May 26, 2011 Great Promises 4

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is any one happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will rise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. What a great morning to be alive and even better if you are alive in Christ. Dare I say this today, if you are NOT ALIVE IN CHRIST, you are not alive now.

Today is Thursday and the day we pray for our schools and also our families. Let's pray also today for Vacation Bible Schools, for schools are about out and that means Vacation Bible Schools are just around the corner. Pray for those Bible School Workers. Please pray also for our food pantry and for some food to be coming in. While we are still in good shape, some things are getting low and more and more families are coming in for help. We in Carry The Light Ministries have made a promise to God that no one will go away hungry. Also pray for our coming picnic on July 2nd, and coming soon a special announcement about that. I promise you will love it and you do not want to miss the picnic this year.

Great Promises 4 James 5:13 - Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will rise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. (NIV)

This promise gets carried out everyday someplace in the world. I want you to think about it, all of the great promises from God and from others, this one must be near the top. I mean this promise tells us that if we are in trouble to pray, and if we are happy we should sing songs of praise and if we are sick we should pray and be anointed with oil by our church elders. Now here is a big key in this promise, the prayers must be offered up in faith.

James 5:15 - And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will rise him up.

Let's just look at this line. Offered in faith! How many times have you prayed and while your prayer was not answered the way you wanted it answered you might give up on God, or lack in faith? Maybe you thought, and I confess I have done this, Why am I praying, God is not going to heal me. And then I say to myself, "Self, keep my faith for this comes in God's time and according to His will for me." And I also say to myself, "Self, be careful when asking for total healing for God might just want to take you home, which is total healing." And I also confess today there are times when God says no for no can be an answer to your prayers. Have you ever been down so far that you prayed to God for Him to take you home? Maybe depression or just hurting, or maybe a lost loved one. Been there and done that, and I am glad His answer to that prayer was no. Let's just remember the big picture on all that God does, he heals us, over and over and over again and again. There are many times He has healed us before we even got sick. And then He also forgives us.

James 5:15 15 - And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will rise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. I know I am a sinner and just saved by grace... God is good, and He remembers His promises, but do you remember yours? Do you repent from the sins He has forgiven you for doing? My dear brothers and sisters... We must do our part, and we must work for God and also keep our promises. And please remember this, keep your eyes on God and not on man for man will fail you, GOD WILL NOT.

Dear Father in Heaven, as we pray for healing this day according to James, we pray for healing for a lot of people, but Lord, we want them to remain with us here on earth. Now we know that takes out the total healing for I believe that Total healing is when we head home. When You bring us home to be with You, and Your promise then tells us no more pain, no more tears, no more dying, and crying. Lord, oh happy days are coming soon... very soon... Oh Lord, help us to endure here on earth till we see You face to face and help us to work for You till we are called home. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth sharing those blessings, remember His promises to us, and moreso remembering our promises to Him and others. Love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 25, 2011 Great Promises 3

Peter replied: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Good Salvation Wednesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. Just want to tell you right up front this morning, I love you and pray that you will have a great Salvation Wednesday. A great Salvation day would be if you are not saved, till the end of the day, you would come to Christ, and if you are saved, you would guide or help guide someone to Jesus to be saved. I want you to just take a minute and think about this, if you are saved, we know Jesus did that for you, but who helped you? Someone had to plant the seed. Think about it, pray about it, and if you can, if you can, get in touch with those who helped you come to Christ and thank them. Give the honor and glory to God, but thank His workers for their help.

Moving on, please pray for all who are unsaved and that God uses you to help bring in the lost. Pray for Kathleen and Ron, for Pastors Tony and Charles, and please pray for my wife Dolores.

Great Promises 3: Acts 2:38 - Peter replied: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 39 The PROMISE is for you and your children and for all who are far off for all whom the Lord our God will call. (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, let me ask you this question this morning. How many of you in your life have made promises that you did not keep? Maybe something happened along the way that caused you to have to break a promise. Let's say you have made a promise to pay for something, like a car or your credit card, and then due to no fault of your own, something changed your life. Maybe an accident or injury of some type, or maybe your job went bye bye. And it might not have been your job but that of your spouse. So in life we have maybe had to break promises, or did we? Maybe we could go to those people who we said we would pay and talk to them, explain it, and while you might still not be able to pay them, at least you are trying to work something out.

But what about those little promises, like you have promised your kids you would be at their game and you never get there. Or men, you promised to take your wife out to dinner and a show and it never happens. You know I could go on and on talking about this and spend a day talking about some that I have broken over the years. (Like if you let me adopt this one dog it will be the last one.) (We adopt senior dogs with handicaps.) The best way in the world not to make a promise is to not make it if you think there is any way in the world you are not going to be able to keep it. And we should never swear on our Bible or on the Name of Jesus that we are going to do something. Our yes should mean yes and our no should mean no. Anyway, we need to try our best to be promise keepers all of our life.

My mamma made some promises to me, and I don't remember her ever breaking any of them. Not even when she would say quietly to me, when I was acting up in a store, and she would say, "wait till I get you home." Yep, did not make a difference how bad I was she took me home, and let me tell you that there were times I wish she would have broken that promise if you get what I mean.

Let's take a look at our scripture for today. Peter replied: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Peter, you remember Peter, he was reinstated by Jesus after denying Him. Yes he denied Jesus and was reinstated, and if over the years you have walked away from Jesus this is one place in the Bible it should me, you are welcome back home to Jesus. The other is also the story of the lost son. So here Peter is telling us that if we repent and are baptized we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You remember God sent down the Holy Spirit upon Jesus in the form of a dove when John baptized Jesus. While Jesus did not sin, He still showed us the example of repenting and being baptized. And if we do just that, we have a promise of the Holy Sprit, also known as the comforter.

The second part of our Scripture is this. The PROMISE is for you and your children and for all who are far off for all whom the Lord our God will call. It was for those Peter was talking to and their children and all whom are far off, and God is telling me we are those who were far off. Jesus knew us before we were in the womb of our mothers and He died for us also. And as each person repents and comes to Jesus, the promise of the Holy Spirit will fall upon you. AND SOMEONE SAID AMEN.

Now as we look ahead to the rest of the week, there is one promise I would like you to talk over with God, and that is talk to Him about promises that you might want to make before you make them. Run things past our Lord in prayer before doing them, and then listen for an answer. Also talk to God about promises that you made and messed up on and ask Him how you can work them out to His satisfaction.

Also be thinking about this. Has God ever made a promise He did not keep, and has God ever made a promise where He made a promise and then also put in place a reminder to Himself that He should remember it? Did God need to remind Himself? Think about these, let me know what you are thinking...

Dear Lord, our Dear Father in Heaven. Thanks for the blessings You send to us, all of them and thanks for the blessings of the Holy Spirit and thanks for opening all of those blessings to everyone... Please look at our prayer list and act on them according to Your will for us. And Lord, I pray today for the unsaved and for all who are saved to be working for You... In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings and love on others and on Jesus... Love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 24, 2011 Great Promises 2

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want!

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and it is Tuesday and looking good. So all days look good when you are up and about and God has given you more air to breathe. Please take time to pray today for cures for diseases. Also pray for all the people affected by the bad weather. Seems the news has forgotten about the Mississippi River and all the flooding and is just looking at the twisters. A few miles north of us last evening one of those twisters came through, took out a home and barn. So pray, warriors, pray.

Reminder, Picnic Saturday, July 2nd, at Willow Mill Park, Silver Spring Twp., Mechanicsburg Pa. Eating at noon, just a way of we in Carry The Light Ministries saying thank you. And please note, none of the food comes out of the food pantry, in fact the left overs will go into the pantry.

Great Promises (2) Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. (KJV)

I know that I just reviewed and wrote on the 23rd Psalm so this promise should be right on your mind. The Lord is my Shepherd and He supplies all my needs. Thanks be to God, He does not always supply them directly, for sometimes He supplies them through the hands of others. Let's look at just a few of our needs are daily needs that He supplies and point out if they come directly or through or with help from others. Are you ready?

1. The AIR we breathe... Supplied directly by God!
2. The water we drink... Supplied directly by God, with the help of plumbers and others working for God to get it to a place where you need it. Thanks be to God we do not need to walk to the creek for water or to take a bath.
3. The food we eat... God supplies that most often through the hands of folks we call farmers, and praise be to God our farmers have a lot of talent. No, kids, Ronald McDonald does not supply any of our food. I also want to say this, I have never met a farmer who did not trust in God. God sends them rain and sun, etc. He helps them with their work. Of course there is a whole network of people to get the food to the market and to our home.
4. The clothes we wear... I tried the fig leaf thing but they would keep falling off, and after wearing them once, the washer seemed to tear them up. (Just keeping you laughing a tad.) But think of all the hands that are on our clothes before we get them. Hey, and in a lot of cases the farmers are in on that ground floor again with the wool from the sheep.

