Good morning,

Yesterday’s meeting was so good to me!!  I went to bed last night  with so many good thoughts about what I heard and felt yesterday morning.

I was thinking about how we have everything we need to live and be happy in the holy Ghost.  Everything! The joy, the peace, the strength, the righteous judgment, the discernment, etc.  It’s all in there!  If we have the holy Ghost dwelling inside of us, we have all of those things!  It’s just like you told us yesterday, “We have the power to live like Jesus!”

Then, I thought about something I’ve heard you say so many times when you laid hands on me to pray for me, “Let Him Live!”  I would always wonder what that really meant, but last night it was like a lightbulb turning on!  I understood exactly what you mean when you say “Let Him Live!”  You could just as easily say, “Let the holy Ghost Live!”

While it’s absolutely true that righteousness, peace, and joy is in the holy Ghost, it’s not a given that we feel those things just because we have the holy Ghost.  If we neglect our holy Ghost and don’t keep it stirred up and alive, it does us no good and the “light that is in you becomes darkness”.  If we let those little wrong things here and there build up without repenting, our holy Ghost and those wonderful feelings will get buried deeper and deeper.  Our well will eventually dry up.

We have to let him live in order to have the wonderful life that is intended for us!  I can feel it stirring in me as I write this!!  This is all what you were preaching yesterday!

Last night, as I kept feeling fuller and fuller thinking on these things, I began to pray for our young people.  I thought about what Uncle Joe said about people being too comforted by the things of this world to see their need for God.  This world offers a lot of distractions to our young people (and us old people), but if we do what you said yesterday and remember God, if we will get still and spend time with Jesus, that’s when we begin to feel the holy Ghost and every wonderful benefit that comes with it!  I laid there last night thinking, “This is what Pastor John was talking about this morning.  This is remembering God”.  I want our young people to have those sweet experiences on their bed or riding in their car.  It will then spill over to their conversations with each other.  They can build each other up in the holy Ghost!  Those experiences are strength builders! 

We have what we need to overcome this world; we just have to “let Him live” so we can serve God with our whole heart, just like Jesus did!  Just like you told us yesterday, “Our life will be easier, happier, sweeter, and with a better end if we will walk in the Spirit.” You said, “Jesus wants us to be happy!  But remember God.  Remember our brothers and sisters.”

So, so good!

Lee Ann

Such a good message today, pastor John.

I love Isaiah 58:13 and 14 and how you explained it:  “Stop praying for the blessings of God; pray to live the life that yields the blessings – the blessings are guaranteed!”

So good. And so important!

Jerry

Isaiah 58 

13 If you refrain your foot on the Sabbath and do not pursue your own will on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, holy to Jehovah, to be honored, and if you honor Him by not pursuing your own ways, nor choosing your own will, nor say anything of yourself,

14 Then, you will take great delight in Jehovah, and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of land, and I will feed you the inheritance of Jacob your father, for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.

Hey!

I had a full day of business yesterday and I was going about my day. On several occasions throughout the day, I just felt like speaking in tongues. Actually, I’ve been feeling that for quite a while but yesterday, I was thinking how good it is to have a prayer language that comes from Jesus. Jesus and I were communicating and talking and sharing feelings together. It felt good to speak in tongues. I love that personal relationship with the Lord.  He knows what’s going on….. everywhere! To share feelings with the One who created the universe is no small thing. When you have told us pray in the Holy Ghost, pray in the Holy Ghost – there is much benefit in that. We have a direct line to Jesus and he hears us. I really didn’t have anything particular on my mind, but just having that sweet language come out of my mouth during the day….week… whenever, brought about peaceful feelings. Jesus is so very good to us.  If we will exercise our precious gift that Jesus has given us, we will be a people of much more benefit.

Amy B.

