Pastor John

Sunday after the meeting, I got a message that one of my friends that I use to go to church with had passed away.  Her name was Kathy.  She was about 8 years older than I, and we used to sit beside each other when I went to church.  She was a sweet lady.   She had diabetes, and as she was driving, her blood sugar level went over 400 and she blacked out and wrecked her car.  She was in the hospital and had some other issues, and developed a blood clot that killed her.

Kathy never went to the doctor for help with her diabetes.  The church didn’t believe in doing that.  It is so sad, God’s people are in a mess!  Suffering and dying when they don’t have too.

I was there once, Pastor John.  For a long time, I didn’t go to a doctor.  Instead, I would stay home and suffer, thinking I was doing the will of God.  My heart goes out to Kathy’s family and the rest of God’s children who think they are doing the will of God when they are not.  At the same time, I’m so thankful that Jesus rescued me from that.  Thankful does not even come close to how I feel.  I don’t know what we would do without His tender mercy. 

Michelle H

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

Hi Michelle.

These kinds of stories remind me of the lament of God through the prophet Hosea:  “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

He was not happy when He said that; He was hurting.

Pastor John

 

 

John,

Okay, these are just too good!  These statements are  comments that Preacher Clark made in a sermon in the 1970’s.

“You don’t even have a chance [of being right with God] if you’re not persecuted.  Paul said, ‘If any man [or a woman, either one] will live godly in Christ Jesus he shall suffer persecution.’  If your preacher is not being persecuted, he can’t be living right.”

And then, this was touching from Preacher Clark to you, John:

“John, the further you go, the more hatred is going to come your way, when you stand for the truth and you’re able to compete intellectually with the world.  That’s the greatest thing yet – being able to compete with the world on their own ground and still uphold the truth.”

Amen!

Amy B

===========

Thanks, Amy.  One thing we can say for sure – Preacher Clark was right about the hatred that has come our way simply because Jesus has enabled us to communicate the truth; still, I am thankful for the grace to be his servant!

jdc

Pastor John’s House Teaching Materials and Music Store

Hey! 🙂

I loved last night’s meeting. I have a neat story about it. This week, I loaded some CDs on my computer – Thanksgiving Live being one of them. Yesterday, while I was working, the song The Lord is a Refuge came on. I hadn’t heard it in a long time. It felt so good, I just sat there and enjoyed it! It was so good when we sat down for the meeting last night and you started singing THAT song! I love it when that happens.

As I was listening to that song, it was stirring up memories for me also – mainly when we were recording it in your office in 2001, the Spirit came on me and I could not stop my feet. I knew we were recording, but my feet would not stop walking, so I walked around and around enjoying what was happening. I could hear myself on the cd saying “I can’t stop my feet!” I remember the feelings that I felt of “you can run to Jesus. And you don’t have to stop. Just run to him” he was it! And just the “name of The Lord” His name was so wonderful. I just wanted to say it over and over again…… So, at the end of the song I just couldn’t help it, you were talking and in the background I started saying that name J-E-S-U-S and then he gave us an impromptu song about him! And his wonderful name J-E-S-U-S. That was really a wonderful experience.

I still remember those feelings that day. Jesus was doing wonderful things for us during that time and I remember on the way home from work that Wednesday before everyone arrived for Thanksgiving praying in my car to be available for whatever Jesus wanted and a feeling
washed over my whole body. I am so thankful I was available! What a wonderful blessing that was.

So, needless to say, The Lord is a Refuge for Me holds sweet memories.  I love that song! It was good hearing it last night.

Amy B

 

Hi,

I’ve been listening to a sermon from 1992.  It is so good!  You were preaching that a good indication of someone’s heart is when they hear the truth, they love it!  The truth cuts no corners with you. 

“The real truth of God doesn’t just come to tickle your ears and to please you; it comes to save you.  If you really love the truth when it is told, you really want to be saved.”

I never quite thought about it like this before, how, if anyone tells you something that is sent from God, that is the truth of God for you.  I always in my mind just related the truth to be doctrine or the baptism.  The truth of God is much, much more than just that! Praise God!  I can feel that!  The real truth of God is what He is saying to us today.