So it does not matter what someone tells you, God has provided for your needs from the start... Regardless of what you have that is good, you can trace it back to God. Let's trace a few things back. Food, God made the trees and plants and they gave off the seed. God made man and woman and gave them talent and it got better and better till man invented the motorcycle. Yes, you can trace the roots of Mr. Harley and Mr. Davidson back to Noah and back to Adam and who made Adam? Yes, God had his hands on the Harley/Davidson. And yes, His hands were on Mr. Honda also.

Air, food, clothes, rest, transportation, jobs, hospitals, medicine and so on and so forth. And blessing so many that we can and should share and if we share our blessings what will happen? Come back tomorrow to find out. I will give you a hint, you can test God on this one, and it is the only thing that God said we can test Him on.

Dear Father, Thank You for all the great promises, those we have already and those that are yet to come. We love You, Lord Jesus, please clean us of our sins and look over our prayer list. Please give a cure for cancer and may the healing from it fall today on Kathleen and also on Ron. I thank You for clearing me of cancer and also clearing Pam... In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth and share those blessings. Love Ya, Pastor Dan.

May 23, 2011 Great Promises

Then He opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.

Good Monday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. I pray you all had a wonderful weekend and you are all fired up about going to work and school this day and while you are at work and/or school you are also "talking up Jesus".

Well, the world did not end the other day, and if that very mixed up radio preacher would spend as much time and effort teaching people that they need to repent and be ready for the return of Jesus and teaching them (his followers) that they need to be getting out the word instead of trying to figure out when Jesus is returning, He would be doing what Jesus wants us to do.
Today, Monday, is the day we pray for our leaders and also our veterans and our current military, our state and local law enforcement officers, doctors, nurses, FIREFIGHTERS, and all others who work to keep us safe. Why did I put the FIREFIGHTERS in bold? I did that this week because I want you to really think about them as you pray for them and know that most of them are NOT PAID. Anytime around that clock these brave men and women will jump on that big truck and endanger their lives to help people they do not even know.

Please also pray for the people of Joplin Missouri: If you have not heard, a bad twister went through. Fox News had a recording on of people in a store who went into the cooler and were praying and thanking God... They all lived. Their big hospital took a major hit also.

Great Promises and The Greatest Promise: Luke 24:45 - Then He opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. (NIV)

This scripture is very personal to me. I confess to all of you this day that I have never, and I mean this and should be ashamed, I have never read a complete book. I could not even read a complete comic book in one sitting in my youth. However, when I came to Jesus He opened my mind so I could read and understand the scriptures. And He did not open them all at once, He opens them each day for me. For over 15 years I have been writing daily messages, and trust me when I say I could not do this if it were not for my loving Savior, Jesus Christ. my Lord.

This scripture sees Jesus talking to His Disciples and really making them understand the scriptures. "He opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures." To this day I cannot quote scriptures like some folks do. I know something is in the Bible and I might tell someone that, and then they want to know where. Many times I have called on some of my dear friends on this line, and asked them, where do I find this in the Bible? God is so good, you see after I found Jesus, then He gave me a great support network to keep me GROWING and moving toward our Lord Jesus. My dear mamma taught me to remember John 3:16, Psalm 23 and I also learned Psalm 100. I have also learned a lot about Jesus through songs from our hymnals and also great song writers like Neil Enloe.

Some of those early hymns have a lot of meat and potatoes in them as I like to say. Over the years I have searched out the songs in the Bible. Like in the third verse of "It Is Well With My Soul" it talks about nailing your sins to the cross, and not one but all of them. And so often from the Hymn, "In The Garden" it talks about I come to the garden alone, and so often I have gone to my garden by the rock and talked to Jesus, just spent some good time, one on one with Jesus.

Today, I am a disciple of our Lord Jesus and work for Him and like those days when He sat with those original disciples and opened their minds to understand the scriptures He is doing the same to me. I pray that all of you sit down and ask Jesus to open His word to you. Folks, there are parts in the Bible I still have not read, I don't understand the genealogy of each person and some of the old testament is way over my head for now, but from time to time Jesus takes me there. As I said, I want to work for Jesus the rest of my life, and Jesus has promised me He will take care of me and He has and He will keep taking care of me and He will you also. So, folks, if you are like me, if you have trouble reading and understanding what you have read, get out your Bible, keep it with you, keep it near you. Read the Gospels asking Jesus to open them. Read some Psalms and then look at Acts and Romans. Again, today, Jesus pointed this out to me and I could make it read like this for this is how it reads to me. Then He opened MY MIND so I could understand the scriptures. And He will do the same for me. Just ask Him and ask Him often.

So one great promise is that He will take care of us, and most often when we think of that we think of food, clothes, shelter, water and air. But today I just want to say, He has added to me the great promise of understanding Him...

Dear Father in Heaven, You have given many promises to us, and You have honored most all of them. So, Lord, I want to tell You that I love You. Lord, thanks for taking care of me, my family and friends, my flock, and for opening Your word to me so I could do what You have ordered me to do, tell the good news to all creation. I love You, Lord, I love You... Lord, help me this day and help me each day to fall deeper and deeper in Love with You as I do Your work. Help me repent of my many sins, and even my sinful thinking. Lord, help me with this line and Lord, heal my wife and also my back and legs so I am stronger to work for You. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth working for Jesus, singing to Him and for Him, and of course sharing the blessings He has given You... I love ya, Pastor Dan.

Reminder... Saturday, July 2nd... Carry The Light Ministries, annual picnic... Yes, I want to cook for you all... Saturday July 2nd... eating at noon, but come early and stay, bring a lawn chair and your fishing pole (PA license needed) Bring a disc for disc golf. Put on your singing voice for we are going to take some time to sing... And yes, I am going to cook for you...

This is the day that the Lord has made...

Let's sing it... and you know the words... here we go... This is the day, this is the day... you are on your own now...

May 20, 2011 The Best Plan Ever 5

Jesus answered, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Good Friday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is raining at the Southern Location of the North Pole and there is good news about all the rain. We need not shovel it!!! Friday is the day we pray for all those workers of our Lord Jesus who are working the fields of Harvest for Him. Also please pray for John Leib, as he, in fact right now, is having open heart, bypass surgery. John needs four bypasses. Pray also his heart is healed as he did have a mild heart attack.
An update on the little one who shot himself with a "Brad Nailer." Shows this might be either a hoax or a very old prayer request that has been floating the net for a long time. Pastor Larry checked this request out and found that lad was not at the Hershey Med Center.

Maybe this is a good time to tell you to be very careful what you put on the internet, for once you push send it is out there for the world to see.

The Best Plan Ever, The Plan Of Salvation (Day 5) John 14:6 - Jesus answered, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NIV)

Romans 10:9/10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (NIV)

1 John 5:10/13 - Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (NIV)

As you look back over all the plans you have made in life, you might think this. Even in the best made plans something will go wrong to mess up those plans, even if just a tad... But I tell you this. If you follow the plan of Salvation as it comes from the Bible it will not go wrong and you will someday sit at the table with Jesus in Heaven. When God makes a plan with you, makes a covenant with you, it does not last a few years and then needs renewed, it goes on till He calls you home. Will you join me in just shouting out this morning a few things... THANK YOU JESUS, THANK YOU FATHER, THANK YOU, PRAISE YOU LORD.

Now if you think that you are done when you come to Jesus, no, no, Praise God, you are just getting started with your walk with Jesus. It becomes better and better, it becomes better and better and better. It becomes time now we take the first step if you never followed the plan. For all of you on the line who have laid out the plan, today please join us in support of the others... And we will start with the saved.

Dear Father in Heaven, I just want to tell you I love You and appreciate what Your one and only Son did for me by saving me of my sins. Lord, help me walk today with those who are just coming to Jesus and help them, Help we who are saved be a support network for those who are being saved, so that Satan does not get them back. In Jesus' name, Amen.

And now for those of you who are just coming to God, or wanting to renew because you have slipped away... to those just coming to Christ, welcome to the kingdom of God, and for those coming back, I say, welcome home, welcome back. This part is easy, folks, but you must have faith and you must believe, for God is good, and He can tell a fake. So come now with me to the throne of God The Father and we are going through Jesus His Son as in John 14:6.

