Strange Fire

Mm. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Ooh, la da da da da da da da da Hallelujah. God ruler of the universe, you are. There is There's no one like you, God giver of the deepest dreams you are.

There is no one like you God thinker of tremendous thoughts you are Thinking for towards me. Royal, holy, true you are And there is no one like you Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Welcome to Love Never Fails. In these last days, revival will come. but begins with our individual walk and personal relationship with Jesus.

Let's join Brother John now.

Well, good morning. You're listening to Love Never Fails. This is Brother John. And uh This is probably going to be a Spotify show, and we'll do a live episode of this same topic. Strange fire.

on the radio show this week. At 94, what is it? 91.7. Uh Vision Radio Belize. And uh I want to talk about today something called Strange Fire.

And it's just been rolling in my soul. For the last Week or so, and even yesterday morning, I was at a men's breakfast. And I shared with a fr friend of mine. We got there at five in the morning, we were cooking, and told him, I said, just this. Oh.

Strange fire thing is just in my soul, and I can't get rid of it. And so even this morning when I got up to have. Coffee And uh the sun hadn't yet come up and uh The idea of strange fire just continued to Uh be like a thing that my my mind and my heart would gravitate to and I thought, well, I've got to do a top, got to do a show on this. And The reason it's called Strange Fire is because it comes right out of the Bible. It comes out of a story in the Bible.

That you may or may not be familiar with, but it comes from. Leviticus 10. And uh What it was is there were two sons of Aaron's. who were considered priests of the temple. And in chapter 10.

Nabu and Abihu, and I'm probably saying those wrong. attempted to well, they allowed the fire. In the inner court to go out.

So if you think about the temple, the temple had three. Basic areas. You had the outer court, which is the largest area. AM This is where you could enter in off the porch and you could bring your sacrifice. You know, as Jesus said, seven times seventy, you could bring your sacrifice in there as many times in a day as you needed to, and you would put your hand on the animal.

and transfer the sin, the priest and you would transfer the sin, your sin. to that animal. And believe it or not, if you've ever watched Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy, the guy who played Spock, when he held up his hand and said, live long and prosper, that's the Jewish symbol. Uh That your hand would be when you're transferring the sin from yourself to that animal. Then they would kill the animal at the brazen altar, separate it meat from fat and all that, and burn parts of it and.

So this is considered a a sin covering. And you could go into the outer court as many times as you want. In a modern sense, they teach that the outer court. Are those people who just believe in repentance? And that's all you need: just be born again.

You repent of your sins, you're going to heaven. And You know, that's Christianity to them. Then you have the inner court. And the inner chord Is a smaller area. It's cut off from the outer court in the sense that it has a doorway.

It actually has a four-post doorway. meaning the edges of the posts. Have four sides to them. We would call it a four by four, something like that. Square edges, a square post.

When you entered into the inner court, There was a incense table. which Revelation talks about the incense and the prayers of the saints would head the come into the into the throne room of God. It's mentioned in Corinthians and Isaiah as well, where the prayers of the saints would be heard by God and he would literally go into his nostrils. And uh that's one of the reasons I Tell people, I said, try to live in a manner in which others will give thanksgiving and praise to God for you because it's kind of. Outside of Scripture, but it's an illustration of God gets mail every day when people are praising God for you.

And that those thanksgivings go up to God to the golden incense bowl. And it's like a it's called a memorial offering, is what Corinthians says. Uh that that inner court has the instance table. It has the show bread, the 12 loaves of b bread that are changed out weekly, representing the twelve tribes, which corresponds with the twelve elders and all that.

So. Then you also had the candlestick or the menorah, which was the light. The leading of the Holy Spirit, as we would call it in the New Testament. And the thing is, is These two tables, the incense table and the menorah. The fire From that kept them lit.

Comes You c you know, you and I couldn't just walk up and light a Bic lighter. and s and and and relight those if they go out. If uh we had a campfire outside, we couldn't just take a coal from that and go light the the menorah and the incense table again. And The fire only comes from one place, and that has to be the brazen altar. Which is out in the outer court, which the brazen altar, which you would tie the sacrifice to, it's got horns on the end, and you would tie the sacrifice to it, is a symbol of the cross.

It's where the blood is shed. It's where repentance comes. And so the only fire that could be used in the inner court. came from the outer court, the cross or the brazen altar. And what Hebrew and let me try to read these again.

Uh Nebu and Abihu, so it's Nabad and Abihu, the sons of Aaron.

So what they had done is they allowed The fire at the incense table to go out. And so what they did is they just Found some fire. and or made fire right then and there. and uh tried to relight the incense table. And the problem with that is that's not the way God said to do it.

It is not. God is a very exacting God, and his instructions concerning all of this had to be. followed To a T. When you look at Solomon's Temple, or let's go back to David's tabernacle to. you know there were 66 panels all the way around.

And on the front, which in the temple, this became the gate. On the front, there were four tapestries that were Embroidered with reds and golds and blues and all kinds of royal. colors and weavings and I believe in one of my studies I even read that there was some gold woven into it.

Some gold thread. These represent the four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you would enter into the tabernacle through one of these curtains. Then the other 60. Two, or however many there were, equivalent to the number of the books in the Bible.

The other 62. were Pure white. Linens. I believe they were about 12 foot tall. And at each corner, they were the exact same size.

In each corner, they're anchored to a post.

