Hi pastor John,

I just wanted to share a short little dream that I had the other night.  The only thing specific I can remember is talking with brother Rob.  We were having a conversation as if we had just met, and he was telling me about himself and introducing me to people.  Then I heard him say, “One thing you’ll learn is that each one of us is in love with each one of us.”  When I woke up I thought, what a strange thing to say.  But as I thought about it more, I realized what he actually said was “each one of us is in love with ALL of us”.  I knew then that the “all of us” he was talking about was all of God’s people everyewhere.  And what I took away from that simple statement is that we can’t love God without loving Jesus, and we can’t love Jesus without loving his people.

The “two greatest commandments” in Matthew 22 seem simple enough, but I feel like God helped them to sink in a little deeper.

I hope it’s not too long before I see you again.  Have a great week!

Vince

Hi John,
 
At the end of our time together in your living room this morning, you said something that was so good to me.  Sobering, challenging, and comforting.
 
You said something like, that you hoped “that God felt blessed during our gathering today.”
 
That is what it’s all about.  We can sing, we can pray, we can shout, we can talk, we can have our feelings, and we can do anything else… good things when our lives are in order.  But at the end of the day, what counts is what GOD felt about it.  If He feels blessed, we are blessed.  If He is not, our “table” has become our “snare”. 
 
We have so much to be thankful for.   Jesus, you, one another, and all else that He has given us in this life.  My prayer today has been, “Jesus, may we bless YOU!”  If we’re there, then we are there!
 
Thanks for that good sober thought.
 
Gary

Hi, Pastor John:

I was putting a patio door glass in today, and it measures 3′ x 6′ and is pretty heavy.  The piece of glass I had to replace in the opening was tight.  I measured the new glass to put in its place, and it seemed the new glass would work.  I have made mistakes, taking for granted what I was sent from the factory would work (but it did not), and have had to cut a piece of plywood to put in its place, which would be terrible for the home owner and embarrassing for me.  But, according to these measurements, the new glass was going to work.

As I pulled the old glass out, the mainframe at the top bowed downward because of the weight of the brick above it.  I was in trouble.  The new glass did not fit now.  I tried putting the old glass back in, but it did not work either.

I called, Jason at the factory and asked him if he knew of anything I could do to make either of the pieces of glass work, while all along, the homeowner was standing on the other side of the glass watching me struggle to get the glass to work.  Jason said, “I’m sorry Bill.  I had a complaint about that just the other day with another Technician, and he couldn’t get it to work either.  I thanked him and hung up, not knowing what I was going to do.

I was soaking wet with sweat, but my options were not over.  I prayed, “Jesus, I’m in serious trouble here, I need your help.”  I heard the Spirit say, “Try again.”  I put the new piece of glass back in the openeing and the glass fell into place.  Wow . . .praise God!  I had been working on this piece of glass for over a 1/2 hour.  It is tempered glass, so if I hammered or bumped it wrong, it would shatter in a million pieces.  I even tried using a glass sanding block to shave the edges down (it did not work), but this time it went in in a few seconds.

I called Jason back at the factory.  By listening to his voice, I knew it sounded to him like I was going to tell him nothing I did worked, or I broke the glass trying to get it in the door.  But I said, “Jason, I got it in.”  He replied, “How did you do it?”  I told him, “I prayed to Jesus, and asked him for his help, because I was in serious trouble.”  He spoke back, “That’s amazing.”  This is the same Jason to whom I told my cancer testimony about Jesus sending me a kidney stone so that the doctors would find that cancer in time.  He said, “That’s great, Bill!  You can depend on Jesus.”  I smiled, because he is not religous at all, but he couldn’t deny what had happened, with the kidney stone or this piece of glass.

I wanted to tie both experiences with Jason together.  In my heart, I wanted Jason to know that Jesus is Lord over everyone and everything.  Nothing is too hard for Jesus.  What a great morning in the Lord!

God is so good to us!!!

billy m.

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Thank you so much for this, Billy,.  It really touched my heart.  Good example for us all of faith and humility.

jdc

Hi, Pastor John:

Your latest blog at www.PastorJohnsHouse.com contains instruction from Psalms about how to wait on God to obtain or receive mercy from God, if mercy is to be given.  If the man who wrote that Psalm was trying to get even, or trying to excuse his sin, he wouldn’t have been able to receive mercy, if God granted it.  Mercy would have passed him by because his heart would not have been ready for it.

He really didn’t know what God would do, but he confessed his sins to God (he was honest with himself), got still before God, and was asking for mercy from God.  What else could he have done if he wanted to be restored?  He understood that no one could help him but God.

This Psalm had a hint of Job in it, as far as people watching him to see what happened next.  The difference is that Job’s godly heart was being tried, while this man was reaping what he had sown.  Still, they both knew that mercy from God was their only help for healing and being restored back to fellowship with God.

