Send us comments on Twitter!
Watch What We Do!
  • Notes from a 1975 Prayer Meeting

    1 of 6

    Date: December 7, 1975

    (Gary’s CD-179, Reel 71)

    R71CD179AA

    Total Time: 63:30

    Track 1

    00:00 Everybody singing “None of These Things Move Me”

    01:25 GCC starts speaking

    Track 2

    GCC continues.

    00:35 GCC Pearl: “There is a deep settled peace today that you can have in your heart if you’ll just let God take over, and quit acting so much within self.”

    02:36 GCC Pearl: “The best thing about being in the valley is that there is only one way to go, and that is up.”

    02:47 GCC Pearl: “You’re just as much God’s child when you’re down as you are when you are up.”

    02:56 GCC Pearl: “We need to be occupied and let God occupy us.”

    03:28 GCC Pearl: “Not everything that comes by and whispers in your ear is God, but if you’ll be honest, you’ll find out if it’s God or not.”

    Track 3

    GCC continues.

    00:21 GCC Pearl: “You can’t buy your way into glory, but I’ll tell you one thing; you’re not going to get there unless you pay the premium on salvation.”

    00:35 GCC Pearl: “You don’t have to love everybody, as people say. It’s not a matter of having to. You can’t keep from loving people when God works you over and deals with you.”

    00:57 GCC Pearl: Jesus told his disciples to love one another with the same love he had. They couldn’t do that before Pentecost, and neither can you.

    01:41 GCC Pearl: “Nobody would do anything wrong if they knew what they were doing. People don’t know what they’re doing. Even those who killed Jesus didn’t know what they were doing. God help us to know what we are doing.”

    02:33 GCC Pearl: “If you’ll get down on your knees and get in touch with God, you can make anybody have peace with you.”

    03:26 GCC Pearl: “I want you to hate me the way I hate you, and love me the way I love you. If you do that, we won’t have any trouble at all.”

    03:38 GCC reads from 1John, chapter 4.

    2 of 6

    Track 4

    GCC continues reading from 1John 4.

    01:37  GCC Pearl: “You are going to be made perfect in love, or you’re going to be left here when Jesus comes.”

    04:10  GCC Pearl: “We can’t see glorification until we are glorified.”

    Track 5

    GCC continues.

    00:30 GCC Pearl: “There is poison in most every faith in the world….  I don’t want the poison; I want the truth.”

    00:55 “The truth is that Jesus being born into this world is not what’s going to save you. And if you don’t believe in the virgin birth, you won’t be saved, though. And then, if you don’t believe that he was crucified for you, you won’t be saved. You’ve got to believe that, and yet, that won’t save you, ‘cause the Devil doesn’t believe that; he knows all that happened. Then, if you believe that he was resurrected, that won’t do it, either. The Devil knows he came forth. Even the Romans [the soldiers guarding the tomb] knew all that. Then, if you don’t believe he went back to the Father, you can’t be saved then, but even that, itself, won’t save you.

    “Then the next thing is, and the important thing is, is to believe that he came back! Somebody might say, “But we’re still looking for Jesus.” I didn’t say Jesus came back; I said Christ came back. Amen! ‘Christ in us is the hope of glory.’ He said, ‘I’ll come and take my abode. A little while, and I am with you, and then a little while I’ll be gone, and then a little while and I’ll come and be with you, and I’ll be with you forever.’ He came back! And if you don’t have him in you today, you’re not going to be saved. Because why? ‘He ever liveth to make intercession for us.’ And ‘we are justified by his death,’ and ‘we are saved by his life,’ ‘seeing that he ever liveth’ to make these intercessions.

    “So it’s the life of Christ in us that’s the hope of glory, and if we don’t have that life in us, we can believe all we want to [but we will not be saved]. And you can even believe that, and be lost. We can believe that he comes back, and we can believe that he comes and speaks in tongues, and we can receive the experience of him coming and speaking in tongues, and still be lost.

