You may think your marriage/family is over. Yet with God nothing will be impossible. Come January 23-26 meet!

If you have a spouse/partner/girlfriend/boyfriend who is fluent in Chinese only, then you fit the target audience. Whether you are married or thinking about marriage or not, this free online sharing and counseling will be useful for you and your loved ones and neighbors. Please also share with your church members and encourage those with needs to come!

This is organized by a volunteer mother with a grown son. She is educated in both English and Chinese. So she knows the family issues of both sides of the culture among many other things. To encourage the Chinese speaking to attend the meeting dates are set in the coming Lunar New Year holiday.

The group of speakers are from the US and the meetings will be conducted in both languages with live translators.

You are welcome to attend with your friends and family.

Zoom account number: 805 980 9265 Code: 1

Here is the schedule:

The speakers are from Victory Life Church. Here is a brief introduction of who they are and what they do.

Pastor Jacob Sheriff has dedicated his life to being transformed into the likeness of Christ. His dad, Duane Sheriff, is the Senior Founding Pastor of Victory Life Church. His heart’s desire is to share the truth in love and to help others discover who they are in Christ.

As a second-generation pastor, Jacob has been blessed to have been introduced to the Gospel and have a relationship with Jesus from a young age. Jacob has been a part of the pastoral team at Victory Life Church since 2005, and now serves as the Senior Lead Pastor. He has had such radical encounters with the power of God that seeing people transformed by Jesus has become his life’s mission. The most significant part of the call of God on Jacob’s life is to his incredible wife, Hannah, and their five children. They are committed to raising their children to be disciples of Christ. In his free time, you can find Jacob reading, studying, enjoying good coffee, and backpacking. He is a Holy Spirit gifted communicator in sharing the truth of the Gospel of Jesus.

Pastor Zach Backues is the VLC Durant Campus Lead Pastor. Zach has been with Victory Life Church since 2010 in various volunteer and staff positions. He and his wife Serena have 5 children: Jovie, Judah, Lennon, Kenna, & Phoenix. Zach has a passion to see people experience the reality of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. His favorite thing to do is travel with Serena.

Pastor Landon Heinen serves as the Pastor for Victory Life Academy. He has a love for The Word of God and a passion for seeing people transformed by Jesus. He has a father’s heart to encourage the gifts and callings that God has placed within people, and to help foster a lifetime desire to follow God, Learning about Him, all that He created. Landon and Jasmine have been married for over two decades and are raising five amazing kids.

Mrs. Jasmine Heinen is passionate about sharing the love of God through his word. Her desire is for students to know the character of God, then effectively apply God’s Word to their lives. She has a gift of encouragement and sees the gold in every student. Trained in Emotional Intelligence and Crucial Conversations, she continues to pursue higher education and relational studies.

Pastor Lee Armstrong has been in ministry 42 years ,36 of those with Victory Life Church. He is an author, and he describes himself as a servant of Victory and the body of Christ.

He will be teaching these subjects in the forthcoming free online Zoom sharing and ministering meetings:

1) The biblical purpose for marriage.

2) Eight areas of marital breakdown.

(As time allows!)

“When baking a cake, if the baker uses half of just one ingredient the cake cannot fully be enjoyed.

As we walk with God if we are missing one ingredient or using only half of what is called for, our Christian life cannot be fully enjoyed.” (Lee Armstrong)

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

the Life of God in a believer

There is really no option to choose otherwise. For no word from God shall be void of power. Said the angel. There is a God-side and a man-side. God-side is where the impossible always happens.

The Scriptures are quoted from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise specified.

Luke 1:37 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition 37 For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.

What about the man-side? For the believers, here is what the Bible says.

Mark 9:23 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

There is only one condition for the impossible to happen in the physical realm. The believers must believe in what God says. That is, to stand on God-side.

Can this be possible? Yes. Otherwise Jesus would not have said so. he never said a vain word. Every word from His mouth comes from God Himself. Jesus heard His Father and then spoke. The truth is we can hear God. So there is really no way to say we do not know what He says.

How can we believe? How do we know we are hearing God? Jesus said His sheep can hear Him and follow Him. How does that happen? How does one become His sheep? Believe in Him. He came to give life to His believers. The Life of God. Jesus came to bring His believers into His Kingdom, the Kingdom of Light. Imagine, we have the life of God Himself in us. He put Himself in us through Christ, the Spirit of Christ.

