The Living Truth Fellowship

Five Types of Government

We know from Scripture that there are two spiritual kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Both kingdoms rely upon authority, but use it in very different ways. God is not a God of disorder, but peace. Therefore His authority, which we find in self-government, the government of the family, church government, civil government, and within God’s kingdom, are all given to man to bless him and order his reality. Satan, on the other hand, uses his authority to tyrannize and oppress.

God’s principles are clear from a societal point of view. As Christians, we believe in strong and consistent authority. We support strong personal responsibility, and strong families. We support strong faith and spiritual affiliation. We support just laws, and we support strong and just law enforcement. In this very timely teaching, given the current state of our nation and the world, Jon Touchstone takes us into the Word of God and looks at His intention for Civil Government.

Love and the Antichrist: A Study of First John

In this study we continue the theme of our Research Night of understanding Love and the Manifestations of the holy spirit. Love is much more than a sentiment. It energizes our faith. In First John, we learn that we are able to love because God first loved us by giving his son up to death on the cross. We first love God, and then we love one another. In fact, the love we have for one another is really an extension of our love for God, because we are actually loving those whom God loves. 

We learn from Matthew 24, however, that because of an increase of lawlessness in the world, the love of many will grow cold. We look into the nature of the person, called the man of lawlessness; otherwise known as the antichrist. This person figures prominently in First John and stands in stark opposition to Christ.

Civil Government

We know from scripture that there are two spiritual kingdoms – the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of Satan. Both Kingdoms rely upon authority, but use it in very different ways. Since God is not a God of disorder but peace, His authority, which we find in self-governance, in the government of the family, the civil government and within his kingdom overall, are all given to man to bless him and order his reality. Satan, on the other hand, uses his authority to tyrannize and oppress.

As a Christian the principles are clear from a societal point of view. We believe in strong and consistent authority. We support strong personal responsibility. We support strong families. We support strong faith and spiritual affiliation. We support just laws, and we support strong and just law enforcement. In this teaching Jon takes a look in the Bible at Civil Government.

The Significance of Pentecost

Jon Touchstone teaches on Pentecost, the birth of the Church as recorded in Acts 1 and 2. A time when God gave those who believed in His Son the ability to fluently speak one or more languages they had never learned. This teaching also looks at the power that Pentecost brought to mankind – and asks the question, “why don’t we see that kind of power today in the Church?”

Waiting Well

The current state of our nation, and the world, has given us more than the usual number of unwanted opportunities to WAIT, as follows: to leave the house, for a new job, for a restaurant to open, to shake hands, to hug someone, to see people’s smiles, for baseball to begin, and for sure to wait in line while only so many patrons are allowed into an establishment. These things have been added to everything else for which life requires us to wait.

One of the apostle Paul’s most encouraging—and remarkable—statements is: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” And he certainly endured some challenging situations, to say the least. What does he mean by “content”? That sounds quite passive. The dictionary says that “to wait” means “to remain inactive or in a state of repose until something expected happens,” but God defines it differently, as we will see.

The Christian’s True Hope

Gary Lee Corns, one of our TLTF Elders, will teach “The Scope of our Hope.” Looking at God’s Word from a “30,000-foot view of Scripture,” we see that it has ALWAYS been God’s plan to redeem mankind from his foolish mistake of turning his back on God. Via the administrations in His-Story, He has made repeated attempts and adjustments to get man “back to the Garden” (not a geographical location) and into an intimate state of fellowship. As Messiah, King, and Redeemer, Jesus Christ is THE HOPE for all mankind to get there.
 
John Lynn will follow with “Going Up?" This enlightening verse-by-verse exposition of 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through 2 Thessalonians 3:5, a critical section of God’s Word, clarifies the difference between the Gathering Together of the Body of Christ and the Day of the Lord. Chief among these glorious truths is that the Anti-Christ cannot come to power in a one-world government (which will happen) until AFTER we Christians have been rescued from “this present evil age.”

God’s Promise to Heal Our Land

In this teaching Jon Touchstone explains how we live has a tremendous impact on the land. Currently our land is hurting and in deep need of God’s divine healing. The admonitions from God’s Word addresses the critical fact that the sin in our life as a nation has direct — and disastrous — effects on our health as a nation and as a global community.

