Hi Bro John,

It’s been such a cold day but I have very much enjoyed keeping the fireplace going this afternoon. I wanted the house to be very warm when Sammy gets home from work. So just now, I put in a really big piece of wood and that very thankful feeling (one that we all have experienced) came over me and I said out loud, I am so thankful that I am strong enough and able to lift this piece of wood and know how to put it in the fireplace properly.

Being thankful for a lot of little things each day sure does add up and make us very rich people.

Sheila

Bro. John:

I’ve been thinking a lot about your Pearl from a few weeks ago:

“It doesn’t matter how cold their (children of God who have fallen away) hearts are, it matters how warm God’s heart is.”  Oh, how encouraging!  Then the Lord reminded me of these verses this morning in Isaiah 55: 8-9:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

So good!  Just made me realize that whatever I am thinking right now about anything, His thoughts are higher!  I love that!

And then in Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

These verses speak of God’s warm heart towards His children.  His thoughts and ways are not just “higher” because He is God (though that would be reason enough) but His “higher” is full of righteousness and holiness, sprinkled with His mercy, grace, and love, and His overwhelming goodness!  He wants us to have that expected end that ends with Him! 

I have just feasted on these thoughts today.  How good God is and how He wants good for His children. 

Sandy  🙂

Hi John,
Amy and I have been listening to the tape series you recorded on the Law of Moses years ago.

Last night we started the part where you break down the 3 different types of commandments given by God in the Law (Moral, Civil, and Ceremonial), as well as the 3 different “time zones” (before the Law, during the Law, and after the Law). I remember learning about these things several years ago, and how clear, and simple, and how perfectly it made sense the way God has dealt with mankind through the ages.

One of the things that stood out to me last night went right along with what you were telling the parents on Christmas Eve – to spend time with their children, teaching them the Bible and talking about the stories in the Bible – not just once or twice, but continually, until they LEARN them and understand them. One of the examples you gave in your teaching series on the law was how teaching your children the ways of the Lord is a MORAL COMMANDMENT. And then you demonstrated how we know this by giving the scripture references for this commandment before the Law was given, during the Law, and after. They are:

Genesis 18:17-19 And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Deuteronomy 6:7 And thou shalt teach them [God’s commandments] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Ephesians 6:4 And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.“

I have really been enjoying listening to th e Law Series again, and reading through the Law. I love it when, like you said recently in a meeting, you come across a commandment of God in the Law, and it just FEELS right, even if you don’t know the details of exactly why God commanded certain things.

Vince

Hi Pastor John,

I feel really good.  The past 2 mornings I’ve just sat in my chair and told Jesus over and over Thank you, thank you, thank you for how I feel: full of confidence and growing faith.   I think of all the things He has done for me – especially in getting me out of Christianity – but what it really comes down to is keeping my way clear, keeping clean hands and a pure heart and not having condemnation, so that I can keep having confidence in him.  I have just loved how I’ve been feeling.

OK, back to study for me. I think my exam is going to be tough.

Jenny

I don’t know if I understand this Pearl, exactly. What if nobody you ever tell about Jesus follows after it? Or will that not happen over a lifetime of serving God, if you’re doing your part?

RJC
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Hi.

If you are helping bear the burden of winning souls, or if you are encouraging a righteous soul to be faithful to Jesus, you are “carrying somebody with you into eternal life”. Jesus promised that whoever is a blessing to one of his disciples will receive a disciple’s reward.

Of course, the opposite is true, also. If we are a stumbling block for those seeking for eternal life, we will be damned. Jesus said that it would be better for a person never to be born than to cause one of his little ones to stumble in their walk with him.

Pastor John

Hi, Pastor John:

In my dream we were sitting around at your house in the basement and you were talking to us. The power of God filled the room and people were speaking in tongues and getting drunk.  The power of God fell on John David, II, and he lay down gently on the floor and on his back. People, speaking in tongues, praising God, shouting, singing  – or anything -didn’t disturb the peace and rest John David was experiencing. 

Someone said, as they pointed to John David, “What is the interpretation (spiritually) of this?” You replied softly, “There is no interpretation of this.  Rest is its own interpretation.”

