To Find, First Lose

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2013, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

This book title is based on a scripture.  "He that finds his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it." (Matt 10:39)

And who is speaking there?  Jesus.

Jesus gives us an important principle here that many people are totally unaware of.

Sometimes we speak of certain computer apps (programs) as being "very intuitive," meaning that they work very much as one would expect.

But this statement from Jesus seems somewhat counter intuitive.

It almost sounds like he's saying, "If you want success, don't pursue it."  But that's not an accurate characterization.  What Jesus is getting at is our priorities.

Another passage of scripture on the same subject is Matt chapter 6, verses

25 Therefore I say to you, don't be worrying about your life, what you'll eat, or what you'll drink, nor for your body, what you'll put on.  Isn't the life more important than food, and the body than clothes?

26 Look at birds of the air, for they don't plant, nor do they harvest, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Aren't you much better than they are?

27 Which of you can, by thinking, add eighteen inches to his height?

28 And why do you take thought for clothes?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they don't toil, nor do they spin,

29 And yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

30 So, if God clothes the grass of the field, that exists today, and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 Therefore don't think, What will we eat?  Or, What will we drink?  Or, with what shall we be clothed?

32 (Because the Gentiles seek for all those things,) for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

34 Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient to the day is its own evil."

Verse 33, above, is the key.  It's about priorities.  You put the kingdom of God and his righteousness first, and the other things will come to you.

The Ten Commandments are given in Exodus chapter 20.  Verse 5 tells us that God is a jealous God, meaning that he doesn't want to play second fiddle in your life, or third fiddle.

Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matt 22:37)

So, if God sees that your graduate studies are more important to you than God, he doesn't like it.

If he sees that your hobby is more important to you than God is, he doesn't like it.

If he sees that making money is more important to you, he doesn't like it, because you're not putting God first.

In Matthew chapter 10, verses

37 He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that doesn't take his cross, and follow after me, is not worthy of me.

So Jesus here is talking about priorities.  If we're going to follow Jesus, we must make Jesus number one in our lives.

And if we do, he'll help us with the rest of it.

Someone might say, "If that's the price of being a Christian, perhaps I don't need to be a Christian."

That's dangerous talk.  When you leave this world, you'll either go up to heaven, or down to hell, and we all need Jesus to get us to heaven.

Don't casually dismiss being a Christian.  Everyone who goes to hell won't like it.  In hell, there's crying and gnashing of teeth, where their worms don't die, and where the fire is not quenched, Jesus said.

I knew a man in Nebraska who said he tries to watch what he does so that he doesn't anger God.  But that same man watches porn, and shares his porn with another person.

You're not straight with God if you do that because Jesus said, "He that looks at a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matt 5:28)

We can't just make up our own rules, and have God rubber stamp his approval.  God has given us rules to follow.  ("And his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3)

Jesus said, "And why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and don't do the things that I say?" (Luke 6:46)

It's no use calling Jesus Lord, if we're not going to do what he has said.  And to do what he's said, we need to know what he said, and you get that from the Bible.

Every Christian should be getting some of the Word every day.

An older Christian brother, Bill Severn, advised me to read at least a chapter a day in the Bible when I was a young man.  I believe that was good advice, and I've tried to do that.

Chapter 2

A Christian must not only get the word of God every day, but must do some praying every day.  In fact, 1 Thess 5:17 tells us, "Pray without stopping."

Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray and not faint." (Luke 18:1)

You're probably aware that the Lord wants his people to get baptized in water.

But there's also another baptism that will add to you another language to pray in.  It's the Baptism with the Holy Ghost.  Jesus spoke about that in Acts 1:8.  He said it gives us more power.

Jesus had previously said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."  But in Acts 1:4, he says first wait to be equipped (with this Baptism with the Holy Ghost.)

The first instance of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost was on the day of Pentecost, about fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead.

___Acts chapter 2

1 And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in agreement in one place.

2 And suddenly, a sound came from heaven like a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 And they saw split tongues like fire, and it rested on each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the words to speak.

Kenneth E. Hagin told about a lady in one of his services who wanted to receive the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, but didn't receive in the service.  She thought God would take control of her mouth and make her talk.

No, when Jesus baptizes you with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost gives you words to speak in a strange language you never learned, and then YOU ADD YOUR VOICE AND SPEAK THOSE WORDS OUT.

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John we are told that Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Ghost.  So if you're a Christian, ask Jesus to baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

When you pray, believe that you receive the things you ask for, and you shall have them. (Mark 11:24)

In 1 Cor 16:2, we are told to give as God has prospered us.  In the Old Testament, a tithe was required.  A tithe is ten percent of our income.

In the New Testament is says give as God has prospered you.  Ask the Lord to show you where he wants you to put the money.

It was said about R.G. LeTourneau, who made huge earth moving machines, that he started giving to God.  Perhaps he was tithing.  And God blessed him.

So he increased his percentage of giving to God.  And God blessed him more.  I heard that he got all the way up to giving 50% of his income to the Lord.

I think there's a big LeTourneau plant in Longview, Texas.

The Bible says we should not forsake the gathering of ourselves together.  Ask the Lord where he wants you to go to church.

If there's not a good church near you, perhaps you could start a home church in your area.

The best church will be like Mark 16:17,18.  They cast out demons, have divine healing, and speak in unknown tongues.  And, of course, preach the word of God.

Scriptures quoted are from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version and the New Testament, Hoehn Version, copyright 2011, both available as ebooks for the Kindle readers from Amazon.com.

The Lord bless you.  Frederick Hoehn

www.FredHoehnMinistries.com

___1 Peter chapter 1

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

2 Elect according to the knowing ahead-of-time by God the Father, through making holy by the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace to you, and peace, be multiplied.

