Hi everyone, long time no post. As many know, I have had a broken hand with a cast on, making it difficult to type this month, so blogging has been difficult. Thank you for all your prayers! Today, I want to introduce Jan Michael Prieto, missionary evangelist to the nation of the Phillipines. Please support him in prayer and with your finances, simply $10 on Paypal puts gas in his motorbike, and gets him up into the jungle preaching. You can donate directly on his Paypal connected to his email: [email protected]
His ministry contact is: Heart Apostolic Philippines Address purok santan malandag,malungon sarangani province philippines 9503
Here is one of His teachings:
God Perceives the Inner Change That Only His Word Can Bring (Luke 15:1 NKJV) Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. Like the returning prodigal, the “publicans and sinners” may have still looked outwardly like sinners, but inside a change had already taken place. This is what God the Father and Jesus were celebrating. They know that permanent outward change begins with a change of heart—that is, a heart open to hear Jesus’s words, believe them, and digest them. Jesus’s words are powerful, creative, and gracious; once they have taken root, they will soon result in a major change of confession leading to a change of actions and lifestyle. Father and Jesus celebrate the most important part—the change of thinking that opens a heart to hear, to process, and potentially to reproduce Jesus’s words. (Luke 8:15 NKJV) “But the ones (word-seeds) that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. This is repentance. This is the Father’s dream for true sons coming to pass. It is also the answer to Jesus’s prayer for God’s kingdom to come. When open, humble hearts receive and value God’s word, they sow it in their heart-soil like seeds. These seeds can then sprout, grow and produce a harvest. This harvest represents God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. We note here that pseudo repentance, which involves the employment of human willpower to change a life, does not produce holy fruit. (Romans 7:15 NKJV) For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. The apostle Paul himself couldn’t make himself holy by merely agreeing that the law was right and exercising his will to keep it. On the other hand, Jesus—the living Word of God—said he would fulfill the law himself (Matthew 5:17). That is to say that only the infinite holy power of the Holy Spirit—acting to fulfill Jesus’s words in us when we receive and believe them—has the ability to produce holy living in and through us. (Romans 8:13-14 NKJV) For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Are you seeking the inner change that only God’s word can produce? First, you need to sit at his feet, listen to his words, and receive them in a “noble and good heart”. Then love, nurture and protect them until it comes to harvest. When it does, it will overflow through your mouth in living power, releasing the infinite power of holiness resident in God’s Spirit of Holiness. As a result, “you will put to death the deeds of the body”, and you will “live” as a true son of God.
Here is another:
WHAT ABOUT THE OLDER BROTHER? “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound’.” (Luke 15:25-27 ESV) This passage reveals the heart of the older son. Despite not wasting his inheritance in the “University of Hard Knocks” like his younger brother, he obviously wasn’t his father’s true son at this point either. His values weren’t his father’s values: he clearly didn’t agree with his father’s risky investment into the mere possibility of his younger sibling’s repentance. This was reflected in his attitude, actions, and words: (Luke 15:28-32 ESV) “But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, (29) but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. (30) But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ (31) And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. (32) It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” The father clearly explained his heart and his actions. But Jesus’s parable ends here without saying if this was enough. Did the older brother then “get it” at that point, and come in immediately to the celebration? If so, he would have been becoming more like his father—one of the “righteous” “who need no repentance”; he just needed some more teaching. Jesus said earlier that God rejoices more over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance (Luke 15:7). This would explain why the father had never given the older brother a goat that he might “celebrate” with his friends. Also the father, representing God the Father, knew that if the older brother was truly a son, celebrating with a goat would be insignificant compared to what he was receiving every day. An openhearted son, sitting around father’s table, yoked with him in the family business, was gaining far more of eternal significance than 100 parties could provide. He wouldn’t have been looking for a celebration, but for more information, insight, wisdom and impartation. He would not have been focused on spending what his father had earned, but on gaining what his father had learned. On the other hand, if the older brother did not listen to his father’s explanation, and if he had not gone into the celebration, then he was no more like his father than his younger brother had been. If this were the case, he may have only stayed at home to keep his inheritance intact. He wouldn’t have loved what his father loved, valued what his father valued, or truly wanted what his father wanted. Ultimately, this would have meant that he had the same heart as his younger brother originally had, but that he had a different strategy for how to express it. He may have been merely waiting until his father died before “doing his own thing”. if this was the case, he too was in need of repentance. Can I encourage you to value the opportunity you have “in Christ” at God’s right hand—learning, listening, absorbing and enjoying. He is imparting his values, love, knowledge and wisdom to you so that you are “conformed to his image”. This is of infinitely more value and significance than all the parties, notoriety, and spending that seems to go on the newly repentant. Keep your eyes on Jesus, and no storm of comparison can sink you. God bless you today.
Clearly Jan is going, where few dare to go:
