Thursday March 22, 2012 Lip Service

He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesized about you hypocrites; as it is written; These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me."

Good Thursday Evening, my dear brothers and sisters. What a great day, but I am tired, but really want to get this message out.

Thursday is the day we pray for churches and remember to pray for God's Church (and be sure you belong to that one). Pray also for families and please remember the family in the White house... Also we pray for our schools on this day. Please pray also for talk show host Rush Limbaugh, a song has been put out calling for people to "kill him".  Please also pray for Jeff, who has had a new knee, and it failed, and he has been having a long rehab his replacement. Jeff is a very active farmer, milking over 2500 head of cattle three times a day. Also pray for Leslie who has some health issues. Please keep praying for Pastor Larry.

Praise Report... This morning bright and early Essis Carpet Sales came to our home and installed a beautiful bright red, commercial grade carpet in our new building now being referred to as "Santa's House." The carpet and labor to install it was donated to our ministry. Please consider Essis, Carlisle Pike Mechanicsburg, when/if you get carpet...

March 22. Lip Service: Mark 7:6 - He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesized about you hypocrites; as it is written; These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me." 7 "They worship me in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men." (NIV)

I just want to take a quick look at this scripture tonight as I am very tired. Did you ever just give lip service to anyone? Come on, be truthful here, have you ever told someone you would do something that you had no intention of doing? Men, man up here, have you ever told your wife, honey, I will do that tomorrow and tomorrow never gets here (guilty as charged)?  How often has someone given you lip service? You know, you spend hours and hours on the phone on hold, and then someone tells you they will correct that thing you are calling about, maybe a bill, or an order you placed. The person on the phone tells you they will take care of it, and you smile, but the end result never arrives. When I look back on my life, I gave my parents enough lip service about doing my homework that should have lasted me a life time.

But what about God, do you give God lip service? Let me change that wording a tad, do WE give God lip service? Do we pray and pray, but do not live the life that Jesus expects us to live? That is lip service, folks. We tell others all about God, but don't live it ourselves.

I confess that over the years, I have done lip service to my Lord Jesus and am so thankful that He still forgives my many sins.

So what do we need to learn from this? When it comes to others, try not to tell people anything that you really can't get done or have no intentions of doing... In other words, SPEAK THE TRUTH in all you say. When dealing with God, talk to Him in prayer, have some "one on one" time with Him, and then we need (we again, folks) then we need to work hard to honor what we talk to Jesus about.

Maybe I could have just said this... Don't just talk the talk, please also walk the talk and live the talk... Amen.

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive me when I have over the years given You lip service, Help me repent of sins and live each day to honor You... Please look over our prayer requests and honor them according to your will. In Jesus' name,  Amen.

Now go forth, walking the talk and walking in the light of Jesus. And let's really weigh what comes out of our mouth... now it is time to say this... Go forth now and share your blessings. Love ya, Pastor Dan.