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  • The Iron Kingdom Book, Chapter 3: Stuart

    Good morning, John.

    I read what you sent out this morning on the Iron Kingdom book, chapter 3, I love it.  I don’t know how anyone could read this section and not understand the difference between carnal worship and worshipping in the spirit.  God’s people don’t know what Christianity really is: a carnal pagan religion enforced by carnal, pagan men!

    No one even asks!  I love how you state that there is not one carnal ritual preformed in the New Testament. Anyone worshipping the Father and the Son today is only done in the spirit! Thank you for all your work on putting these things together, God’s people need to know these things. The spell of Christianity needs to be broken off of spirit-filled believers in Christ.

    Christianity is a lie, “fake”, and worthless.  It is division itself that keeps God’s children apart.

    Thanks

    Stuart

  • The Iron Kingdom Section We Read: Lee Ann

    After reading the section last night of the Iron Kingdom, chapter 3, I had these feelings about the ceremonies that are Christianity.  If you’ve never felt the power of God, if you’ve never heard from God, then the ceremonies become like some kind of gimmick, a substitution for the real thing, a distraction from the reality that there is nothing there.  “Instead of seeking the real thing, let’s perform this ceremony that looks holy and makes you feel like you’ve done something.”  But it’s all nothing.

    Ceremonies provide a smoke screen to hide the nothing that is really there.  As we were reading all of the quotes with the big words last night, I realized that even the words those scholars use to justify those ceremonies are confusing and are used to cover up the nothing.  It’s just a lot of big words about nothing!  They leave you scratching your head and wondering what you just read, and feeling like “Surely I’m just not smart enough to understand what this brilliant scholar is writing.”  But is all nothing.

    But every time you interjected an explanation or any words of reason, it’s such a relief from those blathering scholars who go on and on pontificating in such a lofty way about nothing.  It’s a reminder of how good and simple the Truth is!

    This book is pulling back the curtain and exposing the nothingness of Christianity.  I don’t know how you have managed to wade through those thousands of pages of yuck, but it feels like it has to be done.  It’s an opportunity to pass on the truth Jesus has shown you.  But what a tremendous job it has been!  Whew!

    Lee Ann

  • Job Notes for 8-23 Meeting: Tom

    John,

    I just finished reading your notes on Job. Let me just say how much I enjoyed reading them. Obviously, one may get things from the notes that are not as easily processed when read in a group. Several times, I found myself stopping and thinking about what I had just read. I really enjoy reading your commentary after the Scriptures.

    These notes would make a great book.  I am not suggesting that you spend your time writing another book, so I will just keep copies of your notes to refer back to.

    Thanks for all that you do.

    Tom

    ========

    I thought the same thing as Tom. 1) I love the notes you send after the meeting so I can stop and center in on your points. 2). I think they would make a good book just by putting them together, kind of like you did on Malachi.

    Gary

    I have all the notes on Matthew, too, but who has the time to format it all?

    “Not I, said the duck.”

    🙂

    ========

    Even Michelangelo had helpers. Quack quack.

    Gary

  • Thankfulness

    Good Morning Pastor John!

    I just want to drop you a line and let you know how I feel this morning.  Thankful!  I have not been able to stop thanking God and Jesus.  I don’t know why, but it feels different.   I feel the thankfulness like never before.  I better understand Sister Willie now with a mouth full of thankful.   I have been thanking God and Jesus for all things, even the things that I have been through that at one time brought unhappiness.   I thank Him in all things.

    My job has been going well.  I was having a hard time finding my way around.  Last week after being lost for the third time in a morning, as I was exiting the shop I started talking to Jesus and asked Him to guide me.  I took a little different route and ended up where I wanted to go quickly.   Ever since, I have been getting around much better.   I continually thank Him for His guidance while at work and everything has gotten easier.   He is still showing me things I need to do.

    [Name omitted] has been listening to the Job teachings and she is amazed.  Me too.  The devil has been her biggest fear for years, and she has text me about how you’re teaching about him she actually believes and seems to understand.  If Jesus puts it on your heart to pray for her, please do.  Only Jesus would be able to change her life-long perception of anything that quickly.

    Thank you for all you do!

    Love,
    Mark

  • Job Study: Beth

    Pastor John,

    I love learning more of who Job was and understanding what kind of hearts were involved.  I left last night in awe of what Job was going through and his heart about it.  I am grateful to feel all of this.