Now, this post had to be made out of a certain wood. It had a gold top, it had silver rings that would hold the curtains or the linens to it. And at the bottom, it had bronze feet that would sit on the The ground and anchor the bottom of the wall into the ground. Every bit of that had to be exacting. And I'm sharing that out of memory.

I'm not reading that right now.

So if I get one of those metals wrong, It's I I remember that it's uh ascending. It was bronze feet. And then better medals moving up until he got to the gold. At the top, it might have been silver at the top, but you kind of get my. Point is that the outer wall of the tabernacle was constructed a certain length.

certain height, certain Material. The posts had to be a certain type of wood. The metals holding everything and anchoring everything had to be specific. And And one of the interesting things about the Outer Court is that when you walk into the Outer Court, you can still see the skies. You can still see birds flying.

Meaning you can still have outward influence from the world, from creation.

Now When you go into the whole the inner court. The inner court is shut off from the external world. There's a curtain, it's made out of a certain number of layers, it's made out of a certain type of skin with the fur of beavers and this other animal, and so forth, so on. But when you walk inside, Even though on the outside it looked like a tent. In a way, on the inside, it had boards that were cut so straight and so tight.

That no light or air could pass through them. And they were side-by-side planks that surrounded the wall on the inside. And then inside, of course, you had the three. Things, the manure, the incense table, and the 12 loaves of bread, the showbread table. And when you went into the inner court, you're cut off.

From the outer world. Meaning, there's no influence, no daylight, nothing. The only light. In the inner court or the inner room, came from the menorah and the glow from the incense table. And this is representative of Being led by the Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And the point of Excuse me, I had to have a little cup of coffee there. The point of Yeah. All of this is that you first go from The outer court. The cross, repentance. To the inner court, which is representative of Acts 2:4, the day of Pentecost.

and they're filled with the Holy Spirit. But Paul even says. For those who are the sons of God, they are led by the Spirit of God in Romans 8:14. And so To walk into the Holy of Holies, we would call this the Pentecostal experience, to be led by the Spirit. Me, I don't.

like that term, so I say I'm a word and a spirit guy. Because the bread is the word and the menorah is the spirit. And so I'm a word in the spirit guy, and I worship the Lord, which, of course, is the incense. And then you have the Holy of Holies and the Holy of Holies was twenty cubits by twenty cubits by twenty cubits tall. And along and the wall was covered with this, I believe it was cedar or cypress.

And in it were engraved flowers and and And uh cherubim and all these different things that were then covered in gold. And then even the ceiling was made out of cypress logs. That had these planks on it covered in gold. And I believe there were seven layers. to this this room.

meaning you had the wood walls, the gold, the wood walls, and then five other layers of cloth. And and furs and skins. And it's totally cut off. There's no light in there. There's no sound in there.

I mean, the whole point of this is. It's just it's you and God and God only. And uh the on the back of the Wall or the back wall. There were two giant cherubims that were carved with think statues, and they were on the back wall, and their wings would touch in the middle. and they would spread out their wings spread out to where the they would touch the other side walls.

They were that big. And they kind of overshadowed the spot where the the Ark of the Covenant would sit. Of course, the Ark of the Covenant. You can go read the instructions on how they built the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant was made out of a particular wood, believe it was gopher and cyphrus.

And then it was covered and inlaid with gold. And inside of it was Aaron's. Uh Moses' staff. uh uh or maybe it was Aaron's staff, the Ten Commandments and a jar of manna. And uh we've all s you know, if you've ever seen it Temple of the Ark, Indiana Jones Temple of the Ark.

There's all these myths and stories about. The Ark of the Covenant, but the Ark of the Covenant is a very, again, here we see a picture of God being very exacting. From Halbert. Outer court was built. to the inner court and to the Holy of Holies, and then the objects in the Holy of Holy, very exacting.

Everything about it is very exacting. And so there are stories throughout the Bible, like this one I've mentioned in Leviticus 10, where the sons of Aaron allowed the water, the fire. to go out. And then instead of going to the altar, the brazen altar in the outer court, they tried to use their own. Fire.

that they made to restart The fire at the infant's table. And what did God do? God struck them down with fire. And people, it's kind of a very shocking story. A lot of people don't understand it.

But Let me say this. There's also stories of You know, I hear people saying, you know, they talk about the art, but not possible. God's a very exacting God. He doesn't lie. When they built the temple, Solomon built this temple in, what is it, 900 BC?

It was very exacting, the type of wood, the type of stone, even to the point that the stones were not allowed to be chiseled on site. They had to be chiseled and shaped at the quarry. God didn't want the sound of hammering and chiseling going on at the temple.

So, you know, very exacting. And then You know, there's a story of the Philistines. Winning a battle, and they get the Ark of the Covenant. Hmm. And what do they do?

The arc? is in the hands of the wrong people.

Okay. And they begin to suffer boils and all this stuff. And so in order to send it back, they sent it back. being pulled by oxen. And You hear these stories about the art being transported and moved around, and somebody would reach out and touch it.

or somebody would do something they weren't supposed to do and they would die instantly. You've heard the story about they were moving the ark and the ark started to fall. And a guy trying to do the right thing, one of the priests reached out to try to stabilize the ark, and the minute he touched it, he died. And so the Ark of the Covenant and all of these things are very exacting. One of the things that's very exacting is.

