Mm. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Ooh, la da da da da da da da da Hallelujah. God ruler of the universe, you are. There is There's no one like you, God giver of the deepest dreams you are.
There is no one like you God thinker of tremendous thoughts you are Thinking for towards me. Royal, holy, true you are And there is no one like you Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Welcome to Love Never Fails. In these last days, revival will come. but begins with our individual walk and personal relationship with Jesus.
Let's join Brother John now.
Well, good morning. We're so glad you're with us, and you're listening to Love Never Fails.
Now you can listen to live episodes of this. Uh at Vision Radio Belize. Just if you look up radio vision believes or vision radio believes, any combination of those words, you're going to get a numerous number of Google searches that all go back to the radio station. And these shows. Are in Spanish and English live Tuesdays and Thursdays.
And it just depends on what time, what area of code you're in. Normally, right now, this part time of the year during the summer. Uh it is at 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. And our good friend Uh Matt Donnelly is is doing the uh What's the doing the Tuesday night shows?
I do the Thursday night, and of course, we do recordings as well. Oh, different You know, sometimes while we're in Belize, we pre-record a bunch of stuff and get it all ready.
So, um, One of the things we really, really believe in, and we want to be able to. Um just Edify and encourage and teach based on scripture. And maybe we'll give examples of things that have happened to us in our daily life and testimonies of different things like that. And I have two things in me that I have an urgency to get out. And I think What I'm going to do is uh Go with this one that my wife and I were talking about this morning.
Uh An expectation Of the supernatural. And when I say that. I'm referring to I don't know about you. But when I didn't grow up going to church. But I had an expectation when I heard about God, when I heard things about Jesus, even though I didn't go to church, I had an expectation of miracles, signs, and wonders, of something supernatural.
from him. And when I finally All things came together, and I ran to the altar on September 13th, 1987. in a church in Borrowsville, Oklahoma. I had an expectation. Of miracles, signs, and wonders, or the supernatural.
And I'm remembering that movie that came out. Man, it's got to be 15, almost 20 years ago, called The Incredibles. And in it, Mr. Incredible is trapped in this. Mundane doldrum life.
And I related to it because he was an insurance adjuster, and I was an insurance adjuster, still am. I'm just not doing insurance at the moment. And um In it, he comes home, he's frustrated, and he gets out of his rinky-dink car that's causing him problems. He barely fits in it. And Ends up like gripping or damaging the car because he gripped it so hard.
And then he comes home a couple of days later and there's this little kid on a bicycle, a tricycle. Blowing a big bubble. And uh Mr. Incredible says something along the lines to him of what are you looking at? Or, what are you, you know, I don't know.
What are you looking at? And the kid goes. Um Something incredible, I hope. or something along those lines. The kid express this desire to see something amazing happen.
Okay. And I think that's something that a lot of us carry, a lot of us have. We want to see. The God of Abraham and Jacob and Isaac and Elisha and Enoch and And All of those That we've read about, those stories that we believe and go, I want to see that happen in this day and age. And Yet we run into these denominations that teach us that That's over, that can't happen anymore.
Or, you know, I was even going to a Pentecostal church and they didn't believe in miracles, signs, and wonders. They would preach about them, but then they didn't believe in them. And I think that that happens in a lot of places: is that people will say, oh, yeah, God's a God of miracles, signs, and wonders, but then they don't live that kind of life, they don't actually. actually believe what they're saying to you. And it's frustrating.
Because I came into this going. I was raised in a Catholic home, even though we never went to church because my parents had been divorced and both remarried. And they weren't allowed back in then, they weren't allowed to go to church if they'd been divorced and remarried. And And so I never went to church. But I would, as a kid, read the Bible.
And I remember for myself, I read the Bible one day. And that day I didn't get picked on.
So the next day I read the Bible. And that day I did not get picked on. And I did this for about two weeks, and those days were great days. And in the one day I didn't read the Bible, I got stuffed in a locker. Yeah.
I mean, it's kinda funny, but I was a small kid, I was sickly. And it wasn't until after I got saved that I actually And moved out of Oklahoma away from the things that were causing me issues, that I grew, got healthy, and all of that. But it's kind of a funny story, and I don't even know if God was responsible for that. That might have been somebody else. But the point is, is.
I had an expectation and a realization. Early on. You know, I I once heard somebody say Uh It's a lot easier for God to steer a car that's moving than one that's parked. And I've heard other people say, God can't. Move a car, or you can't go anywhere if you're not willing to move the car.
Um, and and these expressions being that you don't have to be perfect, you don't have to have it all figured out, you don't you know, God can use you wherever you are, even with your failed and flawed doctrine and theology. I am absolutely sure, 100% sure. There are billions of things I don't understand about God, and that I have some flawed doctrine. I'm absolutely sure of it. I do not believe I've got it all figured out.
I'm trying. I don't think I'll ever get there. I believe we'll get to heaven and we'll spend an eternity examining God and learning. Over and over and over, new things. Why do you think Revelation chapter 4 says, And once I was in the spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
And it goes on to say that there are four angels on each side of the throne, and those angels are covered. It describes their faces, the bear, the eagle, the whatever. And it's covered in eyes, their wings, and they can see every direction. They see everything that's happening. And it says of those angels that day and night they never stop saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
And it says that whenever those living creatures Do that, the 24 elders around the sea of crystal kneel before the throne and him who sits on the throne, and they place their crowns down before the throne and they say, You are worthy, O God, to receive honor and glory and power, because by you and through you, all things are created and have their being. That's the atmosphere of heaven. Continual revelation. Yeah. Yeah.