    Tonight, as I read the emails coming through from others about Job, all I could think of was his heart. Job wanted God more than anything else.  I can see why God could use a heart like that.  I can see why God chose Job.  Oh, how God must love him.  I do.  This put a love in my heart for Job–a love for his heart.

    We just started Kings in the Old Testament class* and I put on a CD today and heard you saying this: “You’re going to ask for advice throughout your life until you get the advice you want.  You’re going to seek for the kind of life you want to live until you find it.  If you don’t want to live right and you seek for a kind of life that makes you feel right (in spite of your sin), but you find a place where people are living right, it’s not going to satisfy you.  You are going to go right past God’s answer to get what you want.  It takes a wise person to ask a right question at the right time, and the right time is before you make up your mind what you want.”

    It’s a matter of the heart.  You are going to end up with what your heart really wants. 

    Beth D.

    Old Testament Course (Pt. 1) – Going to Jesus.com

  • Job Study: Anna

    Hi, Pastor John.

    I have loved the lessons you have taught us from Job.  Here are some of my thoughts and highlights from last night’s teaching.

    1. Knowing God’s voice is knowing God, and that is truly living and eternal life.
    1. If you have not heard from God, do not assume anything.  Just wait on Him to give you your answer.
    1. Learning the voice of God and recognizing it helps you recognize when something is or isn’t from God. “My sheep know my voice.”
    1. One of my favorite parts from your notes was, “First, God had to speak to him so that Job would know God’s voice.  Then, he had to have the patience to wait on God for that voice to come again…. for only when God speaks can anyone learn the difference between their thoughts and His.”
    1. Job’s friends thought they were doing him good with their good ideas and advice, but they had not heard from God, and Job knew that.  Job did not bend under their pressure.  He kept his eyes on God and waited for Him.  Even through his sufferings, he trusted that God would eventually redeem him.  This kind of reminded me of when Jesus was drawing in the dirt in John 8, and the scribes and Pharisees were urging him to give an answer, but He waited on His Father’s answer.

    Job could have had the spirit of a serpent and lashed out when he was seemingly mistreated, but he kept the spirit of a dove and stayed in the hands of God.  He fervently prayed and voiced his complaints, but he knew who to go to with these pleas.

    When I have failed and gotten off-track, it has taught me to have more empathy and mercy towards others later, because I know the mercy I was shown, and how it feels to be in a mess.  Is this along the same lines of not being “at ease”?

    ==========

    Yes, Anna, it is.

    ==========

    Thanks so much for all of your work in this.

    Anna

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    Thank you and others for loving it.  That is encouraging.

    Pastor John

  • Job Study: Lee Ann

    Good morning, John,

    Last night was so good.  Jesus has given you a real understanding of Job’s heart, and his righteous friends’ hearts, and you are passing that understanding on to us.  But more importantly, I feel we are learning God’s heart and the importance of waiting on Him before we pass judgment on anyone, including ourselves.

    One thing you emphasized last night was that we can not know anything about ourselves or others, and why we may be going through something, unless God lets us know.   That is a simple truth, but it’s such an important lesson:  Don’t make any kind of judgment unless you hear from God.  We don’t know any situation unless the holy Ghost reveals it.  You taught us that part of Job’s patience was that he was determined not to make any judgment or assumption about why he had been so afflicted until he heard from God!   Job’s friends thought that they knew why God was afflicting Job, but without hearing from God, they were only adding to his affliction, and making him feel worse.

    Second important lesson from last night: “Knowing God’s voice is knowing God”.   We learned the reason Job knew the difference between what his friends were telling him and what God had revealed to him was because he knew his Shepherd’s voice, and that was not the same voice he heard speaking through his friends.  Even though the things his friends told him were said with the best intentions, and were mostly true, Job knew they were not from God.   He knew the difference between his friends’ good thoughts, and what the Lord had revealed to him from heaven.

    Knowing God’s voice is what saved Job, and it will save us!  I am thankful just to know that God is still speaking to us, just as he spoke to Job.  When you are teaching us wonderful lessons like you did last night, I am thankful that I recognize my shepherd’s voice coming through those teachings, and my heart can take in those wonderful lessons.

