Thursday 1/31/13 When You Pray 4

Good Thursday Last Day of January morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  January 2013 is gone already.  On Saturday people are going to pull a rodent out of a cage and try and tell what the weather will be for the next six weeks, then they will all go and get drunk, for it is just one big party.  Let me tell you that God is in charge of the weather and it will be what He wants to send us and we will appreciate or should appreciate it, because God sends us His will for us.  Amen.

No new additions to our prayer list today, so let's pry for those who are on the list and also for our schools and all that have anything to do with them.  Pray first please for the little boy who is being held hostage down south and for the family of the bus driver who was shot to death when the boy was abducted.  Seems when we were all young, back when the streets were dirt, and even some after that we did not lock our doors, and if we did, it was with a skeleton key and those keys fit everyone's doors.  The biggest thing we had to worry about was passing in school because failing was not an option at our house.  Folks, we need to keep pushing forward for our Lord Jesus.  Once again today we will go back to working the Lord's Prayer ... Let's get started.

When You Pray 1/31/13 Day Four.

Matthew 6:9 - This, then is how you should pray:  "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen."  (KJV)

Let's get started today with "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven."  If we follow what our Lord Jesus taught us we are praying for "Thy" will to be done, meaning the Will of our Father in Heaven.

I have been asked about if we pray for "Thy" will to be done in earth as in Heaven, why then do we have sickness here on earth because the Bible tells us that we will not have sickness in Heaven.  To help us all better understand that, I want to go to Matthew 26:39 and take a look at what happened when Jesus prayed at Gethsemane the night before He was put to death on the cross.

Matthew 26:39 - Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed.  "My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not s I will but as You will."  (NIV)

We see the example that Jesus set once again by not just telling us in the Lord's Prayer to pray for Thy will to be done, but also by showing us He did just that the night He was arrested and the night before He was put to death on the cross.  Here we find Jesus praying to His/our Father in Heaven and asking if He had to go through with this.  I guess when it comes to the end, Jesus did not want to be put to death like this, Jesus knew it was not going to be a pleasant thing.  So He asked but at the same time prayed to His/our Father in Heaven stating it was God The Father's will that was to be done and not His own.  So our Lord Jesus was killed here on earth for us, of course, but that would not have happened in Heaven.  Heaven, of course, will be full of peace and no hurts like this, and of course no sickness like we suffer through down here on earth.  When we pray "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven", please remember that here on earth, more often than not we are not doing His will to start with,even, even, if we pray Thy will be done, do we honor that?  Not all the time!

So the things we are asking or saying is, Lord it would be nice to have no sickness or cancers down here on earth like it is in Heaven, but Lord, it is Your will to be done.  Now I want to help you understand why some suffer with cancers or pain in some way or other ... Let's look at Romans.

Romans 5:3 - Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, 4 perseverance, character, and character, hope 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has give us.  (NIV)

So what does it mean, well, first of all, God is going to heal us in His time and in the meantime as we deal with what ails us it tends to make us stronger in faith and love for our Lord Jesus.

Let's move on with "Give us this day our daily bread."  Now in this wonderful, wonderful prayer we are just asking for our daily bread, our manna from heaven so to speak.  If we really trust God, we know that we will be furnished our needs each day.  If we work for Him and also work for our keep, The Bible does tell us this, if a person will not work, then he should not eat.  That is plain and simple in the Bible.  While we do need to help the poor, and that means the working poor and we need to help those who cannot work, there are a lot of people out there who according to the Bible just plain should not eat.  There are a lot of people riding the systems of our states and our great nation and if they would get their lazy backsides to work our state and national debts would come down.  Then there are a lot of them who do work but keep on the system by working and getting paid "under the table."  It is amazing that some of these folks have not been sick or even died from lead poison because it seems a lot of lead has settled in their backsides!  (Did I really say that?)

Folks, as you know, we have a food pantry and we do not ask a lot of questions.  If someone tells us they need food help, they do get it.  The other day I had a call wanting us to pay for a scrip at the drug store.  Of course I refused, we do not have that kind of money and we already helped this family with money to get fuel oil.  But the man of the house wears a lot of gold chains, sort of like Mr. T, but not as many.  I just out and out told him that it was time to sell off those chains.  They got upset with me.  But folks, you know this old man and I tell it like it is.  In feeding others from the food pantry it is part of our outreach to teach people how to help themselves.  We have a wall board with a pack of smokes on it and ten boxes of macaroni and cheese.  If people give up one pack of smokes they can purchase 10 boxes of macaroni and cheese to help feed their family.

Okay, I got off beat a tad, but Give us this day our daily bread is great and Jesus goes so much beyond that. How long has it been since you sat down to a meal of bread because it was all you had?  I hear people talking now about stocking up on food for a long term because of the way our world is.  We stock in our personal shelf, food for if the electric goes out, food you need not cook, but for long term.  I trust in what the Bible tells me and He will supply our needs.

Okay, time now to leave for the day, and yes, we are going to pray the Lord's Prayer for by the end of the week, I want you to know it and also understand it so you don't just say it, you pray it.  Let's pray.

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen."

Go forth now sharing your blessings and loving others.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Wednesday 1/30/13 When You Pray 3

Good Wednesday morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Wow, another spring-like day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole, and we are expecting rain to wash the salt off the roads.  Again today we are will be working on the Lord's Prayer along with some other things.  Please add to your prayers ... For Marcia who has an inoperable malignant tumor on her spine.  Also for Maxine who is on the operating table as I am typing  having gallbladder surgery.  We give praise to God today as Burt has returned home from the hospital.  Yes, by praying the Lord's Prayer.

When We Pray 1/30/13 Day Three.

Matthew 6:9 - This, then is how you should pray:  "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bred.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen."  (KJV)

Today as we start looking into the Lord's Prayer as we respectfully call the prayer that our Lord Jesus first taught us, we take a look at "Hallowed be Thy Name."  The word "Hallowed" means this, according to a book I rarely look at, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, I find that "Hallowed means "make or set apart as being Holy,", "sanctified,", "consecrated."

