Wednesday 5/30/12 The Coming of God

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘there it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.’

Good Salvation Wednesday morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Yes, it is Wednesday, and that means it is Salvation Wednesday on this line and the day we pray for those who might not be saved. J We also pray that God will use we who are saved to help bring in the lost.  Again I want to remind all of you that “you cannot save a soul,” that is up to Jesus, but He needs us to bring in the lost sheep to be saved.  Today, May 30^th, is the true date of Memorial Day, so again I want to say thanks to all those who worked so hard in our military and who have gone on before us that I for one appreciate it.  Without the service of those who served this country we would not be free and if not for our Lord Jesus, we would not have personal freedom.  Thirty years ago on this date, which was a Sunday, Dolores and I were married.  Our honeymoon consisted in driving cars in a Memorial Day parade on May 31, 1982.  I drove my 1955 T-Bird Convertible and she had the 1979 T-Bird T-tops.  I had a WW2 Veteran on board, and she a Gold Star Mother.  After the parade I was asked to join the American Legion, and she the auxiliary!  I told them this.  Dolores is the veteran, and I am not.  Back then we were not asked the other way around.  Neither of us joined, she never joined the Legion, and I never joined the auxiliary.  WOMEN ARE VETERANS TOO … WAY TO GO, LADIES …  Thanks to Dolores, Air Force, Sharon, Navy, and Dian, Navy.  Just a trio of lady veterans in our lives.

5/30/12  The Coming of the Kingdom of God:  1 Luke 17:20 – Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘there it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” (NIV)

Let’s take a look at the scripture today and break it down a tad.  Here we see the Pharisees asking Jesus when the Kingdom of God will come.  Now let me say this, how many times have you heard something like this today?  How many people are trying to figure out when Jesus is going to return?  Everyone thinks it will be soon, and I agree, I think it will be soon.  I mean we have been seeing signs on the sides of barns for years and years and years that say “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco”, whoops, that was the wrong sign.  We have been seeing signs on the sides of barns for years and years that say “The Kingdom of God is Near” and/or “Ye Must be Born Again” or “John 3:16” and while the new barns might not sayi those things, some of the old ones are still around.

I could give you a lot of reasons why I think the return of our Lord Jesus is near, but I am not “wasting my time” trying to figure it out, for not even Jesus knows when He is coming back … But I love the answer that Jesus gave the Pharisees, and folks, it is a fact today … Why?  Because Jesus is still the same.

So today we look at the next part of the scripture of today … “Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘there it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”

Folks, let me make it very simple today, if you “Are Not Born Again’, if you have not asked Jesus to come into your heart, you as of right now are NOT in the Kingdom of God.  However, if you have called upon the Lord and asked him to forgive you and to come into your heart, Jesus is telling us that we already have the Kingdom of God and it is on board with us.  Folks, what this is telling this old man in very simple words is that Jesus, Himself, is indeed the Kingdom of God.  So maybe if we see a sign on the side of a barn that says, “The Kingdom of God is Near”, we should do this, “The Kingdom of God is Here.”  Paint over the word “Near” and write in “Here.”  So tomorrow, Lord willing, and He does not return tonight (we never know, do we?), I will be back writing on this subject.  Time to wrap it up for today …

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive me of my sins and come into my heart so that I may have the Kingdom of God in my heart.  Lord, now help me go to work for You, in your fields of Harvest as You command all of us.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Now please go forth, working for Jesus, inviting Him into your heart and sharing your blessings that He has loaned to you … Love ya, Pastor Dan.

P.S., please pray for my classmate Bobbie Tucker as she is on her way to Harrisburg on a plane at this time …

Tuesday 5/29/2012 Sin, Faith, Duty (Final)

“Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.  Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Coe along now and sit down to eat?’  Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink?’  Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

Good Tuesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and Happy Birthday to our long-time ministry and singing partner, Pamela Sue Bower.  I did promise her that I would not tell anyone that she is 58, so I am not telling you.  She shares her birthday with the late Bob Hope.  Have a great day, Pam, you are indeed loved and appreciated!

Today we are going to pick up the prayers we do on Mondays, so please pray for our leaders in Washington, in our States Houses and also your local governments.  And when praying for our President, please pray “he has a come to Jesus time.”  Pray also for our veterans, our current military, our police, firefighters, and all those who keep us safe and out of harm’s way.  And starting today I am asking that you pray that ABORTION ENDS!  And please pray it every day.  Also needing prayer today, Ron, for healing from cancer, Vicki, many problems.

5/29/2012  Sin, Faith, Duty:  Luke 17:7 – “Suppose One of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.  Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat?’ 8 Would he rather not say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink?’ 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (NIV)

This will be our final day on this subject.  I should have finished out last week, but I got running behind.  Sorry about that.  I need to start getting them done in the morning again.  Today we are talking about the duty part of the subject.  Last week we covered Sin and Faith.  Duty … Hmm.

Let’s jump right into the shoes of a servant, and let’s not think of plowing a field, let us think about the jobs we have right now.  Here is the way I worked for others, and I did it all my life … When I got a job working for a company, I would do what I was asked and/or told to do.  When I hired on back in the fifties at a service station, I was told I would be pumping gas, cleaning windows, checking tires, lubing cars, changing oil, etc., and washing cars … The first day on that job, my boss said, “get the mop and bucket and clean the restrooms and make sure you get the skidders off the under pat of the seat.”  So I did what I was told!  After all, the man was paying me 50 cents per hour.  When I went to go home, I was told, we scrub the floors first.  So I scrubbed the floors.  When I got a job at a car dealership, I was hired to take care of used cars.  The first week, I was also told I had to go and clean the offices, dust the desks, and mop the floors and clean the restrooms.  After I got a job driving school bus, I was told I had to keep the bus clean.  Now when I became the owner of the business, a service station, I still did all those things, and I expected the same from my employees.  I figured it like this, if it was legal, and not a safety risk, I would do it.

