A CHRISTMAS GIFT

[This event happened two years ago. At this Christmas time it reminds us all again what a loving God we have and how he is concerned in the very details of our lives!]

God loves us. He really, really does. That’s a key part of the Christmas message. Why else would He ever have sent His son here to go through what he went through? And why else would Jesus ever have willingly gone to the cross?

I was reminded of that this past weekend in a way only God can arrange.

Sunday afternoon a friend was coming to visit us at home. Late in the afternoon the doorbell rang, and I opened the door. There stood our friend, holding out a box of clementines. For those of you who do not know, clementines are small citrus fruit, like small oranges, and they seem to make an appearance in grocery stores about this time of year. They come in small but clearly distinct boxes.

Our friend handed me this box of clementines. “God told me to get this for you,” she said. And she went on, exclaiming that God was very specific and strong about it. “So I went into a grocery store and I couldn’t find them. I thought that I would just get a poinsettia, but well, God said to get clementines.” So she stuck with her search, and she found them.

Later in the kitchen she spoke with Cathy and asked if clementines were my favorite. Our friend couldn’t get over how insistent God had been.

Later I thought more about this. I remembered how as my children grew up we would always get a box of clementines sometime around Christmas. It was a regular feature in our house. The box could always be found sitting somewhere in the kitchen. Everyone liked them. To this day when I see a display of clementines in a store, I want to buy a box.

And I thought some more. Here we are in the ministry involved in our usual activities and praying for guidance from God on key issues, like where and how to proceed in the expensive television ministry, where and what meetings to arrange, whether to begin another regular meeting in southeastern NC, and more. For months, even years, we have been going steadily forward, always fighting and overcoming attacks of the evil one which do come whenever anyone steps out for God.

Into the midst of all that God sent an obedient woman friend to bring a box of clementines. Even when I write this the Holy Spirit is so strong in the office I keep stopping and reflecting. Is that love? Yes! And much more. That is God saying - John, even in the midst of all this, I’m still here, and I love you, and look, I even know little things about you, like how you like a box of clementines and what that means to you.

So I've been feeling really warm every since. God sent me a box of clementines for Christmas.

God knows where you are and what you’re going through. He knows every hair on your head. Every day, if we’ll just look around and take time to see with spiritual eyes, we’ll see God directing our paths. What a heavenly Father we have!


(December 7, 2007)

Copyright 2007 © by John Newlin Ministries, Inc.

SIGN OF THE TIMES! - LAODICEAN MAKES THE TV NEWS!

I hope you heard the morning news today. The winning word in the national spelling bee was "Laodicean!"

How is that for God again trying to make a point to people!

The newsperson that I heard said that the word meant lukewarm and had religious connotations.

I'll say it has spiritual connotations! It has belief connotations! In Revelation 3:14-21, Jesus dictates a letter for John to write to the church at Laodicea. In that chilling letter, he makes the point that he really cannot abide their lukewarm behavior. They are neither cold nor hot, and Jesus says he will spit them out.

That of course is an apt description of large numbers of modern churches today. Not recognizing the power or reality of the Gospel, not even recognizing the truth of the Word, they exist - neither cold nor hot. They are lukewarm, and Jesus says He will spit them out.

Prepare for the spitting. It is beginning.

HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD

Not long ago I read a remarkable thing by the Christian writer Oswald Chambers. He observed that people called by God first “do” and then they “teach.” I had never thought of that, but it has been true in my own life. After the initial dramatic call, I sought to fulfill what Jesus had called me to do. I studied and prayed, wrote, and did other things. Then there was a period of focusing almost entirely on healing. There is nothing quite like being in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and seeing God work – especially when for many present this might be the fist time they have ever seen God work. But then as I moved along I found myself teaching more and more.

One day about four years ago Jesus clearly said to me, “John, tell them who I am and that I am coming soon.” He has repeated that, sometimes with elaboration, several times since. So I do. Now we still heal the sick and do other things in ministry, but the focus is on teaching all about who Jesus is and that he is coming soon. So in reality, first I “did” and then I moved into “teaching,” still “doing” along with “teaching.”

I have seen this pattern in others. One famous world-wide minister was for years focused on miracle healing programs. He held those everywhere. Now he still does heal, but his focus clearly has moved to teaching. He holds programs on teaching about how to minister. He refers to his ministry as an end times ministry. Why? Probably because he in some way heard something similar to what I heard. Jesus really is coming soon. It’s a time of picking up as many for the kingdom as possible.

Maybe doing builds the faith needed to teach the Word with boldness and confidence. Maybe.

Teachers of the Word, you know, are held to a higher standard. The Bible says that (James 3:1). Why is this teaching so important? Because knowing Jesus – receiving him as your Lord – is more important than anything else.

Once years ago we were asked by a relief organization to go to a difficult war-torn country and oversee provision of certain necessities to the people. One problem to us was that we were told we could not tell the people in that country about Jesus. We could just provide the necessities of life that the people did not have – in this case housing. Well, we realized, what does it matter if they have housing and do not know Jesus? Very little. Years later, I was asked to interview to be head of that organization, but the same issue troubled me, so I did not follow up.