So let me break that down a little for you.  Holy Father, a term that should be used for God.  God our Father who resides in heaven and His name, The Name Father is Sanctified.  It is a name above all names, one we should hold as Holy and it should, since it is a name above all names, be made and kept Holy.  Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God our Father.  While we all have or had an earthly father, please note the small "f" used in that.  There are a lot of differences between our Heavenly Father and our earthly fathers.  Of course the term father is used by a lot of churches when referring to their pastor.  One who leads a family is called a father and surely those churches that refer to their pastors as father are doing so out of respect for the one who leads their "church family."  George Washington has many times been referred to as the "father of our country" but he has never been the father of our country, God was and always will be the father of our country.

God, our Heavenly Father, is the Father of all of us, be we believers in Christ Jesus or ones who have turned their backs on Him.  Now the big difference here as I see it, those of us who believe and are "born again" will see our Father in Heaven, face to face in Heaven and get to live with Him there, while those who do not believe will be turned away on Judgment Day and will live forever in Hell.  As for what my kids call me, well, it goes from dad, daddy or daddyeo.  I called my dad "Pop" and I really like that name.  I can remember just calling to him like it was yesterday.  Hey, Pop, or Hi, Pop.  My grandkids call me Pappy.  I love it.  Our flock at The Bridges calls me "Pastor" and that is one big, big name to hold up to.  Pastor is one who takes care of his flock, like shepherd takes care of his.

Our Father who are in Heaven, Hallowed (HOLY) is Thy Name ...

Let's look at part of the next line now.  "Thy Kingdom come."  Here, folks, like it or not, we are praying for the return of our Lord Jesus.  I would say a lot of people as they pray The Lord's Prayer never gave it much thought that they were praying for Jesus to return.  This is why it is so important to get the word out to others.

John The Baptist said it, "REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR."  (Matthew 3:1/2)

Jesus said it, "REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR."  (Matthew 4:17)  And folks, now we need to be really telling others this, all of us who are "born again" need to be telling others this.  If we are not telling others this we are not doing our job.  WE are to be telling the Good, GOOD news of Jesus Christ and what is the good news and how do they get it?  The good news is of course the return of Jesus and they need to get it from us and from the pastors of GOOD CHURCHES WHERE THE REAL TRUTH IS PREACHED.  What should we be telling others?  "REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR."  Then we should be teaching and showing them about the good news and what they can enjoy with Jesus even before His return to us.  And remember as we pray, when we pray this prayer our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, we are praying for His return when we pray "Thy Kingdom Come."  Let's go to prayer now and yes, we are going to pray The Lord's Prayer again today.  Everything we need to pray is in this prayer, you can find it all.  Let's pray.

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bred.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen."

Now, my dear brothers and sisters, my online flock, let me part with you this day by saying ... go forth, loving others, loving Jesus and sharing those blessings that He has laid upon you.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.  And yes, folks, I really do love all of you, I do not just say it ...

Tuesday 1/29/13 When You Pray

Good "Spring-like" Tuesday morning to you, my dear brothers and sisters.  I pray all of you are in good health and doing well.  By the way, if any of you need help from Carry The Light Ministries, please let me know.  Please keep praying for Patsy and Burt Emig.  Also please pray for Barbara Paulas and again I ask for prayers for our president.  Once again today he has OUR big jet in the air as it is most every day, flying halfway across the country to "make a speech."  Please pray that what he says in  his speech he runs past our Lord Jesus first.  Please keep praying for his soul.  We need to win this man for Christ.

Yesterday I started messages on prayer, and I want to study the Lord's prayer some.  I don't know about you, but I got into a rut and would be saying the prayer and not praying the prayer.  Jesus gave us this prayer, and there is lots of good stuff in it.  Let's get going ... and yes, we are going to start with the Lord's Prayer.

1/29/13 When You Pray, Day Two.

Matthew 6:9 - This, then, is how you should pray:  "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen."  (KJV)

Now I also asked you yesterday as I did today if you pray the Lord's Prayer or just say the Lord's Prayer.  Let's take a look at it and see what it really means as we pray it.

"Our Father."  The first word, "our", meaning all of us, for He indeed belongs to all of us, He is our Father, He is our Heavenly Father.   He indeed did make all of us, and He loves us all, He even loves the people who hate Him or say He does not even exist.  The second word, "Father", spelled always when we refer to God as Father with that capital "F".  Also known as "Father God", who is the one referred to in Genesis 14:19 as the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and this leads us right into the next line.  But before I go there, I just want to talk to you about those people who say God is female or does not have a gender.  The Bible tell us "Father" and although our dear "Father God" will hold us and love us like a mother, He indeed is our Father and should be heading up all of our households, including yours and mine.  I can say this truthfully that God heads up our home, can you say that today?  Can you say and be stating the truth that you let God lead at your home?  I know you can do this, I also know you may do it, but my question today and I ask it because I love you all very much.  Do you let God lead your life and that of your household?  Now for that first line in the prayer that comes after "our Father" ...

"Which art in Heaven" - We are praying to our Father, not our earthly father, but our Father who resides in Heaven, with Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior.  Heaven, the place where we are going if and only if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and we put Him above all others and all else.  Heaven, our place where we will live forever and ever, and a place where we will have a mansion and have streets of pure gold.  Heaven is also according to Matthew 5:12 where we will have great rewards.  In Matthew 3:2 we hear the voice of John The Baptist calling us to "REPENT, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near."  In Matthew 4:17 Jesus tells us this.  "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near."  And in Mark 16:15 Jesus tells us to take the Good News of Jesus to all the corners of the earth, and that part of that Good News is just this.  And we need to remember this.  God, our Father in Heaven, should be exalted even above Heaven ...

Psalm 57:5 - Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth.  (NIV)

Our Father in Heaven stands above all else, ALL ELSE, and we should never forget it and we should be telling others.  Tomorrow we pick it up on Hallowed.  Let's pray, and of course all this week we are going to be praying the Lord's Prayer.  And please really think about it as you pray it.

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen."

Now brothers and sisters, please go forward, talking to our Father in Heaven through Jesus His Son, and please share your blessings.  God will pay you back, and I know that for a fact.  God is good, brothers and sisters, God is good.

I love ya, Pastor Dan.

Monday 1/28/13 When We Pray

Good Monday Afternoon, my dear brothers and sisters.  I pray all of you are well and solidly in love with our Lord Jesus.  Please pray today for our leaders in Washington, also in our State Houses, our local governments and the leaders of our schools.  Also today please pray for our military veterans and our current military, also all those police and firefighters.  Also all others who work to keep you safe and healthy.  Have you noticed that the grass and flowers, etc., look much better near our Capitol Builders?  More fertilizer, folks.  (I just made that one up.)

