Meanwhile, the people waited for Zechariah and wondered why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
... On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, "No!" He is to be called John. They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name." Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name will be John." Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed and he began to speak, praising God.
Good Tuesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. What a great day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. An update on Carry The Light Ministries Food Pantry. Everything is ready for our really big distribution event on Saturday afternoon except for two things. The turkeys, all 100 of them, are to be delivered on Friday, and of course we need a lot of helpers to be here on Saturday. We start loading cars at 1.00 PM, but would like the crew of helpers to arrive at 12.30 PM so to set up and have a group prayer. DRESS WARM!! I am trying to get enough help so outside helpers will be able to come in and get their bodies a little warmer.
We need prayer warriors, four or more. We need loaders, six or more. We need people to load the food for the loaders, four or more. And we need a couple of people to help with traffic. When you arrive, you may park on the front lawn. We need to keep the circle driveway open. If you can't come, please pray and pray and pray for this big event. (I will have hot dogs on for those who get hungry.)
Other prayer requests. For the family of Robert (Bob Square Wheels) Beard who is now at home with Jesus. Also for Vicki who once again has a full plate of health issues. Please storm heaven with those prayers.
Special Announcement: I will have a Christmas Eve and Christmas message, also services at the Bridges. (you are welcome to come).
Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion 6.30 PM, Christmas Morning, service in song. 10.00 AM. THEN I AM TAKING A WEEK OFF FROM WRITING, NO MESSAGES FROM December 26 to December 31. Then back at it, on January 1, 2012.
The Journey 2011 Day 29 Luke 1:21 - Meanwhile, the people waited for Zechariah and wondered why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
... Luke 1:59 - On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, "No!" He is to be called John. 61 They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name." 62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name will be John." 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed and he began to speak, praising God. (NIV)
Here in our scriptures of today we find that God closed the mouth of Zechariah after the angel of the Lord had talked to him and given him instructions about his son, that God was going to bless him with. My Bible footnotes don't speak of this event, but for sure the Bible does and I think it is very important event. After all if it was not important would it be in the Bible?
So God takes the voice of Zechariah and stills it, until such time as Zechariah named his son John. And there was never a doubt to old Zechariah as to the name. This makes me wonder a tad and we can all address this in our own light. All of us are sinners, all of us, so I must wonder does our cancer, and I am healed of cancer, but was it caused by the fact that I did not always live for God and even now I find that I slip and fall. Do our bones ache because we broke commandments and rules? Have you ever had anything like this in your life? Think about it, I know I am going to review some of my life and some of the things I have messed up on big time.
Now we also see in the case of Zechariah, that God turned it around for him, and I know for a fact that I have had things wrong with me and God, and God alone gets the glory for turning them around. Even today as we head off to work, school, play, or whatever, we need to step out in the light of God and work really hard to do His work and spread the good, good news of Jesus and His salvation for us.
We are to tell others this good news, and that is a command from God... And I want you to really think about this. You say you can't pray with people about this, and tell people the good news. You can't talk to people about The Word and how you get saved through Jesus. WHAT IF, WHAT IF, NO ONE WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU??? If people down through time did not hear The Word and share it where would we be today? I would love to hear from you on this one. Maybe Jesus did not shut down your voice, but what did He shut down or do that affected you? Let's give the day back to Jesus by LIVING FOR HIM. Amen.
Dear Father in Heaven, Please forgive me, forgive us of our sins, hear our prayers and respond according to Your will and help us this day live for You and to share our blessings You have nourished us with. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Now go forth and share your blessings and if you can help us on Saturday in the afternoon, please email me or call me 717 991 0754. Love ya, Pastor Dan.
PS. When I was a child I sang in the church choir, did that till I was a teenager, then I got a girl friend, a car and starting working on Sundays. I gave up the singing. My dear mamma said, if you do not use your voice for Jesus, He just might take it away. It happened before I was out of school, I had to go three times to have things cut off my vocal cords, as I sounded like a foghorn. Then when I started singing for Jesus again, He gave me my voice back... True story, folks... be blessed. Pastor Dan
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