Dear Partner,

I thank God for the day that Sue and I began attending the Prayer Center because it was Pastor Dave Roberson who introduced us to the Holy Spirit as being our Teacher. Although we had been baptized in the Holy Spirit for many years and had spoken in other tongues frequently on many occasions, we had never been taught that spending extended periods of time doing nothing but praying in other tongues would release the ministry of the Holy Spirit to begin unveiling the living Christ to us.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit the "Spirit of Truth." The Holy Spirit knows only one Jesus, the true and living Christ who is Lord of all. As we began yielding our time to the Holy Spirit, He began to unveil this living Christ to us as our Savior, Healer, Provider and so much more. Every new facet of the "unsearchable riches of Christ" that the Holy Spirit revealed to us would fill our lives with joy, faith, and hope for the future. Our lives have been constantly changing for the better as we continue to increase in the knowledge of Him.

The sad part was, I was approaching fifty years of age when I learned of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. My question was, "Why didn't anybody tell me about this before? How is it that I have set in church services for so many years, yet no preacher ever encouraged me to yield my time to the Holy Spirit and let Him teach me about Jesus?" Then one day the Lord said to me,

"The religious leaders rejected Jesus because he revealed a Father God who was different than the one they preached. Preachers today reject the ministry of the Holy Spirit because He reveals a Jesus who is different than the one they preach."

The religious leaders of Jesus' day, the Pharisees and Saducees, only knew God as a God of Law and Judgment! Jesus came declaring God to be the "Father" and they rejected both Him and His message. For them to have received Jesus they would have had to receive also His message. That would have required them to admit their error and change their doctrine. This they were unwilling to do. Jesus summed up their attitude when He said,

Mat 15:8-9 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Little has changed in modern times. The Jesus that the Holy Spirit reveals is "the same, yesterday, today, and forever." He is the living Christ, Who is Savior still, Healer still, Provider still. The Holy Spirit knows of no gospel that says "the day of miracles has past." The Holy Spirit will not teach that the "gifts of the Spirit are not for today." The Holy Spirit will not teach that "tongues are not for every believer." No wonder there are not many preachers standing in the pulpits today who will encourage their flock to begin spending extended hours of praying in other tongues. If they did, the Holy Spirit would begin teaching the flock that many of the doctrines that are being preached from those same pulpits are no more than "doctrines that are commandments of men", not the truth of God's Word.

As I continue to yield my time to the Holy Spirit by meditating the Word of God and spending many hours praying in other tongues, I am amazed at Who Jesus truly is. He is so different from the "Jesus" that was taught to me for many years as I listened to men who had rejected the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.

It has never been God's intention that we should know "about" Him. No, the desire of God's heart is that we should "know Him!" The Holy Spirit has been sent for that very purpose.

1 Cor 2:12-13 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Let me encourage you again to spend even more time with the Holy Spirit, your Teacher. He will guide you into all truth. Not only will He guide you into the "knowledge" of the truth, but into the actual "possession" of the truth. That's the wonderful thing about the Holy Spirit. He not only has the ability to teach us the truth, but the ability to transform us so that we can walk in the truth.

2 Cor 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Thank you for your gift to GCM. Sue and I love you and appreciate you. We thank God for your generous and giving heart. God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

Gary Carpenter

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