3 John 1:9-11, “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.”
Oh my! To be at the brunt of the Beloved Apostle and acknowledged Elder to the Church at that time. Can you say “upstart!” Yet in his continuing discourse with his beloved friend, Gaius, the Apostle chooses to use this as a lesson in what is right and wrong; to put it a bit more bluntly, what is good and what is evil.
Evidently, the Apostle sent a letter to the church and it was either intercepted or this man, Diotrephes, took it upon himself as leader to decide whether it was worth their time or not. Now just imagine, this was back in approximately 90 A.D.. The church was still in its infancy, people were meeting in groups where ever they could to learn and to worship the Lord corporately. Even that early on, there were rivalries for leadership. Remember also, John was most likely the last Apostle to have known Jesus Christ before His death and Resurrection! Yet, to some, even back then, it didn’t elicit any respect for his knowledge and wisdom.
If you can read these accounts and look around, not just the world, but locally where you each live, and not realize that the Bible is ALIVE and relevant even today, I would like to talk to you about being spiritually reborn!
Evidently this man looked upon himself as a self-appointed dictator, deciding which direction the church under his control should go and it didn’t matter, for what ever reason, the experience and wisdom that others displayed. He definitely demonstrated a prideful arrogance, an inflated ego to be sure, apparently jealousy that others garnered more respect, all for what he apparently, for whatever reason, he considered his right. It is apparent from these brief comments from John that this man had forgotten that the “church” was established by Christ Jesus and that Jesus IS the head of the church and that the Holy Spirit is the Representative of Christ to the Church!
We can only assume that his pretext for behaving that way was in the excuse that he was contending for the truth; which by all apparent pretexts was an outright lie! For him to refuse the Apostle and other brethren traveling as well, was actually doing untold harm to the early church. It is obvious that when John spoke of false teachers and wolves in sheep’s clothing in other Scripture, he had someone like this man in mind.
As many of you who have followed my teachings over the years, you know that I, with my wife had vowed to the Lord to go where He wanted us to go and to learn all that we could from where He placed us and the Lord, took us at our word. We have been involved serving in many churches and learning. As I have stated before, learning, and especially when the Holy Spirit is involved can come in a couple of dramatic ways. You can learn how to do things the right way under the mentorship of someone led and listening to the Holy Spirit, AND, you can learn how NOT to do things under the leadership whose ideas are such that it fits into the cliché, “it is either my way or the highway.”
Let me tell you something; I respect every servant of the Lord who has had a formal education and yet I wouldn’t trade all I learned for a formal education. It is not that I am better learned, for I am not, but what I have learned has been based on real-world experience, the leading of the Holy Spirit and lots and lots of questions to Him AND prayer! We have had to rely so much upon the Holy Bible as our textbook and because of it, though my memorization skills are below par, my application of the Word is based on real-world learning. We have been under people very much like this Diotrephes and when we asked the Lord to let us remove ourselves from their “ministries” it was not until the Holy Spirit Himself gave us leave. But we learned, oh how we learned. Maybe that is why, this letter from the Beloved Apostle strikes home so much.
Sadly, due to time, apathy in the church organizations and the rise of political correctness and the misuse of Scriptures such as Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that you be not judged,” the proliferation of this type of behavior is very prevalent in many of today’s churches. So 
many of these “personalities” forget that their ministry is a SERVICE to the Lord AND to others. They are not, “high and lifted up” above the sheep, but rather, they need to remember that they need to learn first from the Master, the Great Shepherd, before they can serve in the capacity of teaching (feeding) others.
A true shepherd must be firm, yes indeed, but he must temper that firmness with gentleness, kindness, compassion, mercy and graciousness. He must also approach others with the right motive; that is, is the motive coming from a love for others with the hope for each with an eternal objective, or is it with the motive of making sure they follow your set of rules. The motive in your heart WILL come out in the way you approach situations. Now, admittedly since so much is done in print and in social media today, sometimes the motive is obscured in the text, but if it follows Scriptural guidelines, then the SPIRIT should come forth as opposed to just the LETTER.
