Testimonies

Hi John,

Listening to all the testimonies from our last meeting reminded me of what God did for me when I first moved to California.

I was 24 years old and had planned to come out to California with a friend. Something went wrong with my friends plans, and I ended up coming out here all alone. I did not know a soul in CA, and had no place to stay. I got here at night and took a taxi to the closest hotel.

The next morning, I went to breakfast, (I don’t quite remember the details) but I ended up telling me story to the waiter. Now, that’s something I don’t think I would ever do, just start telling my story to a stranger. I wish I remembered the details, but I don’t. Anyway, he told me that I should move into a motel where it would be cheaper, and he ended up taking me there. After that, he advised me to look for someone who needed a roommate. Every day he came by to check on me, and he’d bring me a newspaper. So, I found someone that needed a roommate, and I ended up moving in with her. But once I did that, I lost touch with the guy. I don’t even remember his name now. I am sure he was an angel that God sent to take care of me because so many bad things could have happened to me. I was so naive.

I thank God for sending that angel to care of me. He has, and continues to take good to me. I am blessed and thankful.

Margaret

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Story

Hey,

Yesterday I watched a program on Amazon that used to come on tv a long time ago. It is called “I Shouldn’t Be Alive”. In this episode, there was a young vibrant girl who was an athlete. She was a well-known runner and trained for high endurance marathons etc.. She went out for a morning run in a secluded area with her dog, and she slipped off the side and fell a long ways off a cliff severing her entire pelvis area. Her legs were only attached to her mid-section by soft tissue and vessels. As I watched this, I listened as the story was told of her incredible self-will. How she was so strong in body that she willed herself to live the first 2 nights. After the first night, she noticed a soft sack appearing in her abdomen area; she was bleeding internally. Again, they spoke of her survival through the night and her willing herself and her body to live. On the 3rd day, she was dying and she knew it. She was exhausted and had no more strength in herself to “will herself to live” anymore. She began crying, sobbing, and crying out for help. And immediately as she was crying out, there was a man right there to rescue her.

Seeing it from God’s point of view, that was all He was waiting on – for her to realize that her own self will wasn’t going to save her and if she would cry out to Him for help, He would be right there. It really struck me. And, God was already setting things up in the background for when she finally humbled herself that her help was already on the way! I just loved that. What a story.

They told her she would never walk again, but she did, and not only that, she married and had a baby. Jesus had something waiting for her on the other side. She wept as she told the story. It is a good parallel of what Jesus will do for us if we surrender ourselves to God’s will. We have no idea what Jesus has waiting for us on the other side, if we just humble ourselves and call out for help.

Touching story.

Amy B

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Concerning Your Translators

comments: I was so thrilled to see your site.* Then I read that you do not have scholars to translate the Greek Manuscripts, but Spirit filled saints. How can you translate Greek without knowing the Greek language? This is a very important question for me as I do not believe in the Trinity doctrine and have believed all along that man changed the original Greek text when it was translated. I understand the translators must be spirit filled, however, knowing the ancient Greek language should be a requirement.

Thank you for your help.

Diane H.
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Hi, Diane.

Thank you for writing.

First, let me assure you that we do not attempt to translate the Bible without having a working knowledge of biblical Hebrew and Greek. You are right about such knowledge being a requirement for translators.

I hope that brings you some relief concerning our translation of Old and New Testament books.

Sincerely,

Pastor John

*Going to Jesus: Bible Translation

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“My Yoke Is Easy . . . .”

Dear Bro. John:

What a wonderful meeting today! Even over the Skype-waves, the feelings were wonderful! I loved watching as each one took a little drink of the Spirit and got blessed. It blessed me! I especially loved Bess near the end of the meeting. I loved her testimony, her holy Ghost hair, and her sweetness. And when she tried to tell about talking to Jesus about the mess they were in awhile back and just started laughing – – that was so good – – because, as she said, Jesus came and brought the Victory! It is so good when Jesus comes and we can look back at what he has done to get us out of our messes and just be happy telling about him and the Victory!

One of the things you brought out today when you were talking about the standards in the holy Ghost helped me to understand more fully what Jesus meant when he said “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” When you said (paraphrased): “the least we have in the holy Ghost exceeds the Scribes and the Pharisees in their religious ways”, that really pricked my heart. I can read Jesus’ words now as: “my Spirit is easy and my Spirit is light.”! To be yoked to the holy Ghost instead of religious ways, whew! How blessed we are!

Having participated in Christianity and the religious ceremonies before the Lord rescued me, I felt like a yoke WAS around my neck and the ceremonies were burdensome because they made no sense to me. I am so thankful that Jesus makes sense and gives us good sense if we will follow his Spirit. He didn’t have to die and send back the holy Ghost so we could share in what he and his Father have known since before this world began. But they both loved us and were willing to save us from ourselves. That alone is an overwhelming and humbling thought!

