Latest / One Voice Many Conversations / Truth Be Told Ep #018 The Importance of Repentance PT3. Hosted by Mickey With Co-host Guest Bethany

Transcript

Truth Be Told Ep #018 The Importance of Repentance PT3. Hosted by Mickey With Co-host Guest Bethany · One Voice Many Conversations

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, everyone.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to another great episode of Truth Be Told.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: I am Mickey your host, and today joining me is Bethany, our co-host.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: And we are going to be diving in and talking about a series that we have already started.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm going to let Bethany come on and say hi and give us a recap of the last couple of episodes.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then we will tell you what we're going to be doing today.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: So, Bethany, welcome in and hello, and hope hopefully you're having a great day.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Wonderful to be here.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, um, this episode is our third in the series about repentance, and we've um been talking about just the importance of repentance and starting with answering the question, why?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Why is there a need for repentance?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you have missed either of those episodes, I would encourage you to go back and listen to them.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um they are Holy Spirit fire led, I strongly believe, and um so you will not want to miss out on those.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but today our episode will be continuing on with talking about repentance, and um we will be looking at first John chapter four today.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I believe that both Mickey and I will have um again Holy Spirit-led um conviction and um insight for you, and so you won't want to miss a minute of it.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So before we begin with that, let's go ahead and pray.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So very much for how you are with us right now.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: You never leave us, you never forsake us, and even in this episode, you are here, you are doing a work even right now.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for that.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: We pray for each one who listens to this that they would receive what you want them to, Lord.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you that power does belong to you.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you that there is not even the smallest amount of power that does not belong to you, all power belongs to you, and so we thank you for what you will do in this episode, and um as we will make you and I will share what you've given us.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, we thank you for what you will do now in Jesus' name, amen.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for that.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, like Bethany was saying, that we are gonna dive into 1 John 4, and we are going to be going through the whole entire chapter.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we might go a little bit quicker than we normally would, but we're going to come back to the verses and um have discussion about them because this is one of those chapters, um, as I was telling Bethany before we started recording, that sometimes you read a verse, but the beginning and the the the before and the after verse is just as crucial as the verse itself.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: And this is one of those chapters where I just felt led today um by Holy Spirit that we needed to dive into the whole entire chapter.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot to dissect.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: It is, um, as Bethany would call it, it's meaty, it's very meaty.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, but with that being said, there's a lot to dive into.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so um I just wanted to share with you that I believe when we're talking about repentance and we get into this chapter, you're you're gonna see how we kind of are gonna put the chapter and repentance together.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: So do pay attention, follow along.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I'm gonna have Bethany start reading.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: She's gonna read uh first John um one through six and to get a started.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: So go ahead, Bethany.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thank you.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, um, so first John chapter four, verses one through six, reading from the King James version.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So verse one beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 2.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Hereby know we hereby know ye the spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come into flesh, is of God.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 3 and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 4.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them, and then verse 6.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: We are of God, he that knoweth God heareth us.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: He that is not of God heareth not us.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: That is awesome.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, with that scripture, we want to talk about a couple of things.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna break it down a little bit for you.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we are to be, as Christians, if we're if we are proclaiming Christ the way we are supposed to be, we are supposed to be testing the spirits because not every spirit out there is a good spirit.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: You need to be careful what you're coming up against.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and some people will put on the facade of being a Christian or um a believer when they're actually not, they're a deceiver.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I love this scripture because this is really a scripture that talks deeply about us having discernment, um, actually very deeply in discernment, where we need to have a discerning spirit about ourselves and we need to be very mindful.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: And like 2 Corinthians 10 talks about everything that we think of and hear it, and we need to take it to the knowledge of God.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, one way to test the spirits is doing that by taking the word to the knowledge of God.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Does it line up with the word?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: Does it line up with what God's saying?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then when we're talking about false prophets, we need to be really careful because if we are led by false prophets, false prophets are gonna lead us into sin.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: And that's gonna be way more repentance that we're going to need.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: And this is kind of where I wanted to tie in the subject that we've been discussing into this, because false prophets want us to sin.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: They don't want us to repent, they want to keep us detoured down the the path that's gonna lead us to destruction and hell, where God wants us to be in repentance.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: I I believe honestly, God kind of wants us to be in repentance mode all of the time.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: But a lot of times we're not in repentance mode because we have the enemy, the false prophet, saying, Oh, it's okay to do this, it's okay to behave like this, it's okay to not walk in obedience, it's okay to um to dabble in all of these spiritual realms, which is very dangerous territory.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: The world has a lot of dangerous um areas that John and John in this book he literally warns believers to be very careful and to be mindful and to test these spirits out, test them out.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: And um we need to be cognizant of what these spirits are actually trying to do.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: And once you once you start looking for them and you start recognizing them and you're led by Holy Spirit and not by the world, then it's gonna it's gonna start, it's gonna really start coming to you.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be like, oh man, I didn't see that before, but now I see it.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: If we're operating in the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit's gonna reveal himself.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: We also have to test the believers.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're proclaiming to be a Christian, like I tell people I'm a Christian, um, people will know I'm a Christian.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: There's a couple of ways to know if someone's a Christian.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: One is by their fruit.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: Are they producing fruit?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Or is there is their fruit going, is it spoiling and going along the wayside?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: What pr what fruit are they producing?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: Are they proclaiming Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: Are they proclaiming that Jesus Christ came to earth, shed his blood, died on a cross, and and ascended to heaven for us?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: If they're not proclaiming that, then they are false.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: If they're if they are put proclaiming anything other than that, they are a false prophet.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: So we need to be really mindful and careful, one who what what spirits we're trusting and what believers we're trusting, because that's gonna lead us into more sin.