Our example should always be Christ Jesus. God’s own Son, Who was with Him from the Beginning, the Word, made flesh to dwell among men. The Bible says that everything that was made was made by the Word, yet He didn’t come down to stand on a pedestal above everyone else. He made Himself to be lower than Who He truly was to teach that very same thing. A true shepherd, called to serve the sheep of the Lord, has no business placing themselves on a pedestal ABOVE the sheep! Yes, an under-shepherd called by the Great shepherd must teach, must feed the sheep, but not to lord or master anything over them, but to lead them by example and word into truth.
Diotrephes either forgot that or didn’t know it from the start, but rather seen an opportunity in this new and growing “religion” to make a mark or to carve out a spot for himself and no one, no matter the experience or knowledge was going to tell him any different.
Now notice, according to the Apostle, this man didn’t just REFUSE other true believers, but he excommunicated his own people, as it were, from his church if others did receive these other traveling ministers and teachers! What other, than a self-styled dictator is that?! It appeared that he was exceptionally power-hungry, mad with keeping control of things within the “church.” John even goes so far to say that this man was openly MALICIOUS with his speech towards those who were called and others in authority! Because of social media and the use of camera-phones and such, we see this very thing happening all too often all around us.
Yet the Apostle makes it clear, that if he is able to travel and visit his friend Gaius, he will most certainly remember this other “upstart” and more or less remind him of his place! These types of people do NOT like to be confronted openly and especially with the Word of God. They have no excuses and no place to hide behind their lies and deceit. Their power or what they perceive as power comes from doing things in secret and in the dark and especially with others who have the same agenda. Their continuing in what they surmise as power continues in the form of fear and intimidation. Isn’t it amazing, as I bring it up often lately, that even after two-thousand years, human nature has NOT evolved even a little. Now I say that meaning, without the creative power of the Holy Spirit to make us a new creation.
Here is where John uses that example as a lesson to all readers and it is a confirmation to other Scriptures that God, through His Holy Spirit can turn anything into something good for the believer. “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.” He who does evil has not seen God. In other words, he has absolutely no idea Who God truly is! True believers do and it is evident in what they do as a form of loving to one another and even to those who despise them.
In this letter, John gives us two extremes and there is no doubt which is which. Gaius, whose life is actually based in service to others and especially to those doing the Lord’s work, and Diotrephes, who desires the spotlight all to himself, refusing to even acknowledge those doing the Lord’s work, all under the guise of being “religious.” Again, I have to say it, how like what we see so much today. Big, mega-ministries, and I use the term “ministries” lightly, always wanting more, more people, more money, more power, more prestige, all in the NAME of “religious” works, but all the while instead of sending out, instead of encouraging others in good works, instead of sending out to make disciples, bring them in so I can make disciples! Yet they hold up the same Bible you and I read and try to emulate, they say some of the same “Christianese” speak that we use in our conversations about our Lord, yet always with a twist, or emphasis on more, more, more! And sadly that more is hardly or ever about more souls in the Kingdom of God.
To some today, some of this just seems normal. There are so many denominations, so many independent churches or religious organizations, how is one to know what is true and what isn’t?
We know from the Word of God, a changed heart, a changed and reborn spirit, results in changed behavior. Maybe not immediately, as the Holy Spirit changes people gently, but there is a change. No more is a born-again person always thinking about just themselves. They start to consider and thing about others. That is the indication of the spirit of man being changed by Something greater than themselves. The “religious” person will talk the talk, but their actions, their lifestyle will reflect no difference.
I have used this Scripture so much and here again, even though a “religious” person might be saying all the right things, they can’t keep it up for long, for what a person TRULY loves, that is what they will want to talk about and there is a VAST difference between religious things and the deeper things of the spiritual.
Now again, really look at what this Scripture is saying and especially in the light of what the Apostle John has revealed so far in this letter:
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” – Luke 6:45.
