Pastor John:

I have never really stopped and thought about all the benefits given to the Israelites through God’s law, and what it did for them. I have always thought of it only as a shadow and preparation for His Son. It really makes you think about everything it added to them and why, even with the Spirit, some clung so tightly to it.

God was blessing them and preparing them for His Son, and look at the mess that happened when they became proud of their blessing!

That is wonderful and terrifying to think about.

Deuteronomy 4
5. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as Jehovah my God commanded me, to do in the land which you are entering in to possess.

6. And you shall keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the nations which hear all these statutes. And they will say, “Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people!”

From your Jerusalem Council book:

Beth D.

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Hi Beth.

Amen! Your email reminded me of what Paul said about his beloved nation, Israel:

Romans 9
3. There have been times I prayed to be accursed from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh,

4. who are the Israelites, whose are the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises,

5. whose are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, came Christ, who is above all. God be blessed forever. Amen.

And this:

Romans 3

1. What, then, is the advantage of the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

2. Much in every way, but principally because they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Pastor John

Pastor John,

What a sweet night this was 🙂 There were so many good things to think about and be thankful for and enjoy! I was so thankful to see and feel Junior have such relief. I felt it! While I was listening to the testimonies about Natalie, all I could feel was how real things are! God really is real! He really does things. He really talks to people and moves things around. He really does heal people and answer prayers. He really does hide things and reveal things in His time. He really is real! Some people don’t know how real He is. I felt it all inside with every story and with every face full of thankfulness. 

Then when you were talking about Julie getting the holy Ghost there, it was thankful some more. I remember her so adamant before we came that she was going to get it. It was matter of fact but humble at the same time. Tomorrow will be 20 years since I came the first time that April with them when she got it. I remember because it was the day after my 16th birthday 🙂 I hadn’t even been in a room with the power of God, had never seen anything like that, but fell in love with it when I saw people praying for Julie and she received the spirit! She provoked me to jealousy 🙂 It was overwhelming and I cried and didn’t know why! I felt like Rob did. I cried when I left. I knew you were family.  And here I am, exactly 20 years later, tomorrow!

And where else can you find the music that we have!? I was telling my dad and a few others a little testimony the other day about that. Sometimes I like to switch on the Christian radio station to hear some of the music, some of which I really have come to love because of the feelings of sincerity and prayer. But this time that I did, there was a song about the cross and coming to it and the cross, the cross. So I switched back to my CD and immediately Gary said, “You gotta have the holy Ghost!” I shouted and sang that at the top of my lungs, it felt so good! Then I went about my errands and later on the way home switched back (there’s a couple songs I like to listen for 🙂 ) and they were asking people how important it is to go to church. Of course the answers were that it’s very important and then some reasons. So, I switched it back to my CD and Gary sang, “We’re not Rome!…” Shewee. It was so good again! We have so much more than that! One thing I love about our music is that it is full of truth, along with good feelings! That is so important! Those songs tonight felt so victorious because we know the truth. We know how big God is because we’ve felt it and lived it. It’s something more than words. I just feel so thankful for them!

I love you! I love everyone I saw tonight! I could’ve been Gary walking over to hug you! I’m pretty sure he felt that I wanted to so he did it for both of us <3  Thank you, Jesus, for abundant life!

Leah

https://www.healthline.com/about/medical-team

Pastor John,

I was doing some online research about some medical issues, and stumbled upon this link to all of these professionals who are contributing writers to the website, “Healthline”.  

As I scrolled down the page, I noticed a few women MDs and RNs who look like men. Their resumés indicate they have chosen to be gender neutral, as the trend dictates, and prefer to use the pronoun “they” instead of identifying as a “she” or a “her”—or even as a “Ms”. (I guess the feminist “Ms” has also gone the way of the archaic and has morphed into “Mx”.)  (!) 

Despite the fact that these people are unsettling to me for their bizarre rebelliousness towards nature and societal custom, I had a sudden feeling that the holy Spirit spoke to me….

