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  • Morning – Fireside Chat

    Good morning, Pastor John.

    I sat here this morning and watched the sunrise, just taking a minute to breathe it in.  It was beautiful.  I thought of the verses of His mercy being new every morning.  I wanted to read the verses with “morning” in them. 

    As I read down the first few verses from Genesis, the word “so” stood out to me, and then I read Gen 1:31 and it hit my heart that because God saw all that He had made and it was good, there was a 7th day.  It says it a few times in Gen 1 that “God saw that it was good, so”….  Something about that struck me.

    At some point, God will see that it is bad, and there will not be another morning.  God told us it will be that way, and that, in itself, is His mercy. 

    I just wanted to take a minute, while we both are here with another morning before us, to say I love you and write out my thoughts of God to you.

    If you go home before me, I will miss writing you.  You have been my pen pal in Jesus for many years now, since 2011. 

    Have a wonderful day from Jesus! 

    Beth

    Genesis 1:5.  And God called the light “day”, and He called the darkness “night”. So, there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

    Genesis 1:8.  And God called the expanse “heaven”. So, there was evening, and there was morning, the second day.

    Genesis 1:13. So, there was evening, and there was morning, the third day.

    Genesis 1:19. So, there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day.

    Genesis 1:23. So, there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day.

    Genesis 1:31.  And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. So, there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

    Lamentations 3:

    22. …the tender mercies of Jehovah. Yea, we are not consumed because His compassions do not fail;

    23. they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness!

    Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.

    Psalm 92:2 to make known your lovingkindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night

    ==========

    Thank you, Beth.

    While we can, let us all love one another and take care one another’s heart.  Life is short, and every opportunity to do good is precious.

    Pastor John

  • Fully Persuaded

    Good morning, John,

    Listening to yesterday’s wonderful morning audio, I heard Jimmy say this, “Sometimes you got to make some messes to find out that’s really not what you want.”  Then you added, “What we think we want sometimes, if God gives it to us, we find out ‘That’s not what I want!”

    You went on to say, “And getting out of it then… you have to go to Him to get out of it!”  That’s my own testimony.  I was that self-willed person who got what I thought I wanted, only to find out quickly, “That’s not what I want!”  I would often go in my closet and fall on my face and beg God to get me out of it!

    It took that miserable experience for me to find out that I don’t want my own way!  It was a relief to throw up my hands and surrender my own will to His perfect will for my life!  I’ll never forget how I felt after Jesus rescued me, and I was thinking about going to design school.  The new, rescued me wasn’t about to make a big life decision without God’s approval.  I was driving down the road talking to Jesus about the situation, and I heard myself praying, “God, please let me know the right thing to do.  I am in neutral here.  I don’t know what will make me happy, but you do.”  I had become thoroughly persuaded in my heart that Jesus, and doing His will, is the only thing that can make anyone happy in this world.  Amen!

    What a sweet, peaceful feeling it is to be content with trusting Jesus for our happiness.  I wish I could convince every young person in my life that trusting our future to Jesus is the only way to have any hope of true and lasting happiness, but they must be thoroughly persuaded in their own hearts that this is true.  Jesus would prefer that we take the easier route by obeying God and doing His will, but whatever it takes for Jesus to convince us that He is our “happy” is worth whatever we have to go through.  I heard this on the recording from yesterday: “Whoever or whatever you hang onto, you’re going to lose anyway.”  That is true!  So, why not surrender it all to Jesus and be happy!

    Solomon’s conclusion of the whole matter was ,“Fear God and keep His commandments.  For God will bring every work into judgement, whether it be good or whether it be evil.”  Amen!

    Lee Ann

     

  • Today’s TFM

    Pastor John,

    In today’s TFM (https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_thoughts.html?tname=tfm06-18) you write,

    Jesus told Peter (…) that he could cry out to his Father and “more than twelve legions of angels” would come to rescue him.  So, Jesus endured the cross not to save himself; he could have returned home at any time. 

    If Jesus had saved himself from suffering and death wouldn’t that have meant that he had disobeyed the Father?  And had Jesus disobeyed God wouldn’t that have meant not being able to return to heaven?  Or would it simply mean that heaven would be a different place now (with Satan and his angels still there) than what it is today, and we wouldn’t have hope of salvation?  It is not a pleasant thought, but I have had this question in my mind a number of times before, I just never thought to ask it.