Dear Father in Heaven, we are coming to You, through Jesus, our Lord and Savior who died for us on the cross... I confess I am a sinner and I do believe that the Blood of Jesus will wash me clean and I ask through Jesus that I am saved by His blood... and then Father put me to work in your kingdom, working to tell the good news of Jesus, and sharing my blessings and keeping sin from my life. Help me repent in the name of Jesus. And in that name, that wonderful name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Go forth and share your blessings and if this is the day you came to Jesus in full, please note YOU ARE ABOUT TO CHANGE... Love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 19, 2011 The Best Plan Ever (Day 4)

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Good Thursday morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is Thursday and the day we pray for schools and families... and please pray for your church and for the Church of Jesus Christ. As you pray for schools, please pray for public, private, from preschool to schools of higher education. As you pray for families, remember to pray for the family of God, and this our "online family". Pray also for Vicki and her family, for the Saylor family, and for Pastor Charles, Pastor Tony, and their families. Congratulations and prayers for LeaAnne Clugston as she graduates from college after working her way through to get a degree in her field (Senior Care). "Way to go, LeaAnne." A little side note, I married LeaAnne and her husband Brian at one second past midnight January 1, 2011.

The Best Plan Ever, A Plan Of Salvation. Day 4: Romans 5:6 - You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV)

Over the years have you ever had someone bail you out? Let me answer that for you! Yes, you have over the years had at least one person bail you out. I know while growing up, my parents have bailed me out more than once, and yes, from time to time we all, all parents have helped our children, meaning bailed them out. I look back to when I had a paper route in Harrisburg, Pa. serving parts of 23rd street, All of Luce Street, and the 23 and 24 hundred blocks of Derry Street. Back in those days we had to not just pass the papers, we had to collect and pay the bill. It was indeed a small business. Every now and then when it came Saturday afternoon, and I would go to pay my bill I had not collected enough money and my daddy would "bail me out", lend me some money. I had money in the china closet that I would collect and would let that grow, I also had a bond with the paper man. My daddy would also bail me out if it was raining or snowing on a Sunday Morning, as he would take the car and sit in the car and put papers together as I delivered them.

Every now and then when a person gets behind in a bill, a company will set up a payment plan to help get people caught up. But only once in my life, only once, someone came in and paid the full bill, paid my debt in full for something they did not have a hand in, except that they really and truly loved me... AND THAT SAME MAN, also paid the same bill, the same debt, for you.

The man was Jesus, the payment was paid by His blood, and the payment was for our sins...
PAID IN FULL, THANK YOU JESUS, MY BILL FOR MY SINS HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL. In fact, there is still blood flowing this day to pay on my account when I still to this day mess up from time to time. I am a sinner, unworthy of this payment being made, yet He loved me and paid the bill for me, even though while He was paying the bill, I was STILL RUNNING UP THE ACCOUNT.

Maybe you have had people from time to time help pay a debt for you, but I do know this, Jesus did not just die for my sins, He died for Your sins also. Each day when I close I ask you to share your blessings, and as you share your blessings, depending on how you share your blessings, you might be helping pay debts for others. I know those who support the food pantries, not just Carry The Light Ministries Food Pantry but others are helping to bail people out. And I know at Carry The Light Ministries Food Pantry we do not just give food to eat, we tell people about Jesus and pray with them. We feed the body and soul.

So folks, today I tell you that your sins' bill has been paid in full, if you step up and take the payment. It is a gift, a free gift from God through His Son Jesus and it is payment for us being sinners. We must accept the gift, the free gift, this free gift that cost Jesus His life.

Dear Father in Heaven, thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to clean me of my filth and my sins. Thanks, Jesus, for dying for me. Hear our prayers for healing of those on our prayer lists. Help us through the day, dear Lord. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Tomorrow, my dear brothers and sisters, we are going to walk the hill, we are going to the cross, we are going to see Jesus die for us. We are going to look at scriptures that tell us that only Jesus will get us into Heaven. We will look at scripture and see what we must do. Throughout this day I ask that you might seek out Jesus, and start praying for Him to forgive you. I also ask you to try very, very hard today to share at least one of your many blessings with someone else. It does not need to be money, it could be wisdom, or knowledge about Jesus. I want you to think about you plan, which we are calling The Best Plan Ever. You should have some plans made at your home... An escape route in case of fire. A plan to pay your bills. A plan if you get called home, that would be a plan beside this Best Plan Ever. So go forth and share your blessings and be in prayer today. Lots of days I send you out singing, today I want to send you out in prayer, because I love ya. Pastor Dan.

Dear Father, hear our prayers all day today, hear our prayers about salvation and Lord, forgive us of our sins... and Lord, I love you. Thanks, Pastor Dan.

May 18, 2011 The Best Plan Ever (Day 3)

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved."

Good Salvation Wednesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. Yes, mid-week and it is Salvation Day on this old line. Sort of like having a mid-week church service without the church. This week we are talking about The Best Plan Ever and that would be a plan of Salvation. Today please pray for the unsaved and for God to use us to bring people to the feet of Jesus to be saved. Please remember that we are under orders to go to work in the fields of Harvest and work for Jesus and that would be in the Bible, and remember this also, we cannot save a soul, not one, but we sure can help, we need to "talk up Jesus."

Please keep praying for Ron and also for Kathleen, both who have been on our prayer list for healing from cancer. Also Dolores goes to a blood doctor today, we don't know what to expect here...

The Best Plan Ever, The Plan Of Salvation Day 3: John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." (KJV)

If I were to name what I think causes the most sin to most people I would say greed, and here is my thinking on that... When God decided to make this world of His and put man and woman in it, what happened right away? He set Adam and Eve up with all they would need and put one thing in the garden that He told them not to use. But man was not satisfied with all the beautiful things that God made for us, he wanted more, and so it started. GREED. When things got real bad, God decided to shut it down and along came the flood and of course Noah to keep it going. Think about this, if God were greedy, He would have made it all and then kept it for Himself to live in it. But no, He shared the blessings of His creation with man and although He made some rules He did not put us on strings. We had free will, free will from God and we turned right around and broke the rules. Then He starts us over and He picked Noah to be the one to get it started again. Then it got bad again and this time, He sent us Jesus, yes, Jesus, our Savior, and instead of destroying everything it seems to me like He is just going to let us do it. And how are we destroying this world? By sin and greed. But something is different this time around. We have Jesus who died for us and we will talk about that tomorrow, but Jesus came to rescue us and set up a plan for us to follow. (The plan we are talking about this week.) Jesus did His part, now it is our turn, and what does it mean about our turn, it means we must turn to Jesus and come to Him. He is waiting, but we must come to Him. Today is Salvation Wednesday and I want you to really think about it and pray about it today. Are you saved is my first question, have you been "Born Again"? Have you done what you need to do to be saved? If the end should come today, either to just you or to the world, are you ready? This is a one-on-one thing between us and Jesus.

In our scripture today we see that God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn it, but to save it. Jesus went to the cross for all of us regardless of color, or religion. Make it personal and also be like Jesus and follow His lead. Do not condemn others, but help them get to Jesus to be saved.

Dear Father in Heaven Help us to help you by working in the fields of Harvest for you and be telling all those people we see, the good news of Jesus and Salvation through Him... Jesus, help us repent and turn from our sins, and get on board with You. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings and sharing the love of Jesus with others. love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 17, 2011 The Best Plan Ever (Day 2)

"But go and learn what this means: ' I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Good Tuesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, it is a beautiful morning, with light rain falling here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. This is election day in many places, please take time to vote, and please when voting, please consider voting life. Even if it is just for a local office, please vote for someone who appreciates life, and not a choice to murder a baby. Remember Jesus knew us before we were in the womb. Moving on, Tuesday is the day we pray for a cure for diseases of all kinds, cancer and just so you know, I am cleared of cancer by God, and so is our ministry and singing partner Pamela Bower. Cancer is all gone. THANK YOU JESUS.

Please keep Vicki (depression and other things), Ron cancer, and also pray for Dolores. Also please pray as this afternoon as I get my knees injected with that stuff from roosters. I will try and get an update on the little fellow who shot himself with a Brad Nailer.

The Best Plan Ever, The Plan of Salvation Day 2: Matthew 9:13 - "But go and learn what this means: ' I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

So let me look back just one day and ask this question again... Who needs a plan of Salvation, who really needs Salvation through Jesus? Only those who want to go to HEAVEN and not go to HELL. Yes, folks, it is a personal thing, and we have a choice about it. No one is forcing you to go to heaven, and it is by far not an automatic thing. So we continue on with our plan. Let's look at the scripture from today... and then we will look at a few more scriptures. Bottom line, today's message, in my words, the bottom line on this message the way I want to put it... REPENT OR GO TO HELL! I know, folks, I get to the point in a hurry and sometimes I will have people drop off the line for the daily messages. Pastor Dan, you said we are going to Hell!! No, folks, I just said if we, and I said we, don't repent of our sins, we are not getting into heaven... Let's get moving.

