Category: Building Blocks

Louise on Some Elements of Book of John, Sunday Jan 21, 2024

Louise has been reading Pastor Bob Yandian’s study/book of the Book of John, devoted to the deity of Christ.

Using Pastor Bob’s study, Louise starts with Jesus in the Temple cleansing it.

Then she moves to the story of Nicodemus told largely in chapter 3 of John. See below. He was a Pharisee trying to understand Jesus, especially how he performed miracles.

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

John Testifies Again About Jesus

22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”[h]

31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[i] gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Conversation Between Nicodemus and Jesus

Jesus could see that Nicodemus, like most of the Pharisees, was very religious, following all the rituals and traditions, but he was not moved by the Holy Spirit in areas like healing, miracles and others that Jesus taught and acted upon.

Jesus not Nicodemos you must be “born again” and accept the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, in his life. Jesus told Nicodemus that unless you are born again and so born of the Word of God–the born again experience–you cannot receive the new birth and receive the Holy Spirit.

Louise explains that Nicodemus finally did receive Jesus and his message.

This message will bless you.

Growing Up Spiritually with Louise, Part 2, Thursday Jan. 17, 2024

Growing up spiritually is today’s lesson with Louise.

Things you need to do to develop your “new” self, in Christ Jesus.

Everyone needs to buy or get a copy, online or Kindle, however you read your Christian literature of James Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.

Look up the word “prosperity” for example of the immense information within the Concordance Bible.

Also, if you get a chance, check out the New Spirit-Filled Bible and the Greek and English Interlinear New Testament.

Many lessons in these fundamental works and explorations and explanations of the significance and meaning of Scripture. For example, among them one that comes to mind tells us that God doesn’t kill or hurt or injure, but he permits evil and Satan to come in, like what happened to King David and the woman he lusted after Bathsheba.

There exists a vas difference between God’s “commission” and his “permissions.” It is a major point to ponder on if you feel like blaming God for your misfortunes.

Growing Up Spiritually, January 17, 2024

Today Sister Louise addresses “Growing Up Spiritually.”

“Judging ourselves” is an act we need to embrace and act upon.

Where do we come from? How does this change when we are saved and embraced by God?

We have to look to our past, our present, and our future.

Louise address a lot of “baggage” that came in her past, especially a dysfunctional family life. Lots of stories here we can all relate to.

You need to recognize you have a problem or problems, and admit. Then God will help you through it. You can depend upon His love and certainty in all problems and challenges you facve.

Lessons on Commitment, Learning to Work, Jan. 17, 2024

Louise speaks to the subjects of work and commitment, more specifically how to be faithful to your work.

How to study for many oaccupations, like the ministry, a profession, etc.

First thing you need to do is to establish a relationship with God. Knowledge, understanding and wisdom are the keys to growing up spiritually.

Lots of problems exist in today’s world. Do you know that is God’s will? What does he expect of you in all work and study. Constancy, consistency, thinking of the long term, rathern than the immediate.

Feed your mind, not your flesh. Feed your Spirit man.

Louise likes the Book of Romans because it is about being in a right relationship with God, or righteousness.

God is challenging you with new things all the time. You will be learning and growing for all eternity.

So, you’ve been saved. Now begins a new relationship with God.

Where are we going with this? We have a personal responsibility to learn and grow, more and more. Read some good works, like by authors like E. W. Kenyon, Kenneth Hagin, Bob Yandian. Look them up or go to their links below.

God’s Method of Healing, Tuesday November 28, 2023

God’s methods of healing.

God not only heals, but takes care of you in other ways, financially for example.

We have been given authority in the name of Jesus to do what is right. See, for example John 14, 15, and 16. and John 14:13

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

Whatever you do, do it in the name and with the authority of Jesus.

But, we often want instant solutions. It may be some time for your prayer requests to come to pass. You need PATIENCE.

Your problems are not natural, they are in the spiritual realm, which operates by faith.

There is power and authority in the words we speak.

This Christmas it is Jesus’s birthday. What do you think Jesus would want? He wants you.

