Have You Heard The Good News?

In this episode, I read 70 scriptures on our identity in Christ with piano music in the background.  So relax and reflect on your true identity in Christ.  I also share a few minutes first before I start speaking the scriptures so I if you would like to start with the scripture reading with piano music go to the 6-minute mark and about 45 seconds in. Hi, everyone. Welcome to today's episode about our identity in Christ. Today, most of the scriptures I will be reading are in the New American Standard Bible. Some are King James Bible, some are New Living Translation, but there are about 70 verses that I'm going to read. And for me in my life, I read these every day, twice a day. And there was a season about a year ago that I was going through kind of a valley experience. And I was reading all 70 of these three times a day. And what's amazing is they're not even scriptures on healing, per se. They're more on who we are in Christ and our identity in Christ and what's amazing is they brought me out of that valley along with people and prayer and teaming up with people who prayed for me. But, you know, every day, I had to keep feeding myself the scriptures the word, and it was powerful. And you know, even Jesus focused on his identity. In Luke three, it tells us when John baptized Jesus, and then in verse 22, it says, the Holy Spirit descended upon him, in bodily form, like a dove and a voice came out of heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased."  Then in Luke 4 Jesus for 40 days, being tempted by the enemy, and he ate nothing during those days. And when they had ended, he became hungry. The enemy said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. And two things I want to point out that the very first temptation that the enemy gave Jesus was questioning if he was the Son of God, if he knew his identity, and I think if some of you think about it, that you've had that same temptation, wondering, are you really a daughter or a son of God? And the interesting thing is, that the enemy didn't say, Are you the beloved Son of God, which is what God told him before he went into the desert. He just said, Are you the Son of God? And then what did Jesus do? And all three temptations in Luke four that the enemy came at him with, He returned all three with scripture. And so I am such a word girl. I love the word of God. It's powerful. I've been healed by the word of God just reading the Word of God. It's, just alive and it's active. And God always knows what we need it when we need it. And so today I'm going to share these scriptures with you. And like I said, there are 70 verses, but again, I'm not going to read them, the addresses, you know the location of each verse, what I'm going to do is put those in the show notes and you can get a copy of that at my website gotbbb. And that's gotbbb.org. And you'll see all my podcast episodes. And then you'll be able to read the show notes right below the podcast episode. And so I'm going to just go ahead and start and bear with me if you hear some paper rustling because obviously there's a lot of verses and I had to print them out so it'd be easy to read to you. But just sit back and just relax. And just listen to these verses of who you are in Christ because of what Jesus did on the cross. And how God sees us and who we are to God and our relationship to God all because of what Jesus did for us. And because we're in him, and they're in us, all these things are true. And some of these verses I will be saying are just like, really amazing. And almost like, really like, Wow. I mean, like, you could study one verse for a whole week to get the understanding and the full meaning of it. But for right now, I just want to share these scriptures with you because they've been so powerful in my own life. And I know that they can bless you. So we're going to start with Romans three, verse 24. But that'll be the last time I give you the verse therein, from now on, I'll just be reading. Romans 3:24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Colossians 1:21b yet now has He reconciled Colossians 1:22 His body on the cross, to present us holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fills you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 And hope makes not ashamed, because the love of God is in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to me. Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also after listening to the truth message, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. 1 Corinthians 2:12b But the Holy Spirit who is from God, given to us that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts. I have divine favor and blessing so freely given to us and bestowed on us by God. 2 Corinthians 6:18 I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me says, the Lord Almighty. 1 Corinthians 3:21b-23 For all things belong to you and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 summary - Through Christ, he made all-new, now all these things are from God, who brought us close to himself through Jesus. We became the righteousness of God in Jesus. 2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life, through the true knowledge of Him, who called us by his own glory and excellence, for by these he has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you become partakers of the divine nature. Romans 3:24 Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Jesus. John 17:23b You love them, even as you love Me. John 1:1-4 summary - In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things came into being by him. In him was life and the life was the light of men. John 1:14-18 summary - The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John said, "This is the one whom I told you. He who comes is a higher rank for he existed before me, for of his fullness we have all received and grace upon grace." Grace and truth were realized through Jesus and Jesus came to explain God to us. Romans 14:17 summary - The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:4b,5,9 In love, he pre-planned us to adoption as sons and daughters, through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intentions of his will. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which he purposed in him, Jesus.  Ephesians 1:7-8 In Him, Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will. Ephesians 1:2,3,6 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.  To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved. 1 Corinthians 2:12b-13 the Holy Spirit given to us from God, that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by man or human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 My message and preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of power that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of man, but on the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10 For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even to the depths of God. John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in Jesus name, He will teach you all things and bring back to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 15:9-11 Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have spoken these things to you, that your joy be made full. Ephesians 2:8 By grace, you have been saved through faith and not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Colossians 2:10 In Jesus, you have been made complete. Psalm1:2-3 But his delight is in the word of the Lord and in his word he does meditate, day and night. We will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water bringing fruit and whatsoever he does will prosper. Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  Proverbs 4:20-22 Attend to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to us. Philemon 6 Let the communication of my faith become effectual. Working by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you, in Christ Jesus. Joshua 1:8-9 Keep the Word of God in you by speaking it and meditate daily and do all that is written in it. Then your way will be prosperous and have good success. Be strong and of good courage for the Lord God is with thee wherever you go. Ephesians 2:6 He raised us up together with him and seated us with Him in heavenly places. Ephesians 1:19 AMP So t

Episode 9 is a short "paraphrased" story of Gideon out of the Book of Judges. Does God see Gideon as an overcomer? Do you see yourself as an overcomer?  Listen to find out... or read these show notes. How many of us go through our day feeling like overcomers? Today, I'm going to share a short story of Gideon who definitely, in the beginning, did not feel like an overcomer. But I wanted you to hear the story that I paraphrase out of the book of Judges, so you can see that you are an overcomer too. I want to share a story with you about Gideon, and many of you know about Gideon, he's in the Old Testament. And Gideon was young and very afraid and had no confidence in anything that he could do. He was the youngest in his family. And when God came to talk to him, he was actually hiding in a barn, because there was a battle going on. And God came to him and said, "Gideon, my mighty man of valor, I need you to go do blah, blah, blah." And Gideon looked at him and said, "I can't go do that. I'm the youngest in my family. I'm just, I'm just a boy. I can't do that." And what did God say? Now Gideon, get up out of there and stop acting like a fool. And you know, stop being stupid and just get out there and do what I told you to do. Did God say that? No! God came to Gideon again and said, "Gideon, my mighty man of valor." That is how God saw Gideon. Even though in the natural Gideon is hiding and he's feeling little and very little and very small and very afraid. God didn't even acknowledge his fear. He didn't even acknowledge any of the complaints he had about doing whatever God asked him to do. He just reminded him, Gideon, you are my mighty man of valor. That means brave and hero and strength. And God had full confidence that Gideon was going to be able to do what he was asking him to do. But Gideon didn't have that confidence. So that is who our God is. God sees each one of us through His Son Jesus, through the payment that Jesus paid with his body and his blood on the cross, so that we can have full access, intimacy with the Lord, again, everything restored. And he sees us as His sons and daughters. And you see that all through the New Testament. And it says that we are already overcomers, and overcomer means victorious. Many of us, and I did this for years is I prayed from a non-over comer position. I prayed from trying to get to be an overcomer, trying to really exercise my faith muscles, and really trying to do it in my own strength. And now, I pray from knowing who I am in Christ, and all that Jesus did for me. So I just want to encourage you to really spend some time seeking God and renewing your mind to what the Word of God says about you. And I just want to pray right now. Lord, I thank you, I thank you for everyone listening to this video right now. I thank you for touching them in their heart, in their minds, all the love that you have for them, and that they are victorious, amazing women and men of God. They are your sons and daughters. And I thank you, Papa, for touching each one of them with a peace that you love them, that you are love, you are all love. And they can rest in that and pray from that mindset that they are loved. And I thank you, Papa, for just touching each one of them with the desires of their heart. give them direction, wisdom, freedom from any guilt or shame. Give them courage. Let them see that you've already made them courageous. They just need to see it. I thank you that they are so courageous, and so brave, and know that they have that safety net in Jesus. And as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus, you will keep us in the right place in strength and overcoming and victorious and safe. And I thank you, Papa, for your love. And I thank you for touching each one of them. In Jesus name, amen. Well, I hope you're blessed. And thank you again for stopping by and have a great day.  

Listen to hear how Jesus helps us be courageous. Here are the show notes: Hi, this is CindySpencer. And today we're going to talk about learning how to be courageous from a big chicken. And who's the big chicken? Me. Most of my life, I've been on the big chicken side versus the courageous side. Now, I have learned a lot about being courageous. And it's completely different than I ever thought it was. And I just want to share how being courageous is not what we think it is. It is possible. I'd like to share a story that I heard another person share that happened in history in the United States down in San Diego, no, San Francisco, they were building during the Depression, during the 30s, they were building that big, huge Golden Gate Bridge that's there by San Francisco. The sad thing was they were losing a lot of men, a lot of men were dying, because as they're building this big bridge, if they fell, they would drown in the ocean. And you know, they were way high up. And that's a big fall. So one of the men came up with a plan to devise this big, huge net. And I'm not sure exactly, but it sounds like it went the full length as a bridge wherever the men were working. And it cost a lot of money, which you know, during the Depression-era they didn't have, but it cost a lot of money for them to build this net. But it was so worth it because it saved so many lives. Men were able to work go to work on the bridge, and they didn't have that fear of am I going to fall today? And how many of us know that when you have something like that it affects your work, or whatever you're doing that you need to be brave for. And so these men were so thankful and so many lives were saved after they put this big netting in. And not only that, they discovered that the work got done in record time. And I don't remember all the details of how fast but it was in record time. And they figured out it was because the men were able to go up with confidence. And know that when they went up to work, they can work and be safe. And how many of us know that part of being courageous is knowing that if we are being courageous, we will be safe. That's a huge factor in every single one of us, through all of mankind. You know, the other day, I looked up the word courage. And do you know, the very first definition of courage was the heart. And then it went on to talking about brave and fearless and going out, even into the face of danger. But it starts with the heart and in the Bible when it mentions the heart, it's actually tying into your whole soul, which is your mind will and emotions. And that's where all this courage takes place because thinking about it, for the dictionary to say that a person going out bravely and fearless, they have to know in their heart, in their mind will and emotions who they are. There are many people out there that don't have a relationship with God or Jesus. And they're very brave. But they're doing it out of their own strength. Somewhere in their life, they built up the confidence that gave them that bravery. In my world that didn't happen. And I was not brave I was a big chicken my whole life. Because I never developed that confidence to be fearless or any of that. None of that happened for me until I found Jesus and realized that he was my net. And I didn't have to look at myself anymore. Even though I found Jesus over 35 years ago, I still was looking at myself and leaning on myself to do everything, which did not help at all in the courageous area. A couple of years ago, when I got totally set free from condemnation, I knew my right standing, I knew that I was righteous and that God saw me as his daughter, and loved and so free from all that nonsense, and all the lies of condemnation and what comes with it, that it was all gone. Then I was able to be more courageous, and go out and do some things that I wouldn't normally be brave enough to do. When I did have moments of weakness. And when I had those moments where I got into fear, I would sit there and remind myself the Word of God that says, I am the righteousness ofGod in Christ Jesus. And even if I had to say that 50 times in a day, I would say it because the word of the God is even how Jesus fought the enemy in the wilderness for 40 days when he went out there fasting, and you can read about it in Matthew four and Luke four, where Jesus went out after he got baptized, and he was out there fasting for 40 days. And Satan came to him and tempted him. Three different things. And the very first one was his identity. Are you really the Son of God? This happens soon after Jesus just got baptized, and the whole heaven opened up. And Papa God comes down and says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased." So Jesus wasn't gonna even bat an eye at that comment from Satan saying, Are you the Son of God? And what did he do? He threw back scripture, all three instances, he threw back scripture. So scripture, if Jesus can do it, we can do it. And it's powerful. And it always brings me comfort and peace. And I have other verses that I do, too, that God can show you those special verses that are just for you. That will bring you peace and comfort. So when we do pray, we need to have the mindset that we're praying from that victorious position in God. Not from our human state, which is weak and frail, and having to strive, to perform and to please God, and to do it in our own strength. But to pray from knowing you are loved, you are already put in right standing, which is what righteousness means. Righteousness, I am the righteousness of God, through Christ Jesus, that's in 2 Corinthians 5:21 I say that all the time, if I have any moments of weakness, which I do, I tell myself and remind myself, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And it brings a renewal of my strength and peace, not of my own, but from him. And so I just want to encourage you that if, if you're praying, pray from that victorious position that you already have. Pray from that, knowing that you are loved and that Jesus already accomplished everything on the cross and gave us the authority to call things into action to call things right to call, healing into our bodies call things into healing and our families. Even if you had a bad day, even if you had a big fight with your husband, and you said something really stupid in and you blew it with him and you feel so bad, I have done that. It could ruin your whole day. God loves us so much that something like that doesn't matter. We're still in right standing. And when we asked the Lord to forgive us for that mess up, we just need to believe that he's forgiven us. In Hebrews 8:12, it says he will not remember our sin anymore. And in Mark 5:36, Jesus says, Do not fear any longer, only believe. Believe, and the word faith is almost the same in the Greek and the Hebrew. You just have to believe. And faith is just trusting God's Word is true and it means what it says. I struggled with that verse that says he remembers my sin no more because I struggled with condemnation for over 30-40 years. But if I had just taken his word, if I had that net, if I could have seen myself in righteousness, I struggled with receiving righteousness. And I could not see myself in that right standing because I kept looking at myself. I kept looking at the mistakes I was making, instead of looking at who my savior was, Jesus, and looking at what he did for me, and got my eyes off myself, and put my eyes back on Jesus. And if you remember that story, in the Bible, where it talks about Peter, who got really brave, really courageous, when he saw Jesus walking on the water, towards the boat. He got really brave, and he wanted to be like Jesus, and he wanted to get out of that boat, and he wanted to walk on water. And he did. And he actually took a few steps and he was walking on water. But then what happened? He saw some waves start billowing up and he saw the storm come. And so he got his eyes off Jesus. And he started to sink. If he had just kept his eyes on Jesus, I know that I know that he would have kept going, because Jesus is our safety net. Jesus is that net, that makes us courageous women and men of God. Jesus and all that He did, is how we can be courageous and brave, and go out and do what he's called us to do. And to walk, knowing you are loved, and you don't have to walk in that condemnation anymore, or guilt or shame. It's gone. You just have to believe that he forgave you. When you ask Him to forgive you, believe. Like Mark 5:36 says, Do not fear any longer, only believe. Remember, God loves you.  