Read John 3:1-21 conversation between Jesus and a Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews about how to be born again into a new life in Christ. You need first to be born of the Holy Spirit to enter God’s Kingdom.

John 5:26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.

Colossians 1:13-14 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

John 10:27-30 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”

John 15:7-8 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

John 16:13-15 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

Galatians 2:20 King James Version 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Colossians 3:2-3 New Living Translation 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

1 Timothy 4:7-9 Evangelical Heritage Version 7 Pay no attention to worldly and absurd myths, but train yourself for godliness. 8 For bodily training is beneficial to an extent, but godliness is beneficial in all things, because it holds promise both for life now and for the life to come. 9 This saying is trustworthy and worthy of all acceptance.

1 Timothy 6:13 New International Reader’s Version 13 God gives life to everything. Christ Jesus told the truth when he was a witness in front of Pontius Pilate. In the sight of God and Christ, I give you a command.

The Phillips New Testament Bible translated these verses as “I charge you in the sight of God who gives us life, and Jesus Christ who fearlessly witnessed to the truth before Pontius Pilate, to keep your commission clean and above reproach until the final coming of Christ.”

We cannot give away what we do not possess; however, if something is ours, we can do whatever we want with it. We possess the life of God. How do we share it? While on earth, Jesus Christ fearlessly witnessed to the truth even before the highest authority in the nation. After Jesus, the apostles and disciples of the early churches did the same as Jesus did.

How did they know what they witnessed was true? They knew Jesus personally.

John 20:31 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

1 John 1:1-4 What Was Heard, Seen, and Touched

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

2 Peter 1:16-21 The Trustworthy Prophetic Word

16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, let us be assured by the word spoken by Jesus after resurrection when he met with the disciples, and note the power of faith!

John 20:29 29 Jesus said to him,“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

1 John 5:4-5 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Finally, this is Jesus’ assurance to His followers:

John 16:33 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

And how does God accomplish His good purpose in us?

20 Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—

Ephesians 3:20 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

Therefore, whose side shall you choose? Let us meditate on these words of old from the 120 years old Moses to the people of God:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Therefore, choose Life. This is based on a prerequisite: that you believe God is real. The reality of God makes the final decision for you.

καίnotes 2022-11-04

when Jesus replied to Peter's request, “Come”, who responded?

Be surprised. It was not Peter. 

I always thought of how Peter, or rather, the body of Peter responded to Jesus saying one word, “Come!” And the body of Peter merely got down the boat, while its back was facing the voice of Jesus, and stepped onto the surface of the water in the midst of the sound of the wind and the raging water.

Was it Peter who heard the sound of Jesus and responded with his mind to process and reason the meaning and validity, and then decided that the odds outweighed the risk, and then mustered his faith to rise to a point where his fear was outnumbered? No, this explanation could not convince me.

I have previously been taught that it was the mind part of our soul, that blocked the working of the spirit, our born again spirit, which is joined to God’s Spirit and which enabled us to work miracle. That is the belief of many Christians.

Recently I attended a healing conference and listened to ten speakers who have been healed of years of serious, even life threatening diseases, physical and mental. Each of them came with a refreshing perspective of their own personal encounter with the Lord, through His written words, His voice speaking to them through the teachings of others or directly in the promptings of their hearts , visions, and signs and wonders of the Lord’s presence in the Spirit.

One thing that stands out to me is their relationship with the Lord. All of them assured us that it is simple and not complicated to have a Father-children relationship with the Lord, and to receive the healings from Him. I believe and agree to this.

For everyone who believes that God is Who He says He is, in the many names He calls Himself, as written in the Bible and in the testimonies of many life witnesses past and present, yes, we believe God is not complicated. He means what He says. He does not change. He is a living God right now in us.

So, coming back to the historical record of Peter’s body standing on the surface of the water and walking on it, I asked the Lord how could this be applied to my life while meditating on this truth after I listened to the speakers.

Then it dawned on me, just as Peter has urged us to expect this to happen when we really pay attention to what the Word is saying to us. “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;” (2 Peter 1:19)

I realized, in my heart, that God talks to my body. It is my body (which is formed of particles, and even the tiniest quarks without forms) that can listen and respond to God’s words. That makes it easy for Peter and for me too to respond to healing verses when they are read and spoken verbally. The sound of Jesus’ voice, speaking to us through whatever means, makes the crucial switch, from the seen impossible realm to the unseen impossible realm. It manifests in the physical body because our body is the one that can take action. Without a body, the word remains as a spirit.