And I say all of this because there is within me and that there is an expectation. of miracles, signs, and wonders. Jesus, and let me go here. To um Let me search.
Well, I'll just. I guess it'd just be faster if I just flip it this way. Let me get to the book of Acts and read this to you because it's amazing what Jesus said. in Acts. And he said First he told him, he said, Terry, wait.
the baptism of the holy spirit and then then he said to them he said you shall receive power When the Holy Ghost comes on you. And so let's see. And it was the day he was taken up to heaven, and after giving an instruction through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, he had chosen. And after he suffered, he presented himself to them and gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over 40 days.
I don't know about you, but I want to see convincing proofs. I I'm not interested, and I've been there. Maybe you have. But I've been in dozens of these services. Where does a thousand people?
And somebody goes, oh, there's somebody here, you got a headache. Yeah, with a thousand people, I bet there's at least 10 of them.
Well, there's somebody here, you got pain in your back. With a thousand people, I guarantee you there's 50 of them. You know, and they call out these things. And then it's like, okay, you know, but I'm like, listen, I want to see a leg grow. I'm gonna see blind eyes open.
You know, I can, as I say that, I remember we were doing a crusade in the Philippines and we were seeing amazing miracles. And we bring people up on the stage, say, hey, share with us. Your testimony. And we love it and we encourage it that for them to bring families and friends with them, people who can say, Yeah, for 18 years, she's been bedridden. For 25 years, he's been laying in bed.
He was, you know, I remember a guy in India who I looked at him in the crowd and he had a. Wrap around his head that I could tell was soaked with liquid. He comes up on a stage with his family. He had been in a motorcycle accident when he was a kid, and even though his body kept growing, he basically laid in a bed for years, decades, and his head was split open. It was never healing.
And that night, God healed him. It closed the wound. He didn't need the rags on his head anymore. And he walked home with his friends. And I remember as we drove away, this is my Kodak moment of that crusade, seeing that young man as his friends were tossing his crutches in the air.
Because he came there on crutches. And he was healed. He came back the next night. Looking healthy and radiant. You know, when you see that, you go, wow, God.
You know, I was beginning to tell you the story about the lady in the Philippines. I'm my friend John Smith, who was doing the preaching, and I had preached a little bit that night, and I'm on stage. I'm doing the interviews of people coming up to give their testimonies, and they brought her up on a mattress. And when they stood her up, she had not been standing in so long that She defecated, uricated, and urinated on the stage, and I was standing right next to her. I got splashed.
I mean, there's no other way to say it. But she was standing up for the first time and almost 20 years. And she was healed. God Miraculously healed her. She came the next night, was already stronger.
And we continued to get reports that she was gaining weight and getting stronger and stronger. When you see things like that, you go, wow. It just excites you. It creates an atmosphere. You're like, I just want to live in that atmosphere.
You know, I've shared other stories of miracles, signs, and wonders I've seen. And, you know, I was praying one day and As I was praying at this church, they had 24-hour prayer. My hour-long session of my continuous prayer was up, but I didn't feel like I was done praying.
So I went into the lobby and I went under the table and hid behind the tablecloth. And I just kept praying. And I had my notebook, the journal in there. And as I was praying, my tongue changed, and I saw a woman. Praying, saying, Come here, brother John, come here.
And my language changed to an oriental language. And the neat thing is that. I put that in the journal and didn't think much about it, but a year later. I was in Bhutan, in a room about to preach. And I look up at these people in the underground church.
And they're all quiet. They're not saying a word. And I'm like, I looked at my friend. I said, what's going on? And one of the People spoke up and said, You speak beautiful Jonka.
I said, What are you talking about? I had forgotten, it did not occur to me that the language I was praying in. You know, it was their language. And she, this woman said to me, You speak a beautiful Jonka. It's an old version of Jonka, but it's beautiful.
I said, Well, tell me what I'm saying. And they pulled out a tape recorder, one of those flat, long ones, the gray ones that use D batteries. I mean, is there even anything anymore that uses D batteries? And They pressed play, and I just put my head down and began to pray for a couple of minutes. And as that language came out, after a few minutes, I stopped and they translated.
They said, You're speaking praise and worship. And as they told me what I was saying, I was like, In my own mind, I could never imagine. to worship God using those words. It wasn't even like words that I've ever, really, ever said. or could thought about using.
And it but it was worship to God. And then at that moment, I looked across the room, and there's the woman that I'd seen a year before who had said, Come here, Brother John. I mean, tell me God doesn't answer prayers. You know, and I've seen Muslim priests go mute, I've seen the dead raised, I've seen every kind of miracle you can think of. And here's the thing: who Who am I?
I'm just a kid from Dewey, Oklahoma, who got stuffed in lockers. You know, and then after I got saved and I got out of that environment and got healed, I did become an athlete. I went into the military and turned into an athlete and even got offered a scholarship to play football. And I went on to become a drill instructor and I would run marathons for free. And then while I was in college, I was rowing and had started to get Olympic hopeful dreams until an injury from the military caught up with me.
Literally got to the level of athleticism that I went to an Olympic. I'm going to call it a selection camp, pre-camp. in Madison, Wisconsin. And the Gonzaga coach, I'm in the eight-man boat, and the Gonzaga coach says, Hey, Coach Foy. Swim over here.
So I jumped out of the boat, swam over to where he was and got in the boat. And passed another kid who was heading back to my seat in that rope, in that skull.
Well, it was a rowboat, not a skull. And as I'm sitting in the boat with the coach. Um He says to me, he goes, Coach Foy said, I didn't want to embarrass you in front of everybody because being a coach and all, he goes, You're weak on your left side. I said, what? He goes, I don't know.