Cindy Spencer 0:07 Hi, my name is Pastor Cindy, welcome to The Good News podcast. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to have all the benefits that Jesus purchased for you on the cross? Guess what you already do? I spent most of my life looking at my performance both good and bad. Instead of looking at what Jesus had done for me, my relationship took a radical turn when my focus went off of me and I put it back on Jesus. My heart's desire is to stir up your faith and passion for Jesus and bring you into new levels of friendship with him. Ready to hear the good news? Let's hop on over to today's episode. Whoo. Hey, everyone. Before we start this episode, today, I just wanted to give a big shout out to my sister Kathy, who 37 years ago on July 17, brought me to the Lord and got me started on my walk with Jesus. Thank you so much, Kathy. I love you lots. Hey, welcome, everyone. This is Pastor Cindy. And today for this episode, I've invited two of my friends. And I have Jeremy Horton and his beautiful wife, Carolina Horton. And they're here today to talk about salvation. On today, July 17, 2019, it is my 37th birthday, as being a Christian. And I decided to share about salvation today and different perspectives, and how Jesus has touched my life in such a different way, compared to how he's touched Jeremy, and how he's touched, Carolina. And so we're going to share our different stories, and encourage you guys that no matter what your path has been like with Jesus, that it's beautiful. And it's so personal. It's so God treats us all with our personalities, and our individual likes and dislikes and who we are and how we learn. So I'm going to go ahead and start with Jeremy, thank you so much for coming today. Jeremy Horton 2:24 Thank you, Cindy, for having us. We really appreciate your presence and God's presence in this room right now. Cindy Spencer 2:30 Thank you. Yeah. And this is Carolina. Carolina Horton 2:34 Yes. Thank you for having us, Cindy, really, such a pleasure to be able to share the love of God and the miracles he's done for us when they can Cindy Spencer 2:42 encourage someone else. Exactly. And I just I have to tell you guys that are listening. You know, I've known Jeremy and Carolina for about a year now. And they just glow. The love of God has touched their heart in such a way that they just glow and they love to help people and they love to serve in the church. And it's just changed their whole family, their three girls. And so we're going to talk a little bit about that. And some of the differences that I experienced in my walk over the 37 years. So why don't we go ahead? And do you want to start Carolina and kind of just share how you found Jesus and what it was like growing up? Yeah. Carolina Horton 3:30 So I was born and raised in Chile, I was part of a very strict religious Catholic school. My whole upbringing, there was no encouragement to really have a relationship with Jesus, where to find it for myself, it was very much rules-based and just staying within those rules. Okay. So when my husband, after being married for 10 years, decided to go on this walk. I was against him. It's something that I did not receive. I didn't think I needed in my life. So when he found Jesus, it was really different for you. It was night and day because I saw such a transformation in him. Wow, that it made me want it. I really Jesus. I saw Jesus in him. When I was being a pest, he would just love me. When I would try to fight with him, he wouldn't respond. He was fathering our children in a very different way. So I reached the point where I said, What's different? What is it? And he said, Is Jesus? I said, Well, no, I've read the Bible. I know, I know. He said You don't? You may have read. But you don't know Jesus. Cindy Spencer 4:53 Wow. How did you feel? Carolina Horton 4:57 I mean, it humbled me in really in a soft end of my heart, and it made me realize that there is something that I don't know. So I said, Okay, sure. Let's try. Okay. And he came in, and, you know, I was asking him to change me. And he went ahead and just change my whole household. Wow, that's so much more than, you know, I'm like, help me with my mess. And he's like, I'm gonna clean a little bit, honey. That's amazing. And he Jesus is so good. Yeah. So good. so kind. And so full of truth and wisdom. I mean, I had so many questions that I didn't know who to go to. And he so kindly has revealed time after time, answered all of my questions. Wow. very logical person. And so if things don't make sense, I can't trust it. Believe it digest it. Yeah, me too. But he Cindy Spencer 5:57 That was part of my problem too. Carolina Horton 6:00 But you know, he's so kindly put people in my life who spoke to me the way that I needed it. He put different people in different seasons who have watered what he's growing, who have thrown new seed, in good soil. It really has shown me You know, I've always thought of myself that I'm independent. And so I got this, I can take care of it. But there is such growth, in fellowship and in family and in contact with people. You know, it has really brought me to the revelation of the body of Christ and how you may be a thumb and I may be a pinky together, make it happen. Yeah, right. Cindy Spencer 6:47 I mean, you can't if you don't have an elbow. Right, right. Arm won't work. Absolutely. Right. So for you, it's been two years. Carolina Horton 6:58 Two years. Yes. Cindy Spencer 7:00 Okay. So, Jeremy, I think you mentioned earlier that you've been saved like three years now. Jeremy Horton 7:06 Yeah, about three years now. It'll be three years in October this year. So, you know, when I started off, I was dealing with a lot of addiction. A lot of just stuff that I dealt with my past because, you know, I never grew up with any church upbringing. You know, I had great parents, but a lot of rules. So and a lot of rules I like to break. So I wasn't really a good citizen, you know. So, I was just tired of my life. I was tired of failing. I was tired of disappointing my wife tired at this point in my kids. I almost lost my job at Boeing. I had to actually go through a rehab program just to save my job at Boeing. And when I came back, and when I passed my rehab program, I met a guy named Kevin, and he introduced me to the Bible. He said, Hey, read the Bible, read the Bible. Well, I wasn't quite ready yet. So I kept I avoided him a lot. So he would find me.   