February 22. 2010 The Journey 57

"Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the Kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."

Good Monday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters: Happy Birthday to George Washington, who by the way was NEVER the father of our country... God was and always will be... AMEN. Speaking of George Washington, today is the day we pray for our nation's leaders, and that means our president and his family. Please pray first for their souls and salvation, just in case they are not saved... it is the day we pray for all of our leaders, all of our military and our police, fire fighters and ambulance people, and yes, those who drive those plow trucks. I want to go into the message and finish the Lord's prayer today, then I will update you on Dolores and some other things in the closing...

The Journey 57: Matthew 6:9 -"Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10 Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the Kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." (KJV)

The only part that I have left to cover, and I thought I would get it done this weekend, was just "Amen." So what does "Amen" mean? "So be it": It is used at the end of a prayer, or when in agreement like when churches at one time had and amen corner where people would sit to be worship leaders. They would shout out amen, when agreeing with the minister. I like to hear that "amen" once in a while when preaching, but I have been to churches already when an amen was heard on every other word that was said. When closing a prayer with amen, we are just saying to God, so be it, or I am finished.

Now Jesus taught us when we pray the Lord's prayer we should just say amen. When closing all other prayers I think we should do it in the name of Jesus. My reference on this is:

John 14:6 - Jesus answered "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NIV)

Notice it says "no one comes to the Father except through me". It does not say that is just when we pass away. To me it is saying, if you want to take to our Father in Heaven, we need to put it through Jesus, except where Jesus gave us permission to go direct in the prayer that He, Jesus, taught us to pray. Now as we close out the Lord's prayer, I think the best way to do it is to pray it together. I hope this makes clearer to you why we pray this prayer... Let's Pray.

Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the Kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Now for a personal update... Thanks for praying for our family. Matthew is back at his home, he still needs prayer and will for the rest of his life (as we all do). Dolores is still in the hospital and today starts week two... I don't believe she is coming home today but the doctor has not been in, she still sounds bad and gets out of breath going to the potty and it is sitting beside her bed. They are walking her up and down the halls. I am going in after lunch and some visits at The Bridges. I will keep you posted, thanks for your prayers... and now for me...

I suffered a little playful dog bite last week while I was playing with one of my dogs, it nipped me on the back of my arm at a place I could not see. Long story short, my arm got infected (dog had all of her shots as all of our dogs do). I was up-to-date on all my shots so lock jaw and such were not in question, but the infection was bad. So instead of going to the ER, I got up early and went to my doctor's as he starts seeing his people at 6.30 AM (how about that!). He is a great doctor who I have been seeing since he started his practice. He is a good Christian man. They said they would get to me and put me in a room. There I heard all his worship music being played till he came in... he looked at my arm, had his nurse come in, bent me over, and stuck me with some Penicillin and then sent me for some piles bigger then I ever saw. So I need your prayers...

So go forth now and share your blessings, and travel with God for He sure is traveling with you... Invite Him into your vehicle, into your house to make it a home, and into your heart, so you get to heaven... love ya, Pastor Dan.