Oh. Remember in the book of uh oh I believe it was Matthew. Jesus, he's looking at the temple with his disciples. And he calls the the temple priests and the religion at that time a brood of vipers and he says at the temple he goes There will not be a single stone left unturned. Hmm.

It'll all come down. And me personally, this is an opinion that I've not completely traced the truth on, which I believe is hidden for a reason. is that's why I don't believe the western wall is part of the temple. Yes. It can't be.

Because then to me, in that mindset, Jesus would have been a liar. And I know he's not.

So I'm sure. My assessment of the Western Wall has something to do, I'm missing something. You know what I mean? Because Jesus wasn't a liar, and the word's not wrong, which means I have to be. But.

Uh I say all of that because You know, Jesus said, them brood of vipers. He was talking about. The priesthood. and the people that were uh serving In the temple. And interestingly, at the time that Jesus was walking the earth.

The temple had two high priests. Which is against the law of the Lord. They this is where the story of the the high priest going into the temple. with the rope tied around. his ankle and the bells on the on the uh On the rope.

And the story is that if the bells ever stopped ringing, you drag the high priest out from the. Holy of holies.

Well, that's another one of those smoke and mirror things that Jesus referred to when he called him a bunch of vipers. Because if God is an exacting God, there is no way. That high priest who had to be consecrated seven times, washed seven times, who had to wear specific linens, who wore the ephot on his chest with the. I think it's 12 stones. He had to have the word on his forehead.

I mean, all this stuff. And when he walked into the Holy of Holies, he had to take incense from the incense table and keep it burning between him and the altar. He was not allowed to look directly upon the presence of God on the Ark of the Covenant. And so there were certain exacting rules that God had that the priests were allowed to have. And yet, in the day of Jesus, they were doing all these smoke and mirror things.

Oh, the rope with the bell. And there were two priests: there was a Sadducees and a Pharisee's priest, which is totally. Totally against the rules, all these things. And you would say, but how could they have gotten away with it?

Well, because there was no Ark of the Covenant in the temple, in the second temple. The Ark of the Covenant was removed by Jeremiah in, what is it, 485 or 585 B.C. It was removed. And hidden because he was a follower of the way, and here he is, the weeping prophet, telling. Read the first six chapters of Jeremiah.

He's telling them what's going to happen. And in Jeremiah 6, they say, he says to them: Today you stand at a crossroads, follow the ancient path. or stay on the current path you're on, which was following the law. He goes, which is failing you. And they said, oh, yeah, we'll stay with the current law.

So they chose to stay with the Mosaic. Torah Law of the prophets instead of following the ancient path, which is a whole nother, I've taught on this a few times. The ancient path was not. Moses, Abraham, Noah. The ancient path is what John refers to when he says, In the beginning was the word, and the word is with God.

In the beginning was Jesus, Jesus was with God. That word beginning is a Greek word archetype, which means the eternal beginning. When Jesus and God have, there was one law they lived by, it was the law of love. In 1 John, Jesus says to, in 2 John, he says to the lady, he says, Dear sister, greatly overjoys me to know that you and your children continue in the truth. It's not as though I give you a new command, but one I've heard from the beginning.

The beginning meaning Archate, the Greek eternal word of all time, meaning when God was, the law of love was. The law of love is the eternal law, it is the ancient path. That's why Paul says, make this your greatest journey to follow after this path. What is it?

Well, he just got done telling you all about love in chapter 13, and then it begins chapter 14 with follow after love. And you can read the expounded versions of that statement, follow after love. I say it like this: that. Paul said, make this the greatest ambition or the greatest journey of your life. to become love.

That's the end game. When God created Adam and Eve, they were created as love. That's the image of God. They were created as love. And when they sinned, they became, or their physical bodies that they possessed became the new you.

And I. And every one of us born since then has been born in a physical realm, which is now why we need to be reborn, as Jesus taught Nicodemus, into a spiritual realm, not by. our mother's womb, and not by water, but by spirit. And so he's trying to teach people. He goes, listen, you once used to be spiritual creatures under Adam, but when Adam sinned, you became physical creatures.

Now you need to be born of the spirit. And Jesus gave us access to that. We then, that's why when you read the word, you hear about maturing and growing and becoming fuller and mature. And I'm thinking of John chapter 16, 17. I'm thinking of Ephesians chapter 3 and 4, attaining the fullness of Christ, becoming mature, no longer swayed back and forth by the cunning teachings of men.

Oh, here we go.

Now we're back to the, you know, the brood of vipers that Jesus talked about who were using cunning teachings of men, smoke and mirrors to keep people in bondage, in religious bondage. And Jesus knew it. When Jesus was hanging on the cross on the brazen altar. Everything he did is an exact fulfillment of prophecy. Even to the point that on the day that he died, and the high priest at the same time went into the temple and said, Wow.

Went in and faked his way through the temple, and then he backs out, turns around, and says to the people, it is finished. The high priest, that's what he would do. And he would say to the people, turn to him and say, it is finished. Same thing Jesus said on the cross, because he's our high priest. And so.

Everything. If you wanted to take the time, you know, I know Leviticus is a hard book, but as you study it and you keep the mindset of God's an exacting God, it'll help you understand the temple, it'll help you understand a tabernacle, it'll help you understand even everything that Jesus went through from riding on a donkey to being betrayed in the 30 pieces of silver. All of that is very exacting. Very exacting. And the interesting thing is that here we have all this evidence of God being an exacting God.

