Pastor John,

One thing I have learned since you became our pastor in 2001 is that you are not here to drive us but to lead us. Where we were, we had grown used to being driven and not led. When we no longer had someone driving us we didn’t know what to do or how to feel. Sometimes, after 2001, we would even wait to be driven, but we found that you are not made that way 🙂

Thank you Jesus! The result of that was we got to grow and to know God for ourselves.

I love being led!! I am Happier then I have ever been or knew I could be!!

Jamie C.

Good morning!

I just wanted to write to say how much I enjoyed chapter 8. Saturday night, Vince and I were not able to be with you all for the whole meeting and my parents had sent us the dvd from Wednesday nights meeting. So, we put that in and watched it. It was sooo good! I loved the testimonies, Doris and Abby’s were very touching. Then, we followed along with the first part of chapter 8. Very good feelings! Yesterday, after the meeting, we finished the 2nd half of chapter 8. I love this chapter, and believe it is my favorite, as all the chapters are my favorite when we are reading them 🙂

I love the order of God, the government of God, relationships, the visible representatives, a who not a what, all of them. I was thinking. “who knows this?” If all of God’s children would just look for the visible representative and listen to hear if he is speaking as Jesus did and follow that, they would be saved from so much agony and hurt and confusion. They have to feel something is right about it when they hear truth. If they would just follow that, even if its against what everyone they know is saying and doing! I love what the Lord told you, “What difference does it make what men say about anything?” What is God saying? and what is He thinking about it? I wish everyone would ask that question. They would get an answer if they really want to know. I love one of the lines from Darren’s new song this weekend, it said something like “I will fulfill my promise: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Referring to the verses from Matthew 7… and the rest of that verse says:

For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened.”

That is a promise from God! And He means it.

Also, I love the visible representative part. I love that we are lights and visible representatives now. Jesus has given us a big part in his family and He made it so simple for us. It’s so sweet to know how God set up everything from the beginning, in His perfect order. He planned this! And He is going to fulfill His plan. Just to recognize and know what Jesus is doing in our lives now is such a relief. To know that there is an order of God, and a visible representative here on earth, a government of God now, and later that will be in effect. To know that God’s government is not a dictation government, so unlike what people see today. It’s not of this world and people do not really know God or His order. It makes me sad and it makes me thankful. I could go on and on with thoughts I had from each section…. (I took lots of notes and had many smiley faces with hair!)

I wish we knew if there were more visible representatives of Jesus out there, but I sure am thankful that I know one of them now! 🙂 Thanks John. I do believe this chapter is one of my favorites.

Hi Pastor John
I really loved reading chapter 8 last night. I’m so thankful Jesus put me here to partake of all this good food! Last night I kept thinking how good it was to hear these things. No where that I know of hears the truth. Every time we get together and read I feel like it’s cleaning more “stuff” out of me. I feel very blessed and very loved.
For the past 2 weeks I keep getting these sinus headaches. They are intense and I feel alot of pressure behind my eyes. Last night while Bro Gary was singing his song I felt this warmth come down over my head. I felt like His hand rested on my head, this lasted for a little while. Then all the pain and pressure was gone! I couldn’t believe it. Last night I kept thinking wow it’s all gone. No more pain at all. I’m so thankful for how He has been helping me in my body. First my back (which has not hurt since you prayed for me) and now these headaches! It is so sweet and I feel it’s strengthening my faith!

 

Pastor John

I wanted to tell you about an experience I had yesterday. After work I had gone to Walmart to get some groceries. On the way home on the highway I noticed to the left of me in the fast lane 2 motorcycles with young kids on them, then I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a young boy on a street bike. He was so close to the back of my car I thought he was going to slam into me but he swerved and went into the other lane and then swerved back in front of me just as close. It scared me so that I jumped, but all I could do was cry out to Jesus. The spirit just fell in my car and I started to cry and said very loudly, “O Jesus! Help that foolish young boy, please keep your hands upon him!”, and I started speaking in tongues. It was the most grievous feeling it sank to the pit of my stomach. It stayed with me until I was almost home. I don’t know if I have ever felt that way before.

Pasor John,

I’ve really had on my mind lately about how I received the holy ghost, so I decided to write it out in “short form”. Thought you might enjoy reading this.

Taylor
—–

In the summer of 1996, I began feeling that I wanted to know whoever it was that really knew God, and I wanted to learn from him. I was a young man in sin at that time, but God had put a strong conviction on my heart to be free from it, and to live a godly life.

The following summer, He introduced me to a group of people and their pastor, John Clark, who met regularly in their homes to study the Bible and pray. This group taught that you could live without sin, but not without the Spirit of God in your life, and both were necessary to be saved in the end.