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna, it's more repentance that we're gonna be, we're really gonna be needing um in order to get free from that.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: So also we need to be careful of listening to teacher teachings.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: So when you go to church and you're sitting in the in the church pew, um it's okay to question um churches and pastors, by the way.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of times people think, oh, he's a pastor.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: I have to believe him.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: I used to be that way.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: I used to think, oh, I've got to believe him because he knows probably way more than I know.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit wants us to test even our pastors, even our leaders, even our even our government, our president.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: We're supposed to be testing people against the knowledge of God and testing them in their spiritual realm and what they're proclaiming to believe in.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's okay to be testing even our leaders and our teachers.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, anyone that denies, excuse me, Jesus' humanity, they are false.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: That means Jesus came to earth and actually walked on the earth as a human being.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: If anybody denies that, they're false.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: If they deny the deity of this, which is the Spirit of God, um they're also false.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think sometimes when we look at a human being, we don't look at a human being as a savior, but Jesus walked on the earth and he was the Messiah, and he was the Savior, he was the chosen one.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a lot of people could recognize that when he walked the earth.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: But I was really amazed by some of the people that couldn't recognize it that were standing right next to Jesus.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how deceived we can be.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: You could be standing right next to the Savior and still be deceived by the enemy if you allow it.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: So we have to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, and we have to be in tune with the Word of God so that we line up in what we actually truly believe in.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't want to see anybody go to hell because they were mistaken or they got confused or or they were misled by either a false spirit or a false believer or a false teacher.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why I love this scripture because it's gonna talk about a lot.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but as we break down the the meaning of the scripture, I really want to let people know that um we can overcome false teachings and also we can help correct it by knowing the word of God.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: If we if we take the truth and we apply it to what people are saying and what people are doing, God will work through us.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit will will work through through us.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: He dwells in us.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: And um sometimes that may look like hey, standing up and proclaiming Christ.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes it'll just be like just be being quiet and just showing love and kindness and showing the fruits of the spirit.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: And um, there's many fruits of the spirit.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're demonstrating the fruits of the spirit, people will recognize you by the fruit, and that will be the demonstration of Jesus.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you can come boldly and just proclaim the gospel because the word says we're supposed to do that as well.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: So as we're talking about these scriptures, I want you to keep in mind um what we're breaking down here today, because it's so so important that we are not misled by um anything of this world.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: The enemy was given reign over the entire world to wreak havoc, by the way.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Not to throw a heavenly um glorious party.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: He came to wreak havoc and to be a false um a false prophet, a false spirit, a false anything.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's nothing good about the enemy.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: He chose to be this way.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: So again, we can choose the way that we're gonna be.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: We can choose where we want to go.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: And and and what are we gonna do about that?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: When let's go into the next scripture where we're gonna read through um um scriptures seven.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna read, I'm gonna read seven through fifteen.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: But Bethany, before I do that, is there anything you want to talk about or touch base on with the first um um six scriptures that we've already brought to the table today?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I think the end of verse three is quite interesting that even back then John was writing to those who were living then, as well as us today.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And all of this was even back then.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: All this was been since Genesis three, honestly.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's important for us to realize that you know the all this false teaching and you know, testing the spirits and all of that has been happening.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so it it's nothing new.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um it has been or should have been happening ever since.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, Genesis 3.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so let's not believe people that say, well, you know, this has just suddenly come up, and suddenly now we have to test and try the spirits, and no, it's it's been going on or it it should have been going on um since that time, and so that that's just curious to me.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then um verse four, which I'll read it again.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, and so when I look at that verse, I'm greatly encouraged, because as a Christian, I know that I have the Holy Spirit within me, and so greater is he, the Holy Spirit that is within me, than he that is in the world, and so when I read that verse, that gives me great encouragement to share with other Christians that okay, we here's proof that the Holy Spirit, if you're a genuine Christian, the Holy Spirit within you is greater than the spiritual forces in the world.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that to me is just freedom to be able to know that um whenever I go through things and I am going through things right now, but I am not allowing Satan or spiritual his spiritual forces to defeat me because I'm standing firm on because I have the Holy Spirit within me, then they're gonna work out according to God and his will for my life, and those who are Christians as well, and so this should encourage every Christian, it really should, that the Holy Spirit, if you are a genuine Christian, the Holy Spirit is greater than any other force, any other spiritual force opposition, you know, greater than Satan, greater than his demons, and that yes, that's very powerful, Holy Spirit for that, because yes, and so those were just my two thoughts on this section.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I can totally agree with um that there's a lot of power in that one verse.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and again, like I said, the whole chapter has a has a lot of meaning and depth to it, and we actually could probably do an episode on every single verse in this chapter, but um that is an amazing verse because we have that assurance.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: God gives us assurance, and he gives us something to lean back on always, so we don't ever have to doubt, we don't have to have even a doubt in our mind um that he's greater than anything that we face.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like David and the giant, David knew this scripture, he knew this scripture, and that's where his courage came from, you know, and like he knew the word of God.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: And even though, you know, that was then and this is now in the in the in the Bible, he he was already assured by God.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: And had that courage.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: So we are given the word of God to give us that encouragement as well.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's wonderful that God gives us, you know, so many words to lean on and to utilize in our life.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: And the thing is, is if we're not applying it, then we can't even see the outcome of it.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: We're going to miss out on the on the promises.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: We're going to miss out on the blessings if we're not taking God's word and putting them into place in our life.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: You start doing that, and I'm going to tell you, things are going to break off from you.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not going to say the enemy won't come at you, because the more you dive into the word, the more the enemy is going to come after you.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I know nobody wants to hear that, but that's just the way it is.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: We live in that world.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: And like Bethany said, the enemy has been, you know, on this earth since Genesis, you know.