GLOBAL, TEXAS STUFF- Just wanted to start a section where I can log our contacts from around the world! Also, those of you who have contacted me. If you like the stuff on this site, use it to reach out to those in your country. Maybe start a study group. Or simply send this site to other believers in your area. Our goal is to get the word out to as many countries [continents] as possible! Thanks. To all of you who read our articles on various Christian forums, feel free to copy and paste our stuff on other sites. Though I do hold the copyright to our teachings, they are free to be distributed any where by any body.

If you want to support/contact some pastor friends of mine in Pakistan; their email is- qamaraziz64@yahoo.com- they are doing a great work for the Lord and I consider them fellow workers in the kingdom. His name is Pastor Qamar.

Also Reverend Zeke who pastors in South India, he is doing God’s work in a very difficult area- revezekiel@rediffmail.com

NEWS PAPER ADS

These are the Papers that we are running our blog in. [thru the blog people can read and hear our radio program on line, so I consider these to be outreach areas/regions]

1- Corpus Christi Caller Times [every 1st and 3rd Saturday in the church section]
2- Kingsville Record [every Saturday in the church page]
3- San Antonio Express [every 1st and 3rd Saturday in the non denominational section]
4- Houston Chronicle [every 3rd Saturday in the religion page] [dropped]
5- Jersey Journal [1st and 3rd Thursday on the church page. This is my hometown paper when growing up. It covers the ‘gateway’ to New York City].
6- Kingsville Journal- the church page.


NATIONS SHALL COME TO YOUR LIGHT, AND KINGS TO THE BRIGHTNESS OF YOUR RISING! NOTE- Since starting this section I have had many great people contact us from all over the world, I am not updating this anymore. These were simply the nations that contacted me first and gave us invites.

(1) ENGLAND-AFRICA Been having some good talks with a Muslim friend from England. He is asking good questions about the Christian faith and has been reading this blog! Any of you guys reading this site from overseas, send me an email. I am interested in how well we are doing in other countries. I have gotten some good responses from Africa as well.

(2) AUSTRIA! Got a good e mail from someone in Austria. They were surfing the net and came across the site. Praise God for Austria!

(3) INDIA Just got an email from a Pastor in India, requesting prayer for the persecuted church. If he has my email, he reads our blog! Praise God for India [and also pray for the persecuted church world wide!]

(4) KENYA Just got a great email from some Pastors/church planters in Kenya. They invited me to come to Africa and hold meetings, they also told me how the Lord was using the blog site in a great way in their country. Thanks for the email! [p.s. I really don’t hold meetings or preach/speak at all. I don’t mean to offend, I also have local pastors ask me to speak from time to time. I just don’t do it any more. Nothing personal]

(5) KENYA AGAIN! To all you great ministers that have invited me to speak in your country, thank you so much for the invitations. Also for the excellent testimonies you gave me about our web site. I don’t do invitations, ever. Nothing personal. Feel free to copy [radio/web site] all of our stuff and use it as much as you like. God bless, John.



(6) PAKISTAN Just received a bunch of invitations from Pakistan, it’s strange. I just finished writing an entry on Pakistan [maybe the first one I ever wrote?] and haven’t even posted it yet. Then I read my email and I have 3 invites to speak at some house church convention thing! Thanks for the invite, but I don’t ‘do preaching’. Just feel free to use and copy all our stuff as much as you like. God bless, John.