    “What’s going to save you anyway? [Peter] said, ‘Save yourself from this untoward generation!’ ‘Save yourselves from it!’ We’ve got to come out and be separated, and obey God, and be obedient to Him, and stay in touch with him, and every time there’s a failure or anything not satisfaction [with God], let him make intercession – continuously. If he was to give up that job, we’d all perish. The first time you did a thing or said a word, and you did anything displeasing to God,

    3 of 6

    it would all be over. He’s right there. He’s got one hand down here reaching for you, and got a-hold of the Father with the other one.”

    04:04  GCC Pearl: “God’s children are all the same. We can divide them up [with denominations]; we can put a bunch of sheep over here in this pasture, and a bunch over here, but when the chief shepherd comes, he’s going to holler for all of them.”

    Track 6

    GCC continues.

    00:20 STORY about Uncle Joe (“Hilliard”) telling about a man who had cancer, and some folk came and prayed for him, saying, “If it is your will, O God, heal him.” Uncle Joe was glad no one prayed for him like that. He knew it was God’s will to heal him. He just had to make things right in his spirit and then contact God for the healing God wants His children to have.

    02:00 Uncle Joe testifieds.

    UJ Pearl: “God is real at all times. It’s just easier to realize it when you’re on the bottom. There’s no foolishness down in the valley.”

    04:00 UJ Pearl: “We never know what we’re doing when we obey God’s will, or how many people we are helping.”

    04:50 Earl P testifies.

    Track 7

    Earl continues.

    00:37  Earl Pearl: Jesus is not trying to press or knock your door down, but he’s there, and willing, and wanting to come in.”

    02:00 Earl Pearl: “The only way that I feel like I can bless another individual is to get yourself out of the way and right in the sight of God in everything.”

    Track 8

    Earl continues.

    02:20  Aunt Leatha testifies.

    03:20  “Brenda called me yesterday. . . . Clyde is about to die.”

    03:48  “Raymond [her brother from Texas] came by [to see me.] . . .   It’s like he wanted something.” With tears, she asked for prayer and wept deeply during prayer time.

    03:58  Leatha Pearl: “It’s too late after they die. It’s too late to help your family members.”

    Track 9

    Prayer time continues.

    02:00 Angleen begins to sing “Touching Jesus” in the background.

    02:50 Coy talks about meeting a hungry lady and feeding her.

    4 of 6

    Track 10

    Prayer time continues.

    01:40 GCC refers to his joy at having his and Martha’s children being in the meeting.

    03:06 GCC Pearl: “Is there anything you want to be other than what God wants you to be?”

    04:00 GCC Pearl: “Do everything you know is right, and leave off anything you have a doubt about.”

    04:10 UJ Pearl: “We come down here [to these meetings] to be judged. Judgment begins at the house of God.” GCC adds: “And if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged.”

    Track 11

    GCC continues.

    00:50 Coy testifies again about giving food to a hungry woman.

    01:35 GCC talks about being thankful to God for supplying food for people around the world and praying for those who are hungry.

    02:00 Uncle Joe asks for prayer because he is going to see his brother Raymond. “He had the same training as I did. He knows.” (Raymond is in North Carolina; Uncle Joe never traveled to Texas to see him.)

    03:10 Martha Clark Pearl: “It’s too late when [the ones you love] are in the grave. Now’s the time to do what you’re going to do.”

    03:15 Uncle Joe mentions visiting his brother Fenner before he died.

    03:40 Earl Pearl: “It doesn’t take much to hinder you and your freedom in the Lord.”

    Track 12

    Earl continues.

    00:13  Earl Pearl: “It’s so wonderful to be able to feel the humility of God.”

    00:32 Earl Pearl: “They may say you’re simple-minded and an old fogey, but it is so wonderful to be free in your soul.”

    00:50 Earl Pearl: “It’s so wonderful to be in the presence of God and be able to feast off that big table the Lord has prepared. There’s plenty of foods.”

    01:03 Earl Pearl: “Hard-hearted, we’re not going to go anywhere like that; we’re not going to please God like that.”

    01:22 Earl Pearl: “There’s nothing hard about [the life of holiness] when things are right with God.”