Matthew 9:10 - While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with Him and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples. "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and "sinners"? 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." 13 "But go and learn what this means: ' I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (NIV)

So what does this mean? It is sort of like a term we hear today about preaching to the choir, (except the choir needs the fuel of the messages also). Jesus wanted to talk face-to-face with those sinners, and He wants to give us the same message today... for we are the sinners that Jesus is talking about. Speaking for myself, I am one of those sinners who needs the attention of Jesus and even though I am BORN AGAIN, He is still working on me.

From Matthew 3:1 - In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." (NIV)

So we hear from the front runner or forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist, telling us about Jesus coming. John also said this, "Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him."
So John is telling all he sees about the coming of Jesus. While John was baptizing people Jesus came to him and was baptized, and that is for another day. After this Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. There over and over again the devil tempted Jesus trying to lead him astray but Jesus held firm. Jesus had some really neat "one liners" for the devil. "Man does not live on bread alone" and "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." Then Jesus said to the devil, "Away from me, Satan!" He just threw the devil out of His life. The devil could not get to Jesus, but sad to say, he does get to us. And what must we do, you remember the words of John, REPENT for the kingdom of heaven is near. Now hear the words of Jesus as He started to teach and preach.

Matthew 4:17 - From that time on Jesus began to preach. "REPENT, for the kingdom of Heaven is near." (NIV)

So our next step in our plan of Salvation is this... REPENT!! Yes, we must REPENT of our sins, we must turn and walk away from it. We must REPENT and turn from the devil and his evil ways and walk away from sin, turning our lives over to Jesus. So let this old preacher man tell you like this...

About face, ABOUT FACE, turn and walk away from sin... Let's pray now for Jesus to help us repent from sin.

Dear Father in Heaven, please help us, please help us to repent from our sins this day, please help us to turn from Satan and walk into Your arms to be saved. Please help us to take an about face and get sin from our lives. Help us, dear Lord, to look deep into our own minds and hearts and souls and help us to see our sins, for I confess today that it is sometimes hard for us to see ourselves, so Lord, help us to see ourselves as You see us, and help us to walk with You and talk with You and most importantly help us to listen to You. It is in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that I ask this. Please, Lord, also look at our prayer requests and honor them according to Your will. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now go forth and REPENT as you share your blessings. About face. About face, and let Jesus keep working on you today, as He is still working on me... Love ya, Pastor Dan.

"He's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient He must be! Yes, He's still working on me." (Joel Hemphill)

"He's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient He must be! Yes, He's still working on me."

May 16, 1941 - 2011 = 70

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

What a way to start the week, by calling all of us sinners, and saying we all fall short of the glory of God. Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and welcome to Monday, and to a brand new week of lifting and praising God. This week, an all week review on how to get to heaven. Who needs to know the steps to get to heaven? All of those who really don't want to go to HELL! Now that is about as plain as I can put it today. Today is also the day we pray for our leaders and for all of our military, past and present, veterans and current military. Today please pray for safety for our president and his family. Also pray for Pennsylvania's Governor as he has back surgery this morning.

Oh, and that fancy thing on the subject line today... May 16, 1941-2011 = 70 is noted for it is the birthday of "Santa Claus".

The Best Plan Ever, A Plan for Your Salvation! Day 1: Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (NIV)

Yes, brothers and sisters, I have called all of us sinners, each and everyone of us. So this week, I want to take a review of what you must do to get into heaven and who has made that trip possible. What has been done to save our sorry backsides from going the other way. We sure have not deserved what God has done for us, by sending His Son to us, but wait, I don't want to get ahead of myself.

I do want to tell you this, and it is in the Bible. Did you know we get paid for being a sinner? In these days of wages that are slow, or low or even nothing... I want to point you to the place in the Bible where it tells us we get paid for our sins...

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death!

So you want some wages, just keep sinning, but remember that the wages are death...

Sing this with me today as I close up...

Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee, How great Thou Art, How great Thou Art.
Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee, How great Thou Art, How great Thou Art.

Share your blessings and God's love to all you see today... God loves you and so do I Love ya,
Pastor Dan.

Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee, How great Thou Art, How great Thou Art.
Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee, How great Thou Art, How great Thou Art.

May 14, 2011 Psalm 23 (Day 6)

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Please, dear brothers and sisters, please stop right now, stop and if you can get on your knees and pray for this prayer request coming in from Glenvale Church of God just outside of Marysville Pa.

5/13/11 URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!!! KAYLA SCOTT'S 22 YEAR OLD SON SHOT HIMSELF IN THE CHEST WITH A BRAD NAILER~ IT WENT IN HIS HEART~ HE IS NOW IN CRITICAL CONDITION AND NOT DOING WELL ~ NEITHER IS HIS mom. He is in the Hershey Med Center.

Dear Father in Heaven, please touch this baby and heal his heart. I do not know his name, dear Lord, but I am sure you are already working on this. Oh, Lord, spare him and heal him, I ask in the name of Jesus. We know you are the great healer and we have faith this will happen... Giving You all honor right now for Your healing hands, those hands that have the nail scars. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

The 23rd Psalm, Day 6: Psalm 23:5 - Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (KJV)

Brothers and sisters, yes it Saturday and while I do not write most weekends, God wanted me to finish up on this series. I would think He has something else in mind for me on Monday. God is good and faithful. Let's look at the last two verses...

Psalm 23:5 - Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. (KJV)

While I could talk about the meals that our Lord God gave to us this week, let me first talk about those meals that are prepared in the presence of enemies. Picture and some of you have lived it first hand, but in case you have not, picture yourself at war, in a "foxhole" out in some foreign land where it is you, maybe some of your unit, you are in that "Foxhole" and you are hungry. You reach in your backpack and pull out one of these ready to eat meals. While the gunshots from your enemies pass over your head, you stop and thank God you are alive, not shot up and you pray a blessing over this food. Maybe or maybe not Psalm 23 verse 5 came to your mind... But here you are, in the presence of your enemies and God set the table before you. I want you to think about that one when you sit down to your big meal of today. I want you to pray as you thank God for your meal, pray and thank God for our military, for someplace in this world today, someplace we have men and women eating those meals and are happy for them... Most often when we see our military eating it is when one of our leaders goes over to Iraq or some other place on a holiday and helps serve up a big meal. While that makes for good press, our real leader, OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, is the one in the foxhole with our men and women feeding them in the presence of our enemies. Tell me who you would like to serve you... Our president serving turkey and all the fixings one time or two times a year, or our Lord Jesus coming in the foxhole with you and setting your table daily... Thank you, I want to eat with Jesus.

And while you are in that foxhole Jesus anoints you. When you are done eating you notice you still have some left, maybe even a pack or two in that back pack. For in this Psalm it tells me, my cup runneth over... I have noticed that I have plenty to eat, and we have plenty to share with others. I have gone to the fridge or the pantry in my younger days and looked at it, and it had food there, but nothing I was hungry for. I had a whole fridge and pantry full of "nothing to eat".

Over the past couple of months we have had people coming to the food pantry crying, "I have nothing for my children to eat." Thanks to our Lord Jesus and a nice network of helpers, NO ONE has ever left without a "lot" of food.

Psalm 23:6 - Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (KJV)

Let me just wrap this up today by saying, Goodness and mercy comes to me from our Lord Jesus, and He is in it for the long haul with me. He was with me before I was in my mamma's womb, and he will be with me for ever and ever. And it is so much nicer since I am with Him also. And when it is all over here on earth and for us time will be no more I will be at home with Him, and it will be forever and ever and ever...

Now my question for you... If time for you were to end today, would you be with Him, our Lord Jesus, forever and ever and ever? Are your bags packed? Have You checked in with Jesus? You cannot just get a room at the gate, you must plan this one ahead. John 3:16, John 14:6, Romans 10:9/10 - In short this is what they say... God gave His Son Jesus to die for us to save us from our sins. Jesus came to earth to die on the cross so we might be saved, and the only way to get to see our Lord Jesus is to humble yourself to Jesus, for Jesus is the only way to Our Father in Heaven. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH HIM. If we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts that Jesus was risen from the dead we will be saved.

Ok, join me now, then next week we will work on ironing out the kinks.

