I am presuming your curiosity brings you here. let me do my best to tell you something about me.
Childhood Years
as a young child, I grew up and raised in an evangelical institution. the city we lived are dominated by evangelical churches, second to none in number. My parents were separated (no divorce law in my country) so they left us to my grandparents.
at this age, I joined the music ministry in the church. I was the youngest at 9 or 10 yrs old. oh yes, that didn’t excuse me from Sunday school classes of which I learned moralities from the teachers
when I reach my high school years, I told my mentor. “my hands and eyes have caused me to sin. I am bothered seriously to cut and gouge it off !” because Jesus says so in Matthew 18:8-9. my mentor deflected and said “Oh! it means you have to stop whatever your hands are doing, your eyes should stop seeing the things that is causing you to sin. what cut off means is to stop your bad habit, and not your hands or gouge your eyes
after that conversation I felt so condemned. why? because the more I tried to “cut-off” or “stop” my bad habit, the worst it becomes. then later I learned the art of confession “1 john 1:9”
during college, I joined a Pentecostal denomination church and joined the music ministry also. it was the height of my so called ministry. I felt called by God and was so focused on serving in the kingdom. giving all my strength, loving God with all my heart, soul, mind – the whole 9 yards of serving. the words from my high school mentor still lingers on my mind “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart…” completing the sentence with “Just do this and you will be fine”
The Lost
22 years after, about year 2009, I got saved. whoa, hold on! you said you were raised in the evangelical and in the music ministry. aren’t you supposed to be a Christian ever since childhood? Yes and No
Yes ‘I grew up in the churchy and a pseudo Christian environment and joined the music ministry at the age of 9-10. But it would be down right foolish to believe that one must be truly a believer if simply can be found in the church? right? not all who goes to church are genuine believers. not even pastor (I’ve seen a lot of them)
No ‘I was never a genuine believer. i was simply a church member, doing his duty and fulfilling a role. a part of the music group. a servant. a follower of Christ. a heavenly appliance for good use’
The Generation Curse?
Some few years back 1998, I got hold on to a teaching about generational curse. it says ‘Christians can be under a generational curse’. this teaching was so prevalent in the Pentecostals that time and I was with the denomination. in the teaching pamphlet it says “List down all your sins and you have to confess all your past and present sins so that you will be redeem from the curse”. almost all church members are into it. newly recruit to the church are almost immediately undergo this thing called “deliverance sessions”.
in this “deliverance sessions”, the facilitator gives you a form with items for check list and blank spaces to fill out the different kinds of sin you committed. yes, list all your nasty sins. it was so embarrassing. worst you undergo the same pain and condemnation again as some sins are too personal.
after completing the ‘sin list’ (better remember all your sins or else) you will have to undergo sessions, 1 person on 2 facilitator. I will explain later why 1 on 2 and not 1 on 1. this so called sessions have certain practices to reverse the curse. they will itemize your sins. yes. each one of them and sort of like, reverse the curse that is associated with it. the reason for 1 on 2, is because some ‘so called Christians’ who participates in this sessions would ‘react’
‘react’ means because the ‘so called Christian’ acts like someone who is possessed by an evil spirit. this ‘so called Christians’ would speak different voices and opposite. some would vomit. some would discharge bad odor (fart?). according to the teaching they say it was the demon lurking in that person
that teaching got me bugged down, discouraged, stressed and worst of all – fearful and condemned! because every time something bad happens to me, i will become so anxious and fearful thinking “I must have forgotten to confess a small sin”. my conclusion is ‘I am still under curse’.
then I will have to watch out for small sin. because any small sin, like a white lie will be an entry point for the devil. then I am under curse again. everyone at the church was so sin and devil conscious. people there knows a lot about the devil and less of Jesus.
The Gain – God found Me
Coincidentally, the day i lost my job was the same day I got saved. it was in 2009. I am a family man with 3 kids and a pregnant wife that time, so you can paint the picture. I went home depressed from office. why depressed? because I have to settle a bond, a huge amount of money as a result of the lost job. turned on the t.v. for the late night news, but with no interest, randomly flip the remote channel, landed to a preaching on a random channel.
The preacher was teaching on the “Genealogy of Jesus”. I said, “way to go man”. would you hear a genealogy preaching when you are depressed? who preaches on the genealogies by the way to begin with? nobody in my entire life have ever such preached on it. boring is not even the right word to describe it. or was it?
A few seconds past as I hear from this preacher, my ears and eyes immediately glued to the t.v. as he tells the backgrounds and history of each person in the genealogy list! as I intently listen, the more vivid and clear the family tree picture becomes.
I see it! Jesus’ ancestors were imperfect! there were Murderers, Adulterers, Liars, Prostitutes and not all of them are Jews, some are Gentiles too.
a light bulb moment. My Goodness! I came to my senses! I am redeemed from the generational curse already because of Jesus! he whom the Son (Jesus) sets free, is free indeed! I am free, I am redeemed. That’s what it is all about for Jesus to be hanged on a tree, the cross. to redeem those under the curse of the Law because “curse is the one hanged on a tree” – Galatians.
I had a true ‘change of mind’ – metanoia – repentance. Jesus as a man, came from a defective family background. His ancestors were imperfect, worst sins! Rahab was a prostitute. Tamar was too. David committed adultery with Bathsheba. David a murderer. and the list goes on.
Jesus perfected my lineage. I am a New Creation, born into His perfect perfect genealogy, not earthly but heavenly. God is now my ‘abba’ / daddy/Father. my lineage now starts with Jesus.
I NOW HAVE A BRAND NEW PAST
after hearing this preacher, I felt so good. It was my first time to hear message about God’s Righteousness, Peace and Joy. the message was indeed good news. It is good news because I just heard the Gospel preached. (I realized later gospel means good news).
Finally the peace that passes all understanding is in my heart and my conscience are at rest.
I now have Jesus – the Prince of peace
No more repetitive deliverance, no more repetitive confession of sins. Christ died once and for all, for all sins. He was hanged to redeem me from the curse.
once and for all, all sins Past, Present and Future sins. all done, finished at the cross. it is Finished.
Final Words
Before I got truly saved, I received Jesus more than 7 times, as far as I can remember. uttered the sinners prayer many times, because my conscience was never secured. who knows I might die during sleep. but today its no more like that.
