Spirit and Truth Fellowship International

God loves us and wants to do His best for us and for us to do our best for Him. Sadly however, we Christians have a war going on inside us—a battle between our sin nature and the nature of God that was born inside us at the moment when we were saved. The result of that war is well-expressed in Galatians 5:17, “you do not do what you want.” So we sin. Often worse than the sin itself is the shame and condemnation we feel because of our sin and failure. In this teaching, John Schoenheit talks about our sin nature and how it affects us, and what we can do to mitigate our feelings of failure and shame that often derail our walk. God wants us to have a powerful walk with Him, and is aware of our sin, and we need to do all we can to keep walking strongly for the Lord.

God is a God of love, and in His love He has given us many things, including equipping ministries, which help us to do the work of the ministry. Each person’s ministry is different, and each ministry helps us toward the goal of edification, maturity, discipleship and unity. In this teaching done live at our 2014 National Conference, Dave Hanson talks about how real Jesus truly is, how Jesus and God have equipped all believers to be disciples and to make disciples, and how the gifts and ministries God has given us help us to grow and mature in love as we strive to be imitators of Jesus, strengthening the bond of unity in the Body of Christ.

God’s desire has always been to have a relationship with mankind but unfortunately, for most of man’s time on earth, God has been limited in the type of relationship He can have. God, like every parent, anxiously waits for the day when His children mature to the point that they can have an adult-like relationship, a day when He will nave children who are led by the spirit. In this teaching Dan Gallagher shows we tend to live in an Old Covenant mentality, one in which we look to checklists to tell us what to do and to make us feel righteous. Instead, the New Covenant reality of today is one in which we are children of God and that means we, unlike those of the Old Covenant, can be led by the spirit. We hope this teaching will encourage and inspire you to grow spiritually, walking in the fullness of what it means to be a son of God, led by the spirit.

What is the first and greatest commandment in the Bible? Most people say, “Love God,” and it is recorded that way in the Gospels. But in the fuller account in Mark 12:29-30, Jesus was asked that question, and he quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! Therefore, you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” In this teaching, John Schoenheit looks at this first commandment in both the Old and New Testaments and explains its primary meaning and some of its secondary meanings. He shows that it means that we do not get to choose who or what will be our God, nor do we have the moral right to be agnostics or atheists. There is only one true God, and that is why we can love Him with “all” our heart, soul, and might. We are not to divide our worship and “share” God’s worship with “lucky” things or superstitions that supposedly help and protect us. God “alone” is to be our God. It will help us in our walk with God to have a clear understanding of His first and greatest commandment.

Christians are God’s children and He loves us with an undying love. This simple truth is one of the most profound in the Bible, yet it is amazing how often we forget it. Like all children, we disobey and we make mistakes – sometimes on purpose, sometimes just because of our fallen human condition. Often we feel badly about our sins and mistakes and sometimes we get so caught up in our feelings of failure or shame that we forget God loves us. Worse, we can begin to believe that He does not love us, that He is angry with us or marshaling His spiritual forces against us. In this teaching, John Schoenheit focuses on what the Bible says about God’s love for us, and points out that God had the choice to walk away from us, but because of His great love for us decided instead to send His Son to die in our place. The teaching concludes in Romans 8, where Paul says he is persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Many Christians understand that we are commanded to forgive one another, but problems often arise when it comes to forgetting. Although God never commands us specifically to “forget” the offenses of others, or even our own transgressions, the fact remains that there are both times when we should and should not forget. In this teaching Dan Gallagher first reviews various aspects of forgiveness, and then explores the model God gives us of Himself regarding how He forgives and forgets. Lastly in part three he gives practical examples of when forgetting is a bad thing and when it is the right thing to do. We believe this teaching will inspire you in your personal relationship with God, as well as with others.

Many people are realizing that the world is becoming a darker and darker place. There are growing problems in the economies of many countries, an increase in disease and natural disasters, and perhaps most problematic, an increase of wickedness on the earth. If one is not careful, the joy and gladness that Christians should feel as a natural result of their walk with the Lord and their everlasting Hope can be replaced by a gloomy outlook, anger, and even feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. In this teaching, John Schoenheit reminds us that we can see either problems or possibilities around us. By keeping in mind that God foretold the kind of dark world we would experience in the latter times, we can focus on the opportunities we have all around us to help others. A darker world means more chances to be a light in someone’s life.