I have been praying today as I was in the truck plowing about a subject or subjects for this weeks' messages.  As I was praying and talking to God, He just opened up my little brain and said why not write about prayer, about talking to Me?  So again, and yes, I have done it before, I am going to tackle the subject of prayer.  So let's get started.

1/28/13 Prayer Day One:

Matthew 6:9 - "After this manner therefore pray ye:  Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  10 Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  11 Give us this day our daily bread.  12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen."  (KJV)

It is time again to take a good look at the prayer our Lord Jesus taught us to pray.  We refer to it as the Lord's Prayer, but it is indeed our prayer.  Do you attend a church that uses The Lord's Prayer weekly or maybe on just special occasions?  Maybe your church does not use it much at all.  Folks, it is a wonderful prayer, but years ago I had to really take a look at it and at me, for I found out that I was really not praying but just saying it.  Where do you fit in on this?  If at church and you were all praying this The Prayer our Master, our Lord Jesus taught us, and your leader dropped out, would the rest go on or just drop the ball? Folks, it happened to me as I was leading a service a lot of years ago at Hope United Methodist Church on the Carlisle Pike, and I did not have the Prayer in the bulletin, sadly I lost my place, and everyone stopped.  EVERYBODY!  Then "Miss Kim", Kim Murphy, who was the choir director, picked up on it, knowing I was in trouble, and started praying it.  Others joined in and this old man was bailed out.  So this got me thinking, do I say the prayer or am I praying the prayer?  So I looked into it and looked at the meaning of it and what all was in it and preached on it.  I also wrote on it several times each time asking God to give it to me fresh and again starting tomorrow I am going to write on it, we are going to study the prayer this week.  So please by all means use it this week.  What does it mean to you?  Say it and pray it, study it with me.  What does it mean?  We will dig into it starting tomorrow.  Right now, let's go to prayer, and yes, you just know the prayer already.

But before we PRAY the Lord's prayer, let's look at a couple of prayers our parents taught us to pray when we were kids.  I am going to write down a couple.  Would you please take time to share one of two of yours with me?

Before our meals, before I ate, I was taught to say this prayer.

"God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.  By His hands we all are fed, give us, Lord, our daily bread."

Now my daddy had another prayer He always prayed before eating but He went so fast to this day I don't know what He really said.  But back then, I loved it because he went fast and we got to eat sooner.  Now I pray different each time I pray and I never write down notes.  One time I was praying before a sports dinner where I was invited by our son Keith.  As I walked to the front, Keith said to me, "Hey, dad, don't pray so long that the food gets cold."  My mamma taught me to pray and here is the one I prayed before I went to sleep.

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.  Lord forgive me of my sins and bless my family and my friends."  And then I prayed for our dogs and cats and would fall asleep holding my dog.  (I still am holding onto a dog as I sleep.  Martin Martin has been in my bed at night for 15 years.  Don't laugh, brothers and sisters, I bet half of you sleep with either a dog or cat or maybe both.

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.  Amen."

Tomorrow we will go deep into prayer.  Please remember that when you pray, do it in faith!  Now go forth sharing your blessings and that also in faith.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Friday 1/25/13 Greatest Healing

Good Salvation Friday, my dear brothers and sisters.  Dolores and I are sitting in our computer room, which is an enclosed porch.  The snow seems to be ending, and as we look out the windows, the snowflakes look like small cuts of diamonds falling, and the light (we have outdoor street lights on our driveway) shining down on the snow looks like diamonds on the snow.  God sure does have a way of making everything He ends look pretty.  It will look that way until I go out and hit it with the plow.

Anyway, brothers and sisters, I want to wrap up our talk about healing this week, and please remember how it got started this week.  It got started when the news arrived that God took away a cancerous tumor from Dick Mowery.  Once again we give God the glory for that.  Today, Salvation Friday, I want to wrap up the subject with the greatest healing ever and what really causes those healings.

Today I ask all of you who might not be saved to pray for Jesus to come into your heart, and if you are saved, pray for a clean start and that God will use you to help bring people to the feet of Jesus to be saved.  Remember we cannot save someone, only Jesus can do that, but He wants us to  help get the good news out to the masses.  Let me get moving on the message.  Oh, not one person emailed back to me about making a promise to God to try and stay clean, not to break the heart of Jesus by sinning.  Oh, well.

The Greatest Healing Ever (1/25/13)

Isaiah 53:3 - He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed Him not.  4 Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted.  5 But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.  6 We are like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  (NIV)

The greatest healing ever was not when Jesus took away the tumor from Dick or a tumor from anyone.  The greatest healing ever was not the fact that I was cured of cancer nor when ministry partner Pamela Bower was cured from cancer.  The greatest healing ever was not when our granddaughter Brittany was killed in a traffic accident and snapped back to life on the accident scene.

I could go on and on but let me not belabor the point.  THE GREATEST HEALING EVER WAS WHEN JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS TO SAVE OUR SORRY SOULS FROM HELL.  SOMEONE PLEASE SHOUT AMEN.  AMEN!  Yes, brothers and sisters, the greatest healing came when Jesus was placed on the cross to heal us from our sins.  A gift from God to us, each one of us.  He was spit on for our sins, He was beaten for our sins, His head was pierced by thorns for our sins, and He was nailed through His hands and feet for our sins.  This  healing is called the GOOD NEWS, and that news was good for us, but it sure hurt Jesus.  Brothers and sisters, let me get right to it.  If you are not saved, then please today take time to invite Jesus into your heart and live for Him.  It is more than just a prayer of faith, you must go to work for Jesus.  Salvation is free from our Lord, but folks, once you are saved, you cannot just sit in the cart waiting to go to heaven.  No, we who are saved have a job to do, so get out of the cart and start helping to push or pull it.  Every person can do something for the Lord, EVERYONE.  It is called sharing your blessings.  It is called going into the fields of harvest to work for the Lord.  The crop is ripe, let's not let it rot in the fields.