So when you ask Jesus to come into your Life, make sure you Hear the Gospel of God. the Gospel in which the Righteousness of God is revealed and not your sinfulness. You have the right to know what is it that Jesus is saving you from. it is for your conscience sake
Jesus paid all my sins, past present and future sins! not according to my ability to remember or confess all of my sins. not according to my knowledge, but according to God’s knowledge.
God declared and fulfilled “I will forgive your sins and will remember them no more”
I pray that you be blessed by this blog in different ways. I do not have the best written and spoken English out there, so the Holy Spirit will guide you. I have so much to testify, if I do that then I will fill up the entire site.
Listen to messages that talks about God’s righteousness, messages that points to Christ. Listen to messages that says God is no longer angry with you! messages that does not remind you of your sins! messages that tell about God’s love for you (grace) and not your requirement to love God (Law).
LISTEN TO MESSAGES THAT UNVEILS JESUS & NOT MESSAGES THAT POINTS TO YOU
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast”
– Ephesians 2:8-9
amen and amen and amen
– grace and peace
the gospel of grace 
Awesome testimony. God’s Grace is the power to sin no more. This is the truth that must reach the ends of the earth.
John 8:10-11
Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
Law always points to ‘self’ but Grace always points to Jesus and His finished work.
Jesus’ Beloved,
Alex
Thanks for sharing! I have 5 adopted kids. It is important that adopted kids understand they are not their background, and their future is in Christ. We are ALL adopted into His kingdom, and it is by grace we are saved. Our obedience to His call to be holy, and the fruit of our righteousness does count in our relationship with Him after we are saved. Thanks for visiting my blog; I enjoyed visiting yours!
Shari http://christianadoptionsuccess.wordpress.com.
grace and peace to you
Amazing! I was so blessed reading your testimony. Do you have a facebook account? I would love to add you and get to know you! I just started understanding grace about 2-3 years ago, its so amazing! I love listening to, watching, and reading material from Chip Ingram, Joesph Prince, Andrew Wommack and others. God bless you and keep up the great blogs!
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1 ESV). So many at church today still hold on to a work-based salvation. Grace is sweet when we understand that we can never bring anything to God. Salvation is from God from the beginning to the end. We are dead in our trepassses, not sick. Dead people cannot respond to God so when we truly understand grace, we have nothing to boast except in Christ Alone. Thanks for your testimony.
Good glory!! I have a very similar testimony!! Raised ‘in church’, worship leader, on staff as an ‘inner healing minister’ oooohhh!! Got free because I finally understood what being ‘born-again’ means! WHOOHOOO!
Keep preaching the truth!!
Blessings
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Romans is a great book and it it all about what God has lifted us out of by His absolute love. it is all about the work of His son in turning around all that happened in Adam. Adam lost the spiritual connection with God. The ‘Sin’ with a capital ‘S’ is the lost connection. As a result things were not so good and that’s where we got our so called list of sins that we all grew up with, but they were a result of not having that connection with God. That is where the mediator between God and man came in. Jesus Christ was the the vehicle of our justification and righteousness (or simply our regained fellowship with God). That was how God chose to set things right. So Romans 10:9-10:
9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So instead of going about to establish our own (Rms 10:3) righteousness (works-been there done that!) we acknowledge God’s plan and confess (say the same thing) Rms 10:9,10.
Getting ‘born again’ or the ‘newness of life’ means confessing the savior from sin.
God then pours that spirit into our hearts that can have the connection to Him and His power.
Bless,
Ginny
amen.
Man I just love testimonies from God’s people that have had an obvious experience with the creator.
You nailed it about the whole generational curse thing.
WE HAVE BEEN REDEEMED FROM THE CURSE. GLORY TO GOD!
I have seen so much wrong teaching and time wasted on this subject. i think the devil just sets back and laughs when he sees this happen.
I love the core message of your blog. Simple and needed.
If you don’t mind, I am going to put a link to your blog on mine.
let me know if that is cool. i will wait for your reply.
thank you and bless you.
Jack
Jesus be lifted up brother.
feel free to link on this blog. let us spread the gospel, which is the good news, our common goal.
grace and peace to ya
Love your testimony! What an inspiration it is to so many, I am sure! Mine is similar with growing up in the church. It wasn’t till I was 19 that it all started to make sense! God is so good and powerful to keep us in the palm of His hand to help us see the Grace that He provides! May the Lord bless you and your ministry to others!
sometimes I wonder whether testimonies are required to enter heaven. :)
Amen! Thank you for sharing your story, your walk into the life you now share with Christ. God bless you for being an inspiration. Looking forward to following your blog.
Terra
http://virtuouswoman73.wordpress.com
Living Simply In Abundance
I love this! Such a clear presentation of the grace of God. I’m so grateful for a God who says “there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” Great post and nice “meeting you” even around the world. God bless you and your family!
The LORD speaks of his care for you in Psalm 91. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” You, as a frail human being, are being sheltered by Almighty God. But there is more. “I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my GOD, in whom I trust!'” The Most High God Almighty is your fortress — nothing can touch you apart from His will. Stand firm, O highly favored one, “His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”
i’ll keep that in heart
grace and peace
Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. I came to your blog to see some of your views. I’ve linked to follow your blog in the future. It’s a pleasure sharing this Christian journey with you.
God Bless.
you are welcome
Loved your testimony, it is so wonderful to be set free from churchianity and christianism! Thanks you Jesus!
amen!
Thank you for visiting my blog site and sharing such gracious words of encouragement.
It is beyond a thrill to meet and know fellow believers who are also experiencing the liberating move of God’s grace that is transforming us all into being receivers from Him instead of performers for Him.
I’m looking quite forward to enjoying and being ministered to by your posts.
All of His best to you,
Geoff
Hi Jeoff –
I am just one of those who were blessed by your post
keep on keeping on
grace and peace bro
http://greyskeilrainbow.wordpress.com/links/awards-received/
I have given you the Kreativ Blogger Award! Please do update your site and thanks.
thanks… will do soon
Amen! Wonderful Testimony! God Bless!
I’m blessed by your ‘genealogy of Jesus’ testimony too! :)
grace and peace be multiplied to you and your children’s children
I have pretty much the same experience as you did! I went to church since 5 and like you, I was active in church but didn’t really have that personal relationship with Christ. I have only started to experience Jesus for myself in the past 5 years or so and His grace is SIMPLY AMAZING! Keep up on spreading the good news around! Blessings!
wow.
now we are busy resting in Jesus feet.
– grace and peace
Thanks for sharing your testimony.
It’s very open and honest.
Jesus did all the heavy lifting for us!
Awesome testimony… I feel I will be learning a lot from you. By the way, thank you for visiting my blog. Like I said, I am very new to the faith and if you think I am going the wrong way, please rebuke me. I hope to hear from you soon. God bless you.
thanks for dropping by
i’ll send you email.
Awesome Testimony!! I am glad you addressed the deceitful message on “Generational curses”. Bless you!
Thank you for sharing your testimony, I think it is all too common for people to believe they can enter heaven because they attend and served in church. Thank you for the timely reminder that we are saved by Jesus’ sacrifice!
thank you for reminding me of God’s love , Jesus.
– grace and peace
That’s an awesome and sweet testimony! It is so cool how God brings us just what we need to hear at the right time – for you it was the unlikely topic of geneology =o>! But God knew the false teaching you had received and He knew just the right time and place to reach into your heart and what would register with you. God is SO COOL! Thanks for sharing your testimony with us. I was deeply blessed and have a big smile on my face =oD.
Grace and peace,
Wendy at JGIG
Hi Guys,
At first glance, I knew your site was upto something great. thank you for sharing your revelations with us
– grace and peace
What a blessing and testimony. I enjoyed reading your blog. I pray blessings and mercy for you, especially towards yourself. May the Lord be with you, and cause His face to shine upon you and bring you peace.
I am glad you are blessed.
grace and peace be multiplied upon you in the knowledge of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ
Enjoying your testimony of God’s goodness and I will look forward to receiving further posts. Lord Bless
awesome! thanks for dropping by
Paise God! I love hearing how He draws and captures individual hearts! We are saved by His grace! Even though you grew up in a “Chrisitian” household He came to you personally and now you can say like the people in Samaria did to the woman at the well…John 4:42
and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Praise God! May we always stay in His grace!
what a wonderful words of encouragement from the samaritan woman. thank you :)
– grace and peace be upon you
Hey thanks for the site, it is awesome!
I got a question; do you have any posts on fasting? Just wondering because I had some questions on it. Thanks a lot! And keep writing!
Hi Caleb,
I don’t have yet. I have heard grace driven teaching materials on that. soon God willing I might post one :)
thank for dropping by
– grace and peace be upon you
awesome testimony brother…so true about the generational curse teaching – it really makes sense what you said – Jesus has already redeemed us from the curse! That’s the true gospel!
I, too, came out of some bad teachings and into the understanding of grace. Grace has changed my whole outlook on life. Great points.
my life too has changed radically by God’s radical grace.
thanks for sharing :)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph 2: 8-9.
Father loved you before you were born and planned to give you His gift before time began. Happy, happy day, when He washed our sin away. “And not only so, we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement.” Rom 5: 11.
This faith in the love of our Father, removes all concerns regarding our approach to His throne. Especially when we see our high priest IS the sacrifice and His is a throne of mercy. Heb 4: 14-16.
Thank you for the cross, Lord and help us to lead others there with the help of your Holy Spirit.
Be blessed.
I was readng this today also – http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols13-15/chs753.pdf
Wonderful preaching.
thank you for sharing ..i am studying more about gospel word..and ofcourse searching true teaching about the bible …i am attending church pentecose…i want to learned more..pls allow me to your site…..thank you so much and God Bless you!..
you are more than welcome!
Hey, great words. Found this through JGIG. Another site to bookmark and read. Do I sense a little JPM in your words? ;) I too am Destined To Reign and have Unmerited Favor.
yea i listen to JP’s sermons. actually , he was that preacher who preached on the genealogy of Jesus.
i listened to Andrew Wommack as well,
and my never ending habit of repetitive , ‘Luther’s commentary of Galatians’
glad to meet you :)
feel free to email me
thegospelofgrace (et) yahoo (that) com
– grace and peace
Luther’s Commentary to Galatians is one of my favorites too!
theres one in Vimeo.com.
search for
dr. Rod Rosenbladt on Luthers commentary on Galatian
be blessed :)
Thanks, I think I lived in Galatia for awhile!
Wonderful Testimony!
I think I may be following your blog as well.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on my blog. I enjoyed reading your’s.
Thank you for dropping by my blog and for blessing me mightily with yours. God bless you more and more. :)
be blessed too, hope we can make music someday :)
It is really glad to read such post like this! Points to no one but on Jesus! It is really great to see how God works according to His plan for us.
Hey Rollie, where have you been brother?
I just wanted to let you know that I have nominated you for the coveted Food for Thought Award. Please, check out the below post for details. May God shower His Grace on you!
dear brother,
i’ve been busy with work :)
i have un-publish-raw posts, will soon get it up.
thanks for the nomination, i appreciate it
– grace and peace
Great testimony!! Jesus came to take the pressure off!!
I love hearing your story. I’m amazed by the things you say! I was actually also caught up in the same deliverance ministries that you were. We went through the processes of breaking off generational curse. But God taught me the exact same thing you learned. Actually interesting bit, you can also see it described when Jesus drank the sour wine on the cross (the wine with vinegar). What that was symbolizing was him drinking in our generational curse. Its referring back to an old testament reference.
Ezekiel 18: “In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son–both alike belong to me… But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things… He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live… The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
Of course, some of what he is saying is still old covenant context but essentially he was referring to a day in the future when sons would no longer be judged for their fathers sins. This was symbolized when Jesus drank the sour wine. Essentially, he was taking in the generational curse you deserved. The father’s drank sour wine, and Jesus’s teeth was set on edge.
So yes, there are many problems with that movement not to mention that they don’t produce good fruit.
I love listening to Joseph Prince too! You should listen to John Sheasby too, he’s really good.
Nice to get to know you!
whoa! you mention sour wine… don’t you know that I am gonna publish a post on that this week? I have the draft already.. wow!
this is gonna be so much interesting!
you are my brother from Sarah! we are of the same mother.. amen
That’s so neat! I look forward to hearing it! Brothers we are!
Thank you Lord, another brother with understanding of righteousness.
