Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
God revealed Jesus, The Word, to Peter and that changed everything.
Matthew 16:13-18 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, HE asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
(Peter didn't learn this by reasoning or studying. God simply gave this understanding to Peter, planting this in Peter's heart and mind.)
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The church is built upon that Word God reveals to the individual.
We know nothing until God brings HIS understanding, HIS Word to our mind.
Most of us are like Peter. God just reveals HIMSELF or a truth to us. When that happens, we are added to the church by God.
Acts 2:47 And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Here are a few testimonies from people in our church group concerning what happened to them when God changed them.
Cathy
I had started going to a non-denominational church because my friend started going. As far as I can remember I’d always had an interest in spiritual things. I had been raised in the Catholic Church and found that to be phony and dead. But the people at this non-denominational church were joyful and lively.
At one point I asked someone from that church how to get saved (something to that effect, I don’t remember the exact word I used). She told me to just ask Jesus to come into my heart.
So l did this but nothing happened the first time. I repeated this on different days.
After about the second or third time I asked this, I had a dream that I was casting out devils.
When I awoke from that dream I was completely different. I was filled with a joy I’d never known before.
I kept having the thought that I knew who I wanted to serve. (God).
I realized for the first time that some of the things I was doing were sins and immediately stopped them and had no desire for them.
I now had desire to live in a way that God wanted me to. I wanted to read the Bible and learn about God and be with people of God.
It was wonderful.
(Comments by Joan Boney: Cathy's story is almost exactly my story. I was reading a book about sin. I had no idea at the time I was sinning. I had gone forward at Church of Christ where my aunt went to church. I was baptized. Nothing happened. That was when I was about 15-years-old. But when I was 37 and reading that book about sin, God said to me: "Joan ... you know all these mistakes you've been making. Those weren't mistakes. Those were sins." I was very shocked. I had no idea I was sinning until God spoke to me. Then I was changed immediately and began desiring to read Bible. Now I could see sin because I had the Holy Spirit in me to convict me of sin.)
Pam
When I was 14 years old one of the boys in my class was killed in a motorcycle accident. For the first time I realized that someone my age could die and I was terrified.
It was strongly in me that I would go to hell if I were to die at that time and that God was my only hope for help.
So I began to pray, asking that, if possible, God would somehow save me.
When I began to pray I remembered being taught in Catholic church that there is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and didn't know which one to pray to. So I asked that my prayer get to the right one.
There was a bookmark with scriptures that had been left at our house and put in the large family Bible which was kept on a coffee table but not used. My attention was drawn to this bookmark and a specific scripture on it, and I focused on this and believed this ...
Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus (The Word) says ... Come unto Me (The Word), all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
From this time on I was very different.
What God thought about what I was doing and dealing with became very important to me.
Also there was a hunger to read the Bible.
And shortly after this I realized there was something of God in me, which I later learned was the Holy Spirit.
I had been born again.
Barbara
In late 1980 we moved to Texas where my husband started a new job.
I had been drinking heavily for a number of years prior to this and so many times had wanted to stop but never had the power to do this. I couldn’t stay sober. It was like being caught up in a nightmare from which there was no escape.
Then one day, soon after we moved to Texas, something happened to me. I wanted to stop drinking and knew something was “different” inside me but I didn’t know what it was.
I told my husband that something had happened to me and I was going to an AA meeting the next day.
He didn’t believe me, of course, because I had tried to stop drinking so many times before.
But I did go the next day and even believe God led me to do this for a short time, at this particular point in my life, so I would have all the help I needed, both fleshly and spiritual.
With this desire to stop drinking also came a strong desire to read the Bible and listen to people talk about God. I joined a local Methodist church and began going to church again, wanting to do this.
In the beginning it didn’t matter whether it was on television, radio or in books. I just wanted to hear people speak about God and, when I found people at work who said they were Christians also, I wanted to talk with them about God.
That was when I knew the “thing that happened” to me was that I had been given the Holy Spirit and had been born again.
I was raised in the Baptist church. I didn’t want to go but my parents made me, so I went. But the whole time I went, the Bible meant nothing to me. Now it did.
What happened to me in late 1980 came with a real change inside me and that is when I believe I was born again.
Comments by Joan Boney ... Real change comes from God by HIS Spirit. And being born again is certainly real change.
Many join a church and are baptized but there is no real change.
You will notice in each of the above stories real change came to the individual.
Linda
I was baptized in 1970 at a Church of Christ in Portland, Tx, however I was not born again until 1976 when I was attending an Assembly of God church in Houston, Tx.
I just knew that God had showed Himself to me and I had a great desire to find out more about God and about salvation. I knew I wanted to go to heaven and spend eternity with Him.
My life began to change for the better and His presence became very real to me.
Also no matter my circumstances from then on in my life I was never alone and I knew God was with me no matter what happened.
I am so glad that God is in my life and I try to live a peaceable and quiet life with Him.
Sandy
My mother raised me and my brothers in a Pentecostal Holiness Church. When I was very young my cousin and I repeated the sinners prayer together while an evangelist was at our church.
Later when I was older during a prayer service I was touched by the Holy Spirit that gave me a lifelong love for scripture and through the years I have learned to pray about everything no matter how small.
Juliett
It was in the early 70's that I was at home in between jobs. A woman from the community came to my door during the day and gave me a Bible and invited me to come to a neighborhood Bible study.
The Bible study group was a few women who met once a week on a weekday. They begin studying the Book of John.
One would read and then we would talk about what was read. Available at this house were books and tapes concerning Bible and those who spoke about the Bible.
At another Bible study, we read John 9 where the man who was born blind from birth was healed by Jesus.
After a short period of time, I was home alone. These words come to me. "Jesus is the Son of God and you have not accepted Him".
When I heard these words, I was crushed and helpless.
I did not know how to pray but said: "Help me".
I could not explain what had happened to me, but I was changed.
I wanted to know more about the things of God and to be with God’s people.
Shortly after that, I was offered a job. I kept in touch with one woman connected with this group. It was a delight to visit with her and talk of the things of God.
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Paul's salvation was very different from Peter's yet both salvations came because God brought HIS word and they were changed from that point forward.
Although in Peter's case, he did not yet have the Holy Spirit for Jesus had not yet died and been resurrected. The Holy Spirit came to the believers at the day of Pentecost shown in the Bible in Acts 2.
But even before Peter had the Holy Spirit, God had revealed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Matthew 16:13-15
And in John 6, Peter once again confessed Jesus.
64 (Jesus said) There are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
65 And HE said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
(God had revealed this to Peter even before the Holy Spirit was given to all who believed. Mt. 16... And this concept did not go away because it was not of flesh and blood but was from God.)
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Acts 9:1-18 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
8
And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no
man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
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9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
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10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias.
And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, 12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: 14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name (The Word) before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
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17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
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