Gary’s Song and a Dream

Pastor John,

This morning’s gathering was glorious!  I loved hearing the songs and testimonies and could envision little Ellie smiling ear to ear dancing before the Lord.  I know listening to it is not the same as being there but I thank Jesus for being alive to feel what I do when I get to listen to it.  I especially loved Gary’s new song “The Blessing”.  I feel like the song went right along with a little dream I had early this morning.

I woke up and heard Richard getting ready to leave, but I fell back to sleep and had a dream.

I was sitting down at a table in an outdoor bistro. There were maybe fifteen or so young Jewish men sitting around gathered together enjoying what they were talking about.

As I sat there watching the men, a Jewish waiter came up to take my order.  He looked concerned and asked the person sitting next to me, “What’s wrong with her?” The person answered, “She’s sad because she’s a Jew.”

I don’t know who the person was sitting next to me, but it felt as though the response they gave was to provoke a negative response from me and the Jews that were there.

I didn’t say anything but I thought, “Oh no, now they are going to ask me questions about being Jewish. How am I going to explain it to them?”

Just then, one of the Jewish men sitting a few feet from me spoke.  He had a paper in his hand and was writing down what he was saying, maybe for a speech or a sermon.  He said to his fellow Jews, “We are bound by chapters 5 and 6!”  The group of young men around him excitedly said, ”Yes, write that down!”  The feeling was they were proud to be bound by those chapters.  And then the man said, waiving the paper in his hand, “They hate the water but love the wine.”  It felt like the “they” he was speaking of were not Jews, and that was it.  When I woke up, I felt like I had been dreaming for hours, but I only remembered that very short part of the dream.

It made me curious and excited to look up the 5th & 6th chapters of the first five Old Testament books. The 5th chapter of Deuteronomy is Moses giving the Israelites the Ten Commandments!

These verses really stood out to me in chapter 6 of Deuteronomy in regards to why the Jewish man in my dream said they were bound:

2. so that you might fear Jehovah your God to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you, you and your son and your son’s son, all the days of your life, and that your days might be prolonged.

      …    

      7. And you shall inculcate them into your children and speak of them when you sit in your house,           and when you walk in the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

      …

20. “When your child asks you in time to come, saying, ‘Why these testimonies, and statutes, and judgments which Jehovah our God commanded you?’,
21. then you shall say to your child, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but Jehovah brought us out from Egypt with a mighty hand.
22. And Jehovah worked signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes.
23. And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in to give us the land which He swore to our fathers.
24. And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good forever, to preserve us, as it is this day.
25. And it will be our righteousness before Jehovah our God if we are careful to do all this law just as He has commanded us.’

I think I would be sad to be a Jew feeling bound by the letter of the Law.  But I love being a Jew inwardly, circumcised of the heart, by the Spirit! And after hearing and feeling this morning’s gathering I think WE are “they” that hate the water and love the wine!  Thank you, Jesus for your blessing!

Amy F.

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This Morning

John,

I sure loved what I felt this morning at your house, sitting around the fire with everyone.  I felt the unity of the Spirit like I haven’t felt in a while.  It was such a sweet and overwhelming feeling!  You could feel the strength and power that it brings with it.

I want to live in that place every minute of the day!  In that place, prayers are heard and people get healed!  I would to God that all His people could feel that power together in his Name!  I know we can, if we all are after the same thing.  I love unity and I love feeling it.  There is so much peace in being in one accord!

I am so thankful that we are all here together on earth at this time!  I want to value it and walk in it with all my heart.  Thank you, John, for everything you have taught us and given us from the Lord!!

Thank you,

Stuart

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Feelings from Jesus

Good morning, John.

I wanted to take the time to write down the beautiful feelings Jesus gave me during the Bible study Wednesday night.  I love the way the Spirit floods like a river at times, as Jesus is washing and reminding us of what he has made us as to be as his new creations in Christ!  It was so touching to hear with my heart the songs being sung and the glorious preaching and teaching Jesus sent to us!

When Gary sang his song, “Over There”, all I could think about was being willing to do whatever it takes to hold onto fellowship with Jesus and you all.  Being willing to examine my heart honestly and continuing to make the changes I need to make are the things that will get me to that place with you all, Over There.  The Spirit knows how to get us Over There if we will follow it. 