The gentle voice of Jesus (I think) told me: “These people are correct.”  They are using the term “they” in denial of their biological sex, because…wait for it…”they are possessed by demons”… and like the man in the Gadarene tombs in Mark 5, a legion of demons, perhaps, has convinced them that they are not one sex/gender, but “fluid”, and their insistence on the pronoun “they” is apt for their spiritual condition.  For they are possessed by many devils that prefer to be addressed as “they”, not “she.”  

Is it too far fetched to consider that these individuals’ minds have been so thoroughly overcome by demon spirits that they are compelled to renounce their natural sexual identity and invent a new alternative one?  I don’t think that is too far-fetched.  And I know that I didn’t think that thought. I believe it came from the Spirit. It brought a new perspective on the issue for me, and from now on, I can agree with those people about their own condition. “They” are indeed a “they”.  This is spiritual warfare, plain and simple.  

This morning , during prayer….I asked God to help me to discern the wily, cunning ways of evil spirits–particularly those of the gender-confused population.  May God give me the strength to expose those demons, if/when necessary; and in exposing them—rebuke them (when led by the Spirit), and cast them out of people, for their sake.  That’s a tall order that I know requires the power of God to accomplish, and certainly only when the holy Spirit leads me to do such a thing.  There’s a boldness in those wicked spirits that keeps those individuals in bondage and arrogantly demands allegiance, tolerance, acceptance and respect from everyone else.  Many unsuspecting people are falling in line, agreeing to its demands, but in the love and power of Christ, I feel that some of us will have to dare to stand up against it (them).  I don’t view it as a victory over those demons as much as it would be a soul–saving deliverance of those souls from its grip, which would ultimately give glory to God.

I have disdain for those people who have been enslaved by those demons, but also enormous pity.  They are not in control of themselves as they imagine they are.  They NEED the love of God to rescue them.  My disdain and repulsion will not heal them. 

I will wait on Jesus to teach me more, and to temper my intentions with sensible discernment.

This is a precarious time in this culture, and it is definitely a dangerous spiritual warfare.  At this point, I don’t believe I am equipped to consider confronting those spirits.  I will wait on God. 

But it’s curious that He has put these things on my heart.  I love it when He opens my eyes to a new angle on a topic that I had not considered before. 

We need God. His power. His mercy. His guidance. Every day.

Brad

Hi, Pastor John;

I had a little life lesson the other day.

I found a valve stem cap that goes on a tire valve stem in my driveway.  I looked on our Jeep and saw a cap was missing.  I picked it up and screwed it back on. Later that afternoon, Judy drove it and called me that her tire was going flat and was driving straight back home.  When she got home I saw the deflated tire and began the process of looking to see if there was anything obvious in the tire; screw, nail, etc.. I remembered that this was the same tire that had the missing valve stem cap and I unscrewed it and took it off. When I looked inside of the cap there were two tiny small rocks inside it near the top. 

What had happened was that the added rocks in the cap pushed on the valve stem and when I screwed the cap on tight the rocks pressed on the stem, releasing air. I took the rocks out, inflated the tire, put the cap back on without the small rocks inside, and we have not had an issue since.

The lesson:

Make sure when you screw your cap on (your head) that there is nothing inside of it or you will be deflated. 🙂 

Billy M.

[The blog on “A Man, not Nicodemus”] is a wonderful pure thought, and one that the church fathers did not understand.  A while back I read this article, among others, on John 3:5”

https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_audiotext.html?tname=apostatefathers

Here are a few quotes from it:

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, … are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, “Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, 61)

… it is a small matter to “lay hands on them that they may receive the Holy Ghost,” unless they receive also the baptism of the Church. For then finally can they be fully sanctified, and be the sons of God, if they be born of each sacrament; since it is written, “Except a man be born again of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (St. Cyprian, Epistle 71, 1)

Nay, he that, out of contempt, will not be baptized, shall be condemned as an unbeliever, and shall be reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says: “Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, Book VI, 15)

Damien

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That confusion is why I call the “apostolic fathers” the “apostate fathers”*.  Not one of them was a wise man.