He goes, I don't see anything other than I can tell you're weak on your left side. He was such a good coach. and had a keen eye. For for for Technique. He could tell I was weak.
It's not that my technique was wrong, not that my passion was wrong, but when you get to that level and you're talking about 20 to 30 guys in all of the United States competing. for eight spots. That's the detail that they had to get to. And he took me to my single, and I rode my single the rest of the way and qualified because I won the single that summer. Because after that, I started to roll my single five, six, seven hours a day.
And six weeks later, I beat the guy who one of the guys who had rowed in the men's quad in the prior Olympics. I beat him by a foot and a half, and my boat was two feet shorter than his. Still owned that boat. But I got to that level. Where a simple thing as being weak on my left side, only to find out.
Years later, I now have atrophy in that leg that has been there for years, and it was from a parachute accident in the military. I've asked God to heal me. I haven't been healed. You know, I could still move around. I still have a leg, I have my function.
But if you were to see my calves, one is twice as thick as the other. I believe when they measured it at the VA, my right leg is like 28 inches around. In the calf, the other leg is is like 18 or 19 inches around. It's that visible. But It doesn't mean I give up on God because he hasn't healed me.
Doesn't mean I don't believe in miracles, signs, and wonders because I haven't been healed.
Okay. And so I share these things with you because if we go back to the book of Acts, listen to what Jesus says: Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father has promised. You shall, and you've heard me talk about.
Well, he talked about it in John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, where he said, I shall give you a comforter, a paraclete, a business partner, a friend who will teach you and remind you of everything, who will empower you to do everything that I've been doing. He says, so that's what Jesus is referring to. For John baptized in water, but in a few days you will be baptized. With The Holy Spirit. And he goes.
It's not for you to know the time and the dates that the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
So, right there, one of the things I would tell you is he's saying you're going to the ends of the earth. Yeah. So I have that expectation. But he says that when you receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Listen.
I try very hard not to be critical. Of the brethren? of the church. But I have some issues. For instance, where's the power?
I used to ask this question, and I'm tired of hearing other people asking the question. Isn't there more? Is this as good as it gets? There was a letter that John G. Lake wrote to Charles Parnum years ago when they were both getting into their 50s and 60s.
And Charles John G. Lake wrote this letter and he said, Charles. Is this as good as it gets? Isn't there more? Have we not experienced it in our own lives?
Where is it right now? And It's amazing because here's John G. Lake, a man that I consider a hero of the faith. Miracle signs and wonders like you wouldn't believe. And he's saying to another miracle sign and wonder guy, Who really helped reestablish the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
He's saying Where is it? Where's the outpouring of God? And yet, everything in these years, 30-some years of studying now, I go, this is the day, and this is the hour. Hosea chapter 6, verse 2 says, In the third day, that's the day we live in, I'm going to. Restore you that you may live in my presence.
Well, restore means everything back the way it was. That means the fullness of God, like Ephesians says, that you may be filled with the fullness of God, and no. And to know Christ. Yet, where are these men and women of miracles, signs, and wonders? And listen, I say that knowing full well.
I cannot remember. Every miracle that I've seen. I mean, just even this year, I've seen so many miracles, so many accurate words of knowledge. I can only think of one that's happened within church walls. All the rest have happened out in streets.
Happened out on the job site, happened out in the middle of a crusade in, as far as you know, Judearia and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world. We go to the uttermost parts of the world and maybe. There's this Manipulation game I'm playing where I'm so deceived that I go to mirror, I go all these places and give up my retirement and everything that I'm doing so I can go to these places and preach the gospel just because I'm hungry for miracles, signs, and wonders. Maybe I'm that narcissistic. I don't know.
But all I know is, we go to preach the gospel. We don't preach doctrine. We preach the doctrine of Christ. That you believe upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in doing so, that means you're going to say, confess the name of Jesus Christ, and that you believe and obey the command to love one another. I mean, 1 John says in chapter 4 that if we say we love the brethren or love God but hate the brethren, we're deceived.
And so, my desire is: the first thing I want to answer to you or say to you is: yes, there's more. You can make fun of me. You can gossip about me. I don't care. There was a person that gossiped about me just a few months ago.
I got a phone call. I hear you're doing this. And I said, well, I can, you know, the funny thing about gossip is just like comedy, sometimes there's a little truth mixed in it. And somebody took a little bit of truth. Meddling in something they didn't know, and they said some things about me.
And I said to my pastor, I said, Well, I can understand where that came from. I said, because I was having a conversation. As a matter of fact, when I was having that conversation, I remember seeing so-and-so walk through to get coffee and then they left, which means they heard part of the conversation and probably not the context. You know, and so, and the reason I know is that person is because I hadn't talked about that thing with anyone else other than the person I was talking to about in the lobby.
So, I. Here I am now being accused and defamed and whatever. And now, 25 years ago, I would have been mad, I would have been upset. And I'm on the job site. I'm filling, I'm pouring concrete in all these block wall holes for a foundation on a house we're building.
And I'm like, God. Bless them. Bless them. Give them everything I've ever asked for. Give them every penny I've ever asked for.
Let them see every miracle, sign, and wonder I've ever asked for. God, bless them. May they come to know you better than I do. May they come to a revelation of who you are in the fullness of your spirit better than I do. May they experience everything that I've dreamt and cried and laughed about.
That's how I prayed for them. And I spent two days praying for them until it lifted, and I was able to move on. And within the last 10 days, that family. Mm-hmm. There was no Retribution.
There's no, oh, they got karma. There's no, they got what they deserved. You know what happened? They have a grandson. Who was um As his father says, delayed.