Note – Download a free PDF version of Pastor John’s boo, Speaking in Tongues at Spirit Baptism:

  Going to Jesus.com – Speaking in Tongues at Spirit Baptism

Hi, Pastor John;

I have been meditating on “God’s order” again, what the Spirit taught me in my early thirties, especially after my visits with some saints recently whose homes are out of order.  It felt good to go over these things again,

Billy

God’s Order

(Concerning Families)

In the early 1980s, I was married and had two small boys. As I was driving to work at 5:30 AM to Louisville, KY from Crestwood KY on Highway 22 (about a 30-mile drive), the Spirit of God asked me a question, “Whose name did your wife take when you were married, yours or hers?” I replied to the question, “Mine, Lord, she became a Mellick and I did not become a Williams.”

Then, another question followed the first one, “Was Adam created from Eve, or was Eve created from Adam?” Again, I answered, “Eve was created from Adam’s rib.”

Genesis 2: 20-25

20. So, the man gave names to all the beasts and creatures that fly in the sky, and to all the animals of the field, but as for the man, He found no helper fit for him.
21. And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. Then He took one of his ribs, and He closed up the flesh in its place.
22. And Jehovah God made the rib that He had taken from the man into a woman. And He brought her to the man.
23. And the man said, “This one, at last, is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. This one shall be called ‘woman’ because she was taken out of man.”
24. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25. And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

After the two questions that the Spirit asked me, the Lord opened my understanding about His creation order concerning a man and a woman that He himself joined together to be a “husband and his wife”; to be “one flesh” unto God.   If there are troubles between the husband and God, the husband and Jesus, the husband and his pastor, the husband and his wife, or the husband and his children, there is an issue with one or more of this order of God. And, if there is trouble with one, there will be troubles with them all. God’s order is not “pick-and-choose” what you will or what you like. It is all or nothing. The husband is responsible to maintain this order in his family. Then, if families have order within themselves, they will have fellowship with God and each other, and from family-to-family. There were troubles in my house and the Lord was showing me through His Spirit how to get my house in order and have peace and contentment, if I would humbly believe and obey what the Spirit was telling me to be the head and spiritual leader in my home. Living in this order is as simple as breathing. God’s order works!

Here is the order and understanding that Jesus gave me while I was driving to work that day.

         God

6. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He (God) exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  (Hebrews 11:6)

         Jesus (The only begotten of the Father)

      1. In the beginning, the Word was there, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2. He was in the beginning with God.
3. All things were created through him, and without him was nothing created that was created.
4. In him was life, and the life was the light of men,

     5.and the light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:1-5)

         A (Godly) Pastor

15. And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and they will feed you knowledge and understanding. (Jeremiah 3:15).

. . .

11. And he gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors   and teachers
12. for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for edification of the body of Christ
13. until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the true knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the full stature of Christ,
14. so that we no longer be children, tossed by waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, by the cunning of deceitful contrivances. (Ephesians 4:11-14)

         Husband

19. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. (Colossians 3:19)

. . .

25. Husbands, love your own wives, just as Christ loved the Assembly and gave himself up for it, (Ephesians 5:25)

     7. Furthermore, you husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman            as to a weaker vessel, and as heirs together of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be                     hindered. (I Peter 3:7)

. . .

28. Men ought thus to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself,
29. for no one has ever hated his own body, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord does the Assembly of God,
30. seeing we are members of his body, of his flesh and his bones.
31. “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one body.”
32. This is a great mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the Assembly of God.
33. In any case, let each man among you love his wife as he loves himself. And let the wife reverence her husband. (Ephesians 5: 28-33)

         Wife

28. Men ought thus to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves  himself,

   29. for no one has ever hated his own body, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord does the              Assembly of God,

    30. seeing we are members of his body, of his flesh and his bones.