Paul

===========

That is right, Paul.  As I have said before, the only truth that exists is what God is saying right now.  That is why we need fellowship with Him; we need to know what He is saying right now.  Otherwise, we are in the dark, no matter what we think we know.

Pastor John

Just a thought –

To the extent that is is our fault that ​someone ha​s ​little or ​no relationship with the body of Christ at large – to that extent – ​that person’s doctrine cannot be trusted. ​​If ​, however,​ ​the separation from the body is not ​that man’s doing or choice, but God’s​ work in his life​, then ​his message can be rejected only at the peril of losing one ‘s soul. ​His message must be received if ​his estrangement from the saints is because of God ​, as in the case of John the baptist​.​ To set oneself off from God’s children disqualifies a person from being a messenger of the Lord.​

jdc

​=========

I really loved this.

Stirs up good thoughts.

If anyone loves Gods people, it’s those who are willing to be rejected by His own… for simply walking in obedience to the word of the Father and Son. It is perplexing and even painful to be rejected for what is right, and to be refused for bringing what is good. But it is still right, and it can only be refused at the peril of one’s life.

Those who ​​ ​have ​understood ​the truth, and have then ​turned ​from ​it, can never do good apart from it ​, in God’s sight​.

Gary

=========

Good morning. Just read your emails. With reading this last one, it makes me want to be a peacemaker more than ever.

Donna N

=========

My prayer :

God grant me the words, deeds, actions, attitude and even facial expressions when I meet one of your children – even those not yours. The words of Uncle Joe have kept me from pushing in a lot of situations “If you get to someone before God does you are wasting your time.”

Only thru his power and leading can any good be done.

Wendell

=========

Pastor John,

I think I understand the first part of your comment, but I’m not sure I understand the last part. Are you saying that we must receive a man like John the Baptist, who was separated from the body not by his own choosing but because God was preparing him to send and preach something? In that case, the doctrine must be received or we are in danger of losing our soul, right? But when someone sets themselves apart from the body because they prefer being alone and are just self-centered (or deluded), then you can’t trust their experiences or their doctrine.

Lee Ann

=========

Yes, Lee Ann, exactly.

Pastor John

 

Hi,

I just wanted to tell you about the very sweet time I had at Tim and Bess’ tonight. We were sitting on the front porch after dinner while it was raining, just talking, and I had the sweetest feelings of being blessed and loved by God. And also secure. English words are insufficient to describe it. It was rich and full!! So good. Very deeply thankful. Goodnight.

Jenny
============

Praise the Lord, Jenny!
Isn’t fellowship wonderful?

Pastor John

Pastor John,

This morning when I woke up there was a worldly song playing in my head that I hadn’t heard in a long time.  It made me smile because the words are, “I’m Forever Yours, Faithfully.”  At breakfast, Hope randomly asked about worldly music because she has heard a little bit at school, and I told her that God can use anything to speak to us.  I didn’t want her to be afraid of hearing it.  All three kids were there, and I Googled the song that Jesus woke me with this morning.  It was so sweet that I cried when I heard it!!  The complete line was, “Oh girl, you stood by me. I’m forever yours, faithfully.”  The kids saw & felt that.  I loved how Jesus set that up :).  When you and Donna both mentioned worldly music in the meeting tonight, it felt even sweeter.  🙂

Cris

A loner’s spiritual experiences are rarely to be trusted, but when they are trustworthy, they are the most trustworthy of all.

When Israel had, in the main, become apostate, God sent them a man who had been separated from human company for years, John the Baptist, and anyone in Israel who refused John was damned by God.  John’s message and baptism was not optional for the Jews.

Usually, when someone has a spiritual experience apart from the community of faith, it is an experience of their own imagination, or even a demonic encounter. But at those very rare times when someone has a spiritual experience with Christ who is detached from the ordinary fellowship of the body of Christ, it is always a matter of life or death that we hear what that person has to say.

Stay humble, and be prepared always to hear from God when He speaks to the body of Christ by someone who is not a part of the daily fellowship that we know. When God sees a body growing too comfortable in a way that does not bear the best fruit, He may send a stranger in to re-arrange things and make us more perfect in His sight.

Pastor John