He's not speaking full sentences. not speaking whatever and it's it's vaccine injury stuff heavy metal injuries And My wife. Walking in love. Doesn't care about the rumors and the lies. We don't care about all that.
You can say whatever you want. We just ignore it and move on. We're going to bless you. And she blessed that family. And that Boy.
It's speaking full sentences. I got, I was on the job site. Um shown a video. him speaking full sentences. People are freaking out.
The person that was trying to cause me problem. I didn't see it as a problem. I saw it as an open door. And I blessed them. And now they're being blessed and has seen a miracle happen.
in their grandson. That's how God operates. God you know, years ago I had somebody who, um did me a lot of harm. That's just the best way to put it. And in my natural mind, I wanted to...
I wanted to expose them. I wanted. Justice. Because I Listen, John Foy does not like injustice. I do not like injustice.
I struggle with it and I've I'm learning even now. to put it down and let God handle it.
Well 20 some years ago, this person did this a lot. Of harm caused us to have to come off the mission field for a short time, and we lost all of our support because of this one individual. And And people that he got involved in harming us, so recruited other people. And I remember I was at a missions conference. That individual and the people that did us harm were there.
And I'm in a tractor mowing. hundreds of acres of grass for somebody because I needed money to get into the job site or to get to the mission field, to the missions conference.
So I called friends and said, hey, anyone got any work I could do in between all these services? And One of my good friends called me and said, Yeah, my dad's got. Or land that needs to be mowed, and he'll pay you to do that. I was like, great.
So I spent six days. Moe. And I would, so like Monday morning, there was a service at 11 a.m. I would mow from 7. to 10.30 and then I drive to the church, change clothes in the bathrooms.
Go to the service. And then I go back out and mow in the afternoon and come back for the evening service. And, uh,. And it was I would change in the bathroom and I did this. The whole week.
And at the end of every service, you could tell where I was because there'd be grass clippings on the ground where my legs and everything had dried because I didn't get the shower. I just put a suit on, and the grass clippings would come out from under the suit that were on my leg and create a puddle of grass, not a lot, but enough grass you could tell where I'd been standing.
Now, all my friends laughing. And it was so amazing because the first five days. Four days. It might have been five days. All I did was complain about that guy.
to God, praying the whole time, complaining to God. Day five, I said, I'm done, God. You don't care, so I'm going to bless them. My attitude still wasn't right. But I began to bless that guy.
I began to pray over that guy. I began to speak that he would receive everything I I desired, that he would see the miracle, signs, and wonders. And see, that was part of the problem is the miracle, signs, and wonders that we were witnessing caused jealousy and him and his friends.
So that's That was the root of all this. I said, God, let him experience the words of knowledge. Let him experience the miracles, signs, and wonders that we've been seeing. Father, please take it from me and give it all to him. He's obviously more equipped in this world to handle this than I am.
He had plenty of money, he had everything he needed. All of his needs were met through this denominational church. But he didn't have miracles, signs, and wonders.
So I began to pray that he would. And At that moment I felt something shift in the heavens. That's all I could say. That night I'm with the service. With a smile on my face, joyful.
I actually started to receive from God in worship. We're in worship. And literally I felt the presence of God come right up to me. And I smelt him. You could smell the honeysuckle, and it was like the frankincense and myrrh that you read about.
That's the I smelled it. My wife. Was like, do you smell that? I said, yes, I do. My best friend.
Bro. You smell like honeysuckle, and he's saying, I smell like that. And I'm like, what? And the people around us all turn around and look at me. They go, that's coming from you.
And I'm like, what? And my wife and I are just like, wow. And we talked about that for days. Like, whoa, Jesus walked through us, by us, whatever you want to say in the midst of that service. It was amazing.
And of course the service ended with the pile of grass on the ground. But Sunday. The service ended after morning service. And I didn't have a boost. He had a boost.
And I'm sitting around with some of my other other missionary friends and we're talking. And my friend says, He had said this to me, he goes throughout the service, he had said, every time I turn around, he's looking straight at you with tears in his eyes. And this he's referring to the guy that caused us problems. And after that service, I saw him on the other side and we locked eyes.
So we just started walking to each other. And as I got within five feet of him, My chest began to burn, and a word came out. And I spoke that word over him. He begins to cry. And he says That is absolutely.
A word from God. Thank you, brother. It answers a prayer, blah, blah, blah. And yet, here I'd been for four days complaining about Him. complaining about him.
And what's so funny is When I shared with you a story of riding the tractor and I switched. Switched. from complaining about him for four days. Or five days. To blessing him and praying for him, praying for his success, praying for Whatever it was.
even though he had done me wrong. God didn't come to me and say, Hey, brother John. Thank you for. Blessing him and doing all that because of that, here. He didn't come to me and go, Oh, John, you figured it all out.
No, you know what he said to me. He said, my love for him. outweighs your opinion of him. Think of that. God's love for that man who did me wrong outweighs my opinion of him.
And I can't tell you how many times over the last 20 years, 23, 25 years since I've heard that. That that has been so Beneficial to my life, like the person whose grandson just recently healed. Because With me not even there, I was four hours away when it happened. Because instead of saying, oh, I can't believe, you know, and going to know, I've realized. God's love for that.
Loudmouth gossiper outweighs my opinion of them. I'm saying it so you understand it, but. One of the things God hates. There are seven things God hates. Five of them have to deal with how we treat other people.
And one of them is gossip. The other is a lying tongue. Another one is one that spreads dissension and attempts to divide people. And that's what gossip does. God hates that.