What about you, would you go beyond what your job description required of you?  If you say no, that you go by that Union Book, or the job description, then I next ask you this … What about when God asks you to do something?  Would you pull out the “book”, the Bible, and go by that?  Folks, if you are really going to pull out the work book when talking about your boss here on earth, then why would you not pull out the Bible and carry out what is in God’s word that we are to do?  If the boss were to task you to do something that is a safety hazard or against the law, don’t do it.  God will never ask you to break a commandment.

Think about it, it is our duty to work for God, and it is also our duty here on earth to get a job and work as the owner wants us to work.  Here on earth you have an option; you don’t like working for one company, you can go to another.  Hey, if you do not like working for and with Jesus, you also have a choice, you could choose to go to hell.  Bottom line, all of our lives here on earth we are facing choices, and we have a big one to face here on earth that will get us into heaven OR NOT.  Again, your choice.  Think about it.  Amen.

Dear Father in Heaven, Thanks for all You do for all of us, and thanks that you did not put us on strings.  Help us to make good choices in life, and also make the choice to live for You.  Save me, Lord.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth doing what is right, sharing your blessings, and if your boss would say to you, please bring me a cup of coffee, think about it before you say that is not part of your job.  For our Lord Jesus has asked us to feed the hungry, remember!  And by feeding them, we are feeding Him … Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Memorial Day 2012

2 Chronicles 7:14 – If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will HEAR THEIR LAND. (NIV)

Happy Memorial Day, my dear brothers and sisters.  Today I would just like to look back a few years and give thanks to some very important people.

To former President Abraham Lincoln and all those who fought in the Civil War for freedom of those who were enslaved.  There were also other issues but today my thanks go to those who wanted all people to be free.

I want to thank all of those who served our country in our military … There is a saying, and I do not know whom I am quoting, but I must quote it, for over the years when our men and women went into the military, “all gave some and some gave all.”  So I say thank you for all those who served this country in the past, for if not for them, and please think about this, we might be speaking another language or needing to go “underground” to speak out for our Lord God.

So thanks to all  who served our country I the past in the ARMY, the NAVY, the AIR FORCE, the MARINES, the COAST GUARD, and the MERCHANT MARINES and all of our reserve units.  This would include a lot of dear friends and relations, and two of our ministry team of five.  Thanks to those two, Grant Crocket (Army) and Dolores Lehman (Air Force).  We also have many of the supporters of our ministry who were in the military.  If I would list some, I would miss others, so I will just say thanks to all of you.  Thanks also to our son Glenn and his wife Dian who are Navy veterans and to our grandson Daniel, the son of Glenn and Dian, who is currently in the Navy.

To our veterans who have gone on before us, be it by death for this nation or just passing on from this earth … Thanks and may God bless the families left behind.  And remember we are losing them today, today in our current wars.

To our veterans who are living today, and please, please remember this, we have veterans who are just 18 years of age who are home and living in military hospitals from injuries that they have already received.  So we pray for their healing, and that God will bless all of them.  Please remember that some of those injuries and wounds are just from being in battle, things left in their minds.  So prayer warriors, please pray hard.

So today, I give thanks to God, first to His Son, my Savior and yours also if you have asked Him to be for giving us our personal freedom from sin …

And I give thanks to all of those men and women who have fought or stood ready to fight so we could also have freedom.  Freedom to speak, to stand up for whatever you want to stand up for, and for keeping our country free so I and others like me can preach, teach, sing, and otherwise talk about our Lord.

God bless all of you this day and may God bless the United States of America, even though we are unworthy of it … Thank You, Father … I love all of you … Pastor Daniel W. Lehman.

Wed/Thur 5/23/24 12 Sin, Faith, Duty 3

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”  He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey.”

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

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.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  I just hate myself when I don’t get to the computer and get a message out, and more so when it is Salvation Wednesday.  So today we do Salvation Wednesday and also Thursday, the day we pray for churches, schools, and families.  But first, this praise report!

Dolores had the picc line removed yesterday morning, and the last blood test taken on Tuesday showed ALL INFECTION HAS CLEARED.  All glory and honor to God, for they wanted to (1) remove her third new knee and put in a “straight leg”, (2) open up and wash out the infection around the new, two weeks in a row … none of that was done … the third knee has failed, and she said “no more surgery, not another knee, I will wait on God to heal it or live with it till I get my new body.”

Now this prayer request for today, please pray for Ron who has cancer and for whom we have been praying.  Ron has a PET scan today to get ready for a bone marrow transplant.  Hey Ron and Donna, God has a good hold on you, have faith and go forward, you are loved on this line!

Let me get to the message:

5 23/24 2012 Sin, Faith, Duty 3 Luke 17:5 – The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey.” (NIV)

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 – 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)

Today, brothers and sisters, I am working on the Faith part of Sin, Faith, and Duty.  The scriptures that God led me to today reflect that.  From Luke 17:5 we see Jesus talking to His apostles and they are stating to Jesus, “Increase our faith!”  So what is that telling me today, what is God pointing out to me on this scripture?  He is telling us, all of us, to increase our faith.  Now all of us have faith in Christ, or all that are saved, we have that faith.  But Jesus wants us to have more faith, and to me that means we need to trust Him more and more each day.  It does not mean to test Him.  If you want to plant a tree, don’t go to Lowes or Home Depot, get in front of a tree, and pray for it to go to your house.  That is not what this example means as Jesus was telling them about moving a mulberry tree.  What He is saying is if we buy the tree or someone gives us a tree, and we have faith, we can take it home and plant it and it will grow.  Think about that, when you plant tomatoes, and I must get mine soon, you plant them and you have faith they will grow.  But we need to increase our faith.  I think you know what I am talking about.  So please pray for your faith to increase.