I hate to mention this today, but I am going to.  A lot of people say they are saved but in the next breath support the killing of the unborn.  Just the other day I saw this ad running on TV with my very own eyes.  A black man dressed in a tux holding a glass of wine toasted Roe versus Wade and said congratulations for 40 years.  You made it, baby, he stated.  Planned Parenthood, the number one killer of babies in the world, gets government grants to murder babies.  That is our money.  I want you to think about this number, 525 million.  That would be 525,000,000 babies, live children have been murdered in the womb.  And this ad said congratulations.  If a person who is at fault in an accident and it cost a mother to be her life and that of her unborn baby, the count would be two counts of homicide by vehicle if the driver at fault was drinking.

I ask this question ... Jesus said do not hurt children, and we know that song, Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow,  black and white, and the ones in the womb, they are all precious in His sight.  On the 40th anniversary of Roe versus Wade, I would think our God cried.  Again, 525 million people gone.  Pray, warriors, pray.  Write those congressmen and women.  And let's get a president elected that would at least sign a temporary order to stop the killing for four years.  No question about it, President Obama believes this is a good law.  PRAY, WARRIORS, PRAY.

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive us of our sins, and Lord, please help us to find a way to stop abortion around the world.  Lord, Your children are being murdered, and please, Lord, please, Lord, come back very, very soon, and until that, help us to get people to Your feet to be saved.  Help us to follow Your command to get to the fields of Harvest.  Forgive us, and Lord, please, please forgive this nation, WAKE THEM UP, LORD.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Please, brothers and sisters, take time to read the scripture above, and read it and read it.  Also go to Exodus 20:13 and read the commandments about "Thou shalt not murder."  Then please go forth sharing your blessings.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Wed/Thur 1/23-24/13 Healing 3

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  We awoke here at the Southern Location of the North Pole with snow covered ground and a 14-degree temperature, and dare I say this?  COME ON, SPRING!!

It is a beautiful morning with that snow cover, and it is very light.  But even with that, I did go this year and purchace a plastic snow shovel so that it would be much lighter for my wife to shovel the snow.  (Just kidding, folks.)  We have a plow, and other than that, it will all melt in due time.  As we keep praying for all those on our prayer lists, Burt, Patsy, Barbara, Dolores, and all those on the lists with the flu or flu-like bugs that are going around, please, please remember to pray for our unborn.  And when you pray, also ask God to please, PLEASE forgive this nation that keeps wanting blessed, and as we keep KILLING THE UNBORN BABIES.  Yes, Roe versus Wade was 40 years old the other day, and then to top that, our president told us how we should be standing up for those who are gay and practice on it and want to marry each other.

I guess for the most part the prayer coming out of DC goes something like this ... "God Bless America, while we kill babies and men marry men and women marry women, plus all the other sins.  No, Lord, we are not going to say please or even forgive us, just keep the blessings flowing.  And no amen on the end either."

Today I am going to be writing more on healing, and I know for a fact God still heals us if we have faith, if we believe and we trust in Him.  However, brothers and sisters, how long, HOW LONG, will these blessings keep flowing to a nation who is now 70% for Roe versus Wade and under 30% standing for life, and I say under 30% for some people will always be "fence sitters."

Healing (Day Three 1/23-24/13)

Exodus 15:26 - He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you."  (NIV)

Psalm 103:1 - Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His Holy Name.  2 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.  3 Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.  5 Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.  (NIV)

Psalm 147:3 - He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  (NIV)

Acts 9:32 - As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda.  33 There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years.  34 "Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you.  Get up and take care of your mat."  Immediately Aeneas got up.  35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, let's start today by looking at Exodus 15:26.  He (God) said:  "If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you."  The scripture spells it out well here, as in all scripture, and as always we are dealing with the same God today who is still the same today as He was back then.  God told them back then, and is telling us now, if we listen CAREFULLY TO HIS VOICE AND PAY ATTENTION, which means to obey his commands, He will heal us.  But please notice this part, if we do these things, obey Him and listen to Him, he will not bring these things on us in the first place.  In other words, if we would be true to our Lord God all the time, these things would not be happening to us.  Just think about that, it is this thing that is called sin that et us into trouble all the time.  And it is not just what we do, it is also what we are thinking, and/or thinking about doing.  Guys, you see this good looking lady walk past, so your eyes take a look, and then we tell ourselves, well, God gave us eyes for looking.  Okay, and He made those ladies really pretty, but that lady walks past, your eyes check out her legs and her backside and every other part that you can check out.  Now look, guys, 20/20 hindsight means we can see something better after it happened, sort of like calling a football play after seeing it on the replay first.  20/20 hindsight does not mean you have 20/209 vision to see the "HINDsight!!"  Not ladies, I have seen some of you having that same 20/20 HINDsight.  Look, I confess it is not easy to go without sinning, and we need to work at it daily, we need to do our very best to repent and keep our minds clear of sin.  God does not want us to be sick, but we have a price to pay for sin, and while He paid the debt so we can go to heaven, we still have things in our lives that keep us from living that unblemished life with Christ.

In Exodus 15:26 He also said, "for I am the Lord, who heals you."  Yes, again, same God, Old Testament or New, we serve the same God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 147:3 - He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  Yes, in this scripture we are told that He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  Have you ever had your heart broken?  Maybe a romance or marriage gone bad or one of your children takes a walk on the wild side or bad side.  I have been there, I lost my mamma while a teenager.  I saw not one marriage but two go bad, and I have seen one of our children get involved with booze and drugs.  And we pray and pray and yet the heartaches and then I remember things that I have done wrong and I am sure I caused others heartaches over the years but no one did I cause more heartaches to than God, and while I am sure He has forgiven me, I am sure there have been many, many times that He was not pleased.

I am going to come back to this brokenhearted in a few minutes, but first let's look at this scripture.

Acts 9:32 - As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda.  33 There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years.  34 "Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you.  Get up and take care of your mat."  Immediately, Aeneas got up.  35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

Please note that Jesus gave healing power to Peter, who would then heal in the "Name of Jesus" and today others have been given that power of healing also, BUT IT ALL COMES THROUGH THE HANDS OF OUR LORD GOD.  ALL OF IT.  Please do not laugh at Benny Hinn or others who lay hands on people in the name of the Lord and ask God to heal them.  Please remember that God still heals and He uses others.  You must believe that, or you would not pray for God to heal others and pray in the name of Jesus.  When I anoint someone in the name of Jesus and ask that they be healed, I give God the glory and I expect that God will heal them.  It is called "FAITH", brothers and sisters, "FAITH."  Trust in God and believe in healing.  Trust in God and believe that He also heals you from your sins.

