Spirit and Truth Fellowship International

Despite the fact that adversity of all kinds is a part of everyone’s life, people spend a lot of time, effort, and money trying to avoid it all costs. This mindset of ease and comfort can actually limit us in seeing how God can and does use adversity to work powerfully with us. Having a proper attitude during difficult times can help us develop the character of Christ, increase in godliness, and grow more into the image of our Lord. In this teaching Dan Gallagher uses the forging process of steel to demonstrate the spiritual process of transformation through adversity. We think you will enjoy the many examples and parallels as you learn more about how God disciplines (teaches and trains) us as His children.

As Christians, we want to read the Bible and believe it. But that is more tricky than it sounds. The Bible employs many figures of speech that are not literal; it also contains poetry and wisdom literature that are written in a non-literal way. In the biblical culture wisdom statements were well-understood, but in our much more straightforward and factual writing of today, those statements can be confusing. For example, how are we to understand Psalm 1:3, that for the righteous person, “whatever he does prospers,” when it is not factually correct? In this teaching, John Schoenheit explains wisdom statements in the Bible and goes over four characteristics as outlined by Dr. Bruce Waltke. Then he shows how wisdom statements can be interpreted in light of the scope of Scripture. We hope that this teaching will help you to gain clarity and confidence in your reading of the Word of God.

The mission of every born-again Christian is to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbor as themselves, and to honor and serve Christ. In this teaching on “Focus on the Mission Possible,” Dave Hanson delves into the Book of Hebrews, exploring the theme of Jesus as the Christ and the reasons why we should spend our energy and focus serving, worshipping, and obeying him, turning our eyes constantly to follow him.

There is an ongoing war raging between good and evil. While most Christians are at least aware of this spiritual battle, not everyone understands the many different arenas in which it is fought. In this three-part teaching, Dan Gallagher looks at seven different spiritual battlefields—arts & entertainment, media, education, government, business/science, religion, and family—and explains how both God and the Devil are fighting to capture our hearts and our loyalty through these mediums. We hope that this teaching will help you to become more aware of the spiritual battlefields where both God and the Devil are waging war, in order to increase in your discernment and spiritual judgement and to help you to become more effective in fighting the spiritual battle of which we are all a part.

In order to run the race for the joy that is set before us, we must endure! In this live teaching from our 2016 National Event, John Truitt delves deeply into the subject of prayer, including how everything in the process of endurance begins with prayer, how to get our prayers answered, and how persistent prayer ties back into the race that we run. In this teaching, Truitt explores how Jesus set the example when he endured intense suffering through fervent prayer, and how the Bible tells us over and over again that we must set aside the things of this world so that we, too, can bear the things we will suffer in this life. Through prayer, endurance, and keeping our focus on Jesus, we can truly experience the joy that is set before us.

Suffering is a universal problem, and almost as universal is the hurt, anger, resentment, and bitterness that can accompany or follow suffering. But Paul was able to rejoice in spite of the fact that he suffered as a prisoner in Rome after being framed and unjustly accused. He wrote to the church in Colosse: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you” (Col. 1:24). In this teaching, John Schoenheit talks about forgiving others from the perspective of his study of Colossians 1:24. He shows that sin is a debt, and when people sin against us we have the choice to either pay the debt and cancel the sin with forgiveness, or refuse to pay it, in which case the sin produces anger and resentment, and leads to more sin that just contributes to the sin in the world. This teaching covers the sin cycle, the fact that Jesus is still suffering now, how sin is a debt that must be paid, and that if we are going to have joy in life we cannot be carrying the burden of unforgiveness and resentment. To truly have joy in this life, we have to be willing to pay for the sins that others commit against us, just as Jesus forgave the sins we committed against him.

The Bible is a wonderful book that is meant to be read, not just for memorization of facts and figures, but critically, in order to better understand the heart of God and what the Lord is trying to communicate through its pages. In this teaching entitled “3 Weeks in Thessalonica,” David Hanson takes a deeper look at Paul’s time in Thessalonica, exploring this account especially as it pertains to starting and growing a church. Through its three parts, addressing Paul’s time in Thessalonica, the things that Paul and the others did there, and what Paul did when he left, the purpose of this teaching is to look more deeply into church leaders and the body of saints in the church, and to show how the Thessalonian record encourages believers to build one another up, bless each other, and assist brothers and sisters in Christ in creating and growing a lasting work in the Lord. This is a wonderful way in which we can serve him and our fellow believers.