What is the treasure in your heart? What is the motive behind what you do? It WILL display fruit; good fruit or rotten, evil fruit. It is a Spiritual Principle that cannot be denied. Those who have served the Lord for years will always recognize the truth in Luke’s Scripture.
Are we, those of us who claim to be Christians, true followers of the teachings AND examples of Jesus Christ; are we being only religious, or has something changed deep within causing us a love for one another to grow and a desire to learn more spiritually? Only the individual and God, the Father can TRULY answer that, but, our actions might give a hint!
Yes, people are getting sick. But they are also getting better with stronger immune systems. People are dying, yes, but they are mostly those that already have compromised immune systems, just like how the yearly flu causes deaths in those susceptible. Just because the government agencies today wish to inflate the statistics, (yes, the truth has come out), doesn’t mean those stats are the truth and yet, so many accept them as truth and in fact the media AND liberal social media sites continue to push those falsehoods! In fact, according to statistics I provided to my followers on Facebook a month back, the flu season between 2017 and 2018 was far worse than anything we have seen from COVID-19 today! What them makes this so different?
Jesus is clearly speaking in spiritual terms and in fact, the Jews He was speaking too, could not fathom the spiritual implication, but kept referring to His words in the natural. He actually chastised or admonished them because of their lack of spiritual insight.
There are liberal leaders who are doing things behind the scenes while everyone is focused not just on COVID-19, but on our response to it, our responsibility to one another, whether we truly care for fellow man or what ever. While we are debating the merits of something that comes and goes each and every year (the flu), because the media (which is owned and paid for by liberals), is keeping each and everyone’s focus centered on that AND keeping everyone divided into camps of compliance or non-compliance!
What we are being told in the news daily and by our liberal politicians is that COVID-19 is SO bad, and the deaths have been so many, that anyone who would think about it would start to see refrigerator trailers parked near the morgues and most likely overrun the parking lots. Yet we don’t see even a hint of that in the news and THAT would be newsworthy! We have seen major cities set up triage centers in the parks, with no occupants and even the Navy sending hospital ships to help the overflow of dead with having to depart due to nothing happening. Even missions organizations like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse, had to pack up and leave New York because there was not the activity that was reported.
Understand this; the Anti-Christ will come forth as it’s most likely he is right now waiting in the wings for the liberal agendas that will call upon him. But, right now, because the Holy Spirit IS revealing truth, and the Church of Christ Jesus IS aware and praying, the Anti-Christ’s hands are tied more or less from coming on the scene unfettered. The One-World Order WILL come about, because the Bible, the very Word of God says it will. We will NOT be able to stop it, nor do I believe we should. For in doing so, we would ALSO be praying against the coming of the Kingdom of God, (even though not meaning too), for our Heavenly Father has a plan, a wise plan AND a timeline.
There is a personal connection to hospitality that is often missed in today’s society and its churches. Jesus taught His disciples over two-thousand years ago to make preaching the Gospel and especially in new cities, personal. He even told them, as He sent the disciples out, to search out people with good reputation and bless them and the very city that welcomes them! As I stated, today, it is very much a lost art. But with Gaius, it WAS a lifestyle to him. It was his way of ministering or serving others; and without meaning too, it caused his reputation to become well known within the growing church.
Here is another part of John’s statement in this verse that unless you think about it, you might miss it; 
One thing you do NOT want to do, while preaching the NEED for the Kingdom of God in one’s life, is to take from the unsaved, which in turn MIGHT cause them to have a false sense of self-righteousness and a belief that their good deeds or works alone is enough! It takes Spiritual Wisdom to labor in the Kingdom of God and I’m saddened to say this, but it is a direct and sad statement of admonishment AGAINST the way many large churches and other religious organizations raise money today! Think about it! Especially in the light of Scripture.