Now back to "brokenhearted" for just a minute.  Will you all join with me, starting today, and if you will, will you please tell me that you will?  Will you promise not me, but our Lord Jesus, that you will try and live each day without breaking His heart?  Again, I would like to know, but don't make the promise to me, make it to God.  I am going to start with this prayer today.

Dear Lord, I am asking that You forgive me of my sins, and Lord, I want to make You this promise, and I want to do my very best to keep this promise, and I know I will need to lean on You to keep this promise.  Lord, today, starting right now I am going to make a promise to You that I am going to try my hardest to repent of sin and try not to break Your heart.  In Jesus' Name, I pray and also make this promise.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Tuesday 1/22/13 Healing 2

Good Tuesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Brrrrrr, baby, it is cold outside!!  Let me start today with a praise report.  Thanks, dear Lord, for a warm home, which you head up.  Here is a tip for you, in winter weather, keep your gas tank full in your car or truck.  Why?  Well, if your electric goes out or your heat in your house goes down for one reason or another, you can put your car OUTSIDE of the garage, start it up, and put the heater on.  Be sure when you do this to vent your car by opening a window a tad.  Also DO NOT DO THIS if you have an old car with a rusted out floor.  Also, did you know if your furnace goes out and you have a stove that works, turn on a couple of burners and put a clay flower pot upside down over the stove burners.  (Yes, the ones you have turned on.)  The clay pots will get very hot and they also hold the heat.  Also, folks, put on a hat.  Yes, your body loses heat out the top of your head.  Another tip from this old man, get under the covers with your pets.  A few years back, we lost power for about five days.  We did not want to leave because of our animals.  It was down to about 40 in the house, but in my bedroom, where I put five of our dogs and a couple of cats, it never went under 68 degrees.

Prayers today for Ruby, for Vicki, for Burt and Patsy, and for Barbara.  Also please keep praying for our son Matthew.  After our praise report on Dick yesterday and how God took away a cancerous tumor I talked a tad about healing.  I am thinking that Jesus would just like me to talk more about it this week.  His healing hand is upon us daily as we walk with Him.  Not just one tumor once in awhile, but He heals us daily.  Listen up this week as I try and explain that to you folks ...

Healing (Day Two, 1/22/13)

Matthew 4:23 - Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing EVERY disease and sickness among the people.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, how often over the years of your life have you woken up in the morning and felt a little punk?  No, I did not say how often did you wake up and acted like a punk, I said felt a little punk, or maybe I should say it like this.  How often in the morning did you wake up and feel a tad under the weather but forced yourself out of bed, got in that shower and went to work?  By noon you were feeling better and by the end of your shift or day at work you felt pretty good.  Maybe you forgot that you felt bad that morning.  May I ask you this, who do you think healed you?  In the morning you might have said to God in short prayer, Lord, I don't feel good this morning, please watch over me.

And did you remember that day to say thanks for healing me?  If you are like me, more than likely you forgot to thank God that day, or in fact maybe most days.  How often have you sat in your office when those around you were sneezing and hacking and you did not get sick at all?

I wonder if we never had a pain in our lives, would we appreciate the pain-free days?  I wonder if we never were sick for a day or two with a fever and cold, would we appreciate all those other days year after year after year when we were not sick?  Our scripture today,

Matthew 4:23 - Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing EVERY disease and sickness among the people.

Several things in the scripture, one is what Jesus was teaching.  He was teaching the same thing He wants and commanded up to preach and teach, the good news of the kingdom of God.  But we are looking at healing today and I want you to see and look at this, He, Jesus, was healing EVERY disease and EVERY sickness among all the people.  Jesus does not just remove a tumor once in awhile to get the glory, He removes them all the time, be it directly as He did in Dick, or He holds a doctor's hand as that tumor gets removed by the knife.  Besides that, folks, how many tumors has Jesus blocked?  Brothers and sisters, we all know that over the years we have abused our bodies, like me.  I worked almost around the clock, failing to rest my body.  Others have fed their bodies booze and drugs of all types, while others have smoked and smoked, even after warnings have told us that smoking is hard on the lungs.  God as protected us over and over again and again.  Add to that, how often has God protected you on the highway from some stupid driver on the road that is texting and/or speeding and almost hit you?  Or how often has Jesus protected you on the highway when you were the one doing the texting or speeding, or even driving with booze and/or high levels of drugs in your system?

Folks, we need to try our very best to take care of ourselves and live the way God wants us to live and walk with Him.  We should also be aware that God does really take care of us, and besides supplying our needs, He watches over us all the time.  Walk with God today, please, and take time to talk to Him, and instead of always asking for things, take that time to thank Him for watching over you when you are not looking out for yourself.  AMEN.

Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for watching over us, thanks for taking care of and even healing us when we did not even know we were sick.  Lord, we love You, and again, thank You.  In Jesus' name, I give this thanks.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings and also telling the good news and thanking God for watching over us.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Monday 1/21/13 Healing

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday Anniversary.  Praise Report, Praise Report, Praise Report.  We have been praying for Carry The Light Ministries' partner Pamela Bower's brother Richard Mowery who had a tumor, and yes, it was cancerous.  Last week Dick had a CT scan and PRAISE THE LORD, the tumor is gone, brothers and sisters, it is gone.  Goodbye tumor, and all GLORY AND HONOR AND PRAISE TO JESUS.  Thanks for all of your prayers.

Brothers and sisters, this is what needs done, when we ask God in our prayers of faith for something, anything, and the prayers are answered, we need to praise God and all the praise should go to God.

Please, please, keep us updated on your prayer requests.  Again, THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR REMOVING THE TUMOR from our brother in Christ, "Dick".  Brothers and sisters, I, being cured of cancer by Jesus also, have goose bumps all over me after receiving this great news.  Prayer requests today for safety of our President, Vice President, and their families, not just for today but for their terms of office. Please pray also for Salvation through Jesus for those same leaders of ours.  Pray also that there is peace across the world today, as we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., truly a man of God, who walked in the light of Jesus in all he did.  Like so many others over the years who walked each day with and then for Jesus after Jesus went back to Heaven, he gave his life.