31. “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and and they two shall be one body.
32. This is a great mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the Assembly of God.
33. In any case, let each man among you love his wife as he loves himself. And let the wife  reverence her husband. (Ephesians 5:22-24)

   18. Wives, be submissive to your own husbands, as is appropriate in the Lord. (Colossians 3:18)

11. Their wives, likewise, must be worthy of respect, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

          (I Timothy 3:11)

1. Also, you wives, be subject to your husbands so that, should any disobey the word, they might be won over, without a word, by the conduct of the wives
2. when they observe your pure conduct coupled with fear.
3. Let your adornment not be outward — the braiding of hair, and wearing of gold, or putting on of clothing-:
4. rather, let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
5. For this is how holy women who adorned themselves in times past also hoped in God, being in subjection to their husbands.
6. as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him “lord”, whose children you are, if you do good and do not Fear any terror. (I Peter 3:1-6)

         Children

     2. Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long upon the land that Jehovah   

        Your God is giving you. (Exodus 20: 12)

3. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward. (Psalm 128- 3)

. . .

6. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  (Proverbs 22:6)

      1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

2. “Honor your father and mother [which is the first commandment with a promise]
3. so that it might go well with you, and you might live long in the land.”
4. And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and Instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4)
5. He who spares his rod hates his son, but he loves him who diligently chastens him.  (Proverbs 13:24)
6. Children’s children [are] the crown of old men; and the glory of children [are] their fathers. (Proverbs 17:6)

         Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work [be] pure, and whether [it be] right            (Proverbs  20:11)

      But when Jesus saw [it], he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to                come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. (Mark 10:14)

     The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left [to himself] bringeth his mother to shame. (Proverbs 29:15)

      It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that        he should offend one of these little ones. (Luke 17:2)

      Furthermore:

      (Hebrews 12: 1-29)

1. Therefore, having so great a cloud of witnesses about us, and laying aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us, let us also run with patience the race that is laid out before us,

    2. fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him,                      endured a cross, despised the disgrace, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3. Consider him who endured such hostility of sinners against himself, lest you grow weary in your souls and lose heart.
4. For you have not yet resisted to the death, striving against sin,

     5. and you have forgotten the exhortation which instructs you as sons: “My son, do not lightly esteem             the Lord’s correction; neither be discouraged by His reproof,

     6. for whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives.”

7. If you endure chastisement, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
8. But if you are without chastisement, of which all have been partakers, then you are bastards, and not sons.
9. Furthermore, we certainly have had fathers of our flesh who chastened us, and we reverenced them. Shall we not much rather submit ourselves to the Father of spirits, and live?
10. They, for just a short time, disciplined us as it pleased them; but He, for our benefit, that we might partake of His holiness.
11. Now, no discipline, for just that moment, seems joyous, but grievous; however, it afterwards yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness in those who have been trained by it.
12. Wherefore, “Straighten up the listless hands and the feeble knees,”

   13. and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned aside, but let it rather be                 healed.

14. Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without which no man will see the Lord,

   15. taking care, that no one come short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up cause trouble (and by this many be defiled),

    16. that no one be licentious, or be profane like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

17. For you know that even afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, even though he earnestly sought it with tears.

   18. For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, with blazing fire, and darkness, and                   gloom, and raging storm,

   19. and trumpet blast, and a voice speaking, which voice was such that those who heard it begged that             nothing more be said to them,

   20. for they could not endure that which was commanded: “If even an animal touch the mountain, it               shall be stoned”;

    21. indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am full of fear and trembling.”

22. But you have come to Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
23. to the festival and Assembly of the first-born whose names are recorded in heaven, and to God, Judge of all, and to spirits of righteous people made perfect,

   24. and to a mediator of a new covenant, Jesus, and to sprinkled blood, which speaks better things than           that of Abel.

25. Beware that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused the one on earth who instructed them, much less shall we escape who turn away from the One who speaks from heaven,

    26. whose voice then shook the earth, but now, He has promised, saying, “Yet once more, I will shake                not only the earth, but also heaven.”

27. Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of the things which are shaken, that is, things which are made, so that things which are not shaken may remain.
28. Wherefore, receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us show gratitude, by which, with reverence and fear of God, we serve God acceptably,

    29. for our God is a consuming fire.

