Monday 10/15/12 Entitlements

Dear Father in Heaven, thank You for another day of life here on this beautiful planet called Earth.  Thank You for the fact that I am a Christian, born again through the blood of Jesus whom I love very, very much.  Thanks, Jesus, for setting examples for all of us to follow, and forgive us, please, when we don't, and help to put us back on track.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  It is Monday and a really nice day here on the green side of the grass at the Southern Location of the North Pole.  Let me clear the air on something.  I am deeply in love with a man, I have confessed this before, and I have even told my wife.  The man's name is Jesus, and I love Him dearly.  I pray you all love Him also.  Today being Monday it is the day we pray for veterans, and folks, this morning on the news I saw a sad but really neat news clip.  It showed President George W. Bush dancing with one of our female veterans who gave a leg for our nation.  Praise God for our veterans and for our current military.  Today we also pray for our current military, our police (all types, even your local sheriff).  Please pray for firefighters, and folks, those would be the brave men and women you see running into a burning building as others run out.  Prayers also for Vicki as she has a full plate.  And Monday is also the day we pray for our President and other leaders, and PLEASE, PLEASE pray for our upcoming elections.  And please as you pray, listen for God to tell you who to vote for.  Please do not vote for the ONE WHO WANTS TO KEEP KILLING BABIES.  Please remember that the baby in the womb belongs to God.  It is a child of God.

Entitlements:  10/15/2012.

Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.  (NIV)

Entitlements:  More than likely I will have some people drop off the line for writing this, but I must give it to you as God gives it to me.  Have you talked to people about the upcoming elections and asked people why they would vote for a certain person - this not just in the presidential election, but even the local elections?  It seems a lot of people vote for the person who they think will give them the most.  Longer unemployment pay, higher wages, free lunches for kids, free breakfast for kids, free supper for the kids, food stamps, free health care, and I could go on and on.  Some people see ads on TV or hear them on radio about getting free meds, and even free scooters.

Brothers and sisters, there are NO FREE RIDES, someone must pay for these things, and all so often those who get up and go to work in the morning are paying for people who are NOT disabled but just too lazy to get out of bed and go to work.  I am telling it like it is.  I also know people who need our help and most of us know the difference.  I have been blessed over and over again to know a family where a mother, son, and daughter live together.  The kids even though they had some disabilities went to work daily, DAILY, and they worked hard and earned retirements, they took care of an aging mother and father, and still even after their dad went to be with the Lord, still take care of their mother.  These folks are truly in love with Jesus and worked hard all their lives, a great example for all to follow.  While on the other hand there are people out there who think the government should supply everything, regardless if they worked or not, and some of them keep having kids they cannot afford.

This morning when Dolores and I were praying and after thanking Him for taking us through another night and watching over our family and friends and our animals, we started asking for things.  It went like this ...

Please, Lord, thanks for another day of life and thanks for watching over our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, thanks for our ministry and thanks for our flock at the Bridges.  And Lord, we ask that You please keep watching over our kids and please be in charge of our next election, etc., etc.

And then I closed in the name of Jesus, of course.  Just a side note, when you pray, please close it up through Jesus, remember, Jesus is the way to the Father.  I hear people closing prayers saying, In His name, and I am thinking, do they know Jesus, why not pray in Jesus' name?

Anyway, as I prayed for a message for today it came to me, not only do a lot of people think that benefits that are given to them by our governments are "ENTITLEMENTS" when indeed they are not entitlements, they are benefits afforded unto people who need them.  And some people who do not need them are kept on them.  Remember, nothing is free, someone pays for those benefits.

Let me talk just a minute about ENTITLEMENTS.  We are entitled to nothing, nothing, I say, but we do have a promise that is the nearest thing to an entitlement that I can think of.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I SHALL NOT WANT!!!

I want you to really, really think about this, folks, as you pray, and yes, it is okay to ask God for things, but be sure, be sure you remember to give thanks, and if I am guilty of this, my please, Lord, list is always longer than my thank You, Lord, list.  Also, folks, it is good to help others, and if others who you help really did not need the help but lied about it, they and not you will answer for that in the end.  God will sort out all of this.  Let me tell you that each of us needs to address our own self and see if we are working right in the eyes of our Lord Jesus.  Do you remember years ago when we had the saying WWJD, or What Would Jesus Do?  We need to start that one up again and keep it as our guideline.  Would Jesus expect our government to supply us things?  You answer it ... I trust Jesus for my daily needs, for He will, as promised, take care of my needs and He even does good on my wants.  I think you are getting the picture.  What do you think, folks?  Do you think you are entitled to things that you do not pay for?  Folks, I am not talking retirements and Social Security where we paid into, we should expect that we get at least back what we paid in, but should we expect more and more?

As for ME AND MY HOUSE WE ARE TRUSTING THE LORD JESUS AND NOT OUR GOVERNMENT ... HOW ABOUT YOU?

Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for the message, I pray I got it right as You wanted it, please, Lord, and here I go again, hear our prayers as we listed them, and Lord, thank You for all things good and thanks for setting good examples for us to follow.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth and share those blessings.  And remember as you share them you cannot out-give our Lord Jesus when you indeed give in faith.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.