Comments by Joan Boney:
God called Moses to come up to HIM and Moses was with God 40 days in the mountain and God gave Moses commandments for the children of Israel.
All his life, God prepared for Moses to lead HIS people. The call of God was on Moses even from his youth. God arranged for Moses to be taken into Pharaoh's daughter's house as a baby where he was "learned in all the ways of the Egyptians" and he was in a very high position in Egypt.
We read the following about Moses:
Acts 7
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
(We see that Moses knew even then that he would be used by God to deliver the children of Israel.)
26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
1-2 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 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?
14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And HE said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in ME.
19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
(In fact, God had made Moses to be a ruler and judge over the people of Israel and that would happen 40-years later when the time was right.)
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.
14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.
15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.
16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew MY power in thee, and that MY name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath HE mercy on whom HE will have mercy, and whom HE will HE hardeneth.
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
When God revealed HIMSELF to Moses when Moses was 80-years-old in the land of Midian and called Moses and charged Moses to go back to Egypt where he would deliver the children of Israel, we see the following:
Exodus 3:10-11 God said to Moses: Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth MY people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
But 40 years earlier when Moses killed the Egyptian and freed the man of Israel, Moses knew he would be used by God to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.
In God's time, this would happen. Moses was called by God, appointed for a work of God, and trained by God for this work. It was not of Moses but of God.
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Now in the wilderness, God takes Moses up to the mount to receive the ten commandments for the nation of Israel.
Exodus 24
13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.
14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.
15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.
16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
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Jesus sets up the New Testament church after HE is resurrected into heaven.
Acts 2:47 And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
We don't join the church by our own will. God opens our eyes to HIS truth and when that happens we are born again, made into new creatures by the Spirit of God.
Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Salvation is of God. God opens the eyes of those who are chosen by God to salvation.
We are all members of the body of Christ but some are set into the church by God to do the work of the church.
It is a call of God by the will of God and not by our own will that we are born again and put into the church to do specific works in the church.
We believe because God opened our eyes to believe.
Thus Paul explains:
Romans 9
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew MY power in thee, and that MY name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath HE mercy on whom HE will have mercy, and whom HE will HE hardeneth.
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God speaks directly to us who are being saved.
To Pam Padgett, God used a motorcycle accident where one of her high school classmates was killed, and God opened her eyes for her to see her need for salvation, and she called on God and asked HIM to save her, and HE did. But Pam's mother and sisters who heard of that same motorcycle accident had no real change take place in their lives.
(Pam was a teen ager at that time.)
After she called on God, she knew something of God was in her.
Years later she saw a scripture and knew what it was from God that was in her.
I Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
(Pam was also given by God a ministry office, "helps", to work in the church.)
I Corinthians 12:27-28 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
28 And God hath set some in the church (to work in the church), first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
28 And God hath set some in the church (to work in the church), first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
In 2012, God gave me a dream showing me to start a blog. I asked Pam to set up a blog for us. Now she does all the technical work for this ministry in publishing writings for blog, books on Amazon, Podcasts, Twitter. I can do none of these technical things and without "help" we would not be able to do blog, books, Podcasts, or Twitter. Pam was set in the body of Christ to do these things for the church.
God trained Pam in all these things even before the need surfaced.
She had a call on her life to do these works in the ministry and at one point, she was given a dream showing her I was her "supervisor", but the call from God was on her life and she was trained by God.
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On the road to Damascus, Jesus revealed Himself from heaven to the apostle Paul and then by a voice from heaven Jesus spoke to Paul. Paul was changed forever but there is no evidence that the men who travelled with Paul were changed.
Acts 9
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.
(With this call of Jesus, Paul's life was changed completely, instantly. But the other men who traveled with Paul hear this same voice and were not changed.)
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
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.
Paul gives more detail of this calling from heaven in the following scripture:
7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
Paul gives more detail of this calling from heaven in the following scripture:
Acts 26
15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And HE said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in ME.
19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
Paul did nothing worthy of salvation. Paul was persecuting the followers of Jesus at the time Jesus called him from heaven and changed him.
Salvation is by the will of God. God speaks to the individual who is being saved and God reveals HIMSELF to that individual and God opens the eyes of the one being saved and that individual now sees things of God.
God might show HIMSELF to you at the grocery store, or at your home, or in a church meeting. But to each who "see", it is God who causes that individual to "see".
And then he is born again and given the Holy Spirit of God to lead him and to guide him for the remainder of his life on this earth.
I believe most of us who are born again by God know that we did nothing to make us worthy of salvation. It was simply that God chose us and revealed HIMSELF to us and never again were we the same as we had been before this happened.
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Matthew 16
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15 HE saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 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.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock (the truth revealed by God) I will build MY church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
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I was baptized in water when I was 15 years old. (nothing changed in my life)
God spoke to me when I was 37-years-old and everything changed in my life.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
After I was born again, my cousin (Church of Christ member) said to me: "Well ... I believe you are a Christian... I just don't see how you can be."
(She didn't understand what it is to be born again by God by HIS Spirit.)
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Hebrews 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
After Jesus was resurrected, from heaven Jesus set up the ministries in the New Testament church.
Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore HE saith, When HE (Jesus) ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men... 11-12 And HE gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
You can't put yourself into the ministry by going to Bible school. You must be called by Jesus from heaven as Paul was called.
You can't give yourself the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God gives individuals the gifts of the Holy Spirit as HE wills. (I Cor. 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as HE will.)
A woman at church came to me once and said to me, "I want to do what you do."
I replied, "You do?" (I was really surprised that anyone wanted to do this.)
Everything is by the will of God, not by the will of man.
We are born again when God chooses to reveal HIMSELF to us.
When we are set in one of the ministries, it is because Jesus chose to have us to do this.
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Concerning being born again:
John 3:3 Jesus said: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
I Cor. 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Romans 8
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