    Zoli

    ==========

    Hi Zoli.

    In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed not to have to go through the torture he was facing, that is, being brutally whipped and abused by the Roman soldiers and being crucified, which was a horrific way to die.  It is obvious that the Father gave Jesus the choice of not going through that torture for us, even though the Bible does not say so, because Jesus said to his disciples later that he could ask his Father, and He would send many legions of angels to save him.  In that case, Jesus would not have been disobeying his Father if he had chosen not to go to the cross; he would only have been making the choice not to suffer – a choice offered to him by the Father.

    The results of that choice would have been unimaginable, as you suggested, but there would have been no disobedience on the Son’s part if he had made it.

    Pastor John

     

  • Romans 10 sermon

    Hey Pastor John,

    I just finished watching you preach Romans 10.*  It was so good to my soul!  It just wipes the heart clean!  You were talking about getting rid of our opinions.  It was so good I had to type some of it out:

    He loves you so much he wants to get rid of you!  And boy, you’ll love yourself so much better when you’re gotten rid of!

    You’ll like that new man He creates.  You’ll feel better when He’s doing something!

    “Let me take that outta your mind, let me take that outta your heart!  Go be free! Let it go, the truth will make you free!”

    You can’t judge anybody right until you get your opinion out of the way and go by the Holy Ghost. That’s what the Holy Ghost is saying: “Live!”

    When we’re delivered from our opinions, we are delivered from our divisions.  Wherever there is a division, there’s an opinion.  That’s the problem

    You’ve got to submit to the righteousness of God, submit your will, what you prefer.  Get away from the pointing of the finger.  Get away from throwing that yoke on someone else, trying to make them live the way you want them to live.  That makes you miserable, and it doesn’t change them at all.  That’s your will; get rid of it.  Leave them alone; let God do something with them.

    If you see someone doing wrong, let me tell you what the answer is; it’s you submitting to the righteousness of God.  That’s the answer. That’s their answer and your answer.  If you see anybody around you doing right, your job is to submit to the righteousness of God.  That’s the answer to everything, submitting to God’s kind of righteousness.

    You don’t need to wish you had something from heaven; if you’ve got the Holy Ghost you do have something from heaven!  That’s the way, the only way, and the complete way!  He has chosen, he has given, he has invited!  What more do you want Him to do?  It’s time to praise God!”

    This blessed me so much tonight I felt like my feet were leaving the ground!   I love the truth, to hear it, to feel it!   It cleans out and lifts up!  So, so good!

    Michelle 

    *  https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html?tname=romans#CH10

     

  • Sunday meeting, June 15, 2025

    Hey, Pastor John 🙂 

    There were so many good things about yesterday’s meeting that I had to write them down.  First of all, I loved what Donna said, “If Jesus gives you a thought or a feeling or a person…hold onto it!”  I don’t ever want to let those things go again.  At one point, you talked about being an influence around people, and it made me think about Timothy. He recently went through something, and he told us, “I need Jesus’ help!  I want to testify like Uncle Earl and dance like Uncle Keith and be free in the Spirit like Mr. Coy!”  It made me thankful to have him around such Godly influences.  It means a lot when someone wants to be like you!  But it means more when that person is worth being like! 

    Another thing had to do with what Stuart said about staying willing.  That was so wonderful, and it was the exact feeling I was having the day before.  I actually posted a quote on FB that said, “If God changes your heart, be willing to change your plans.”  That has stayed with me for days, and Stuart brought more feelings with it.

    The last thing has to do with what you said about not chasing after someone when they leave.  I’ve seen this side of it, and you may not chase them, but I’ve seen you pray for them!  That is very sweet to me to have seen over all these years I’ve been here.  It solidified in my heart that fact that you have prayed for me if/when I have gotten off track.  That’s so valuable for me to know.  Thank you for your instruction and always being there! …and the rest of my family. 🙂

    Leah

     

     

  • Jesus can be touched!

