December 26: The Journey 18

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on who His favor rests."

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters... Yes, it is rare that I write on a weekend, but this is a special day... Not only the day after we celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus, but yet another day of life we can talk about out Lord and His wonderful birth.

I do have a couple of very special prayer requests today. For Ron Leidigh who has just found out he has cancer and has been told it is in stage four. Let's call in our Master Healer named Jesus Christ. Ron is a born again believer and has much faith for this healing to occur. Prayers also for 19 year old Allison who has three tumors on her liver. Please pray also for her parents as the worry level is really high. Their names are Tom and Zina. Pray hard and in faith, warriors... JESUS IS STILL IN THE HEALING BUSINESS AND IS STILL IN CHARGE OF ALL THINGS... AMEN.

Dear Father in Heaven, we love you and ask that you forgive us of our sins. Thank You for being on board that plane last night when a terrorist tried to bring it down and failed. Please heal the tumors on Ron and Allison and take away any and all cancers that might be there.. All Glory will be given to You Lord God... in the name of Jesus, Amen.

The Journey 18: Luke 2: 8 - And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 1 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 13 Suddenly a great company of heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on who His favor rests." 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." (NIV)

Joy to the world, the Lord has come... Today, put your feet in the shoes of these shepherds and let's take a look at this birth announcement... We notice that when the angel of the Lord came the shepherds were scare. How would we feel today? Men, we are working in the garage on our 1957 Chevrolet two door hardtop when the angel of the Lord appears. You turn around and find this angel sitting on your tool box and that angel wants to tell you about a birth. Are you scared, or do you say, hey get off my tool box? What would we think, how would we react, if even on this time we would find the angel telling us something. You say you do not believe it could happen today. Remember, God has not changed and He could send an angel to us anytime He wants to do it...

Let's also talk about these shepherds. Did you notice in the scriptures that those shepherds were living in the fields? Living right where they work. I wonder, did they have a hut or a tent of some type in the fields? Is this still being done today? What about in America? Do people live on the farms that they farm today? Of course they do, and some are tenant farmers, living on a farm for rent and food and little more and working the farm for the owners. When a farm is big, farmers need much help. Maybe they do not stand in the fields at night like the shepherds did back in the days of Jesus' birth, but I would think if something is getting after the animals the farmer and his workers will be in that field at night.

Let's think of that first Christmas morning and how excited the shepherds would be when heading to the town of Bethlehem to see the Savior. How would we feel, as we hurried off to see our New Born King? Our hearts would be pumping and our mouths would be running as we walk to that town. Think about it, no car to jump in, so we are off walking. Then we come to the manger, and we see our Lord Jesus sleeping in the manger. When we arrived we see the baby and the baby wakes from His sleep and Mary gives us a close up look at this child that was born to die. Think of it, born just to die and while He is on earth He is going to teach us and show us how we should live and love each other. Do you know what this little child taught us is still good today. When we talk about this baby and about Christmas and the birth of Christ, I had the honor of going into a few schools. Most schools tell you that you cannot tell anything about Jesus, but this year was different. We went to four schools this year as Santa, and let me tell you the love of Jesus, this small child in the manger is alive and well in our schools. The first school we were in was St. Joseph Catholic School in Mechanicsburg Pa... and we sang about reindeer and then I put on the test... I said to the kids, Christmas is a birthday and let's sing happy birthday. So we sang happy birthday and when it came to the name all present sang out Happy Birthday Jesus. Then it was on to two different Goddard preschools, and yes, we were permitted to tell about Jesus. Then we were at two public schools in the Central Dauphin School District, and once again I did the Birthday song... and these public school kids were loud and clear when they sang out Happy Birthday Jesus. You know I was so excited to see this it brought me to tears. I can sort of relate it to those shepherds going to the manger. For I was so blessed to see that these kids of tender age were taught well about Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, we all need to be like the shepherds, and we need to go to our Lord Jesus. If you see Him as the baby in the manager, that is good, if you see Him as the preacher on the road, that is good, if you see Him healing people while walking the earth, that is good. If you see our Lord feeding people by the thousands, that is good, if you see Jesus praying to The Father, that is good, if you see Jesus forgiving sins, that is good. If you see Him driving out demons, that is good. If you hear Him telling that we should love Him and love our neighbors, that is good. If you see Him in the upper room, that is good, and if you see Him on the cross, that is good... If you see Him giving salvation to the criminal on the cross, that is good. If you see Him being risen from the grave, that is good... If you see Him making this promise "I am coming back", that is good... For it is good to see, to envision Jesus in every step of His life on earth. But it is not just good enough to envision this, we must live it. Going to the Manger with the shepherds today is a good start. Today, how be we just go to the manger and pray with and also for our Lord Jesus... Yes, pray for Him and pray that He will use us. We need to not just be in the shoes of the shepherds for today, we need to be shepherds always. We need to watch over the flock, we need to work that none of the flock of Jesus drifts, and folks, we shepherds need to be watching each other's backs that no one tries to get us away from Jesus. We also should be infiltrating the flocks of Satan and bringing them back to Jesus. But when we go into those flocks, we should not go alone, yes, we need to take Jesus with us, but also other believers so we with others who will help us tell the good news.

Are you ready to walk in the shoes of the shepherds today, and forever? Some shoes we take on we are doing just for the journey I am writing about, but the shoes of the shepherds we need to keep on our feet... AMEN.

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive me of my sins, and Lord, put me in the shoes of the shepherds and use me to watch over your flocks. I come to the manger today and ask this... Forgive me and make me one of Yours, come live in my heart through the power of the Holy Spirit... In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings. We thank all who helped us and are still helping us with the mission of feeding others... God Bless and Keep You... Love you... Pastor Dan.

Carry The Light Ministries
16 Dewalt Drive
Mechanicsburg, Pa. 17050
Home 717 691 8200
Cell 717 991 0754