What does it matter if you are healed physically but do not know Jesus? Nothing, really, except that for a miniscule moment in time you are healed. Because long-run, you will live in absolute torment unless you do receive Jesus.

Just remember if you are thinking about teaching the gospel, teachers are held to a higher standard. In essence, Jesus is preaching/teaching through you. It is the Holy Spirit who is impacting the listeners.

AN IMPORTANT ASIDE:
There is another insight to this, really a warning for all preaching and teaching the Word of God. Once in a city when I had begun to speak to various local ministers, one said to me, “John, when you’re going about meeting all these preachers, you’re going to find that many of them haven’t even been born again.”

Now there is an indictment! He was saying that many of those preaching and teaching the Word don’t know Jesus, don’t have a regenerated spirit, quite obviously don’t know the Holy Spirit. And they are preaching and teaching others, on Sunday mornings in churches and elsewhere. Yet teachers of the Word are held to a higher standard.

Maybe there is a warning to all of us here. We need to be wise about whom we listen to and sit under, in person and on television and in books. Always, be guided by the Holy Spirit in such matters.

WILMINGTON BROADCAST TIME CHANGE

FOR WILMINGTON AND SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA VIEWERS OF
DARE TO BELIEVE! WE HAVE A NEW BROADCAST TIME AND DAY:
Wednesday mornings at 8:30 AM!
WSFX Fox 26
Time Warner and Charter cable channel 9

See How the Lilies of the Field Grow (Matthew 6:28)

These are difficult times if you're looking at the world’s economies and governments. In recent newsletters and an episode of the television program, we focused on God's economy and fear. In essence, believers should live in God's economy, not the world's. And as for fear, we know who has won and where we're going.

Take some quiet time to spend with Jesus. He calls all those who labor and are heavy laden to come to him and rest (Matthew 11:28). That's most of us. And while you're thinking about God, look for him everywhere, as in this true story that played out right in front of Cathy and me some years ago:

FLOWER BOXES
(copyright 2004 by John Newlin)

She lived quietly by the sea,
On the very beach itself,
Her front yard only sand,
Her view the unending ocean.

Often as we passed on our way,
She quietly moved about,
Caring for flowers in boxes
Neatly stationed along deck rails.

She always wore bright scarves
Firmly wrapped about her head,
Their colorful patterns
Hiding the absence of hair.

We would see her from our house,
Steadily moving,
Watering plant after plant,
Gliding in a flowing skirt.

The years passed, four years,
And we noticed a “for sale” sign.
Well, she died, you know, we were told.
No, we did not.

Suddenly new people arrived,
Filling the freshly painted house
With activity and new life.
No flower boxes could be seen.

Reborn, the house lives on,
With a new identity.
The past has disappeared.
Fresh life fills the rooms.

And the flowers that once grew,
So that she could water them,
Now bloom on other decks,
Their purpose here fully served.

I AM.

We are now celebrating the anniversary of the greatest moment in human history, the reconciliation of lost human beings to God by the actions of Jesus in going to and through the cross, in his victory over evil, over sin and death, over sickness and disease and pain and curses, in other words victory over anything that separated human beings from God.

On the night he was arrested, the band of soldiers and others came to where he and the disciples were. Estimates of the size of the group of soldiers amazingly range from 300 to 600. Obviously they did not know what to expect.

When the band arrived, Jesus asked them, “Who is it you want?”

They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

And an astounding thing happened. According to our English language Bibles, Jesus answered, “I am he.” And the soldiers and others with them drew back and fell to the ground (John 18:6)!

But Jesus did not say, “I am he.” What he said, in the original Greek, was “ego eimi.”

“Ego eimi” means “I AM.”

That’s what Jesus said. “I AM.” The same phrase that God had applied to himself in speaking with Moses in Exodus 3:14. Our English translations have added the word “he” to “I am,” but Jesus did not say “he.” To the credit of the King James translation, the word “he” there is in italics to indicate it has been added.

Jesus had simply stated who he was. “I AM.” The overwhelming power and glory that was and is his knocked all the soldiers to the ground.

Now, having clearly demonstrated who had the greater power, he then allowed himself to be arrested and taken off to be slaughtered for you and me.

Amazing, isn’t it. That God would take such a step. We cannot comprehend that level of love. We cannot truly and fully comprehend what motivated God to send his son down here for such a purpose. Jesus had the right to take up his life and to lay it down. Thankfully, for all of us he chose to go through with the heavenly plan.

Remember when Philip in John 14 asked Jesus to show the disciples the Father, and Jesus replied that anyone who has seen him has seen the Father.

Remember elsewhere when Jesus declared that the Father and he are one?

That was the Son of God the soldiers came to arrest and that Philip was looking at. In essence and in truth, that was God they were arresting and that Philip was seeing. The great “I AM” answered the soldiers.

Jesus referred to himself that way more than once. Check out John 8:58 and John 13:19.

