Hi Pastor John!
Hope you’re feeling full of energy!

I have a little testimony.

A few weeks ago, I had a vehicle inspection to perform. The gentleman worked at an insurance company and was returning his leased unit. It is my job to inspect the vehicle for all damages and apply charges for repair. Well, when I arrived, the customer was very nice.  He was happy and smiling.  As I began to inspect the car, I saw a lot of damage.  Most of it was right on the line between chargeable and non-chargeable damages.  I always try to not charge if it is possible.  Well, at the end of the inspection, I noticed hail damage.  It is very hard to see hail damage sometimes. This car had a lot of hail damage.  The damages were going to be $600 – which actually is a great repair price, but is still $600.

I hated to go tell this happy man about the damage, but I did.  The minute I mentioned the word “damage”, he got so angry!  He had me go out to the vehicle and show him every dent.  Well, you have to turn your head and lean at an angle (sometimes) to see the damage.  I tried to show him what angle to look from and how low to bend down.  He just got angrier and angrier.  He said, “If you have to look that hard, then it should not be chargeable!”

I tried to be very sweet while talking to him.  I do understand that it can be upsetting.  I have looked at so much hail damage that I can spot it, but I remember during training thinking, this is hard.  The whole point of my saying all that was that I was still sympathetic to him.  As I wrapped up the inspection, I had to get a signature and give some instructions to the customer.  He treated me very badly.  He held my computer as he made some phone calls, would not look at me or answer me, and was just ugly acting. It reminded me of a temper-tantrum from a badly behaved child.  I finally got my computer back and left.

When I got outside, I was so upset.  I was talking to Jesus about it.  It hurt my feelings.  I said, “Jesus, why did he have to be so awful?” I tried to shake it off, but it really bothered me.  I was driving down the road, and I just started saying, “Jesus, just because he cannot see the hail damage does not mean it is not there.”  I said this over and over, and then the Spirit interrupted me with this thought:  “That is just like the truth.  Just because they can’t see it does not mean it is not there.”  I instantly brightened. I mean, I felt so light and happy and in love with hearing from Jesus! Everything changed in just a moment.

Today, while I was thinking about that event and the feelings I felt from that man, Jesus spoke to me again.  He let me know that man was not trying to see hail damage.  Instead, he was spending all his energy trying to convince me there was none.  He never looked for hail damage.  That is the same thing the world does to Jesus and the truth.

I love hearing from Jesus.

Beth

I woke up with this chorus from Saturday night playing in my heart & head. Very thankful ❤

“Oh Lord we’re thankful. So thankful.
  We’re thankful, Lord, for what you’ve done.
  Thankful you’ve revealed your Son.
  We’re thankful, so thankful.
  And we praise you cause we’re thankful, Lord.”

Cris

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Amen!  Great way to start the day, Cris!  I’m thankful, with you!
Pastor John

John,
What a wonderful weekend! I’m thankful for the teaching, the music, the testimonies, and the feelings! Where else can you feel so rich?

When Gary started playing, “Have a Little Drink,” (of the Spirit) it started feeling so good. Jesus was nudging me, like he was saying, “All you need to do is step out there.” He always meets us when we take that first step! I LOVE the feelings and hearing other people being blessed around me. At one point I opened my eyes, there was Donna next to me. I loved seeing Karlee being blessed, and I loved collapsing next to Token. Wonderful!

I started getting so tickled because I knew that I was supposed to pick up the kids at 2:00. All I could think was, “I can’t drink and drive (drink of the Spirit).” Ha! It got funnier and funnier! I told Jesus that he was going to have to help me make good time getting back to Cary. Every single light (there are probably around 12) was green on the way back. I was right on time! That was sweet. I just hummed the song all the way in my car. I’m so thankful for the touch from Jesus. That will carry me through. I am recharged! 🙂

I just wanted to add, I loved the part about what you said about Jesus giving you the desires of your heart. Just be full of the Holy Ghost- that’s the answer! Love that and he will give you your desires.

Thank you so much, John, for all that you do.

Love,

Carrie

Brother John,

I heard this (below) from Jesus back in 2006; it thrills me to read it again this evening.  I love Christ’s victory over sin!  We cannot win that warfare.
I sent this to you then, and it is so good, I wanted to send it again.

Jerry

Date:   Friday, December 1, 2006, 9:20 AM
Hey Bro. John,
This has blessed my soul this morning….

The flesh did not repent when I chose the way of the Lord.  Jesus made me an offer of eternal life, and I chose it over the flesh, but my flesh stayed exactly the same ….The flesh has never > repented…. It has never “gotten well”.  It is just as sick as the day that I last saw it.  So if we are to be well, we must stay far away from it. We can only do that by walking in the Spirit.

Every rotten thing that we were, every sin that did or “does so easily beset us”, is still waiting for us in the flesh,
if we will have it.  It will be there until the day that we shed this flesh for eternity.   So… Here is the wonderful news!

If we are struggling with any sin, if we are trying to walk holy and yet are feeling the heaviness of near defeat, if we are feeling unable and weak, It is of the flesh!  And, that is exactly how your flesh felt on your very best, most victorious day, with Jesus!  So….Get out of the flesh! and live and be happy and free, AND REST!  And Lock the door behind you, so you can’t get back in!

Man this feels good!

Love Jerry

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Thanks, Jerry.  You’re right. That IS good!
Pastor John

Pastor John:

I feel intoxicated tonight from brother Darren’s last song. What sweetness from Jesus.  I am absolutely floating.  I had to grab Beth and run for the door when it was finished; I was afraid to open my mouth and speak to anyone. I didn’t want to lose these feelings. I know they can last if I stay here with Jesus.