Every single time I avoided him. So he was like, You know what, just read the Bible. And I got tired of him asking me telling me to and so I started reading it at work on my breaks at lunch even. But at work, I was watching a Todd White video. And at the end of the video, he was like, hey, whoever wants Jesus right now in their heart and wants to change and wants to repent, and accept them right now and say this prayer. So I said that prayer, and I just felt something shift. Something shifted, where I just felt so different, like, it had to be supernatural. Because the transformation work to where I used to be at it was It couldn't have been just me. So one by one thing started getting knocked off as far as the old me my addictions, my, my cussing, my, my, my, the hate towards my brothers, the unforgiveness I had towards people. It just started breaking and I just had this hunger to serve my God to serve Jesus. When I, when I found that Bible series on Netflix, I would watch him get crucified continually, I would put that episode on repeat, because I wanted the revelation I wanted to know. And now I know I have this appreciation that what he did on that cross wasn't just for my sin, it was for my true value. Like, he really told me how much he loves me and how much he valued me just for what he did on the cross. So since then, I just been really, really just in a place of serving God, and serving with him Cindy Spencer 9:41 and just wanting to give back just Jeremy Horton 9:43 wanting to because you have to not because I have to, because you want to because I want to and I love him so much because he loved me first. You know, and I love that the book of Ephesians. It was like my favorite book. Because, yeah, because it talks about how he knew us before the foundation of the earth, you know, and he said he set the plans before us. So like, it's crazy, because I was never an accident. You know, I was never an accident. And I am here for a purpose. And I was always searching for a purpose and my purpose here and wow. Now I know my purpose. Wow. Yeah. So that's Cindy Spencer 10:20 amazing. And you know, the Bible says that he puts that in us. Jeremy Horton 10:23 Yeah, exactly. Cindy Spencer 10:24 And we're searching, but sometimes it's can be drugs, sometimes it can be another religion of another god, you know, and we're searching and searching and, and like myself, I didn't grow up with religion. But I did have some time in a Lutheran Church. Yeah. And so I knew God, but I didn't really know Jesus or the Holy Spirit. And by the time I got saved, you know, 37 years ago, I was 20 years old. And it was a long time of still feeling of doing where I had to perform for God. And I just constantly felt like I let him down. I get it. And I dealt with shame and condemnation. And I never heard that. You know, that John 3:19 that says, you know, Jesus came to set the world free and save the world. He didn't come to condemn us. Right, right. Right, you know, but I kept doing this condemnation. And a few years ago, I was in my concordance. And I looked at the word salvation, both in the Greek and the Hebrew. Yeah. And it says that your salvation means saved, made well, delivered, prospered and protected. And I was like, Wow, that is salvation. I mean, I had no idea. And so if you guys listen to Episode Six, I went into more of the Scriptures and all of that. So I'm not going to go into that today. But today is more just building our relationship with Jesus in a, in a new way,

Learn three different ways to look at your relationship with Jesus that I experienced and discover some new truths to building a better walk with Jesus. Hey, everyone, this is Pastor Cindy saying thank you for coming to today's podcast, where we'll be talking about building a better relationship with the Jesus, we are continuously growing and learning more about our friends and family and getting closer and building a deeper relationship. So it only makes sense that we would do that with God too, and, and getting to know them better and continue building that relationship and learning more about him, knowing who we are to him, and who he is to us. And I've also discovered over the years that salvation is truly the greatest miracle. So it only makes sense that we would want to know more and grow in our relationship with Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior. One of the reasons I decided to do a series of episodes about salvation, is because, on July 17, 2019, I'm celebrating my 37th year of walking with Jesus. And I did some reflection and realized I could pretty much bring it into three different phases of my walk, and I want to share them with you. So I'm hoping as I share these three areas that some of them will be relatable to you, and maybe bring some understanding to your walk with God in three areas that I realized two of them, I did not have my understanding and perspective on who Jesus was and what he had done for me correctly. And then the last one is when I got my understanding correct about Jesus, and what he had done for me, and how everything changed after that. The first one that I want to talk about is the timeframe that I dealt with, probably 20 years, or more, which I'll call law. And I don't mean like the law of the United States are breaking the law here in the States, I'm talking biblical law. And in the Old Testament, it talks about there were 613 laws and the 10 commandments. But what happens is, when you are under that mindset of operating in the law, one way you can know, if you're dealing with that is if you always have this thought of doing good, get good, do bad, get bad from God. I don't know how many times I felt like if I let God down