathematically, sure. Whether or not you have a fender bender, or did you fall and break your knee, or did you get a broken finger, all these things. But in the midst of all that, time and chance happens to all men, but our lives are committed to God. And so no matter what time and chance brings us, all things work together for good to them that love God. Joseph had to learn it the hard way.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

Yeah. Most of them did.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

All things work together for good.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

Yeah.

unknown 49:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:13

It doesn't say all things feel good, look good, are good.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

Say God works them together for his plan.

SPEAKER_01 49:21

I think we can all say amen on that, right? Such a great word. Such a great word. My goodness.

SPEAKER_00 49:28

Such a great God.

SPEAKER_01 49:29

He is. He just amazes me, you know, even when everything looks like the opposite, he's still working.

SPEAKER_00 49:40

Well, this will be a little slower than some of the other things we've gone through, but I think we need to digest John.

SPEAKER_01 49:46

I think so too.

SPEAKER_00 49:47

Just small bites at a time.

SPEAKER_01 49:49

Yeah, he's just there's just a lot there.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

Get ourselves through it and ask God, just grow me, Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:56

Just change me.

unknown 49:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:57

You know, we want God to look at the garden of our heart and uproot the weeds. That's a painful process.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

But we want him to uproot the weeds instead of cut them off.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

Yeah. Because then you still got the root.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

The root of bitterness needs to be removed, not cropped off at the top.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

I'm still back there where you said sometimes your cross after you pick it up, you can no longer go through certain doors. That I'm still over there, right? Because I'm like, oh my gosh. I just that's just that's just powerful. We're gonna have we'll have lots more podcasts, but this is just one of those today that just, you know. And so I just I encourage you, go share it, but I also encourage you to go back with your Bible, with your notebook, and go through those.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 50:51

Go through the the the verses and the chapters and and and get the reference scriptures. It is. I mean, it's just it's so powerful. I just thank you so much, Brother Arnia. Thank you, everybody in the room for being here today. I know nobody's asleep today, because I mean, sometimes after they eat, you know what I'm saying? It gets a it gets a little quiet over there, but uh but today give it his beloved rest.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

He does.

Share The Message And Closing

SPEAKER_01 51:14

Usually it's during podcasts like this. But but today I know everybody. I'm so glad I know I bore you and put you to sleep. Yeah, not not today. Not today, not today. All right, y'all. So we uh let's just do our podcast that we always do. Remember to go show some love, show some compassion, give mercy and go be Jesus today. Hey STU family. If you have enjoyed this podcast today, would you please like, follow, and share our podcast link? And we would love to hear your feedback and your podcast topic suggestions. To do that, simply go to our website at www.m3mi.org, scroll to the more tab, and select contact us. Also, if this to you has been a blessing to you, you can also go to our website and select sew a seed. There are several ways that you can give, whether it's Zeph, Vin Modest, or if there's an address to send a check from the order. All your gifts are text-deductible, and we thank you so much for sewing your seed with us. I want you to remember this. This person wants to say that a person has given you their time, they've given you their most precious gift because they can never ever get it back. Thank you for sharing this day with me. We love you, we'll see you soon.