May God help us all,

Brother, Billy Mellick

Allison and I just read (and listened to Damien’s fine narration of) The Way of Grace tract.

We were reminded of a phrase we heard a while ago from a Christian radio minister, and thought it apt.

“Grace is when God gives us what we don’t deserve.

Mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we do deserve.”

A very profound way of putting it, don’t you think?

Brad

Good morning,

I really loved the reading from your book on slander.  Sometimes, it’s not about the words on the page as much as the feelings from the words on the page.  I loved what I felt when we were reading those pages.  

So many things stood out to me. The second paragraph on page 2 really packed a punch! (But the whole top half of page 2 is so good)!  You wrote:

“The holy Spirit is God’s answer to everything human.  It is the answer to all that is wrong with you and all that you think is right with you. The Spirit of God was not sent to us to take sides; it was sent to take over – completely!  And all the options that Christianity provides to walking in the Spirit are slanderous lies against the One who sent it. That is why God’s children around the globe keep hearing a “still, small voice” whisper in their ear, “Come out of her, my people.”  God is not calling His children out of the world; they are already out of the world. He is calling them out of the institutionalized slander they have joined, and into his pure, eternal life.”

That is so true!  The holy Ghost is the answer to everything!  Yet, slander against the One who sent the holy Ghost has tried to convince us that we don’t even need it!  As a matter of fact, in all my years in Christianity, I never once heard that there was such a thing as being baptized with the holy Ghost!  Many of us sat in congregations for years and were offered any and everything besides the joy and peace of being filled with the Holy Ghost and walking in that!  We were told that baptism with water was the One baptism and that was all we needed. We were told that if we repeated a few scriptures and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we were saved and not to dare let anyone make us doubt that!  We were told that when we drank a little cup of grape juice and ate a small, dry cracker that we were having communion with the Father!  We were told not to go by our feelings. We were taught that the Bible was the word of God!  We were taught that the Father and His Son were part of a divine trinity wherein they were separate and they were one, all at the same time.  It was total confusion! And it was all lies. It really was institutionalized slander! Slander that was intended to come between us and our Father!  Those rituals and doctrines only served one purpose, and that was to take the place of the real relationship we can have with Jesus through the holy Ghost. The holy Ghost is everything! If that’s left out, then Jesus can be nothing more to us than an unattainable being who lives far away in the sky.  

What if we had been satisfied with calling the crackers and grape juice our communion with Jesus? What if we had believed that sprinkling some water on a baby’s head or dunking someone in a dirty river was the One baptism that Paul talked about in Ephesians? What if we had remained in those pews for all those years like dead men walking? 

But so many of us felt that there must be more to Jesus than the dead rituals and doctrines we were experiencing in Christianity. And with a sincere heart, we took this simple thought to Jesus, “There has to be more to You than this”.  And little did we know that Jesus was just waiting for us to come to Him with that thought!  By being open and sincere with Jesus, He was able to show us (through His Spirit), that there really is so much more to Him than the dead rituals and false doctrines of Christianity.  He gave us the truth by leading us to a place where we could be fed good, clean food that leads to “pure, eternal life”.  

Thank you for feeding us more good, clean food through this writing!  I know it has taken hours and hours to get it all down, but I’m hoping a sincere heart who is still inside those walls of institutionalized slander will read these pages, and then feel free to go to Jesus with the questions he’s had in his heart.  He’s waiting…

I’m looking forward to reading the next section (or rereading this one)!

Lee Ann

You know, today we watched the Sunday teaching again for the 3rd time.  We just can’t get enough!  Since I’m feeling better now, we rejoiced and prayed through, especially Darren’s final song, which we repeated again and again….  I felt a spirit of soaring, like I was a bird, flying freely, gliding through the sky.  Glorious!  Amazing!  Such a blessing.  Such gratefulness to read along with your notes, PJ, and listen to the deep meaning of each section.