If you will do this, if you will do that. But then there's one place that God says if you will do this and then he doesn't set any boundaries. And that's in the law of love. He said, if you will love. And then he doesn't.

Really, well, he does in the Ten Commandments. He does tell you if. Because five of those commandments relate directly to how you deal with others. And he also tells you in. Uh it slipped in my mind right now, but there's uh Seven things that God despises.

Five of those seven things have to deal directly with how we speak about others: gossip, rumors, dissension, you know, and all of that stuff that we do with our tongues. But So here I've taken all this time to explain to you. How God is an exacting God. We could go on for hours. We could examine the temple, the tabernacle, all of these things that were exacting.

Even when, you know, you say, well, There were battles that they went to and they lost. And they said, Why do we lose the battle? And what did God say?

Well, that's because one of you didn't do what I told you to do. And it was that guy who stole some of the riches. You know, why did King Saul Lose the kingship.

Well, there were a number of reasons, but one of them was, and Samuel Winton said, You dummy. You kept king that Pagan king alive. who is a cannibal. And they would eat their victims. And he said, You kept them alive.

And you you took The sheep and the women and the gold and the silver. God said, Don't take any of that. And and King Saul took it. And so he broke. the exacting law.

And he was removed as king. And and so The neat thing is that God is merciful. And when we look at the entire Old Testament, we go, wow, God's an exacting God, exacting God, exacting God. And then we hit this love issue. Where it seems like There's almost a wide avenue, a wide range.

of how we can Love others. There's no rule. to loving others. You know, I tell people all the time, If you want to learn how to be holy. Learn how to love.

If you want to learn how to be consecrated, Learn how to love. If you want to understand God and hear from God, learn how to love. Because there's a concept Of agape and agapeo, which agape is the noun of love, it's who God is. That's what John says. He says, God is love in 1 John 3.

And then there's this, so that's the word agape, it's a noun, it's who God is, it's who you and I are. To become. Then there's this other word that's used as many times. It's number 25 or 26 in the concordance, strongest concordance, and it's agappajayo. Agappajo is the action.

It's the verb. It's the what we do on a daily basis. And Romans 13, verses 8, 9, and 10, he uses those two words in verses 8 and 10 that sound almost exactly the same. And when you read them, you go, wow, why is he repeating himself?

Well, in between, he gives you verse 9. And in verse 9, he quotes the commandments that deal with how we treat others.

So first In chapter, in chapter 13, verse 8, he used the word agapeo, which is the action.

So, therefore, people who practice love. Fulfill the law. That's what Paul says. Then he lists the law and how we deal with others. And in verse 10, he says this: Therefore, agape, or the people who have become love.

The people who have matured into love. fulfill the law.

So You can see this avenue, this wide avenue that love Opens everything up. Remember when he said to David, if you will obey my command and love, He said to Solomon, if you will obey the command. And love your children and your children's children, and the blessing that would come. In Deuteronomy chapter, I want to say, is it chapter 28? Verses 1 through 14, he talks about the blessing that will run you down and overtake you.

But three times In those 14 verses, he says, if you will love. And if you listen to my voice, hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, which for us believers is being led by the Spirit.

So if you will love... and be led by the Spirit. That wide road becomes your avenue of blessing. Hey. It becomes your avenue of blessing.

And so I say all of this to you because There's this And now we're really getting to the point of this message: strange fire. There is a doctrine of men, which remember Paul says, if you be rooted and grounded in love, no longer swayed back and forth by the doctrine and cunning teachings of men.

So Love, again, is still key here in this doctrine. There's a doctrine. that you probably You know, I'm thinking of one specific preacher, but I've heard others do it. And there's a very, there's, you know, right now they're choosing a pope and a new pope. And I know that the old Pope has been guilty of this, where.

Excuse me, they literally teach that there are many ways to heaven. There are multiple ways to heaven. And I cannot agree with that. I cannot in any way, shape, or form. Find a scripture that relates to that.

that supports that. What I do find. is scripture that says the complete opposite. Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to the Father except by me.

What was G what's he referring to? He's referring to the cross. He's referring to the blood. He's referring to the brazen altar. The only way you entered The tabernacle.

and the temple. was first through the Gospels. the royal curtains remember i described those earlier and then straight The Brazen Altar. Repentance. You have to repent.

You have to lean and rely and believe upon Jesus, which John says in 1 John 3, verse, I believe it's 23 and 24, he says. John says. To believe, and this is the gospel, to believe upon. The Lord Jesus Christ. and to obey his command to love.

That's the gospel, pure and simple. is to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the, the, uh... Uh thief. on the on the side of him when they were dying on the cross, said to him, Jesus Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And what did Jesus say? Today you will be with me.

So That's as simple as it was for that man. Jesus, or when Jesus appeared to Paul, Paul didn't pray some great prayer. Paul cried out, Lord, Lord. He acknowledged Jesus as Lord. And then it began to obey.

Now, I do want to warn you, Paul did not jump up. From after getting filled with the Holy Spirit and his eyes, sight restored. And all of that. He did not become the Paul. that we read about And we study, it took years.

He went off and had to relearn some things. He disappeared for several, I think it was 14 years. And so, years later, when he comes back, they're like, going, oh, Paul, here he is. He's this great teacher, this great, and he had learned the law under Gilgamel or whatever that guy's name was, that high priest or that priest. It's so funny 'cause when you study Who Paul taught taught or was raised under, who who taught him.