    Pastor John,

    Ben and I read this in Hebrews 4 last night and it touched me so deeply:

    1. For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched by our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way that we are, without sin.
    2. Let us, then, boldly draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

    It brings tears to think about our high priest, our dear Jesus, being touched by our weaknesses. I felt so much love in that. We have a wonderful Friend waiting for us to come to Him with our weaknesses. And when we do, it touches his heart. Whew. That touches my heart!

    LeeAnn

  • A Hidden Gem

    In Habakkuk 1:12, we find this gem concerning the hidden Son of God.  We will live because God has set Jesus on the throne!

    Pastor John

    1. Are you not from ancient time, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One?  We will not die, Jehovah, for you have set him on the seat of judgment, and you have ordained him, the Rock, to judge.

  • Feelings through the weekend

    Pastor John,

         I wanted to write out the good feelings from this past weekend!  First of all, I woke up Saturday morning and as I stepped on the ground from my bed to walk to the bathroom, my brain started singing, “All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so so good, with every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.”  It was the sweetest feeling for my mind and heart to be singing those thoughts before it was even fully functioning 😀   It set my whole day in place from the beginning and I found myself singing it through the day. 

         Then on Sunday, something came up right at the beginning of the morning that tried to take my happiness and I decided I wasn’t going to fall into it like I have always done in the past.  I find myself telling Jesus all the time that I’m going with him, and how he makes me happy.  So as I was driving for an errand, songs were playing such as, “A Made Up Mind” then “Shine Bright” then “Godliness With Contentment” then finally “Have a Little Drink”.  Each one was just as good as the first!  Those songs were gold to me on my drive (the girls singing with me!) and let me know Jesus can (and will) make you happy through anything.

    Leah

  • God saves sinners?

    Pastor John,

    I enjoyed Allison’s email and your response (below).  My thought was, for a sinner to be saved from the coming judgement, they first have to be saved from sinning!

    Paul was describing that deliverance from sin in 1Tim. 1:15–16 when he said, “of sinners, I was the worst … but I was shown mercy….”

    Redemption from being a sinner committing sin was the mercy Paul was rejoicing about.

    It is amazing how religion conducted in the name of Jesus, but without the spirit and power Jesus gives, redefines the “mercy” Paul spoke of to mean that God in this new covenant no longer sees, or just doesn’t care, that men live a sinful life. 

    By that, men are saying, as you have pointed out, that the sacrifice Jesus, which was made for sin, didn’t change fallen man who needed redemption; it changed God, who was already perfect!  That is absurd for so many reasons, but those are our thoughts and our reasoning as humans without Jesus.

    Jerry

    ==========

    Good evening, Brother John.

    Brad and I just read the 6-4 Thought for the Morning*  where you mention Article 4 of from the Baptist church your sister ended up in.  You speak emphatically about salvation not being “…wholly of grace.”  But what jumped out to me was the phrase “… salvation of sinners…” right before that.

    Is it right to think that salvation can come to sinners?  It feels wrong.  There’s a step missing.  A sinner’s sins have to be washed away through repentance and the baptism of Holy Spirit.  No sinner is going to be saved!

    ~Allison

    ==========

    Hi Allison

    You are right in that salvation is a process, and that in the end, if a person is still a sinner, he will not be saved.  However, it is also right to say that God saves sinners because that is what we all were when He called us to His Son.  That is why Paul could rightly say this to Timothy:

    1Timothy 1

    1. This saying is true, and worthy of all acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – among whom I am the worst,
    2. but I was shown mercy for this reason, that in me, as the worst of sinners, Jesus Christ might demonstrate utmost patience, as an example for those who afterward would believe in him for eternal life.

    I am glad you asked that question.  Such questions spring from a knowledge of the truth, not an ignorance of it.

    Pastor John

    * https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_thoughts.html?tname=tfm06-04

  • The One Body

    Pastor John,

    The first section of the new Seven Pillars book (”One Body”)* is one of the greatest explanations of things I’ve heard you write.  It was as much a summary of the history and current condition of the body of Christ as it was an explanation of the body of Christ itself.  All in 10 pages.

    The fact that Paul referred to the Seven Pillars as “The Unifying Bond of Peace” (Ephesians 4:3) deserves to be shouted from the rooftops.  It should be a motto on t-shirts!  It is the healing salve for God’s broken children.

    Jerry

    * Seven Pillars 1-2.pages

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