Wish you were near me, we are growing.
i do too. how awesome would it be if all those under grace gather together all over the world and talk nothing but only about Jesus and his love :)
Savedbygrace, I enjoyed ” about you.” It sounds like about me. I’ve been in church since 1980 received grace just enough to get saved and filled with the Holy Ghost 6 months after and then a lot of law. I felt I had to prove to God that I loved him as much as he loved me. Talk about work! I preached, I played in Praise and worship groups. Whatever a church would need. Then in 2006 I received the message of Grace and it felt like I got saved all over again. How the love of Jesus poured into my soul. Now thanks be to God, I’m resting in the finished work of Jesus now for 7 years and renewing my mind and letting God love me. The Spirit of God has full reign in my life and now my relationship is joy unspeakable full of Glory. He ministers to me daily. what a relationship I have with him. If you think about it the bible says we are the temple of the HOLY GHOST. Now with grace he has free way with us. Nothing in his way. I appreciate your website! Grace to you always! Chuck
thank you so much for sharing that… I was in the music ministry as well for a number of years.
wow! im so glad to meet a fellow musician. i dont sing tho :)
I do a little, when I’m learning a new song. I’ve been playing since I was 6, and had my own group at 18 when I was in the World. Now I’m 58. Worked with Alan Jackson before he got famous. I just got saved when I first worked with him. He went his direction, I went mine. Glad to meet you to.
My friend in the Lord here is my testimony, so bear with me and I hope by God’s grace I can transmit the Mike Coker before and the Mike Coker now. I heard a proverb one time that said a wise mans changes his mind and a fool never does. So as I said before I received Christ as my savior in 1974 Ed Linn took me to there to receive Christ. My question to the preacher who led me in this was Herb Buoy in Canton Illinois at a Methodist church. The first question I ask him was, ” do I have to stop drinking beer?’ and his answer was,” that is between you and God.” So I started my life as a believer and the only reason I got saved was I just did not want to go to hell, I was looking for fire insurance so to speak. So for three years I never went to church and the times I had been there I was bored to death, much like my grade and high school experience. I did stop by with money and give to the pastor but that was it.
Then in 1977 when my grandpa died on page 92 in the church he attended song hymnal they sang Amazing Grace at his funeral. From that day forward I started attending church, but the best thing about that church was the Thursday night bible study. The bible study I enjoyed and looked forward to, but church was so regimented and when the Holy Spirit did start preaching Herb would quench the Spirit. I can still hear him say before he preached “Come Holy Spirit come, come as the fire and burn, come as the wind and cleanse, convict, convert consecrate us. Most of that group is dead now but while there I saw no growth and I knew there had to be more.
I went to the Assembly of God, (if you didn’t speak in tongues you had to sit in the back of the church and the church smelled like sour milk to me, but I did meet one real Christian there his name was Leonard Bolen and all that man did was love me and gave me the bible I use today) The Baptists church, some church over by Avon Illinois (too far to drive) a church in Banner Illinois and finally a non Christian Ken Tucker who just wanted to see what he could get out of you and I guess that was the way most of us were when we were that young. He loved and loved basketball and went to church to play in their league. So he invited me to the Evangelical Church so I went by myself to check it out.
They said things I knew to be true at this stage of my walk with Christ so I decided to attend one Sunday and I liked what I heard. A couple weeks later I went to a adult Sunday School and for the first time ever the leader ask me to pray. I felt like I was accepted here and those people got to know my child like faith and my free spirit.
After three months they came to me and ask if I would teach the high school boy’s Sunday school class. This was in 1981, I told them I had to pray and see what God thought about this. I felt like I got my answer and began to teach with four guys and they would ask me questions like teach on homosexuals so I did. And being a hot rodder I attracted some more guys and they would ask other friends. At the time they had the girls in one class and the boys in another class. We made so much noise in there discussing our lesson that the girls got together and told the church they wanted to come into the boys’ class. I believe in all my heart that God gave me the gift to teach, not the gift of hospitality I fail in that area. So we co-taught, the girl teacher Ann Patterson and myself and that lasted for about a year and then Ann quit that age group and I had them by myself.
I taught in an old house next to the church and they wanted me to use a quarterly and those things sucked. I told them I just pray and ask God what to teach on and then the lesson comes. I have lots of lesson I did still on paper but not quarterly’s. They kinda raised an eye brow but let me go on and then they wanted me to have a lesson plan for each month I was teaching. No that ain’t going to happen either, how do I know what God wants from one week to the next. The attendance of the kids kept me in there but they complained that the kids would come to Sunday school and then not attend church.
Church had become boring again to me and I only went to church to get to teach Sunday school. I genuinely loved those kids but had nothing in common with their mom and dad’s. I wanted to give my love to my son but he did not want it so I gave it to those kids.
My wife did not like anything about religion and detested it more that Satan himself. Try having a relationship with God and the two people you love the most reject your feeling about God.
God gave me many ideas on how to bring the bible into teenager’s life and make it interesting. I guess a verse out of proverbs led me to this. Living Bible 15:2 A wise teacher makes learning a joy; a rebellious teacher spouts foolishness. God told me to teach in a way that changes lives. Another verse that I put with this is John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Also I added this verse but at the time I did not understand it, Matthew 7:28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
While teaching the high school group the youth leader quit and I had them both with the help of one of my former students from Sunday school. I did the lesson and she did the games and activities. So for a long time I was doing two lessons a week and sometimes children’s church because I wanted to be a grandpa and that was not going to happen. I took from those kids what my son would not give me. Then a man and his wife that I had in Sunday school previously who were as pure as the driven snow, and had no premarital sex, wouldn’t say POOP if they had a mouth full, only would drink ice tea, soda, or Kool-Aid and was a brother to the sister who was married to the pastor of our church that left his wife for another woman. I think he got his sermons from Chuck Swindoll, but at least I enjoyed them at the time.
I taught with them for a while but I stepped down because they as a team could go on these week trips to Florida and ski trips in the winter with the youth group and for me that was certain divorce. So I stuck to Sundays School and occasionally children’s church.
I would give my time to do a lesson for 4-7 year olds to get out of church which was like eating dry toast with no butter. The church wanted me to be on a board and that was agonizing. Want to see religion at it best sit on a board. It was man telling me to do what they thought God wanted me to be and do, yet God just wanted me to love and teach kids.
While church was going on I would tell myself not to look at the clock. I would look at the bulletin and mentally cross off each section seeing how close it was to being over.