Thank you for following the truth and loving it. It gives us all strength and comfort to know that Jesus anointed a man of God to teach us and help us understand him better. I sure felt that today as I watched you pray for each one.

Hope to see you Wednesday.

A very thankful sheep,

Sandy

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Good morning Pastor John,

I loved the meetings this weekend! The preaching, the testimonies, the music, watching my brothers and sisters being blessed! I feel like my cup is running over!

I’m especially thankful for the open invitation Jesus has been giving to us! Sunday when the spirit started blessing I felt like, “Here is your open invitation”, I felt like running so fast to Jesus, I just couldn’t get there fast enough! I love it! His sweet feelings just overwhelmed me!

I love his mercy! I love us! So very thankful this morning!

Michelle

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I have to agree with Michelle, the weekend was great. But, I would have to say Sunday was the best meeting ever!!!

When Brother Gary started singing his song at the end, it hit my heart so hard. Listening to the words and hearing what Jesus was saying in it, I had to get as low as I could and cry out to HIM for his goodness and mercy.

So even though I wasn’t there, and you always say “You missed the best meeting”. I would have to say no I didn’t, I was feeling everything that was being felt and I am so thankful for that.

Thank you Bro. Gary for listening to the spirit and writing that great song.

Steven W.

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The Little Things

Hi, Pastor John.

It was an honor to be there to read Psalm 119, this past Sunday; 22 parts and 22 people. It was a small thing, but big at the same time. God is in charge!

Tuesday, my tires needed air and I went to Sheetz in Graham. As I waited my turn, my thoughts were on the Psalm 119 reading, still. I pulled up to the air compressor, and saw a valve stem cover laying on the ground in font of it. I thought, “I’ll set it on the curb and if anyone needs one, they will see it and use it”. As I set the air pressure gauge and bent over to remove the valve stem cover on my tire, I noticed I didn’t have one on it. So, when I finished, I smiled and picked up the cover that I sat down on the curb and put it on my truck tire, thanking God that he was thinking of me. It was very humbling!

After I got into my truck to leave, the spirit reminded me how God helped me through the big things in my life like: cancer, sick kids; when Josh’s appendix ruptured, etc.– Big things that increased my faith in what God has done for me and others; big obstacles (which are not big to God). The spirit also reminded me that God is in control of the smallest things in my life, such as the little tire valve stem cover, and that he is in charge of everyone of the little things, too. The big things are obvious, but there are far more little things, I’m sure, that we can’t even number nor are fully aware (unless He lets us see it) what God does for us on a daily basis.

It was a very sweet feeling being reminded how much Jesus cares.

Just a “little” lesson from Jesus,

Billy

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A List

Pastor John,

I made this list a year or so ago – I just found it. It made me smile. I know some, if not all of this is true.

• Talking about God is not the same as talking from him. The whole world is talking about God, whether for him or against him. Christianity exists by God not talking back.

• The only thing of value is what comes from God.

• The only thing true about God is what God says about himself; no one else knows him.

• Even telling what God has done for you can be misleading if it isn’t in accord with what God is doing right now. Not everything you think is a testimony. God’s words have value – wait on them.

• Don’t speak more than your elders about God; you don’t know him that well. Look around you and learn.

• Those who know God the most usually speak the least. But when they speak, it matters. Let God lend weight to your words.

• All you have is an opinion about God until he shows up.

• Wait on God.

Jerry

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Christian-Thinking Influence

Hi Pastor John,

I was so glad to have been at the reading on Sunday morning. I love Psalm 119; it’s definitely one of the best. What I love the most about Sunday morning was Jesus helping me with something. In particular, helping me know God wrote through David. When you talked about Psalm 119, you explained how the Psalm is divided into 22, 8-verse segments, each segment starting with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet. As soon as you said that I immediately began to think of how I’d been told in Christianity that much of the time, OT writings were written this way by man as a memory device. That was why I’d asked that question about whether David had written Psalm 119 on purpose!

After I’d asked that question I felt like a bit of a dummy, and then I began to think of how in Christianity, that was the way I’d been taught, and that influence was still in my heart – to think it was man, and not God. And overall, to be taught to never trust my feelings. That’s very sad to think of. But Jesus was there to help.

And then we all began to read, and you had us all read a segment each, and by the end of the reading, it turned out there was just the right amount of people there that morning to each read a section. That was exciting to me, coming down to the last few people and seeing that there would be the perfect amount of readers! But also that God had spoken to Jimmy T at the beginning, “Watch this” (I forget exactly). I was so glad to be there for that! I know that was a help to me. It was kinda like Jesus was letting me know! I know Jesus does many things at one time to help us, and that was him helping me. I’m so glad He woke me so early so I could be there! My prayer is that Jesus keeps removing that
Christian influence from my heart.