Dear Father in Heaven, please right now clean me of my sins and Jesus come into my heart, and help me to repent of my sins. I do believe in You my dear Jesus and I believe You died for me and have been risen from the dead to sit with Your Father to judge us. Save me, Lord Jesus, save me... I am unworthy but I do ask in the name of Jesus to be saved. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings and sharing your love for and with others... Love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 13, 2011 Psalm 23 (Day 5)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Good Friday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and yes, to finish this wonderful Psalm, I will be writing tomorrow. Yes, it is Friday and I have heard people already talking about it being Friday the 13th. To we who believe in God, surely we do not believe in one day being bad, for when we walk with the Lord, we fear no evil... God worked that one out, did He not? Today please add Sandy to your prayer list, for pinched nerves, and also please keep praying for Vicki, and without me saying much on the subject, pray for her to "let go and let God." Today being Friday is the day we pray for all workers for God, and I have said this a lot of times, you need to be on that list, as we all do.

The 23rd Psalm, Day 5: Psalm 23:4 - Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. (King James Version)

When Dolores and I rode motorcycle we had this Bible verse hand written on the bike... It stated this, "Yea, though I RIDE through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For our God RIDES with me."

As I look back over Psalm 23 verse 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me, what really sticks out at me this morning and what God is pointing me to is this. "Comfort" You are going through the valley of the shadow of death. Now I could tell you of neighborhoods that we got into when getting off of the interstates for fuel, but I want to look at this different today. This Psalm is one we see most often on those funeral cards, and the word comfort could be used by all those who attend a funeral, but folks, this Psalm is a comfort to those who are living and maybe walking the valley right now. We have a dear friend and she and her husband are on this line, and right now she is walking this valley as are many with cancer and other diseases, but not only are the people who are sick walking through the valley, family and friends are walking with them. Brothers and sisters, when you have faith in God, He will walk it with you.

As a shepherd the sheep look to the shepherd for safety and protection, they see the shepherd standing with his long staff, which can be used to herd their sheep, or to drive off those who want to hurt the flock. Our Lord God stands watch over us, and when we truly believe then we cling to life, even though the pain is great and we know that God is in charge. When you are in pain, when you are down so far then we know there is only one way to go and it is up... Either God will heal us and let us here, or He will call us home to live with Him... That is comfort to me and I hope to others also. So today we pray for all those who are really sick, so sick they either want that total healing that only God can give and although we want to stay here, we also know there is a better place for our Bible tells us that. We have learned to trust in God, as in Total trust.

As I look at verse 5: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. So what is the enemy that we face each day, is it a person, or is it the pain of being sick, is it the cancer and the being laid up? Again we look to God, and in the face of all the things we are facing, He, our loving God, still sets our table, and He anoints us to face what we are facing, one day at a time. The Bible tells us that in all this trouble, our cup still runs over, to me it means God is still pouring out all his love on us. We hurt, we are sick and we want to get well, or we want to go home. But today I tell you we are not walking the walk alone, we have family and friends, and we have our Good and Loving Lord who is taking each step with us. Regardless of how low we get, in how much pain, we have a loving Lord, who knows what pain you are dealing with, He knows the pain of hurt for He went through the pain for us, so we cling to Him for this comfort, knowing full well He is in control and there is something special ahead of us, and that is, we are either going to get healed here, or we are going to get healed in our forever home.

There is comfort in this Psalm for all people, and the reason there is comfort is because God is the center of it, and comfort is with God...

Dear Lord, walk with us this day, and Lord, we pray for all those who are walking the valley of the shadow of death for whatever reason they are walking it. Comfort them, dear Father, and please consider healing them for us and letting them here with us. In the name of Jesus, I ask this. Amen.

Now go forth, walking each day in the comfort of God, and sharing those blessings. Love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 12, 2011 Psalm 23 (Day 4)

He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

"Oh, how I love Jesus: Oh, how I love Jesus: O, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me!!"

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and yes I love Jesus very much and I love all of you also. And this being Thursday is the day we pray for schools and families. And please take time to pray for the Church of our Lord Jesus. Also please add 92 year old Billy Graham to your prayer list. Reverend Graham is in the hospital with some lung issues. Will you please take a minute and just sing this with me...

"Oh, how I love Jesus: Oh, how I love Jesus: O, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me!!"

Yesterday I had asked you to put "Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place" on your lips and in your mind and heart. I found myself singing it at the food store as I walked and shopped. I am sure others heard those words, and yes, I am happy that the Holy Spirit is welcome at the store I shop, and I am really happy that He came into my heart.

The 23rd Psalm (Day 4) Psalm 23:3 - He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. (KJV)

He, our Lord Jesus, restoreth my soul and also yours if you let Him. Have you ever been so tired at the end of the day that you just wanted to lay across your bed and fall asleep? Has your body hurt so bad you just had to stop what you were doing and rest those tired legs and your tired back? God in His wisdom has built into our systems a need for that rest and also spelled it out. He built into our system a way to refresh our bodies each day, it is called sleep, and yes, to refresh our bodies we also need to fuel, you know food and fluid. And brothers and sisters, He supplies all of our needs. He even built in a day of rest for all of us and He set the example as He rested from His work, His work on creation took six days, and on the seventh day God Rested... The older I get, it seems the more I need to rest this tired old worn body... (I will soon and very soon get a new body, and folks I have been praying about one with a six pack abs, instead of the keg I have now.)

So now we rested the body, what about our mind, our brain, our soul? Don't they get tired also? I am sure that you, as I have, found over the years that when your body gets really tired, your mind seems to shut down also. I know that I have been at the computer after a hard day and my head would be bouncing off the keyboard, or I wind up with a few rows of Z's and that is because my left little finger seems to hit that keyboard first. So then how does our Lord God restore our soul? First with rest and sleep, and yes, the proper things to eat, but then we also get to restore our souls by going to church and hearing a really good pastor who takes care of his/her flock. You take on fuel. Myself, I like to settle in and hear some good gospel music. I love to hear that great baritone voice of my dear brother in Christ, Tim Beitzel. And I love to hear Dave, Duane and Neal cut loose for all four of these men don't just sing from their voice box, they sing from their hearts for God. I also like to fall asleep with some good gospel music in the background. So God sees my soul gets restored by listening to others who love God. But the best way, the very best way to have your soul restored is to just talk to God about it. Yes, let's call it prayer and listening, talking to God and then giving Him a chance to answer you.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Now our God wants to lead us in a good way, in the paths of righteousness, and why does He, our Lord, want to do it, well for His name's sake. My dear mamma and dad named me Daniel Webster Lehman, Jr., and my daddy had the same name except he was senior instead of junior... I was never called junior, and my daddy told me once, "Son, I will try and help you in life all I can, I have given you a name that I took care of. I was not always the best dad, but I did not blemish our name. Please take care of it and do what is right in life." While my daddy gave me the name, God gave me life and for Him I need to take care of that life. My dad wanted me to take care of myself and of course our name and he wanted that for his sake and mine... And I think this tells you, this Psalm, He, Jesus leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. God knows that if we live for Him, then we are living as good as we can get. Think about it, really think about it, if we follow Jesus and walk in His light, we will mess up, but if we do our very best God will be pleased with us... and he will not just restore our soul, he will lead us and if we follow, and we do have free will, and if we follow He will protect us. If we drift He will take us back, and if we follow Him and come to Him to be saved He will give us EVERLASTING LIFE AND LIVE WITH HIM, AND IT DON'T GET ANY BETTER THEN THAT...

Dear Father in Heaven, please restore my soul and lead me as You want me to go, and Lord, may I be sound enough to follow You each day. Please be in our schools and in our families and please watch over Billy Graham. I am sure He is ready to see you face to face... In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth and get restored, and share those blessings and sing our little song, here it is again today...
"Oh, how I love Jesus: Oh, how I love Jesus: O, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me!!"

And I love all of you also... love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 11, 2011 Psalm 23 (Day 3)

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.

Good Salvation Wednesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters... Do you think you could do this for me today, please put this little chorus in your heart and in your mind and also on your lips. Maybe you could be humming it or singing it at work today or in the store as you walk through it.

While I know each day is special for the Lord made it, and we live to appreciate it, Salvation Wednesday is very special to me... I love this chorus and I pray you do also, so let's sing it a couple of times right now. This done by Dottie Rambo and David Huntsinger.

"Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place. Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place.
Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, Thou art welcome in this place."

"Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place. Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place.
Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, Thou art welcome in this place."

Dear Father in Heaven, send The Holy Spirit to our hearts and minds today and cause us to sing out and let others hear it in their minds and hearts, and may people come to You to be saved, and may our singing of this little chorus be of witness to them of our love for You... Please forgive me of my sins, I am unworthy for this, but humbly ask in the name of Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.