Good night 🙂

Jerry

(For a sample of brother Darren’s music go to the link below:)

http://www.isaiah58.com/music/slimplayer/indexdarrenprater.html

John,

Good Morning:

I love the excerpts from your book, “God Had a Son before Mary Did”. It still amazes me how well Job knew God.  Job said in the latest excerpt that even an intent can’t be kept from God.  Oh, I wish that everyone knew that nothing is hid from God.  Based on scriptures, all feel unclean when God’s holiness gets near, and from experience, I could only exceedingly quake and tremble.

Wendell

Good morning John,

I am loving reading through the New Testament together like we are.  The things that Paul taught are so simple, and so rich, and so full of the love of God for people.  I think it is such a wonderful thing that we don’t have to depend on our own strength, intelligence, status, or money to please God (in fact, those things just get in the way), and that “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise”.

I hadn’t realized it until you talked about it last night, but I have never once wondered if one of my natural family members was right about something they had rejected from me about Jesus and what he did for me.  I never even had the thought, “Well, maybe they’re right about such-and-such.”  I knew what Jesus was teaching me was right, because I could feel it, and I didn’t learn it on my own.   I had already tried, for years, to figure things out – figure life out – on my own, with my own wisdom and intelligence.  And it got me nowhere but deeper in sin and despair.  But after Jesus touched me, and opened my eyes to the truth, and baptized me with the Spirit, I could feel the Spirit in me saying “amen” whenever I learned a new truth about God.  It was like coming out of a dark tunnel into the bright sunlight.

At first (last night), this was such a wonderful, exciting thing to me to realize, and when the power of God touched me, it felt so good.  And so cleansing!  But then, a very humbling feeling of thankfulness came over me that brought tears to my eyes.  Jesus reached down from heaven in 2007 and touched me, and gave me a desire to know him.  And I didn’t want him, nor was I looking for him!  And ever since, he has taught me, helped me, encouraged me and strengthened me – both personally and through the pastor and family that he put me with.  HE is the one who has done it.  And I am so very thankful that he did, and gave me a love for it at the same time.

Thank you John.  I am very much looking forward to laying my eyes on you in person next week, along with Barbara, Rob, Donna, Token and the kids, and Earl and Betty.  When I first moved into my apartment nearly six years ago, I used to daydream about you chartering a bus and bringing everyone out here.  I had even picked out the perfect little community center nearby that we could rent out for a meeting.  Ha!  Your visit next week is pretty close to that – I’m glad Jesus did that for me. 🙂

Vince

John,

It was so good to be with everyone tonight (February 3, 2016).  My family needed that so much.  It’s been such a long time for normal. Loved the reading and testimonies. Felt like a shower.

Thank you!

Paul

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It felt normal to have you all there!  I am very thankful for the family God has created for us in Christ.

Pastor John

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Good morning,

The meeting last night was so good!  When the meeting first started, I felt so bad I could hardly raise my head off the pillow, and I couldn’t breathe through my nose, at all.  As the meeting went on with the reading and the good testimonies and the talk about the strength we get from having each other, I felt the spirit stirring inside my weak body!  Then, when the spirit hit Earl and he fell back and said, “Don’t you want to feel this?!”  My arms shot in the air, and I could feel the power of God running up and down my arm!  The next thing I know, my sinuses opened up and I could breathe and I felt strength come into my body!  Jesus touched me and I was able to sit up and enjoy the rest of the meeting.  After the meeting, I went to sleep and had a good sleep.  I am not 100% this morning, but I feel much better.

There really is strength for us when we come together in the spirit!  I am so thankful this morning for the family Jesus has given me, and the strength I have felt from them through the years.  I woke up thanking Jesus for that sweet touch last night.  The difference I felt after he touched me was like night and day.

Lee Ann

Morning Pastor John.

Sure do miss y’all. I am feeling better. Jerry is still having some issues but He is slowly improving. I stayed home from work Friday. I decided to see if I could find anything on the tv. I was scanning through trying to find something clean enough to watch. It really is near impossible anymore. I found a few things I thought may be decent enough to watch. Things on the bible, Jesus, lost artifacts etc…  As I began one program about, “The Exodus of Moses” I had a thought from the spirit. The entire show was really leading you to think that the bible is not true. It made me sad and the thought I had was “Wow it’s the ” Good stuff”  that is so bad”. I instantly thought of what Preacher Clark said about being terrified of what the world calls love. I thought about all those people wanting to know Jesus that find this stuff out there.  That book you just sent the notes on is another example of the stuff people run into, looking for Jesus.  I just feel so thankful that Jesus plucked us all out of that fog and maze this world has in place.

A little later I put in a meeting disc that had Brother Earl talking about vultures and how they only want the dead. This is what I love the most about our lives. To look up in the sky, and see vultures and hear from the spirit about keeping death off of you. How amazingly good is that? I felt every word Brother Earl said. I love that Jesus teaches throughout the day. I love the depth of God. I don’t know if the word I want to use is parables? If it’s the right word, I love a life of parables. I just love our life and love Jesus. Living in the spirit really is exciting like Gary said. It does not even have to be your own experience. I am just as thrilled to hear someone else’s testimony about hearing from Jesus. Well I just had to write that out. I can not hold all that love in. 

Hope to see y’all soon. I am going to help Venus pack today. 

Beth