Tuesday 11/20/12 The Story 2

Dear Father in Heaven, Thank You so much for such a beautiful day.  Thanks for all the blessings that You loaned to us this day, and I pray that we will share them according to Your will for those blessings.  I just want You to know, dear Lord, and I pray all will be praying this prayer also, I just want You to know that I love You very, very much.  I confess I do not always understand Your will but I do pray that I will always honor it.  Help me, dear Lord, for I know I am a sinner and I know I want to walk with Jesus daily.  Some days I do not handle it well and I know that, Lord, so help me, dear Lord, when I slip.  Please be with our Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel and keep our homeland safe.  Be with Mrs. Clinton as she travels in Israel, a place, dear Lord, where our president should be right now.  I am sorry as a nation we are letting You down, Lord, but for me and for this line, we really want to walk it with You.  In Jesus' name, I thank You for the food coming in to the pantry and for the dollars coming in to buy more food.  And Lord, as we open Santa's House, help us to get out the real story of Christmas to all who come.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Good evening from the Southern Location of the North Pole, the Home of Santa's House and Carry The Light Ministries Food Pantry.  It has truly been a busy week here at the food pantry as we have been getting calls from all around, people we have never heard from, looking for turkeys.  When we ask them if they had a turkey already, most of the folks did say yes and were trying to get another one.  We do our main distribution of food with turkeys on the third Saturday of December.  Our turkey stock is now up to 55 and we are climbing, thanks to donations of turkeys and free turkeys from the Giant and one dear, dear family who saved up their spending money and sent it to us to purchase turkeys.  To that dear couple, I am having a ball getting those turkeys.  Giant Food Stores have a deal if you purchase $25 worth of food you can purchase a turkey for $.59 per pound.  I have been making trip after trip inside the Giant buying veggies which are on sale at $.50 per can, and when I get over that number of $25, I get another turkey.  What a great way to be a good steward of dollars trusted to us.

Thank you, Patsy and Burt, your donation was wonderful and I am having a ball.  By the way, Santa's House opens on Black Friday at 10:00 AM.  Bring those kids and grandkids.  No disappointment here, folks.  Now to the Story, and Day 2.

The Story (Day 2).

Luke 1:26 - In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.  The virgin's name was Mary.  28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you."  29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God."  (NIV)

Wow, this angel of the Lord, Gabriel, sure does get around.  You do remember just yesterday we talked about old Gabe coming to Zechariah and telling him he was going to be the father of John as his wife Elizabeth will be in the motherly way, and she is way up in years.  I mean, Elizabeth and Zechariah are old and they are going to have a child, and now six months later, Gabriel shows up at the home of Mary, who we over the years have lovingly called her "The Virgin Mary."  Now tomorrow we will talk about what Gabriel tells Mary, but for now, let me just say to you, what would you think if you were at work, or just sitting at home, men, maybe you are watching a football game, and ladies maybe you are in the bathroom working with your hair, when all of a sudden the room gets bright and here is this angel of the Lord, ladies, here is Gabriel, sitting on the edge of your bathtub saying to you, "Hi there, I bring you good news from our Lord Jesus."  Would your heart not be in your mouth, and your chest be pumping?  Maybe you are thinking, did I do something that bad that God dispatched an angel to get me back in line?  Or maybe you are thinking, is this the way we get called home, was my ticket just punched up in Heaven?  Forget the message, ladies, what would you be thinking, I bet it would seem like a month of Sundays until he got that message out ...

Men, what about you, you are watching the Steelers play and they just made a touchdown and you wanted to see it on a rerun, for you know the Steelers don't score often, when this angel Gabriel was sitting on the edge of your TV stand and you could see nothing.  What would you be thinking, get out of the way, or what did I do to get into this kind of trouble?  Maybe I should not have bet on this game?  I mean, what would go through one's mind?  What if you were Jeff Gordon, and he just got finished wrecking Jeff Burton and all of a sudden sitting beside Jeff in car 24 was Gabriel ... Hi, Jeff, I am an angel of the Lord, my name is Gabriel, and I have been sent to ... And Jeff might be thinking ... fine me the $100,000 NASCAR, but must you call up God and have the Big Guy come and take me away?  Think about it, folks, it could happen at any time, God could call on you to do something for Him, and maybe, just maybe, He might send an angel to get your attention.  I would think you would have been doing something good if He sent the angel to you, I mean God did find favor in Noah, and Zechariah, and now Mary.  When is it our turn, and what would we think about it?

Folks, I know when God called me into full-time service for Him, I was laying on the street.  No angel of the Lord came, Gabriel did not show up, but He did send a few police cars, two fire trucks, an ambulance, and a medical unit, as I laid on the street.  He even sent Bob Coburn, my assistant at the school on the fire truck, and that was one afternoon I will never forget.  Called into His service right there on the street.  Now you are mine full-time, and I just sort of went along for the ride after that, praying and following what I would hear from God as He spoke to my heart.

Maybe the one who comes for you might not be Gabriel, maybe it will be a police officer, or a fireman, or maybe He pulled you out of a flood with someone from river rescue or one of our National Guards.  Pray and listen as I am sure that sometime God will be calling on you to hear these words ... I want you to go into the world and tell the Good News of Jesus ... Are you ready to answer the call today?  Are you really?

Dear Father in Heaven, Here I am, Lord, is it I, Lord?  Yes, Lord, I am ready, and I pray all on this line will tell You the same today in prayer with You.  I am ready, Lord, I am ready, send me, Lord.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Ready, Set, Go, and share your blessings.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.