After hearing this great news today of healing, God is giving me this message.  Like so many days, He gives it to me word for word as I go forth walking with Him.  Let's get started!  Yes, it is about HEALING!

Healing (Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, 1/21/13)

James 5:13 - Is any one of you in trouble?  He should pray.  Is anyone happy?  Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick?  He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.  If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.  16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  (NIV)

Let's start out the message today looking at that first verse where it asks this question:  "Is anyone happy?  Let him sing songs of praise."  I am sure you, like me this morning, are very happy on the good news we received.  So let's do as the Bible tells us, let us sing songs of praise.  Let's start with My Tribute.

"To God be the glory, to God be the glory, To God be the glory for the things He has done.
With His blood He has saved me, with His power He has raised me, To God be the glory for the things He has done.
Just let me live my life:  Let it be pleasing, Lord, to Thee.  And if I gain any praise, let it go to Calvary.
With His blood He has saved me; With His power He has raised me:  To God be the glory for the things He has done."


"To God be the glory, to God be the glory, To God be the glory for the things He has done.
With His blood He has saved me, with His power He has raised me, To God be the glory for the things He has done.
Just let me live my life:  Let it be pleasing, Lord, to Thee.  And if I gain any praise, let it go to Calvary.
With His blood He has saved me; With His power He has raised me:  To God be the glory for the things He has done."

Let's do this one now!

"Let's just praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord;  Let's just lift our hearts to heaven and praise the Lord.
"Let's just praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord;  Let's just lift our hearts to heaven and praise the Lord.

"Let's just praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord;  Let's just lift our hearts to heaven and praise the Lord.
"Let's just praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord;  Let's just lift our hearts to heaven and praise the Lord.

Now let us go back to the scriptures.

James 5:13 - Is any one of you in trouble?  He should pray.  (NIV)

I would think there would be a lot of people on this line who are in one way or the other in trouble.  Please do not think of this as if you broke a law, although surely if you did that you could be in big "do do".  Let us think of our troubles may that we spent too much money over the holidays or let's keep it simple, let's think of our troubles as "we have sinned."  Let's face it, folks, if we have sinned, and we are all sinners, right?  If we have sinned, we are in trouble with whom?  Yes,of course we are in trouble with God and also the one we sinned against!  God is telling me that all sins are against Him, but many of them are also against others.  Think about it as we pray today for those sins to be forgiven.

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive me of my sins, all of them, Lord, even those that I cannot remember doing, and I am sure there are some of them.  Lord, help me, help all of us this day to repent and live free of sin.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

James 5:14 - Is any one of you sick?  He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.  If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.  (NIV)

As we look at this scripture today, I might want to ask it this way, is any one of you "not sick" in any way?  Most all of us in some way or another is sick.  Maybe you carry a lot of pain, maybe right now you have the flu or maybe some kidney problems.  Many on this line have a "full plate" of things that are wrong.  Now let's look at the scripture.  "He should call the elders of the church to pray over him (or her) and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord."  Brothers and sisters, here is another example from the word of God as to why we need a good church.  In our ministry team, our elders from Carry The Light have prayed over many, many people right here in our food pantry and anointed them with oil and asked in faith for healing.  Now look at these next words from James 5:15.

James 5:15 - And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.  (NIV)

Read it really well.  THE PRAYER OFFERED IN FAITH!!  They are key words, folks.  I have heard people pray, and when finished say, He is not going to heal me.  That, brothers and sisters, is not faith.  So when you pray and you ask God for healing, pray as if the prayer has been answered.

This scripture also tells us that if we pray in faith and we have sinned, we will be forgiven.

So brothers and sisters, let's pray in faith, and I am going to leave space for your prayers.  An then I will close it up.

Dear Father in Heaven, hear our prayers this day, Father, as we ask them of You in faith and to be answered according to Your will for us.  Hear our prayers to be forgiven-----------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ and hear our prayers asking for healing of family, friends, and even ourselves ------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.  Hear our prayers of praise this day.  Thank you for all things. -------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for hearing our prayers, Lord.  And thanks for this prayer You taught us to pray when we pray.  Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory Forever.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  Love your neighbor and flocks, REJOICE FOR GOD IS GOOD, AND HE IS STILL IN CONTROL.ove ya, Pastor Dan.

Thur/Fri 1/17-18/13 Preaching what you practice

Good afternoon, my dear brothers and sisters.  Wow, what bright thing we can see in the sky today, brothers and sisters, that would be the sun.  While the sun, like The Son, shines down on us daily, for a long time now the sun has been clouded over with fog and overcast skies.  Dare for right now I call it dirt and junk.  Each day the Son shines down onus, but some days we cannot see The Son as our lives are covered over with dirt and junk!!  Once we get our lives clear and free of the dirt and junk of this world, then we can see our Lord Jesus, The Son clearly.  Today I ask you, how much worldly dirt and junk are you carrying with you each day?  Time to clean up, folks.  No better time than on Salvation Friday.  Yes, it is Salvation Friday on this line.  Prayer requests today for Burt and Patsy Emig, also for Barbara Paulus.  Prayers for Dave who has cancer and also for Shirl Piro who needs the touch of healing in her life also.  Another prayer request for healing from cancer.  Pray for Andrew Horn.  Now let me get to the message, "Preach What You Practice."  (No, I have that right.)

Luke 8:21 - Jesus replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."  (NIV)

You who have been on the line with me for a long time know that I refer to you as my brothers and sisters.  Why?  Because we are brothers and sisters if we indeed believe in God and put what we hear about Him into practice.  It matters not to me what your race or color is or where you go to church or what that church affiliation is, what matters to me is that you are saved and working for Jesus.  In fact, one of the real beauties of this line is I have no idea what most of you look like, but I do know this, you must be beautiful, for you, like me, are made in the image of God, and He did not make anyone ugly.  I am happy with what I see when I look into the mirror and you should be also.  So let me ask you today, are you a brother or sister to Jesus? Are you a son or daughter of God The Father?  Jesus does not ask much of us, He wants us to live a life repenting of our sins, He wants us to share our blessings and love all people and He wants us to love Him above all others and above all else.  And He wants us to tell others The Good News of Jesus.  And yes, He wants us to pull our weight here on earth, meaning working to help all others, working to earn a living ... doing our share.

