Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
I recently listened to a CD from a prayer meeting in Pastor John’s house that took place on June 5th, 2004. In it, Pastor John was telling of a dream he had in which Jesus was preaching to him. He said that Jesus preached to him in his dream for about half an hour on the glory of the Gospel. This is the first of five TFE’s taken from Pastor John’s sermon in that prayer meeting concerning what the Lord preached to him about the Gospel.
If anyone would like a copy of that sermon and that prayer meeting, let us know.
Amy Pittman
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This world is an example of life without the Gospel. It doesn’t matter which way you look. You can look outside of the United States or inside the United States. The whole thing is an example of life without the saving Gospel of Jesus in people’s heart. The Gospel is a wonderful thing. It is precious. If you have the Gospel in your heart, you are blessed.
Do you know why people sometimes feel left out, feel as if they don’t belong, or feel as if nobody likes them? Because they don’t have the blessing of the Gospel in their heart. If you are full of the blessing of the Gospel, you think everybody loves you, and it doesn’t make sense to you why they wouldn’t. And it really doesn’t make any sense not to love someone who loves the Gospel. If you have the Gospel in your heart, you are worth loving and you feel worth being loved.
People in this world are greedy because they don’t have the blessing in their heart. The Gospel is not there. They are envious of other people’s blessings because they don’t have God’s blessing of the Gospel in their heart. They don’t value it; they pursue earthly blessings instead. But earthly blessings will never make them happy. Never, without the Gospel.
In my dream, God showed me one thing after another about the value of the Gospel. The reason little kids in the playgrounds in schools stick their tongues out at each other is because the Gospel is not in their hearts. The Gospel will stop that. The reason nations go to battle against each other is because the Gospel is not in men’s heart. The Gospel puts an end to all of that. Paul calls it “the Gospel of peace”. Peace rules in your heart when you have the Gospel in there. That’s what Paul meant when he said, “May the peace of God reign in your heart.” He wanted us to have the Gospel of peace within us.
The Gospel is the answer for every problem on earth. When the real Gospel is around, you might be healed at any moment. It’s the Gospel that does it because the Gospel is not in word; it’s in power. Listen, the Gospel of God is not what I am saying; it is what you are feeling. The Gospel of God is not what I am saying; it’s what is making me say it. It’s invisible. It’s in power and authority. It comes to take over. It is the enemy to every wrong thought you have. That’s the Gospel. It makes you raise your hands up. It makes you fall on your face.
The gospel glorifies nothing but God. Nothing. That’s why men don’t like it. They are left out of the gospel. The best you can do is let the Gospel get in you and go along with its holy work.
All this brought a Scripture to my mind: Isaiah chapter 2:10: “Enter into the rock, (didn’t it say in Revelation that earth’s mighty men, and noblemen, and famous men were going to flee to the caves and holes of the earth in fear of the Lamb of God? They ran and said, ‘Fall on us mountains! Hide us from the wrath of God!’) and hide thee in the dust, for the fear of the Lord and the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.”
On that day, everybody is going to be on their knees. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. You know, one of the things God hates most is somebody who has a proud look on his face. There is not one person in here that is inherently better than any other person in here. Every one of us is made out of dirt. Everyone of us must die. Everyone of us would have starved to death when we were babies if somebody had not shown mercy to us. There is nobody born with anything they own, and nobody is able to die and take anything with you. You were made out of dirt, and you are going to turn back into dirt. And the only hope you have of getting out of this world alive is Jesus. He promised you life, forever, if you will humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and let Him lift you up. Don’t lift yourself up; let Him lift you up. You are wasting your breath telling God how great you are.
“For the day of the LORD of host shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty and upon everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. And upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.”
That’s what the Gospel does and that is what the Gospel will do when Jesus comes. It will be the Gospel that will terrify sinners. And that is why proud men don’t like it now. The Gospel, the real Gospel, makes people behave as though God is great and man is not. It makes them fall on their faces and say, “God have mercy on me!” It makes them tremble at the thought of suffering the wrath of God. It makes them feel something, and feel it deep. It makes them ashamed of sin. It chases pride away. The real Gospel does this right now. It is doing that right now in Heaven.