Tuesday 8/14/12 Helping Others 2

Luke 10:29 - But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  30 In reply, Jesus said:  A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers.  They stripped  him of clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.  Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of  him.  35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper.  'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'  36 Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"  (NIV)

Good Tuesday afternoon, my dear brothers and sisters.  Praise God.  Someone called us today and said they had seen Matthew and he was okay.  We still  have not heard from him.  Please add to your prayer list, Tanya Bates (cancer) and praise God while you are praying for her, for the tumor has been reduced by God from the size of a football to about the size of an orange.  She will be healed by God, folks, she will, please keep your faith.  Another praise report.  Dolores was at the kidney doctor and got a great report.  Thanks be to Jesus.  Let's get cleaned up now before the message.

Dear Father in Heaven, we have come to You for our daily bath, the bath of Your blood cleaning us from our sins, and we ask by saying please clean us, Lord.  And then help us to repent.  Sorry, Lord, that I mess up so much, but I, Lord, will never stop trying to please You.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Tuesday, and the day we pray for the cures for all those illnesses.  Please also keep praying for those who have been on our prayer list.  Tomorrow would be Salvation Wednesday, but I am going to switch that to Friday, so we can wrap up the week with Salvation, and it is also the day we pray for the workers in the fields.  Now while we pray for many folks daily, any suggestions on a group prayer for Wednesday?  Send your suggestions to me, please.

Healing Others (Day Two).  Okay, so today we take a look at the Parable of the Good Samaritan and Jesus asks us which one of those who passed (thanks, Pam) by is our neighbor.  First, put yourself in the man's shoes who was beaten up by the robbers.  You are lying along the road and you are hurting, and while they beat you, they also took your cell phone, so you can't call for help.  So you lie there.  Would it make a difference who would stop and help you?  I don't think it would and I am sure it would not make a difference to me.  I would be just praying and asking God to send help.

Okay, now here you go, you are walking down the street and you see a man lying on the street, beaten and robbed, would you stop and help?  I am sure you would, but today I want to put some things in the mix.  Okay, let's say it this way.

Men first, what if the person needs some CPR, with some mouth to mouth help?  Okay, so it is a nice looking lady, guys, and she needs the help, so you say, sure, I would be able to give mouth to mouth.  But what if the lady was of a different color than you, would that make a difference?  But now what if it was another man, would you be able to save that person's life?  MEN, would you, if needed in case of an emergency, give mouth to mouth breathing help to another man?  I can answer that question for me, for back in my days as a police officer I had that placed in front of me, and yes, I handled it all right.  Remember, men, God started us off by blowing air into us.

Ladies, how about you?  If you came upon someone who needed help and you had to start their breathing by giving them direct air from you, would you be able to do it?  I think the women would be able to handle that, I really do.

Today, so many people say, if I stop to help someone I might get sued.  Golly, I am glad Jesus did not worry about that when He was on the cross dying for my sins.  I am glad Jesus did not worry about getting sued by someone when He cleared me of cancer.  Brothers and sisters, how far would you go to help someone else who was hurt regardless of how they were hurt?  Here is a good question to ask in return ... How far would you want someone to go if you were hurt and the one needing help?  Maybe that is a good way to make you understand it.  But the final question is, how far would God want you to go.  And trust me on this one, if God has you there, right there when an accident happens and help is needed, just ask God to help you and it will happen.  God will make it right.  You might think of a hundred reasons why you might not want to stop and help someone, but there is one good reason why you should ... Because Jesus helps us and we are to be Christ-like ... AMEN!!

Dear Father in Heaven, we want to love all of our neighbors and I pray that if an emergency we come to, that You would help us to deal with it on the spot.  Be with all of those on our prayer lists and heal them and work with them according to Your will.  In Jesus' name,  Amen.

Tomorrow, how old should we be when we stop working for Jesus?  Now go forth and share your blessings ... Love ya, Pastor Dan.