He basically There's this concept that you could know What kind of teaching people sit under And what And we today would call that what denomination you are by the things that you repeat and regurgitate. And Jesus.

So, you know. There's a lot of Baptists who believe that it's just the brazen altar. And you can figure them out pretty quick.

Well, you're a Baptist because really they're just all about the brazen altar and repentance, which I love. They're great at reaching people. And then you get people who, you know, the Pentecostals, well, you can figure that out real quick because of the way they run their mouths. You can figure out this group, that group. You can figure anybody out by the way we run our mouths.

And Jesus himself said, in reference to this, he said, he was talking to his disciples, and he said, By this, men will know that you are my disciples. How? Love. It wasn't any other doctrine. It was love.

By you walking in love, by you becoming love, people will know that you're my disciple. That's why what I love about, you know, John saying. Believe and in love. Paul's saying, make love the journey of your life. He didn't say, make riches or make being a preacher or make any of this.

I mean, literally, if you read Ephesians, he says, for God set apart some to be apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and whatever. He goes on to say, but you, being rooted in the ground in love, would no longer be swayed back and forth by the cunning teachings of men. And so, what we have right now is we have. just a huge priesthood. That is living and acting just like the priesthood in the days of Jesus when he said, You vipers, we have priests and pastors and teachers who are fleecing the sheep.

They literally are. There are 242 verses in the Bible that talk about that in some form or fashion, that refer to bad shepherds and bad spiritual leaders who preach what tickles their ears and all of that. And here's the thing: I met a man not long ago who refused, who's like, I don't believe in God anymore. I said, Yes, you do. I mean, I could see it because even as he was saying it, I'm like, oh, he's not telling the truth.

And he was mad. But he still believed in God. And I said to him, yes, you do. You do. You're just upset.

Why would you say that? And the other people were like, What are you? How can he? If he says he doesn't believe in God, I said he believes in God. And I looked at him, I said, here's the problem.

And I didn't know the guy, I didn't know anything else, but I knew this by the Holy Ghost. I said to him, I said, listen. I said, You had something happen, and you went to church for many, many, many years, and you never saw a result or an answer to what you were believing God for. And because of that, You're mad at God. You're mad at the church.

You won't go to the church anymore. And he starts to cry.

Okay. And he said, Yes, I spent 16 years. Praying over And it's two different family members, both who ended up dying. Mm. And he said, What kind of God?

would allow that to happen and not answers the prayer. not answered the prayers of the man for 16 years. And I was like, Are you sure you were praying to God? I didn't say that, but that's what I'm thinking. But my point is, is that by the time we got done, he was crying and he literally even admitted: yes, I still talk to God.

I still love God. I just. I can't stand a church. I said, well, yeah, I understand why. I said, because down on the inside, you would sit in those services and then you would look at your life and you look at your world and you knew you were being lied to.

I mean, I remember when I realized that in the middle of the Gulf War, I was reading the Bible by moonlight in a foxhole in the middle of Saudi Arabia. Wonderful eyesight back then. And I looked up and I said, God. There's something wrong here. Because what I'm reading about in the Bible.

I don't see happening in the world. And why is that?

Now I've been blessed. but to see every kind of miracle you could think of. And I mean, I can sit here. and do radio show after radio show after radio show and talk to you just about all the miracles I've seen. Even to, I mean, just, you know, like that man I just shared to you.

How did I know what was really going on with him? I'm not that smart. You know, I've had other instances where somebody walked in a room. And nobody else knew, and I looked at that person, and I basically knew. The name of the child, and that they were going to have a girl, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And the person starts crying, and everybody gets mad at me for making her upset. But then, when she finally stops crying and she pushes all these women off of her, she goes, look, and she holds up an ultrasound with the name of the baby. That I had spoken to her. And I hadn't even got up to greet her because I was sitting on the floor. I knew nothing about the fact.

that she was even pregnant when I arrived. And yet, God revealed to me the name, and that it was a girl. There are things like that have happened multiple places, and sometimes it brings jealousy. But that doesn't happen because I'm following some religion or I'm sitting here promoting a doctrine of men, or I'm trying to say to you, You need to be part of my denomination. I don't have a denomination.

I go to a non-denominational church, and when people say, What are you? I say, I'm a word and a spirit guy who walks in love and I'm in pursuit of love. That's what I am. I want to love people. And when I drive down the road and I'm crying out to God, I'm asking Him, how can I love?

Who are we loving today, God? Who can I help today? Is there somebody I'm going to run into today? And that's where I see things happen. I mean, in the church that we go to, I can think of a couple of miracles, but for the most part, most of what I see happen happens outside the church or on the mission field.

We see a lot of it in the mission field. And a part of it is, yes, there's an expectation, an element of faith when people, hey, Brother John's coming and da-da-da-da-da. And so people get out there and they promote us and they talk about us and they say, oh, well, I remember this miracle. I remember that miracle. And it does what it did for Jesus: it creates an atmosphere of expectation.

You know, when Blind Bartimaeus hurts. heard that Jesus was coming. He began to cry out to him. And so that same thing still happens to people today. And it's not because Brother John is some.

Wonderful, anything. No, I am simply a man. I, you know, the other day, people were like, Well, I've been called every one of them: apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher. And I'm like, no, I'm Brother John. I don't care about any of that.

