Tuesday 11/6/12 The Big Three

Dear Father in Heaven, Thanks for waking us this morning and thanks for taking care of us overnight.  Today is our election day here in America and we just turn it over now to You, praying Your will is done and that people will  pray and then listen to You and then vote according to what You spoke to them.  Help us move on this day having faith that You are indeed in control of all things.  In Jesus' name I give You praise that we have a country where we can go out and vote for our leaders.  Thanks for that, dear Lord.  Please keep Your hand upon our ministry team, upon the unborn child of Beth, upon families this day, and please be with Patsy and Burt.  Lord Jesus, I love You and I pray in Your wonderful sweet name, the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Good Election Day Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Dolores and I woke early, got ready and went out to vote, arriving at the polls at 6:00 AM to be first in line and we were.  Dolores voted in the number one spot and I in number two.  As we were leaving we saw many neighbors and friends, and the line was long.  Brothers and sisters, your vote counts, please get out and vote.  Besides praying for whom to vote, pray for a safe election.  And pray that we get back to being ONE NATION UNDER GOD.  And praise God, as the political ads and phone calls will end today.  We have many on our prayer lists that have come in, and I must get it worked up and posted.  For today, center your prayers on the election.  Now to the message, the Big Three.

John 12:41 - Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about Him.  42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Him.  But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.  (NIV)

Yes, brothers and sisters, I did write on this subject before, and God as often has put me back on that same subject, however, I am sure He will give me a new look at it.

The Big Three.  Today I want to talk to you about the big three, Manny, Moe, and Jack ... No, no, that was not right ... ABC, CBS, NBC ... No, Dan, that is not it ... Ah, I got it, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler! No, wrong again ... Now I got it ... Baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie.  No, I messed it up again.  Pray, listen, vote!  That is still not  it.  Okay, here it comes ... the big three ... The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit ... Well, they are indeed the big three, and I will save them for another day, but today I want to talk to you about the big three that God gave me again.  My big three for this week are "Faith, Hope, and Love."

So today let me just start with Faith.  First you all must know that being a Christian is based on faith.  Yes, we are for sure a "faith" based religion.  Yes, it takes faith to believe in Jesus and His Word and The Words of others in the Bible.  We were not there.  Look, however, at the scripture of today and how some people were afraid to confess their faith in Jesus because they might have been tossed out of the synagogue.  What about you today, are you afraid to stand up and confess your faith in Jesus because you are afraid that someone will put you down or say you can't talk about Jesus here, wherever here may be?

When did we first start to grow faith?  Let's go the whole way back to when we were in the womb, yes, since the moment that we were conceived.  Think about it, we were depending on our father and mother right from the start.  First we depended on our father to have a good clean body, not full of drugs and things that can be passed onto you as you grow, and folks, today so many men and women are "bed hopping" that when someone has a disease it can be passed along to the child, a disease like AIDS.  Then of course your mamma.  Yes, your mamma.  You have faith while in this comfort zone in the womb that she is going to eat good foods, not be drinking bad stuff, and not smoking and doing other things that will hurt you.  Then you have faith that she is going to get good medical attention and also that she will be a good mamma.  Then you are left out of the womb.  Boom, daylight and a whole new world.  The first thing you do is cling to your mother and look for those feeding places.  Yes, mamma puts you near them and you have faith she will do that, and you eat that first meal, dining out so to speak.  Gosh, eating out for the first time.  Mamma's family restaurant, and right now, unless you were a twin or triplet or more, this restaurant which has seating for two, only has one customer.  Ah, faith for a good meal and regular feedings, even at two in the morning when you get hungry.  Then you have faith that someone is going to change your pants.  Now if you want to see good examples of faith just watch a dog or cat with their family.  Even our mother goat.  The mother has their babies and then starts right away washing them and feeding them and with all the faith those little ones can have, they crawl up to the restaurant, which by the way has much more seating than our mammas had and have.  (I bet you ladies are happy about that one.)  Goats have table space for two.  Anyway, those dogs and cats wash the little ones, and we do the same, okay, in a different way, but we must clean up those babies, and as a baby we had that faith that it would get done.  And folks, as we grow does not our faith in our parents grow and grow?  I think back to the time when we first can remember, and we did not know where our meals came from, we just knew that they were there.  We did not know at this time that our Father in Heaven was providing our needs, we just had faith that at dinner time there was going to be something to eat.  And our faith grew and grew in our parents.  We had faith as we learned to walk that they would catch us if we started to fall.  We had faith if we did fall that they would pick us up and kiss our boo-boo.  And then when learning to ride that bike, we had faith that they would be holding onto the seat to keep us up.  And you know, even when they let go, we still had faith in them.  Our parents let go of that seat and we still had faith in them after that.

Now when we were born, our Lord Jesus gave us free will, and although He keeps His hands on us, He does let us do our own thing as we get older.  He does talk with us, and if we dig into the Word we find how He really does take care of us as he provides our needs.  Hey, when we slip and fall and get all stained with sin, He will "kiss our boo-boos" with His blood that was shed on the cross when He died for us.  Brothers and sisters, it is all about faith, our faith in Jesus, and do you know He really does have faith in us that we will  have faith in Him?  After all, He has trusted us.  How about it today, do you have faith in Jesus?  Yes, in saving you in the end, but how about in your daily walk, do you have faith He is walking with you daily?  And are you willing to confess your faith wherever you may be, in school, at work, at play, in the mall?  Some are afraid to even come forth in church and confess their faith, for some reason that I do not understand.  Please do not be afraid to stand up for Jesus, for if you truly love Him, in the end, He is going to stand up for you.

Dear Father in Heaven, please help me each day to grow more and more in faith and walk each step with You.  Thanks again for today, and please, Lord, walk with me, and if I do slip, pick me up and wash me off.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now go forth and vote and share your blessings as you go forth in faith.  And please, please, get out and vote, your vote is needed.  If voting for Obama, please wait until tomorrow when the lines are not as long.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.