Once I had a big jar and told the kids to make the offering in church fun we would fill this jar up and then when it was full we would take it into church and pour it into the ritualistic offering plate. They thought that was a grand idea; remember they are kids and so was I so to speak. You could hear all that change hitting the brass plate and it towered over the other plates with money and the deacons or who ever went to the front of the church. During church service a couple would count the money and I think we had something like $100 in change for them to count. I even invited the pastor and the associate pastor who never stepped out of line any further that a knock knock joke to sit in my class and I think what they liked best was my enthusiasm for the kids and teaching. They found no fault with my lesson as it came from the bible every time. So they let me go on, this is over a 20 year time span. Then the youth leader was having kids and needed more time for his job and so he and his wife stepped down and they went on search for a new youth leader. Curt Foss was the pastor at the time a religious guy from Chicago and the old crowd loved him with all their picnics and stupid sweetish jokes.
He did not see eye to eye with me and would not let me do a lesson with a condom in it. He told me he wanted these kids to be on the straight and narrow path. I told him I don’t think I had ever been on that path.
Any way he brings in a very young youth leader who is just fresh married and very mature in the word, not! But had the ability to smile at the mom and dads and with his wife spend all the weekends on trips bringing the kids closer to God. Curt the pastor could see that Brandon was more like him and I the rebellious one was not following in his steps realized that it was hard for Brandon to make an impact when the kids spend time with him and his wife on Wednesday night and Sunday with me, TWO entirely different styles of teaching. Taking the kids on weekend trips was big in the eyes of the church.
This was in 1997 the 17th year at the church, when Curt came to me and told me the church wanted me to stop teaching and let Brandon take over full time. I think I had something in common with Paul and did not know it at the time. So I told them ok they are not my kids and this is not my Sunday school so I stepped down and let Brandon have full reign. Yes I was hurt on the inside and was knocked back for a while but as long as I had been in that church no one would take the college and career class no one. In one week Jim Minnie asks me if I would take that class and I said yes and thank you Jesus I was not done teaching and sharing God’s word. This is when grace came in to my life and I changed.
Well not yet this is the beginning of my last three years and I continued on teaching like I did with the high school kids. I can’t tell you what brought this on but I had reached a point where I would be like every church person on Sunday and then through the week be a horses butt. I had come to the point where I could not be good like those I went to church with, I said one thing and did another thing I became fed up with what the bible said and the way I acted, it had become a big joke to me and I can remember getting ready to throw my bible in the river and never come back.
One if not the most frustrating times in my spiritual walk with Jesus. I had talked to Bob about the way I feel and he approached me with would you like to hear about grace. I had no idea what grace was and in my downtrodden condition I only knew at the time it was just unmerited favor. Little did I know it was the empowering presence of God in your life enabling you to do what God wanted you to do and be what God wanted you to be.
Bob gave me several verses to study and talked with me about them and had me write notes about what I was reading. If I knew what I know now and was Bob I would have balked at my next question and that was would you come with me to Wednesday night bible study? He agreed with me and at the bible study for whatever reason God wanted me to hear this verse like I had never seen it or heard it before.
There was a very nice ex-catholic and humble lady there named Sally Grace who is dead now, but for whatever reason in our discussion she read and showed me Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
When I heard this it hit me like a freight train I about fell out of my chair. I found it odd that no one, but me got a shock out of this verse and no one else did. Never had I experienced this verse in this way. I had been condemning myself all these years because of my actions and the Spirit came to me through humble Sally and told me,
“Mike you are not condemned, I took care of that”.
Reading that verse and experiencing that verse are two totally different things. I looked at myself in a new light and had a hunger for the word that I never had before. I became more on fire for God now that all my years before. Since 1981 no actually since I was saved I had been back peddling in the milk of the word and had lost my taste for milk and wanted meat. This is what is called a revelation of God like in Ephesians 1:17 and why other don’t get it I cannot tell you; that is a completely different subject.
I began to see verses that I had never seen before and they were so powerful to me now. One that comes to mind is the verse in Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
I shared this at the Wednesday night bible study and told the group what it met and pastor Mike Barr told me I was wrong. It is at this time I discovered that the KJV bible had deeper and more accurate scripture in it that the NIV which I had taught out of for years. You won’t see this verse saying the same thing. I realized that if I thought I was worthless, and condemned that is the way I would believe and act. I was learning about something that I had never given thought to in my life and that was who I was in Christ.
I can remember calling Bob on the telephone and with tears coming down my cheek telling him how sorry I was for all the years I had taught in error. This is another revelation I knew nothing of and that was the law in the bible and the grace that is there.
All the sermons I had heard in all the churches I had been in always were about a story in the Old Testament or the four gospels and seemed to skip over Paul and the New Testament. I myself had taught many lessons out of the Old Testament because they were stories’ that I could relate to kids with and could not see how Paul traveling to Antioch for Seleucia and sailed to Cyprus, large island 100 miles off Syrian coast. There they went to Salamis and Paphos where Paul met Bar-Jesus the sorcerer would make a good Sunday school lesson. So I avoided Paul and used everything in the bible but rarely used Paul’s writings.
Never before in my life had I seen these scriptures in the bible and had an appetite to learn more. Mike Coker was studying the bible for the same reason he eats, I was hungry. It was like I taught Sunday school to impress God even though I loved those kids. Coker have you spent time in the bible today? You know others are having devotions and you’re not. Now I wanted to look into the bible, it was not about me having devotions and being able to tell other I did so, I could not wait to do so. No one told me to do it, I wanted to do it. I had found my identity to begin with that I knew nothing of. It was like God had opened up a new section of the bible that I had never seen before I had been eating hot dogs all my life and no wonder God’s word and become bland and no fire. Now God says, “order whatever you want it’s all for you”. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! Think how I felt discovering all this? I learned that being made into a new creation does not refer to your behavior; it refers to our identity. I guess the only way I can explain how I felt at this time was for you to remember being a child at Christmas and the excitement as you opened up each present. Each new verse was like opening a new gift.
Church was always about don’t drink, gamble, cheat on your wife, don’t go to R rated movie, don’t and do’s. Then God showed me John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Realizing that I was a child of God and not a sinner saved by grace, remember Proverbs 23:7 I discovered my goal as a child of God was not how to stop sinning but to know Jesus Christ better. Taking the focus off of me and my mistakes and put it on the who Mike Coker was in Christ.
