WHAT S HAPPENING A GRAE NUGGET

March-April, 2017 | Published by Grace3 Ministries

Wes Johnson, Founder and Editor

"Stirring up believers to live in God's Full Grace"

WHAT'S HAPPENING

1st Grace3 Ministries Newsletter "Grace Notes" This is the initial newsletter of Grace3 Ministries. Thank you for all those who have helped this ministry get started. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement to get us to this point. To start we will publish them every other month. Dessert Gatherings Concluded Dessert Gatherings at Jeffers and Marshall have concluded with 16 people attending at Jeffers and 11 people attending at Marshall. Individual visits are being set up for others showing an interest, 1 at Jeffers and 9 at Marshall. Pastor Visits are On-Going Pastoral visit are on-going with 18 clergy being visited. Ten clergy have indicated an initial interest to participate in a Clergy Continuing Education Small Group. First session dates are being worked on for early May in Marshall and in the Jeffers/Windom area. Plans for a set of Dessert Gatherings in Staples Beginning plans are being laid for a weekend in Staples for Dessert Gatherings.

"[In entire sanctification] the heart is cleansed from all sin, and filled with pure love to God and man. But even that love increases more and more, till we 'grow up in all things into Him that is our Head;' till we attain 'the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.'"

John Wesley, On Working Out Our Own Salvation

A GRACE NUGGET

Ephesians 3:17-19 I pray that you, being rooted and established

in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the

measure of all the fullness of God.

Paul prays for believers who have experienced and are living in the love of Christ to grasp, experience, and live in something even more complete and more fulfilling than what they have now. To grasp means to understand and catch hold of the full dimensions of God's love and grace. This is where the understanding of living in God's third dimension of grace comes from. The third dimension is God's full love and grace. This is not only to be grasped but it is to also be known, or experienced.

To know indicates not just knowledge of but experience with God's full love and grace. Paul wants the believers to experience God's full love and grace in their own lives by experiencing God's Second Work of Grace, sanctification. That knowledge and experience of God's love and full grace allows one to live in the fullness of God. This is the deepest relationship one can have with God. It is living completely immersed in the grace and love of God, and shown through a holy life.

I pray that everyone will grasp, experience, and live in God's full grace and love. May you experience not just God's justification but God's sanctification. This is the heart of Grace3 Ministries and what I pray for everyone who reads this and everyone these Ministries will touch. Let us start a revival of holiness. May it start in you!

GRACE NOTES

March-April 2017--Page 2

MY STORY

by Wes Johnson

I was flipping through channels on the TV, Friday night, February 11, 2011 in the basement of our home in Marshall, MN. I came to the movie Apollo 13, the true story of the ill-fated space craft headed for the moon that has an explosion and ends up scrambling just to get the crew to earth safely without landing on the moon as was intended. Tom Hanks plays the role of Jim Lovell, the commander of the mission. I had seen it several times so I stopped to watch it again.

A scene in the movie had always intrigued me but I wasn't sure why. I watched the scene again that night without any more insight. It is the scene when Jim Lovell day dreams about landing on the moon and being able to walk on the moon as he had dreamed of for a long time. The others with him are oohing and aahing over the landing site and how close they were. Lovell pictures himself in full space garb on the moon scooping up moon dust while inspiring music plays in the background. But as he surveys his dream of being on the moon he looks over his shoulder and the earth comes into view. It is a stark contrast to the drab moon that has little color. The earth is beautiful. It is colored with deep blues, whites, and tans. Lovell snaps out of his day dream and says in an authoritative voice, "Men, what are your intentions? Mine is to go home." They immediately snap out of their dreaming and begin to work on how to get back to earth. The scene again felt significant but no new insight came to me.