The 23rd Psalm (Day 3) Psalm 23:2 - He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. (KJV)

For all of you who are down to your last pennies and think you have nothing or about to have nothing, I want you to rejoice, for God is good. Listen to these words taken from Isaiah 14:30.

Isaiah 14:30 - The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety.

The poorest of the poor will find pasture. What is a pasture? A place where shepherds of old took their flocks to eat and sleep and get water to drink. It is a safe place to be. Now let's look at this and really think it through. Just another way of taking the word of God and really trusting it.
So I ask you this today, brothers and sisters, where is your green pasture, for we all have one, if we really look close. I found a green pasture the other day in a most unlikely place... I was tired and I was worn, I had been unloading boxes of food that was gifted Carry The Light Ministries food pantry. I got really tired and I was hurting. I put some cut open boxes on the floor of the trailer and yes, I just curled up in that trailer, right on the hard floor and took a nice big nap. It was my green pasture and I had no choice, I could not go on... HE MAKETH ME to lie down on a trailer floor... My green pasture.

But you are saying a green pasture is also a place to eat. Well did I say I was unloading food? I did not raid it then because I was not hungry, but if I was, let me tell you there was a bounty of food there. But what about that still water mentioned in this Psalm? He leadeth me beside the still waters... A shepherd would take his flock to a green pasture, and also look for still waters, maybe a pond, or a slow running stream so that the animals could walk out and get a drink or even cool off and not get washed away. Surely a shepherd would not want to lead his flock to the banks of the mighty Mississippi. So the other day when my green pasture was in the back of the trailer, where was the still water... Oh, that's right, the hose, the good old garden hose was right there, just turn it on and get a drink, and I did. Of course today people will tell you not to drink out of the hose, and let me tell you that if drinking from the hose were to kill you, most of us baby boomers would be dead long already... I can see the paper now, Mechanicsburg pastor dies from drinking water from a hose... NOT.

I ask you to really think about it, where is your green pasture or pastures and where is your still water? What if you could not get into your home, which is really a green pasture and what if you turned on the water and nothing came out? What would you do, and where would you go? Think about it, talk about it. What are you thinking? We have animals, they need to drink, where could you go to find that rest you need and the water you need?

The other day God worked it out, I just could not go another step, I was tired and hurting and needed the rest, so He maketh me lie down. God will take care of us, and that is one reason why I just want Him to know He is welcome. So let's sing to Him again...

"Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place. Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place.
Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, Thou art welcome in this place."

"Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place. Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place.
Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, Thou art welcome in this place."

Now go forth and share your blessings and sing to our Lord and pray for salvation for the unsaved and pray God uses you to help find and bring in the lost... And while you are praying, pray for my dear neighbor Art, and for his eyes... Love ya, Pastor Dan.

"Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place. Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place.
Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, Thou art welcome in this place."

"Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place. Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place.
Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, Thou art welcome in this place."

May 10. 2011 Psalm 23 (Day 2)

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

Good Tuesday, let's pray for a cure for diseases, morning. It is a wonderful, beautiful, and blessed morning here at the Southern Location of the North Pole, and I am sure it is the same at your place. Think about it, it is wonderful, for you are up and taking in air that God has furnished, it is beautiful, for if, like me, you have looked in the mirror and saw the image of God, for we are made in His image. And yes, it is blessed, for you have food to eat, or at least I did. Yesterday we had four families come for food, two ladies just cried and cried, as they said they had no food for their "kids." Well they do now, and thanks be to God for that. We are blessed each day to have food on our shelves and while we give God all the glory for it, we want to thank those of you on the line who support our ministry and the food bank. Even going on the road singing is costing a lot these days. However, God is good, and as far as singing goes, we are in our 18th year and have never, ever asked for money. By the way, you folks who come to Cedar Haven in Lebanon to hear us, we will be in concert there on May 21st at 2.00 PM.

Please pray for Art who had eye surgery last week, it seems his sight is blurry so I guess he is seeing men as trees walking, so Lord, please touch his eyes again.

Also remember this date... Saturday, July 2nd, for our annual picnic at Willow Mill Park... We are eating at noon, and I am the cook. Come early and stay late, bring your fishing pole (licenses needed) and take a worm for a swim... You need bring nothing except yourself and maybe a lawn chair. Come and meet us, our family, and our flock from the Bridges, and even some of those we help to feed. It is a big family get together and YOU ARE OUR FAMILY.

The 23rd Psalm (Day 2) Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. (KJV)

How many shepherds are in your life? Before you answer, really think about it. There should be more than one shepherd, but only one Shepherd. Let's go back in time and look at a few things, let's roll back in time when I carried papers on Luce Street in Harrisburg, Pa., and the street beside my house was still dirt. I would say that the very first shepherd in my life was The Good Shepherd, my Lord Jesus, and then my mother was also a shepherd of mine, for a shepherd is one who takes care of their flock. My daddy was also a shepherd of the early years. And there were others, on Luce Street there was a playground, and we kids would gather daily and play ball and do other things. Our playground instructor was a shepherd to us kids. The gentlemen who worked with us kids who had paper routes were shepherds. When summer ended and we went off to school and when we went to our classroom we would meet another shepherd, who were and still are called teachers. We had coaches, and on Sundays we also had our Sunday School Teachers, and we had our Pastor. And Pastors, like Pastor Larry Hale, and Pastor Kevin Brown, and Richard Denison, and yes, even this old pastor, are shepherds as we have flocks to watch over. So my dear brothers, we have many shepherds, but only one Shepherd. Now as I asked all who are a shepherd, and while we all have had many shepherds, most all of us have also from time to time been a shepherd. But folks, we have only one Shepherd and none of us is that Shepherd and never will be. The Shepherd I am talking about is of course Jesus. The difference in the word, is just the large S in Shepherd. The difference between a shepherd and The Shepherd is what the one did, does and always will do, that the other shepherds cannot do.

From John 10:10 - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." 11 "I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep, so when he sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away. The the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." 14 "I am The Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." (NIV)

Now let's look back at some of the shepherds that I have talked about. Let's start with the first lady in my life... My mamma, and she was a really neat and faithful shepherd and she loved The Shepherd. However, as the Bible tells us, some of the shepherds run when they see the wolf, and yes, some mothers and many many fathers who are to be shepherds sort of just ran away. Some of the fathers are just not there, many never were. Some of and again I say some of our teachers who are to be shepherds of the kids work only for a paycheck and while paychecks are needed it is not the only thing that counts. And brothers and sisters, rest knowing that most of our teachers are faithful shepherds to our school kids. Some pastors are the same way, just working for that paycheck. I have been in churches where I had never heard about salvation which comes from The Good Shepherd. And some of those pastors from some of the churches are really leading their flock right into the wolf's mouth. Yes, if the flocks follow some of those pastors who are preaching hate, and gay marriage, and abortion being ok, are heading them, their flock, right to HELL!

So folks, if you follow The Good Shepherd, and pray about those other shepherds in your life, things will go a long way. And I want you to remember this... The Good Shepherd I am talking about is Jesus, and yes, He needs the help of the lesser shepherds. Think about that, folks, really think about it. And remember this... The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want. If you follow Jesus you will not want, well, some never stop wanting, but all of your needs will be supplied... ALL OF THEM. Some are supplied by other shepherds and their flocks... Think about it folks, how many people does your flock have that help the shepherd, help your pastor who is working for The Good Shepherd, and when you are helping your shepherd, you are also working for The Good Shepherd.

Please tell me some of those who helped shepherd you, and have you been let down by a shepherd? Remember this, The Shepherd with the scars from the nails will never let you down.

Dear Father in Heaven, Dear Lord, my Shepherd and the leader of all those who shepherd under You. I want to be one of those shepherds and I want to lead people to You, not to the master of evil, so please help me with it. Help your leaders who You have seen get appointments to churches, and Lord be with them... And Lord, please send cures for diseases. In the name of Jesus, also touch Art's eyes again... In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth, being a shepherd to others, be a shepherd or a leader for Jesus and you can get started by sharing your blessings. Love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 9, 2011 Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and welcome to Monday and the day we pray for our leaders, those in authority over us in our governments. Also the day we set aside to pray for veterans, and for our current military, for our State Police, local police and sheriffs and all those working to keep us safe, and healthy. Please remember your family doctor. Please add to your prayer list Burt Emig, who is having his heart stopped and restarted. Also Doug Thompson who has Leukemia.