Now I also used John 14:6 and Romans 10:9/10 for those scriptures are just two places in the Bible that tell us how to get into Heaven.  And what is it, it is faith.  Now we who trust God and have Him locked into our hearts and work for Him have faith, we are going to heaven.  If someone asks you how you know you are going to heaven, you can show them in the Bible what it takes, or you can just tell them you have faith in Jesus Christ to take you home.  If someone asks you if “you can prove you are going to heaven,” well, you can only say, our faith in Jesus tells us we are going.  Let’s face it, folks, our relationship with Jesus, and that is what you need, a relationship with Him to get to Heaven.  We cannot show folks someone who went and came back.  We must “trust and obey”.  The word tells us we must confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and we must believe it in our hearts.  Also as always on Salvation Wednesday we need to bring others to the feet of Jesus to be saved … Amen!  Let’s pray now for our own faith and renewal … Today this will be an “I” prayer.

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive me of my sins.  I have faith and confess that I know you, Lord, and that Jesus died for me and was risen from the dead, I believe that in my heart.  Lord, today also I pray for Ron and ask that Your will be done as he goes forward with treatments.  Yes, Lord, we want him healed here on earth.  Thanks also for clearing the infection from Dolores.  And, Lord, for this family day, I pray for a family that has some fighting going on between brothers and sisters, and Lord, there might be more than one family like that.  Heal their wounds that have come out of their mouths.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings and also the love of Jesus, which is your best blessing.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Monday 5/21/2012 Sin, Faith, Duty

Jesus said to his disciples:  “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.  It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.  So watch yourselves.”

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters!  What a great day to be alive and well and in love with Jesus.  Monday and the day we pray for our leaders.  So please start with those in Washington and then your state house and the local folks also.  Also today please add Lauren Green to your prayer lists.  Lauren has cancer.  And the 14 year-old who had the heart transplant is named Dillon.  Monday is also the day we pray for our veterans, military, police, firefighters, and all others who work tirelessly to keep us safe and healthy.  Please remember your family doctor, and if you are like me, please remember your foot doctor. J Happy feet are neat …

5/21/2012 Sin, Faith, Duty (Day One) Luke 17 – Jesus said to his disciples:  “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.  2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.  3a So watch yourselves.” (NIV)

Now please do not go out and sin on purpose just because I pointed out this part of scripture!  “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come.”  We can get into enough sin, and notice I said we, we can get into enough sin without trying to find it.  Jesus is telling us here, and it is recorded in the Bible that sin is bound to come.  Now, folks, we seem to always want to blame sin on Satan, but truly we give him too much credit, too much honor.  Let’s take a look at what God is giving me on this.  Yes, sometimes those sins come to us through our friends, and let’s face it, most of the time we can get into those sins all on our own … RIGHT?  So, if you want to take a good look at who causes the  most sin in your life, go look in the mirror … I’ll wait … okay, did you take a look at who causes the most sin in your life?  Yes, if we did not fall into sin, it would be nice …

Now let’s look at the heart of this message.  “Woe to that person through whom they come.  It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.”  This warning spells out to all of us about causing others to sin, but more if we cause a little one to sin.  Might as well tie a millstone around our neck, okay, tie a big hunk of cement around our neck and jump into the river or your backyard pool.  That is what the Bible is telling us.  It was just last week when a youth pastor at a church in Pennsylvania, and I think it was Hanover, but I am not sure right now, anyway, he was sentenced to a long term in prison as he pled guilty to crimes against children.  I don’t need to spell this out to you, it has happened.  And while God knows who has caused those children to sin, it is not just the sex crimes of those who get caught.  Some parents who have used their children to shoplift, or had them do other crimes.

Now I want to point out another thing, this is not just a warning of causing sin to little ones, take this as a warning not to cause any others to sin.  As I said, we can get ourselves into most all of the sin and we need to look in the mirror, but we also do not want to take others down with us.  (Down, did you get that drift or do I need to spell out Hell?)  Here is a wild example of this … Now I did not do this, no “we” in this one … You call out to your friend, “Hey, Joe, can you drive me to the bank?”  Joe tells his friend, okay, and at the bank, he tells you he is going to knock it off (hold up the bank).  He asks you to wait, now you have a choice, you can wait or leave, or even call the police.  You wait, the friend got you into the sin (thou shalt not steal) but you also said ok!  (Pull the visor down on the car and check the mirror.)  Yes, the man got Joe to sin, but Joe also did the sin.  Two are guilty, one has two sins, the other one.  The neat thing … God will forgive them both … HOW ABOUT THAT??

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive us of our sins, forgive me of my sins, dear Lord.  I did not rob a bank, dear Lord, but I have sinned against you, dear Lord, and as always, I need forgiven.  Lord, please hear our prayer requests and act upon them according to Your will.  And thanks again for last night, dear Lord … In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Thur/Fri May 17/18 2012 The Lost Son

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field.  When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.  ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  The older brother because angry and refused to go in.  So his father went out and pleaded with him.  But he answered his father.  ‘Look!  All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.  Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home you kill the fattened calf for him!’  ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.  But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and now is found.’”

PRAIES GOD, PRAISE GOD.  This just in, at 9:00 PM Thursday evening … A nurse has called Dolores and had the results of her most recent blood tests, her white blood cells are normal, meaning no infection, and her potassium level is 5.0 which brings that down in line on the kidney failure.  In other words, folks, GOD HAS TAKEN AWAY THE INFECTION, yes, working through the hands of medical people on some of it, while on other things, our Master Jesus has done it directly … All honor and glory to Jesus, sorry, doctors, you don’t get any.

Good Evening/Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Yes, I m doing a double, for we were off and running early today.  We left early this morning, picked up bread for the food pantry and then on to pick up two skids of MRE’s for the food bank.  I do pray and hope you do also that these work well for our food bank.  I think these will be excellent for them, and let’s face it, if they are good enough for our men and women in the fields of battle, then brothers and sisters, they should be good enough for all of us to eat.  Prayers today for the Thursday group, schools, churches, and families and Friday for those working the fields of Harvest for Jesus … New on the prayer list today, Stan Rockey who is going to the hospital tomorrow for heart tests.  Please keep praying for Ron who has cancer, for Debbie who has cancer.

