Monday: Promises (1)

"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden." (Except one!!)

Shout this with me this morning ... PRAISE GOD! THANK YOU, JESUS ...

I received a nice note from Pastor Carol who HAD cancer and it is now gone. Like so many women, she had breast cancer, and her latest tests show it is all gone ... all gone. Once again Jesus has kicked the butt of Satan. Don't you love it!!!

Now let's get right on this one ... Tammy, a cousin of Vicki who is on our prayer list, was found to have stage 3 cancer in her female parts (my wording here). Prayer, folks, and the healing hand of our Lord Jesus. Listen, and I want you all to know this - Jesus does still heal directly and He also heals through the hands of many doctors and medical people who He has loaned the talent to. And yes, Jesus still has a few who He works with who can lay hands on people and they receive the healing. The thing we must always remember is that it ALL COMES FROM JESUS ... ALL HEALING, AND ALL THINGS come from our Lord God, our loving, forgiving Jesus.

Good Morning, and what a great way to start the week. Brothers and sisters, the first thing we need to do each day is thank God that we woke up. Today being Monday is the day that we pray for our leaders in Washington and in the State Houses and local governments. We also pray for our troops, our police, our firefighters, and all others who work so hard to keep us safe.

Promises (1): I have been asking God to give me some messages about promises. As we look together at some of the great promises that are in the Bible, we will also talk about some promises that are made by man. I want you to notice whose promises you can count on that will never be broken and whose will be broken often. Let's get started way back in the beginning.

Genesis 2: 15 - The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (NIV)

There is one thing I want you to look at right away. A commandment or command can also be a promise. Think of it. Here in these scriptures we find God giving a command to Adam, and is it also not a promise? I am placing you, Adam, in this wonderful garden, full of all you will ever need but there is one thing that I do not want you to touch. If you do you will surely die. And God saw there was plenty to eat, and we know the rest of the story. Eve was tricked by evil, she bowed to evil as did Adam and since then men and women have paid the price for it.

Let's relate this to adults and children... As children are growing up, parents will tell them, you have your own toys, please do not touch all those pretty things on the coffee table. How long did that go? Mommy, I will not touch those things, but it happened. And as the kids grow up ... Honest, dad, I only want to use the car to go to my friends house, I will not go any other place. Later that night ... Hey dad, someone hit the car in the mall parking lot, it was not my fault, they backed out of a parking space. But son, you promised not to go anyplace but your friend's house.

Here we have a promise from God that was honored, and one from man that was broken. Over the years I had heard this saying many times at the work place. Rules, rules, rules ... rules are made to be broken. Well maybe man's laws are expected to be broken by some, but God does not give us promises that He will break, nor does He give us commandments that He wants us to break.

One of the first things we notice about our Lord God is that when He makes a promise He will keep it, and when He lays out a punishment for us if we break one of His laws or rules, He will carry out on that punishment. Parents and grandparents need to be the same way. It seems now that when parents give their children a rule or order and say that they will be punished if they break it ... then when the rule gets broken, often the punishment does not happen because the punishment hurts the parents. If you make your child stay home, then you must stay home with them. In other words parents also get punished. Don't you think that God just might feel the same way? If you break your promise to God or you break one of His commandments, don't you think that hurts God who wants the best for us? Lets' pray about this and we will be digging into it this week.

Dear Father in Heaven, Thank You so much for waking us this Monday Morning and thanks for clearing the cancer from Pastor Carol's body. You are wonderful Lord. All honor and glory and praise is yours this day. Lord now we ask that You clear the cancer from Tammy, and also please touch her cousin Vicki. Lord, I pray today for our President, and Lord, as I ask You to protect him, I ask you to touch his heart for he is a man who believes you can kill a baby in the womb. Lord, please protect those unborn children. Lord please be with our other leaders and also our men and women, our brave men and women from our military. Lord, keep them safe in training, in peace, and in war. Lord, be also with our police and firefighters, and Lord please protect them. Be with the river rescue people who go into flood areas, and on the rivers to rescue those in trouble. Lord we have so many that work so hard to keep us safe ... bless them, Lord. Thanks again for this line and I ask Your hand on me as I write each day. Lord, help Dolores and me keep our promises that we made to You just last week ... help us Lord, help us. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Now folks, go forth sharing your blessings, loving each other, and keeping those promises that you make. Please honor all your promises, and please honor all those commandments that God has given to us. Now, this day, May the good Lord bless and keep you and may He cause His face to shine on you and give you peace. And may you share the gifts of our Lord Jesus with others ...

Yes, I love ya, dan, but much better than that, Jesus loves you so much He gave His life for You. AMEN.

Coming this Saturday, May 16th ... We will be singing at Cedar Haven in Lebanon ... 2.00 PM.