Here is another part of error that I thought was correct. So many things I believed were in error and in my heart I felt was truth. I began to hear words in the music that were wrong and no one said a thing. I discovered that those who wrote the song were not any different than I used to be and I had to unlearn a lot of things and here is an example of that. That is the thing about grace it opens up the eyes of your heart. I’m sure you all know the single verse 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I had just chewed out a kid for something he had done at work when I was with Coleman’s in Canton. I was a little over board and as I walked out the door I told God to forgive me for the way I had responded to that situation. I can still see this happening and it was just before lunch and when God brought this to me I was just walking out the back door and the sun was shining. Very vivid to me and this is what I heard from God not in an audible voice but like my mind speaking to me when you think in quiet. God said you don’t need to confess that to me I took care of all your sin at the cross once and for all. You need to confess your wrong to that kid and ask for his forgiveness. So when I came back from lunch I looked up John and went to him, me as a manager of the service department and him a wash boy and car porter and ask for his forgiveness. I admitted to him my wrong and that kid hugged me and I him and we continued our job that day. I have had this come up in my life many times since but I know that is the correct thing to do and not worry about my sin against Christ. He nailed that to the cross many years ago.
I was enjoying the ritual and tradition of church less and less because the eyes of my heart being opened to the message I was seeing in the bible. I still went to church to keep my status as a Sunday school teacher, yet changed my teaching style. I started sharing some of the information that God was sharing with me. Yet I could see the deer in the head light look back at me. I had older people and just out of high school kids and what I found was the older ones that had been in church all their life still thought that you could be in fellowship with God and out of fellowship with God. They knew no more than kids that had just came out of high school. I read Romans 8:31-39 and then ask them how we can be out of fellowship with God.
All of this was so interesting to me and I had an appetite to learn more and more of what was in there for me. It was like God was showing me a new and different way to build an engine for more power. Ideas that I had never even knew existed, talk about thinking out of the box. Remember I too from 1974 to 1998 or so had never ever tasted anything as sweet as I tasted now. The only confusion I encountered was no one else had my new found appetite. This was very frustrating to me yet knew I was not going back to the old way of communicating/believing with Christ.
I came across this scripture John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. When I saw this God told me it is not about your efforts or performance it is about what I did for you. Your goal is to believe in me and I will do the rest. I was no different that the multitudes that were following Jesus or his disciples. Like that group I thought that that everlasting life depends upon the condition of fulfilling the law. I now am beginning to see two new subjects in the bible and that is law vs grace. So many new verses of life were opening up to me it was a bit over whelming, but I knew in all my heart that I had a completely new relationship with God and was not about to let go of it. I felt freedom in Christ that I had never experienced before.
You need to understand that I was alone in this new experience and had no one to share it with and sometimes think I was wrong about my new revelation in Christ. But then I would study more and I would come right back to I know I’m right and not changing my way of thinking. Romans 12:2 had become alive to me and more real than ever. Remember Proverbs 23:7 my heart and mind were being renewed.
As I think on this the issue of Law and Grace came down to how Christ accepts me. I lived in fear of not pleasing God which I was sure I was good at. Here is another verse that changed me. Hebrews 11: 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. How could this be so simple and yet never preached in church? It is my faith in Christ that pleases Him not all my do-gooder deeds. Why was this not shared in Church before? I heard God loves you; yet don’t step out of line. This is what I encountered in the Methodist, Baptist, Assembly of God, and Evangelical Free; all the churches I attended shared and taught the same thing. I began to hate the word religion because it was man’s idea of what God expected and not the other way around. Grace except for unmerited favor was never preached or taught on. Yet the more I studied grace and His total forgiveness did I become free. I no longer carry the burden of sin on my back or my failures in life, constantly looking over my shoulder to see if God is running after me with his clip board and pencil taking notes on me. With grace I found God gives to me a standing of total acceptance as a gift through Jesus Christ. My work in no way added to or contributed to God’s acceptance to me.
Another verse in this journey of my life was 1 Corinthians 15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
Wow this send my mind spinning a new revelation had come to me that all of God’s word is first in the natural and then it has a second meaning in the spiritual. Genesis 4:2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. Here is one example of this. Cain born first was the natural, and Able born second was the spiritual. So what? When it came to sacrifice Cain could offer no blood sacrifice, yet Able could. So what? Well read Hebrews 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. I had spent all my life looking at God’s word in the natural. I saw myself as the Hebrew Children wondering around in the desert for 40 years because of unbelief and error in their thinking and belief. I was now entering into the promise land.
Back to the issue of law and grace I ask myself on what basis is a man made acceptable to God. I found three ways that I know of and they are as follows and all make me think more of my relationship with Jesus Christ. I discovered one way is keeping the law where man is responsible to make himself acceptable to God by his performance and works. You are accepted by God according to what you do or don’t do. The word “if” usually shows up in this case and I will show you an example to better understand me and where I’m coming from. Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Jesus speaking under law and I had to learn this that law is dependent on you and what you do. Obviously the opposite must be true, if you don’t He won’t.
Still learning about the Old Covenant something I knew nothing of because I never studied on my own I just listened to the error the preacher at the time shared with me. And I must say I know their heart was in the right place but like me knew no difference. Another verse comes to mind to help you see where I’m coming from. Acts 16:14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. Why was this being shown to me and not others? I guess it was my act of telling God I was done, finished with religion and here goes my bible into the river. It’s a joke!
The year 2001 was a very big change in my life. I was very tired of the grief I had experienced for 15 years at Coleman’s (car dealer) The tech’s, gave me rough time over jobs and $$, the customers ate me up, the office manage would vent out on me in manager meetings as she had the boss in her hand. GM and Chrysler made my life miserable. I came home mad, and had a pretty short fuse at work. I used to complain and bitch (sorry) about my job all the time. It was like a prison sentence. Then God told me to starting thanking him that I had a job. He said if you complain you will remain. Just like the Hebrew children in the wilderness, I’m sure you remember the 40-year deal. So I started thanking God for a job and tried to change my attitude at work.
Then one day while I was reading my bible, I was in 2 Peter and reading in the first chapter and God took my eyes to the second chapter verse 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)– 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
You see now that I was under control with God and doing what He had ask, thanking Him for my job He could talk to me. There was no anger, I was at peace. Here is what made me know this was a promise from God for me.
