Pastor John, 

Beth and I were able to spend a few hours with Jimmy and Debbie today after our Sunday meeting. Jimmy spoke some about what a new and wonderful thought it was to think that Jesus never spent his time on earth striving to make it in to heaven. As we had lunch, Jimmy asked, “Has anyone here at the table ever had that thought?”  None of us had ever considered it.  It blessed us all to chew on it some more because it reveals more about God.

Jesus never spent a moment of his life worrying about “if I can only make it in.”  That wasn’t even an issue.  He possessed his salvation in doing the will of God.  Salvation was built into it. Everything that he ever needed was contained in doing the will of God.

While you were preaching about that today, about Jesus not spending his time on earth hoping that somehow, he could just make it in, I felt the Spirit of the Lord ask me a question.  And the question amounted to this,  “….and then what?”  In other words, if a person is striving, hoping that they can just make it in to heaven, then what?  Are they hoping to get there and then be free to live different from the way they had been living up to that point?  Are they hoping to get there and then be free to sin, after living a life clean enough to just make it in the door?

I felt like the Lord was asking, Who are you?  Are you someone different from you seem – someone who will be free to finally live after you “make it in”, once “the deal is sealed”, so-to-speak?  It was really a sobering thought, but also one that made it seem absurd to ever try to just “make it in” at all.  Our salvation is contained in our doing the will of God, also.  And it will remain there.

Jesus spent a great deal of time trying to persuade his disciples that it was only lack of faith in their father’s love for them that prevented them from moving mountains!  How much less should they have been concerned with just “making it in”!  Surely, Jesus didn’t die for that.

I love it when God reveals a piece of Himself; it always replaces something that I had been imagining about Him (and didn’t realize it) up to that point.

This weekend was wonderful.

Thank you,

Jerry

 

Pastor John,

I was talking to the Lord this morning. I believe this was Him, so I wrote it down, below.

“Your judgment of this world is in how you live your life; it is not in words.”

Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world; they were already condemned.  He came to save souls.

We are not here to condemn the world; they are already in that condition without a word being said.  We are free to use any means to help a soul escape damnation, just as Paul declared: “To a Jew, I am a Jew, to a Gentile I am a Gentile, if by any means I may win their heart to Christ.” 

We are free to do good!

God can’t use you  until you are willing to do anything.

Jerry

=========

Hi Jerry.

Thanks.  It is true that our lives are what most should condemn the world, not so much our mouths.  That is what the Bible said about Noah.  He condemned the world by building the ark (Heb. 11:7).  He felt free to do the will of God, and look at the result!

Seeing that God uses everybody, even Satan, to accomplish His purposes, I would rephrase your last sentence to say this: “God can’t use you to the fullest degree until you are free enough from superstition to do anything He says.”

Religious fear is superstition, and it stymies our growth in Christ.  But the truth sets us free from all such things so that we may do the will of God gladly, whatever it is.

Thanks again.

Pastor John

Pastor John, 

Last night, you and I had a short discussion about your father, specifically about an event that you had described in the Preacher Clark Stories.  I can’t help but to think more on it today, and I want to share it. 

The setting was this: Your father was a young man, zealous for the Lord and preaching where he could, and doing so without the holy Ghost baptism.  In this particular case, he was preaching to a group that he described later as folk that seemed to talk at a low volume, or even mumble while he was preaching to them.  He was not aware at the time that those folk were Spirit-filled and that they were speaking to the Lord quietly in order not to disrupt preacher Clark’s sermon – but speaking nonetheless, as the Spirit gave the utterance.

There are two things about this story that I recall in particular that are really standing out to me now.  Last night’s meeting made these things come to life. 

First, preacher Clark was preaching to a group of God’s Spirit-filled saints, without having the spirit baptism himself! – not yet anyway.  And those folk were so kind, and so willing (and able) to receive whatever was from God, in whatever situation they were in, that they were yielding and speaking in tongues as this unconverted man preached Christ to them.

The second thing, much like the first, is that during at least one of those services, he pulled open the rolled up picture of Jesus on the cross that he had previously painted, and now carried with him, and often showing it to those he preached to when the time was right, and the crowd jumped from their seats when they saw it, praising God and shouting and speaking in tongues!  One of those saints even took the time after one service to tell preacher Clark that she had not heard such good preaching in years!

I am trying to imagine just how free those saints were to be able to humbly glean what was from God, from a man they knew 

did not yet know Him!  They were utterly unafraid of what was not God in the young minister, they held no contempt toward him for trying to teach them something, and they apparently made him feel enough of the love of God for him to return there.  They even remained humble and pliable enough to be in such a condition as to leap to their feet in a shout, the moment he hit the nail on the head with the picture of Jesus! 

I wondered last night, if I could do what those saints were doing in that story.  And then I realized that I had wondered about it because of the liberty in Jesus that you spoke of last night, a liberty that transcends anything that we can imagine.  It isn’t human, and humans can’t be that free; only God in us can, but we have to grow to it.