The consequences of deliberate sin is rapidly spreading throughout our culture and the Church. It is time that believers in Christ intentionally humble themselves in prayer, and seek God’s face through obedience, allowing the blessings of God to flow from heaven to heal our land. If we are going to call on God to heal our land, to heal our nation, and to heal our communities, it is vital that we are also forthright in changing our ways before God as a nation.

Our Struggle Against Sin

In humanity we have two groups, one that recognizes and battles against sin, and one that is unaware and blithely goes through life subject to sin.

Jesus exposed evil, and evil hates light because it’s deeds get exposed. We have a sphere of influence where we can be lights. We are citizens of Heaven and must awaken and put aside the deeds of darkness. We are living in an evil day and must put off the things of the flesh. Prayer is our first line of defense and offense.

Let us pray for a “Great Awakening.”

The Heart of Man

Scripture teaches that the heart of unredeemed man is in a state of corruption. Even with regards to the best of men, the Word of God testifies that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. It is only through the spirit of God that the human heart is regenerated.

“Do You Have Any Identification?”

On April 12 this year Christians will celebrate the glorious RESURRECTION of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. No doubt God will use the observance of this historically verifiable event to prompt everyone He can to consider what it means that only one human in history has ever conquered death, our ultimate enemy. If there is no such thing as actual death (“the end of life”), Resurrection is superfluous—and our Hope is diluted.
 
If we are to maximize our vast spiritual potential, we must know WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST. Paul’s epistles show us our complete identification with our risen Lord and Savior—in his life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and newness of life. What the risen Christ said to his disciples just before his ascension is what he now says to you and me: “I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.” Our Lord Jesus is not an “absent Christ,” as he would be had he “departed” from us. Instead, he disappeared, and thus created an invisible presence.

Thankfulness

The quality of thankfulness is an absolute requirement for the disciple of Christ. This thankfulness isn't contingent upon circumstances but what God did for us in Christ, what He continues to do for us each day and the promises of what He will do for us in the future.

Intimacy: A Relationship With God

TLTF Trustee Franco Bottley shares the Word re: Intimacy With God.

Being intimate involves mixing our life with another's, a uniting of souls, a sharing of hearts. This is something we all long for because it’s how God made us. We were created to connect. God made us and He intimately knows us better than anyone can. And for this reason, He can make us feel known in a way that no one on earth is able; and in this we can experience intimacy with Him in a profound way.

This teaching looks at intimacy in a way that goes beyond its common meaning. It shows us how to build a vital relationship with God, along with other factors necessary in developing a deep and meaningful connection with Him.



John Lynn follows with Living in the Presence of Christ. 1 John 1:3 says that each Christian is to have “fellowship” with both God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Brother. The “partnership” expressed in the Greek word koinonia is 100%/100%. Like Jesus, you and I are called to both suffering and glory. Jesus gave his all for us, and we are to do likewise for him, out of thankfulness and love. The primary way we can measure the quality of our relationship with the Lord by how we treat the people in our lives, such as “the least of these, my brethren,” whom he loves as much as he loves us.

Pay Your Vows

A word that is not used often in our culture is the word 'vow'. God places a high premium on our vows. So much so that he would discourage us from making the vow if we don't intent to follow through. But it's with the making and fulfilling of the vow that life takes on the godliness that God intends for us to walk in.

Godliness

What is godliness? How necessary is it within the Christian experience? In this teaching, we explore what it means to be godly and how to do so in an ungodly age.

The Unity of God

Jon Touchstone teaches on oneness, or unity, and how it is a vital aspect of our relationship with God. In the Shema (Deut. 6:4ff), every Old Testament Jew daily recited, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” But more than just a declaration of God’s monotheism, the Shema conveys the element of relationship. “Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone!” He is our God, alone! Yahweh is both knowable and relatable. As a person, He has character, values, and personality, and our goal should be oneness with Him.  

John Lynn follows with Two Are Better Than One, and Three Are Better Than Two. We will look briefly at God’s purpose for Israel as a nation of priests who were to bring life to the world, how they failed to do so, how we Christians as the Body of Christ now have the ministry of reconciliation, and how those of the Israel bloodline who believed God will, in their new bodies, finally carry out that ministry during the Millennial Kingdom.

