I Am Eternally Grateful to Jesus: a Personal Memoir
Welcome to Original Pentecostal
Sermons and Bible Studies
by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.
These sermons & Bible teachings,
personally written by Dr. Jim
Feeney, are drawn from his 50+
years of Spirit-filled ministry
in the Pentecostal tradition.
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Please Let Me Tell You Why I Am Eternally Grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ
As I look back on my 82 years of life — the last 56 of those years knowing and serving my Lord Jesus — I can see the gracious hand of God in so many areas of my life. Please allow me to share some of the highlights of those years for which I am deeply thankful to the Lord. Once I saw an awesome bumper sticker. It showed a lovely butterfly, with the caption: “I Am Eternally grateful to Jesus.” I want to express my personal thanks to Jesus for so many blessings, in the hope that it will stir your hearts likewise to offer much praise, thanks, and commitment to Him.
I Am Grateful to Jesus the Savior for My Salvation in Him
In 1969, at the age of 25, while in the United States Air Force, I committed my life to Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. A college girl I had met in Alaska had been sharing with me the marvelous truth of salvation from our sins through Jesus Christ. She had encouraged me to start reading the New Testament of the Bible.
I did that, and its remarkable revelation of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection for my sins broke through, and I made my life-changing decision to serve Him. Now, 56 years later, I still do not regret a single day of that 1969 commitment to Christ.
Would you like to see some great Scriptures about this wonderful Savior Jesus? Take a look at my How to Be saved and Go to Heaven | Salvation Scriptures.
I’m Thankful to Jesus for the Great Blessings of Water Baptism
Having been born again/saved through my coming to Jesus in faith and repentance for sin, it was time, as the Bible says, to “bury the old man” of sin that I used to be before coming to Christ. Jesus Himself died on the cross to take our sins. Then He was buried, and on the third day rose again from death to life.
We who come to Him do the same! The Scripture says that believers in Him “are crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). In identification with and faith in Him, we take upon ourselves the blessings of His loving sacrificial death for us. As the Scripture says, we die to the old man of sin that we were before receiving Christ as our Savior.
Then just as Jesus was buried, we too are “buried with Him in baptism” (Colossians 2:12). And from that watery "grave," like Jesus we arise to “walk in newness of life” spiritually (Romans 6:4). What a deal! As Jesus literally died for us, was buried, and rose again from the dead, we follow after Him by dying to our sins, burying the old man/woman in baptism, and rising from the waters of baptism to walk in a newness of life we could never have without Jesus.
If you care to study the great topic of baptism in water in more detail, check out my article on Water Baptism by Immersion As Done in the Bible.
I’m Grateful to Jesus for the Power-giving Baptism with the Holy Spirit
In 1971, two years after turning my heart and life to Jesus, I moved to Alaska to begin work as an air traffic controller. There I found a wonderful church, then known as Abbott Loop Community Chapel, and its wonderful pastor Dick Benjamin. I soon heard about Jesus’ promise to born-again believers of a mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit. All four Gospels speak of this gift from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
This is not water baptism. This is a distinct empowerment by the Holy Spirit, given by Jesus, to enable us believers to reach the world with the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:4-8). The early Church received this powerful gift from Jesus, and so can we today. If you wish to study this very important truth, and to receive it yourself, take a look at my articles:
- • Baptism of the Holy Spirit Is for YOU Today: A Major Bible Truth
- • The Initial, God-Given Evidence of Baptism with the Spirit is Speaking in Tongues
I Am Very Thankful to the Lord for His Calling Me to Christian Ministry
I was giving my testimony on my pastor’s weekly TV show in Anchorage. After I shared, and still on camera, my pastor asked me if the Lord had been speaking anything to me about a call to ministry. I replied that I had begun to sense a calling to the ministry of Bible teaching. He said that while he was off-camera watching me give my testimony, the Holy Spirit had spoken to him the same thing for me — a call upon me to be a Bible teacher.
Long story short, that led to twelve years of teaching in an Anchorage Bible college, plus 22 years of pastoring and teaching His Word in two churches I planted and pastored. Now in my late senior years, I have the joy of continuing to share God’s Word through this website, now in its 22nd year online. I am eternally grateful to Jesus for placing me precisely in a ministry that He knew was my best God-given way to serve Him.
Although not always in fulltime ministry, God has a calling for ministry upon every son and daughter of God. I have written on this at my article: “Body Ministry” (Team Ministry) Means We’re ALL Ministers. If you’re interested in studying some of the God-given fulltime leadership ministries, check out my Fivefold Ministry Is for Today: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers.
I Am Immensely Grateful for My Four Children, Given to Me by Divine Healing
My wife was infertile for six years, with a medically diagnosed condition. We longed for children. Her doctors had no solution. But we prayed diligently, and in the 7th year of our marriage the Lord healed her (without any medical means) and granted us the first of our four children that my now-healed wife bore to us. They are all adults now, and all serving the Lord with their families. Thank you, Jesus! The same Lord has healing for you.
If you would like to study this vital topic out in the Scriptures, I suggest to you my:
- • Divine Healing Today: A Sermon on Spiritual/Supernatural Healing
- • A collection of my Divine Healing Sermons from 50+ Years of Holy Ghost Ministry
I Am Thankful Daily for His Sacred Word, the Bible, Given for All of Us
As mentioned above, the main input to my life that led to my receiving Jesus as my Lord and Savior was simply reading the New Testament of the Bible. The truths about Jesus the only Savior dying for my sins and rising again, drew me to Him in a very personal way that has been the foundation of my life these past 56 years.
While on earth Jesus prayed a marvelous prayer to God His Father in heaven (John 17). Speaking of God’s Word the Bible (vs. 17) Jesus said, “Thy word is truth.” The Holy Scriptures of the Bible are a rock-solid foundation for our life. In Psalm 119 it says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path (vs. 7, KJV)… The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple” (vs. 130, NKJV).
I have written in more detail about God’s Holy Word, the Scriptures, at my:
- • Why Study God’s Word Eagerly? 72 Reasons You Should
- • Do You Want a Blessed Life? Then Follow the Word of the Lord
I Am Deeply Grateful to Jesus for the Spiritual Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Let me add some additional explanation to the account above of my wife’s healing of six years of infertility. In the first 6 years of our marriage we began to long for children, but her diagnosed infertility condition prevented that. Then one day a godly lady in our church came to us and said that the Lord had awakened her in the night and told her to tell my wife a message from the Lord: “Your barren days are over!” The very next year my wife bore our first child, followed by three more.
By the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, God had delivered through that lady a prophetic message (which came to pass): “Your barren days are over!” And sure enough, babies followed by God’s divine healing power. That prophetic message was a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Let me give one more example. In a Sunday church service I was in, a man came to the mic from the choir and said, “Someone here today needs to get saved.” My first thought was, that’s obvious. There are a thousand people here this morning. But the speaker was not finished. He added, “…and you know who you are, because before coming to church today you drank two beers!" Immediately a man near the front raised his hand and willingly went out with our ministry team to a side room to receive Jesus as his Savior. This spoken revelation (about the two beers) was a gift of the Spirit that the Bible calls a “word of knowledge.” These spiritual gifts are very real and available to the Church today.
If you wish to study more on the spiritual gifts, please check out my articles:
I Thank the Lord for Leading Me Over the Years to Some Wonderful Local Churches
As a fairly new believer in 1971 I moved to Alaska to work as an air traffic controller. There I found a wonderful church — Abbott Loop Community Chapel — and its godly pastor, Richard C. “Dick” Benjamin. That led to many years growing in the Lord there and eventually teaching for 12 years in their Bible college. After that for 22 years I planted and pastored churches, which I loved deeply, in New York and Oregon. Now retired from pastoral ministry, I’ve been greatly enjoying attending New Song Christian Fellowship, led by my esteemed pastor Steve Miller, in Springfield, Oregon.
Every Christian needs the blessing of a good local church. Seek out a Jesus-centered, Bible-based, Holy Spirit-empowered congregation and make it a major blessing in your life. If you wish to read more Scripture about the importance of the churches in God’s eyes, check out my:
I’m Grateful to Jesus for Many, Many Answers to Prayer
When I was an air traffic controller in Alaska, I used to drive to work with this prayer on my lips: “(1) Lord, help me keep the flying public safe and (2) let me be an effective Christian witness to my coworkers.” The Lord answered my prayers, and I was able to keep the planes safely separated during my time working there. And also, He answered my prayers to be an effective witness for Him. As best I can tell, over the years at least three of my fellow controllers were led, at least in part by my efforts for the Lord, to come to Jesus for salvation.
We serve a prayer-answering God: “You [God] who answer prayer, to you all people will come” (Psalm 65:2, NIV). He will hear and answer your prayers, offered to Him in faith in and through the name of Jesus Christ. Here are some more Scriptures on the great value of prayer:
I’m Very Thankful to the Lord for a Large, Beloved Family of Four Generations
I was a single man until marriage at age 29. I was blessed with our first child (testimony about that above) at age 36. My wife Mickey and I had 38 wonderful years together before she went on to heaven. Some time after that, I remarried and have had 14 wonderful years with my wife Linda. In these senior years our blended and much-loved family consists of 7 adult children, all married; 24 grandchildren, nine of them married; and 12 great-grandchildren.