Let’s get to the message …

5/17-18/2012 The Lost Son 4 – Luke 15:25 – “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field.  When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come, ‘ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in.  So h is father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father.  ‘Look!  All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.  Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  30 But when this so of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and now is found.’” (NIV)

So as we wrap up the story of the lost son today, what sticks out in your mind?  Here we have a returning son, one who was lost, away, face down in the dirt, the pig pen and hungry, and he came home, and we have his brother getting very upset because their father was throwing a party for the one coming home.

This is so easy, so right in front of our faces that you would think we would all know this.  Once again, I put myself in the example seat.  I was lost and I came back, I had an older brother, and he did not get upset, for you see, well, he was lost also.  He also came back, but when we came back, and I was first back, our earthly father was already home with Jesus, as was our mamma.  It is not our earthly father that this example is about.  I was welcomed back by our Father in Heaven.  He opened His arms and welcomed me home.  Oh, you say, when did He open His arms?  On the cross, of course!  Then my brother came back, and I remember the day.  My phone rang, “Danny,” my brother said, when I answered the phone, “I am going to die,” he said.  I said, “right, Leonard, we are all going to die.”  I thought he was joking me.  He then said, “No, I just came from the doctors and I am going to die.  I have cancer really bad.”  I told him I would be right up.  So up over the mountain into Perry County I went and sat down and talked to him.  We got out Mom’s old Bible which he had at the time and we looked at the places she had written in the Bible for us to look at.  John 3:16, John 14:6, Romans 10:9/10, and we went over them.  We prayed together for his soul and he took Jesus as his Savior.  Then I said, Leonard, you are living with a lady and not married to her, they had been married but got divorced.  I said, you cannot have that daily sin and keep asking each day for God to forgive you.  Three days later (three day waiting period), I married them.  Two months later I buried him.  He was to last at least six months, but God took him after just two months, and HE IS WITH THE LORD, FOR HE WAS WELCOMED BACK.  He was lost and now was found, he was dead before he died, but alive after he died.  Let me say that once again, for it is sort of what some will  not believe … I said he was lost and now was found, like the lost son in the Bible.  Then I said it this way, but it is the same thing as in the Bible.  He was dead, before he died, but was alive after he died.  I love it, I mean not my saying but the fact that GOD THE FATHER WELCOMES US HOME …

So if you have a wayward son/daughter, it is not if you welcome them back into your earthly home time and time again if they drifted, it is that you need to get them to come back home to Jesus … did someone say AMEN?

Dear Father in Heaven … Thanks for taking me back home and my brother and all those others who have come back home to You.  Thanks for putting Your arms around all of us and bringing us who love You back home.  Thanks for healing Dolores.  Now, Lord, if you would be so kind as to honor our prayer requests according to Your will, we will give You the honor and glory … In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings, and work with others to bring them to Christ, that is really the best blessing you can share, your blessing of being saved, born again ALIVE … love ya, Pastor Dan.

Wednesday 5/16/2012 The Lost Son 3

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  The son said to him:  ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick!  Bring the best robe and put it on him.  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it.  Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.  So they began to celebrate.”

Good Salvation Wednesday morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Wow, Salvation Wednesday and the day we pray for the lost, and pray that God will use we who are saved to help bring in the lost.  Other prayer requests for Vicki, whose knee is not healing and she is in pain.  For Bill Fertenbaugh who lost control of a bungee cord and it hit him in the eye.  Please pray for full sight to return.  Bill and his wife Joni are prayer warriors on this line and workers in our food pantry, and what a great couple.

Today, I feel so blessed, I turn 71 today and am going as strong as I did when I was 70!  Which was yesterday.  Once again today, I want to make this promise to God with all of you as my witnesses … I am going to do my very best to work for God until the day He calls me home.  Dolores and I made that promise to the folks at The Bridges a few months back and told them as long as The Bridges will have us we will be there to preach, teach, and sing for Him, and for them.  I have figured out that the secret to a longer life is not to die when you are young!  With that, I better get to the message.

Luke 15:11 – Jesus continued:  “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘father, give me my share of the estate.’  So he divided his property between them. 13 Not long after that the younger son got together all he had and set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” 14 “After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘how many of my father’s hired men have food to spare and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him:  Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me like one of your hired men.’  So he got up and went to his father.”  “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 The son said to him:  ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick!  Bring the best robe and put it on him.  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it.  Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.  So they began to celebrate.”  (NIV)

Yes, I am repeating the scripture in full each day so you can keep following it, but my message keeps going forward from where we left off the day before.

I left off yesterday with the son losing all he had and going to work for a pig farmer, finding out that the pigs were eating better than he was and knowing that his father, who had wealth, had servants making more than he made and was then willing to head back home and ask to be forgiven and telling his father he would be willing to eat and work with the servants.  Okay, so let me ask this question, out of all who have come to Jesus, either for the first time or after taking a walk-about as in walking away from Jesus, how many came to Jesus at one of the lowest points in your life?  Think about it and let me answer for me … Yes, as you know I was raised by Christian parents, but I did take a walk-about, drifting away from God.  Then in 1980 I hit a low point in my life, real low, and that is when I came back to Jesus.  Have there been hard times since?  Yes, but like the story of the lost son, I came back when I was face down I the hog pen, so to speak.

I think a lot of people think that once you come to Jesus you will never have a bad day or never have pain or anything wrong.  The fact is we do go through hard times, we go through pain, we have hardships, etc.  The difference is, we have someone to walk with us, someone other than family, we have Jesus, and with Him, we will never be alone.  We could be out in the woods lost, but we would not be alone, we could be in the mountains, but we can never be alone… In fact, there is no place you can go and be alone for He will be with us until the very end of time.

So the story of the lost son is not about a son and his earthly father, it is really about all of us and our Lord Jesus.  You see, regardless of how we went out and acted, our Heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus, will always welcome us home… But again I remind you that He is with us always, so when we do go out and act poorly, He already knows what we did, so please if this shoe fits on your foot, then get on your knees and come back to God.  In fact, let’s do it right now …

Dear Father in Heaven, yes, You are with us always, and we, I am sure, do not always please You, and speaking for myself, I know for a fact, I don’t always please You.  So for me, forgive us, all who ask in the name of Jesus, and please act on our other prayer requests according to Your will for those concerned.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.