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: And it's crazy how when we're I the reason I'm talking about, like I want to bring up Antichrist and the false and the false teaching and preaching in the Spirit is because right now people are looking for the Antichrist to come.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's being talked about every day, every day.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: Who's the Antichrist?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: And everybody's like, oh, it's so-and-so and so-and-so and so and so and so and so.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you guys are aware of this, but the Antichrist is anyone who does not believe in the humanity and the deity of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's anyone.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: We're all, we would all be antichrists, so so to speak.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: That would be our title if we all didn't, if if we all believed that, that Jesus didn't exist.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: For those of us that believe Jesus Christ came and walked this earth and he died for us and he went to heaven for our sins.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um that is the only truth, you know, to be in a you know, Christ-like or antichrist.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I just wanted to clarify that with everyone as we're talking about the Antichrist.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um and um I know a lot of people are wondering, they have curiosity, and some people are worried about who the Antichrist is.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: We're not to worry about it.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: God's already got everything under control.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, you know, it's so it's good to talk about it because we want to be aware.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: It says to beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just want to you know bring that to light that we want to be really um discerning of the spirits because we want to walk in fullness with Christ.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: And if if we're if we're not paying attention, you know, kind of like when you run through the red light on accident, I've done it, guilty.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: My daughter just did it the other day, so she's gonna be like, Mom, you really had to bring that up on your podcast?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, she ran a red light.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: She she's like, I hope we don't get a ticket because they have cameras, you know.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, I'm probably gonna get a ticket in the mail.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so she's worried now every day checking her mailbox.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: But she didn't do it on purpose.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: She runs red light, but we that's how easily distracted we can get if we're not paying attention.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how easy the the enemy knows how easily distracted we are, and he's gonna do that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna bring false teachers and false believers, and and he's gonna, you know, have false spirits coming at you and and detouring you from where God wants to take you.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, and we wanna we want to focus on that.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: So let's read um I'm gonna start reading in um first John four.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna start with chapter seven, and we're gonna go all the way through um I'm gonna go through fifteen.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll try not to read it too quickly.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: So first John four seven, beloved, let us love one another for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might that we might live through him.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: No man hath seen God at any time.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: Hereby know we that hereby know, we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given us his spirit, and he has seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to talk about this a little bit, and then Bethany, I want to get um your take on this the scripture.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: By the way, in this chapter, this chapter alone, the word love is mentioned twenty-five times.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a big deal to me.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that we have we have such a huge, amazing God that loves us so deeply.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: He really loves us deeply.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and for those of us that like have ever gone through um periods in your life or times where you just didn't feel lovable or you weren't loved, or you know, it's it's easy for the enemy to make us feel like that.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: This scripture right here, just read this chapter, and you're gonna know how much love God has.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of love right here in this chapter.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: So, but um when I think about this, about how much God loves us and what he did for us, it takes me to John 3.16.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: And John 3.16 is a very popular verse and chapter in the Bible.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's quoted a lot, um, but it really does go in to um play with this chapter.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: And John 3.16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: So it correlates with this chapter.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: It correlates 100% with this chapter, actually.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: And when we think about um the things that are transpiring, you know, in the earth and the growing pains and the birthing pains and all of the travesty, um, there's so much to it.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we look at it like it's it's it could be can be a little bit timiding and scary, but we need to look at it in a different angle um through the lenses of how God is looking at it.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: When he when this stuff is happening, he's doing it because he loves us.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that sounds like, what do you mean he's doing it because he loves us?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like all of this stuff is happening because he loves us.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: There's an enemy that we're that that we're up against on the on the earth, not in heaven, on the earth.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: And that defeat is going to happen.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Think about it.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_02: When when uh Lucifer, or when the angel became Lucifer and came to earth, he brought one-third of the angels with him.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: One third of the angels, okay?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's a lot of angels.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and so if you think about how many are on earth, at least, at least one-third of every everything everybody on this earth is operating in the demonic realm, is the way I kind of look at it.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like God gives us a little bit of mathematical um um perspective on that.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so we are dealing with so much evil and false and and um false believers, false teachers, false prophets.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: We are believing we we are dealing with them so much, but when I look at the chapter, and I think, well, we're dealing with all of this falseism.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: What is it, what is this, why does it go right into love?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because God is showing us that he loves us so much, he literally had to send Jesus to the earth to show his love for us and to go to the cross, die for our sins, because the evil was so bad that we actually had to see it for ourselves that we couldn't just trust God without the vision.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you remember, if you if you go back into the scripture, it it talks about um we can hear God, but we don't see God.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: But if we believe in God, he's in us, but we don't see him visible visibly.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: But God had to send his son to it to be a human on the earth so that we can have a little glimpse of what heaven is going to be like, what Jesus is like, what God is like.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: And that is a tremendous amount of love to me because we are so lost, we are so wandering in the wilderness all the time that we could, you know, we just couldn't fathom God's love for us.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: So God had to send his son so that we could get a visual.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people operate on the visual, they don't operate on the on the spiritual realm of things, they have to see things firsthand.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's why God sent his son.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh one of the reasons he sent his son to die for us is so that we had a visual perspective on how much God really loves us.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: And his word says how much he loves us.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: And when we see that love and we accept that love, then we can re-reciprocate that love to other people.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes it can be really hard because sometimes I know in the world that we're living in, it's hard to love people sometimes.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: We can be difficult to love.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm difficult, I'm a difficult person to love at times.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not always easy to love, you know.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: And yet God loves me anyway, you know, and we have to love one another like that.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, Bethany, what is your take on on these few scriptures that that we just discussed?