That is the kind of freedom Jesus was experiencing when he spent his time around people that needed him.  Jesus never feared that their ignorance of God or their sin was going to rub off on him.  He was above that; He was where his Father was.

After I received the holy Ghost back in the 1990’s, I began to cling to a standard that I thought was God’s righteousness.  It was a form of rightness, to be sure.  But that “rightness” was leaving out the liberty and freedom I had to hear from God, and to love and to laugh and to just be good to all men; to be happy!  That standard that I called God then, would not have permitted me to humbly sit under your unconverted father, collecting every good thing that he had to offer and then loving him for it, like those saints did in that story.  That standard couldn’t have received a thing from him.  Nor could it have rejoiced when he unrolled that picture of Christ on the cross.  That standard I had was nothing but fear, I think. 

I believe I better understand the scripture now: “perfect love casts out all fear.”

Thank you for Wednesday night.

Jerry

 

Pastor John, 

Many times you have told us that the promise of God to the faithful, the promise of Eternal Life, does not mean a promise of a life with endless days; it has nothing to do with the length of time in which we shall live. But that Eternal Life is a kind of life, it is a life like God’s life.

I considered today just how obvious that is, when one considers God’s promise to those who are unfaithful, and to those who refuse the witness of Jesus. He promised them suffering and anguish that will never end. 

Though it is true, their torment will last eternally, it is far from the “eternal life” that the apostle Paul described to the believers in Corinth, when he declared to them, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Jerry

========

Hi Jerry.

The promise of eternal life is the promise of an endless life of perfect peace.   It is endless in the sense that “time shall be no more”.  In other words, time will not exist.

Eternal life is indeed God’s kind of life.  It is the holy kind of life that Jesus made possible for us we to live here, in this world.  In fact, we must live it here, or we will not be allowed to live it later.

Pastor John

Good morning pastor John, 

I have loved reading through the Psalms translation sent out. I keep going back to read them again and again.  Below are some of my favorites.

I love this one because it is so humbling and full of love.  God does not need us for anything.  God is lacking in nothing.  The love and mercy that was shown to us because we have been given His spirit is so overwhelming when I read this.  God does not need us, but wants us. 

Psalm 50:

9. I am not taking a bullock from your house or he-goats from your folds,

10.  for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

11. I know every bird of the mountains, and the creature of the field is mine.

12. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and its fullness.

I love this one because I KNOW it’s true.  I know a broken heart will not be turned away.  This is my testimony.  Again, the merciful love is almost too much to feel.

Psalm 51:

16. Truly, you do not delight in sacrifice; otherwise, I would offer it.  Burnt offering does not please you.

17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.  A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise.

In 2013 when I received the holy Ghost it was very gentle.  I went home questioning it because I did not have a powerful experience, like I expected.  One day I was sitting on my bed in Indiana, looking out the window, and everything was covered in a beautiful white snow.  Jesus so clearly said to me, “That is what I did for you.  I made you as white as that snow.”  At that time, I did not know that was in the Bible.  I never thought I could be clean.

Psalm 51:

7. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.  Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow

This one just stirs my soul!  Enough said.

Psalm 38:

15. For I am waiting for you, O Lord.   You will give answer, my Lord, my God! 

Beth D.

 

Here are some Psalms we have been working on lately, and finished.

Amy B.

⎷Psalm 50

Damien

A melody by Asaph.

¶1. The mighty God, Jehovah, spoke, and He called to earth from the rising of the sun until its going down.

2. From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone.
3. Our God shall come, and He will not be silent!  Fire will devour before Him, and around Him it will be very tempestuous.
4. He will call to the heavens from above and to the earth to judge His people,
5. “Gather my saints to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6. And heaven will declare His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge.  Selah.
7. “Listen, O my people, and let me speak!  O Israel, I will testify against you!  I am God – your God!
8. Not for your sacrifices will I reprove you, nor for your burnt offerings that are continually before me.
9. I am not taking a bullock from your house or he-goats from your folds,
10. for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11. I know every bird of the mountains, and the creature of the field is mine.
12. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and its fullness.
13. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of he-goats?
14. Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High,
15. and then call on me in the day of trouble!  I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”
16. But to the wicked man, God says, “How dare you declare my statutes, or take up my covenant into your mouth!
17. You despise correction, and you cast off my words behind you.
18. When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and your portion is with adulterers.
19. You turn your mouth loose with evil, and your tongue contrives deceit.
20. You sit with your brother, and yet, you speak slander against your mother’s son.
21. These things you have done and I remained silent.  You thought that I was altogethersuch a one as yourself.  I will reprove you, and I will set things in order before your eyes.
22. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear in pieces – and there will be no deliverer.
23. He who offers the sacrifice of praise and orders his way glorifies me.  I will show him the salvation of God.”

⎷Psalm 51

Damien

For the director.  A melody by David.

When Nathan the prophet came to him because he had gone in to Bathsheba.

