July 9, 2010 Sharing 5

And do not forget to do good and to SHARE with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is working in the fields of Harvest for the Lord Day on this line. Yes, on Fridays we pray for all those who work for Jesus and help to bring in the crop. The harvest is ready, folks, the question is, are we workers? Sorry I am late today, was up early and out picking up things for the food pantry and the heat got at me a tad.

Sharing 5: Hebrews 13: 15 - Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that confess His name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to SHARE with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (NIV)

God lead me to this scripture today and has me pointing out this... So often when we talk about sharing and giving to God and sacrificing for Him we think of reaching for our checkbook, or our dollars. While our Bibles talk about Tithes and Offerings, here we find that we are to sacrifice by giving from the fruit of our lips. The fruit of our lips, let me just expand on that a little bit. I am sure all of you have eaten fruit and have purchased the same. All of us know that we can get real good fruit or we can let it lay just a little too long and we have rotten fruit. Is that not the same for the "fruit of our lips"? I want you to think about that, and I can truthfully say that I have heard good fruit and rotten fruit come from the same lips within minutes of each other and some were talking about our Lord Jesus when doing it. I have heard people praise God for food and in minutes trash His very name. There is one thing about "fruit of the lips"; this fruit cannot be returned, and I believe you know what I mean by this. Once the "fruit of the lips" has left the lips, you cannot return it to those lips, although if you use the wrong fruit of the lips at someone the lips might get a whack. Here we see how God wants us to offer up a sacrifice of praise and confess His Name. Let me tell you when we use our lips to curse Jesus, He might just give us a whack or not protect us from one.

These scriptures also remind us to do good and to share with others for when we do good and we share, those sacrifices will please God. There is no one in my mind that I would rather please than God. Let me tell you that if we men, if all of us (us=you and me) and I am talking to the men right now -- Let me tell you that if we men would live each minute of each day to please our Lord God, we would have one very happy wife and family. And ladies, the same goes for you, if you live to please God your husband should be very happy.

Before I go to prayer today I want to ask you about four questions, now you could send me your answers, but better still just answer to yourself...
What have you done today to please God?
What have you done today to upset God?
Which one makes you feel better?
What kind of fruit came off your lips today? Good stuff? Bad Stuff? Gossip? Will you pray with me to do better from now on?

Dear Father in Heaven, as we keep learning more and more about sharing, we find out today that we can share what we have called the fruit of the lips, and Lord, starting today, starting right now I want to try and make the fruit of my lips fresher and I am talking nice here, not what some might think as fresh talk. Lord, I don't want anything anymore to come off my lips that I would not say in front of You face to face or in front of my dear late mamma. Lord, forgive me in the name of Jesus, and Lord, bless those workers in the fields today and may I be one of them... In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth sharing, sharing from your blessings, sharing from your wallet, sharing from your food shelves, sharing from your lips and sharing all good stuff, for indeed God has shared with you... Love ya, Pastor Dan.

This from Pastor Larry Hale
This news is too good NOT to share.

Some time ago, I accidentally shared a prayer request with you, that was meant to go directly to our "e-prayer" chain. It was in regard to Allison Speck, a 19 year old student at Messiah College and a member of "Wesley United Methodist" in Marysville, who has been battling cancer. For those of you in this area, you may have seen her on the news. Susquenita High School students rallied around her. Many churches had her on their prayer chains. Her mom kept everyone updated during the highs and lows of her adventure.

Many are wearing bracelets that proclaim "God is bigger than Carl". Carl is the nickname Allie gave her largest tumor. It was very large and connected directly to the blood supply of her liver, making it inoperable. There were also several smaller tumors.

After chemo and radiation, Carl did not shrink appreciably. However, his consistency did change and yesterday her doctor, Dr. Choti at Johns Hopkins was able to operate. According to the last e-mail we received from Allie's mother, "Carl" and "The Carlettes" are all gone. Dr. Choti pronounced her to be cancer free. ALL GLORY TO GOD!!!

God is BIGGER than Carl!!!!

If you would like to be part of our "e-prayer" chain, please send me an e-mail with your e-mail address to let me know.

While you're at it, please lift up little 5 year old Trent who had brain surgery last week and is expected to be at our Vacation Bible School next week!!! Also, for Rev. Tom Dewolf who is in ICU at Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill.

Blessings to all!!!

Pastor Larry Hale.