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I you know, looking at verse 13 and 15 and 16.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Those three verses I feel are more confidence for us as Christians.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Again, if you are genuinely a Christian, then you have the Holy Spirit within you.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so verses 13, 15, and 16, I believe, are giving us just more assurance of that.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, even in talking about that, when we have times where, you know, things happen or um negative thoughts come into our mind or circumstances or whatever, and we have either the verbal question or the internal question of God, where are you?
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: I strongly believe that Christians, genuine Christians, we need to remember we cannot dwell on that question because God's Holy Spirit lives within genuine Christians.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so the answer of, well, God, where are you?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a genuine Christian, his spirit is within you.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Always.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: He never ever leaves, he never forsakes you, and so the Holy Spirit right now is just laying that deeply upon me to share that, you know, we if again, if we are genuine Christians, we have the Holy Spirit within us.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so to verbally or internally ask the question of God, where are you?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um again, if if we are genuine Christians, his Holy Spirit's within us, and so I think that should be great confidence and great comfort to each of us to understand that we can go to him anytime.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a time that is off limits, and there is not a place that is off limits either.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, back in December twenty twenty sixteen into January twenty seventeen.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was in the hospital with a shunt infant and where was God then?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was right within me.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: I could go to him anytime.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I guarantee you there were nights when I would be awake at two, three, four in the morning.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Where was God then?
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right within I could go to him right then, and I often did.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to encourage our listeners that again if you are a genuine Christian, the Holy Spirit is within you, you can go to him 24-7.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a time or place that's off on us.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: He has unlimited time for us.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: We should have unlimited time for him.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think that if some people say if they're still searching for God, um, I mean, I this scripture is great because it it's a confirmation.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's confirmation scripture.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's letting you know where God is, where Holy Spirit is.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit dwells within us.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: But I would be a little worried personally, and and you maybe you can tell me what you think.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um if if you're still searching because you haven't quite found God yet, or you have been doubting, or you are unsure, if you are not certain that Holy Spirit is residing within you, um, you definitely will want to pray about that because you want to make sure that you are signed, sealed, and delivered, basically.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: You want to make sure that you have, you know, you what you have when you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior in your heart, um, you shouldn't be questioning it if you really have done it.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I get worried when I think about those that may wonder, is God really there?
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: Is he really there?
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't, I don't know about you, Bethany, but I talk to God all the time.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like I talk to him when I'm mad, I talk to him when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I get up, I'm like, God, you already know.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, I'm already gonna screw up today, God.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: You already know.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: You already he already knows what you're gonna do that day before you know what you're gonna do that day.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: So he knows so much about you that, you know, and sometimes I just go, God, you already know.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: You already know, you know, because he does.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: And that's because I know God is within me.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: He's all around me, he's surrounding me.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's nothing ever that I can do that God does not already know that I'm gonna do.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: I cannot hide anywhere on this earth what he's not gonna see.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: So keeping that in mind and knowing that, that reassures me because I know that him is my protector and him, he that gives me the strength to go on each day when I'm having a bad day or I don't feel good, or or you know, because the word doesn't say that trials and tribulations aren't gonna come.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: They say that they are gonna come.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: We are going to face them.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: He wants to see, he's kind of putting us to the test to see how we we respond to those trials and tribulations.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: But if we are doubting that the Holy Spirit is not within us, I would I would honestly question your salvation and I would take that before the Lord and make sure that you understand what it means to be um saved as a Christian.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_02: Again, talking about the beginning of this chapter where it talks about um the false and the and the the teaching and all that, when you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, um and you have him within you, you you're not gonna have that doubt.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: You won't have that doubt.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: You won't question, did God really come and did Jesus really come and die for me?
