Good morning Pastor John,

I am up reading John 18 this morning, and it hurts my heart.  

Judas went to a place where Jesus had gathered many times before with His disciples.  I wonder what intimate conversations had taken place in that garden.  I wonder if the place held something special for Jesus.  It was where He chose to go and speak to his Father in his final hours.

And Judas came with weapons.  I don’t think I’ve ever paused long enough to absorb the gravity of that – he brought weapons!

It hurts my heart.

John 18:

1. After Jesus said these things, he went out with his disciples across the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden into which he and his disciples entered.

2. Now, Judas, the one who betrayed him, also knew the place because Jesus had often gathered there with his disciples.

3. So, having received a cohort, as well as officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, Judas came there with lanterns, and torches, and weapons.

Then, Jesus told them who he was, and God let them feel His power –so much so that it knocked them to the ground.  Yet still, they kept coming.

5.They answered him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” (And Judas, the one who betrayed him, was also standing among them.)

6.Then, when he told them, “I am he”, they went backward and fell to the ground.

Others have also felt the power of God, and still hurt Jesus.  I pray I never do.

Beth

Pastor John,

This morning after the reading, I excitedly came home and read to Dee an excerpt from the end of chapter 4,* under the section titled, “The point of the Son”.  As I was reading through all these points that have been revealed to us, I began to weep.  It was like a new chamber in my heart was opening to take in what I was reading.  Weeping, because of the sadness I felt for what the Son went through for me/us.  Weeping also for joy, because he has allowed me to receive these wonderful, but mysterious truths.  As Peter said, “to be partakers in the divine nature”.  Whew!  This is no small thing, and I am very humbled by it. 

Thank you, Pastor John, for diligently plowing through this most difficult work for us and for whomever shall take it in.  God be with you!

Jim K.

* God Had a Son chapter 4, 2nd half

Pastor John,

Listening to the F&S recordings and feel a place I never want to leave. It’s like a blanket Jesus lay across my heart. To really take in that God revealed His son to us, and to some He never will. Just taking that in puts your heart in order on how to love – a humble love. I don’t ever want this to lift off my heart.

Beth

*  God Had a Son Chapter 1

Ohhh John,

Rereading a section at home after this morning really touched me!

On page 108, at the bottom, paragraph, speaking about the Fellowship of God being a testimony to his Son, and the fact that believers are divided and not serving God together in unity is a testimony to the world against Jesus, not for him. That is just so sad to me. Millions are content in their divisions, their denominations, thinking they are all right. Not only does it divide God‘s people from one another, but it also invokes an insidious measure of pride in each person’s heart that they are the ones who are worshiping properly, as opposed to their neighbors across the street.

You continue to write in the final page that this is perhaps “the greatest tragedy in history, even surpassing the tragedy of the original fall in the garden of Eden.”  We are all less than we could be in Christ because of these divisions.”  Oh, it just tears at my heart.  I’m so grateful that after I was finished church-hopping, trying to find one group that made sense to me, that God whispered to me and called me away from all of those sects.  I thank the Lord that He chose to reveal a desire for the truth in my heart, and I sniffed it out like a dog when I found brother Gary’s radio broadcast and felt something brand new and refreshing and healthy; something that made sense. That was God; not my intellect!!

Not my wisdom!! 

Like others said this morning, this truth about the Father and the Son is what God’s people are looking for – and what they really want.  

We were all sinners, but God enabled us to want it too. So I still pray for those who are lost in the world, as well as our brothers and sisters, who are lost in Christianity. 

Brad

* F&S Part 2 chapter 3

Pastor John,

I just love what we read this morning!* Pastor John, you really bring out the loving and tender relationship between the Father and his precious Son that has existed before the foundation of the world. If you don’t believe the Father and the Son are two separate beings who love each other dearly, then it’s impossible to take in how much they love us and want us to be part of their loving relationship. That’s the whole point of us receiving their spirit so we can become part of their loving family; one of their fellows. If we love them and love each other the way they love each other and us, then we will enjoy the fellowship they so want us to have!

Lee Ann

==========

Hi John,

I was sorry I had to miss the reading of the Father and Son* this morning.  Hopefully I will be well soon so I can be at future readings. I wanted to tell you about what happened to me this morning, as I read the Chapter One manuscript on my own.

Back years ago, my daughter Cara had married a man, and that relationship went bad.  I flew to Seattle to try to help her get out of a bad situation, and with legal issues, and at the time, she was managing a cupcake company (kind of like a Starbucks, but sold coffee and cupcakes).  I had just gotten the chapter one part of your Father and Son book which you had just started to write, and while I was waiting for her to get off her work shift, I took the pages I printed out and went to the back of the store where they had booths where you could have coffee and their product and started reading.  