The 23rd Psalm: Yes I have written about it before and God has given it to me again. Almost every funeral that I attend I see Psalm 23 written someplace. Most often it is written in the little memorial card that is given to each visitor with information about the deceased. I have often wondered, is it a favorite Bible passage for those folks, or the only passage they even heard of, or one that is just suggested by a family member or even the funeral director. I have also seen it written and framed and on the wall at the funeral home.

Back when I went to school we read the Bible each morning when school opened. We read the Bible, had prayer and then pledged our flag. We also took turns, and each person was welcome to read from their own Bible. As you folks know, because I have told you, I struggle to read, really struggle. It was even worse back then. So I learned Psalm 23 and also 100 and locked them in my little brain. I would hold the Bible and out of memory I would just say one or the other of those Psalms. But like so many, I really did not understand what I was reading, and in fact it was not until I came to Jesus and got on board with Him, one on one, that I could understand any of the Bible. Now each day He opens more and more of the inspired work of God to me. So again I want to see just how He will open this Psalm again to me... I am excited about it.

I want to give you a homework assignment for this week. I am asking you to get out your Bible, and dig into this Psalm with me. I don't care what version of the Bible you use, just read it each day and ask the Lord to open it to you. I am going to write it out one more time and tomorrow we will start with verse one. Digest it. I am using the King James Version for this Psalm as it is how I learned it.

First lets pray... Dear Father in Heaven, we give thanks to You for this, another day, and ask that You might see our prayer list and go over them and act on them according to Your will and not ours. Then open up this wonderful Psalm to us and give it to us this week so we understand it better. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (KJV)

Please folks, get your Bible out and let's go over it. For the next four days we are going to study it. I have written about it before, but I am not going back and look at those notes till next week. All fresh stuff, now go forth this day, SHARING YOUR BLESSINGS and loving on others as God loves on you... and know that I love ya also. Pastor Dan.

May 9, 2011 Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and welcome to Monday and the day we pray for our leaders, those in authority over us in our governments. Also the day we set aside to pray for veterans, and for our current military, for our State Police, local police and sheriffs and all those working to keep us safe, and healthy. Please remember your family doctor. Please add to your prayer list Burt Emig, who is having his heart stopped and restarted. Also Doug Thompson who has Leukemia.

The 23rd Psalm: Yes I have written about it before and God has given it to me again. Almost every funeral that I attend I see Psalm 23 written someplace. Most often it is written in the little memorial card that is given to each visitor with information about the deceased. I have often wondered, is it a favorite Bible passage for those folks, or the only passage they even heard of, or one that is just suggested by a family member or even the funeral director. I have also seen it written and framed and on the wall at the funeral home.

Back when I went to school we read the Bible each morning when school opened. We read the Bible, had prayer and then pledged our flag. We also took turns, and each person was welcome to read from their own Bible. As you folks know, because I have told you, I struggle to read, really struggle. It was even worse back then. So I learned Psalm 23 and also 100 and locked them in my little brain. I would hold the Bible and out of memory I would just say one or the other of those Psalms. But like so many, I really did not understand what I was reading, and in fact it was not until I came to Jesus and got on board with Him, one on one, that I could understand any of the Bible. Now each day He opens more and more of the inspired work of God to me. So again I want to see just how He will open this Psalm again to me... I am excited about it.

I want to give you a homework assignment for this week. I am asking you to get out your Bible, and dig into this Psalm with me. I don't care what version of the Bible you use, just read it each day and ask the Lord to open it to you. I am going to write it out one more time and tomorrow we will start with verse one. Digest it. I am using the King James Version for this Psalm as it is how I learned it.

First lets pray... Dear Father in Heaven, we give thanks to You for this, another day, and ask that You might see our prayer list and go over them and act on them according to Your will and not ours. Then open up this wonderful Psalm to us and give it to us this week so we understand it better. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (KJV)

Please folks, get your Bible out and let's go over it. For the next four days we are going to study it. I have written about it before, but I am not going back and look at those notes till next week. All fresh stuff, now go forth this day, SHARING YOUR BLESSINGS and loving on others as God loves on you... and know that I love ya also. Pastor Dan.

Friday, May 06, 2011 1:47 AM

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." ---- "Mary, you have found favor with God! You will be with child and give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus."

Good Early Friday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and it is beautiful. Friday and the day we pray for all who work in the fields of harvest for our Lord Jesus. You are on that list, right? All of us should be on this prayer list, for we should all be working for Jesus. Two announcements this day... Tomorrow, Saturday May 7th at noon on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg, Pa., (State Street Side) a rally to support our troops... Look me up if you come, I will be up on the top level as I am doing the prayers. Also pray for me that I do it right for God. Saturday July 2nd, Dolores and I have again this year rented the large pavilion at Willow Mill Park in Silver Spring Township. Once again the food will be furnished by us and cooked up by Chef Santa. We will eat at noon, come early, stay late, and if you really want to bring something, bring a canned good for the food pantry, but that is not needed as this is a thank you for your love and support picnic. Our children will be there, our flock from the Bridges should be coming, and I hope a lot of neighbors. Anyway, more later, and I will just need a number of how many. Ok, time to get to the message...

Mothers, God's Second Greatest Gift 5: Luke 1:26 - In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God! 31 You will be with child and give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus." (NIV)

First, let me back up a few days and update you on the term "Mother" used by the Catholic Church. Sharon Ogden contacted me and left me with this statement. "The term 'Mother' is normally used as the head nun of a convent or order as in 'Mother Teresa'". (Thanks, Sharon.) Not being Catholic I wanted to get it right for our many Catholic readers on this line.

Ok, for my final choice, and all of you knew who it really would be, right? Yes, the Virgin Mary and the Mother of our Lord Jesus, our Lord and Savior and might I say it was and is to this day, the only virgin birth. Think what it must be like as a young girl, a teenager who is going to carry in her womb the one who will be born in a barn, and grow up to save all of us, including His very own mother.

Why not take time today to curl up with a good book, your Bible, and read the Christmas story again, read up on Mary... Now as promised early this week, a bit about this Mother I called Mamma.

I just need to talk to you about a lady who just loved me with all her heart. She was Sara Margaret Kimmel Lehman, and she was my mamma. I guess my memory of her goes back to when I was in elementary school. I remember how hard my mamma worked. You see pop and mom were both school teachers and pop taught out of town, so mom sort of raised my brother and I by herself all week as dad stayed out of town coming home only on weekends. At the time mom taught at a daycare and would leave for work as I would leave for school. I had about a mile to walk one way and we did that four times a day for we came home for lunch. However, my mamma worked, so each week she would stop at a small store near the school and ask the owner to look out for me. She would pay in advance for a cup of soup and a hotdog and leave five cents extra for me to get candy. You might think back then that she would stay home so I could go home for lunch, but pop being a teacher then made very little. After school in the evening I would get home ahead of mom and find the key to the house in the milk box and it would be shortly after that mom would get home. Then she would start dinner, do the washing (it was not automatic back then) She would wash one evening, hang the clothes to dry in the basement, and the next night take them down and sprinkle them and roll them and iron them the next day. Yes about three evenings doing the wash. She also took in washing and ironing to help pay the bills. Mom also always had a snack ready for me to eat when I got home from school. One afternoon I got home and made myself a sandwich of homemade ham spread. I toasted the bread on that old toaster, one side at a time, put some mustard on the toast and piled it high with that ham spread.

When mom got home she went to feed the dog and asked, Danny did you feed Mickey? No, mom I did not, I answered. Then I wonder what happened to the dog food I opened yesterday and had in a dish in the fridge, she asked... Gosh, I just had a dog food sandwich (been barking ever since.) It was good for a laugh, or it was for her. Yes, I had a good mother, she worked hard, real hard and she loved my brother and I. There was nothing she would not do for us. She made most of our clothes, she made our coats and pants we wore to church and Sunday school, and she made sure we went. She was great. One January day and I will never forget it, I came home after school driving my old hot rod Ford and she said no work today? I said no, the boss gave me the evening off. (I worked at a service station.) She said good, how would you like to drive my car and take me downtown (Harrisburg, Pa.) to the Green Stamp store? (You remember collecting those stamps, right?) Anyway, I jumped at the chance for I just love to drive.. So I got behind the wheel of her old Buick and off we went. As we neared downtown a real big old Buick, yes, another Buick was coming at me on the wrong side of the road. Crash, we were hit head on, and Mom went head first into the windshield smashing it into what seemed like a lot of pieces even thought they did not come apart. I was getting out of the car and could see she was hurt real bad. I went to the other side to help her and the man that hit us was laughing at her, as he was as drunk as drunk could be. He laughed at my beloved Mamma who was sitting in her seat with blood running down her face. Well, I drew back to hit him when a policemen walked up behind me and caught my arm. Son, I will take care of him, I saw the accident,. The man was arrested for disorderly conduct, not drunk driving. He had no insurance so pop had to pay all the bills, Mom passed away that December, a brain tumor, they said. Most of the time between those dates she was just laying in a coma in the hospital, till one night I went in and she was awake sitting in a chair. She said I love you, son, I called my brother at his work and he went to see her, and she told him the same. I love you son. She died that night. As I relate this story right now tears are rolling down my face, for the I know my mother is with Jesus, she loved my brother and me, but she loved Jesus even more. The older I get the nearer I get to seeing her again. Now I don't want to go yet, but I sure am starting to get excited about seeing my mamma, and seeing my Jesus.