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: If you were the last person on earth, Jesus would still die for you.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: If nobody else was here, he'd still do it for you.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: There'd be no question in his mind.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: He wouldn't even have to be asked, he would do it relentlessly, over and over again.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um of course he, you know, he he did it once, and and but here's the thing is when we go and ask for repentance over and over and over again, sometimes it's almost a disgrace to God because it's almost like we're not believing in God enough to forgive us of that sin.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: But God, every time you do that, you're sending Jesus to the cross over and over and over again when you don't believe.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: So try to think about that.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: Let that sink in and penetrate a little bit because when you're doubting your own repentance, um, I would again question your your where you're at with your salvation.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: And we do doubt, but the enemy lets us doubt.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's the lie from the enemy.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about that last week.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: How the enemy will give us that thought that we have to pray repetitiously over and over and over again for the same exact thing that we just prayed for.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: God doesn't want us doing that because honestly, that would be that would mean Jesus would have to go to the cross over and over and over again for us just to believe in him.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_02: He only had to go to the cross once.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: He signed it, sealed it, delivered it, it's done.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: We are under the blood.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: There is no going back and having to do a repeat of a repeat of a repeat.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: And repentance is the same thing.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: Prayer is the same thing.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: When you pray to God and you're begging and begging and begging, it's actually annoying and it's actually an insult to God when you beg God for prayers or you beg God for repentance because what you're saying is you don't trust him enough to do what he says he's gonna do.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: And that's pretty hard.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I've done that, I'm so guilty of that.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_02: I used to pray thousands of times over because I used to be like, I want to say it over and over and over because I want to make sure God hears me.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what an insult is that to God thinking that he doesn't.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't never look at it like that until somebody mentioned it to me, and I thought, oh my gosh.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then I had to go and repent for that, you know.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like, God, I'm sorry, I'm I'm sorry, I was so annoying, you know.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure that had to be that he'd probably up there shaking his head, going, enough already.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_02: I I heard you the first time, you know.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's what I love about this word.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's how much love he has for us.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like this scripture breaks down all of the love he has.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it's crazy because when we think about how much love he has for us, this is how much love we're supposed to have for each other and one another and for God.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_02: We're supposed to love God the way he loves us.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: That means trusting in him, believing in him fully.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_02: Not only believing in him when he when he shows up and it's 100% evident, but believing in him when he when you can't see him.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: Because it says in here, you know, you you may hear him, but you don't see him.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: So do you really believe in him?
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: We have to believe in him in order to fully understand his grace and love for our life.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so, um, having that said, um, Bethany, if you want to read the next few scriptures starting with um 16 all the way through 21, and then we'll start working on wrapping up.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: So verse 16.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we have known and believed the love that God has to us.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: God is love, and he that dwelleth in him in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 17.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: Herein is love.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 19.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: We love him because he first loved us.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 2.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: And verse 21.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, there's a lot of power in that scripture.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: And um again, a lot of love.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's interesting when we talk about it that um again the reassurance and the confirmation of God's quality.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: But one thing I want to point out with this scripture, and it mentions it over and over again.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I really want to make sure you understand it fully that God chose you first.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't choose God.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: God chose us.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that in itself is love.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: That you were chosen by God.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: And therefore he loved you before we even we even thought to seek after him.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: So he was already seeking us.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: He was already, you know, taking care of us, even though we didn't know it.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: He knew us before we were formed and shaped in our mother's womb.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_02: He knew us.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: He knew every hair on our head.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: And he still knows us.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_02: He knows everything about us.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_02: And the thing that I love about that is that what perfect that is what perfects his love, is that he chose to love us.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have to do anything right in order to be loved.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have to look a certain way, act a certain way, be a certain way.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have to have a perfect bank account, a perfect lifestyle, a perfect anything.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_02: And God still chose to love us in perfect love.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that perfect love, that reassurance, to me, it it casts out all fear because what it does is it brings peace to my life.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_02: It brings so much peace and joy and happiness.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: And we're living in really hard times right now.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I can see people getting frantic, people are starting to get worried, people are starting to see what's going on.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the end times are unfolding.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, when you read the book of Revelations, there's a lot of fear in that book.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: People can get really, really worried about that book.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're operating in love, the love that you're showing to people and to one another and to God is gonna cast out all of that fear.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: God's gonna cast out that fear.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to walk in fear, you don't even have to walk in worry because God's already got a plan.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_02: Jeremiah 29, 11 says his plan is perfect, it's perfect for our lives.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_02: And um, we don't have to worry about the end result or or the outcome because God already knows the outcome.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_02: What we need to worry about is where we are with our walk with Jesus.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: Do we have a personal, intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: And if we do not have that, that's where we need to, that's what where we need to go and what we need to get today.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: Today, because time is of the essence.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_02: God can come back at any moment now.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_02: He could be like, I'm done, and here I am, you know, and rapture us right up.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: And and you better be ready.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_02: If you're not, if you're not a Christian, you're gonna be left here.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna be going through some stuff that you're gonna wish you had you had listened and and and accepted Jesus Christ's word.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_02: So hang on just a second, real quick.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_02: I need to pause for a second.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, sorry about that little glitch there.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, back to what I was saying that um today is the day.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like there there's no there's no better day than today.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: You can't go backwards.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: You can't, you know, you can't go back and go, but I did this and I did that.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: And God knows all of that.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: He and and like I said, he chose us anyway.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: He chose us in the mess that we've created, the mess that we've lived in, you know, everything that we've gone through and done.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_02: God has literally decided, you know, he's gonna love us anyway.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: And just kind of like um your family and your friends.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I love my family and my friends, you know, nothing.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: I love you.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think you're wonderful.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I love, I love that God has, you know, put us together and we've become friends, we've gotten to know each other, we've had a lot of laughs, and you know, you know, and I love that God puts people together and you just build a bond of love.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: But you know what's crazy is God didn't even have to have a relationship with you before he already decided that he was going to love you regardless.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_02: Even if you made mistakes, isn't that crazy?
