The Joy of Hosting a Zerubbabel Get-Together
by David and Carol Hoffman

On April 25th we hosted a Wisconsin area Zerubbabel Conference/ Get Together at our home. It was a delight on many levels!  Initially, I thought the event would be mostly outreach to The Intercessor magazine subscribers and to friends of whom we have mentioned some aspects of the "Total Truth." It turned out to be that and more.

Early 2009, after the decision was made to go ahead with the Zerubbabel Get Together, one of the first things the Z Press office did was to send out a "set aside the date" postcard to all The Intercessor magazine subscribers within two hundred miles of our home. We received responses from only a few subscribers, who received the mailing, only to discover that many in our area did not receive the postcard at all or received it quite a while later. Yikes!!!  I reminded myself that it’s God’s business how it all works out. Joanna Coatney reminded me while discussing the postcard situation, "If God meant it to be different it would be." 

In the meantime, to help get the date of our meeting out early, we started to tell friends about our upcoming "Get Together." Later, we mailed a follow up letter after Z-Press (Z executive counsel) drafted a letter for anyone who responded to the postcard. In addition, we also sent an invitation letter similar to the "follow up letter" mentioned earlier, to all The Intercessor magazine subscribers within a one hundred mile radius.

As our Zerubbabel Get-Together approached, I decided to contact by email or phone some of the people who expressed interest in attending our meeting. Even though contacting people that I have never met before felt scary, I reminded myself that since I am a vessel of Christ, He is love to them as me and the words I speak are His words. My husband, Dave, and I also worked with our daughter, Carin, to send a Facebook invitation to some of her friends.
April 24:  What a delight to welcome Chris Anderson and Steven Prewitt, friends and teacher/sharers from Boone, NC, who would be presenting their testimonies and teachings at our conference. Dave and I considered it an honor to make sure that they were comfortable and taken care of prior to the meeting. What an opportunity to get to know them better also.

April 25:  "Get-Together" day finally arrived, and after taking care of some last minute preparations for the meeting, I admitted to feeling pretty nervous. In the same breath, I said to myself that this is God’s meeting and it’s His business how many people come and how it turns out. Besides five family members attending, five additional people also came who were blessed along with us to hear Chris Anderson’s testimony and the teaching of "Body, Soul and Spirit" by Steven Prewitt.

After Chris shared how his life didn’t work before he learned and applied Galatians 2:20 to it, Steven shared the Truth using different illustrations. The first illustration showed us God’s supremacy: He is pictured above His creation as an umbrella with all things, including us and Satan, underneath that umbrella.

Next, Steven discussed illustrations in the Bible used to describe Christians as containers of the Holy Spirit such as vessels, branches, temples, slaves, Christ’s bride, and His body. To further illustrate born again Christians as God’s containers, Steven drew three circles, illustrations that looked like a bull’s eye and represent humans’ three parts: body, soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12). We of course know we have a body, our soul is where thoughts reasoning, emotions feelings originate. Our spirit is the part of us that is always in union with a diety spirit—Christ’s Holy Spirit or Satan’s spirit. (1 Cor. 2:11-12) According to Ephesians 2:2, before we are believers our spirits are one with Satan’s spirit, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience. Once we accept Christ as our savior, Satan’s spirit that was connected to our human spirit is booted out and the Holy Spirit becomes one with our spirit. (1 Cor. 6:17; Gal. 2:20) There is never a time that we are independent, separated from Satan’s spirit of error or Christ’s Holy Spirit.

So how does it work and what about our thoughts and feelings that sometimes seem to be contrary to these Bible truths? If Christ is living through us, why do we still sin? Steven used honest, down to earth life examples to explain. For example: "I am afraid and inadequate to speak in front of all these people, maybe I should just stay in my hotel room." But the truth is" Christ/ Holy Spirit is in union with my spirit; therefore, I can say ‘I feel afraid and inadequate to speak to these people, but Christ-I can do it through me and will say what he wants through me.’" (Gal. 2:20) Sin/Satan misuse would be believing the first statement and staying in his hotel room.

Though I had previously heard what Steven taught, a few ideas really jumped out: thoughts or feelings are neutral and normal no matter how good, bad, shameful, or embarrassing or superior they seem. Satan gets his hooks into us and "desires give birth to sin"(James 1:15) when we believe that "we" shouldn’t feel or think a certain way or when we believe any other lie about who we are. The truth is we are merely containers/vessels and as Christians we contain Him and He lives His life through us. We are not an independent "I" that is good, bad or anything of importance, just containers.

Having a Z-Get Together was a rewarding experience. Not only was it an opportunity to get in touch with local The Intercessor subscribers, but also an opportunity to invite others and share some of our beliefs with friends and family. It was also a pleasure to work with Zerubbabel ministry to coordinate the meeting and further get to know Chris and Steven. Plus, listening to Chris’s testimony and Steven’s teaching, the "how to’s" of living from who I am, Christ as me, was clarified further. Even afterwards, the opportunities to get in touch and possibly form relationships with The Intercessor subscribers continues: we have received a few calls after our Get Together from subscribers who got our mailing but could not attend the meeting.

If you would like to find out about hosting a get-together in your area please contact our office at 828-295-7982 or email us as info@zerubbabel.org.