You went on to say, “If you turn to anything to comfort you, to help you, or to get relief, other than the comfort of the holy Ghost, that is a measuring stick of how much Christian is still in you”. 

I woke up.

Then, I remembered the reading in Exodus 20:

1 And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

God, wanted all of Egypt out of his people and he wants all of Christianity out of us, so that we can rest and be comforted, and worship God acceptably. Out of Egypt (bondage) and into life. Out of Christianity or any other thing(bondage) and into life, peace, and rest in the holy Ghost.

I could think on these thoughts all day long. 

Hope all is well, love you all.

Billy

Good morning Pastor John,

I woke up early this morning thinking about the laws of God and his judgments that he has revealed to us in the Old Testament and now through his spirit dwelling in us.  As I ponder over them, as I read them, all I can see and feel is how much he cares about his people and how they feel, and how they make other people feel as they walk through this life together.  I thought about what the Lord gave you about relationships and how everything is about our relationships with everyone in our lives, and how we treat every one of them as we walk through this world.

He cares enough that if we do something wrong and want to make it right, he gives us a way out.  In almost all the cases, he allows some kind of reparations to be made to the one who was wronged so that they can feel better and get some relief from the burden that was put on them by what was done.  And in turn, it allows the one who did it to repent and make it as right as they can, and hopefully that frees them both from ill-well or bad feeling with each other in the end.   

But what I love is that God has given us his life and his spirit so that we don’t have to treat each other wrong.  If we follow his spirit, we will treat each other the way he would, and in turn have wonderful fellowship with one another and a right relationship that need not to be repented of.  As we know, things happen in this life and God gives us insight, and we want to feel the way he does about it, and we will if we walk in his spirit.  Men’s ways are perverted and are not his ways and I am so glad you had us reading about God’s judgments and his laws; it sure will clear the fog out of your mind about how God really feels about things, no matter what men say and do in a matter on this earth.  If  what we feel is not how God feels, then it is wrong.

Thanks

Stuart

http://www.goingtojesus.com/the-new-birth-teaching-series.html

Hey there!

I love this!  I was driving to work this morning, listening to the New Birth series, and I felt the spirit preaching to me, that when a person is truly thankful for what Jesus has done, they tell it!!!  That’s how you make Jesus happy! To make Jesus truly happy, you tell what He has done for you! There’s not much we can do for Him, but to make Him happy.

When we go through something and get past it, and learn what Jesus wants us to learn, we tell it! That’s the true testimony! 

The body knows when one of its members is sore, or needing care. If you have a sore knee, ands it’s healed and stops hurting, you are so happy to be able to walk around! That’s the normal function, to be happy when you’re not hurting, after the injury has passed!

When I went through my many learning lessons, then got through them, I was never sorry I went through them. I was so thankful to have passed that time, and then put into action what I learned.

I felt that Jesus was so happy to have gone through all he went through, for us. He knew it was for His own good.  Then after it passed, He was so thankful for it!  For us!!

Jesus does so much for us daily, that if we really slow down and pay attention, there’s a testimony each day. 🙂

I wouldn’t change a thing I went through this past two years!  If I did, I would have to admit that I didn’t like learning what my Father has to say! Or that “all things working for my good” doesn’t apply to me.  I love driving and listening to my tapes, and have the spirit teaching me. He has really done more than I was praying for!

Paul

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Pastor John,

I heard these things on a CD of a meeting from a few years ago and thought I’d like to pass them on.

From your sermon:

(1)  ‘When a person is truly delivered from something, that person has a testimony. If there’s not a testimony, there has been no deliverance; that person has just quit doing something temporarily.  The sin is not gone; it’s just on vacation!  A real testimony is a real confession of Christ.  A real testimony is not in the words that are spoken; it is the experience with God.  When you give a real testimony, you are sharing something that has been done by God; that is a real testimony, and that is what overcomes the world.’

(2)  ‘Now, the scriptures say “Confess your faults one to another, that you might be healed.” If you confess your faults but don’t want to be healed, you are just bragging about how bad you’ve been.’”

From Lou’s testimony:

(1)  ‘The flesh feels like it is always right, and if you are in the flesh and I’m in the flesh, then we both feel like we are right, but we are both wrong.’

(2)  ‘When you love the things of God, it is only because you are teachable.’”

Amanda F