I started reading chapter one for the first time there in my booth. 

When I got to the part where you were telling about the three truths that were the foundation for everything revealed about Jesus.  I got to the third one where you said the Son was NOT revealed while he walked on earth, but only AFTER he ascended and sent back the holy Ghost to his follows and not before that…. the Spirit fell on me deeply at that restaurant there, so much so, that I could not stop weeping.  I tried to calm myself, but I couldn’t stop (and didn’t really want to stop)…then, finally, I put on sunglasses so I wouldn’t be so obvious to people and just sat there soaking it in.  It was a lifetime memory.  

But after some time passed, I forgot exactly where in the book it actually was that I had the Spirit fall on me so deeply like that.  

This morning, when I read Chapter 1 of the book, I had the same experience here at home when reading about the three truths…. And then I remembered where I was in the book in Seattle when that happened!

One of the feelings that I had again this morning that I had in Seattle was that it’s only through the holy Ghost that we have Jesus revealed to us, and how great a thing that actually was (and is).  What a love God had for us in revealing himself through the Son!  The feeling that came with it was, “If I did that for you, what can’t I do to save you?  I will never leave nor forsake you!”  What an overwhelming thought!  The other was one reason for my love and appreciation for the holy Ghost all through the years…  I have loved the Spirit, but for this reason: Jesus is revealed through it.

I was so glad to have that brought back to me because I have wondered many times since the Seattle experience, what it was exactly that touched me so deeply.  I had forgotten the area in the book that it had happened to me.  So I was thrilled to have it happen again, and be reminded of these thoughts and feelings.  What can’t He do for us??!

God is good all the time.  I look forward to a lot more feelings like these in the coming chapters!

Gary

* God Had a Son Chapter 1

Pastor John,

Last week, when Dee and I took our dog to the vet, the tech who greeted us had a tattoo on her arm that read, John 10:10. I wasn’t familiar with that scripture until later when I read it. Jesus is speaking to his disciples saying, “The thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and have it abundantly.”

Then, in verse 3, Jesus says, “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him ( the shepherd) and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4. And once he has driven out his sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5. They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him because they don’t know the voice of strangers.”

Thinking back over the years how Dee and I would venture from one church to another, staying for a while, then moving on. We would seek out different denominations,  but neither heard nor felt anything that would satisfy our souls.

Then one day, a follower of another shepherd led us to a new and glorious pasture. We met the shepherd; he was kind and caring and his voice was gentle. He loved his sheep, and they loved him, and he nourished them with wonderful, satisfying food. The pasture was peaceful and full of love. 

Then, for a time, we returned to our previous pasture.  Upon returning, we realized that the grass wasn’t as moist and sweet as the pasture we just visited. There seemed to be unrest and strife among the sheep. There was no peace, and the hireling was speaking things that didn’t sound true.  

We had heard the voice of the true shepherd that we had longed for, for so many years. We fled back to that delightful pasture and received a warm welcome from the other sheep.

We are so thankful for where we are now, sharing our lives with each other in sweet fellowship. We love our shepherd and his faithful caring for us. We know that in this pasture, we will not be robbed or killed or destroyed.  We are now free, and can partake that promised abundant life.  

Amen!

Jim K

Pastor John,

Wow!  I’m reading John 6 this morning, and I am overwhelmed by the fact that Jesus has written what is on those pages onto our hearts.  Look at what we understand!  It’s not hard for us to hear.  It is wonderful! 

Reading John 6:38–40 made my spirit leap!  God is on our side. It is His will that nothing He has given to Jesus be lost, but that Jesus will raise them up on the last day.  That’s us!  God gave us to Jesus, fully knowing His will – and I love that so much.  Sometimes it just feels too wonderful not to share!

38.For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of  Him who sent me.

39.And this is the will of the Father who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given to me, but that I should raise it up in the last day.

40.And this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

. . . .

53. Therefore, Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

54.He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I’ll raise him up on the last day.

55.For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

56.He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

57.Just as the living Father sent me, and I live by the Father, so also, he who eats me shall live by me.

58.This is the bread who came down from heaven – not the way your fathers ate manna and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

59. These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

60. Then, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?”

61. But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Does this offend you?

62. Then, what if you see the Son of man ascending to where he was before?

63. It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The things that I am telling you, they are spirit, and they are life!

Beth