Good morning Pastor John,

The last night at the beach Jenny and I went for a bike ride.  It was a beautiful night. As I was riding back I started thinking about you, Kathy, Gary, Sammy, the little girl that was bitten by the shark and many more.  Every time I had a thought about each I heard, “but I had mercy…” 

Last night I was turning the TV and saw some show about an accident that happened in 2007.  A huge bridge had fallen and the survivors were telling of their experiences.  One lady was in her car and fell into the Mississippi river.  She was saying how she knew she was going to die but kept hitting against the car to get out.  She does not remember how she got out of the car but she did and she made it to shore.  One man’s car took a nose dive 70 yards straight down.  All his window were blown out and the car was crushed in except where he was sitting.

All I kept thinking as I was listening is, “What would we do without His mercy?”

This morning I woke up with this still on my mind.  I began reading Psalm 136:

¹O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

² O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

³ O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁴ To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁵ To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁶ To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁷ To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever:

⁸ The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:

⁹ The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.

¹⁰ To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹¹ And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹² With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.

¹³ To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹⁴ And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹⁵ But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.

¹⁶ To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever.

¹⁷ To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹⁸ And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever:

²⁰ And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever:

²¹ And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever:

²² Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever.

²³ Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever:

²⁴ And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever.

²⁵ Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.

²⁶ O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

I’m so thankful for His mercy Pastor John.  Makes me want to stay in the Masters hands.

 

​Pastor John,

Michelle’s email goes along with what I am reading in Lamentations. (See blog 6/14/2015, His Mercy). ​ ​This morning I was reading from chapter 3​,​ and I really wasn’t looking forward to it because chapters 1 and 2 were so hard, and so sad – God was very wrath with Judah. ​ ​But chapter 3 is where the light starts to shine in and there is a kindle of hope! ​ ​Verse 22 and 23 are my all time favorites.​ ​ “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness”. ​ ​All those verses around there are very good, but v 22 is the best​:​ “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed”.​ ​ It makes me agree with Michelle and think how it always His mercy that we are kept safe and not harmed, and it was of His mercy that none of us were harmed by the shark, and that Sammy’s condition was not much, much worse.

But also, this time I noticed v 31 “For the Lord will not cast off forever”.​ ​ Oh my! ​ ​I love that! ​ ​It brought to mind a time way back, when I was about 23. ​ ​I did something the Lord was extremely displeased about – it was not a “sin”, but I knew the Lord was displeased.​ ​ I believe I had really offended God in a way.​ ​ After that episode was over I could not feel the Lord anymore.​ ​ I felt very much like He’d turned his back. ​ ​This went on for about 6mo or more.​ ​ Finally, I was feeling so bad at not being able to find him anymore, and knowing my prayers were not going up.​ ​ I felt like I was in a dry, arid desert. I called out to Him with all my heart and said, “Lord, I am in a desert. If you don’t help me I will die.​ ​ Please help me. I’m sorry”. ​ ​Then I made some things right – some things I’d just been careless about. ​ ​And I sought the Lord again, and found him again. The Lord did not cast me off forever.​ ​ I love His mercy, and am very thankful for His mercy on me.

Jenny

Pastor John,

There are a lot of thoughts floating around my home, thoughts about emails, Pearls of the Day, and the like. They have been building one on another for days.

It sure feels like Jesus.

Things for me just keep coming back to the place that you spoke of a month ago, the “neither this nor that” place, that you described. That place where you don’t choose between good and evil, the place where you just are and what you are is holy. When you described it for us pastor John, you described it, that evening, as the place where we could properly love God’s children. The place above drawing sides, which always forces others to do the same. The place above choosing between one or the other of anything. The place above the division caused by choosing good over evil.  Pastor John, when I awoke this morning, I never once made the choice to be a human being, and I have been a human being all day. That, to me, is what this place is like, that you described to us.   It’s where you are a holy creature, by God’s design, and whatever you do, whatever you think and whatever you say is holy. It’s a place where you are free to function and be of service to God, without carnal worries. You would have to leave the place of holiness to make a choice to be good. You would have to become carnally minded to choose the good.  You would have to backslide from Holy… to be good.

That old Pearl from last year, posted this week on FB, by TE, was such a reinforcement of what you described to us that evening in your home. Preacher Clark explained, in that Pearl, the promise of perfect peace, described by Jesus, when our minds are stayed on Him.  That perfect peace only exists in that place above decision that you described to us.  That place of liberty, liberty to just live as a holy creature, free from worry of wrong decisions and free from worry for our own well being, which is without fail a full-time job for the carnal mind.   In that place that you described, we are free to be perfect.  We are above the law, above reproach, above the judgment of men, and for all that, we are most beneficial to all men.  We are this world’s help because what God is perfect. 