3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has fathered us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that doesn't fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the end times.

6 In which you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if necessary, you're in heaviness through many temptations,

7 So that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it's tested by fire, will be found to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,

8 Whom having not seen, you love, in whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,

9 Receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10 About which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you,

11 Searching what, or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ that was in them meant, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that would follow.

12 To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to us they ministered the things that are now reported to you by those who've preached the gospel to you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.

13 So, strengthen your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

14 Like obedient children, not building yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance,

15 But like he that has called you is holy, so you be holy in every aspect of living,

16 Because it is written, "You be holy, for I am holy."

17 And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your temporary residence here in fear,

18 Since you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold, from your wrong lifestyle, received by tradition from your fathers,

19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,

20 Who truly was preordained before the foundation of the world, but was made clearly visible in these last times for you,

21 Who by him, believe in God, who raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope would be in God.

22 Since you've purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit to unpretended love of the brothers, make sure you love each other with a pure heart fervently,

23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, that lives and remains forever.

24 For all flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man like the flower of grass.  The grass withers, and the flower of it falls away,

25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.  And this is the word that by the gospel is preached to you.

___1 Peter chapter 2

1 So, laying aside all hatred, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envying, and all evil speaking,

2 Like newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word, so you'll grow by it,

3 If you've tasted that the Lord is gracious.

4 To whom coming, like to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, and precious,

5 You also, like living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

6 Also it is contained in the scripture, "See, I lay in Zion a main cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believes on him won't be put to shame."

7 To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone that the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone,

8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to those who stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, so that you will show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,

10 Who previously were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

11 Dearly beloved, I ask you please, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul,

12 Having your lifestyle honest among the Gentiles, so that, while they speak against you as evildoers, they will, by your good works that they'll see, glorify God on the day of visitation.

13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it's to the king, as supreme,

14 Or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do well.

15 For this is the will of God, that with well-doing you'll put to silence the ignorance of foolish men,

16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of hatred, but as the servants of God.

17 Honor all men.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honor the king.

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the difficult.

19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endures grief, suffering wrongfully.

20 For what glory is it if when you're chided for your faults, you take it patiently?  But if when you do well, and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

21 For even to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps,

22 Who did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth,

23 Who, when he was reproached, didn't reproach back, when he suffered, he didn't threaten, but committed himself to him that judges righteously,

24 Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, would live to righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed.

25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

___1 Peter chapter 3

1 Likewise you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that, if any doesn't obey the word, they also without the word will be won by the lifestyle of the wives,

2 While they see your pure living coupled with fear.

3 Let your adorning not be the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of wearing fancy clothes,

4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is of great price in the sight of God.

5 For that's how the holy women did also in old times, who trusted in God, adorning themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands,

6 Like Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are, as long as you do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

7 Likewise you husbands, live with them according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, so your prayers won't be hindered.

8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion on each other, love like brothers, be pitiful, be courteous,

9 Not returning evil for evil, or railing for railing, but to the contrary blessing, knowing that you are called to that, so that you'll inherit a blessing.

10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips so they speak no deceit,

11 Let him hate evil, and do good, let him seek peace, and pursue it.

12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

13 And who is he that will harm you, if you're followers of what is good?

14 But if you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are you, and don't be afraid of their terror, nor be troubled,

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you for a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear,

16 Having a good conscience, so that, although they speak evil about you, like about evildoers, they will be ashamed that falsely accuse your good lifestyle in Christ.

17 For it is better, if it's the will of God, that you suffer for well-doing, than for evil doing.

18 For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he would bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit,

19 By which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison,

20 Who once were disobedient, when previously the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The similar figure to which baptism also now saves us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

22 Who has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.

___1 Peter chapter 4

1 Since Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has stopped sinning,

2 So that he no longer would live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

3 For what's in the past of our lives should be enough in doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, riotous living, excessive eating, and filthy idolatries,

4 In which they think it strange that you don't run with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil about you,

5 Who'll give account to him that is ready to judge the alive and the dead.

6 That's why the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, so that they'd be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

7 But the end of all things is near, therefore be sober, and stay awake for prayer.

8 And above all things have fervent love among yourselves, for love shall cover the multitude of sins.

9 Use hospitality toward each other without grudging.

10 As every man has received the gift, minister the same to each other, as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God.

11 If any man speaks, let him speak like the oracles of God, if any man ministers, let him do it as of the ability that God gives, so that God, in all things, will be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and always.  Amen.

12 Beloved, don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial that is to test you, as though some strange thing happened to you,

13 But rejoice, since you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, so that, when his glory shall be revealed, you'll be glad also with great joy.

14 If you're reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.  On their part he is spoken evil about, but on your part he is glorified.

15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

16 Yet if any man suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God because of this.

17 For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begins at us, what shall be the end of those who don't obey the gospel of God?

18 And if the righteous just barely get saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

19 So let those who suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as to a faithful Creator.

___1 Peter chapter 5

1 I exhort the elders who are among you.  I'm also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed,

2 Feed the flock of God that is among you, taking the oversight of it, not because you must, but willingly, not for filthy bribes, but with a ready mind,

3 Nor as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.

4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you'll receive a crown of glory that doesn't fade away.

5 Likewise you younger, submit yourselves to the elder.  Yes, all of you be subject to each other, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so he'll lift you up in due time,

7 Casting all your care on him, because he cares for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, walks around, seeking whom he can devour,

9 Whom resist, steady in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brothers that are in the world.

10 But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you've suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.

11 To him be glory and dominion forever and always.  Amen.

12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother to you, as I suppose, I've written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

13 The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, greets you, and so does Marcus, my son.

14 Greet each other with a kiss of love.  Peace be with you all who are in Christ Jesus.  Amen.