Pastor Johnn

Good morning,

It felt so good to be there and feel the reading Sunday.  I felt such a relief that it surprised me.  I have always wanted to see more of the power of God, but have felt bad even having that thought/prayer.  I don’t know why I felt bad.  I have heard you say we need to pray for more of the power of God, and still, I have apologized to Jesus at times, after asking him for more.  I didn’t realize how much I do that until Sunday.  I am so thankful for that message because it restored the balance for me.  I think I was stuck at the just “go through it and make Jesus happy ” end.  I love that Jesus will balance us out.

I have struggled with that especially praying for Natalie, wanting Jesus to give her more time here, and knowing we were never meant to stay here or seeing Jesus turn this world over, and wondering how or if to even pray.  I think I got stuck and resolved to close my eyes and brace for what is coming and forgot I could pray and hope.  A balance of knowing God is in control of all things and I can still talk to Him. I tried to picture having a child who just silently went through the motions; there would be a disconnect in that relationship, to not hear your child’s heart.

When I was seeking the holy Ghost and for some time after I received it, I would ask Jesus to come to visit me.  I knew Sandy talked about Jesus sitting next to her on the couch, or the little handicapped girl you spoke of that said Jesus visited her, and Betty Baxter’s testimony.  I would ask Jesus if he would be on my couch in the middle of the night. I would get up and go into our living room with such hope, that he would be sitting there.  I can’t remember when I stopped asking Jesus to come visit me.

Sunday left me asking Jesus if he would come visit me.  ❤

Beth Durham

Hey everyone! I want to share my testimony from yesterday with you. It’s a little long for our everybody group, so I thought I’d send it here.

Yesterday I had my bi-annual mammogram. In the beginning it was very routine, and they took the amount of pictures that they needed. I sat there for quite awhile waiting for the results, and then the nurse came back in and said that they would need to take more pictures, this time 3-D. She took nine more pictures, and she also concentrated on a spot where I previously had to have a biopsy done. As I walked back to the room to wait, tears started to come to my eyes. They had never taken so many pictures before. While sitting in the room again to wait, Barbara texted me a heart on a group message with her, Pastor John, and myself. I told them what was happening and that I was a little afraid. John sent back the verse, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord.” Hearing that brought back a song that Jesus gave me while I was living in Cary. It was a hard time, and he very tenderly gave me these words and a little tune. It was so unlike me to have a song come to me, so I knew that was Jesus! Here are the words-

I’ll trust in you, for what I’m going through

I’ll trust in you, you’re faithful and you’re true,

For I know I’m in your hand,

And I know you understand,

Through the day and through the night,

I’ll trust in you…

Jesus bringing that song back to my memory meant so much as I was sitting there waiting for my results. All the while, I was texting with Pastor John and Barbara, and it felt like they were right there with me. And we were together, in heart and in spirit! The spirit fell on me while I was in the room waiting, and I knew they could feel it too. What a precious thing fellowship is, especially when you are in need.

Then I began to have a conversation with Jesus. I told him if I was going to get discouraging results from the mammogram, I knew that it would only draw me closer to him just as it has done in the past when I have gone through other trials. I hesitantly asked Jesus, “Do you want to go another round?” He corrected me and said, “another dance.” Oh, the tears flooded down! How sweetly and tenderly he said that. He doesn’t see going through something with us as “another round,” like men might see it, like a boxing match or something to fight through. He sees it as something tender to share with us, just another way to love us through a situation. Not to say that trials are easy, but to see the good in it is like waltzing across the floor with him.

The radiologist came in and told me that there was nothing worrisome after all on the mammogram. I was so thankful! Thankful for good results, but also thankful for being loved through it by Jesus and the prayers of his people. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything, those dances with Jesus, my dancing partner.

Carrie