For this, He feeds us, He supplies our clothes, doing this through the hands of others.  He supplies the air we breathe, He provides us housing, He really takes care of us.  He really does, He really wants us to be family. Come on, brothers and sisters, He just wants us to love Him enough to listen to His word and His messages and put them to work.  I know many people who are faithful at going to church, yes, they give God an hour or an hour and a half on Sunday and do nothing else.  And they share their blessings like this --------------- and this --------------- and sometimes some more of this ----------------------.

One fine day at the money mint (where the presses are flying right now) a 20 dollar bill was sitting on the line ready to go out into the world.  Beside the 20 was a 1 dollar bill.  They got to be friends.  It was some ten years later and they were sitting on the shredding line.  And it went like this ... Hey, 20, my old friend, 20, how are you doing?  I am fine, 1, it is good to see you.  Hey, 20, said 1, where have you been all these years?  Wow, I have been to Atlantic City, Ocean City, I have been to the West Coast, to Hollywood, I have been to Vegas, and I have been on boat cruises, I have been all over the world and exchanged and sent back.  What about you, 1, where have you been?  And 1 answered ... church, church, church, church ...

Folks, while the joke is just that, a joke, how many people, go to church, put in a buck, maybe sing a song, raise a hand, sleep during the message, and then go home and forget about Jesus until the next week?  A lot more people than you would think!  The other week a man passed out in the back row of his church, the ambulance was called, and the ambulance crew carried out six men who were asleep before they got the one who passed out.  Folks, again, I ask you to think about some things like this.  Take your Bible to work and on a break, read it, maybe a good time to get together with a few work brothers and sisters and do a daily devotion thing, oh, and yes, you may use what I write if you choose, you can even blog if you wish.  What I am getting at is we need to really get nearer and nearer to Jesus and we need to hook up with our "brothers and sisters" in Christ ... Again, listen to these words ...

"Where is your faith?"

Luke 8:25 - "Where is your faith?"  Jesus asked His disciples.  (NIV)

I am not just asking you that question today, but I am quoting Jesus as He asked that same question of His disciples.

Luke 8:22 - One day Jesus said to His disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake."  So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, He fell asleep.  A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.  24 The disciples went and woke Him, saying "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"  He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.  25 Where is your faith?"  He asked His disciples. (NIV)

Now even after traveling with Jesus for some time they must have had questions about Him or did not have full faith in Him at that point.  In amazement they were asking one another, who is this?  He not just heals the sick, He also has control over the storms ... YES, HE DOES ... and may I just add here this statement ... "How often do we have so little faith that we are scared when the storms pass?"

We need to learn to take safety steps, but we need to have faith that our Lord Jesus is in control and He will protect us according to His will for us.  And brothers and sisters, if we do have faith in Jesus we should never be afraid of His will for us.  Oh, you are thinking, that is easy for Pastor Dan to say, but it is not always that easy, and you are right in thinking that.  I have faith that God is going to protect us, still when a heavy storm or storms are in the area, I start to pace.  We have on several occasions taken all of our pets to the basement of the house to ride out a storm.  And there have been times when the storm went past so fast that we did not have time to worry about it.

But let me get off the weather related storms in our life, for indeed most all of the storms in our life are those that are not weather related.  How many people right now have storms of "no job" or your house payment, your car payment, your credit card payment and maybe even your wife are all two months late?  Did you catch that one?  While the lateness of your wife should be a joyful thing as you go expecting a child, it might just be another worry if you do not have a job.  Folks, we need to have faith, and a lot of it.  Think of this, our Lord has promised to supply all of our needs, but we need to have faith to receive this blessing, and sometimes this faith requires us to step out in that faith.  You have heard me quote Pamela Bower many times on her saying "we need to put feet on our prayers."  Folks, let me add a quote of my own today when I tell you this ... "We need to put feet on our faith."  Prayer and faith go hand in hand.  As we talk to our Lord Jesus, we need to have faith that He will hear our prayers and answer them, for it is faith that gets them to Him, and brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus will answer your prayers.  HOWEVER, sometimes our prayers are not answered the way we want them to be answered.  Sometimes you might be putting your faith in the wrong place.  Think about that, do you put your faith in Jesus or are you putting your faith in man?  How many people right now are putting faith in a man who just happens to be president of the United States?  I want you all to know and understand that our President is not God, not now, not ever.  If you are waiting for Washington to cut you a check or pay down your house payment, you are placing your faith in the wrong place.

It is time, my friends, to put our faith in God.  In doing that, we might need to take a step back before we go forward.  We might need to give up a lot of our earthly wants and toys.  Jesus has promised to supply our needs, but our needs not include three big screen TV's, cell phones for all in the family, two new cars, and Friday and Saturday night out on the town each week, etc.  It might mean we clean out the cupboards and eat the food that is there that we overlook ... Might be time to eat some Spam, which is Ham, spelled with a SP.  Drive a used Chevrolet instead of a new Caddy.  But folks, do not give up the faith, for our Lord Jesus will calm your storms in life.  Let me sum this up.  Most all of the storms in our lives are self-caused.  While I am sure I will hear about that statement, I will repeat it.  "Most all of the storms in our lives are self-caused."  Still, our Lord Jesus will help you calm them, He will work with You to get you out of the mess.  Let's go to our Lord Jesus now in faith and give our storms, our worries, our burdens over to Him.  Then after that, let's start putting some feet on the prayers and the faith and work with God as He calms the storms.  Trust me, no, Trust God, this will work.

Dear Father in Heaven, we turn this day over to You to guide us and protect us and to take care of us according to Your will for us.  Please look over our prayer requests and honor them again according to Your will for us.  Please help us to bring to Your feet the unsaved so that their soul might be saved.  Help us, dear Lord, on this line and through the food pantry You have entrusted to us, to feed both the "Body and the Soul."  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Now go forth, sharing your blessings and preaching what you practice.  Preach about that love you have for Jesus and that He has for you.  Now that is sharing your blessings.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Wednesday 1/16/13 Don't Hide Jesus!