This blog put more fear of God in me.  It is real and it is life.  There are no coincidences.  God is fully in control, and if we are not fully trusting in God (as I stated in my cancer story), then we are not trusting in God at all.

Just as God revealed to us who He is by giving the Ten Commandments, he has revealed more of  Himself to others in the Psalms, especially about His Son.

This blog is right on time.

billy m.

http://www.goingtojesus.com/text/books/fatherandson.pdf

Dear Bro. John:
 
Tonight’s reading of the chapter on “Government” from the Father and Son book was wonderful!  I love the order of God — the Father, the Son, and an anointed pastor over me who I can trust to give me what I need to get to my eternal home — what I need right now while judgment is still tempered with the mercy and love of God.  
 
I was listening to a CD today from September, 2009, “The Simplicity that is in Christ” and was overwhelmed with the love of God that I felt in it — where the heart rejoices to hear you say, “Jesus is my Friend!”   I loved the feelings as every anointed word I heard stirred my Spirit!
 
I love sharing the excerpt below from this CD because the words are just solid substance from the Lord.  It makes me want to stay in the light and love God with all my heart.  It caused me to remember something your father said:  “Jesus is only going to save his own.”  
 
Excerpt from “The Simplicity that is in Christ” – 9/23/09

“Unity comes at a price.   It comes at a price of division.   Jesus said, ‘Don’t think that I have come to bring peace to this world.   I’ve not come to bring peace but division.   There will be five in a house, three against two, two against three, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law,’ and vice versa.   ‘I’ve come to bring division.’  But what Jesus was dividing was light and darkness, those who had a heart for God and those who didn’t.  But when He makes the division, then what is left is perfect unity among those who had a heart for God.  This love and harmony also comes at a price, and it comes at a price of hatred.  You pay the price of being hated, and you pay the price of hating what God hates.   Jesus said he hates some things.  Do you hate those things?  If you don’t, you don’t have perfect fellowship with him.  Are you entangled with spirits he’s not entangled with?”

On the way home tonight, I was thinking how good God has been to us all, pouring out on us His love and knowledge for all these years, and the Spirit asked this question:

“How long do you think the frailties of the flesh can be used as an excuse for not living a holy life?!”

Ohhh, Bro. John, I felt the indignation you spoke of on this CD when you said: “Is there any of us who really love you, Lord?  Do any of us really understand?  Is there anyone among us who really glories in Christ alone?“

God help us.

Sandy

Pastor John

Thanks for teaching us Revelation!  🙂   God is not who I thought He was at all.

This class has made me see how much God still loves his people and how thankful we should be for the truth.

Marge

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

Hi Pastor John,

For about 3 weeks now I have been listening to Darren’s sampler cd 3 and I can’t seem to get past tract # 3 “Leave the world behind” I have played that song over and over and over, every time I get into the truck. I love how it starts out:
 
“I am not that hard, and I have come so low.”   God is not a hard God!  He is very meek and lowly, and He has made a way for us.  “Speaking to your hearts as you come and go.”   God is always there to guide us and help us and encourage us as we come and go, if we are listening.
 
“My love blows like the wind, as it whispers in your ear…”  How sweet and true that is!  His love is always around us.  If we are looking, his whole creation is screaming out with the love of God.

“Can you hear me say, Oh I want you here?”  If we have been filled with the holy ghost and this truth, that is what we are hearing ” Oh I want you here!”
 
“For I know you feel it tugging, but the world is so unkind.
It will please you for a moment, but then leave you for behind.”  John, everybody wants to be happy.  That is why they do what they do; they think it will make them happy.  Oh, but only “for a moment” will the world make anyone happy.
 
I love this next line:
“The life I have for you is better, the life I give to you.
And you can go much further, but that’s all up to you.”

Wow, the question is, what do we really want?  It’s all here in the spirit, and in the life God has given to us, and we can go as far as we want.  He will take us there, but that is all up to us.  What do we want?  In the end, we all are going to get what we really want.  If we want the things of this world, we can have them, but is will only last for a moment, “then leave us far behind.”
 
“He recreated our hearts, the day we were born.  But if there is unbelief that heart gets torn.
The reason that you live, is just to do my will, so let go of this world and let your heart be still.
Love just what I love and hate what I abhor.  Feel just what I feel, and let me love you more.
Say what I would say and do what I would do, leave the world behind and let your heart be true.”
 
John, this song has be ringing through every fiber in my body, telling me how true and simple serving God really is — if that is what you really want to do.  How hard it is to try and serve Him half-hearted.  Everyone who does that is miserable
 
Stuart

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Hi Stuart.

The lyrics of Darren’s songs are powerful.  Sometimes, the music he writes is so lovely that we miss the words, but when we take the time to hear what the Lord is saying through Darren, it can take your breath away.

jdc