Have a blessed day, my dear brothers and sisters, and please share your blessings.  I love ya, Pastor Dan.

Tuesday 5/15/2012 The Lost Son 2

“After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.  He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  When he came to his senses he said, ‘how many of my father’s hired men have food to spare and here I am starving to death!  I will set out and go back to my father and say to him:  Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me like one of your hired men.’  So he got up and went to his father.”

Good Tuesday morning, my dear brothers and sisters … CONGRATULATIONS to our prayer warrior and helper and supporter of our food pantry Helen Thomas, on receiving for the second time, an outstanding nurse award from the Hershey Medical Center … Praise God for nurses!!!  Being a nurse is not an easy job as we all know, and God has lent talent to this young lady who has used it well.  Thank you, Jesus, for all nurses, and thank you, Jesus, for Helen.  Thanks to all of you for your prayer support for our son Matthew.  I received so many nice emails about this.  He is in God’s hands, we have done all we can do.  Again, thanks for your prayers.

Prayer requests for today, please pray for Romaine Lehman, my only remaining aunt.  Pray also for a cure for things like cancer, heart problems, kidney failure, etc., and while praying for those cures, please keep praying for Ron and others with cancer, and for Pastor Larry and others who have had heart problems.   I have pulled the name on this request, but there is one who needs prayer for anger, please pray for them.  God knows who it is.  Let’s get to the message … Please take time to read the complete story of the lost son, Luke 15:11/32.

Luke 15:11 – Jesus continued:  “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘father, give me my share of the estate’ So he divided his property between them. 13 Not long after that the younger son got together all he had and set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” 14 “After he had spent everything , there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses he said, ‘how many of my father’s hired men have food to spare and here I am starving to death! 18 I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.” (NIV)

Here we find a man who wanted to go out on his own and asked his father in advance for his share of the family estate, and his father gave in.  Let’s put it into today’s terms, but I will tell you this now, if you do not read all week, you will miss the whole point on this story.  On today’s market, kids will leave home for a lot of reasons, as not all families have farms today, most live in nice homes, rented ore owned, and in most cases, not all, but most, parents would do anything to help their kids along, and that goes on for as long as it takes.  Kids might not ask for the estate today, but they ask for money to go to school and in most cases parents sign for loans or re-mortgage their homes, and/or give up a lot of things so the kids can go to school.  Some, after getting the money, drop out of school and parents pay off the debt, others see the kids go off to school, and spend more time drinking than doing their studies, and yes, some make it.  A lot of those come back home later.  Most left on good terms and come back welcomed.  However, there are lots of kids who for one reason or another leave, go to the outside, slam their parents, and forget how well they were raised.  However, if the child is raised right, they will return home and the good parent will forgive them.

I want to say here that there is a time that earthly parents have done about all they can do and must turn that lost son or daughter over to the Lord completely and just keep praying for them, we are going through that right now with our son Matthew.  And folks, notice I put daughters in here, as daughters have these same problems also.  Brothers and sisters, the hardest job God ever gave to people was to be parents.  Most have made mistakes, some did not raise their children to know God or know him well enough to really lean on God.  Others, while raising their children well, find out they have gotten themselves into alcohol and drugs.  And folks, some do not want to hear this, but once a kid gets into strong drugs, it takes over their being and the only way back out is God.  So it is so important to get God into their lives and the sooner the better, but it is never too late to keep putting our Lord in front of our kids.  Let’s face it, some of us - and I am using the term us, as you know that means me also – Some of us were lost at one time or another.  The difference with some old folks is that the drugs were not out there as they are now.  But again, you must follow this story deeper into the week, because this is not just about earthly parents …

As I close out for this day, I want to give you this to think about … We are all children of God, all of us, you, me, and all those out there, even if they say there is no God.  Even those non-believers, those who fight to get Jesus out of schools and other places, their brothers and sisters are also children of God.  Just think how God must feel when He looks down at all the wayward kids and also the fact we are all sinners, even when He wants us to be perfect.  I want you to think about your children and how they might have walked from you, but I also want you to think about yourself, and how you and I will do the same, think about how we took a hike from God.  Enough for today, let’s pray …

Father in heaven … Please forgive me of my sins, for I know I am a sinner saved only by Your grace.  Lord, You have seen and heard my thinking on our prayer requests and I pray for those on our lists and beyond, also those on the lists of churches worldwide.  We ask all things be done according to Your will for all of us on those lists.  Thanks for another day, Lord, may we honor You by living for You.  And, Lord, thanks for nurses.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  And remember, come back tomorrow and find out more about the lost son/daughter.  Love ya, see you tomorrow.  Pastor Dan.

Annual picnic

Willow Mill Park

Silver Spring Township

Saturday, July 7^th … eating at noon, music starts at 11 AM, rain or shine, and please bring a lawn chair

Monday 5/14/2012 The Lost Son

Jesus continued:  “There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father, ‘father, give me my share of the estate.’  So he divided his property between them.  Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had and set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.”

Good Monday morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  It is Monday and the day we pray for our leaders, our military, veterans, active, and reserves… also police and firefighters.  And please pray for the soul of our president.  He tells all he is a practicing Christian, and I say you cannot be a Christian and support gay marriage and also abortion.  And I am not judging, I am just offering my opinion.  President Obama will be judged fairly by our Lord, just as we will.  Please keep praying for the lad who received the new heart.  I still do not have his name, but he has been released from the hospital (already) and is now in the Ronald McDonald house with his parents … PRAISE THE LORD … Also pray for Mary, who had a tumor, that was cancer, removed from her brain last Tuesday and she is, listen to this, already moved to Health South for rehab and doing well.  The tumor was on the outside of the brain, and they feel they got it all.  I will give the glory to God, thank you.  Our son, Keith Lehman, Sr., is doing well after his shoulder surgery, but it will be a long recovery.  And now a very special prayer request for Dolores and myself.  Our son Matthew needs prayers and lots of them.  Matthew is bipolar and is running now at a low point … Trust me when I say he has a few other problems.  And while I write or start writing about the lost son, we have had him back home several times over the years.  Matthew is 43 and lives full time in a ministry home.  Some of you might have been through things like this, it is not easy, and being a pastor does not help.  Also pray for Sonshine Ministries where Matthew lives and the other men who live there.