Then Gary sang, “I Gotta Go Now”.  For just a few moments, Jesus took my thoughts back to being a 9-year-old in that Baptist church I grew up in, where I had sincere questions for the pastor about speaking in tongues, and if that was for us today.  He didn’t have God’s answers for me, and of course, I had never, ever heard that Christianity was not of God; I was just a young girl longing for real answers about the Jesus I had read about in Bible stories, and I thought he would have answers from Jesus for me.  The pastor didn’t know anything beyond his Baptist doctrine, such as Jesus having to go away to make his sacrifice so that the Comforter could come to bring Life to truly repentant souls.  Even though he was kind to me, the pastor was as ignorant as I was about Jesus.  We were ignorant together in Christianity.  But Jesus had a plan for me!  He wanted me!  My heart felt so safe as I heard those words of life in Gary’s song, remembering how Jesus had rescued me, filled me with his Spirit, and created a love for his truth in my heart!

John, I loved hearing you teach about slander and how you said, “Be wrong with Jesus and choose him over [human] rightness.“  Judas was right according to the law, but it was just a front to cover his wicked heart.  He influenced the rest of the disciples by his subtle talk, making it seem that he cared more about those poor people than Jesus did.  And then, when Jesus rebuked the disciples for their indignation towards him in Matthew 26:8, it revealed where each of their hearts were: Judas left and made his deal to betray Jesus, and the rest of the disciples stayed with Jesus, even though they didn’t understand him.  Jesus kept working to help them be prepared for the day when his Spirit would come and fill them. 

I loved how you told us that as the disciples didn’t know Jesus while he was among them.  It’s the same now with God’s sincere children who are entangled in Christianity.  They don’t know what they have in the holy Ghost – they don’t know him.  That was an echo of what I was feeling during Gary’s song, “I Gotta Go Now”.  God rescued me from the awful snare of Christianity, and He rescued me from being one of His ignorant sheep who doesn’t understand the New Birth.  How big God’s love is for us that He would have us to know that the holy Ghost is proof – His personal testimony – about His Son!  And to hear you say that we belonged to God from before the foundation of this world, that we were never part of this world, it brought so much comfort!  With Jesus, I have a home now, where I can live without any condemnation or regrets.  It is worth everything to keep my heart clear so that nothing hinders the fellowship Jesus has blessed me with, with you and this family. 

Thank you for feeding us the good things Jesus gives to you.  He is wanting each one of us to live!

Bess

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Proof

Here is a good Pearl from Wednesday night!

“No amount of evidence can produce knowledge because evidence is not proof.  The baptism of the holy Ghost is the only proof that exists that Jesus is at the right hand of God because the holy Ghost baptism is God’s personal testimony about His Son.  The Spirit is the witness because the Spirit is truth.  This is the witness of God that He has given concerning His son. He who does not believe God, has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has given concerning His Son.”

I love this, God has a personal testimony!  And it is about His son!  And then this:

“When you received the holy Ghost, your heart was made manifest that it believed God.  You believe God told the truth when you received the holy Ghost.  That’s believing God!”

Knowing that when we received the holy Ghost, our hearts believed God is just so good to me.  This study of Jesus’ last days and what he went through has been so valuable!  I know you’ve preached before on the Wise and Foolish, the Talents, and all that you’ve covered, but it sure seems extra special and good this time.

Debbie T.

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We Belong Together!

Good morning, Pastor John, 

I was reading in the Father and Son book* this morning.  I was thinking about there being cues in the Bible that it was more being said than appeared.  As an example: “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.”  When I read that in the Father and Son book, it stuck out to me.  I had never thought of it as a cue/alert to pay attention.

When you talked last night about Jesus having to show them foot washing because that’s the best he could give them in the condition they were in, it hit me how alone Jesus must have felt while here among us.

 I loved when you said that about taking in God’s personal testimony (the holy Ghost) of His Son.  I don’t know if I ever looked at it that way.  The holy Ghost is His testimony!