Oswald Chambers (July 24, 1874 – November 15, 1917) was an early-twentieth-century Scottish Baptist and Holiness Movement evangelist and teacher, best known for the devotional “My Utmost for His Highest.” Even as a teenager, Chambers was noted for his deep spirituality, and he participated in the evangelization of poor occupants of local lodging houses. At the same time, Chambers also demonstrated gifts in both music and art. While at Edinburgh, he felt called to ministry, and he left for Dunoon College, a small theological training school near Glasgow, founded by the Rev. Duncan MacGregor. Chambers was soon teaching classes at the school and took over much of the administration when MacGregor was injured in 1898.
This letter WILL cause the person reading it to reflect on their own personal relationships AND values to the extent that we are willing to open up ourselves to meet the needs of others.
As I stated, I am not opposed to Christians with wealth, but I am opposed when that wealth and the security of that wealth overshadows the Love of God towards others and seems to be the reason for their very lives. If this offends some of my brothers and sisters reading this, THAT is between you AND God and I say that in sincere love, but the prosperity teaching of today only serves one purpose and that is to subtly get your eyes off of those things that are above or heavenly and unto those things that are earthly or below.
Now I have heard it preached and taught that if you are not wealthy (or healthy) then you LACK faith in the Lord and that is a sin! Wow! What a stretch to try and make that a “Spiritual Principle,” as I like to call certain things the Lord as set up and you see in the Bible. By this reasoning, those who use their faith on a daily basis to trust the Lord to meet their needs do not qualify in the faith department because they HAVE to rely on God to meet their daily needs. So much for the validity of the Sermon on the Mount. So much for the Scriptures I gave above from the Apostle Paul and especially this one; 
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 (NKJV).
“You felt so secure in all your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. Your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have caused you to turn away and reject Me and claim, ‘I am self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone!’ So disaster will overtake you suddenly, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity
Are you amazed and incredulous? Do you not believe it? Then go ahead and be blind if you must. You are stupid, but not from wine! You stagger, but not from beer! For the Lord Himself has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of those false prophets and visionaries that you rely so much upon. All these future events are a sealed book to them. When you give the facts to them to read for themselves, they will say, “We can’t read it because it is sealed.” When you give it to those who cannot discern or read, they will say, “Sorry we don’t know what it says.”
In that day the heir to David’s throne, will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to Him, for the land where He will live will be a glorious place. Look, a righteous King is coming! And honest princes will rule under Him. He will shelter His people from the storm and the wind. He will refresh them as a river in the desert and as the cool shadow of a large rock in a hot and weary land. Then everyone who can see will be looking for God, and those who can hear will listen to His voice.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 – January 31, 1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the “Prince of Preachers.” He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the Church in agreement with the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith understanding, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day.
It is obvious we are definitely in the times that Jesus described in 
Knowing this, it is our duty to pray for one another, for strength that can only come from Christ and His Holy Spirit, we need to pray for wisdom and discernment, so that we know when to step out in the gifts that we were equipped with to either build up the Church, the Body of Christ or to win souls as the time is right. It HAS to be in God’s timing, otherwise it is for nothing. We NEED to ever continue to pray for the lost for it is by our fervent prayers that God through His Holy Spirit can move upon those He has gifted to spread that Gospel message! AND we must not forget those who have been “lukewarm” and “sitting on the fence” as it were that they would take a step one way or the other, again their choosing.
Now, some time ago the Lord told me He was going to change the direction of my ministry, (my service to Him and others), and at the time I couldn’t imagine how or why. But it was like my eyes were being opened to a whole new aspect of the world I was living in and how the Scriptures applied to it. I can look back those few months ago and see the transition the Lord has led me through, but then I had no clue.
The Lord is speaking to Solomon about the Temple and the land of Zion, Jerusalem. The Jewish people and the land were God’s chosen. Remember, in Revelation the Lord tells us that when He creates a new Heaven and a new Earth, even then Jerusalem will be the Capital where He sets up His throne on earth!
Can you imagine His disciples, following Him as they are entering Jerusalem for the Passover, one of the most Holiest of Jewish celebrations, and they are watching Him and listening to Him. On the journey, they were probably also talking among themselves about the upcoming celebration.