Listen, I have too many tears in my eyes to go forward right now with the message on the lost son, for he sure is a lost son, so I am going to pray and get this out … I will work on the message tomorrow, but please pray for all on our prayer list.

Dear Lord, you know our prayer requests, please, please honor them according to Your will, and please, dear Lord, hear our praises about the healings we have been praying for, and Lord, please help our son, and please do not let him do something stupid to himself … In Jesus’ Name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings … I love ya, Pastor Dan.

Mother’s Day 2012

MOTHERS:  GOD’S SECOND GREATEST GIFT:  Mothers Day 2012

God’s second greatest gift:   If I were to ask you today, what is God’s second greatest gift, what would your answer be?  Might it be the air we live on, or the water we drink?  Might it be the food we eat, or the clothes we wear?  Might it be the car you are driving?  Wow, hold on here and let me tell you what I think God’s greatest gift is … but first, let’s look at His greatest gift.

God’s greatest gift, in this writer’s opinion, was, is, and always will be, Jesus.  Yes, Jesus, and all  He did for us comes in first place, for “God so loved the world that He gave us His son that whoever believes in Him should have everlasting Life.”

John 3:16 from my memory.  So what then would be God’s second greatest gift, and again this is my opinion …

God’s second greatest gift is MOTHERS.  Think about it, and maybe the only ones who will not agree with me are mothers who more than likely will say that God’s second greatest gift would be their children (except when they are teens).  Just kidding, kids!

I just need to talk to you about a lady who just loved me with all her heart.  She was Sarah 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 me by herself, as all week 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 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 me.  There was nothing she would not do for us.  She made most of our clothes, and 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 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 though they did not come apart.  I was getting out of the car and could see she was hurt really 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 policeman 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, until 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 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.

Yes, my friends, I think a Mother is God’s second greatest gift.  They start out by getting all out of shape just to carry a child in their womb, then they go through the pain of childbirth, and that is only the beginning of the pain a mother goes through for her children.  They change so many stinky messes, I don’t understand why they would want a baby.  Then they have to take care of you when you go through the two’s and then as the kids grow they become teenagers, and then comes that driver’s permit and car.  Does a mother ever get done being worried about her children?  NO!!  The Bible tells us not to worry, but believe me when I say a good mother never stops worrying about her children.  Mamma would tell me I caused her hair to turn gray, but I know it was my brother, not me.  No, my friends, I would love to be able to take back some of the things I did that caused my mother to worry …

So, folks, if you still have your mother, go and hug her around her neck today if you can.  Don’t get mad at her as she ages, for she still worries about you, the truth is she never really gave you over to your spouse, she just said she did.  You know, to this day, I don’t forget my mother and what she taught me.  She showed me all those things in the Bible I need to know, and she raised me up in the way of the Lord.  Oh, I took a walk away for awhile after my mamma went home to be with Jesus, but I came back, just like Jesus said I would do.

Kids, take my advice, love your mamma and your pop, hug them often, even if you are a kid of forty.  Let them see your love for them, and let Jesus see your love for Him also…

Longer Life: 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…

Who among us does not want a longer life?  Oh, those of us that are saved often will say we look forward to the day we see Jesus, and I for one do look forward to that day.  But believe me when I say I am not in all that much of a hurry, as I enjoy life here on earth, life with my family and friends.  And the Bible tells us to live a longer life here on earth, honor your father and your mother.

I don’t know if I ever met anyone who did not want more time here on earth, even if they say they didn’t.  Gosh, think about it.  Why would we go to the doctor’s if we did not want to add extra days?  People “work out”, “run”, “jog”, “take walks”, even dance with Richard Simmons, “drink special drinks”, take all those “vitamins”.  People try to “lose weight”, go to “weight watchers”, “LA Weight Loss”, drink “Slim Fast”, and stay fit in most any way they can, all trying to add a few days to their life here on earth.  Millions upon millions of dollars are spent all trying to make a longer life for us here on earth.  Name me one person who would not like to live to be a hundred if they could keep their health while doing it.  Do you know it tell us in the Bible ways to live longer?

Longer Life:  Honor your Father and Mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you … Sounds to me like we get extra days for honoring our parents.  God gave us these commandments and I am sure He did not take it lightly when He did.  He must also want us all to think well of our parents as it seems He set it up that if we honor our mother and father that we would have longer life.  Sunday is “Mother’s Day”, one day that is set aside to remember Mom.  I bet if you would talk to any mother, anyone at all, and would ask them what they really wanted for Mother’s Day, it would be for their children to honor them every day.  No gifts needed, my mamma would tell me, just be a good boy all the time.  HEY MAMMA, IT TOOK ME 71 YEARS, BUT I AM BEING A GOOD BOY  NOW …

Now let me just say a few statements here.  Do you know that how you live your life will bring honor or dishonor to your parents even if what is going on in your life had nothing at all to do with them?  Think about that.  Just telling mom that you love her one day a year or taking her out to eat one day of the year does not cut it in my book to bring honor to your Mother.  Folks, taking care of your mother or honoring her only on Mother’s Day is likened to the people who only get to church on Christmas and/or Easter.  The same goes with our Lord Jesus, how we live our life day to day will bring honor and glory to  Him.  If we live a life that is pleasing to God, then I am sure it will be pleasing to our parents.  If you are blessed by still having your Mother, honor her this Sunday, and also the other 364 days of the year.  And for those of you like me, who have lost your mother, you may still lie a life to honor her.  Let’s face it, she got you started in life.  You just did not “pop in here.”  Amen.