Preacher Clark pointed out that we insult God with hand-wringing prayers of fear and doubt. You have to leave that place of holiness that you described, pastor John, to have those fears and that doubt…and then to pray about them. They don’t exist in that place above decision-making. Prayers of faith come from the place you described to us. You have to backslide from being holy to pray for food, clothes and shelter. I believe Jesus told us not to do it.

In the place that we are to be, our abode, where the Power is, praise, thanksgiving, and prayers from God’s heart erupt, you can feel them. There is never fear or uncertainty there. That is our home.

We cannot yield ourselves to God and perform God’s work if we are worried for our survival. It would be like one of us setting down and trying to teach our young son or daughter something, and that child interrupting us to tell us how worried they were about where they were going to get food for their lunch, when WE, their parents, have provided every meal they have ever eaten.  It was important to God, so much so that Israel was required to take one day’s rations every morning.  They did not have that spiritual place, that you described, available to them then.  But God made them live like they trusted Him.  He was trying to teach them then that all their needs were met by Him, daily, and not their storing up of manna or anything else.

Pastor John, if we are nervous when our bank account is lean, we do not trust Jesus.  There is a place of perfect peace and rest, where prayers are made of power and where we live for the glory and service of God.

I have failed God so much in my life that knowing this place exists thrills my soul.  I want to go there.  The old Preacher Clark recordings make me think of this place.

You have been describing holiness for as long as I know of. I have just begun to see. We love you brother John.

Jerry

Hi John,

We need God’s wisdom​.  There is no lasting wisdom without it. ​  All we have to do is look around at what is happening in this world with men’s wisdom​,​ and ​we can see ​how evil that is for people on this earth. ​ I loved Michelle’s testimony​, and see​ing​ Julie there and hear​ing​ her confess and honor the faithfulness of our God and his Son!!!​ ​ ​I loved the testimon​ie​​s tonight​.  We need to know who we are and who Jesus has made us, so we can recognize wrong spirits when they come.​ ​ I liked what you said about Jesus​:  “Every time you praise the Lord​, whether​ in tong​u​es ​or in your ​own language, that is the Son praising the Father in the mi​d​st of the congregation.”  Wow​.  Amen!!!

Stuart

John,

Here is the Uncle Joe writing I typed this afternoon. It had such a tender feeling
for God’s people in it, and after hearing Jesus’ message to us this evening, it felt
like Uncle Joe was right there with us. Jesus’ messages to the body are timeless.
I am grateful for the times Jesus and you have suffered and laid down your life for
and with me.

Bess

Poured Out His Soul to Death
Joseph H. Murray, early 1960’s

There are not very many who would pour out their soul unto death for the saving of one in distress.

Those who have been swimming in the ocean know that there is a limit to how far the swimmers can go out to sea.  This limitation is for the safety of everyone, even though some may be better swimmers than others.  Though the limitation markers are out there, some will venture to go farther.

The lifeguards are there to warn those who will heed the spoken word.  Some, no matter how well they can swim, at times, need his assistance inside the safety range.  There are always some who will dare to go beyond the safety point.  There will be times when a second warning will turn the daring one back to safety.  There are cases when a life line can be thrown to those who are in danger.  Then again, there are those who are so desperately in need of help that the only way to save that person is for the lifeguard to jump in the water with the drowning person. Then, not only is the drowning person in danger, but the person rescuing the drowning one also is in peril.  The greater the danger, the greater the risk, and the greater the concern and love for the one in danger.

When I think of this I’m reminded of the words to a verse in the song “Blessed Redeemer”                 

Father forgive them, thus did He pray 
Even while His life’s blood flowed fast away. 
Praying for sinners while in such woe 
No one but Jesus ever loved so.

My friend, that’s what he did for us.  He went beyond the limits of safety to rescue us.  Even through death itself.

God has had some daring leaders, through the ages, who cared enough to go beyond that which was required of them to rescue others from danger.  Moses was one of them.  “And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and it is a stiff-necked people.  Now, therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation.  And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?  Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?  Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people.  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self and saidest unto them, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto His people” (Exodus 32:9-14).

“And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and made them gods of gold.  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin – and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book” (Exodus 32:31-33).  Thus did Moses dare to venture out beyond the safety zone for the deliverance of the Israelites.

My friend, how far would you be willing to go to help someone you loved?  Would you dare to risk your own soul for the deliverance of a child of God who is entangled with and bothered by a spirit of infirmity that is sure to drown that soul in perdition unless he or she is delivered?  I’m afraid we haven’t seen the depth of love that Christ expects us to partake of for the deliverance of his dearly beloved.  How much do you care?  How much do you love?  Would you go beyond the limits of the safety of your own salvation and pull that one, with whom you share Christ’s blood blood, and bring him again to safety?  It might be that you have the strength to save your loved one and be rescued in the end yourself.

We find another example of one willing to go beyond the safety limits to save those who were on their way to destruction.  The apostle Paul had this to say concerning his concern and sorrow for the Jews. “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.  Amen. (Rom. 9:1-5).