Romans 3:21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. So when God showed me I was righteous in His eyes it made a big difference in my life. 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Once I knew and understood this, the fact that I WAS RIGHTEOUS in God eyes I knew that verse in 2 Peter was for me and it was a promise that I was going to be delivered from my job and all the stress.
That was all I knew for then, but I had never seen a promise in the bible that met so much to me. I would tell others and show them this verse, but it did not mean much to them. But I had a promise from God and that was all that was important at that time.
It was weeks and nothing happened, but I just kept believing in faith that God would deliver me. I just kept thanking God that I had a job and teaching Sunday school and going to work. I just knew in my heart I was going to be delivered. Then it happened one day at work a customer really gave me a good going over. I was cool, but after he left I said to myself or the Holy Spirit prompted me to say, “I’m moving to Indiana”. Here is how I know this is from God. I went home and I said to my unbelieving wife of 30 years. We’re going to move to Indy. The next word to come out of her mouth was “good”. No arguing, no we don’t know anyone over there, no how can we sell our house that we had build and expected to live in forever. She was ready to move. So she got on the net and looked for days for jobs for me to do in Indy. Linda sent out numerous resumes with no answer back. So after several weeks she quit and gave up. This was not God’s plan for me. He had to be in control and not us. Again we are to wait in faith and not take over for God. So we just quit looking and kept teaching Sunday school and living, knowing God had made this promise.
One day in late October of 2001 Troy my son was at a weenie roast with a bunch of golf people. They were sitting around the fire roasting hot dogs and talking and one of the salesmen said to Troy do you know of any mechanics that need a job. Troy said my dad. So he called me and told me about the job opportunity working on golf course doing all the mechanical maintenance. I had not one but two interviews in Indiana. The one I did not take was the one the very next year the superintendent (boss) got fired. The one I went with was surely of God. This guy told Troy that he would talk to me as a courtesy, but had two other mechanics he was talking to with over 25 years experience each.
So here I show up for my interview. No experience in the golf business, just the grace to use my hands that God had given me. I just sat out in the car by myself and prayed that God would give me the right things to say and present myself the way he wanted me to be. The interview was not going very good as my interviewer was fumbling over things to ask. I ask him if I could just tell him about myself. God by His grace (power) took over the interview. As I began to talk my future boss kept smiling and writing things down. We shook hands and I left. But when I stopped 10 miles up the road to get gas I knew I had the job. I went back to Canton and told Linda about the interview. 2 days later the phone rang and Joe told me if I wanted I had the job. Thank you Jesus!
So on December 15, 2001 I started work for Wolf Run Golf Club. God did not tell me it was going to be a piece of cake, He just told me he was going to deliver me. I had to live over here until we sold our house in Canton. That took until July of 2002, Linda I had had to live apart after 30 years together and that was not too good. Traveling back and forth every other weekend and looking for a house in Indy, added quite a lot of stress to our marriage. We finally found a house, but a lot more that what we sold our house for in Canton. Canton to Indy is not apples to apples or oranges to oranges. But here again by the Grace of God we sold our house, Linda has a job over here, and I have insurance for the both of us. God is in control. I sold my red 79 Ford Ranger, which you may remember and Troy let me use his truck since in his position he gets a truck to drive.
I had not found a church that I really feel at home in. I just keep looking and I know when it is right the Good Lord will put me there too. Thank God for his word. Some of the preaching I hear I could get up there and the Holy Spirit would come alive. I was beginning to discover that like in Illinois the churches in Indiana were pretty much milk toast not the real meat of the word. My eyes were being opened to the error of religion. I went to many many churches looking for a home, but each time I went I would leave frustrated with all the error I heard. A lot of the churches would have tables and chairs set up so people could have coffee and chat but most of what I heard in the chat was ball scores and where they had supper, etc. I was sitting in the foyer of this start up church where there is coffee and donuts reading my bible and a man and wife that I had met before sat down with me and started talking. The wife is hard to teach, she was telling me the problems with her 2 twin sons that are in college and I could see the same thing in her. They were in term oil about Christmas with her mom and dad, who live in Florida and their family, 2 girls 16 & 23 plus the two 21 year old boys. They said the girls were mad that there was no church next Sunday on Christmas, but they were having a Christmas Eve service. The mom and dad did not want to have church on Christmas Eve. I told them they were the church. Well that caused a deer in the head light look.
Well we don’t have a place to worship. I said you can worship at home. The husband said he played the guitar. I told them to have him do that 1/2 hour before their family Christmas on Sunday and then prepare a 1/2 hour church service with a song before the day begins. Oh I don’t know was the reply. I said lets hold hand right now and pray about this. Your have been given a opportunity to have a real worship service in your home on Christmas. What a gift from God. So we prayed right there among the donuts and the coffee. I said don’t talk about the story in Luke 2, but share some verses on forgives and love. As this family is pretty miss- mashed. They told me their sons fight them at every turn and the daughters think they are stupid.
The mom was seeing herself as a failure or whatever with her kids. She said I just do it wrong or something in the line of words. So I looked at her and said, “are you in Christ”? Is Jesus in you? To which she replied yes. So I took her to Ephesians 1:13 and showed her that she was sealed. I ask her if she understood that Christ had sealed her with the Holy Spirit. I tried to show her that failure could not change who she was, because she was protected by the seal of Christ. I could see that this was having a hard time going down, so I took her to Romans 8:1 and told her that she is not condemned if she was in Christ and the Ephesians verse said that. I told her the key thing was that she must believe this in faith. At this point in time I was getting a lot of “ya buts” because I don’t think she has ever heard this as truth in her life. It appeared she and her husband, but more so of her that she was more interested in being in church on Sunday that knowing who she was in Christ. I ask her if this was her husband and she said yes. I said say this is your husband, and in a weak low voice she said “you are my husband”. Wanting her to say it in a bold voice. I told her she must say these things to take ownership of the truth and by saying he is your husband you take ownership of that statement. I wanted her to believe it in faith. The conversation ran down from there so now I’m just praying for them and will see what God does in their life. They did tell me God had sent me to talk to them. They referred to me as a blessing. I told them I was just a child of God and to thank Him and not me.
The experience allowed me, and the opportunity to share God’s word but it was like serving meat to those who only drink milk. I guess the fact that God made me to share and teach will not go away.