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_02: Even if you mocked him or said things like when when I was questioning my own repentance and my own prayer, and I was murmuring and complaining and whining to God and didn't realize how how how um honestly I was kind of disrespecting him in that manner.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't even realize I was doing all of that until someone brought it to my attention.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, man, you know, it is an insult to sit here and think that God is not worthy of his word.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, we want to be cognizant, we want to be mindful, and we we want to walk in perfect love so that we don't have to walk in the fear.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_02: If you're walking in perfect love, you don't have nothing to be afraid of.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: And God wants that, he offers that to us.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's why he gave us Jesus.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's why John 3.16 is such a powerful scripture.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's one of the most quoted scriptures in the entire Bible.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to recognize that um um when it says that whosoever believeth in him will not perish, we will not perish.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_02: But if we don't, we will not have an everlasting life.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: We want to have everlasting life.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: And how do we do that?
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: We do that through walking in love.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: We walk in gratitude, being having discernment.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_02: We need to be careful about who we're hanging out with, what we're doing, who we're listening to.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're supposed to incline our ear.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you know this, but the word says, incline your ear to what you're listening to, and make sure it's of you know, it's it's to the knowledge of God.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to be very cognizant about that and understand that um God doesn't want us to walk around trembling and shaking in fear.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_02: He doesn't want us doing that.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_02: And even though there's stuff going on all around us in the world, um, like even yesterday, I mean my daughter, we just got in the car and after school and we just went for a drive.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_02: I just felt like going and driving around, you know, I can do that now.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, now that I'm um I have a little bit of time on my hands.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like, we went and drove around and we just did stuff and that we didn't normally do, and we just enjoyed that time, you know, that God gave us, you know, and it was just a nice, pleasant time for us to spend together.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm so thankful for that.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to be thankful for all the little moments, all the great little memories that God gives us.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to be mindful that um if we're walking in that perfect love, we we don't have to, we don't, we won't have to be afraid and have all that fear upon us.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that God shows us that um that he has a deep love.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_02: I this scripture is so deep when it comes to loving people, because um I don't think honestly we will ever fathom the depth of love that God has for us.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's impossible to to know how much he loves us because of our human nature, I think, you know, and because of the things that we have gone through and the hurt that we've been through and the trauma and you know all the pain that we've dealt with.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that we could never ever actually fathom the love that he has.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_02: But if we try to fathom it and start letting God operate in his word through his love, I think we will have, like you said earlier, the freedom.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be so much freedom in it.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be so much joy, there's gonna be happiness, there's gonna be, it's it's delightful.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's not, oh gosh, let's worry and panic every moment of the day.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know what?
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_02: God, God, you're in control.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_02: Gonna let you take it.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_02: You just take it, Lord, you can have it.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, I always tell him, you can have it, Lord, you can just have it, because I I don't want to deal with it anyway.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'll let him deal with it.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_02: And if I try to deal with it, I'm gonna mess it up.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna mess things up, probably.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I just always try to give everything to God.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I just I really want when I wanted to go into the script scripture in this chapter today, I really just wanted to emphasize a coup those couple of things, especially um talking about um you know the false prophets, um, the false teachers and believers, and and and walking out um our walk with Jesus in perfect love, because what Jesus did on the cross was perfect.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: That was perfected for us.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: And he had to do that.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_02: He had to go, and he had to die a horrific, horrendous death to show us how much love he really had.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: That was just one image, that whole, which was a lot, and I mean it's it was a lot for us to try to take in and understand the depth of his love.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_02: But the Bible talks all throughout the book of his love, it's it's everywhere.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_02: And um he doesn't want us to miss that part of him.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, sometimes we we think, oh, God's just obedient, oh, he's just strict, oh we if we don't do this, if we don't do that.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_02: And and I don't want us to always look at that.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_02: I want us to look at at the goodness of God because there's so much good.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: And people be like, but man, I I'm never gonna measure up to what God really wants me to measure up to because he's got a lot of rules.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I can't even do that with my own parents.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_02: Never let us do that with God.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_02: He's not expecting perfection.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_02: He just wants your heart.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: That is literally it.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: And when you get in line with God, that that heart starts changing, and you know why?
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because he's the potter.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: We're the clay.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna shape us and mold us.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_02: If we let him, but if we go against him, guess what's gonna happen?
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna keep cracking and breaking, and we're gonna be seeping out at the seams.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_02: So we need to be very careful and we need to be mindful.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_02: So having that in mind, um, um, Bethany, did you wanna?
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: I know you had a uh a scripture you wanted to share, and um, I just wanted to know if you had anything, if you want to share that scripture, and then you can um help us to wrap up this episode.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, thank you for this.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's been wonderful to just go through this chapter of first John four and just um start start to accept all the meat that is within it, um the truth that is within it, and you know um verse eighteen is another powerful verse, and we will probably um focus on it even more um in another episode.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: But when it talks about there's no fear in love because fear has torment.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, where does fear come from?