    02:01 Earl Pearl: “You can only offer [to others] what you have.”

    03:00 UJ Pearl: “It’s better to feel nothing between you and the Lord than it is to sing about it.”

    03:30 Aunt Leatha speaks.

    04:00 Earl tells a recent dream about being in a prayer meeting praying earnestly and

    5 of 6

    GCC laid hands on him in the dream. Earl woke up speaking in tongues. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”

    Earl Pearl: “It means something to cry out and be persistent with God from the depth of your heart.”

    Track 13

    Earl continues.

    00:30 Aunt Leatha finishes her testimony by telling of her dream, when God spoke to her and said, “I’m not running any funny farm here.” She understood Him to mean that He was serious about His work. She also woke up speaking in tongues.

    00:45 Aunt Leatha Pearl: “God means business in this place.”

    01:15 GCC tells about a girl who called him the previous day saying she was battling

    with thoughts of committing suicide. GCC rebuked the demon that was tormenting her and she was relieved.

    02:18 Earl speaks.

    02:40 GCC speaks.

    03:20 GCC Pearl: “The greatest responsibility you have is to be free in God, and He’ll give you understanding if you need it.”

    6 of 6

    = End =

  • The Weight of Revelation

    Pastor John, 

    After spending time, some ten years ago, telling a physician at a Louisville hospital about Jesus and the truth, that doctor proceeded to asked me, “What is truth?” 

    After spending some time this morning, considering the torment that men like Tesla and Einstein suffered under the weight of the revelation of seeing a glimpse of what God sees about this creation, I think I understand that, seeing the truth, means to see things the way God sees them.

    It drove Tesla and Einstein to a kind of madness, seeing something that God sees.  They knew what they knew before there was a reason to know it, then spent their entire lives trying to explain it. 

    Jerry

    ========

    Hi Jerry.

    It can be maddening in this world to hear from God and see the truth, especially the truth of the gospel, because in this world, there is no place for it.

    Only God can keep us balanced in our spirits after He has spoken to our hearts.  His word is simply not of this world, and it never will be. 

    Pastor John

     

  • Purity

    Pastor John,

    For the past few days I have been filled with such a thankfulness for you. Recently, Jesus let me see a young girl (who has shown a heart for God), and the church and pastor she is under, on a video on fb.  My heart still hurts for what she is being fed.  Then I read your email on the gentleman who was crying out to God over homosexual thoughts and fears and misconceptions.  The love in your answer struck my heart so deep.  The purity of the truth and guidance and love you have to give him from Jesus is what will save that man’s soul.  I wanted to just run to you and hug you.  I just wanted to thank you for loving Jesus and for holding His standard.

    I got in my car today and asked Jesus to pick me a song from our music.  The song that came on was “Heaven is my Goal”.  The thankfulness hit me again and all I could do was weep.  Heaven is my goal, Pastor John.  That is so beautiful to me.  I was never going to be pure enough to spend eternity with Jesus.  I was never going to have that hope of being so pure as to make it in. But my Jesus came one day and washed my sins away.  Oh how precious is the purity!  The purity of being clean inside and out.  The purity of His truth and holiness of His son. Precious and beautiful – those words don’t touch what I am feeling.  Just the word purity takes my breath today. 

    I know Jesus created me for this life but the act of what he did by making me clean from my sin and filth is so beautiful to me.

    If I was with you today I would hug you and tell you how thankful I am for you.

    Beth

    ===========

    Thank you, Beth.  Jesus has certainly been merciful to us.  May we receive grace to live worthy of it!

    And I love you and Jerry, too!

    Pastor John

  • Mark 15 and John 19

    RE:

    Mark 15:25:  “Now, it was the third hour when they crucified him”

    And John. 19:14:  “Now, it was the Preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour, and Pilate said to the Jews, “Behold, your king!”

    Greetings, everyone!

    There has been confusion for the past 2,000 years concerning the difference between Mark’s statement that Jesus was a crucified “the third hour” and John’s statement that Jesus was still standing before Pilate at “the sixth hour”.

