January 12/13 2011 The Big Trip 5-3

"This is my Son, whom I love. With Him I am well pleased!"

Good Evening and Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, I am either late or early depending on when you might be reading this. The truth is I was up at 3:00 AM on Wednesday and out plowing snow for the Lord, yep, for the Lord, after all He sent it. About noon from the plowing and a few little side trips and laid down for a short winter nap (Santa is permitted a short winters nap). With five dogs on the bed and Dolores still in the hospital it got really quiet, and the nap went on for a while, until one of our cats jumped on the bed. Always a trouble maker, those cats are. Anyway, I even called Dolores and told her I was too tired to drive up to the hospital, so we talked away and when I woke up again she had hung up. I must have fallen asleep talking to her. (Wow, just like our first date.)

Anyway, Salvation Wednesday and families and schools day Thursday all built into one. Pray, warriors, pray, it is a good day to pray for all those family members and all those entering all schools throughout the world to be saved. Prayer is powerful, use your power today to pray. I will need to catch up on prayer requests on Friday after I bring Dolores home. Yes, she is coming home Friday. Tomorrow, I must clean the house.

The Big Trip 5-3: Matthew 3:15 - Jesus replied, "Let it be so now it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love: With Him I am well pleased." (NIV)

Let's look at something right here, so often we Christians get questioned about God in three persons. Here is a great place to see all three in one. Heaven opened and He (Jesus) saw the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) descending like a dove and lighting on Him (Jesus). And a voice from heaven said, "This is My (God The Father) Son, whom I (God The Father) love: With Him I (God The Father) am well pleased." Pretty neat, right? Folks, we just need to work real hard at making believers out of those who doubt. To me, I have no doubt.

I want to confess something to you today, yes, I need to really confess something to you... You see I am in love, really deeply in love with a Man, yes really, I love Him much more than my wife and children, and I really want you to know it. His name, yes, it is Jesus...

One of the neat things about Jesus is that He never, ever, expects us to do something that He has not shown us first. While there are things that He did that He does not expect us to do, like die on the cross, and of course we know we cannot save people, that is His work alone, but all He wants us to do, if we just read the Bible and follow Him we just cannot go wrong. And here is a great example, He got baptized, and it shows me very plain that is what He wanted me to do. That is the reason I think people need to be baptized when they are old enough to know Jesus in their hearts. Baptize a baby, well, I think we should dedicate them to the Lord. As I told you before, I was baptized as a child, and it meant a lot to my parents but did not mean a thing to me, I did not understand it. But I do now... I also noticed that according to my Bible Jesus was not baptized as a baby... Again, this is my opinion, and I expect to take some heat on it.

Now before I go let's talk about that statement from God to His Son Jesus... "This is my Son, whom I love: With Him I am well pleased." Gosh, I would love to hear from God telling me that. I am a child of God and I would love for God to tell me that He is well pleased, and brothers and sisters, the day is coming when He will tell me that. And that day is the day I go to check in at heaven and the Gates swing open for me... Then I will know, and hear Him say, come on in... And my mother will cry out and say... WOW HE MADE IT!! Ok, I had to put a little humor in it. But folks, we might not hear that voice as Jesus did, but when the gate opens for us, one at a time or all at once, then we will know He was pleased... Now if you get tossed into the fire, well I guess you just did not please God.

Let's please God right now by talking to Him for a minute... Dear Lord, Dear Father in Heaven, I love You and I want to please You. I want to repent and work for You till You call me home. I want to help seek out the lost and bring them to Your feet. I want to thank all those who helped me to find You. You see, I had lost sight of You, but I never want that to happen again. I am sure others on this line have done it also. Help us to keep You in our sight all the time. Thank You, Father, and I do pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Now go forth sharing those blessings from God... love ya, Pastor Dan.