¶1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your lovingkindness!  In the abundance of your compassion, blot out my transgressions! 

2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin,
3. for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me.
4. Against you, against you only, have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, so that you may be vindicated in your words.  You are justified in your judgment.
5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6. Behold, you delight in truth in the inner parts, and in the secret chamber, you make me know wisdom.
7. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.  Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8. Make me to hear joy and gladness, and the bones you have crushed will shout for joy!
9. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10. Create a clean heart for me, O God, and make within me a new, steadfast spirit!
11. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy Spirit from me!
12. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and you will sustain me with a willing spirit.
13. I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, God of my salvation!  My tongue will cry aloud of your righteousness.
15. My Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will make your praise known.
16. Truly, you do not delight in sacrifice; otherwise, I would offer it.  Burnt offering does not please you.
17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.  A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise.
18. In your good will, do good to Zion.  You will build the walls of Jerusalem.
19. Then, you will delight in sacrifices of righteousness, burnt offering and whole burnt offering.  Then will they offer bullocks on your altar.

⎷Psalm 52

Damien

For the director.  A song of wisdom by David.

When Doeg the Edomite came and reported to Saul, and he said to him,

“David has gone to Ahimelech’s house.”

¶1. How can you commend yourself with evil, O mighty man?  God’s faithfulness never ceases.

2. Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharpened razor, working deceit.
3. You love evil rather than good, and falsehood rather than to speak righteousness.  Selah.
4. You love every word that devours, O deceitful tongue!

5.But God will break you down for eternity.  He will seize you and tear you out of your tent, and He will uproot you from the land of the living.  Selah.

6. And the righteous will see it, and fear.  And they will laugh at him, saying,
7. “Behold the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches!  He was strengthened by his own will.”
8. But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.  I will trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.
9. I will praise you forever because you did it, and I will wait for your Name, for he is good in the sight of your saints.

⎷Psalm 38

Tom and Suzi

A melody by David.

To bring to remembrance.

¶1. O Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor chasten me in your burning anger,

2. for your arrows have sunk down into me, and your hand has pressed down on me.
3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no peace in my bones because of my sin.
4. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
5. My wounds stink; they fester.  Because of my foolishness,
6. I am bent over; I am completely humbled.  All day long, I walk about, mourning.
7. My loins overflow with scornings, and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8. I am benumbed and utterly crushed.  I roar because of the groaning in my heart.
9. O Lord, all my longing is before you, and my sighing is not hidden from you.
10. My heart pounds; my strength, as well as the light of my eyes, has forsaken me.  Even they are not with me.
11. My loved ones and friends stand aloof from my affliction, even those nearest to me stand at a distance.
12. Moreover, those who seek my life set traps, and those who desire my hurt speak of mydestruction, and plot treachery all the day long.
13. But I, like a deaf man, do not hear, and I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
14. Yea, I have become like a man that does not hear and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15. For I am waiting for you, O Lord.   You will give answer, my Lord, my God!
16. For I said, “Save me! lest they gloat over me when my foot slips; they magnify themselves against me.”
17. For I am being set up for a fall, and my sorrow is always with me.
18. For I will declare my iniquity; I am afraid because of my sin.
19. My enemies are alive and powerful, and they are many who hate me wrongfully.
20. And they who render evil for good accuse me because I am after good.
21. Do not abandon me, O Jehovah, my God!  Be not far from me!
22. Make haste to help me, my Lord, my salvation!

 

Bro John, 

The last three Pearls of the Day have been very interesting to me:

Tuesday 3/20/2018 – We need deliverance from debt as much as we do from sickness.

Wednesday 3/21/2018 – How you spend your money is a reflection of your spiritual condition.

Thursday 3/22/2018 – Debt is an enemy to your soul.

They are all so true, and very serious too. They brought back some memories of my past experiences with debt during my earlier years of married life. 

Debt is such a horrible way to live. There is constant turmoil, strife, bickering, disagreements on which bills need to be paid first, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, making up excuses, covering up the truth, etc. Even though my first husband had the holy Ghost, he had a serious problem with spending money.  He spent it as if we had plenty, but we had very little, even though both of us worked full time jobs.  It seemed as if his pockets had holes in them, the money just got away. 

Wasted money is not usually spent on big things but on little things, unnecessary things, pleasures that are not a must, but something that’s desirable.  But if you don’t have the money, you just don’t get it.  There’s some self control involved in making wise decisions with money.   

Many things may put a strain on a marriage and a family, but I think unnecessary debt is probably one of the biggest.  Going through those many lean years were very hard, it seemed like an impossible situation at times, like a boat full of holes. 

Being in debt may not seem like a big thing, but it certainly is.  It is very serious and very hazardous to spiritual health.  It can even take a person away from the truth if their desires for more things isn’t controlled in a wise and godly manner. 

I really appreciate all these daily Pearls we receive because they go right along with life’s everyday situations.  They are food for our souls and wise instructions.

Sheila