This Christmas “get your eyes off of yourself.” Look around you. Where can I help, my neighbor, a food kitchen, minister to others. Invest God in another person who has a need.

Every day is a new day in the Lord. 1 John 1:9  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness,” and you can move forward from there every day.

Getting Involved in People’s Lives Can Be Messy, Louise, Nov. 26, 2023

In this lesson Louise addresses how getting involved in people’s lives can be messy.

Louise starts with the story of an old friend of husband Larry’s, Morta Riggs, and ministering to Morta as she lay dying after a long struggle with cancer, and how family had to be assured that Morta passing on was in her best interest, and, as a Christian, she was going to be with our Savior, Jesus. Morta passed on a few days after we saw her.

Louise obeyed the spirit of God who “instructed her to go to Morta and minister and comfort her–even though Louise did not know her–as she passed from here into God’s hands.

Louise also told about a good friend facing a very difficult family situation. How do we hear from God and how does His council and instructions help Louise counsel her friend?

You need sometimes to put your feelings aside and listen to God.

Sometimes, you as the messenger can cause disruption and distrust in persons or situations you are trying to help with.

Louise says “be a person of courage, integrity, and truth” in many worldly situations.

“Our walk before the world” is often the only thing people see of God’s presence, in trying circumstances and situations. You won’t be popular, but you will be right as a Christian.

“The greatest gift you can give is yourself.” Invite people to church, invest in God’s work since he invested in you.

“Give yourself back to others.” Be a gift of yourself.

Faith and How to Deal with Problems Biblically, Sunday Nov. 26, 2023

A study by Louise of the children of Israel, especially during the 40 year wandering in the Wilderness, and how Moses and they dealt with their problems.

She begins with “water problems,” like having to escape the Egyptian army in front of the Red Sea.

“Between every problem and its solution there is a wilderness,” a kind of metaphorically dealing with all the problems we face. That’s the basis of today’s lesson.

Exodus 17 quoted by Louise. See below for full passage.

Water From the Rock

17 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah[a] and Meribah[b] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Amalekites Defeated

8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”

15 Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. 16 He said, “Because hands were lifted up against[c] the throne of the Lord,[d] the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”

Israelites tended to “mumble and grumble” throughout their time in the Wilderness. Do you do the same thing?

Louise asks “what is your wilderness experience.?” The “wilderness experience” teaches how to deal with adversity and challenges in our own lives.

Rather than mumble and grumble “like the people and Moses, go to God first.”

God has a solution for all our difficulties and problems.

“Speak the truth, not the problem,” is one important way to deal with our problems.

What To Do When All Seems Lost, Sat. Nov. 18, 2023


What do you do when all seems lost? Story from Old Testament recalled.

Today we deal with idols such as money, success, fame, and turn away from God. This often happened in the Old Testament. God took his hand of protection off of the Hebrews.

Our idols and evil was initiated in part by the events by 9/11.

Jeremiah the Old Testament prophet addressed problems and evil among his contemporaries, the Hebrews.

Jeremiah 3:22

“Return, faithless people;
    I will cure you of backsliding.”

“Yes, we will come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.

Things began to turn around. “I hope in him,” or God.

Hope and wait quietly (patiently) for God to act.

God’s compassion and hope and promises will cover all your sins.

We have to go from a “passive” faith to an “active” faith.

“Wait” and “hope” are essential to accomplishing God’s will.

You need to learn that God is faithful. God will give you comfort and peace even in a world that is often evil.

Spend more time with what God has for you, rather than your own miserable situation. Look beyond me, me, me to God’s promises.

Also, lift people up with a smile. A word of encouragement, and think what is positive in God’s comfort and promises. God will never leave you.

God is always ready for us to reach for him.

Louise Teaching (More) on Faith and Scripture, Thursday Nov. 14, 2023

Sister Louise teaching more on faith today.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

Faith is now, the present tense has substance.

Romans 4:17: 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”[a] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Mark 11: 22-23: 22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.

James 1:6: 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

The entire chapter on faith, Hebrews 11, is published below:

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[d]

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.