Recently, we at Spirit & Truth Fellowship have been receiving numerous inquiries from people who are asking, “Is the end really near?” This is understandable when we consider the various social, political, financial, and even geological upheavals that seem to be taking place throughout the world. In this teaching, Dan Gallagher explores this question by addressing whether Christians should even be observing “signs of the seasons” in the first place, and why the study of the end-times has always seemed so difficult. This teaching concludes by identifying some of very specific “end-time signs” God has provided us in His Word. We believe you will find this teaching to be encouraging and an inspiration for increasing your efforts to spread the Good News.

The Last Supper was a pivotal event for believers. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ changed lots of things, including that God would begin to engage mankind through the agency of His Son. In this teaching on the Last Supper, John Schoenheit analyzes many of the important points that Jesus made in his thorough teaching at the Last Supper. He points out that Jesus said we could ask him for things that he would send the “Helper,” that he would be with us and reveal himself to us and not leave us as orphans, that our status in his eyes changed from servants to friends, and much more. If we are going to have a good understanding of our relationship with Jesus Christ, we need to understand the Last Supper when Jesus described what his relationship with believers would be after his resurrection.

Life is difficult, and it is made more difficult when people live foolishly and make unwise choices. The Bible has a lot to say about wisdom, and this three-part teaching covers that topic. Part one has general information about wisdom, including God’s exhortations to be wise, why the Devil has a spiritual attack on wisdom, and why the Old Testament says a lot about wisdom but the New Testament does not say as much. Part two focuses on Philippians 4:13, which is generally, traditionally translated, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It shows how that translation has led to misunderstanding what the verse is saying, and gives the meaning of the verse and an alternative translation. Part three of the teaching covers four areas of life that we should be wise and self-controlled in: living with the End in mind, friendships, time, and money. God loves us and wants us to be blessed in this life and the next, and if we are going to be blessed, we must live wisely.

It is a sad truth that many Christians today lack a clear knowledge and understanding of the various Feasts of Israel. What few realize is that through the Feasts, God has revealed many details concerning His plan of redemption and the timeline in which events will occur. By gaining an understanding of the Feasts, not only will we have key sections of the Scriptures opened up to us in new and more meaningful ways, but we will also gain a greater understanding of Jesus Christ as both the suffering servant and the returning conquering King. God established His Feasts for Israel as reminders of His plan throughout the year. What they observed in compliance with the Law, we can use as memorials to remind us that God’s plan is still in effect and moving forward according to His timing and purposes.

One of the great keys, perhaps even the greatest key, to being happy and satisfied in life is thankfulness. The Bible has dozens of verses about being thankful, and actually commands believers to be thankful. Yet despite the guidance from the Word, believers usually “conform to the world” when it comes to this subject. Instead of finding things to be thankful for in every situation most of us wait until things happen that we can be thankful for. In this teaching John Schoenheit uses the Word of God, corroborated by what has recently been discovered about our brains in the area of “positive psychology,” to show that if we want to be happy we need to be thankful. John also shows that thankfulness should come first and gives keys to help us to be thankful in our lives.

It has been correctly stated that no one will ever properly understand the New Testament if they do not understand the Old Testament, and one of the greatest principles for doing that involves understanding the concept of prophetic foreshadowing. God uses this prophetic literary device involving people, places, things, and events to cast a shadow forward in order to draw our attention to the things He wants to emphasize and communicate. In this teaching Dan Gallagher demonstrates how we can glean a greater understanding and appreciation for God and His Word as we increase our understanding of the many instances of prophetic foreshadowing He has used.

People in business know that if you are going to stay in business, you must “major in the majors,” that is, figure out what is profitable and what is just a time-waster, and then focus on what is profitable. But what is profitable for Christians? We can talk about it and discuss our various ideas, but a better way is to look into the Bible and see what God says is profitable. In this very practical teaching, John Schoenheit does a study of the Greek word for “profit,” and shows seven things that God says are profitable that we should focus on in our lives.

Jesus knew intimately how difficult the spiritual battle is and that when he left, his followers were going to need spiritual help. He promised that he would not leave them alone and that he was sending them help. He also gave his disciples some very specific insights on the types of things the “helper” was going to provide. Sadly, today too few in the Body of Christ are really tapping into the spiritual help Jesus has provided. We believe you will find this teaching to be a great encouragement to learn how to rely more on the spiritual help Jesus has provided, as well as to walk in the power of the holy spirit.