I have always loved seeing the Old Testament shadows of Jesus and the Spirit.  Something about seeing those things has always thrilled me.  I literally feel a little leap inside when I see them.  And yet for a moment this morning, I thought, Lord, wouldn’t it have been easier not to have had some of those symbols, like water baptism, set up?  Christians can’t get over those ceremonies, even if you do pull on their hearts; the Jews can’t get over the law and their traditions.  What was meant to foreshadow God’s testimony, they got stuck in and can’t take in the real thing, the Spirit, the only proof of who Jesus is! 

That makes it so much more astonishing to realize that he has let us take it in.  We don’t live in the shadows; we have received the proof.  To really know that Jesus can talk to us, and that we don’t need symbols of the truth!  Jesus can share the truth with us.  We can take in God’s testimony, just like we can take in each other’s testimony, because we have the same Spirit.  We were created in Christ to take in each other’s testimonies, and we started by taking in God’s!  That is just floating around inside of me.  I don’t think it has even gone in all the way.  It’s so good!

I keep thinking of how much I love hearing one of us testify.  It feels so good when one of us tells on Jesus!  It’s like a seed that’s already planted by the Spirit in our hearts; it’s what we were made to hear and believe!  It just draws out the Amen!  I loved when you said that last night, too! 

The more I read and hear, the more I feel like this is a story about the Father, the Son, and us.  I feel like an intimate part of them. 

I sat this morning praying about divisions in the body of Christ.  It hurt my heart because we are the same.  All who have the Spirit belong together!  The divide was made with this world, not each other. We are the same.  To just live in that place of love and peace, and cherish that we are the same!  The only place we do belong is together!

Beth D.

*God Had a Son before Mary Did (Also known as The Father and Son book)

 Going to Jesus.com – God Had A Son Before Mary Did

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Favorite Quote Today

Here is my favorite quote today from last Wednesday’s meeting “The Wise and the Foolish Virgins”:

“The Wise Virgins acknowledged the Bridegroom’s absolute freedom to do what He wanted to do all the time in every circumstance – and this is the key – regardless of what he previously said he would do!  They recognized his liberty to do something other than what he said he would do if that’s what pleased Him.”

If I could transcribe this whole thing, I would!!  Every sentence has something valuable in it.

Debbie T.

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The Perfect Law of Liberty Message from 9-19-09

Pastor John,

I just finished reading “The Perfect Law of Liberty”, and I think it may be the best thing I have ever read!  It’s the best thing I have ever read because it was what God was saying to me right then.  I’m going to try to put into words what this email did for me!

Firstly, this email was an answer to a sincere question that I had in my heart.  You had explained to us that the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins was that the wise virgins knew God.  I really thought about that yesterday, and it made me examine myself and ask myself, “Do I know God?”  “How do you know if you know God?”  I told Jesus, “I want to know you!”  I mean, really know Jesus, and He know me.  I wrote to you that I didn’t want to stand before Jesus one day and have him say he never knew me.  

So tonight, I sat down and began reading this Perfect Law of Liberty and I came to this line:  

“God wants you alive right now to what the Spirit is saying!  That is knowing God!”

When I read those words, the Spirit inside of me leaped for joy!  That was my answer!  Being alive right now to what the Spirit is saying is knowing God!  I felt so happy and encouraged because I knew the Spirit was saying something to me right then, and I was alive enough to hear and understand what it was saying!  Tears began to flow, and I had to stop reading and praise God!  It’s a wonderful feeling to be alive in the Spirit!  Remember when Preacher Clark said about Sis Edna, “She’s awake!  I believe she’s awake!”  And Sis Edna said, “I’ve been awake all the way.  All this time, I’ve been awake”.  They were talking about more than physical sleep!  Sis Edna was alive in the Spirit.  Her spirit was awake, and that’s how I feel!  I am awake!  My spirit feels alive!  I understand your prayer for us when you lay hands on us and say, “Live!”  What you are really saying to our spirit is, “Wake up!”  It feels so good to be awake because when you are awake to what the Spirit is saying to you, then that’s when you are living!  That is knowing God because God is alive!  He is Now!  Whatever the Spirit is saying right now is all that matters!  Keeping up with what the Spirit is saying to you right now is knowing God!

You wrote: “The only Truth that exists in heaven or earth for you is the will of God that the Spirit of God is revealing to you right now.  That’s all.”