I'm Brother John. I go wherever life takes me, and I love people to the best of my ability. And I've had people cuss me. I had a guy one time, I know the Holy Ghost said, go get him. And I turned around in my car.

It took me 10 minutes to find the guy because he had moved so quick. And I roll up next to him. And he starts cussing me. What are you? One of these God-loving Christian, bruh, raw, bruh, bro.

I was like, yep. And I just looked at him and said, you good? Can I help you? And he just kept cussing me.

So after a couple minutes, I said, All right, brother, I tried. And I r I drove away. And I told God, I said, what'd you do right there? And I that's none of my business. But I obey.

I know that I obey. I have no idea what happened to that guy. It's none of my business. But I obeyed. And so I say all of this to you because in this journey that we're on, there are a lot of people who are going to come to you with all these doctrines, all these things about do this, do that.

And, you know, you'll hear them teach these stupid things that have nothing to do with the Bible, like, God created all men equal. Nope, that's the Constitution. That's not the Bible. God did not create all men equal. He created you.

Excuse me, with different talents. And different skills. and different personality. We're not equal. We are not equal.

But when we come into the kingdom of God. We can all attain to the fullness of Christ. We can all attain to this walk of love, and your walk of love will look different than mine. You will not go where I've gone. You will not.

Preach the way I preach, you will not look the way, well, physically, it doesn't matter, but spiritually, you're a different aspect of this personality of God. You're a different aspect of this personality of love. And as you mature and grow in love and you continue to seek after truth, that will be revealed. And next thing you know, you're walking around with this ministry that you had no desire for, but it just happens. And people go, oh, call brother John or Brother John.

You know, I've had people say, oh, you're famous. I'm like, what? And they go, yeah, we've heard all about you. I'm like, I'm not famous. I don't care about being famous.

And yet people will say that to us. I'm like, yeah, no, no, thanks. Hmm. Good coffee. I want to challenge you because There are Doctrines that are taught.

that will lead you astray. And I heard a A preacher said one time he goes, We spend most of our adult life unlearning the things we were taught. early on and I agree with that. I agree with that. And so this doctrine of strange fire.

There are many ways to God. No, there's not. I hate. No, there's not. And if you've fallen for that, let me just be very.

Blunt with you and tell you Jesus himself. This is not brother John. This is not some. Denomination, nothing. Jesus himself said, I am the way.

the truth and the life. And nobody comes to the Father but by me. All those people who died. and waited in Abraham's bosom from Adam all the way to Uh Maybe Noah, David, King Solomon, the mighty men of valor, Gideon, all of those people who died before Jesus died on the cross. We're in Abraham's bosom.

Which the Catholics recreated as purgatory for a doctrine of men. But Abraham's bosom is empty because what did he do? It says, What does it mean he in Ephesians? It says, What does it mean he descended to ascended if he didn't also descend and he led captives from captivity? What was he doing?

He went, all those people who had lived in the Old Testament, he went to them. To reveal himself as the Messiah because Hebrews 11 teaches us that they were waiting and they had, they were waiting for a future Messiah that had been promised in the garden. And they died waiting for the for that future Messiah. And so he went to them and preached to them, and then he led them triumphantly into the courts of heaven. And now they're all in heaven, which is why now, and Paul teaches this: when we die, we, in a twinkling of an eye, we are with Jesus because purgatory, aka Abraham's bosom, does not exist anymore.

It's empty. The only thing that's full is heaven and hell. And so You know. That's a doctrine that's taught. In order to control people, there are a lot of doctrines that are taught for the sake of controlling people.

You know, one thing I don't like is the whole, and Ephesians says this, Paul says this: he goes, no longer swayed back and forth, tossed to and fro. by the cunning teachings of men. How many of us and I Did this for a while until I learned the truth? Is how many of us go to church on Sunday morning? And your preacher says, Ah, blah blah blah, this is the path to God.

You got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this. Then next Sunday, you spend the whole week fretting over that stuff. And then the next Sunday, he teaches something totally new. You got to do this, you got to. And every Sunday, the goalposts move.

The goalpost move. And you're like, I can never catch up. I can never be holy. I can never walk with God like this preacher because I'm always a step behind. I'm always in sin.

I'm always. And what it does is it creates this Christian neurotic. Behavior. Where you're constantly repenting for things that Really? Just walk in love.

If you've repented of it, walk in love. Like Paul said, begin to renew your mind. to the truth. And the truth is this: if you have a relationship with Jesus, your past is your past. You need to let it stay there.

And yes, there may be some vices that your physical body has. Read Romans 6, but as you grow in love and as you mature, those things will fall off. That's called the process of sanctification. But you're never going to grow in sanctification and holiness if you do not walk and talk with Jesus, if you do not have a relationship with him. He will purge those things out of you.

And for me, it's been a lifelong process. I am aware of people who it happened in an instant, and in an instant, Jesus elevated them. to a level That's up to Jesus. And so I want to share with you that this process or this thought, that there's many ways to. to get to heaven.

No, there's only one, and that is through the cross, through the brazen altar, Jesus himself. Otherwise, there's no need for all of that. And my basis in teaching this is not some doctrine of a church. It is the scripture. I've only quoted to you scripture.

I've told you stories of scripture. I've referred to scripture. Word and the spirit. And so, you know, there's only one way to heaven. There's only one way.

