Hey, Pastor John! 

     I just want to say what a wonderful meeting we had today! I am so thankful for the blessing God gave me when I was out in the middle dancing in the Spirit. It felt so good to be completely willing to just do whatever Jesus wanted. That is a freeing feeling. 

     Afterwards, I sat down in my chair, and I was thinking about my experience. I thought about how I could feel Jesus pulling my heart out to the middle to dance for Him. Then, I had the thought that fleshly old me would want to just sit back and try to go unnoticed in the background, but when the Spirit is flowing, I have the power to go with the feelings. I was thinking that when Jesus pulls on our hearts, wanting for us to do something, all we have left to do is not be afraid to quickly go with what He has already put in our hearts. That’s what I want to do, not be afraid to respond immediately with what Jesus has already put in my heart. Those feelings are what are always right. Jesus is good, and it was so sweet today! 

     Thanks for everything, Pastor John. I love you.

-Hope M.

Good morning Pastor John,

I am looking forward to being there again to see you all in person!  I am planning to be there for Thanksgiving, the Lord willing.

While reading the Random Thought for Today (11/8), the one on “Anointed To Hear”* filled me with joy.  I know I have read this before with no real reaction.   But today when I read it, it went straight to my heart.  I felt so blessed.  I agree with Lou, “I am also anointed to hear.”  I believe we all are, who  believe what God gives you for us.  I instantly knew that without that anointing, I would believe anything and/or nothing.  I would believe Catholicism,  Baptist, worship crystals, or whatever the wind blew in that day.  I knew I/we are blessed by God!  To have a Pastor who is true to God, to hear the truth, and to believe it.  That is big!  The feelings I am feeling as I write this are making it difficult to type in a coherent way.   I feel like I should be dancing instead of typing.  But I had to share this belief in the value of our anointing while feeling it.  Now, it is up to us to be willing to change.  As we know, we cannot be more like Jesus without becoming less like us!

Thank you for being true to God and sharing what He gives you in your anointing.

Love

Mark W.

* Going to Jesus.com – Anointed to Hear

Good morning, Pastor John;

While going through the Old Testament course (Old Testament Course (Pt. 1) – Going to Jesus.com), I came upon this reading in Exodus 14:

23. Then the Egyptians made pursuit and went in after them—all of the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen—into the middle of the sea.
24. And it came to pass, on the morning watch, Jehovah looked down upon the host of Egypt through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and He troubled the host of the Egyptians.
25. And He removed the wheels of their chariots so that they could hardly drive. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah is fighting for them, against Egypt!”

I thought this was so good! I didn’t remember seeing in previous Old Testament classes that Jehovah was watching the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and the cloud and He removed the wheels off the chariots because Pharaoh’s army would certainly have overtaken the Israelites within a short time. The Spirit brought to my attention what He spoke to me in your doorway in 2001, “I have heard your prayers from the past ten years, and not one has escaped my ears.”  Jesus gave me the thought, “I was watching (out) for you, and when you were about to be overtaken, I removed the wheels from off the chariots that were pursuing you.”  After that thought, I had a scene of me walking through a sea on dry land while my pursuers drowned.  When God did that for me in 2001, I now have no more pursuers — only Canaan’s land is just in sight, as the song goes.  

I love finding the little gems that I overlooked in times’ past.  Every nugget is valuable. 

Judy & Billy

Good morning Pastor John!  

I woke up this morning thinking about what Brother Billy said last night about staying spiritually healthy for the body’s sake. It made me think about when you’ve been working out physically and stop for a bit, starting again can feel daunting. You just have to jump in and begin to get back into shape.

I read Lesson 9 in the Lessons from Isaiah book, called “Becoming”, and it was so good to me. But this time, something struck me more deeply than it did before. This parable:

 “Who, then, is a faithful and prudent steward, whom the master will put in charge over his servants to issue rations at the appropriate time?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. . . . But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the men servants and women servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will show up on a day that he doesn’t expect, and in an hour that he doesn’t know, and he will cut him off and appoint him his portion with the unbelieving.” (Lk. 12:42–43, 45–46)

This is about God’s servants — not unbelievers. I don’t think I ever really slowed down and took in that this wasn’t about unbelievers and Jesus coming back.  It’s about those who are His, and what shape they’re in when God sends Jesus back.  That makes being in shape even more vital when you read how God will deal with those who let themselves go.