(7) JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI Yesterday I went to my P.O. box and had a bunch of mail. My prosperity friend wrote again, he writes every so often. He’s the older brother I mentioned before, kind of ‘corrects’ me every now and then, recently he has simply thanked me for the messages [long letters!] I also had a package from Jackson, Mississippi. It was a book by a brother who emailed me about a month ago. He is a reformed elder [minister] and must have found out about my site. He kindly asked if I would review a book he wrote last year. I really don’t have time to do a full book review; but Jack, if your reading this here are a few comments. I read the book yesterday, the title is ‘Corinthian elders’ by Jack Fortenberry, put out by bridgepoint publishing co. Brandon MS. I liked and agreed with 90% of the book, much like the themes I teach on organic church life. Jack lays out a good case for unpaid elders, but also makes the case for ‘paid’ apostles [not salary, just worthy of the hire type thing] I have heard and am familiar with this distinction. I believe the New Testament leaves room for the monetary support of elders/leaders, whether apostles, pastors or whomever. I also believe strongly in the ‘do it at your own expense’ mentality of Paul [I receive no money, ever!] But this would be about the only disagreement I would have. I do recommend the book to our readers. Okay, just read a little more from Matthew, Jesus healing and doing good, teaching in ‘their’ synagogues and going thru the cities and villages. I just like his style! Freewheeling, couldn’t care less about what the religious class were saying, his disciples said once ‘don’t you know your offending the leaders’? He said every plant that his Father didn’t plant would be rooted up. He had no time to present a phony image of himself to people, he knew he was losing support amongst the religious class, but he also knew that system was on it’s last leg [Judaism apart from Christ] so he said ‘let them be offended, who cares!’ Ah, what a preacher. The blind men come, he says ‘do you really believe I can do this’? He heals them, but he wanted to know that they were becoming convinced. They had to be willing to go out on a limb for him. After all, Jesus healed people who did not fully believe in him before. They asked once ‘who healed you’ and the man said ‘I don’t know, all I know is I was once blind but now I can see’ [Johns gospel] but this time it’s different ‘do you believe or not’! It was time to be willing to lay it on the line for Jesus. ‘Yes, we have been sick for too long, we need help! To hell with our damn pride, please help us’! Okay, they walked away seeing. No one did this stuff like Jesus! How could you not hear his teaching, the religious leaders were telling the people ‘he doesn’t fit our mold, stop listening to him!’ They were being eaten up by jealousy, the same thing that haunted Cain. He killed his brother Abel because his brothers works were accepted, his weren’t. The religious leaders could not stand the fact that Jesus was being accepted by the common folk, he was moving in on their place of authority. They fed off of the limelight, the prestige of position. Jesus would have none of it, he tells the people he’s healing ‘Don’t spread the word about this, okay’ and sure enough they go out and tell everybody! Jesus fame spread abroad thru the whole country, but he was heading to the Cross for heavens sake! No time to gloat in the honor of men. Yes Jesus was truly one of a kind, people were fascinated by him ‘isn’t he the carpenters son? Isn’t this the kid we played stick ball in the street with’? They couldn’t connect this Divine destiny with the boy they grew up with, he had them all wondering. But don’t forget, he told Peter and Andrew ‘follow me guys, I will teach you how to catch men’. He knew the way to ‘catch them’ wasn’t the route of the religious class, they just spouted their doctrinal positions all day long, told the people how bad they were, the average folk saw right thru the hypocrisy. Jesus had a different style, it would take him all the way to Golgotha, the ‘place of the skull’ [death].

(8) PAKISTAN Just got another invite from Pakistan, thanks for the message, John.

(9) KENYA once again, got another great testimony from a Pastor in Kenya! They are using our site and gave me a great testimony! God bless Kenya.

(10) INDONESIA- I googled our ministry name yesterday and found a site they has been posting our blog entries in Indonesia, praise God for Indonesia!


(10) (1313) GOD WANTS TO MARRY YOU! Isaiah 62- This chapter uses a lot of marriage imagery, the bridegroom rejoicing over his new bride and ‘all your sons being joined to you’. In the New Testament Jesus himself uses this imagery when speaking about Gods people and the relationship God had with Israel. Now, it’s important to see that the New Testament [especially Paul] uses the imagery of the bride and bridegroom when speaking of the church; Paul will teach that both Jew and Gentile are making up this bride that the Lord ‘is married to’. Some dispensationalists [end time beliefs] make a distinction between the language used concerning Israel [Gods wife] and the language used concerning the church [bride] but if you see the mystery that Paul is speaking about you see that the fulfillment of this bride [both Jew and Gentile] being joined unto Jesus includes both people groups. What I’m saying is the New Testament teaches us that all these Old Testament promises of God rejoicing over his bride are being fulfilled thru the ‘eternal purpose’ spoken of by Paul in the letter to the Ephesians. God has his bride! This chapter also speaks of the sons coming to this new land [the church-people of God] and being joined to her as a bridegroom is joined to his bride. Recently I have had some good brothers express a desire to ‘join up-team up-partner with us’ in some way thru the ‘ministry’. These are Pastors from Pakistan and are doing a great work reaching out to Muslims. They are doing a very dangerous work, pray for them [they just got out of jail; they were thrown in jail for preaching the gospel]. Anyway somehow they found this site and really like it, that’s great. But I gave them the same response that I give to everybody who contacts us with the well meaning intent to ‘join up’ with us; I simply told them that there is nothing to join, no money to ‘partner up with us’ we are simply a voluntary group of Christ followers who are trying to spread the kingdom by doing what the Lord tells us. In essence if you are blessed by the teachings, just do your best to follow our example and let the work grow on its own, no need for me to come and preach, take offerings, or anything along those lines- just take the word of God and run with it! The point is sometimes ‘our friends/sons’ [those we are reaching out to] are so excited about the stuff they are learning that they want to be joined to us. It’s our job [and yours] to lead them in a way that they are joined to Christ and find their identity in him. God promised his people that he would ‘marry them’ Jesus spoke about the great marriage supper of the Lamb. These are intimate images; Paul said this was a great mystery when speaking of marriage and how it was a sign of our union with Christ [Ephesians] we need to remind ourselves that we are joined unto the Lord- not to men and their well meaning organizations.