Wednesday: Truth

"I tell you the truth"

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is SALVATION Wednesday here on the Carry The Light Ministries prayer, praise, and message line. First I ask this ... Are you "Born Again"? Do you love Jesus with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind, and do you show it in your daily walk?

If you are and you do, then let me ask this next ... are you following the command of Jesus and telling all the good news of Salvation? That is our main mission, to get the word out. TIME IS SHORT, even as I type this I am hearing on the news that North Korea is ready to test a long range missile that could reach the United States. Be ready to leave this earth at anytime ... BE SAVED, and help others get saved by Jesus.

Prayer requests ... For the family of Sarah: This mother of three was killed in a traffic accident in front of her church. This would be in the Midwest. For me, yes for me: I have been contacted to marry a couple whose plans have been laid for a long time. The pastor that was to do the wedding was killed in a motorcycle accident. We prayed for his family some time ago. Another pastor was found, but something has happened to him. Listen to this ... God is good. The father of the groom, a born again school teacher, put feet on his prayers. After praying, he emailed a morning radio talk show man, RJ Harris, and asked him for help. RJ and I are friends and I have done outreaches with him. RJ sent me an email and I got the call and had the date open, which is a rare thing for us on a Saturday. So I need your prayers to get a wedding ready with a week and a half notice. With God it will get done. And don't worry, I do not believe in the “things happen in threes” thing. Thanks for your prayers for me and my family ... I love you folks, all of you, with all my heart.

Truth: Matthew 26: 34 - "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." (NIV) This was Jesus talking to Peter, but it is not that I want to address today. How many times in the Bible does Jesus say "I tell you the truth"? Jesus makes this statement over and over again, and I could go through and research each of them, but that is for another day. I think what Jesus was telling us, besides the main statement as in the example I picked today about Peter, I think Jesus was and is telling us how important it is to tell the truth.

Truth: Let me also point out from Exodus 20: 16 - You should not give false testimony against your neighbor. (NIV) This is of course one of the "Ten Commandments". Back when I was a lad, my mother from time to time would say, "Danny, are you telling the truth?" and I would answer, "Mamma, I would never tell a lie!" and she would answer "that is the biggest one you ever told." And trust me on this one ... or should I say ... I tell you the truth, in my days growing up I ate a lot of soap, for if I was caught in a lie, I got to eat soap, or if I would swear, I got the soap, and yes, I ate my share. And none of it was very good. Amazing no one has made soap that is flavored to taste good.

Truth: Is there a time in our life when we need to lie, or hold back on the complete truth? Yes, I think there might be a time. Maybe that would be termed a little white lie. One example might be when standing at a casket of a friend and someone tells you something nasty about the person. Did you hear that, and the name of the one in the casket is used, did this and they tell you something about their past. And what you are told, you know to be a fact, you had seen it with your own eyes. But you choose to say nothing, or you tell the little lie and say, I never heard that at all. I don't think that is true. Do you see what I am saying? The person is dead and what you say that might come out could only hurt his family.

Now let me ask you this one. Do you know a person or persons who tell so many lies they cannot get them straight, not counting politicians, maybe you had or have a boss that has lied in the past so when he tells the truth you are not sure. Maybe it is someone in your circle of friends. You are told one thing in the past and then it comes up again and it is a different story. People who lie have trouble keeping their stories straight. If you know people like that maybe you need to take them aside and talk to them about it. I tell you the truth, if you tell the truth, it will always come out the same. Here is another one, do you know anyone who has told a story that grows, other than fishermen? The story gets bigger and more exciting each time.

Ok, bottom line ... Once again I tell you to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus, and today I want you to just center on those lines of Jesus "I tell you the truth". And I want you to remember that Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday and will also be tomorrow. Jesus does not change. And my friends, I also want to once again state that I believe in the truth in the Bible, I believe it all. I do not mix and try and match. And if you realize that you have made a mistake when you spoke, maybe you got bad information, or whatever, correct it as soon as you can. Amen.

Dear Father in Heaven, put us to work for You today in the fields of Harvest, but before You do that, please forgive us for our past sins including the lies that have from time to time come out of our mouths. Clean our words Lord, so that they come from You, and through our minds, hearts, and even our very soul, before they come out. Lord, please help the family of Sarah pull together in Your name. And Lord, yes Lord, help me prepare for the wedding, I am sure You have made the connections for these folks, so help me to do it right in Your name Lord. And Lord, please, please be with Vicki, and please dear Lord, help her work out the family problems, and help her to be with her dad. Lord, family is important to all of us. Help her and those in her family to put aside the past, help them to reach out to each other. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Now folks, go forth telling the truth and sharing your blessings. And folks, I might need to take the next two days off from writing. I am the cook for a large museum event and I get to cook and also to witness, but it is a long day and I am getting so old. So I will try and get it out, but if I don't just know that I really love you ... and so does our Lord Jesus ... love ya, dan. Get sharing ...