We’ll see the only two uses of the word “unity” in the epistles, and why our “keeping the unity of the spirit” (and how to do so) is vital to our successfully exercising the ministry of bringing men to God. As His “manufacturer’s reps,” we must stay tuned to our Head, the Lord Jesus, and follow his guidance in order to bring life to those who desire it.

The Character of the Seven Churches

Just as a person develops a reputation for his works and words, so a church is know by its reputation as well. It is certainly true that the Lord's perspective is often very different from ours. The Seven Churches of Revelation shows us how the Lord deals with Churches – how he encourages right behavior, confronts wrong and warns those Churches that fail to change.

Keep Running – The Beginning Is In Sight

Well, it’s now 2020, which begs the ocular question: What is your VISION of yourself and your ministry in the Body of Christ? Do you see yourself doing great things with the Lord this year? In this initial WWF teaching of the new year, John will take us to a number of relevant and provocative sections of Scripture, including 1 Kings 19, the record of Elijah temporarily losing his vision of who God made him to be and what God would do in working with him. God reminded him of the Big Picture, which is something each of us must keep in view.
 
With regard to God’s promises to mankind, Jesus Christ is how He “put it in writing,” so to speak. Or rather, how He put writing in flesh. But He had to have Jesus’ total commitment to His will. God made a request of His Son, and also many promises to him, chief among which was that He would raise Jesus from the dead. Because our Lord embraced the will of God, all the way to the Cross, ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD are wrapped up in him. Chief among those promises is his coming for us, which will not be an end, but the BEGINNING of something beyond our expectation, and without end.

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength

You’ve no doubt heard that phrase from Nehemiah 8:10, and perhaps sung the catchy song by that title many times, but what is its context, what exactly does it mean, and how do you apply it? John did this simple and most edifying teaching several times on his recent Western trip, and it was so well received that we want to get it online for future reference.

How would you deal with a person who treated you the way that most Christians are taught that God treats them? For example, He can do anything He wants to do at any time, and He might suddenly decide to “call you home,” that is, end your life without your permission, that is, murder you. But don’t worry, because death is a friend that introduces you to Jesus. Short of that, He might just make you sick for years to test your faith or teach you some kind of lesson.

Beginning with the classic verse in Hebrews 11:6, this teaching cites the record of Elijah and the widow in 1 Kings 17 as a prime example of the often confusing language God uses in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), and why He does so. It will definitely help you to be totally assured that your Heavenly Father is always doing everything He can for you, and that He never “allows” anything bad to happen to you.

No Apology for Your Apologia

Probably more so than I’ve ever seen in my brief 76 years, there is a massive cultural assault on freedom of speech. Why? Because in the spiritual battle raging in the realm beyond our five senses and playing out in the world, the Enemy knows that those promoting his lies cannot defend them in an honest, civil verbal exchange, so, as he tried to do in the Bible, he must shut them up. I’m thankful that we live during WORD WAR 5, with the assurance that our salvation is permanent, that we are righteous in God’s sight, and that we have nothing to fear—except maybe fear itself.
 
As per Romans 10:14 (“And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”), somebody’s gotta say something! Now that we have been given the Word and the ministry of reconciling men to God, we are on a Treasure Hunt with God and the Lord Jesus, searching with them for humans who want spiritual Truth. Most of that treasure is buried, so we must learn how to get below the surface of people’s often gruff exteriors. Most of them are simply hurt, confused, hopeless, etc., and SELF-centered, because they do not know The One who will love and care for them far better than they can do for themselves.

Saved to Serve, Seated to Stand, Woke to Walk, Raised to Reign.

A subtitle of this teaching could be Grace Unto Works. Much of the controversy about whether salvation is permanent misses the point that BIRTH and GROWTH are two totally different processes, with the former really being a one-time event. God does not get us “out of the soup” (“death unto life”) just so that we can spend the rest of our lives circling the rim of the bowl and worrying about falling back in with the soggy crackers.

God wants all men to both get saved AND acquire a thorough, experiential knowledge of His Truth that we practice daily. He saves and equips us to effectually represent Him and the Lord Jesus in this world.

This teaching is loaded with inspiring truths about how God’s amazing grace should motivate us to unreservedly live and work for Him—and the guarantee we have that He will reward us for so doing.