Good morning and happy New Year from KY.

I have had a thought that keeps replaying in my head.  I feel I am supposed to share it.  

The message is, no one will get into heaven on anyone else’s coattails.  It doesn’t matter how much you loved them, or they loved you.  When we are standing in Judgment, it will be all about what we did, our deeds.  Only the condition of our hearts and our deeds.  No one will ride in on a beloved saint’s coattails, no matter how good that saint was.  No one will ride Preacher Clark’s coattails, Sister Lou’s coattails, Sister Natalie’s coattails, or anyone else’s.  That will not matter.  Standing in Judgment, there will be no ,”Yeah, but”, no objections, no defense.  Just you, the condition of your heart and your deeds, period.  In the Catholic Church, I was taught to pray for the dead and that you could help their condition.   That is a huge lie.  Once you are dead, your judgment is set.  

I had another lesson this weekend.   I have been on call since Christmas.  I have been blessed with very few calls.  This weekend I got called in twice, and I was unable to fix either issue.  I became very despondent about this, doubting if I even belonged in this job.  This morning I read Thought for the Morning: Fasting and Feasting (January 1)*, a letter from a Brother Jim.  I found such relief from that thought!  But even more was how often the answer will present itself if you continue in the Lord.  It may take a little time, but keep doing your study, praying, and spending time with the Lord and the answer will come.

I thank God for Jesus.  I thank Jesus for His sacrifice.  I thank you all for being such examples.  And I am thankful God pulled me out of my filth and led me to a place where the truth is taught and loved.

Well, break time is over, and I have to get back to work now.  Oh yeah, I thank God for this job He gave me.  I guess I have a mouthful of “thank you” this morning!

Mark W.

*  https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_thoughts.html?tname=tfm01-01

Pastor John,

This morning I was reading the Thought for the Morning (January 2)*, and it was a letter from a brother who asked you why sometimes Jesus told the people he healed to go tell everyone what God had done for them, and why at other times he forbade them to spread the news of their healing. Your answer was simple (and I’m paraphrasing): At times, the Father would lead Jesus to say one thing, and at other times, He would lead him to say something else, depending on the circumstances.

After I finished reading, I started thinking how I, too, used to get confused (and I still do at times) whenever I find something in Jesus’ words or deeds that seems contradictory.  And as I was pondering over this, suddenly a thought came to me “out of the blue”, and it was this: 

“It’s because in our carnal minds, we’re always looking for a rule.”

And it dawned on me: When we read the Bible, what our carnal mind does is, it looks for a rule or a set of rules that God might want us to go by.  And the reason why sometimes (or often times) we get confused by the ministry and the teachings of Jesus is because he never followed a rule (or rules) given to him by the Father.  He was always led by the Spirit, and as Paul said, “A natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot comprehend them because they are spiritually discerned”.

It felt good because I felt like God had just revealed something to me, and it was not even over yet.

I wanted to do some Bible reading in the morning, and I started reading Galatians, but thoughts about the way our fleshly nature tries to please God just kept flooding in, and I felt that I needed to close the book so that I could pay attention to the Spirit.  And this is some of what I got:

When we read the Bible but we’re not filled with and governed by the Spirit of God, what we’re really doing is looking for a belief system that our human minds can comprehend, and our natural man can live by. And that is exactly what Satan has offered to the fallen human race through the religion of Christianity: A belief system that sinful humans can follow (thinking that they’re pleasing God by doing so) without having to die to self. 

In other words, Christianity is THE BEST THING the carnal mind was able to come up with.  Baptism with water is the best baptism people can administer without God. Communion with bread and wine is the closest thing to real communion with Jesus that sinful man is able to produce.  Living a life as righteous and pure as humanly possible is the closest thing to holy living people can achieve.  And it’s all filthy rags in God’s sight!  As David said, “Every man at his best state is altogether vanity.”

I feel like the Spirit has just summed up Christianity for me:

“Christianity is filthy rags institutionalized.”

I’ve heard you, Pastor John, many times before, talking about “rites and rules” (in relation to the kingdom of God) with such disdain, in so negative a context, that sometimes I felt like you were going over the top.  I understood that rites and rules are not what following Jesus is about, but I also thought that they couldn’t possibly be as bad as you’re making it sound like. I feel like after today’s experience, I understand more than I ever have where you’re coming from.

Zoli

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Hi Zoli.

We see this in the Old Testament.  God told Moses to strike a rock on Mount Sinai, but punished him severely for striking a rock later when God had told him only to speak to it.  What such Old Testament stories tell us is that God has always been alive, doing all things “after the counsel of His own will.”   And to be led by the Spirit means to know what God wants us to do RIGHT NOW, regardless of what He wanted yesterday, or even an hour ago.

May God grant us the grace to be led by the Spirit.  Otherwise, we cannot even guess what we should do.

Thank you for that wonderful testimony.

Pastor John.

* Going to Jesus.com – Why Did Jesus Send Them Away?