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: Where does torment come from?
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_00: It comes from Satan.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, in the first episode of the series that we did on rep we're doing on repentance, I did talk about why we need repentance, and so go back to that episode to discover, you know, what is the origin of fear, what is the origin of torment, and it's not of God.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: God did not create fear, God did not create torment, and so in thinking about this chapter, and thinking about verse 18, there are three more verses that the Lord has given me impressed upon me that I want to share.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the first one is first John chapter one and verse five, which says this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_00: God is light.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now we see God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: Another verse.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_00: But of power and of love and of a sound mind.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, when we look at verse eighteen of first John four, talking about fear having torment that Second Timothy one seven tells us that God did not give us a spirit of fear.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: The spirit of fear comes from Satan.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_00: What realize that Satan cannot make anyone do anything.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_00: He can't.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, he can influence, he can put thoughts in our minds, he can put negative circumstances out there and see if we take the bait or submit to him.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: But remember what does James 4 7 say?
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_00: Submit yourself therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if we are giving into a sphere of fear, we are giving into Satan.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's hard to hear, but that also is the truth.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so we need to remember that God does not give us any spirit except power, love, and a sound mind.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because that reflects who he is, and there's one final verse that I want to highlight to help us in this journey that we are on about understanding repentance and the importance of repentance, and you know, tying in first John four.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that is Second Corinthians.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_00: So First Corinthians fourteen, verse thirty three.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_00: For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints let that sink in too.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_00: God is not the author of confusion.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_00: So if as Mickey mentioned earlier, you know, if if you are wrestling with doubts and all of that, understand where those are coming from.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_00: God is not the author of confusion.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_00: God is light, God is love, God is peace, God is joy.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_00: So when we are commanded, I believe, to test the spirits as it talks about in First John four, the early part of the chapter.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_00: May we understand the difference between God and Satan and Satan's demons that he took with him or that chose to go with him when he rebuilt.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_00: So as we wrap up this episode, it's been a Holy Spirit fire episode.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_00: I truly believe that needs to be considered.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_00: Helping us to recognize that.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to what others say if they are going against God.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_00: We need to be searching.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_00: We need to be studying the Bible for ourselves.
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_00: Even this podcast, truth be told, you know.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_00: Make and I, I believe, would both encourage you to not take our word, our words for the but to study for yourself.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that you know what the Bible says, and you aren't drawn away by every wind of doctrine that's out there.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that that is one reason why I believe first John Four, those first few verses talking about testing the spirits and that are there to help us recognize for ourselves the importance of doing our own personality because there are people out there who are twisting scripture, and unless we are studying for ourselves, you know.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_00: We may be drawn into that, and that is one of Satan's charges.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, even as we've said on this episode to show us what we need to know.
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, this has been wonderful.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_00: This has been one of the ways that we put into practice.
• 1:09:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, this has been wonderful, and I will have Mickey close us out.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we have we have talked about a lot of scripture today, and it's it it it can be a lot, seem like a lot, and um we could spend hours breaking it completely down, but um when we're talking about repentance and we're talking about Holy Spirit, we're talking about Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, um it's important just to know where you are at in your own personal walk.
• 1:10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I want to ask you exactly that.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Where where are you at?
• 1:10:13
  SPEAKER_02: You know, to all of our listeners, where are you at?
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Are you are you walking in confusion?
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because, like the scripture says, that doesn't come from God.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_02: That comes from the enemy.
• 1:10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Are you walking in fear?
• 1:10:25
  SPEAKER_02: That doesn't come from God, that comes from the enemy.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Are you walking in love?
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_02: See, that does come from God.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_02: So where are you at?
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I want you to ask yourself this question and and be truthful with who with with with with what you're asking yourself.
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_02: Be truthful with yourself, okay?
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, when it says, for God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but the power of love and a sound mind.
• 1:10:48
  SPEAKER_02: A sound mind means no confusion, means you're sure of yourself.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_02: That you know what, you know for sure you are saved and you're gonna go to heaven.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_02: That means you have a sound mind.
• 1:11:01
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if you doubt that and you're saying, Well, I think I'm gonna go to heaven, I think I might have been good enough, that is a big word.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_02: That big word doubt, that's the enemy.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_02: If he's placing that doubt in your mind or anywhere around your being, you are not walking in a sound mind, my friend.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_02: You are walking in the in the realm of confusion, which is right where the devil wants you to be, because that puts us on the fence.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_02: See, it says, do not be lukewarm for anything, because he will spit you out of his mouth if you are lukewarm.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_02: He would rather you be hot or cold, but not to be lukewarm at all.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_02: He says that in Revelations.
• 1:11:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so we need to be really careful and mindful that when we're speaking of Jesus Christ, we need to be speaking the truth and the and the and the love.
• 1:11:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's what this podcast is about, is bringing the truth to the table.
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so make sure you're operating in a sound mind.
• 1:11:51
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you are you you are confident in your decision when you ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, walk in that.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_02: Stand bold in that.
• 1:12:01
  SPEAKER_02: That is the truth, that is the biggest truth that you could ever walk in.