He hates that. But it's under the blood if we'll allow it to be. And I refuse to take offense from people. Uh, because of it, if they want to do it, let them do it, it's on them, it's their problem. It's your grudge, not mine.
It's your opinion, not mine. Why? Because my opinion is that God loves you. You know, people say, Brother John, why have you seen all the miracles, signs, and wonders that you've seen?
Well, I f I think one Is because, like Jesus said right there, into the uttermost parts of the world. We're willing to go to the uttermost parts of the world at all costs. The first missions trip I ever went on, nobody believed in me. and I had to walk cross country. From Dallas to Miami, Florida, to get on a plane.
And I went with $85 in my pocket and spent three months. in the nation of Paraguay. The first time I went to India, I took $200 for like five months. My wife was pregnant at home. And I had $200.
And through that whole thing, I experienced what I called forced fasting, and I didn't let anybody know. I kept it to myself. And then people say, you know, people at one point somebody said, I was in a car with some other missionaries, all younger than me. And one of them turned to me and said, Brother John, how come you see miracles, signs, and wonders? And I was looking out the window talking to God, muttering to myself, And one of the other missionaries says, because of what he does every day.
And he said, huh? She says, Because he doesn't get involved in our quarrels and our talking and our arguments and our nonsense. He's always looking out the window, and I think he's quoting the word of God, and that's what I was doing. every morning. Whatever verse I'd read, whatever scripture I read, I would read until one popped off the page.
And in that verse, I would recite it all day long. How great is the love of God that He's lavished upon us that we should be called the children of God because that is what we are. I mean, oh, I would just, when people, everyone else would be doing stuff, be going, How great is the love of God that He's lavished upon us that we should be called the children of God? Because that is what I am. I am a child of God.
How great is the love of God? How great is the love of God? And when you really begin to just examine those four words, how great is the love? What accident? One four words, but you understand what I'm saying: the love of God.
The love of God, agape. That word in that sentence is agape, which is funny because that's also the name of God. God is love, agape. God is love. God, you could say, hey, love, and God would know you're talking to him.
Because he is agape. It is a noun. But then every version of love, the word love in your English Bible that's used in the representation or in the use of a sentence with the command. The only command, the eternal command, the command that Adam had in the garden. Jesus said in John 13, 34, Today I renew with you the eternal command to love.
John says in 1 John, 2 John, and he references it to 3 John, and I'll quote 2 John. He says, Dear sister, greatly overjoys me to know that you and your children continue in the truth, not as though I write your new command, but one we've had from the beginning. That word beginning is the eternal beginning. Meaning the Greek word archae. And we're going to do a whole other series on In the Beginning.
But he says. that command what is that command well first john chapter three verses chapter four verses three and twenty twenty three and twenty four says and this is the gospel that you believe upon the lord jesus christ romans says you have to call on his name if you believe and says and that you obey his command to love one another That's the gospel, pure and simple. And so I've spent my, when God came to me and started saying, study love, study love, study love. And it was before I got hurt where God said, my opinion of him outweighs your. My love for him outweighs your opinion of him.
It was before that. I was already studying love. People were calling me Brother John the Love Man. And we were seeing miracles, signs, and wonders. And then I got tested, and I failed to test it till that day.
When I switched it. And so I would say to you: I don't believe I see miracles, signs, and wonders because I'm special, because I'm anointed, because I'm one of the five ministry fold. I don't believe any of that has anything to do with it because Jesus didn't say that. Jesus said, when you're baptized in the Holy Spirit, you will receive power. and you will be my witness.
That's all I am is a witness. And I received, I can tell you, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I've betrayed the Holy Spirit, I have done the Holy Spirit wrong, I have lied. And all of this, I've done so much wrong since being filled with the Holy Spirit, but I always come back. I always go back.
I can tell you. After I got home from the Gulf War, I had said something to God in the Gulf War. I said, I'm reading this word. And I'm looking around at the so-called world, the church. And these two don't add up.
The church and the word don't add up. And I said, God, I choose to believe the word over what I see with my eyes in the American church. And so That makes me that estranges me. from the American church. But it doesn't estrange me from the bride or from our Lord Jesus Christ.
And I see that this mentality is growing. Oh, it's expounding. People are beginning to wake up and go, whoa, I don't think I want to be a partaker of the doctrines of men anymore. And they're questioning the church. They're questioning.
When you see polls that say that 73% of pastors don't agree that the word is the final authority, well, I. That's messed up. I mean, how messed up is that that somebody who claims to be A man of God. or a woman of God, and yet they don't even believe the word?
Well, I can tell you right there, that's why they don't see miracles, signs, and wonders. A lot of churches, right off the bat, negate themselves from miracles, signs, and wonders because one, they're not truly baptized in the Holy Spirit, and two, they are not going to fulfill the great commission. He said that you would be my witnesses in the uttermost parts of the world. If you're not going out there and it's all about me and my four walls, you've excluded yourself from the presence of God and what he's doing in the world. He may show up at some of your worship services, but he's not going to show off and present himself in miracles, signs, and wonders the way he does when I'm on a crusade field or when I'm walking the streets of some foreign city.
He's not going to shut the mouth of a Muslim preacher through the speakers of a city. Just because you get inside your church and pray. But he did it for me walking down the street when I said, Lord, they're interrupting our conversation. Phew. You know, you want to see miracle signs and wonders.
Let me say to you, there are miracle signs and wonders you can walk in. God wants to do the miracle, signs, and wonders because He wants you to be a witness.
Okay. You and I are supposed to be his witnesses. And until we come to the place where we say, I'm willing. And we're willing to lay down some of our doctrines and some of our excuses. We use doctrines as excuses.