If there was another way, then why were all those people in Abraham's bosom? If there was another way, then why did Jesus have to fulfill all those prophecies and die on the cross in the manner that he did? You see what I'm saying?

So, you know, when a preacher comes along, it doesn't matter how popular he is, how much money they have, what they look like, I don't care. When they teach you a false doctrine, it's a false doctrine. There's only one way to heaven. His name is Jesus. And yes, I believe in beds.

Deathbed. Mercy. I do. Look, deathbed mercy is what happened to the cross or to the thief on the cross next to Jesus. Jesus It has more I'm going to say it this way, and it sounds bad.

Jesus has more excuse, mercy excuses. to get you into heaven. Than the church does, and in what the church teaches. I believe that the mercy of God is so great that there's a lot more people in heaven than the church would want you to believe. Because the church wants this dogmatic Bam, this is it.

And they're so exacting about it, but yet they're missing all the other stuff that God is exacting about. And one thing that God, God's mercy. outweighs all of that exacting doctrine of men. It does. And I would tell you, I'll say this to you, and this may shock some of you.

I shared it several. Here's what happened: my son and I were on a job site. And I said, son, just let's take a break, go get the Bible. And I'm looking at these blueprints and doing what I got to do and and He comes back over with the Bible, and I said, just drop it open and let's see where it falls. I've never.

Been one of those kinds of people. I mean, I maybe did that when it was, you know, 30 years ago, 35 years ago when I was a brand new Christian, but it's not something I do on a normal basis at all. And for some reason, that morning, I said, just drop it open and see where it opens. And literally, I thought it'd probably fall open to where I've got a piece of paper or one of these tabs because my Bibles are tattered with, you know, they've got sticky notes and sticky tabs and notes and pieces of paper all through in it. And it fell open to scripture with nothing in it and no notes, no coloring, nothing.

And I said, just read, right? Just pick a spot, begin to read. And he began to read, and it was about Solomon. And it says how Solomon was chasing strange women.

So he was whoring around. And it says, and he was worshiping idols on high places. And Solomon's supposed to be this great man of God? And in the very next chapter. You know, and may and put chapter and verse in there.

So the very next change of story. He's God's showing you. His love here. The very next story is God says to Solomon. comes to Solomon and says, But it does say, but Solomon loved God with all of his heart, all of his strength.

I'm going, how can a man be horned around and worshiping false idols? and still love God like that. I mean, that's something you need to settle because it's in scripture. But then in the very next chapter or the very next set of verses it says And God came to Solomon and said, what do you want? And Solomon said, wisdom.

That's how that story goes. You wouldn't hear that in a church. How many preachers have you heard say, Well, Solomon was basically living in sin, and God came to him and said, Hey, Solomon, I love you. What do you want? I mean that up Ends So much theology and doctrine is taught by the church.

Here's a man who's in obvious sin, and God writes about it, and then still turns around and says, Hey, by the way. What can I give you? What would help you? What would change your life? And I shared this with these men.

I said, You know, do you believe? This morning you could sin. And tonight you can go out and preach the gospel in an open-air crusade and see miracles, signs, and wonders. I said, Do you believe this morning you could sin? Or last night sin, and this morning get up and go to a restaurant and find a man.

that needs Jesus and lead them to the Lord and see a miracle. And all these men were looking back at me like, ugh. And then I read that story to him. I said, absolutely. And I and I said something.

I said, and I know that from experience. Because I can tell you, when I was a younger man and I was beginning to preach the gospel and I was beginning to do things for the kingdom of God. I struggle. I was living in Romans chapter 6. Yeah.

I was not perfect when I started preaching the gospel. I was not sorry. even in remotely who I am. I was a Christian for at least a decade before God told me to start studying love. And then I spent 20 years studying love, and now I'm like, oh, you know, and I totally believe.

what he teaches about love. And one of the things that God told me, he said, as I was studying love, I was like five years into it. And I would ask God, hey, can I preach something else? And every time I'd say, what can I preach, God? Because I was going to this church or that church to preach, say, what can I preach?

And God would say, love. He never let me preach anything else. And then. I've lost my train of thought. Yeah.

I'm a stream of consciousness person. And it just comes up out of my consciousness.

So I don't have anything open. I don't have anything written here. It's just a stream of consciousness. It comes up out of my soul, out of my spirit. I just went blank.

That doesn't happen very often. But I I say all of this to say to you that You don't need to be perfect. You don't need to be Brother John. You don't need to be the next Smith Wigglesworth or John G. Lake or Billy Graham or whomever.

We worship You don't need to be that next person. You just need to be you. Becoming love. And as you pursue love and you pursue truth. These things will come.

And and the but it begins with What you believe about the cross, what you believe about the brazen altar, what you believe about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Because John says, do you, that if you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And in follow after love or Obey the command of love. That's what John says. That is the gospel.

In simple, simple terms. I mean, even the apostles in the book of Act. When they met other believers, they were very cautious about what rules and doctrines to teach them. And so they basically said save. You know, eating and drinking of things that are committed to idols and whatever it was.

It's, it's, I believe it's called the Apostles' Creed. It's been. 15 years since I've studied it, but when we started our church, we started our church, said this is the only thing we're going to demand of people, the apostles' doctrine, and that they walk in love. Nothing else demanded of them. Nothing else taught to say, hey, I mean, we didn't even teach the tithe.

We taught generosity. And that is the New Testament way. It's not tithing, it's generosity. Big difference. Big difference.