    I am thankful for having a true minister that is teaching us how to know God’s voice, and for the pureness and cleanness of the good food we’ve been given.  No bones to pick through!  Last night’s lessons have left a clean feeling in my heart this morning.

    Lee Ann

  • Job Study: Diana; Vince

    Pastor John:

    The studies in Job have been wonderful. I feel I have been transported back in time to learn about him. Here are a few points from Job 3:

    1.  How Job held fast to God through all his infirmities was only part of the story.  I loved Timothy 3:12: “All who are willing to live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

    2.  Also, I was reminded that in this world, evil sometimes wins.  We need to know and be reminded of that in our walk through this life.  Whew!

    3.  Another big one for me was Job’s patience, in waiting for God to speak!   One should not make any judgment about someone or a situation until God speaks.  (I have been guilty of that.)  Wait on the Lord.  That was another good reminder!  All of the ones who tried to get Job to admit he had done something wrong, and he remained steadfast, waiting on God.

    I am looking forward to our next Job reading.  Thank you for our food and your time you have put into this!  You make Job “come alive” (as you have made the Bible stories come alive before). 

    Diane K. Smiley tongue

    ==========

    John,

    I feel like I understand Job and his friends a whole lot better after last night.  And how in the world did Job endure the way he did, and with such wisdom and love of God, without the holy Ghost?  My, what excuse do we have, especially considering what you said at the end, the Lord has given and he hasn’t taken away (yet)… blessed be the name of the Lord!

    What a story. Looking forward to what’s next.
    Vince

  • Job Study: Michelle; Amy

    Hey Pastor John,

    I know we’re just getting started on Job but it has already blessed me so much!  Two things that I went to bed thinking on after last night:

    1. Getting to know who Job really was, not only to go through all that he did, but also to have such confidence in God and who God made him to be.  Makes me love him even more.
    1. I’ve always thought Job’s friends were condemning him out of hatred or maybe jealousy.  To learn, to take it in, that their heart truly was in the right place and what they were saying was right and out of love, but their timing was off, they didn’t wait for God.  That is a wonderfully huge lesson.  It puts each scene in a different perspective when reading this story.  It makes these conversations hurt even more to realize these accusations came from people who really loved Job and Job really loved them.  When someone you love hurts your heart, that wound goes much deeper and hurts much more.  It takes God to get through it.

    I love what you teach us!  These are not just stories, but these things really did happen, and we are getting to know our brothers and sisters.  It makes each one of their testimonies mean so much more to me. 

    Just think, we have over 30 more chapters!  Looking forward to our time together again! 

    Michelle

    ==========

    Oh my! Thank you, Pastor John. I am really enjoying Job, and I am understanding more and more. I love how you put it that Job was waiting on God for an answer and how his comforters were not.  They thought they knew what was going on with him. It goes back to what we have been learning: we don’t know anything until Jesus shows up, then we know. That’s what we wait for.  clapping hands

    I also marvel at Job. He knew himself, and he knew God. He never wavered from that fact.  It came across last night in his complaint to God how he went back and forth in his mind “why”, but the end conclusion was always… I will rejoice, O Lord, in you. . .  no matter what.
    Amy B. 

  • Job Study: Tom; Donna

    John,

    The Job study last night was very good. I went away with a better understanding of why Job’s friends spoke to Job as they did.  They really were sincere in their effort to help Job, but as you said, because they had not heard from God, their speech was ineffective. 

    Another point that stood out to me was Job’s determination to wait until he had heard from God.  He refused to accept his friends’ accusations, knowing that they had not heard from God either. 

    I liked what you said about Job knowing God and His voice well enough to know God had not spoken to him.  That is good. 

    It’s hard to imagine how many accusing spirits he had to deal with, even in his own mind. 

    Thank you, John, for all your time and effort you have put into this study.  There are many valuable lessons we can benefit from. 

    I’m already looking forward to the next section. 

    Tom

    ==========

    Last night’s Job #3 teaching was so good and rich!  It feels like you have us right there with Job and his friends, hearing and feeling FOR THE FIRST TIME EXACTLY how God saw and heard it.  It’s even better than what we have felt in translating Job!  I love who Jesus has made you, and how you are dishing out this wonderful rich food to us!  It is rich and sobering.  It feels like every part of me was “tweaked” last night, and I love it.   My, what a feast!  Thank you!

    Donna N

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