They most certainly could tell that His demeanor had changed, His countenance darker than normal and especially in what to them seemed like normal preparation for the upcoming Passover. For this “business” was not new, but had become the custom in preparation for the Passover. But this was the first time that the disciples were preparing to celebrate with their Master, Jesus in Jerusalem. You can imagine, they were all a bit excited about the prospect, but then Jesus is silent and yet evidently upset about something.
The disciples also remembered later what was written in the Scriptures in 
When I look at the church world around me, the institutions of religion, filled with politics and defining their denominations behaviors and doctrinal beliefs, I see buildings that are filled, for the most part, exactly what Jesus stated of the religious leaders of His day, 
Notice that the Apostle Paul is talking about the nature of men in the last days. They shall APPEAR religious. Religion and a religious attitude or nature is not necessarily SPIRITUAL! Believe it or not, true spirituality resides in God Almighty and not in the “supernatural.” Those who ABIDE in Christ and the Father, those who have the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus abiding in them ARE spiritual because they have been spiritually reborn! You do NOT become spiritual by worshipping Buddha or Mohammed or Krishna or any other false deity, ONLY by worshipping and abiding in God, the Father Who IS Spirit!
But as I stated in a recent ministry video I created, there are many institutions that would like to be identified with the True Church of God, unfortunately, they fall into that very category that Paul warned Timothy about. We are seeing the Bible unfold before our very eyes in this day and age.
Love for instance. The devil’s had a long run to twist and pervert that concept. Today in the world especially it resembles NOTHING even close to the Character of God Almighty, Himself. It’s all based on feelings and emotions now. “If it feels good, then it is good,” is a long-time saying that has had time to ingrain itself in the modern psyche.
EVERY person ever born and created, past, present and even future, will one day, and seemingly not far off, will stand before Christ Jesus not JUST to be judged, but to acknowledge that in truth He IS the Lord of Lords and King of Kings for all eternity! So in essence, no matter what you do or how you live, you WILL be led to the feet of Jesus at sometime in the future. Of course, this is NOT the context she meant, but unknowingly, she DID proclaim the truth in that regard!
Now understand one thing here; Jesus didn’t go into extreme detail about the days of Noah or even the days of Lot and his family. The people whom He was sharing this with KNEW from their Scriptures, (our Old Testament writings) just how bad things were back then.
Notice that Peter starts out by saying, 
It was only a couple of months ago, I ran across a man who joined my Facebook group and was trying to spread the very doctrine that Jesus is the Son of God, but is NOT equal with/or God. Of course since he had his mind made us, I had to block him. We as shepherds and teachers cannot afford to allow those young in the Lord, those just learning of His Glorious Nature to succumb to this false teaching when it is in our power to teach the truth! I may not be on par with a lot of well-known and skilled Pastors, but in this instance, I can utterly understand how the Beloved Apostle must have felt when facing this destructive and vile teaching. There are too many Scriptures that PROVE beyond doubt, the deity of Jesus Christ! Since God Almighty, our Heavenly Father is a Spirit, it is ONLY through Jesus Christ that we can know Him as He is! There is a reason why the Word of God tells us we were made in His likeness and carries that theme throughout the entire Counsel of the Word.
If I can interject here; false teachers are so insidious, because they tend to cater to our carnal desires and wishes in such a way as to make it seem it is actually what God, our Heavenly Father wants for us. If anything is taught that is evenly slightly contrary to following after God’s perfect will or plan for His children, discard it as false. Remember, Christ Jesus came to SHOW us and to reinstate a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Salvation is a product of that, but it is the RELATIONSHIP with God that is the key. When we accept Christ’s gift, His sacrifice, we are telling Him in essence that we understand the sacrifice that He and the Father made AND we are willing to surrender our natural and failed wills for His perfect will. That puts our perspective, spiritually, in a whole new light and arena of thought. We start to think about and desire KINGDOM (of God) thoughts and desires. That is the true evidence of being spiritually reborn. We no longer put priority on what we want in the natural, but rather on what God wants in the spiritual realm for eternity.
Gospel of 
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 