Jenny

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Jesus Helped!

Hey There,

I want to share with you what Jesus did for me this morning. This morning when I came to your house, I felt like I was carrying a burden. But, after talking with you this morning, I was feeling some relief. Then we started to read from Psalms. In the reading, God was reminding His people of the times when they (His people) messed things up, how He rescued them. So, I prayed that Jesus would send His help again for me.

Looking back, I think I just got in a hurry and missed what I needed before moving forward on this job.

So, I had planned on picking up one of the repair kits Stuart was talking about. But on the way to Lowes, I had the feeling that I was to go straight to the job site first. So I went with that first. As I approached the driveway, I saw a Spectrum van there. This guy was a supervisor who was there to help fix the problem. He was writing up a door hanger because the homeowner was not there.

I asked him if he would look at things to see if he could fix the problem. He said, “Sure I will, that’s what I’m here for.”

After looking things over, within 10 minutes, he said, “It looks like I fixed it.” He wouldn’t know for sure until the homeowner lets him see the internal connections. But if he didn’t have it right, he said he would swing by after 5:00 today to make it right.

I told him that I was the one, who messed it up, by being in a hurry. He looked at me and said, “That’s okay. I can fix it.” John, just like you said, Jesus sees the heart. And when we slow down and see where we missed it, and then be willing to say “I messed it up,” he can then say to us, “That’s okay I can fix it.” Then Restoration can happen.

Thank you for asking what’s been going on with me lately. It opened the door for the help I needed.

Tim

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Down Times in the Lord

Pastor John,

I want to tell you about my experience with you at lunch. It means a lot to me.

When we were ordering our food this afternoon and it came time for you to place your order, you told the server, “Just surprise me – pick something that you think is good.”

That tickled me – I thought it was a courageous thing to do and I said as much. You then said, “it’s just food.” Your words struck me and that grew into something bigger as the day went on. I want to tell you what I felt from the Lord about that.

A lot of years ago, I realized something about myself: I enjoyed food too much. I was finding a kind of pleasure in food that was allowing me to check my hunger for God, momentarily. I was able to put my mind and my expectations toward an excellent meal and stop feeling, briefly, the longing for the next touch from Jesus. It was temporary comfort.

When I saw this behavior was costing me in Jesus, I set out to stop worrying about what I was eating and began eating because I needed to – to sustain myself. I quit contemplating the things that would taste best, how to prepare them, where to get them, etc, and began choosing food and portions to simply stave off hunger; whatever was relatively healthy and convenient. I didn’t look forward to a meal anymore – it just didn’t matter.

I wasn’t long on this new road when I woke up one Sunday to find an email that you had sent out late in the night, it was from Amy B. and you had shared it with everyone. I read that email and soon found myself on the floor making snow angels in the carpet. The feelings from Jesus were pouring over me so that I felt I had gone someplace heavenly. I then realized as I continued carving out snow angels in the carpet knap, smiling with a joy that only comes from Jesus, that I was experiencing a feeling in the Spirit that was hidden within that email. By staying hungry, refusing to be filled with anything else and waiting on God, God had opened a door to feelings that I could not have otherwise experienced.

I realized today, pastor John, all these years later, that is the true fast – fasting from earthly pleasures that fill in the down times – those same downtimes that you warned us about today. Those are the times when we aren’t feeling Jesus – when we aren’t “flying high” in the Spirit. Those times are uncomfortable, we feel wanting, hungry, and in need of something that we can’t give ourselves. You warned us today to beware of how we fill those times of wanting. The true fast is when we refuse to put any earthly thing in that place, choosing instead to stand fast in our feeling of need for Jesus until he comes and fills us up again.

Things in this world, earthly pleasures, can temporarily fill that longing for the next touch from Jesus. We can put (give) our heart to something earthly so we don’t have to feel the wanting. It can be food; the momentary high from buying something new, exercise, TV, working – absolutely anything if we begin to wear it tight enough so that it insulates us from feeling that need that should drive us deeper into the Lord. It is a temporary comfort against God’s absence.

That is what I felt like you were saying pastor John, when you said, “It’s just food”. Not that you had taken a stand against enjoying food, but that you had taken a stand long ago against caring much about food or anything else temporal. You wouldn’t give it power today to satisfy your needs. Nor did you give it power to disappoint!

In that place, pastor John, a man no longer selects his clothing to satisfy his desire to look a certain way, but instead looks around to see what the world is wearing, and dresses similarly to fit in best he can – in a world where he does not belong. Waiting, wanting, and suffering patiently for Jesus to come, and refusing to be comforted (or dulled) by anything else.

Thank you for your time today, it taught me a lot 🙂

Jerry

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