Our body is programmed to hear God’s words and respond automatically, because He is the Creator of our body. So why are not everyone healed? Just as many Bible teachers have taught, the mind blocks the body from responding to God’s perfect “autoimmune” system. Paul has warned us against the works in the mind that do this damage to the body, and he also gave the one and only effective solution.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

Peter was known for his quickness in response. His body responded to the Lord’s words faster than all the other disciples did. In the case of getting off the boat, standing on the water, turning to face the Lord, and walking towards Him, indeed his body acted supernaturally and perfectly in its action. It was effective until Peter’s mind caught up.

Here is a verse quoted regularly about what to do with our mind:

Isaiah 26:3-4 3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.4 Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah the Lord, is everlasting strength.

The Hebrew word “YETSER,” which was translated “mind” here, means “conception” and “imagination”. We can value something so much that we think of it day and night, and engrave an image of it even in our mind. In Joshua’s time there was only the teachings (ordinances/laws)revealed to Moses who duly recorded them in writings. The Lord commanded Joshua to speak them, meditate those words day and night and never depart from them, so that he could observe to apply all, and have good success and be prosperous in everything he did. Remember, that was the beginning of Joshua’s conquest of the promised land leading at least two millions of God’s people to take back their homeland from the aliens.

Joshua 1:8 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Joshua needed supernatural courage and strength. And the Lord has given both in His words.

Peter, too, needed supernatural courage and strength to live his life after Jesus ascended to heaven. What did the walking on water incident prove? It proved to Peter once for all he could do the supernatural without effort. His body can just respond. So will his mind follow if he stayed his mind on the Lord all the time. Back to the boat incident, I believe Peter was thinking of Jesus, whom he trusted and loved and obeyed wholeheartedly, meditating on what Jesus has said and taught them, every word, all the time, even though he could not understand a lot of the deeper things, without the indwelling Holy Spirit then.

That was why, when Jesus showed up on the surface of the water, Peter’s first response was that was the safest place to get to, be with Jesus! His body agreed. At the word of Jesus, the body automatically responded to the voice of Jesus, “Come!” And the rest is history.

We all have a watershed point of no return. It takes a lifetime to condition our heart and our body to be in tune to the Lord’s voice. Is it hard? Listening to the ten speakers who brought good news about healing of our body is one way to tune up our body to Gods words and His immune system. I have to remind myself that like Paul has said and encouraged us not to give up or be distracted, interestingly, in his letter to the Philippians while in prison, and all three verses were arranged by later Bible compilers in the13th position in each chapter:

2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended (laid hold of it); but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians

How does God work in us to ensure we will and can do for His pleasure? He put Hi life in us. He speaks to us. Our body can hear and obey Him. He speaks through His words most time. Christ gives us His strength (His Spirit, His name, His words).

Our mind can be harnessed. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

This is the Word today from Paul in the prison cell, to the many out there, who are looking at the circumstances and analyzing with their mind.

2 Timothy 1:6-8 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (There is a Power to be used effectively, God’s way, that is, through the life of God in you. )

Not Ashamed of the Gospel

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, (do not be guilt-ridden or blame-focused, it will not get you better. What we all need is to read the letters of the Apostles, Paul’s, Peter’s, John’s, and emulate their way of handling setbacks with positive expectation for the good, staying our mind/heart on the Lord God who is good and worthy and faithful to His words. )

καί notes 2022-11-16

Be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Col 1:4  since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 1:12  giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 

2: 6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 

Col 3:1  If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Col 3:2  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Vision: Colossians (1-3) in diagrams

Put on the New Man

Put on Love

The sons of light

Colossians 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Key words/phrases to note: 

1. faith in Christ Jesus and love for all the saints (brethren in Christ), 
2. spiritual understanding, inheritance in the light (kingdom of the Son of God), 
3. complete in Christ–our real life, triumphing over the adversaries, having the fullness of God in Christ, Christ is the substance (the rest are shadows), 
4. put on the new man–who we are in Christ, put on love (God is love), 
5. set our mind on things above (where our real life is), 
6. let our hearts be occupied with two things: 
7. let the peace of God rule, let the words of Christ dwell in, 
8. let our word and deeds be done in the name of our Lord Jesus, 
9. always giving thanks to the Father for having adopted us as His children, and we are now the sons of God.

καὶnotes, 2022-10-15