Thursday 7/5/12 Total Trust

Psalm 28:7 - The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.  My  heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song.  (NIV)


Psalm 32:10 - Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him.  (NIV)


John 12:35B - "The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Put our trust inthie light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light."  (NIV)

Good Thursday Afternoon, my dear brothers and sisters.  Before I get started with today's message, let me do a tad more work on Independence Day.

Psalm 33:12 - Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance.  (NIV)

Again, thanks to our veterans and to our current military for keeping our nation free.  Here are a few more people who I want to add to our list of veterans ...

Army:  Donald Saylor (deceased), Oliver Ogden

Air Force:  Charles Wotring (Charles flew President and Lady Bird Johnson)

Navy:  Donald Coffin (Please take time to pray for Don's wife Helen, who has advance stages of cancer)

If I missed you, please let me know.

Please pray for the families of Pastor James Morris and Pastor David Oller, both Assembly of God pastors who went to be with Jesus on Tuesday.

Update on the picnic ... it WILL BE HELD, regardless of the weather, regardless of the heat, we are in the shade, along a running creek, and will have fans running.  We will have plenty of water to drink ...

Since we start at 11:00 AM with music and eat at noon, we should be ahead of the heat of the day.  The food is ready and will be good ...

Let me get to the message ... Remember I am tying this together with my animals.

Total Trust Day 2.

Here is lesson number two.  Our dogs do not always listen to us, yes, sometimes they spot the carpet or don't come when called.  Well, let me tell you that there has been more than one time in my life that I have not listened to my Master, our good Lord, and if I were to be standing on the "carpet of life" there would be more stains on it than the carpet in our house.  (Maybe that last part is more than you need to know.)  God has trusted in me for many things yet I have done my share of staining up things.  The good thing is that the blood of Jesus is a great stain remover.

Dolores and I forgive the dogs when they mess up, and we clean and sanitize the carpet and floor and in fact even pulled the carpet out of the house and replaced it with flooring we can wash, which I do daily.  My friends, God does the same to us, only even better.  God picks us up when we fall, forgives us when we ask, and cleans up the stains of our mess.  The neat part here, is God takes away all the stain from us.  (I could not always get the spots from the carpet so it was moved.)  But God will get every stain out of us and He does it over and over again if we just ask.  Yes, folks, I have been washed and sanitized by God, and yes, over and over again.  Let's look at today's scriptures.

Psalm 28:7 - The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song.  (NIV)

I like this scripture because The Lord is my strength and my shield and I do trust in Him ... And yes, I am helped daily, not always the way I ask, for I must remember that sometimes God does say no.  But I still trust him, and yes, I do give thanks to Him in song.  Now folks, remember if you trust in God and you want to give thanks in song, do it.  Don't say you can't sing, for God tells us to make a joyful noise ... Sing, brothers and sisters ... (you might want to start in the shower before you go on stage).

Psalm 32:10 - Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him.  (NIV)

I hate to say that I am wicked, but folks, I am looking at that as being a sinner, and I am indeed a sinner,and God never stops loving me, never.  Even that man who is trying to stop people from getting a discount at a restaurant if they bring in church bulletin is loved by God, HE LOVES ALL PEOPLE BUT HE HATES SIN.

We are to be the same.  Love everyone, they are after all our neighbor, but we must not love their son, we must hate it.  We must also learn to hate all sin, including our own.  REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR.

John 12:35B - "The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.  36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become son of light."  (NIV)

Okay, tonight, when it is dark, take a good look around your house, really good, and then turn off all the lights and start walking, keep your eyes closed.  You are going to fall for sure.  We have dogs that are blind, cannot see a thing, and we watch them walk around the house.  They do well, but they run into things and if we move a chair, they hit it.  But this scripture goes far beyond the darkness when it comes to eyesight.  It is talking about walking in the dark, in bright light of day, for if we do not have Jesus in our hearts we are INDEED WALKING IN DARKNESS.  Jesus is the light of the world, and if we are not walking with him, we are walking in the dark.  And brothers and sisters, we all, and I am saying we, we all need to RENEW with the Light each day.  Try sitting on the edge of the bed each morning and talking to Jesus, ask Him to light your way ... Your day might not be perfect, but it will be better than hanging out without Jesus.  And SOMEDAY IT WILL be perfect.

Dear Father in Heaven ... Thanks for this line and protecting it, and thanks for the message today and for helping those on our prayer list.  Lord, help us through this day, and please be with those with cancer.  Be with Helen Coffin and heal her please, and Lord, please be with the families of the two Assembly of God pastor who came to you on Tuesday.  Lord, bless their families as we thank you for their service here on earth.  Forgive us of our sins and help us to repent.  In Jesus' Name we pray.  Amen.

Now go forth and serve God, and you can start by sharing your blessings ... Love ya, Pastor Dan.