Yes, I wrote this a few years ago, but it holds true today.  I loved my mamma and I miss her each day of my life.  She always wanted me to be a pastor.  Hey, Mamma, I made it.  I love you, Jesus, and I still love my mamma and pop.   Pastor Daniel Webster Lehman, Jr.  05/13/2012

Friday 5/11/2012 Promises fromGod

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in me.  In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. -------"

"Behold, I am coming soon!  My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. --------"

"Yes, I am coming soon." Amen.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  It is Friday and the day we pray for all those who work in the fields of Harvest for our Lord Jesus.  I ask you this question often!  Are you on this prayer list?  You better be for it is one of the commandments from our Lord Jesus.  From the book of Matthew ...

Matthew 28:19 - "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (NIV)

Mark 16:15 - He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." 16 "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (NIV)

So I ask again, are you on the prayer list today, because we are praying for all those who are working the fields of Harvest for Jesus.  So please pray for your pastor and all those missionaries who work in the fields of harvest and for those out singing the tunes of God.  But also pray for yourself, for if you are working for Him, you need the prayer, and if you are not working for Him, then pray for your assignment and get cracking.  By the way, Carry The Light Ministries took its name about 19 years ago from Mark 16:15. Yes, Jesus is The Light of the world, and we are doing what our name states ... we "Carry The Light".

Brothers and sisters, as we in Carry The Light age, we do not think of stopping the work for the Lord, we think about expanding.  You should see Santa's house.  And if we had more room, clothes would be next.

Oh, and please remember to mark your calendar for July 7th, for our annual picnic.  It is a hot, the food is good, and the fellowship even better, and if you have a fishing license, you an fish.  Hey, let's get to the message of today!  But today I want to pray ahead of the message.

Dear Father in Heaven, Thank You for all the messages on Your promises and for pointing out so many different ones of them.  But even better, Lord, I want to thank You for all those promises and so many others that I have not even touched on.  Lord, be with all Your warriors working your fields of harvest, and Lord, please, please bless them.  And Lord, for Carry The Light Ministries and our team, Lord, when we tire, lift us, and Lord, please open doors for us to expand as Your will wants.  As for our other prayer requests, Thy will be done, Lord, not my will ... In Jesus' name, Amen.

5/11/2012 Promises from God ... John 14:1 - "Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (NIV)

Revelation 22:12 - "Behold, I am coming soon!  My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." (NIV)

Revelation 22:20 - "Yes, I am coming soon." (NIV)

Here is the promise, my dear brothers and sisters, and let me tell it this way first ... HE'S COMING BACK!!!  HE'S COMING BACK!!!  HE'S COMING BACK!!!  HE'S COMING BACK!!!  He's coming back for us, and we'd better be ready.

When is Jesus coming back?  I do not know, but I do know this.  Jesus told us He is coming back and that was a promise from Jesus himself.  We need to dump our sins, ask to be forgiven, and get to work for him.

Brothers and sisters, you will be tested, and without using names, let me tell you of someone who was called a bigot because they do not believe in gay marriages, and they were told that in a church Bible study.  Sounds to me like they better dig harder into the Bible.  Let me be very clear, we must love the sinner but hate the sin.  And as we go into the fields of Harvest, we will be cut down because we stand up for Jesus.  Remember to turn the other cheek and be ready for that.  And as you get cut down, just focus on what Jesus did for us.

From the scriptures of today.  And please note, all our quotes from Jesus.  From the book of John, you can see that Jesus has gone ahead of us and has our room ready, we will be in the Lord's Mansion and we will be living with God and tings are going to be so good.  And in this scripture Jesus tells us that if He goes to prepare this room for us He will come back and get us.  He is not just going to leave the light on for us, He is the Light and He will be coming back for us.  But I must say I like how He leads into this scripture, as He tells us this ... "Do not let your heart be troubled."  Jesus does not want us to worry about this and when He is coming.  Some folks try and figure it out, how much of the scriptures have been fulfilled, folks, not even Jesus knows the time for His return.  Our job is not to figure it out, our job is to get our own lives in order and get working to getting the Good News out to others.

Those scriptures from Revelations do tell us this ... "Behold I am coming soon."  Folks, can you see it, can you picture this in your mind?  Just close your eyes and think about this.  You are with Jesus back on that day when He ascended into Heaven. You are sitting on a hillside and Jesus has just talked to you and gave you your marching orders.  (See the scriptures from Matthew and Mark above) and you see this ...

Luke 24:50 - When He had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven. (NIV)

And He made them this promise.  "I AM COMING BACK."  All honor and glory to our Lord Jesus.

And now may the good Lord bless you and keep you, may He cause His face to shine upon you and give you peace, and may you share the blessings you receive from him ... and remember this ... I love ya, Pastor Dan.

OH, did I say ... HE'S COMING BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Come on and SHOUT AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday 5/10/2012 Promises from God

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

Good Thursday morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Thursday and the day we pray for churches, families, and schools.  Please add "Lonewolf" to your prayer lists.  Lonewolf is one of our Native Americans that are on line with us.  She was kicked in the face by one of h er horses.  (OUCH!)  Speaking of horses, I rode one, my first ride ever last weekend ... And I was told to get on from the left, and I did, and I held onto the  horn on the seat, and when I went to swing over the horse it started to go, my head was almost on the ground as I held onto that horn (that did not work) and I yelled and cried, and after 3 minutes of this, thinking I was going to die ... a nice lady from inside K-Mart came out and unplugged that darn horse ...

Today I must speak out on this, but first let me ask you to keep President Obama in your prayers that he will turn to God, through our Lord Jesus to be saved.  Yesterday he spoke out saying he is in favor of gay marriages.  Knowing how he feels about abortion, that he supports abortion even in the final term and listen to this, even if the child, and it is a child, lives through a messed up abortion, he believes in letting the child just lay and die.  Then he said h e is a practicing Christian, and to that I say, he needs a lot more practice.  This man believes in mass murder as that in my opinion is just what abortion is.  COME ON BACK, JESUS.

Now please make sure you are right on tihs.  As Christians, we are to love the sinner and hate the sins ...

Now to the message.