We suffer from this thing called eschewitis. I wrote about that in my book called Why Are the Fishermen Eating the Bait? We heap all the rewards and the benefits that come to us being the body on ourselves and our fort walls. We give money to preachers who are obviously fulfilling prophecy and things that God spoke about about men who drive great chariots and have furs and leathers and have their every need meet and eat the finest meats, meanwhile, the people in their church are perishing. of hunger.
And yet we give all our money to those people because they sound good. How wrong can that be? There's 242 verses in the scriptures that talk about spiritual leaders who do that kind of mess. Why are those 242 scriptures not preached from the pulpit and from seminaries? Because They would upend the church, the Western mindset church as we know it.
But you've got to come to the place where you say, I believe the word over the pastors. I believe, and It's not that I have something against pastors. I don't have anything against pastors. But what I have something against is people who are out there preaching, profiting off the church, prospering off the backs of the people in their church. And they're not preaching the truth.
And they're downgrading the miracle signs and wonders. They make excuses for why they don't see miracle signs and wonders. One of the worst excuses is when they go, well, there must be sin in your life. Oh my gosh! I can show you, everybody has sin in their life.
I can tell you that I have sinned in the morning, but seen miracles, signs, and wonders at night. And that goes in the face of every preacher and doctrine out there that most denominations teach. But yet I can show it to you in the word. Go look at the life of Solomon. Go look at the life of Daniel.
Go look at any of the men that were in the hall of faith. Listen, God is not looking for a perfect man to be a witness. He's just looking for someone who's willing to be a witness. And when you're willing to go out there and be a witness, you're going to experience the miracles, signs, and wonders. That's it.
He will lead you and guide you if you're willing to step out. I know. I remember one of the first times because I was always like, I'm a missionary, I'm a missionary, I'm going to be a missionary, seeing miracles, signs, and wonders around the world to where other people would get jealous, other preachers would get jealous, and they would attack me. I've shared some of that with you, but I kept living and loving, and God keeps doing miracles, signs, and wonders. Even in the last few weeks, miracle signs and wonders.
Even in leading me to go places I should go, shouldn't go, miracle signs, and wonders. And people go, well, that's just your flow with God. But that's the problem: it's not just my flow. It's the flow that all of us should be experiencing. All of us should be led by the Spirit of God.
Romans says, For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. Romans also says, Paul's same chapter says, All of creation waits with eager expectation for the Sons of God to be revealed. I want that to happen. It's not just the Brother John show or some other friend of mine who does seize miracles, signs, and wonders. It's not just about us.
It's about all of us. All of us see in miracle signs and wonders and have an expectation for miracle signs and wonders, having an expectation that the miracle signs and wonders will bring people to Jesus. The miracle signs and wonders are a dinner bell of the gospel. And I've been in many places where people would not receive our message until, bam, a miracle took place. And then all of a sudden, everybody comes running.
I have seen it happen crusade after crusade after crusade. The first night, 100 people. The next night, 500 people. But that night, there would be an amazing miracle that nobody can deny. The next night, 3,000 people, 5,000 people.
We had one happen, I think I shared with you about the woman carried up on the stage in the Philippines who had not been standing in years. And when she stood up that night, that crusade was a few thousand people. After that, it surged to 60,000 people. Because of the miracle, signs, and wonders. And Jesus said, You will not be powerless.
You will have power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And the proof of the power of the Holy Spirit, the proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is two things: one, love, and two, the miracle, signs, and wonders, the power. That's it. Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love. You cannot be possessed by the Holy Spirit of love, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of love, and hate other people.
That goes against scripture.
So, the evidence, the true evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit is not speaking in tongues. That is a gift that may come with being baptized in the Holy Spirit, but not everybody that's baptized in the Holy Spirit will speak in tongues. That's scriptural. That goes against doctrines and denominations. But the true evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit is first love, second marriage.
miracle signs and wonders. That is the biblical definition of what should happen in your life if you're baptized in the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues is one of the gifts. And here's the thing: there are denominations around the world, there are other religions that teach speaking in tongues. There's Hindus that speak in tongues, there's Muslims who speak in tongues, there are Mormons who teach speaking in tongues.
So there are cults and other religions that say they're speaking in tongues. But you and I both, though, they're not. Filled with the Holy Spirit. That's not the Spirit of God.
So, speaking in tongues cannot be the evidence that you're baptized in the Holy Spirit. It is a significant. Symptom or a gift of the Holy Spirit, but it is not the proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Especially when you got preachers who think they can teach it to people. I remember the first time a preacher did that to me, I wanted to knock him out.
I don't believe in that. I believe in the sovereignty of God. I believe if God wants me to speak in the Holy Spirit, which I do, speak in tongues, then I will. But I didn't want some guy to say to me, which this guy. Particular preacher did said, just babble after me.
How about I babble you after I knock you out? And back in those days when I was a drill instructor and that happened to me, that's exactly the thought that went through my head. But I can tell you that I have seen miracles, signs, and wonders related to speaking in tongues. Since then. After I actually got filled with the Holy Spirit.
And I had a Biblical example. of what happened on the day of Pentecost happened to me. I heard the mighty rushing wind. I felt myself getting full, the spirit coming up from my feet. And when it hit my eyes, the scales opened, and I began to see in the spirit for the first time.
I had understanding of the word I had never had before. And the very next day, the first miracle happened. The next day, another miracle happened. And for me, primarily, it's usually words of knowledge, words of encouragement and knowledge that come from the Holy Spirit that only He could know about people. She And it's awesome.
It's amazing. I wouldn't give it up. But here's the thing. I'm trying to get across to you. I'm not telling you these things so that you go, oh, Brother John.