Nothing should prevent you from accepting Jesus as your Lord and being reconciled to the Father. If you have not done so, then sincerely ask for forgiveness for all your sinful actions and life and ask this Jesus to be your Lord. Now. There is not much time left. He’s about to make a second visit.

NEVER HOME - ALIENS ON PLANET EARTH

One of God's calls on my life is to write. For several years after my encounter with God in the car on the New Jersey Turnpike, I did write...and then years later there was another period of intense writing. Today, most of my writing goes into the various ministry activities and products.


Specifically, God defined the writing call as writing poems and hymns, and other works. Over the years I've written many poems - and many have been published, several by publications affiliated with Christian groups.


Now in this extraordinary period in which we live, one so close to the return of Jesus, one in which the secular world is filled with steps by leaders and media and other groups so out of line with the path with which believers would identify, I find that the poems written years ago fit very well. I intend from time to time to include a few here, intermixed with the essays, insights, and revelations. Sometimes we need a break. And besides, poetry often can say things prose cannot.


This poem presents the way I think many believers in Jesus feel today. Well, we should. Because it is true.

WE ARE NEVER HOME
(Copyright 2004 by John Newlin)

We are never home.
Not now. Not here.
No matter how we try.
We cannot get there.

The moments of joy
Family and friends bring
Cannot dispel
The longing of our hearts.

Harsh though the words,
God’s children are
Strangers in a foreign land,
Aliens on planet earth.

This is not our world.
But we will soon be home,
That we know.
Our hope is secure.

[published in Standard January 11, 2004]

That's right, this is not our home, not this secular lost society of fear and misdirection. That's why we often feel alone, craving to be truly home. That home is with Jesus and the Father. That home is soon to be realized.

Aliens

Twenty-six years ago for reasons known only to him, God saved me from certain death. Not only that, he also saved three other members of my family from certain death. A few years later, in response to my calling to Jesus for help, God came into my car on the New Jersey Turnpike and filled me to overflowing with his presence, with the Holy Spirit. His call on my life began and continues to evolve even today.

I had been a successful big corporation executive with a really good income, working throughout the world with business and government leaders, serving on international asociation boards. But no more. There was a new overwhelming purpose in life, one that immediately went way to the front of the list.

God is real - I just couldn't get over that. God is real, Jesus is real, the Holy Spirit is real, the Bible is true. God's continuing call on my life took several forms. Primary has been to "feed His sheep," which I do. And to give my testimony, which I do. Also to have a prayer, preaching, and healing ministry with my wife - that's how He said it, and we do. Write - religious poems and hymns and other works, and I have and do. A couple other major calls I do not share publicly.

So I have sought to reveal to people the fullness of who Jesus is. So much more than most know, than is taught in the traditional churches. And miracles just occurred and kept occurring over time. You can read about all this as well as an expanded testimony on our web site, www.johnnewlinministries.org. There you can see articles and newsletters and request CD's and DVD's, even go to video postings of our television program DARE TO BELIEVE!.

AND THEN! - Beginning in March 2005 Jesus specifically began telling me: "John, tell people who I am and that I am coming soon." He elaborated on this many times, saying such things as "this is no joke" and "when I come, things will be different." (God does speak to you in the language that you will understand.). And He just kept bringing this up and pressing me on this. So my life and our ministry turned to focus primarily on this specific assignment. On television and in CD recordings and newsletter writings. Over and over.

You see, all those prophecies in the Bible of events to happen before Jesus returned, which had never occurred, suddenly began to be fulfilled. In the last century and up to today suddenly they were fulfilled one after another. The reestablishment of the nation of Israel. The takeover of Jerusalem by the Jews. (Read the teachings. Get our CD's on this.). It was all so obvious. He indeed is coming, and coming very soon! Later I realized he had been revealing this to some other ministers and individuals in the country. He wanted people to know. Because certainly most don't.

Now, we are right there, right at the point of his return. All the many things he talked about regarding his return have happened or are happening. We are right in that period Paul referred to as the apostacy, or rebellion, the falling away from God. Hard for anyone to deny that is the case in the US today, and certainly much of the world. At the same time that there are great pockets of mission work in the world with many coming to Christ, there are also huge zones where faith in God seems dormant, especially in the modern industrialized world.

The events in our society today should be readily apparent to most. But then most don't know the Bible, don't know the truth, sadly even don't know Jesus, so how can they recognize what is happening. The fear pouring out of Washington and the media, the confusion seen and felt by all, surely some are getting the point. We can hope. We can pray.

Are you ready for that return? Regardless of circumstances or events, the key question is whether you know Jesus. Get our material or that of other ministries truly focused on Jesus and the Bible. Read the book of John and the other gospel books. Ask Jesus to come into your life and be your Lord. Ask his forgiveness for all your wrong behavior in life, your "sins" to use Bible talk. And never stop seeking him. God says you will find him when you seek him with all your heart. He also says that you can call out to him and he will answer you and will show you great and hidden things you do not know. The Bible says if you lack wisdom about something, then ask God for that.

It really is now. Times for the country and world are getting tough. And so very soon, Jesus will be here. You want to be ready.