February 3, 2011 The Tax Collector

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, and left everything and followed Him.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and welcome to Thursday and the day we pray for our families and our schools. Yesterday I got a note from one of our prayer warriors who told this story to me... It happened in one of those areas that was really getting hit by the bad weather. The lady said it was really snowing and the snow was nearing a foot and a half and it was very, very cold outside, with the temperature nearing zero. She said her husband was just standing looking through the kitchen window in a fixed like stare, a really blank look. Then the winds started to pick up and the wind-chill was nearing 20 below zero. That was when she decided to LET HIM IN THE HOUSE. Gosh, I hope that was made up. Here are a few tips for if your heat goes down and you are cold, put on extra clothes and if you have a pet, a dog or cat, go to bed, put the dog or cat under the covers with you. Also put on a hat, a good heavy one. Most of our body heat leaves our body out the top. Gosh, heat does rise, right!!

With the weather, cold, windy, ice, snow, over most of the USA, and other places also it is time to pray for families and schools and please pray for those in charge of making those decisions about going to school or staying home. Please remember that school can be made up, the loss of a child being struck by a car while standing at a school bus stop cannot be made up. Sometimes errors are made when closing schools, please, those in charge, err on the side of safety if you make an error... AMEN.

The Big Trip 8-3 The Tax Collector: Luke 5:27 - After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, and left everything and followed Him. 29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. (NIV)

How many of us are in love with the Internal Revenue Service, the dreaded IRS? Not many, I would suspect. But these folks are our brothers and sisters, just like others, and we should be able to sit down and witness to them. While I am not saying that you should mess up on your taxes just so as to be called forth for an audit, just so you can witness, I would tell you not to put them down.

Back in the day when Jesus was calling His disciples, He also call on Levi, a tax collector to "Follow Me," as Jesus put it. And Levi did just that... While people did not look with favor on tax collectors, Jesus did not try and hide the fact that He was calling on Levi. And Levi was very open about sitting down and breaking bread with Jesus and doing it in great style. The Bible tells us Levi held a "Great Banquet for Jesus" at his (Levi's) house and invited were a large crowd of tax collectors and others.

Luke 5:30 - But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to His disciples "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" (NIV)

There are a few things that really stand out to me about Levi, and one is he just left his things and followed Jesus, how many of us would do just that? The next thing is that Levi seemed very happy to be following Jesus, not hiding the fact that he was having Jesus over for a big meal. You can see that because Levi invited so many of his friends and co-workers if I dare call other tax collectors co-workers. Have you ever crossed paths with other Christians that seemed to be ashamed that they were Christians? I have had people come up to me and whisper to me, are you a born again Christian? WHY YES I AM, and you do not need to whisper about it... Then they say in that soft whisper voice, I am also, I am a Christian also... GREAT, I WOULD ANSWER, and why are you whispering? And then there is those words, "Born Again". You see, if you are not "Born Again," sorry, you are not a Christian. I don't know how some people stand so confused about it and also want to be so quiet about it... I LOVE JESUS AND I WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW. I AM BORN AGAIN, WASHED IN THE BLOOD, REDEEMED BY HOLY SPIRIT AND I AM ON FIRE FOR GOD... could someone please say AMEN!

Tomorrow we are going to take a look at what Jesus said when the Pharisees asked the disciples of Jesus "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

Dear Father in Heaven, I am born again and I am so happy about it, but that does not mean I do not sin and I need to be forgiven over and over... I need to do a better job at repenting and I ask Your help in that. I love You... Please be with families today and with our school families. Lord, please be in our schools and bring love and safety there. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Folks, Norma Orner is home and still needs some prayers... Eleanor Saylor is coming home tomorrow and needs more prayers. Be with those families and touch them, Lord.

And now go forth sharing your blessings and loving on the Lord and others... as I love ya...Pastor Dan.