P.S. I loved Samuel’s testimony last night. Beautiful to see.

Beth

Pastor John,

I saw the YouTube video of young people gathering in a home to worship God. The point being that they were assembling outside of the institution of Christianity to do that. That is big, it seems, as someone had to be feeling something in their heart to want to do that, and as the narrator of the video pointed out (I’m paraphrasing), “…we wanted to get together without a set agenda for how things would go.” 

That sounds like a move in the right direction, as serving God outside of the religious system of Christianity is necessary for anyone wanting the freedom during worship to hear from and act on what the Spirit is doing right then.

But as many viewers of the video commented, “Now what?” That is the truth. Without direction from Jesus, how can they become anything but a group of folks performing Christian ceremonies at home versus inside a building decorated with stained glass and crucifixes?

It isn’t the fault of those young people getting together that they don’t have the answer to the question, “Now what?”

God bless them for trying!

When I watched that video this morning, I could feel their answer – what they needed, and that feeling from Jesus moved me so much.
Their need is the same as what was needed in Paul the apostle’s day. Paul was sent to teach God’s newly grafted-in children, the Gentiles, how to worship God acceptably, that is, “in Spirit and in truth.”  Isn’t that your job, Pastor John? Isn’t that the job of every man sent by God, to point those who are feeling God’s pull on their heart to the Spirit of God; that is, to the baptism of the Spirit, which is only administered by Jesus from Heaven, and to teach them the necessity of following that Spirit every day of their lives? 

The folks meeting in that home need someone sent by God to point them to the Spirit of God, and to KEEP pointing them to the Spirit of God, as that is the only acceptable way to worship God today.

As you have said, Pastor John. The importance does not lie in knowing that Jesus is good; it lies in knowing that Jesus is good enough!  Nothing at all can be added to worshipping God in Spirit and in truth, and that is what you have spent a lifetime teaching: Jesus is sufficient in all things.

I hope young people in this generation will pay the price to be able to carry that message to those sincerely seeking God.

Jerry

Pastor John,

So many times God forgave Israel for their transgressions. I think that is so telling when considering how in Deuteronomy 17, God commanded that any Israelite man or woman caught worshipping other Gods were to be taken outside the city and killed.

It wasn’t because God hated the offender that God destroyed the man or woman, but it was His love for those who hadn’t gone astray that caused Him to take their life. God loved them all too much to let an ungodly heart influence them. 

The Father proved over and over that He loved them and would forgive them if they only would obey so they could be blessed. 

It makes for a very different view of the living God versus the one so many have misunderstood as being cruel in the Old Testament for handing out death sentences.

Jerry

Ohh John I feel so good right now…

For over 25 years, I’ve been reading and studying the KJV (King James Version) since I first began with brother Gary in the OT (Old Testament) class.

I’m currently reading s l o w l y through Genesis, YOUR version, PJV (Pastor John’s Version),* and I am getting so much more out of it!  It almost makes me cry… how much more vivid are my visualization of the scenes, and my understanding is heightened.  

As I compare each sentence to the KJV, I can appreciate our translation SO MUCH MORE.  I can appreciate the BIBLE so much more!   The stories are more emotionally moving than ever before. I really FELT for Hagar when she was cast out by Sarai, and God’s angel met her in the wilderness.

I feel the value of our translation is in the familiar vernacular, in which we speak, but also the accuracy of the translation comes through! 

I feel so blessed–as if the holy ghost is really influencing my reading this time.

I thank God for your tireless work.

We are all enjoying the OT class, by the way.  Stuart fervently emphasized that the MAPS are important! 

We’re a good group and the fellowship is valuable.  

Brad

*  https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html