“The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich!” (Proverbs 10:22). I have been wonderfully blessed by the Lord’s Bible promise: “God sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6), and also: “Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged” (Proverbs 17:6, NLT). I am deeply grateful to Jesus for all these loved ones.
For those of you still raising children, or yet intending to, may I suggest some helpful Scriptures on Bible-based childrearing in my article: Christian Parenting: A Sermon on Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World.
I thank Jesus Christ for Deliverance from Harmful Habits
I came to the Savior Jesus Christ in my young adult years. I recall two specific habits that had a grip on me: smoking (two packs of Camels a day!) and regular indulgence in alcohol. First, smoking — in 1968 my wife-to-be began sharing with me her testimony of salvation in Jesus Christ. For her sake and mine, I soon decided to quit smoking. And I was able to do it “cold turkey,” never to return. That was undeniably with Christ’s help, because over the prior years I had tried twice to shake the habit, but returned quickly to smoking. That final time I found it easy to quit after nine years of that habit that I previously could not shake. Thank you, Jesus! He Himself said that He had been sent by the Holy Spirit of God “to preach deliverance to the captives…” (Luke 4:18).
I came to Jesus and was born again in 1969. Having been raised in an Irish heritage, I was a regular partaker of alcohol. On occasion I went over the line into drunkenness. When I accepted Jesus as Savior, with His help I immediately moderated my drinking to low levels, but continued to indulge in cautious “social drinking.” Then a Christian friend (a former alcoholic) encouraged me to read Proverbs 23:29-35. I read it and came immediately under the Lord’s conviction and, with His help, forsook alcohol completely from that day in 1971 to today. I give the Lord full credit for His deliverance from the two harmful grips on me of tobacco and alcohol.
If you would like some biblical teachings on the sensitive subject of the place of alcohol in a Christian’s life, may I suggest these articles I have written:
- • Should I Quit Drinking Alcohol? Teetotaler or Social Drinker?
- • Can Or Should Christians Drink Alcohol? Is ‘Social Drinking’ OK?
- • ‘Social Drinkers,’ Are You 1/3 Drunk? 2/3 Drunk? Or Fully DUI?
I’m Thankful to Jesus for His Provision of Life’s Needs to Me and My Family
One of the Bible’s many revealing names of the greatness of God is His being “Jehovah-Jireh” (Hebrew) — “the Lord Will Provide” (Genesis 22:14, NIV). Writing to Christian believers in Philippians 4:19, the apostle Paul said, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” In the past 56 years of serving God and Jesus His divine Son, my family and I have never missed the Lord’s gracious provision.
The great ‘Lord’s Prayer’ that Jesus taught says, “Our Father in heaven…give us this day our daily bread…” (Matthew 6:11). And He has been faithful to do that all these years. From day to day, year after year, we have lived in the Lord’s generous provision and have seen His beautiful fulfillment of Proverbs 30:8 — “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” Thank you, Lord!
An encouraging Scriptural reflection on God’s great provision for His own can be read at my article: “All That I Have Is Yours | God’s Promise to Those Who Are ‘With’ Him.
I Am Deeply Grateful to Jesus for the Promise of Eternal Life in His Presence
The closing book of the Bible, the Revelation, speaks of redeemed believers going into eternity in God the Father’s and Jesus His Son’s presence (Revelation 22:3-5) — “…the throne of God and of the Lamb [Jesus] shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face… [and] the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign for ever and ever.”
Ultimate, eternal victory! The Lord’s redeemed from all past ages will spend eternity with God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — in joy and delight that surpasses all we can dream of or imagine. As the psalm says, “In thy [God’s] presence is fulness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). The apostle Paul, to whom the Lord had granted a heavenly visitation (2 Corinthians 12:1-4), said of that experience in the Lord’s glorious presence that it is “better by far” than anything we can imagine in our time on this earth (Philippians 1:22-24).
All These Promises Are Available to You Through Jesus Christ!
Do you personally know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Then rejoice — these and other great promises are yours in Him, as the Scripture declares: “No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
If you have not yet received the wonderful Savior Jesus as your Savior personally, you can do that now and come into the family of God as a newborn son or daughter — “You [believers] will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18). Would you like to make that most important decision of your life right now? It will be your life’s greatest decision and will usher you into a future of eternal life in the presence of the Lord. Please allow the late, respected evangelist Billy Graham to lead you into a simple prayer of salvation. Here’s his helpful webpage: Peace with God.
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