Fri/Sat Feb 10/11, 2012 It's the law 4

"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your no be 'No'. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. I was starting to write on Friday and my hand did not want to do it. So it is Saturday Morning. Please pray for our veterans, our current Military, The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, Police, Fire Fighters, and all others who work to keep us free and safe. Pray for our President and all other leaders, National, State and Local. And please pray for the following:  Ronald (cancer),  Donna (Heart), Skelly (Kidneys), Patsy, (Pain), Burt (Fall) Barbara Paules (cellulitis). Also Kelly Pallone (brain cancer has been in a coma for three weeks), Carlene Cunningham (serious breast cancer and also colon cancer).  For the following adult children Matthew, Laura and Jan, and also for Vicki who needs to be on our list each day. Also for Allison (cancer).

It's The Law 4: Matthew 5:33 - "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your no, be 'No'. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one." (NIV)

At one time when you went to court, you would put your left hand on a Bible and your right hand in the air and they would ask you "Do you swear to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?" and you are to answer I do. Now the Bible in most cases has been removed, but we are to still "swear" to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. You are being sworn in and your truth is not just expected, it is demanded, and if you lie under oath, you could be fined or even go to jail. In our scriptures, Jesus tells us not to swear just to always tell the truth and of course Jesus once again is setting examples of this. Jesus always spoke the truth and of course he wants us always to speak the truth. Keeping your word, or telling the truth is very important, and some might think that telling the truth or keeping your word is just by what comes out of your mouth. No, you can lie or break an oath when you say, sign a contract to buy and car and then don't pay for it if you took out a loan. The same with your home when you sign on the line, you are saying I am telling you the truth, I will pay for this house. Sometimes in life things do happen that make it look like we lied or did not tell the truth on things. Let's say for example you purchased your house and maybe you had two incomes and one person was laid off, or maybe in a marriage one person walks out and does not pay their share, leaving the other to hold the bag so to speak.

Then to protect our word, we sometimes need to make changes, sell the car, or even downsize on the home. In other words we must do all we can do to carry out our word. Jesus makes it very plain and simple for us to understand. Say Yes or No and mean what you say.

These statements of Jesus go right back to the old testament, as Exodus 20:16 - You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Now as I have told you many times, neighbor means everyone that is NOT YOU. Even your family can be your neighbor when telling the good news of Jesus. We sometimes think of neighbors as just those across the street or next door. Our neighbors live on our street and in our town, and in our state and in our nation and all over the world. We are not talking Mr. Roger's neighborhood, we are talking about the NEIGHBORHOOD OF JESUS CHRIST...  and we all said AMEN.

Dear Father in Heaven, Help us to always tell the truth and to keep our word, be it spoken or in writing, and dear Lord, please check on our prayer requests and heal them according to your will. And Lord, thanks for the reminder today of how your hands must have hurt from the nails... Forgive me when I complain about pain... In Jesus' name, I pray, AMEN.  

This morning when Dolores and I were praying I was praying for the pain in my hand to be lifted, when I remembered that Jesus had nails put through His hands. Excuse me when I complain about the pain. Just shows we are weak and He is strong, and that is why Jesus loves us little children. And I love ya also... Pastor Dan.