The next morning, I got up and opened my Bible to do my daily Bible reading. I was reading the 3rd chapter of the book of Colossians. It read, "If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." I stopped. Immediately God brought back to my mind the scene in the movie from the night before. I remembered clearly the stark contrast between the colorless moon dust that had been so important to touch and the exquisitely beautiful and colorful earth that was the astronauts' real home. God impressed on me these words, "Wes, you have been focused on and chasing moon dust, the things of earth: honor, money, comfort, pleasure; but your real home is so much more beautiful than those temporary and perishable

Clergy Continuing Education Small Groups

This Course Experience is for any clergy or aspiring clergy desiring to experience God's Full Grace in their life.

Groups are made up of 4-7 members, taught and led by Wes Johnson. 3 group meetings over approximately 5 months 1st meeting 9am-4pm, next two 9am-12:30pm 4th meeting is an individual session with Wes See website for more details or contact Wes and set up a time to discuss further.

Local Church Immersion Weekend

This is a weekend event held in a local church to immerse people in God's Full Grace.

This Event is still being developed but is targeted to be available this fall.

Development of a continuing small group ministry out of the weekend is available.

The event will start on Friday night and conclude with a meal Sunday noon.

See website for more details or contact Wes and set up a time to discuss further.

103 South Hill Street Marshall, MN 56258

Phone/Text: 507-401-7547

E-mail:

wjj1960@

Website:



CHECK THE WEBSITE OUT!

Grace3 Ministries Wes Johnson 103 South Hill Street Marshall, MN 56258

Grace Notes is a publication of

Grace3 Ministries.

Grace3 Ministries' Mission is to stir up pastors and believers to grasp, experience, and live in God's complete love and full

sanctifying grace.

Wes Johnson is the founder of Grace3 Ministries and Editor of

Grace Notes.

GRACE NOTES

March-April 2017--Page 3

PRAYER REQUESTS:

For Wes as he visits with Pastors about entire sanctification and invites them to participate in a Clergy Continuing Education Small Group.

For finalizing dates, places, and pastors for the first two Clergy Continuing Education Small Groups in southwest Minnesota.

For setting the groundwork for a Clergy Continuing Education Small Group in southcentral Minnesota and another one in southeast Minnesota for the fall.

For finalization of plans for dessert gatherings in Staples, Minnesota.

For on-going development of Grace3 Immersion Weekends. Anticipated to be ready for Fall, 2017.

For favor and blessing from denominational leaders as Wes introduces the ministries to them and looks for God's open doors from them.

For on-going financial support and developing more opportunities for others to be involved in the ministries.

OPPORTUNITIES TO ASSIST THE WORK

Talk to people you think might be interested in the message and ministry of Grace3 Ministries and share names with Wes. Provide snacks for the first Clergy CE Small Groups in May. Contact Wes if you are willing. Contribute financially, either one time or on-going donations. Checks can be made out to Grace3 Ministries and sent to 103 S. Hill St., Marshall, MN 56258. PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! This we desire the most.

MY STORY (continued)

things. Your real home and what you need to be focused on are things of heaven and the things that will last all for eternity. `You have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, .... Set your mind on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

Everything changed in my life. Significantly at first but not nearly as completely as God was going to make it. I knew God had done something more than significant in me. I wondered, is this the entire sanctification that I had heard about at seminary, wondered about from time to time, even preached a series of messages on just three years before yet all the while, through twenty five years of ministry still never felt sure about? Not only had I been uncertain about experiencing it, but I even felt unsure about grasping what it fully was. I knew it was significant. I changed what I was to preach that next Sunday and talked about this experience.

I noticed my attitudes and even desires changing. I began wanting to listen to Christian Worship music which I had seldom sought out since my college years. My conscious desire to experience more of the Holy Spirit's power increased even more than it had before. My desire to resist habits that were not spiritually enhancing were noticeably stronger than before. My consistency in trying to keep a daily Bible reading and journaling time shot significantly up. That fall, during a personal retreat for sermon planning and spiritual growth, God brought my thoughts back to this experience in February. I felt a strong confirmation and assurance that it indeed was God's work of sanctification in my heart and life. I remember feeling such amazing joy and broke down crying and worshipping God that God had so greatly blessed me. But God had so many bigger things for me to come. But it had started, this life of sanctification.

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