============

Pastor John,

Amanda’s comments about Uncle Joe’s article reminded me of the time we all were at Kerr Lake in NC.  I was going to ride a pontoon, and a friend from KY said he would watch Jeremy (he was about 5 or 6) in the water.  Jeremy knew his boundaries for swimming, but he forgot them in his excitement of playing with others.   I had told my friend not to take his eyes off of Jeremy, and he promised, but he was splashing and going ever deeper in water.  That was okay to him, but was too deep for Jeremy.  Jeremy was following him, and the water was up to his chin.  As I sat there watching this whole scene, Jeremy took one more step and he couldn’t back up; he was now looking straight up to the sky with a desperate look on his face (playing was over), while my friend was oblivious to what was happening to Jeremy because his had his back to him the whole time.

As I watched Jeremy struggling to catch his breath, the Spirit told spoke to me, “He is drowning”.  I dove into the water from the pontoon in my street clothes and sunglasses and swam as hard and fast as I could to Jeremy.  As he was going under water, I was close enough to him and reached out my hand under his chin and lifted his head up out of the water.  We both embraced each other with so much love.  I told him, “Little buddy, you’re not as big as you think, like the others.”

 I learned so many lessons that day; here are a few:

 1) My children are my responsibility.
 2) Because someone says they will, will they?
 3) “The Lord, is the lifter up of my head.”
 4) Some are not as big as they think, and the ones who are big are not as little (servant-like and dependable) as they think.

 Billy M.

 

Hi Pastor John,

In my dream, Gary and I were driving together, and Joseph was driving the boys to meet us to do some work.  Afterwards, we left and went to a place where an “up and coming” preacher was going to teach on the word, “saved”.  We thought we would like to hear what he had to say.  When we got there, he was using and teaching another form of human wisdom, and basically was lying; he was just preaching to the younger generation and attempting to get into their hearts and minds.  I asked the young good-looking preacher, “Please explain to me what Jesus meant when he said, “Unless you endure to the end, you cannot be saved.” The preacher sat there in silence.  Then Gary and I got up and left in unison with the boys. 

The scene changed, and we were in a room full of music equipment.  Gary and I were talking about your diagnosis, and the situations with the families in the neighborhood, and the young lying minister telling people how to be saved.  Then Brother Gary said, ” I can’t take this anymore; I’ve got to sing!”

Gary asked, “What is that old time song about Canaan’s land?”  I started singing this song (it is one of my favorite songs to sing) by a group called Heaven Bound :), “Canaan’s Land is Just in Sight.”

I started singing it at the top of my voice.  Then Gary said, “That’s it!  That’s what I feel!”  Gary and the boys started to sing with me.  The boys were so much in unison singing with Gary that you couldn’t tell Gary from the boys, or separate one of the boys from each other; it was perfect harmony.  We were singing from our whole hearts to Jesus.  It felt so great! 

No matter who is teaching God’s people lies, no matter what physical ailment we have, no matter what spiritual battle we are going through, if we sing (do) everything with our whole heart to God, He has promised us Canaan’s Land.  It’s up to each one of us to dispossess the inhabitants of that land in unison and perfect harmony, but with God’s power we can, in His strength. No tribe conquered any territory without the help from the other tribes. 

I awoke out of my sleep before I got to the 2nd verse :/ , but the burden and heaviness that I felt last night was gone.  I feel so encouraged this morning.  So what, if we have a few more battles to fight, a few more enemies of God to dispossess, more land that needs clearing?  Who is leading us and who is our God? 

We can do this!

Billy M

​PS​:  

Here is the video link;  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScXty64f_Rw

I loved this group as a young man growing up. 

 

Hi Pastor John,

I listened to your new song, “I’m here to praise his name”, all day long today.  Brother Gary gave me a cd Sunday before we left to come home with the new music on it.  As I listen to the cd, I could feel the spirit of God all over me.  All I could do was fall on my face and pour my heart out to Him and tell Him how thankful I was for everything He has done for me in my life!  And I asked Him to forgive me for all the times I may have missed what He was doing for me, and did not realize how much he loved me.

When you sang the words, “Before my eyes opened in this world of sorrow, He knew my path would be filled with sin and shame”.  All I could do was thank God and Jesus for what they have changed in me, in my life, and where He has put me.  It made me want to find someone that I have mistreated, or mistreated me in my life, and do anything I can for them to make their life easier or better somehow.   Without the spirit of God and his power in our life, we will mistreat one another, but all I could feel was love for everybody in my life around me.

I asked God, “Let me feel this way always!”  When you know that God is the only reason you are who you are, you won’t be able to mistreat anybody in any way.  There is no wrong spirit in that Love!  I felt so grateful and overwhelmed with his presence while listening to your song, John.  I can’t put into words just how I was feeling.  It was out of this world.  It’s a beautiful song, John.  I know where it came from.

Thanks​,

Stuart