March 11, 2011 You Aint The Judge 3

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to the pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."

Good Friday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. The rain has stopped and the creeks are rising... "How high's the water, mamma, how high's the water, papa? Four feet high and rising!"

Prayers today for the people in Japan. Japan has been hit by a 8.9 earthquake, Hawaii has been hit by 4.5 earthquake. Tsunami warnings are up, it is bad, folks. One ship carrying a hundred people has been swept away. Also today, pray for people in the United States who are being hit by flood waters, twisters, and really bad weather. Homes have been washed away, and basements are filling up. If you live along the West Coast of the United States of America watch for tsunami. California Dave, please be safe. Those in Hawaii, Elaine and family, please be safe. Yes, folks, there are readers on this line from all over. New Jersey being hit bad. In our area lots and lots of roads closed. Keep praying, folks. Also this is the day we pray for those who work the fields of Harvest for our Lord. Folks, working for the Lord might be helping folks hit by storms, if you are safe, ask others if you can help. I met one of my best friends when I went to help after the side of his house was torn off by a twister years ago. Also please keep praying for the Clouse family, the family that lost seven of their children in a fire a few days back.

There are wars going on and there are rumors of wars, there are massive earthquakes, and yes, people are starving in places. KEEP WORKING FOR THE LORD. Jesus is coming soon, don't worry about when, for we should not worry, just get yourself ready and tell others because THAT IS GOOD NEWS.

The Big Trip 13-3 You Aint The Judge 3: Matthew 7:6 - "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to the pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." (NIV)

This is one of the hardest scriptures for me to understand, so I am praying right now for God to give me something on it. Folks, all of us will hit scriptures from time to time we just do not understand, and we need to pray about it and then seek out help. I am sure that there are readers on this line that will respond to me about some meanings. But let me talk just a little and it will be a little about it.

First of all the "dogs" that are being referred to are the dogs of the street, and they were held in low esteem. Here goes, I think the Lord is telling us that we should not feed, meaning feed the word of God, in a fashion that people do not understand, or they might turn on you. I am going to use myself as an example here. As you know I was raised by a Christian mamma and pop, but I drifted for a time after my mamma went home to Jesus. I did not understand all of this but did remember my roots. Later as I was coming back, people would talk to me, they would not slam the Bible under my nose and quote scripture and yell at me. They talked to me and prayed with me. I started going to church and was blessed with pastors that did not use big words, words I did not understand. I was told to get my Bible out and start reading the gospels, and if you notice I have remembered that and work most out of the gospels to this day... I was also told to read and study the book of Psalms. I also started going to Bible study courses, and God would open His word to me as I could handle it.

If, and it is a big if, if people would have put that Bible under my nose and just started out by saying Look at this scripture and would not explain what it meant I might have turned away from God. Yes, well meaning people who work for the Lord, preaching and teaching can drive people away if they give them more than can handle. Pastors that I know also will give salvation messages at the end of each service, and why is that done? Because you just never know how far along someone is and when their hearts are opened to receive the word.

When you go working for the Lord, here are a few examples of what you can do and not scare people away. Set examples as how you live, as nothing will scare someone away from the Lord more than to see a person who is really not practicing what they preach. If a person is sitting on a bar stool drunk as a sunk (just a term) and is talking about being saved to a person who is having a beer and a sandwich, what do you think the one eating might think... Maybe this... IF THAT IS WHAT A CHRISTIAN IS LIKE, I DON'T WANT TO BE ONE. When I started to come back to the Lord, I would talk to a few pastors who were customers, I would ask questions, I talked to a nun who would come for gas and in fact she helped me up when I was at the lowest point of my life.

Now let me tie it into "You Aint The Judge". Folks, when you are out working for the Lord, do not judge those who are the "dogs" (a term, folks), do not judge those who know little or nothing about the Lord, work with them, for remember if you were like me, you were a "dog" out there without the Lord also. Someone led you to the Lord. Yes, some on the line came to the Lord early in life, while others did not. And folks, I don't know if everyone came to the Lord, so I try and keep it simple. But when it comes to this, are you going to Heaven or hell, I must tell it like it is. If you are saved, born again, washed in the blood, and work for the Lord, you are going to Heaven, if you are not saved, born again, etc. you are going in the pit of fire... or Hell.

The signs on the barns that say "Ye Must be Born Again" are facts, but that kind of talk also needs the follow up support. Someday I would like to see a sign like that and play dumb (play dumb? no smart remarks) and just stop in and ask, what does that mean? I would love to see what they say.

Ok, enough, time to pray...

Dear Lord, protect Your people this day, it does not matter who they are, what their color is, protect Your people today from the bad storms. And Lord, teach me more about the scriptures as I think I stumbled on this one today. Lord, have a helper call on me... Lord, bless the Clouse family. In the name of Jesus I ask that You teach all of us who are going out working for You, how to handle our assignments and please keep us in line... In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth serving The Lord and sharing your blessings with others... love ya, Pastor Dan.