• 1:12:05
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of scripture in the Bible, but I'm telling you, that that is the best truth I can, and the best word I can give anyone is to walk in the truth and the power of Jesus Christ.
• 1:12:16
  SPEAKER_02: Seek after him.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_02: Don't let the enemy confuse you and put that doubt like, well, maybe I'm saved.
• 1:12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe I'm maybe I'm gonna, I might make it to heaven, I might, you know, I might be a Christian.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_02: Those are all doubtful words.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_02: And what that means is you don't honestly believe.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_02: You're not believing in God and the power of God.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_02: So work on getting that sound mind.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_02: Work on the power of love and sound mind.
• 1:12:46
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about a lot of love today.
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_02: 25 times we mentioned the word love today to you guys.
• 1:12:52
  SPEAKER_02: And we're talking about having a sound mind, about being discerned, having discernment against false prophecies, false believers, false teachers.
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot to it.
• 1:13:02
  SPEAKER_02: But if you walk in a sound mind, you don't ever have to doubt again that Satan can kick rocks, he can just ski daddle, like he's out of here.
• 1:13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like, no bueno, man, get, you know, he ain't got nothing on you, you know.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_02: But you gotta, you gotta stand in that boldness.
• 1:13:16
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta be firm in that, and you have to be believing in that.
• 1:13:19
  SPEAKER_02: So, in closing today, I'm gonna pray this out.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_02: But I just want you to keep this in your mind.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_02: If you are not saved today, I want you to pray the prayer that I'm gonna pray with you guys today.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I want you to say it, say it, and I want you to believe in it.
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to say the sinner's prayer every single time you pray because that's an insult to God.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_02: That means you're not believing and trusting in his word.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_02: Say it, believe it, and then run with it.
• 1:13:44
  SPEAKER_02: Take it and share it with other people.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_02: Let people know who Jesus is.
• 1:13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Let them know what he did for you on the cross.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Especially with, you know, this month and this week and you know, Easter Sunday and everything.
• 1:13:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's very important that you understand what Jesus did for you.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_02: He loved you so much, he died on a cross for you.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_02: So keep that in mind.
• 1:14:05
  SPEAKER_02: So let's go into prayer.
• 1:14:07
  SPEAKER_02: Father God, Lord, we thank you for this episode.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_02: We thank you for your word.
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_02: We thank you for the truth.
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_02: We thank you for how many times you just tell us you love us, Lord, and sometimes we just don't understand or see.
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Lord, help us to have discernment.
• 1:14:20
  SPEAKER_02: Help us to not be distracted or or um or driven by false leaders, false preachers, false teachers, false believers.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um Lord, help us to be Christ-like always.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_02: And Lord, help us to be mindful.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_02: Give us a sound mind.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Give us the power of love, Lord.
• 1:14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Help us to reciprocate your love onto others.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Help us to reciprocate your love for ourselves, for our families, for our children.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_02: Lord, our children are our blessings, Lord.
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_02: They're our next generation to who we are.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Lord, help us to fulfill that legacy that you place on our life.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_02: And Lord, if anybody is listening right now, in reach of the sound of my voice, I ask that you help them, Lord.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Show them who you are.
• 1:15:04
  SPEAKER_02: Let them understand what Jesus Christ did on the cross.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_02: And for those listening, Lord, I just pray that they say this prayer.
• 1:15:11
  SPEAKER_02: Just say, Heavenly Father, Jesus, please come into my heart and take away my sins and forgive me so I can go to heaven when I die.
• 1:15:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's so simple.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_02: You don't even require much of us.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yet we we always want to try to make the requirement more than what it really is.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_02: Lord, help us to have that faith, the faith of a mustard seed to believe in you always, to accept you, to honor you, to love you, to worship you, because you're so worthy to be praised.
• 1:15:37
  SPEAKER_02: We just thank you for this episode.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_02: We thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy.
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_02: And Lord, I just ask you to just bless everyone that's listening today.
• 1:15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Let everyone have a great and glorious day and let them walk in joy and happiness.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_02: And Lord, just show them the hope.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_02: Show them the promise of Jeremiah 29, 11.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_02: That their future is bright, that their future is perfect.
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's already laid out and planned for them, Lord.
• 1:16:00
  SPEAKER_02: We just thank you for everything you've given us today.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the scripture.
• 1:16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for Bethany.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_02: And Lord, we just ask you to just bless us as we go forward in your walk, in our walk with you, Lord.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_02: That was wonderful, you guys.
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_02: So if you have any questions, you can reach out to Bethany and I.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we have all of our information in the show notes, so we won't go into all of that because we went a little long today.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you can reach out to either one of us, send us a message, send us notes if you have questions or have comments.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Feel free to make sure you follow, like, and share.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_02: And if you have comments, make sure you you let us know what they are.
• 1:16:37
  SPEAKER_02: We want to hear from you.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_02: We want to help you, we want to encourage you.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_02: And um, Bethany, I thank you for bringing um the encouragement to the table today.
• 1:16:44
  SPEAKER_02: You always bring encouragement.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I thank you for sharing the word that you shared.
• 1:16:49
  SPEAKER_02: And for everyone else, um, I just hope and pray that you all have a fantastic day.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_02: So y'all take care and God bless you guys.