Oh, Pastor John!

How did you get so much truth and gold into one book?

I am amazed.  As we read through this I saw so many things that I experienced and because of those experiences, I know what you wrote in this book is true. Like I know my name, I know it is true.

It breaks my heart that I know this because I walked contrary to God.  I know what wrong decisions and wrong choices lead to, AND I know what a loving, compassionate and merciful God we have, too.  I am overwhelmed by the truth in this book. 

How easy it is to ask Jesus to keep every young heart in that room from anything contrary to him and to etch this wisdom on all our hearts.

The truth in the last paragraph of page 78 took my breath.  That is my testimony.  That is what decades of sin led to.  That is exactly where I was when in desperation, I asked Jesus to end my pain and get me out of this world.  I used to lie in bed and cry because the sun would be coming up soon and I couldn’t face another day.  Dawn was a dreaded event. 

And God does heal the broken heart.  That is my testimony.  I am living proof He does.

I can’t say it enough, that I am overwhelmed by the truth in this book.  Jesus wrote this book.  Some things young hearts can’t take in, and I don’t want them to know or hear about that old dead girl, and yet, how can I not talk of the goodness and truth in this?  I decided to take it out on you! 

What wonderful instruction for every one of God’s children!

Beth D.

* Going to Jesus.com –

Hi, Pastor John.

I am working today and thinking about how wonderful it felt Sunday, to be able to be down on my knees and to tell Jesus how thankful I am.  Actually, I think Jesus told me how wonderful that is!

As I am over here feeling all these sweet feelings, and inspecting cars, I just had the thought that what is even worse than not being able to get down on your knees to Jesus when you feel him, is never feeling him like that at all.

I spent years in a hard pew, not moving, and reciting whatever they put before me and only one time did I feel something.  When I did, a tear ran down my cheek and I immediately went to the restroom to avoid the suspicious stares I would receive for crying.  That breaks my heart for all the other hearts that could be feeling Jesus pull them to their knees, or fill them with so much love that they can’t stand, or that tears fall.

I loved Michelle’s email today. Her heart matches my heart. I believe it matches Jesus’ heart. (See post: God’s Children 12/20/2023.)

Beth D.

Pastor John,

Earlier today I saw this post on Instagram and it really struck me. I started thinking of where God has brought me from.  For years I was sitting at a table, sick and starving for truth and didn’t even know it.  I had so many questions.  My heart yearned for answers.  I desired the joy and peace I read about in the Bible.

Then, Jesus brought me here, opened my ears, my eyes and my heart to the truth.  Now, my belly is full, my heart rejoices and my life is filled with peace.  I am so thankful for His mercy on my life.  I am so thankful for the good nourishing food we’re given and for the appetite Jesus has put in us.

The other night I fell asleep talking to Jesus, thanking him for my life.  In the early morning hours, I woke and was praying for God’s children everywhere. There was such a sweetness in the feelings for His children. God really loves them!  I’ve never had a prayer quite like that before.

I fell back asleep and later when I woke up all I could think about is us and what Jesus has given us.  We have a smorgasbord for God’s children, if they would only eat.

Michelle

As has been said, “God has removed you from a table where you used to sit…. In order to save you from a host who was serving you poison.”

Pastor John,

The Spirit-filled believer’s clear conscience toward God is a must.  Real faith in God lives in having a clear conscience.  Yet, the apostle Paul (1Cor. 4:4) said the following: “I am conscious of nothing against myself; however, by that, I am not justified.  The Lord is the one who judges me.”

A clear conscience in the Lord is everything, yet, in many ways, it is nothing.  Both statements are true.  I believe our study of the Lord’s judgments in the book of Job has helped me to understand this.

Just as Job was a perfect man according to every standard established by God on earth – yet that was nothing in the sight of God – so is a clear conscience toward God, if we understand Paul rightly: a clear conscience is required, but it in no way justifies us. 

The lesson of Job to us has been that our glorying is in Jesus, not in our deeds.  It is not in our righteousness. Nor is it even in our perfect response to the Father and His Son.

Our being is in Jesus.  Our mercy is in Jesus.  It is because Jesus accepts our deeds that we live, not because they themselves are anything to Him who created it all.  He has granted us life through these mercies.  They do not carry us to him or make us worthy.

Our clear conscience is not our glory.  Our glory is in Him who will accept it.

The revelation we have recently experienced in learning so much more about God through the book of Job is making the Father and Son so much greater in everything – and it makes man so much smaller.  It makes His every mercy to us so big.

Thank you,

Jerry

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Amen, Jerry.

It is as I have often said, Jesus’ perfect sacrifice did not accomplish redemption for us; his Father’s acceptance of that perfect sacrifice did.  Jesus had to be perfect, and he was, but the Father alone decided it was sufficient.  His acceptance of Jesus is what “sealed the deal”.  And, thank God, He has made us acceptable in His sight, through Jesus.

Ephesians 1:1, 7.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the richness of His grace.”

Pastor John