or did something wrong, he was going to strike lightning at me. And now it's just like, you know, I know how loving he is. And I knew he was loving back then. But I could even love him with all my heart. And I loved having a relationship with him. But it was just a struggle in how close I felt to him because I felt very distant from him. And that I found out was not on his end, that was all on my end because I had a misunderstanding. And that that was where the whole problem was, is I just had a misunderstanding of who God is. And didn't know how much he loved me. And it took me 19 years of my 37-year walk to really, really believe that he truly loved me just the way I was in all my mess. And once that happened, things started to change. But then I entered a new phase. The next phase is what I call the religious mindset. And in that one, it's you have to have this, do this, do this to become this, or do this and then do this again. But don't do this. To become this didn't keep me from loving God. I just thought this is the way it was. And I thought everybody did this. And now I'm happy to say that I entered the righteousness phase. I cried and cried. And yes, it was a happy cry, not a sad cry. I was so happy that I finally got it I finally understood righteousness. Yes, that one word made a big difference. In everything that how, I saw how I saw God, how I saw Jesus, how I saw myself and how he I kind of started seeing how he saw me. And it was so much better. So because it's so much better, I'd like to reiterate the differences between the three, law does good, get good, or do bad, get bad from God. religion says you need to achieve this, you need to do this, you need to do more. You need to do this again. But don't do this, to become this. And then God will bless you. Then righteousness says that you have already become because of what Jesus did on the cross. Religion gets you focused on your obedience, your actions, and your self. Righteousness gets you focused on Jesus and his obedience going to the cross to make us righteous. If we stay occupied, occupied on him by beholding him and what he did for us, things will change for the better. Now I'd like to read some of my favorite passages from the Bible that have really helped me. The first one is Colossians 1: 19 through 23. In the New Living Translation, for God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ. And through him, God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God, you were his enemies separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled us to himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless, as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in don't drift away from the assurance you've received when you heard the good news. The good news has been preached all over the world. And I Paul had been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it. I love that verse. And it just says everything it says pretty much everything in a nutshell. But there are so many more verses that share about this. And so back 1500 years before Jesus came, God had, through Moses installed the law, the whole system of the law, and before that with Abraham, and before that there was like 2500 years, that was done with grace. But during the 1500 years of law, there was 613 laws and 10 commandments that were put in place by God for the Israel people. And in James 2:10, Paul, or James tells us that if you broke one of the laws, you broke them all, it was no different. So it basically was impossible to keep all the laws and not ever fail. And God did that with several intentions. But one of them was for people to realize that they would need a savior and that they couldn't do it on their own, and they couldn't perform and save themselves. And so that's why he would do that. So that when Jesus did come, they go Yeah, we want to save you because this is just too hard to do this on our own. During those 1500 years of law, if they sin, they had to make a sacrifice that with an animal, and the blood of that animal covered their sin, but it didn't remove the condemnation. And it didn't permanently remove, but it just covered it enough that it was in the way God said to do it. So because God said to do the sacrifice that way, he still continued to bless them after they made that sacrifice even though they had sinned. While Jesus in the book of Hebrews, it tells us that Jesus came and he only did it once he was on the cross once and shed his blood once. And not only did it do more than cover our sins, it removed them. And in Romans four, eight, it also tells us that the punishment was taken off of us because all the punishment was put on Jesus when he was on that cross, along with our sins along with everything that he did on the cross. So for Romans 4:8 tells us that sin is not imputed to us, only on Jesus. And then in Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17. It says that God's telling us that he does not remember our sin anymore, which is absolutely amazing. To me, I really struggled with that one for years when I heard that it just how could God forget my sin, I certainly remember it. Even though I had asked Jesus to forgive me. And he had forgiven me and cleansed me. But I still had that either law mentality or religious mentality that affected the way I received his love and the way I received his forgiveness. You know that that's a huge statement right there, to receive His love, but also to receive His forgiveness, to receive what he did on the cross. And that work that he took all of that punishment. He was beaten, he was crucified on the cross, all for us. About a year into the timeframe that I started realizing that I was walking in righteousness and not condemnation in law, right religion anymore. I was in my concordance. And I just love looking up words in the concordance because it makes verses come more alive and get a better understanding. And it really helps my mind to see what the verse is trying to say. And one day I decided to look up the word salvation, both in the Greek and in the