No. I mean, you can call me. I'll pray for you. But no, it's not the Brother John show. It's Jesus.
And if my testimonies, my experiences, the thousands of miracles, signs, and wonders, and at this point, millions of people that we've been able to preach the gospel to. Can be of any encouragement to you. It's simply this: I'm an ordinary guy that still works on my hands. I'm 55 years old. My body feels like it's falling apart.
I have pains in my body. I get blurry vision sometimes. I deal with brain fog. I'm doing everything I can to eat properly. I don't eat, I try not to eat.
So I'm just gonna say this: seed oil, sugar, all of that stuff. I don't do any of that. I eat very low carb, trying to get my body back in health for damage that I did to it for years on the road as an adjuster. Eating whatever I could find throughout the day because I was working 18-hour days. My body hurts.
I told the Lord last week, I said, sir, my body feels broken. I walk into my church and I'm limping. You know, people go, why are you limping more today?
Well, a horse stepped on my foot last week, and so my big toe on my one good leg. Is swollen twice its size. Been that way for since last Saturday, today's Sunday. And I'm like, oh, you know, I mean, I still deal with that stuff. I still have the injury where my one leg is atrophied.
But I'm not letting any of it stop me. I'm still going to preach the gospel. I'm still having an expectation of miracles, signs, and wonders because the word is truer than the condition of my body. The word and the spirit of God are more important to me than how I feel and the condition of my body. I did not get to go this year to go preach.
Our crusade, like we're supposed to, the Spirit of God. told me don't go.
So in February, I had to say to them, I can't go, guys. I don't know what's going on, but I can't go. And the week that I was supposed to land, the day that I was supposed to land, India and Pakistan declare war. And I'm supposed to be coming, like, I'm still supposed to be in India right now as I'm recording this, but I'm sitting in a parking lot in North Carolina recording this radio show. And yet, the Spirit of God had told me, you can't go.
And if I had gone, oh my gosh, the troubles that we would have gotten into. And the problems. Why are you here? Don't you know we're at war?
Well, I didn't know we were at war, you know, that you guys were going to go at war, but the Spirit of God did. He warned me. Twice in my life have I missed a crusade. Because of war. That's the only reason I've ever missed a crusade.
In both instances, it was because of war and rebellion that broke out. in the in the area that I'm supposed to be doing a crusade. or close enough that it shut down airports and everything else. And I say that to you, that's the Holy Spirit leading me. Even though I didn't understand.
And it's so funny because the Bible school students, oh, Brother John, why can't you be here? I said, I'm just being obedient to what the Holy Spirit said. And then when they start all receiving notifications on their phone about the bombs, and we're all doing a nationwide bomb drill tonight. Students were like, oh wow, Brother John. You heard from God.
Yeah, I hope so.
Now, at the same time, I would love to hear from God of what I could eat or what I could not eat or whatever to heal my body. I'm waiting. But it doesn't make me go to God and go, well, you obviously don't love me, or there's something wrong. No, the problem's not God. The problem's not his word.
If there's a problem, it's me. I'm still doing something. Whatever. I don't know. But I'm not going to freak out about it.
I'm not going to get upset about it. I'm not going to, you know, change my whole doctrine of theology because. I see other people getting healed, but I don't. You know, and I'm definitely not going to preach to myself that I'm in sin because that's what other preachers say when people don't get healed or don't get what they want or whatever. I mean, that's got to be the most destructive doctrine.
that the evangelical church teaches.
Well, if if you're not getting an answer from God, you are in sin. You know, every one of those people that preaches that nonsense does, never mind, I'm not going to say it. 'Cause I gotta love them. God loves him. God loves him.
I, you know, God knows I have a problem with that kind of preaching. I mean, He made me, He put all this in me.
So, and I wish I could get away from it, but. How else can I open your eyes? to understand You believe doctrines that are holding you back. You believe things that have been taught to you by a church that are holding you back. And you are in danger of being one of the ten virgins.
That was left behind.
Okay. Simply because you believe doctors taught to you by men that they. that are unscriptural and ungodly. Purgatory. Um Speaking in tongues is the proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
That's not scriptural. The proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is miracle, signs, and wonders, and love. Because the character of God is love, so the character of the Holy Spirit is love, and the character of the newborn babe in Christ, Galatians 5, 20, is love. The character of the man before he becomes born again is Galatians 5, 18, sin. Before you become born again, your nature is sin.
You become born again, you become born of the spirit, which is the spirit of love. The character of the born-again man should be love. That is the proof. That's what you're going to be judged by. Is that love?
You cannot become mature. in Christ without becoming a lover. There's no way around it. I wish I could tell you that you can never miss a tithe, never miss a church service. You can paint your stone on the corner of the church with your name on it, and it'll be there for 100 years.
Guess what? doesn't make you born again. makes you a religious man. or or person. None of that has anything to do with being born again.
Because otherwise the thief on the cross And Jesus are a liar. Because that man did not jump down off the cross to get water baptized, to pray a sinner's prayer, to pay tithe, go to church service, any of that. But yet, Jesus said to him today, You will be with me. The goal of all this is. The presence of God.
The presence of God. That's the goal in all this. Develop that. And as you go out, maybe you go to a grocery store. I remember the first time I did this, and the Lord said, buy their meal.
And I'm looking at this going, I'm looking and judging this young. Gang-like member, and what appears to be his father or his grandfather in line with them. And the kid ain't pulling out no money. The grandfather's struggling to find the money to pay for the food they have, and the Spirit of God said, pay for it. I'm like, I'm not ready to get robbed.