God did not tithe to us. He was generous to us. And there's nothing anyway.

So I just say to you. You know, that when you walk in love. You're going to become. A generous person. It will happen.

People say, man, you give a lot. Yep.

Okay. And that's all it needs to be. I don't keep a black book about what God owes me because I've given this or given that. I forget from week to week what I've given. And I just I don't keep track.

I don't care. I can tell you when it comes to giving, there was a day that. I went into a building. I went and sent some money overseas, Western Union. I do that.

You know, to help support the ministries and the people that we're supporting overseas. And I sent all this money, Western Union. And then As I'm walking away from Western Union, I see this lady. struggling to count out pennies to pay for her groceries. And I had some money left in my pocket.

And I just felt led of the Lord to give it to her.

So I walk up. And I basically gave her all the cash I had. And she was freaking out, crying. Everybody, you know, that always happens. And I get out of there as quick as I can.

I just tell her: I said, the Holy Spirit, Jesus told me to give that to you to help you. You know, and I leave it simple. I don't have to turn it into a sermon. And I a little while later, I'm walking out the car and I'm like, God. I just gave the last bit of money I have.

And I'm like, and you know, I started to have giving regret. And But the next day it came back. It came back. And I say that to you is because Um obviously we all have bills to pay and and We have responsibilities, but when you give generously. Especially the people who can't give back to you.

No strings attached. It comes back to you, pressed down, shaken together, and runneth over. Deuteronomy 28 becomes real because here you're walking in love. You're saying to God, Who can I love? Who can I help today?

Who do you and I need to give to? And the Holy Spirit's like, hey. There you go. I remember one of the first times God ever had me do it. It was for basically.

I'm just going to say it like this because it'll illustrate in your mind what I saw. A gang member. And it broke his heart. Broke his heart. And I gave to him, and it was in a grocery store.

And I gave what I had. And I just say to you, you know, there are times that we We don't want to obey. We don't want to help that person because of the way they look and the way they, you know. But You got to do it because that's where the generosity. Is and the blessing of generosity is.

You know, in 2 Corinthians, I believe it is chapter 10, he says, and therefore your obedience to giving. Brings many expressions of thanks. to God in heaven. And I mean, when you think about that. People don't need to know your name.

to thank God. People don't need to know who you are. in order to thank God. When they thank God, he knows. He knows.

And he receives that mail and that blessing. It comes up as a sweet aroma to him. I don't know how we got off on this topic because we're reaching the end of this hour, but my point in all of this is. Is Man. God is love.

And his mercy. endures forever. It hasn't changed. And if you and I will commit to walking in love. Pursuing love.

It begins with Jesus at the cross. That's the only way. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father but by me. You have to. go to the cross.

The ground is level at the cross. Doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, the ground is level at the cross. Oh, Brother John, I've committed blasphemy. Ah. I doubt it.

I doubt it. That's for a specific group of people. And maybe you've been lied to, and people have been surrounded by people who are religious and don't know the scripture. I doubt you've committed blasphemy. Because I doubt you'd even be listening to this if you had.

And uh So that's just the topic for another day. But Listen, turn to him. Get up in the morning. Before everyone else, even if it's for 10 or 15 minutes, have a conversation with him. Drive down the road, have a conversation with him.

When you're going to bed at night, tell him thank you and have a conversation with him. Begin to develop the relationship with Jesus. That's private between you and him. You don't need your preacher or anyone else involved. You might need advice along the way.

But As you get to know the Holy Spirit and Jesus. You'll learn your eyes will be open the scales will come off and you'll be like wow This is amazing because let me tell you something there is more The question of, is this as good as it gets? Absolutely, it gets better. It gets better, but it starts. With you just saying, hey, Jesus.

And fill in the rest. Pour your heart out. Get it out. Go to the back of the field. and get it out.

Go under your house, get it out, do what you gotta do. To find a private place to be with Jesus and get it out. Begin there. Just begin. To believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

and to obey his command to love. And when you, if you will do those two things, if you can't figure anything else out. But you come to Jesus knowing he's the way, the truth, and the life, and you obey his command to love, I'm telling you, your life will change. Will it be perfect this weekend? No.

But it'll begin to change, and you will begin to see a change in you. And the next thing you know, day by day, You've gone a year, five years, ten years, and then people begin to say, Oh, Well, that's just you and your flow with the Holy Spirit or with Jesus. And you're like, I haven't always been this way. Because you develop that relationship. You've developed that Bethel relationship with him.

So, I want to encourage you. I just really wanted to get the strange fire thing off my chest today. I don't know who this is for or why. I'm going to do it on the radio show, Radio Vision. VisionRadio Belize.com, or you can go to the actual page.

You can go to that page and listen to the show. It comes on every Tuesday and Thursday. At right now, it's 5 Belize time.

So, right now, Eastern Standard Time, it's 7 p.m. on those nights, and it's live. Spanish and English, you're welcome to join us. Pastor Matt Donley is on. On Tuesday nights, and I'm on on Thursday nights.

And also, we do a lot of pre-recording every time we go down.

So join in, listen to us. And I pray, I pray, I pray that all that you desire from God would come to pass. But I am aware that it is on you. He's right there waiting. But you've got to open your heart and your mouth.

to begin the process.

So listen, remember this. Jesus loves people. And love never fails. God bless you. Just proclaim Hallelujah.