Hebrew. And I was amazed at what salvation means. It actually means five different things. It means saved, made well delivered, prospered and protected. We receive all of that when we get saved and accepted Jesus as a relationship with Jesus. All of that is instantly ours in our spirit. I remember thinking before I found that out, that I knew that I had access to healing, and prosperity and protection because the Word of God told me, but again, I thought it was something I had to earn. It was something I thought I had to do this and do this to get to become that. And here the whole time, I already had it. And it was at my disposal whenever needed. And I just didn't know it. This is why I'd like to encourage you to really do what you can to really start studying about your identity in Christ, and that you're a child of God and you're loved by God, and that you have a great savior that did everything for you. He took all the punishment of our sin on his body, so that we can have direct access with God again, we have dominion again, we have authority. And it's just amazing all that Jesus did for us on the cross. And it's really fascinating once you get into the word and start studying it. So if you haven't done it before, I'd really encourage you to do it. It's just an awesome journey. Another story in the Bible that I'd like to share about is back in Genesis 15. And it was God and Abraham and God had asked him to take three animals and two birds

Episode 5 is an interview with Nancy Ann Johnson about her brand new book called Ask For Your Miracle.  Meet the author in a heart to heart talk as she shares the testimony of how Jesus healed her. Let this comeback story restore your hope in the promises of a miraculous God. You can find more from her at engagingjesus.com Cindy Spencer 00:00 Welcome to Episode Five. Ask for your miracle. This is Pastor Cindy Spencer, here to talk about good news. Just like the title says, In a world that likes to talk about negative news, I want to shout from the rooftops good news. I will be sharing a variety of topics in this podcast. But as the song says, Remember the best news, it's all about Jesus. Welcome to today's episode, we are going to interview Nancy and Johnson. She wrote a book called Ask For Your Miracle. I've known Nancy for eight years now. And I've actually basically been here alongside while she's been going through this journey that she wrote about in her book. And so today, we get to hear about different facets of her book and different things that we think that would just totally bless your day today. So welcome, Nancy. Nancy Johnson 01:05 Hi, Cindy. And so glad to be here. And I'm just so thankful to have you for a friend and just to be alive. So I'm, I'm so glad I met Jesus, and he's lined all this up for us. Cindy Spencer 01:16 Yes, literally, she's thankful to be alive, it's you should get her book. I mean, it's amazing her story. So we're here today to hear some little juicy bits about your book. And you're going to share some of the things that you wrote about. And one of the things I'd love for you to share is explaining the title that says, Ask For Your Miracle. And why you decided to write this book. Nancy Johnson 01:42 Yeah, um, I'm just so excited to share my testimony with people, you know, I've, I almost died and was in a position of a lot of weakness. And God was able to bring me out of that and restore me completely, not just me, but my marriage and our finances. So I want to share that with people. Because it's good to know that Jesus is doing miracles today. And that there are steps that you can take to get to that kind of victory. And so I kind of laid out the steps and it's healing spirit, soul and body, learning to pray with faith, you know, learning that we can actually believe God for a miracle, and they actually has promises that we can step into. And so knowing him is, is an amazing thing, and nothing is impossible for him. And so my main point is to ask, you know, seek knock and never give up like I had to just hang on and never give up. I wanted that promise of healing at one my miracle. And I wanted you people also to know that you can do it. I just want to encourage you to fight for your miracle and fight for your healing. And I'm using the pain in the situation that I was in, to be my life purpose now and to help others, to help others and to give hope to others, to encourage, and encourage others that they can do it. And so there are lots of neat things in this book about those keys. I talked about having an extraordinary marriage, I talked about the Holy Spirit, I talked about resting in the love of the Father, and just different things on faith and prayer. So I just wanted everybody just to dive into those things, because God's amazing, and he's the best friend that you'll ever have. Cindy Spencer 03:19 Amen! I agree with all that. That's amazing. And I know that at the back of the book, I was really excited because you, you added some scriptures that are for people that maybe don't know where to start. Can you share a little bit about that? Nancy Johnson 03:37 Yes. So the Word of God is really important. And when you're contending for one of those promises that God has given you, you literally need to go through the Bible and find the promises that you need. So what I did, since I needed healing, I went through and studied the healing scriptures. And I put some of those in the back of the book that I studied on who I am in Christ, my identity. And I put some of those in the back of the book. And I also found healing faith scriptures that I needed to learn about faith and how faith works and how to believe for miracles. And so when we, when we go over the scriptures that we need, we're actually meditating on them, we're learning them are memorizing them, and we're speaking them out loud because God created in the book of Genesis, it says, God created the world, by speaking or speaking it into being and so we learn to speak out his word, His Word will not return to Him void. And then we're also sowing and reaping a harvest. So