This brought tears to my eyes, and I could feel the spirit run through me when I read the following:

“If you really take this in and drink the pure milk of the word of God, you will be connected with the Truth, the Spirit of life.  When you are led by the Spirit, when you have feelings and thoughts from the Spirit, you are living, living with God.  That’s communion.  That’s fellowship.  That’s when you are eating and drinking of the Father and the Son.  You are living because you know what God’s thinking right now.  You feel what He is feeling right now.  You’re living.  Everything else is death.  Everything else is death.  Glory to God!”

I know you preached this sermon 12-13 years ago, but if you take this into your heart, it is alive!  Those are not just words on a page.  I know they look like words, but when you eat them up, they are life!  This is a sermon that you can eat!  Praise God!   

I am thankful tonight.  Jesus heard that question in my heart and he answered it.  He didn’t leave me wondering what it means to know God.  I am thankful beyond words for the privilege of getting to read this sermon, and better yet, to feel it!  I am thankful to have God’s life inside me, talking to me!  I am thankful for a spirit that is alive to hear it!  I am thankful for the powerful touch Jesus gave me tonight.  

“You are free to please God.   You are free to know Him.   You are free to receive what He says.  Whatever it is.  Wherever it takes you.  However He wants to use you.  Free!”

Thank you for sending this!  It freed up something in my Spirit and I love it!  Thank you, Jesus!

Lee Ann

THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY | Going to Jesus.com

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Forty Years Ago

Do you realize that on August 23 of this year, it will be 40 years since the Spirit spoke to you that “It tickles the Devil for God’s people to blame their troubles on him?”* It hit me this morning that He spoke that to you in 1981, and I thought “Wow! That message has saved me from so much heartache and bitterness,” and I’ve seen it do the same for so many others I know.  I’m so thankful for it!  

Lee Ann

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That precious truth has saved us ALL from much heartache and bitterness. What a wonderful anniversary to celebrate – by believing it and trusting God, that “all our times are in His hands”! 

Pastor John

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John, I could not count how many times knowing all things has rescued me from something: bitterness, impatience, wackiness, wrong responses, anger, etc. and so much more.  

Next to the truth about the new birth, I think “all things” has to be right up there with it.  

Thank you, and thank you Jesus.

Gary

* Going to Jesus.com – Suffering and the Saints

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Created Like Them!

Be anxious for nothing!  I’m gonna write you again because it’s too good not to share it with somebody.  Well, some spilled out on Lee Ann this morning too! 

We really are made after the image of our Father.  God created Jesus and Jesus created us to be just like him, just like Him, just like them!  That’s so good to me.

We spend time down here in the flesh, just like Jesus did, but we have been loved since before the foundation of the world.  Just like Jesus.  When we testify, we tell of how it is all Him/him.  Jesus is the good, not us.  The same way that Jesus said there is but One who is good. 

To many, I am Beth Ann from Fern Creek, Ky.  They do not understand the things I talk about or post on Facebook, wanting so much to share heavenly things with them.  Or that I want to make Jesus happy, just like Jesus only wanted to make his Father happy.  We are created that way.  I didn’t do that!  I couldn’t!  That’s not the Beth Ann anyone knew!

Jesus created our hearts to want to make him happy, just like the Father created his heart to do His will.  Just to sit and marinate in how much we were created to be like the Father and the Son is good to my soul.  Jesus created us as a shadow of them! 

That is just chapter one, and I feel like it is a story about the Father, the Son, and us! 

Beth D.

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The Gift of God

All God’s children have been given the same gift (holy Ghost), but it’s like I’ve heard pastor John say, some people never open their gift to know what’s inside.  They don’t value their gift enough to open and use it.  It just sits on the shelf and becomes a dust collector.  I don’t generally make formal New Year’s Resolutions, but I did pray at the beginning of this year for Jesus to help me to value my gift more.  To use it more!  To tell about it when I get the opportunity.  

When I had Anna, it touched me so deeply that God would give me a beautiful baby girl, and I said within myself, “I want to know the God that gave me this precious baby.”  That’s how I’m feeling about the precious gift of my holy Ghost!  I want to know the God that gave me this gift!

Amen!  Help us to know you, Jesus!  Put that desire in our hearts to open our gifts and get to know the Giver!  

Lee Ann

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