Part of the conviction that God put on my heart was to make the “wrongs” in my life as right as I could, and to treat people in a way that I thought would please God. If I had stolen something, I had to return it, and pay interest, too. If I had lied or misled someone, I had to make that right. There was a lot I had to repent of, but it was not at all a burden; it was a relief.

After a few months, I was in one of these home prayer meetings. While everyone in the group was praying, my jaw started shaking, almost uncontrollably. I had never heard of nor experienced such a thing before. I said to my wife, who was kneeling beside me, “My jaw will not stop shaking, I think something is going on.” What that something was, I didn’t know, I just knew that this was new to me.

Later during that same meeting, I was on the floor seeking God while God’s people around me were praising the Lord, encouraging my wife and me, and so on. I told God, “Ok God, wherever your Spirit leads, I’ll go.”

Within moments, I began weeping in a way that I had never wept before, from the very bottom of my belly. When I finished crying several minutes later, I then felt a tickle from the same spot, deep in my belly, and I began to chuckle. This chuckle slowly turned into the most intense laughter I had/have ever experienced in my life. While laughing like this, I felt like God let me inside His mind, and this is what I “heard” – “Try to think of a problem. There are no problems with Me. There is not a single thing you can think of that is a problem for Me.” Just the thought that something was too big for God was absolutely hilarious to me. While I was on that floor, I didn’t just believe that there were no problems for God, I KNEW it.

When I awoke the following morning, I had a joy like never before. I was so very, very happy. Words cannot describe the joy I was feeling – it was like heaven on earth. One of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, talked about “joy unspeakable and full of glory”, and that’s exactly how I felt.

Amazing things continued happening in these prayer meetings after this. In one meeting, many saints were standing around praising God, and the Spirit was moving. I remember being hunched over near a dear brother named Earl Pittman, and when I felt the Spirit of God “swoosh” by us, the thought hit me, “Oh man, he’s going to lay his hands on me.” That’s exactly what he did, and as soon as he did, a sentence or two in a foreign language flew out of my mouth. I had no control over this whatsoever; it just came out, as if I was a life-long, fluent speaker of this language.

I came to find out later what had happened to me – I had received the “baptism of the holy Spirit and fire”. This “fire” is what it takes to not only know God, but to also live a godly life. After this happened to me, the sins that had held me captive for years completely vanished away; things that had been such a struggle were suddenly no struggle at all anymore.

I had been a fairly heavy drinker in college, and though I very much wanted to quit, I never could. At the end of a long theatre production I was in, the cast and crew were throwing a party. I grabbed a glass of champagne, as I normally did, and a new feeling hit me – I don’t want this anymore. For the first time, there was no attraction whatsoever to it, and there hasn’t been to this day.

This was just one of many things that began changing in me, and what I have learned is that this is a process that doesn’t stop. As long as the Spirit and power of God are welcome in our lives, we will continue to be changed, and to know God more and more.

One thing I love about God is that there are no dead ends in Him. If we think we have a problem, are in need, or lack the knowledge of God, God doesn’t strain a bit to deliver or provide for us. That’s what He did, and is doing, for me!

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all menliberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  (Jas. 1:5)

 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’” (Jn. 7:38)

Pastor John,

It sure did feel good getting prayed for last night. I had the best night sleep last night! That means a lot. I did not wake up every 2 hours hurting. It was precious when baby JD came over and kissed me on my knee and said, “It will feel better now.” It made me cry. I sure do love my family Jesus gave me!

Debbie G.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thefathertheson

Whew John, I have been listening the The Father and Son cd today and each time I get to number 6 ….The Love My Father Had For You….I melt when you sing, “The only thing that kept Jesus on the cross…. was love…the love he had in his heart from the Father for us…” I can’t type this without tears filling up in my eyes. Whew!!!!!
I think we are really seeing how much he loves his Father, but oh so much how he loves us!!! So sweet!

Lou

<a href=”http://pjhphotooftheday.blogspot.com/“>

Hey Pastor John,

The Photo of the Day – July 8th reminded me of something sweet that Jesus did for me a few years ago when
Richard and I had been trying to have a baby. As the months went by, I began feeling very discouraged. One morning when I woke up feeling discouraged, I started talking to Jesus about how I was feeling. I asked him if he could just send me something encouraging that day.

When I arrived at work that morning I checked my emails one last time before starting my day. I opened the Photo of the Day. The caption read, “A Joyful Mother of Children”. It was a beautiful picture of Carrie and down in the right hand corner was me, happy and smiling. I felt the sweetest feeling come over me when I saw the picture and I knew that Jesus was answering my prayer.

Later that afternoon, Gary sent out another Photo of the Day for that same day. In his email he said the previous photo sent out that morning (the one with Carrie and me) was a mistake and he did not know how that had happened. Ha! Jesus is good.

When I saw the Photo of the Day for July 8th, that same sweet feeling came over me and it brought tears of thankfulness to my eyes.

Amy