Dear Father in Heaven, Thank You for mothers, all mothers and thanks for mine. I was so blessed. Lord, help us all to honor our mothers and not just one day a year but all 365 with an extra each fourth year. Thanks Jesus, for Your Mother, the wonderful Blessed Virgin Mary. I give thanks this day in the name of Jesus. Amen...

And now go forth and share your blessings and please take time to read on, for a writing from my Brother in Christ, Douglas Boyer... Love ya, Pastor Dan.



A MOTHER’S LOVE

By Douglas Boyer

A Mother’s love is something that no one can explain, it is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain, it is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may.

Nothing can destroy it or take that love away, it is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking.

It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns, and it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems. It is far beyond defining, it defies all explanation, and it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation.

A many splendor miracle man cannot understand and another wondrous evidence of God’s tender guiding hand.

May 5, 2011 God's Second Greatest Gift 4

She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

Good Thursday Afternoon to you, my dear brothers and sisters. Today is the day we pray for schools, for families, and also please pray a nice word of praise to God, as yesterday while moving antique buses at the Bus Museum Annex, and backing one down a steep hill, the brakes failed, all of the brakes. With two of us moving the buses, one behind the wheel and one watching as the area is very tight, God took over and after a wild ride backwards, me behind the wheel, and my buddy Tom Mozer outside, the bus came to rest, after hitting the side of a trailer, the results, a few scratches on the bus, a bent fender on the little trailer, and two very, very blessed people. GOD IS GOOD, HE HAD HIS HANDS ON US... someone say amen. Please pray also for Art who is having eye surgery as I type this.

I am late today because we were being blessed again, first as we picked up a load of bread for the food pantry, and then off to another food bank where we put in their trust for loaning out, two hospital beds belong to Carry The Light Ministries, and loaded on two skid loads of food. Now I must put it all away. I will call out the troops to help unload the trailer.

SPECIAL NOTICE. This Saturday at high noon, on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg, Pa., a support our troops rally. It starts at noon and will be over by 1:00 PM and again I am being blessed as I will be opening with prayer, and also closing with the benediction. COME OUT AND SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, Hope to see you there!!

Mothers, God's Second Greatest Blessing 4: Exodus 2:2 - She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen. 5 Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. 6 She opened the basket and saw the baby. He was crying and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said. 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" 8 "Yes, go," she answered. And the girl went and got the baby's mother. 9 Pharaoh's daughter said to her. "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying "I drew him out of the water." (NIV)

Today I picked this scripture and these two women, both of whom were mothers to the same person, Moses. One mother, the birth mother, was willing to see her son be rescued by another person, because at that time all baby boys were being killed. This was indeed a special love to save her child. The daughter of the one who issued the killing order got the child and, well you have read the rest of the story above. How about that for God working things out?

A mother who delivers a baby is special, any mother. However, some make a choice that the child would be better off if someone would raise that baby for whatever reason. They give the child up for adoption. A mother who gives the baby up, over having it MURDERED BY ABORTION is a good mother. A mother who has an abortion is involved with murder. (However, if any of you have done this, go to God now and ask forgiveness as Jesus is in that business.) For whatever reason a mother, maybe because she is single and cannot afford a child, or maybe she is involved in drugs, or maybe even going to jail, but for whatever reason a mother has the child and then seeks safety for the child in the hands of someone who is screened to get the child, it is a good thing. Yes, we would love to see all mothers raise the child right and in line with Jesus. We know it does not always happen, but if you pray and work closely with God, He will work it out. Example... Moses.

Dear Father in Heaven, bless those mothers that make the decision that their baby would be better off in the hands of others, and Lord, see that the child gets a great home. Thanks for looking after Tom and me yesterday, and I ask today Your blessings over schools, all of them, and also over families, thinking first of Your family, the family of God. Watch over my neighbor Art as he has surgery today on his eye. In Jesus' Name... Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings, loving Jesus and loving your mamma... Love ya, Pastor Dan.

May 4, 2011 God's Second Greatest Gift 3

Honor your father and your MOTHER so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Salvation Wednesday, Salvation Wednesday. The day we pray for the lost and for those who have been born again to help bring in the lost.

Dear Father in Heaven, help us this day to work hard for You. Thanks for another day of life here on this earth. I pray for the lost and pray that they become open to be saved. Please, Lord, help us to go into the fields of harvest without fear and to work bringing the lost to Your feet to be saved. Help us remember that Salvation is Your work, we are just Your helpers. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Mothers, God's Second Greatest Gift 3: Exodus 20:12 - Honor your father and your MOTHER so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. (NIV) The Fifth Commandment.

Today I want to talk to you about some mothers, some really great mothers, some who have never had children. So you are saying "are you nuts Pastor Dan, mothers who never had children?" Ok, being nuts? Well sometimes but not this time. Let me talk about one mother who never had a child of her own. Her name, "Mother Teresa." While she is home now and she is a Saint and has been for a long, long time, as you become a Saint when you give yourself to Jesus. Anyway this lovely little nun did so much for so many people, and while I do not know what all she did, I know she helped feed the hungry, give and get medical help for people, her whole life was to live for the Lord and receive assignments from Him. There are also a lot of others who, by their religion have been given the title of "Mother".

We in Carry The Light had the pleasure of singing at the going home celebration for a dear black lady who was respectfully called "Mother Brown" by her church. We in Carry The Light also called her by that name, as did all who knew her at Dauphin Manor where she lived out her last few years. She passed several years ago at 103. I don't know how a nun in the Catholic church gets the title of "Mother" but I promise I will find out and get back to you on that one. My dear friends Oliver and Sharon will contact me I am sure with some good advice.

Now let me talk about some other "Mothers" who may or may not have been a Birth Mother. Let me start with "Step Mothers". You know often we hear of the awful stepmothers, but let me tell you about a stepmother that I know very, very good. Her name is Dolores Lehman, while she is the Birth Mother of Mark Bradshaw, and Matthew Lehman, she is also the stepmother of my four children, Glenn, Keith, Danelle, and Leann and I know that all six of the kids love her dearly.

We also have Foster mothers and this might be one of the hardest kind of mother to be. While many foster mothers have their birth children, these wonderful mothers take in other children, sometimes very wayward children and raise them as their own. The hard part is when children are put into foster homes because of problems in a birth home, and when those problems get made right, the foster mother must return the children. Often times though a foster mother will become one of the next kind of mothers I want to tell you about.

Adoptive Mothers. These are mothers who have adopted children, some because they cannot have their own children because of health reasons or even personal reasons. Maybe the problem is with a husband. Adoptive mothers might have already had birth children and also have fallen in love with other children who they love. Adoptive Mothers are also ladies who have had foster children who adopted them so they would not lose them.

Then there is the "dad" who winds up as a single parent and must be both dad and mother to his children.

We also have Mothers-in-law. You know, the mother of your spouse. I still love my mother-in-law from my first marriage, her name is Helen Witmer and she is wonderful.

We also have mothers who are now also grandmothers and great-grandmothers and even great, great-grandmothers.

Now there is one other type mother for me. You see my mother died when I was young, I never had a stepmother, so I picked a really nice lady, whom I have known for a long, long time and I adopted her as my mother... Her name Virginia Harman.

Sometimes sisters and even brothers have had to step in, even at a young age and be a mother to younger brothers and sisters.

Let's look at that scripture for today... A commandment from God to honor your father and MOTHER and if you do, you will live long in this land.

Dear brothers and sisters, please honor your mother, foster mother, stepmother, adoptive mother, and those who carry the title of Mother from their churches. Let's honor all mothers, and not just on one day... God's commandment does not say, honor your father and MOTHER, one day a year. So please honor your Mother, with calls, cards, flowers and not just one day a year, do it from your heart. Mothers come in all colors, all shapes and sizes, and all GOOD MOTHERS have one thing in common, they are indeed beautiful ladies.

Now go forth sharing your blessings. Love ya, Pastor Dan.