July 7, 2010 Sharing 3

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and SHARERS together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Emergency Prayer Request: Please pray right now for Allison, the teenager who has cancer. As I type this Allison should be heading into surgery in Baltimore, (John's Hopkins, I think) for a 4 to six hour operation. Please, please just stop right now and pray with me for Allison and her family.

Dear Father in Heaven, as Allison is rolled into surgery, we roll her into Your loving arms for healing, for comfort and for care. Lord, we have faith that You will heal her as Your word tells us. We also ask for comfort for her family and safety in travel in their trips from Perry County Pa. to Baltimore for the surgery. As we pray we also pray that You open the hearts of the unsaved and use us as You see fit to bring the lost to Your feet to be saved. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Salvation Wednesday, my dear brothers and sisters. While I am running late today and trying to keep my computer from going nuts on me, I am starting to understand why. With all of God's timing He has my message going out as Allison is having her surgery. Please pray for the lost today and pray that God uses us (us=you and me) to help bring in the lost. Also, I received a note from Pastor Phil Enloe and his wife Jan thanking us for our prayers for their family in the passing of their daughter Wensdee.

Sharing 3: Ephesians 3:6 - This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and SHARERS together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

The Lord is pointing me to a lot in this scripture and not just the sharing part. However, since I am writing on Sharing and this is Salvation Wednesday, let me start with the sharing part. God is pointing to me how we should share those great promises that we have in Christ Jesus and Salvation through Jesus is just but one of those promises. Throughout the Bible we see great promises, and to just name a few we are told about how our needs will be supplied, and how if we follow Jesus He will protect us, He will cause us to have rest, He will heal us, and of course He will put us in the mansion with Him someday. And the really big one, we are not going to die, just move on high. Now while our Bible tells us these things that we will share in, we need to tell others about these things so they also may share in the promises of Jesus. So on this Salvation Wednesday I ask you to share with others, not just the lost but all others about Jesus. Tell me, can you think of anything, anything at all that would be better to share than Jesus today? Not even a drink of water on this 100 degree day would compare with sharing of Jesus; however, Jesus would be real happy with us if we shared water with others today.

But let me also share with you today some other things that God has pointed out to me about this scripture. One is how our faith in Jesus is referred to as a mystery and indeed our faith is just that, a mystery. We read in the Bible about Jesus and all the wonderful things that will happen to us and about us as we grow in Jesus, but still it is a mystery and we just must have faith and just not try to understand how things happen. Example, to me it is a mystery just how Jesus heals a broken bone. Broken right in half and put in a cast and within a few short weeks the bone has grown together. A mystery how a man and a woman learn to know each other, fall in love, get married and then by getting together a seed is planted and then grows in the woman's womb into a child who then grows up and starts another round of the same thing. To me it is a mystery just how God put so many parts into a man and a woman and makes it all work, and to think He started it with dirt. It is still a mystery to me, when I go out past my chicken house and see Henrietta lay an egg and how that egg tastes so good. It is a mystery to me how God has given man (meaning man and woman) the brains to do the things we have done like take a drive to the moon. I am sure that in days to come God will have me talking more on the mysteries of His Kingdom.

The other word that is used and used three times is together. Together the Jews and the Gentiles will be as one body when they truly believe in Jesus, and that comes through the gospel of our Lord Jesus. I want to bring out that just yesterday at the Bridges I had the honor of praying with one of our Jewish residents for healing to His body. I took time before I prayed to tell him how my roots come from the Jewish faith and how he also needs Jesus. I did this with respect for his religion and according to the instructions of our Lord Jesus, who tells us to take the good news to all creation.

So let me let you read that scripture one more time... Look now for the sharing part and the mystery and the together.

Ephesians 3:6 - This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and SHARERS together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

Go forth and share those blessings, and sharing the love of Jesus with all creation. love ya, Pastor Dan.