Comments by Joan Boney:
Matthew 1
God was the father of Jesus.
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The New Testament shows us a completely different way of God.
They (OT) lived by doing the laws of God and we live by faith in God through what God gives us by HIS Spirit.
In the Old Testament they followed the Levitical Laws by their own mind.
As we follow the Spirit of God, like Jesus, we fulfill the law of God because the Spirit of God who is in us will never lead us in a way that is not of God, and we follow the Spirit.
After we are born again by the Spirit of God, we live like Jesus lived when HE came to this earth for God is in us to lead us.
As Jesus said HE could do nothing of Himself but by the Father, neither can we do anything without hearing by the Spirit what to do.
After we are born again by the Spirit of God, we are like Jesus.
We no longer do the works of the flesh as we once did. Now we do the works of the Spirit.
Galatians 5
As we follow that which the Holy Spirit speaks to us, doing what HE tells us, we do the works of the Spirit as Jesus did.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
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Here is an interesting testimony of Pam Padgett.
When
I was a sophomore in high school 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.
This
terrified me, for somehow I knew very strongly that if I died, I would
go to hell.
Although I had been raised in the Catholic church, I also
knew that the various rituals we were taught in the Catholic church
would not keep me from going to hell.
I knew that my only hope was God.
We
had been taught in the Catholic church that there is God the Father,
His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but I wasn't sure which one to pray
to about this. So I began my prayer by saying "I know there is the
Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but I don't know which one
to pray to, so please get this prayer to the right one." Then I went on
to ask that if there was any way for me to be saved from going to hell,
to please do that.
I didn't know what God would do with this prayer, but I knew that HE was the only one who could help me.
Not
long after this, I became aware that there was something different in
me.
The only way I knew to describe it was that "there was now something
of God in me", but I didn't know any more than that.
I also found that I had a strong desire to read the Bible.
One day while reading in the Bible I saw I Corinthians 6:19-20 ...
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
My eyes were opened to see that it was the Holy Ghost that was in me.
(Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.)
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Comments by Joan Boney:
I just finished reading the book of Revelation on April 1.
After this, I start over with the book of Matthew.
As I thought of the differences of the Old Testament and New Testament, I thought of the different ways of Jesus as HE taught the people by the Spirit of God.
In the Old Testament the prophets had the Spirit of God but the people did not. In the New Testament all of the people who belong to God have the Spirit of God in them so they can hear directly from God and be led by God.
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by HIS Son, whom HE hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also HE made the worlds;
The Holy Spirit of Jesus lives in us and we follow HIM.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in MY name, HE shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 16:13 Howbeit when HE, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE will guide you into all truth: for HE shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever HE shall hear (from God), that shall HE speak: and HE will shew you things to come.
As we live on this earth, the Holy Spirit brings to our mind information to show us what to do in the situations of this life. For that which is shown us by the Spirit of God is the will of God for us.
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Jesus tells us we cannot "see" the kingdom of God unless we are born again by the Spirit of God.
John 3 Jesus said to Nicodemus:
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
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So when we follow that which the Holy Spirit says to us, the works of the Holy Spirit come forth through us.
If we follow the flesh, the works of the flesh come through us:
Galatians 5
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
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