    Here is the best article I have found on the subject:

    https://bible.org/article/time-jesus-death-and-inerrancy-harmonization-plausible

    This article shows that there is no agreement among scholars (surprise, surprise) on how to resolve the apparent contradiction.  Some devout Christian scholars strain to make those two hours the same, while devout anti-Christian scholars such as Bart Ehrman jump at the chance to say, “Aha!  See?  I told you that the Bible is untrustworthy!”

    The issue is no big deal, whatever the case may be.  It could simply be that either Mark or John wrote a sloppy Greek “third”, which would look very much like a Greek “sixth”, or vice versa.  Who knows?  Or maybe, as some scholars contend, Mark and John were using different methods of telling time, one, the Jewish method, and the other, Roman.

    Anyway, if you are interested in seeing how Christians and others have tried over the past 2,000 years to explain the apparent conflict in those verses, you can read the article I offer here, and others on line.

    Pastor John

     

  • Pray before Meals?

    I love this Pastor John, from your recent email: “Wait to pray until the Spirit leads you to pray, and say in prayer only what you are moved by the Spirit to say.”  

    In the church there is always a form like:

    -opening prayer

    -pray before the sermon

    -pray after the sermon

    -closing prayer

    -pray for food to eat

    I have a question about this, Pastor John.  Are we ought to pray before we eat?

    Leika

    =========

    Hi Leika. 

    There is no “ought to” in the kingdom of God, Leika.  There is only liberty.  You are free to pray off the Spirit leads you to pray, and you are free not to, if the Spirit does not lead you to pray.

    Thank you for the question.  God bless you and yours.

    Pastor John

     

  • Funeral Yesterday

    Pastor John,

    I was doing yard work late in the day yesterday, and noticed several sheriffs’ vehicles traveling in procession down hwy. 62 in front of the house. I stopped what I was doing and watched, and then saw bright red tractor trailer freight-haulers, all from the same company, lined up behind the sheriff’s vehicles. And then the same company’s dump trucks followed them, all the same color and all brand new, moving down the road in uniformity. It was apparent that it was a funeral procession, and the grand scale of it gave me a feeling of awe. Dozens if not a hundred or more 4-wheel drive trucks then followed, contractor’s trucks I believe, then the normal line of vehicles with blinking lights behind them; it seemed to go on forever. As I watched I realized this must have been the company owner that had passed, or his immediate family. And the thought of his / her loved ones grieving them right then, nearly took my breath. With a pain in my heart for those people, I said “Lord, this world is so full of pain and loss.” And in response, I heard a line from one of Darren’s songs, “I am securing you from loss.”

    I realized then that what Jesus did at Calvary, saves me from this kind of “loss”, if I let it. It saves those in Heaven from mourning us when we leave this world. And that there will never be a funeral procession in Heaven for those who are kept by His spirit.

    So sweet, and so sad.

    Jerry

     

  • Lost and Found

    Hey! 

    Since we aren’t having a meeting for a couple weeks, I wanted to go on and tell y’all something Jesus did for me today.  We had a job in High Point, and about halfway through, I needed to use my pocket knife for something, but when I went to grab it, it wasn’t there.  I knew I had clipped it into my pocket this morning, but I had no idea where it could have fallen off.  I really like this knife and was sad that I had lost it.  I searched all over our job site and even searched through a pile of dirt we had dug up thinking it may have fallen off there.  Long story short, I was walking around looking for it on the ground and asked Jesus to help me find it before we left our job.  I immediately had the thought (he asked me) that if I found it, would I tell about it?   In my head, I immediately replied, yes!  Fast forward a couple hours, and after more searching – we are packing up our trailer to leave and I had to move something on the trailer that we didn’t use today.  When I did, I saw the knife sitting there!  To the best I can figure, it got caught on something while I was loading the trailer this morning and had ridden on the trailer to High Point without falling off.

    I am thankful Jesus heard my prayer, answered it, and gave me a testimony!  Leaves you with sweet feelings knowing he hears you and cares about even simple things like finding something!