The other reason I’m here is, I believe is, for my unsaved son. I have been praying for him since the men used to meet at the Taste of Mexico on West Locus Street in Canton Tuesday mornings in 1976. My son is very worldly, is very self centered, very prideful, and hurts others in a heartbeat and never blink an eye. A lot of the time treats me more like an employee than a father. I know he loves me, but he is so hurt in my estimation over the loss of his mom and never dealt with it, he only knows to reply with hurt. Some more events to happen I did not know at the time was our racing program, the birth of Tatum, and Troy’s divorce with Sarah who took off after a year of nursing Tatum and how Linda and I would be needed in Troy and Tatum’s life for the next 2 years of his life as a daddy with no mommy.
With church on Sunday being more of an institution and frustration I was led to a man on the internet Les Feldick who knew the same thing that I had discovered and after having church with him I left the computer well fed in the meat and not milk of the word. The fact that most radio and churches are so well meaning but for some misguided reason teach error and the folks in the pews just lap it up.
Remember I’m still learning and I never what to quit learning, imagine how I felt when I saw the opposite of law and “if you” in the gospel of Grace shared by Paul. Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. And then I read Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. That’s grace!
It was here that I saw a difference in the Old Testament (LAW) and Paul’s writings (GRACE) in the bible. Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote over half of the New Testament yet rarely does anyone preach from Paul’s letters and when they do they use his letters to make their point not the other way around.
It was about this time I found this verse in the KJV bible. 2Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Ok now look at it in the NIV bible: 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (NIV) See what I was missing by listening to preaching in the NIV and teaching and studying in the NIV? The devil has power to deceive but that’s it. I could give a short sermon on this subject too. Studying the word deceive I found out that it means to pervert, lead astray, distort, misrepresent, change and alter. Growing in my faith I learned that the easiest bible to read misses the mark in a lot of places and I was deceived to believe that is where I should stay.
God could not show me all this at once it had to come in days and weeks and years of growing and unlearning. Ok what about this phrase “rightly dividing the word of truth”?
I guess I had better put two verse down first. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. 5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Understand and believing the above verses I was beginning to see what God was saying to me about “rightly dividing the word of truth” and I discovered that the entire bible was written to us, but not all the bible was for us. What? Please understand I know what God says in Hebrews 13, but I discovered there was God’s agenda before the cross and that was the law and there was after the cross, grace showing me there are two different agenda’s. Please understand that all these new revelations are renewing my mind.
In Matthew 10 I read this verse 5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I had never seen this verse before or heard it preached. It told me that in Matthew Mark Luke and John all before the cross Jesus had a different agenda and it was to the house of Israel. It was like whatever the neighbor’s father told his kids was suppost to apply to me. Yet those kids were in high school and I was still riding my tricycle. Maybe there is something to Paul. After this revelation I found Matthew 15: 21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying; Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he (Jesus) answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Yet in Matthew 21:42 and I chose here to use the NIV Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
What does this all have to do with anything? This was the same Jesus today yet in His earthly ministry under a different agenda to the nation of Israel in fulfillment of old covenant promises. It had nothing to do with us the Gentile world. I was beginning to see the word “dividing” and what it was talking about. In Ephesians it says we were enemies of God and had no hope. All this before the cross and when Jesus put the Jew on the back burner He went to the meanest, most religious, error believing Jew he could find and that was Paul.
Wow as I began to study Paul things really opened up to me. I found mysteries, covenants and who I was in Christ, no condemnation; the fleshly man is dead, God’s grace, examples of the law like school master, what the law was really for, and lastly unconditional love. I have left organized religion with all its traditions and errors in its well meant preached message. Now attend church where two or more are gathered. I no longer give money for stained glass windows, or new parking logs for the parking lot, new sound systems, or over head movie screens. The world I have found out has its hand out for non-earned money everywhere you look, but God has put on my heart to support abused women who God originally designed as a precious gift to man and not some piece of meat to be abused by man. One of my favorite verses about women is Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The first time I ever heard this verse I was 23 years old in Havana Illinois at the Baptist church it was May 1, 1971 at my first wife’s funeral. I had no bible teaching outside of Sunday School and some boring regimented hours spent in church.
And the story of Abigail in 1 Samuel 25 depicts the treasures in Godly women. I want women, who read this testimony to know you are invaluable; your price is far above rubies-no quantity of precious stones can be equal to her worth. You are a treasure a precious find.
As I close this I thank God for the Hope of Glory which Christ is in me. I was once a wretch, but now am a Child of God.
Thank you Jesus
Grace, Peace, and Love
Mike Coker
Mike, your testimony is awesome and everyone’s on here that finally got a revelation on this Grace message. I to was so weary with trying to do what we can’t do and I can tell you from experience that I have really been free since getting revelation knowledge on this Grace message. Thanks for this website, the teaching is awesome. I do know that once me and my husband learned that when we messed up we weren’t condemned by God….our marriage had gone through a healing after 16 years of pure hell and it just makes me love him even more. I love listening to Joseph Prince and those who teach like him. I have been told that what he teaches is error but that is just the enemy not wanting people to understand and be delivered. Blessings to you all, and again, thank you savedbygrace for this sight and you testimony. Love in Christ
Good afternoon from France,
Just wanted to thank you for sharing your walk to freedom in Yashua. Personally, in October this year (2014) I have walked with Yashua for 30 years.
This year, I saw some videos entitled ‘The Finger of God’, ‘Furious Love’ and Father of Lights’, made by Darren Wilson (USA) a church-goer who went on to a personal journey to discover what our Father was doing around the earth, and found many wonderful people and many amazing testimonies.
Among those in the videos was a pastor named Andrew Farley (USA) preaching on ‘Grace from Start to Finish’ and ‘You never need to pay God back’. His teachings are available free on YouTube, if you would care to just type his name in the search bar.
I trust those who do listen to his own testimony will enter into more freedom and understand what Yashua truly obtained for those who choose to trust in Him and what He accomplished once and for all.
With love and blessings
Anne
I am blessed by your testimony.
I googled Gospel of Grace to do some readings as I am just new to Grace (barely a year and thirsty to read more) – your blog is on the first page of Google search and I’ve read 2 blog entries. I am very very blessed.
Do you have a facebook page where I can easily see your blog post updates?
https://www.facebook.com/thegospelisgrace