Experience

Good morning, Pastor John:

I had a very short dream just before Vince and Amy came to stay with us. In the dream, I was outside doing my daily routines when I felt the presence of the Lord, and I stopped and said with all of being,”Lord, I love you with my whole heart.” At that moment, I heard a very pretty voice singing, “Come to Jesus, Come to Jesus, Come to Je ee sus, right now”. My eyes popped opened wide on the word, now.

It was a little after 5:00 am, and I started to walk through the garage to my music room. With each step I felt the Spirit. I sat in my chair in my music room and said, “Here I am, Jesus.” I didn’t know what to do, but just sat there and started talking to Jesus in a normal voice. I started telling Jesus how I felt; my frustrations, my fears, my loves, my desires, etc. As I was talking softly with the Lord, the power of God filled the music room, and I started speaking with tongues. It was so strong that I fell on my hands and knees on the floor, praising God. I was crying very hard and praising God when I heard three words, ” I took it”, then as soon as the Spirit fell, it was gone. The tongues stopped, the crying stopped, the praising God stopped.

I rose up, still kneeling with my hands on my lap. It was so quiet and peaceful that you could hear the silence. I pondered, “What just happened?” My mind went back to your testimony of how you killed that gnat on the wall with your finger, and God telling you, “That’s about the size of the spirit that you’ve been wrestling with for three days.” I told myself, “It’s gone.” Whatever “it” was that I have been struggling with was now gone; Jesus took the “it”. I don’t know what the “it” was, but God knows. There was nothing left for me to do but clean myself up. As I was wiping my tears and stood up, I said, “Well, let’s go to work.” I took a shower, got dressed, and signed in to start taking phone calls for my work.

The contentment and peace I feel now just goes without saying. This has been the best most peaceful Christmas that I have ever had. I love peace. The best Christmas present that I ever had was having Vince and Amy stay with us. We felt so honored to hear their testimony in full of how God put them together. It was no small thing, watching tears flow from Rebekah E. and seeing the happy expressions on the C… girl’s faces. We all were wiping tears at one time or another. God knows all of our, “its”.

God is so kind and good,

Billy

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Samson

Hi Pastor John

I was reading about Samson last night and was wondering what is the significance of the swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
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There is none, Michelle, that I know of, except that Sampson (with God’s help) used those things as a parable for the Philistines.
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Also in Judges 13:15 : “And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.”

and 13:19: “So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.”

What does “kid” mean in these scriptures?

Michelle H
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The kid was either a young goat or a lamb.

jdc

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Damien – “The cliff”

Hey,

I had the thought last night that if the economy (and everything else?) is going over a cliff then we must need to get somewhere quickly.  A cliff is really a short-cut.  I have spent much of my life thinking about things going bad and the life we are used to disappearing, and I’m really kind of tired of doing that.  It is all bad out there, and getting worse,  and our times are probably going to get tough, but THIS truth and life are good and I’m glad we have this space of time with such ease of life to do our work.  I just feel like staying focused on that and I believe the rest will be taken care of to provide what we need.

Damien

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Yes, that is my feeling, too.  Taking care of ourselves is not possible in a world like this.  That is our heavenly Father’s job.  Our part is to do the work he has given us to do, and I want us to focus on that.  If we do that well, and please God, He will keep us covered in the shadow of with His mighty wings.  As Preacher Clark used to say, If we are doing the work, God will be the loser if something happens to cause us to stop.  Still, we know that “the night is coming when no man can work.”  So, let’s get to it while we still can.

 jdc

 

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Translation

John,

Joseph and I were wondering why in some documents, the Greek word, αμεν, is translated consistently as “verily” throughout the first part of the New Testament (up to John 21:18) and as “amen” in the rest of the New Testament. Do the two English words mean the same thing?

Joseph & Wendell
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Hi Wendell.

The Hebrew word, “amen”, (with Greek letters spelled αμεν) can translated in various ways, but all of them have the sense of “truly” or “assuredly”, or even something like, “let it be so!”

Each translator has to decide what English word best conveys the meaning in the verse being translated, and my guess is that in the document that you and Joseph have been reading, the translator(s) decided to use “verily” whenever Jesus was the speaker, and “amen” the rest of the time.

jdc

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since 1963

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=310558772384246&set=a.198312883608836.34844.198021666971291&type=1&theater

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Gary is working

Hi John

I prayed that Jesus would use me while traveling this morning, and that I would hear His voice. When I got to the airport gate, I sat next to a young man in the military. Jesus told me what to say to him. Turns out he was a backslidden son of a preacher, with the Holy Ghost. He received it when he was 8 years old.

I know I Jesus encouraged him toward good. I told him God was looking for strong and holy young men, and the Spirit was his only strength. I also gave him a few tracts. His name is Tyler. I kept sensing that I was an answer to his father’s prayers. Jesus is real! 🙂

Miss y’all already.

Gary
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That is wonderful, Gary. I hope God will call him back to where he belongs.

jdc

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Tonight’s meeting

Hi Pastor John

I just wanted to tell you how I felt tonight. When I heard about what happened to Laura it just brought tears to my eyes. I hate that her sweet heart was hurt and mistreated. As I was watching and listening to everyone I just felt so much love. I have never seen brothers and sisters coming together for one another like that. His love and His ways never cease to amaze me. I’m thankful for what Jesus let me see and feel tonight.

Last night I watched some videos that Amy had on her “Amy’s site” and watching my brothers and sisters get blessed just made me rejoice. I went into my room feeling so good just talking to Jesus. I crawled into bed and I kept talking to Jesus, just thanking Him for everything. There I was in my little house in my little room with this great big Master with His love wrapped all around me! I had a smile that I felt could wrap around this universe. Jesus does have everything in control and I love when you can feel His great big hands bringing His own together. That’s how I felt tonight. I’m just glad to be in His family with all of you!

Love ya’ll

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