“Do not let
your hearts be troubled, Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if
it were not so, I would have told you. I
am going to prepare a place for you.”
Good
Salvation Wednesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. Yes, Salvation Wednesday and the day we pray
for all those who are lost, and pray that God will use all who are saved to
help the lost. My favorite picture of
our Lord Jesus is the one where He is holding the Lamb. I like to think of myself as that Lamb, just
one of the ones that Jesus came to rescue.
How about you, wee you also one of those that our Shepherd had to leave
the flock for? Also today, pray for Ron
Leidigh. Ron has cancer and was to have
a bone marrow transplant and has been put on other meds. For Joann who is having major back surgery
today. For Vicki who jus has a really
full plate of health problems. And
please put Dolores back on your prayer list, yes, infection is said to be
coming back. Pray for Keith and Christy
Lehman as they are within days of their first child, and yes, our great
grandchild. Let’s get to the message.
Building a
Bridge (Day 2): John 14:1 – “Do not let
your hearts be troubled, Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house
there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.” (NIV)
I don’t know
about you, folks, but one of my biggest fears in life is, I am afraid of heights. I had to stop wearing my western boots as the
2” heels on them made me nervous. Okay,
so it is not that bad, but let me get just a couple steps up on a step ladder
and I am worthless as far as working off of it.
So how does a person who is so afraid of heights get to the shore when
he needs to cross over one of those big, and I mean big, bridges? Most of you know that Dolores and I traveled
a lot by motorcycle in our younger days.
I remember one nice day when we got dressed up, got on the bike, went to
early church, and then decided to go to Wildwood, New Jersey, for some
seafood. Oh my, then came that big
bridge, and I was in traffic, no turning back now. I went to the middle lane, put on my best
tunnel vision, even though we were not in a tunnel. I took a deep breath, and I started to pray,
Dear Lord, please, please, please, and God was good and we made it. We got to Wildwood, found a seafood place and
trust me when I say it tasted just like they opened a box of fish sticks and
put them in a deep fryer. Then we went
out and got on the big Gold Wing and looked at the sky. Oh no, a storm is coming in. So we got going, later the rains came, we
stopped under a bridge and got in the trailer and pulled out the leathers. Then back on the bike and oh no, that bridge,
and this time it is raining and getting windy.
Back in the middle lane and up on the bridge and folks, if you have ever
taken a cycle over the bridge in the wind and the rain you know what I am
talking about when I say I had to lean the bike to keep it going straight. Once again God was good and we made it over
the bridge. I think Dolores held her
breath from one side to the other. Okay,
enough about me and the cycle (we still have two big Gold Wings, both antiques
now, just like us).
So how in
the world does one build a bridge like that?
Well, you start out with an engineer, and he gets in his train (no, Dan,
it is not a railroad engineer). Okay, so
it is a design engineer who went to school a long, long time to learn how to
build things that do not fall down. So
they build this suspended bridge like, well, like the Golden Gate Bridge, and
the Delaware Memorial Bridge. These engineers
must have that gift loaned from God to design one of those monster bridges and
get it right, but then they hand off the plan and someone must build it. Now I understand that God loaned a lot of
this working in high places talent to our native American brothers and even
sisters. Let me tell you that if I had
to make my living working up there on that high bridge or even the high steel
of a building (over two feet tall), my children would have been very thin. Anyway, this big bridge that I had to come to,
and you more than likely have also, was opened and it was now pounded and
pounded by heavy traffic, trucks, buses, cars, and yes, even motorcycles. Most people just cross them and think nothing
of it. For me it takes one thing and
that is what ties this story together with the message for today … What does it
take to design, build, and then cross the bridge? Well, it takes FAITH.
When I look
at the scriptures of today, what do they tell you? What part of the scripture jumps out at you
today? What part blends into the body of
the message today? Is it not this part? “Trust in God; trust also in me.” These words are a quote from Jesus and He is
telling us to have faith in Him.
Brothers and sisters, I had to have faith in God to cross over the river
and things below to even get on the bridge.
I am sure that the design engineers have to have that faith in God just
to put the bridge on paper, and then have also faith in the builders to get it
right. How about the foremen who must
read the plans? Folks, someday we are
heading to heaven … How do we know that there is a heaven? Yes, we read about it in the Bible and we
know, if we have Jesus in our hearts,
that heaven is there, but deep down, it is a walk of faith we must take. Tomorrow, more about Bridges. Maybe we will talk about “covered bridges”. Do you know why they built bridges with
covers on them? Let me know if you
do. Let’s pray.
Dear Father in
Heaven, my walk with You is a walk of faith, I know You live in my heart, I
know You travel with me, and I know it because I have faith in You. Lord, please look over our prayer requests
and honor them according to Your will.
In the name of Jesus I ask that You use us to bring the lost to
You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Now go forth
sharing your blessings and walking in faith with Jesus. And even if you have all the faith you can
have, please still look both ways before crossing a street. Love ya, Pastor Dan.
Coming July
7th … Our annual picnic with the world’s best baritone/bass singer,
Timothy Beitzel singing the gospel for all who attend. You’ve just got to hear this man sing. And then take another step in faith and eat
my cooking …
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment