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