part of my healing was learning really fast what the promises of God were because I was in a crisis situation. And so I wanted to put those in there. And then in each chapter, I also put steps and I put a prayer. And so for those days, when you may not have time to read a whole chapter, whatever, you can just go right to the prayer, pray out the prayers, you can go right to the back, pray out your scriptures. And just have that as an amazing resource. Cindy Spencer 05:01 Yeah, I mean, it's like the whole book is a resource because it covers so many different things. And, and you provided things in there. You know, so for the prayers. And one of my favorite quotes, I'm going to quote this out of your book, you wrote that if you want this is God talking to you. And you said, he said to you, if you want more authority, Nancy, then get right next to my heart. And you went, Whoo, whoo, that's exactly where I need to be. Can you share about that? Nancy Johnson 05:36 Yeah, I love that.  I have a heart to worship God. And I found that that's the best place to be like when you are, when you are so in love with someone, you just get lost in that love. And you forget all about yourself, which is exactly what I needed to do is to forget about all those problems, all those circumstances. And when you do that, when you forget about yourself that much, and you're so focused on the other Your Beloved, you actually can get caught up in the spirit, which happens to me a lot in worship happens to a lot of people in worship, and you end up being in the heavenly's, right before the throne. It says it says the veil is torn, we have free access to the throne of God. And we can be caught up in the Spirit. It says in the book of Revelation, "come up here". And so that's where he wants us to be. And so he's telling me, get right next to me, that's where the place of authority is. And so I always wanted to be in worship, like, that's what I wanted to do all day long. It's the most joyous, most wonderful thing because when you're in that place, in the praises He enthrones you, which means the gates of your heart are wider.  You're wide open to love, and He is on the throne. And He battles for you. And so in that place, it's just gloriously fun, wonderful, you know, if you can smell the fragrances of God. It's all available to you right there. And that's the place where you're at the power of the center of the universe. And that's what I was telling me if you want more authority, be here, abide in my love. It says in John 15, it says to abide in the vine. And when we abide in that place with Him and we know His word, then whatever we desire, He will do it. Cindy Spencer 07:16 Now I know you and so I know that this works for you at church. But I also know that you're a huge worshiper at home. Can you kind of share with people how they can do this at home? Nancy Johnson 07:29 Yeah, so what I do is, I found out that the enemy doesn't like it when we worship. So it's one of my favorite things to do. And so I turn on my radio or my iPad, and I run worship music 24/7, so I leave it on all night. And it's going in my home, and it actually creates an atmosphere. Like the throne room, in our homes. And I've taught a lot of people this through the years, actually hundreds I mean, almost everybody I tell is to just to keep your music on because it's doing warfare for you. It's cleansing the atmosphere, it's cleansing your home, and it's keeping the enemy away and strengthens you. Yeah, it's powerful. Yeah. And it's that spiritual atmosphere where whatever you sow it's like pregnant with possibilities. You're sowing your word into that atmosphere. It's just like, wow, stuff just starts manifesting fast.   Cindy Spencer 08:27 That's amazing. And I know, there's another chapter that you shared. And this is another quote that I really liked. And you said, I would never want to do anything without my glorious friend, the Holy Spirit. Can you tell us about him and your relationship with him? Nancy Johnson 08:48 Yeah, I'm just so excited about the Holy Spirit. He is like pure joy. And it says in Acts it actually says that Jesus, when He ascended, that he was telling his disciples, I'm not going to leave you orphans. I'm going to send you the promise of the Father. And then He told them to wait in the upper room until the power comes. And what was that power? Well, it was the Holy Spirit. And so they prayed and prayed and prayed. And, you know, a mighty rushing wind came, and then tongues of fire broke out in the room and landed on everyones head. And they broke out in other languages. I mean, it was just amazing. And then right after that, they went out and 3,000 people got saved. So that's when the power came in. And they were telling me in the healing rooms, Nancy, you've accepted Jesus into your heart, you know, the promises of God. But now you also need the Holy Spirit, because he's where the power comes in, for all of these miracles, that you're asking for and the things that you need to break through on. So I was after the Holy Spirit, like, like, I just wanted him and I desired him so much. And I had asked them to pray for me. And I believe that I got baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is what Jesus came to do. He came to baptize in, in the power and the fire of the Holy Spirit I and so I

Over 6,000 years God the Father, Jesus the Son and Holy Spirit have come to fellowship with us.

Love of the Father Part Two continues with more on the story in Luke 15:11-32 Also deals with things that are common today that we deal with as Christians. Thank you for coming and please subscribe to the show for more to come:)

Love of the Father Part One is based on the story Jesus tells us in Luke 15:11-32 It is a beautiful story Jesus shares with us about His Father and their love for us. Some show notes are available at http://haveyouheardthegoodnews.libsyn.com

Hi! I am Pastor Cindy Spencer. This episode is an introduction to this podcast and who I am. Thank you for coming and please subscribe to the show for lots more to come:)