5/10/2012 More promises from God.  Matthew 28:18 - Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. (NIV)

Wow, what promises from God, and look at this one ... Here we have Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, giving us "marching orders".  These are the final orders from God to us, listed in Matthew.  We are to go out and baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Now listen to me, Jesus did not say, go to school for seven years, become a pastor, or priest.  He said therefore GO.  Folks, I am not saying there is anything wrong with going to school and studying to be a pastor, priest, teacher of the gospel , or anything else, I am just telling you that God did not say you need to do it.  He told us to pick up our nets and follow him.  And please, please remember we are the disciples of today.  So we know all of that, we have picked up our nets, and we are following Jesus and we are teaching the good news of Jesus.  However, we have one more promise in this scripture of today ... Matthew 28:20 - "and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age."  Folks, Jesus is with us, 24/7/365, and will be till He comes and gets us out of here.  SOMEONE PLEASE SHOUT WITH ME

AMEN AND THANK YOU JESUS!!

Dear Father in Heaven ... Thank You so much for being with me and all others till the very end of time.  I love You, Jesus.  I love You ... please honor our prayers according to Your will... In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.  Tomorrow, the greatest promises ever!

Wed. 5/9/2012 More promises from God!

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.  The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here, He has risen, just as He said.  Come and see the place where He lay."

PRAISE REPORT, PRAISE REPORT.  I still do not have his name, but the teenager who needed a heart transplant, whom we prayed for on Monday, received that heart from a donor on Monday and the transplant is done and the lad is doing well...  I am still trying to get a name. Keep praying now that his young body does not reject the heart.

PRAISE REPORT, PRAISE REPORT...   Dolores went to the surgeon yesterday and they were to take fluid from her knee and send it for testing to see how the infection was coming.  God got there first, there was no more fluid to get  from the knee.  She is still taking meds through a pic line that she puts in every other day.  Blood was taken and sent to be check for infection.   

Good Salvation Wednesday Evening, my dear brothers and sisters.  It is Wednesday and the day we pray for the unsaved that they shall become saved, and the day we should put feet on this prayers and search out the unsaved to lead them in to be saved by Jesus.  Also please pray today for our son Keith Lehman Sr. who had major surgery on his right shoulder this morning.   Please keep praying for Vicki as she heals from her knee surgery.   Please add Beatrice to your prayer list...  She was hit head-on by a drunk driver and has suffered brain danger.   Her daughter, Priscilla, runs the food bank in Newport for the Newport Assembly of God.

Pray for some incoming food that we are receiving into our food pantry...  I understand we are going to get two skids of MRE's or meals ready to eat...  It will be nice to serve to the hungry of our area what our military gets to eat.  Let's get to the message as I work this week toward that GREAT PROMISE FROM GOD THAT IS YET TO COME... 

5/9/2012 Promises from God:  Matthew 28:2 - There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here, He has risen, just as He said.  Come and see the place where He lay."

Brothers and sisters, this is one about a promise that was made to His disciples and others who followed Him, and they heard this. I will suffer and die, and these words recorded in Matthew 26:32 "But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."  Another promise fulfilled, Jesus has risen as He said He would.  As we look at promises, some have been fulfilled, others are ongoing like "He will supply our needs" and yes, there is one yet to come...   Who will tell me about this big promise that I am going to write about on Friday?  Do you know it?  Where do you get the proof that it will happen?  and of course what is the promise?

Dear Father in Heaven...  Thanks for another day, thanks for answered prayers with the teenager and also with Dolores.  Hear our prayers again this day and act on them according to Your will and not ours... In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings. Love ya, Pastor Dan. 

Tuesday 5/8/2012 Promises from God!

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me." -------- "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Good Tuesday morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is Tuesday and the day we pray for a cure for things like cancer, heart problems, and other health related problems. Let's also pray today for a cure for hunger!

Brothers and sisters, I am sure we have all seen the ads on TV that show those starving little children with their ribs showing and the little pot bellies and flies all over them. World hunger is called that because it is just that, and you do not need to leave your very own neighborhood to find people who have or who are running out of food. So we pray today for the cures and for help feeding the ones who hunger for some good things to eat. Today I ask that you put some "feet on your prayers" (Pamela Sue Bower) and help someone. As you pray for someone to have food to eat, why not buy them some food, call it a prayer and a sack of potatoes.

Tuesday 5/8/2012 More Promises from God Matthew 25:35 - "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me." -------- 40 "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (NIV)

As we dig into the scriptures of today, please notice that a promise from yesterday is up again today. "I tell you the truth." As I bring out this promise from God, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me," well, we have heard that one a lot, if we feed the poor, it is the same as we are feeding Jesus, if we give them clothes, it is like giving Jesus the clothes. But on this promise I want to go back and bring out one word, one very important word. So often when we read something we can miss one word and it changes the subject or modifies it in some way. So what is the word I want to bring out? "WHATEVER." "WHATEVER you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

So you are saying, and pastor, your point is? My point is this, what if you just treated someone like, well, really, really bad? What if you just told some untruth about a person?What if you called them a bad name? What if, what if, what if... So we are aware of the fact that what we do good for people is like if we did it for Jesus, but what about that word... "WHATEVER?" To me, to me I say it means the same thing, good or bad, the way we treat others is like doing it to Jesus. Let me repeat that verse again...

Matthew 25:40 - "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, how are you doing after this is pointed out to you... Do you need to say a few prayers asking for forgiveness? Have you called Jesus the "N" word because you referred to one of our black brothers or sisters by that word? Have you called Jesus a bum because you yelled that to a person asking for food or money along the street?Brothers and sisters, God jumped that word right out at me today, so I would think I am once again writing a message for all of us, and as I have told you before "us = you and me." Amen.

Dear Father in Heaven, help us to remember that what we do for others is what we do for You. Lord, forgive me when I have messed up on this one, and I am sure it has been many times. Lord, thanks for this lesson today. And Lord, please act on our prayer requests according to your will. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings, AS IF YOU ARE SHARING THEM WITH JESUS for "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Words of Jesus quoted) love ya, Pastor Dan.