This grounded us.  This set us free from so many things that have been hindering us in the flesh.  Jesus is worthy to be worshipped and glorified in the Spirit by His people, not merely worshipped in “form” or rituals. Absurd!  Made me hate that religion even more, with a righteous indignation!  What an amazingly successful lie on the public!  So many souls lost in that mess!

The feelings of soaring and flying along the California coast to Darren’s liberating song were far more rewarding than any church ceremony could ever be.  Makes me want to live only to please Him, and let go of my fleshly ambitions in every corner of my life, if they can’t honor Jesus in some way. 

Brad

Hey John,

Thank you for this morning!  What a blessing it is for Jesus to let us understand the things you talked about this morning, like what God’s kingdom is and why we don’t have to pray for it to come any longer.  And that the prayer for God’s will to be done down here as it was in heaven at that time is something that actually happened, when Satan was cast out and is now down here.  And, wow, what a way to bring it to an end with Darren’s amazing song!

Jesus is still talking to us, and teaching us that he really was our example of living in this world with the holy ghost dwelling in us.  And it comes with the whole package – the joy and the persecution, if we are following Jesus.  God help us to live worthy of those things. 

Vince

============

Hi, Pastor John!

I was lying awake and couldn’t sleep, thinking about the things we were taught and the feelings of the Spirit from Sunday’s Mathew reading.  Tom’ song was timeless! Truth is truth in a song if it was sung yesterday or fresh today. It brought back sweet feelings of singing with him over the years. I do believe Donna’s voice is getting sweeter over the years. Her voice and the feelings in her song today, soothed my heart like balm.  What a way to start the morning.

The first few plucks that Darren played on his guitar melted my heart instantly! Aaron, saw me and handed my tissues; I knew and I guess Aaron knew what was coming in Darren’s song. I was praying, “this has the most familiar feelings . . .I have felt this before”. It had the same feelings in the song as, Rest Oh My Child, when you played it for the first time at my kitchen table in 2001. The Spirit spoke to me then at my table, “I got you”.  Today, while listening to Darren’s song I heard softly again, “I still got you”. I had to hide my face from what I was hearing and feeling and let it soak in as deep as it would go.

Stuart’s testimony touched me greatly. He may not know this, but a lot of us were in the tree stand with him. It was an honor to be in the same room (and tree) with Stuart. I could take in and felt the feelings with which Stuart was testifying about. They were truly special.

Listening to your sermon and teaching today was meat for my soul!. The message concerning, “On Earth as it is in Heaven”, was amazing to me. I never heard it before like that–It was new and fresh, and made me hungry for more. It’s like eating a meal that was cooked perfectly, looked appetizing, and cooked at the right temperature. And when you put the fork in your mouth, you knew from the first bite that it was going to be a good meal. It was so satisfying. Thank you, Jesus!

As we were leaving to go home after the meeting, I don’t think I ever felt so honored, humbled, and grateful as I was today for what we had from Jesus’ table. Sometimes, it takes faith to believe that God really truly loves us. I’m sitting here in awe just thinking about it all. The love we felt for Jesus and each other is a gift to and from Jesus. It is what he died for so that we can experience what the Father & Son have for each other, and now for His body. True love is when it flows out and it is returned. That is what we had today.

Thank you to everybody! And thank you Pastor John, I am still full.

Billy M.

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Pastor John,

I just wanted to say hey, and say I have thinking about what you preached yesterday.  It was out of this world GOOD to Me!  Things I have never heard before!  My sincere hope is that everyone, including me, is taking it all in.

I feel like Jesus is taking us somewhere we have never been before!  It’s so exciting!!  I LOVE it.  I LOVE it!!

Jimmy T

============

Me:

If Jesus is trying to take us somewhere, God give us the humility to go with him!  I want it!

Pastor John

John,

Debbie and I just listened again to the preaching from this morning.  It is the best I have heard in a good while.  Really good on repenting and confessing of the power of the HOLY GHOST, and TRUTH!! 

Jimmy T.

*See Post: Notes from Today’s Reading, Nov. 8, 2020