What does it mean to “begin with the end in mind?” This term refers to how we start things with a clear idea of our destination, and many successful people over the years have accomplished great things by keeping the end goal of their efforts in mind. In this live teaching from our 2016 National Conference, Jeff Tyler defines “beginning with the end in mind” as it applies to our Christian walk, showing examples of it in both the Old and New Testaments and giving an exhortation for us to walk out our lives according to it. We hope that this teaching will greatly equip you with hope and steadfastness for the future! Teaching by Jeff Tyler.

Somewhere deep in every heart there’s a desire to be connected to others, to be known and accepted; a desire to be united to family and friends. This is the glue that drives people to form communities, to stick together in a tribe, clan, or even an outlaw gang. As Christians, we often feel the deep tug on our hearts for unity; but lacking a genuine understanding of it can cause lots of problems. In this live teaching from our 2016 National Conference, Dan Gallagher explores the subject of unity from the three perspectives presented in Scripture: Unity of the Spirit, Unity of the Faith, and Unity of Fellowship, showing how we can achieve godly union with others, honor our personal integrity concerning our beliefs, and enjoy the greatness of the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. This is how we live worthy of the calling we have received, in the true unity that’s available to us today.

Both in the Bible and in the world around us, it is evident that one of the most fundamentally important relationships is the one that exists between a father and a child, and it’s no coincidence that one of the primary ways God relates to mankind—specifically to the Body of Christ—is as a Father figure. In this teaching by Dave Hanson, we will look at the topic of father figures from three angles: father and son relationships; what the love of the Father looks like; and what we should do with that great love that God has provided for us. We believe that this teaching will give you greater insight into the relationship between God and His children and how this bond enriches and empowers us to walk out our lives and serve God and others, following the leading of our Heavenly Father.

The rescue of mankind from the Enemy’s captivity was secured through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The cry of God’s heart through the ages of, “Let my people go!” finally became a spiritual reality when Christ escaped the hold of the grave, rising forever from the dead. But until the day comes when we are gathered to Christ, we must continue to live behind enemy lines. In this teaching, Dan Gallagher reminds us of our true heavenly citizenship, and the tension we presently live in between the two comings of Christ—the “already, but not yet.” We think that you will enjoy the three essential strategies presented, which we can all employ in order to live and thrive behind enemy lines.

Jesus taught us that the second most important commandment in the whole Bible is that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Despite the fact that almost every Christian knows this, sometimes there is a surprising lack of love for one another in the Christian community. In this three-part teaching on loving our neighbors, John Schoenheit focuses first on why we should love our neighbor—the premise being that if we know the “why,” we will have more motivation to do as God commands. The second part looks at this commandment and shows how we already love ourselves, and how we need to love others. The third part discusses practical, loving things we should consider and do for those around us.

Stories are central to the way we connect with each other and the world around us, so much so that we often fail to realize that we all live inside the stories we tell ourselves about our lives and others’. In this teaching Dan Gallagher illustrates how our minds are specifically designed for stories and the powerful force they play in our daily lives, and he reminds us that, as Rabbi Bernhardt Ott states, “The Bible is not a theology textbook full of definitions of God and the world, but rather a fascinating narrative, a not-yet finished story of God’s ongoing dealings with people throughout history. And we are all invited to be a part of this story.” We believe this teaching will help you to connect in a new way with the story that God is telling, and will also help you to reach others and connect them to His story.

There are a few things in the Bible that everyone seems to be aware of even if these subjects are misunderstood in many ways. One such topic is the banquet mentioned in Isaiah 25:6, which is a feast with the best of meats and the finest of wines which God will host in the Messianic Age. Just as with other biblical subjects, there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about this great banquet. Today, in Christian circles, this feast is called “the wedding supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9 KJV). There are a number of things that keep people from understanding the great wedding banquet, which is part of the celebration of the inauguration of Jesus Christ as king over the earth. In this teaching, John Schoenheit covers the prophecy in Isaiah of the feast, and follows it through the Scriptures, showing what all saved people will enjoy in the future—a great celebratory banquet with the King of Kings.

Millions of people regularly gain inspiration and enlightenment from reading the Bible, and yet few really see the full story because they don’t understand the Covenants of God and the role they play. In this teaching, Dan Gallagher shows how the Covenants of God are a key piece to understanding His moves through history as He brings about His plans and purposes, explains the concept of a covenant, and then explores the major Covenants and their meanings. This teaching culminates with the New Covenant, the covenant which was instituted through Jesus and under which we now live. We pray that this teaching will help you to see that reading the Bible without a comprehension of God’s Covenants is like eating a cake without the sugar.