    ~Josiah

  • My Hands

    Pastor John, 

    Will you send this out to add to my testimony? These are pictures I’ve taken over the months since February and the last one is my hand today  The one before of my hand on the baby’s lap was taken on the way to the meeting last Wednesday before it was prayed for! Jesus is so good!

    Leah smiley face2

    received_10103790680148641

    received_10103701480879691

    received_10103757698688751

    received_2308311375863320

    received_10103831552105911-1

    received_694051860953826

     

  • “The Lord’s Prayer”

    Hi Pastor John.

    The Lord put it on my heart early this morning to ask Him to teach me to pray more appropriately; i.e., to pray in His will, and in the manner by which my prayer will be honored—and answered—by Him. (Oftentimes I’ve found myself merely praying for things that I want, rather than giving my desires over to God for Him to provide, as He sees fit.  But God is not our servant; not our “butler” to obey our every whim, whatever we might ask for.)

    I know that Jesus explained this “manner” of prayer to his disciples, in the garden of Gethsemane, but it would be in vain to repeat that particular prayer in our present time, wouldn’t it? (…as Christians do)   

    But Jesus’ instructions were to pray like that…

    What do you think He meant, exactly?

    Could you elaborate on those details in that prayer, and if we ought to use that template for our prayers today?

    Brad

    =========

    Hi Brad.

    I appreciate your sincerity in asking this of the Lord.  Include me in your prayer, please.

    Yes, it is a vain exercise to repeat, as a ceremonial form, the words Jesus told his disciples to pray.  That prayer was only for Jesus’ followers to pray before they were born again on Pentecost morning.  It would, as you know, be foolish of me to suggest a specific prayer with specific words for anyone to pray.  In this covenant, effective prayer is prayer inspired by the Spirit.  In fact, we being as ignorant as we are of things to come and as ignorant as we are of the many wicked spirits around us, Jesus gave us the great blessing of the Spirit to help us pray “as we ought”. to use Paul’s phrase.

    Other than point you to the Spirit, to wait to pray until the Spirit leads you to pray, and to say in prayer only what you are moved by the Spirit to say, it could be pointed out that in the disciples’ prayer (what Christians call “the Lord’s Prayer”), there is great reverence and humility before the Father, and great hope in His love.  But then, even all that, when it is real and not a ceremonial form, is from the Spirit; so, we’re back to the Spirit inspiring the prayer.

    There’s just no way around it.  Be led by the Spirit, or your prayer is in the flesh.  What a precious opportunity we have, to be led by the Spirit!  If we live after the Spirit, Paul said, we will live forever!  But if we live after the flesh, he said, we will die.  May God give you and me, and all of us, the grace to follow after the holy Spirit of life, and truly be sons of the living God.

    Thanks for writing, Brad.  I believe that the Lord will guide you and add to your faith whatever you need to make your prayer ever more effective.

    Your servant,

    Pastor John

     

  • Thankful for Our Roots

    Good morning Pastor John, 

    I was listening to an old CD of Preacher Clark on my drive into work this morning.  I loved it!  Listening to Bro. Frank preach and all the scriptures that he quoted and telling stories that I knew because of you and the GCC stories!  The man who was going to shoot him but God paralyzed his finger, Bro Frank seeking God because he wanted to know when a man was born again and the vision that God gave him of the book that opened and big letters with the scriptures you must be born again with the evidence of speaking in tongues.  Listening to the saints I felt at home.  I’m so thankful that Bro Earl loved this enough to record so that it could be passed down to us.  These are our roots and

    I’m very thankful for them.

    I did not want to get out of my car this morning it was so good!  I had tears in my eyes as I was climbing the stairs to the shuttle to take me to work.  I’m so thankful for what Jesus has done. I looked around at the people on the shuttle thinking oh Jesus I wish they could feel this!  It’s precious when Jesus stirs your soul and fills your heart with so much love.  Sometimes it feels as if this human body just can’t hold it all! 

    Hope you have a wonderful day! 

    Michelle 

Recent Posts