I'm not, you know, every excuse in the book, right? And I did it. And they started crying. And the and the dad says, Why would you do that? And I looked right at that young man and said, because Jesus said he loves you.
And the kids started crying. And it opened up a conversation that that kid needed to hear. And I've done that numerous times since, and in numerous different ways and places. And it's amazing how much God shows up and shows off. Not in the church.
I do it. We see a lot of things in the church, but I'm just telling you. To be a witness in the other most parts of the world is not to be a witness inside the four walls of your denominational church. There's a difference. There's an expectation for miracles, signs, and wonders.
Yes, there's more. And to develop this expectation for miracles, signs, and wonders, you've got to change and unlearn things that you've been taught. You've got to begin to seek and develop the presence of God in your life. Jesus said: if you abide in me and I abide in you, that's the presence of God. He goes, ask whatsoever you will and it shall be done.
When you begin to develop the presence of God and you begin to develop the supernatural, and you begin to answer for yourself. The question that you have: Is there more? Oh, absolutely, there is. And you actually begin to do what you know to do to develop that relationship with God, it'll happen. Because I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, every one of us knows what to do.
to have that kind of relationship with God. And I'll tell you this: the less you know about religion, the less you know about the doctrine of men, the less you know about all that, the better off you are. The better off you are because you won't have to be like me unlearning all the junk that you were taught.
So, I want to encourage you to just say this. Yes, there is more. There is an expectation that you can have of moving and flowing with the Holy Spirit. And it will create animosity between the dead, self-righteous people who go to your church or go to other churches, but it doesn't matter because he loves you. He will walk with you, he will talk with you, he will be there with you to say what needs to be said when you're that type of a Christian.
And how do you get there? Just talking to him. Get up in the cool of the day and have a conversation with him. Begin to develop that walk and that talk with him and re-experience, reignite that love for him. And as you do that, you will begin to experience those things.
It is not just for preachers and pastors and people like me, because I'm like you more than I am those others. I am the pariah and the thorn in most preachers' sides. And There's nothing I can do to avoid that. I'm too old and too stuck in my ways to be anything else. I'm not going to play the religious doctrinal game.
I can't do it. I can't be politically correct in the church. I've got too much out there that people go, ooh, ooh, ooh. I mean, I've had people go, we want you to come preach. And then they go visit my Facebook page and go, never mind.
Because I will say the truth. And I even had a publisher say, Well, Brother John, we love the book. Um We we can't print it though. But we can print your other book.
Well, why can't you print this book?
Well, there we can't find anything doctrinally wrong with it, scripturally wrong with it. It's just that there's not a single pastor in America that'll promote it. And yet every pastor that gets a copy of it reads it Breaks down crying, going, It's absolutely true. They see it. They're just stuck in the game.
And So, you know. That's just the way it is. But you asked me, what would I rather have?
Some big ministry? And all the success in the coats and the furs and the cars and all that, and a retirement. Or would I rather walk and talk with God and see miracles, signs, and wonders? I made my choice. And until the day I leave this place, I'm going to keep walking and talking with God, even when I make mistakes, even when I sin, because yes, I still do.
I am not perfect. I'm far from perfect. I have issues. They're none of your business. But I have issues.
I am not perfect. And yet... God says, I love you, John. God's even given me my own name, a different name.
So when people come up to me and go, Hey, God said. You know what I'm listening for? That name? Because if they're hearing from God. And that's just something he's done with me all my life: is that certain people come up and had a word for God.
And one, it was timely, and two, they used the name that only God could have told them. And three, it's right on. It ministers to me in exactly an area that I needed to be ministered to. Sh And so, I say all of this to you is to say that there is a dependency upon God that you can experience and you can love that will change your life and change the lives around you. Yes, there's more, but you've got to begin to develop an expectation for those things.
But to develop that expectation, you need to begin to develop the relationship with God. You need to begin to realize who you are in Him and begin to talk to Him like He's your daddy, talk to Him like He's your father, tell Him what your problems are, and then praise Him for the answer. Praise Him for what He's doing in other people's lives, praise Him when people attack you, praise Him and honor Him, and bless others when they lie about you. When you begin to get the mind of Christ and begin to talk and act like Christ. You will begin to see these things, but you've got to begin to pursue him in relationship.
You've got to become come to the place where you believe the Word and the Spirit, and you flow in the two of those. And you develop that by spending time with him, just like you did with your wife or your husband or whatever. You develop a relationship by spending time with him. And as you do that, I believe what will happen is the greatest revival that's ever occurred will begin to take place. And at some point, God's going to say, you know, all of you people that have this revival of his presence.
Uh I just can't stand for you guys to be on the earth anymore.
So, how about all of you get up here and join me here? Just like you did Elisha and Enoch. That you and I get to the place where we're so close to Jesus, so close to Jesus, walking and talking with Jesus, that God and Jesus just say, Holy Spirit says, Hey, guys. One million of you, all of you, one million, or one billion of you, however many there are, that are partaking in this last great revival. Just get on up here.
Why can't that be the catching away of the saints like it was for Enoch and Elisha? Why does it have to be a rapture that's tied to some great tribulation and trial and all this darkness and everything else? Why can't you and I shine, walk so close to God, develop a relationship with God that He says, you know, just got to have you up here. Just come on, get on up here. And he says that to a million of us, or 10 million of us, or a billion of us all at once.
Why can't that be What we call the catching away.
So, I hope that I've inspired you. I hope that I've encouraged you. I hope that you're going, wow. That you realize that there's more. But in everything you do, remember this: Jesus loves you, he loves people.
And his love never fails. God bless you. How many?