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  It sure looks  pretty this morning after our little  touch of winter last evening.  God is so good.  Our ministry plow truck was down, as the last time I plowed snow a brake line broke.  I took it to our son's garage in Penbrook, PA, and they finished up the work last evening.  I had removed the plow to take it to the shop, so this morning I wanted to put it back on.  While this is an easy one-man job, it does require one really heavy piece of work to hook it up.  So I got it lined up, set the pins and got my back up against the plow lights to push back on that part so the pins would "snap in."  I just know I cannot do this myself anymore, so I stopped and called on my best friend in the world.  I said, Father in Heaven, I need Jesus to come and help me push this back.  Then I said, Thank You, Father, and I gave a mighty push while saying, "help me, Jesus," and then I heard the snap of the pins dropping in.  Then I yelled out at the top of my voice, "THANK YOU, JESUS!"

Once again it showed me there is nothing that I cannot do when I call on Jesus "according to His will for me."  The same would go for you, as Jesus loves us ll, all we need to do is ask and remember it is up to God and His will for us.

Prayer requests in today for Vicki, and also for Burt Emig.  Burt has pneumonia and is in the hospital.  Pray today for a "lady stuck in a wall."  Sounds dumb, but the news is on in the background as it often is for this news junky, and there is a lady stuck between two walls.  Firefighters are on location.  Also a good day to pray for firefighters and first responders.  Let's get to the message.

DON'T HIDE JESUS:

Luke 8:16 - "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.  Instead, He puts it on a stand so that those who come in can see the light."  (NIV)

While we might not put our lamp under the bed, we do some really dumb stuff with it.  Let's see, we buy a 100-watt light bulb, we buy one that is frosted so the light is not so hard on your eyes, then you put it in a lamp and put a shade over it.  Our wagon wheel lights, and we have four of them in our great room, each one has four lights on it, and each at one time used a frosted 100-watt bulb and then had a frosted glass over that and then a shade.  Now they do not look as nice, but they have bare bright 60-watt bulbs in them, making more usable light.  Looks bad, but works better.

HOWEVER, the lamp on the stand, the light on the table, is not what Jesus was teaching us in this lesson.  In fact, there are several lessons in this scripture.  Let's look at them over the next couple of days.

First let's look at our personal light, the light we put out just as we live.  Now this is really not mentioned in this scripture, but I think it fits well.  Jesus is the light of the world, and we are to take the "GOOD NEWS" of our Lord Jesus into all the world.  When we invite Jesus into our lives, when we become born again, when we have the personal relationship with our Lord Jesus, we, believe it or not, are going to glow a lot brighter than we did before.  A half-empty glass should become half-full.  A little bit of food, clothes, even your money will grow if you invest it in God and His work.  When you invite Jesus, the light of the world, into your heart to live, that's great, but please remember that it is okay to let the light of Jesus be in your smile and in your walk and your talk.  In other words, wear Jesus on your sleeve.

Now I have run across people who say they are saved but yet they are so negative about most everything you start to wonder, not judge, but wonder, are they saved?  How could someone know and trust Jesus and be so down on most everything?  I know people like that, are they saved?  I am not really sure.  If they are, they for sure are putting the lamp under the bed, or under the rug, putting it out of sight.  I have said this before and I will say it again.  If you are going to work for Jesus and we all have been ORDERED, or COMMANDED, to do just that, why are you hiding His light?  If He is in you, shine, baby, shine, let Jesus shine in your personality.  If you are a grump, if you are a downer type person, and you go up to someone and tell them about Jesus, what do you think they are thinking?  Might it be this?  "Gosh, if that is how you are when you know Jesus, I don't want anything to do with it."  Think about that!!  Also, there are people who are able to go to work and just refuse to do that, and more and more are getting in that cart each day.  I know people who sit at a computer all day at home.  They answer email after email and say they cannot sit in an office.  Most everyone can do something, even the older and retired.  Do you know you can work for Jesus, after all He is the one who is feeding you, putting clothes on your back, and giving you air and water.  You can work for Him just by the way you live.  Yes, you can!!  Jesus set examples as He walked this earth about how to live and we can also set examples.  You can let the Jesus light shine forth for all to see.  Don't  hide Jesus under your bed, let Him come through you.  Don't put Him in the trunk of your car and drive like a nut, drive safe and let His light shine.  IN ALL YOU DO, DO IT LIKE YOU ARE SAVED AND ARE DOING IT FOR JESUS.  For the bottom line is Jesus does know all we do, and we must someday own up to all of it.  One thing that I see once in awhile is a bumper sticker that reads, "I love Jesus," and I noticed it as the person driving the car cut me off in traffic.  Really speaks volumes about their love of Jesus.  Be a good witness for Jesus.  Why?  He gave His life for us!!

Dear Father in Heaven, Dear Light of the World, Dear Light of mine.  I love You, Lord.  Help me work hard each day so as to let Your light shine through me in all that I do.  Please forgive me of my sins of yesterday and today.  Please touch and heal Vicki, and please, Lord, touch and heal Burt.  And please, Lord, protect our leaders, and Lord, please free the lady stuck in the wall, and bless those firefighters and first responders.  In Jesus' name, teach us to share Your light with others.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now brothers and sisters, go forth, letting your light shine and sharing those blessings that God has lent you.  You can say you cannot do anything anymore, I refuse to believe that, for all of us, all of us, all of us, and I will say it again and again, all of us can share the love of Jesus.  You just never know who you might touch and lead to the Lord.  You and I cannot save anyone, but we can work the fields of harvest for Jesus.  Someone please say AMEN.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Tuesday 1/15/13 Hide and Seek

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  It is a great day to be alive, and even greater if you are saved, born again, washed in the blood of Jesus.  In fact, let me be bold, if you are not saved, then you are not alive, you only think you are!  Excuse me a minute, "burp", sorry about that, I just finished eating a really good breakfast that I made.  I had some leftover mashed potatoes, and this morning I had potato pancakes with lots of real butter and sunny side up eggs on top.  I love to cook, and either today or tomorrow I am making hamburger BBQ and also macaroni soup.  I am washing down my breakfast now with a big, really big glass of real milk.

Today please pray for Luella Hale, Pastor Larry's wife.  They were at the ER the other night and she is now having her heart checked out by her doctor.  Please keep Pastor Larry and also his assigned flock in your prayers.  Speaking of hearts being checked out, the Hales are really good-hearted folks and they love our Lord Jesus above all else.  Also pray each day please for our president, for he thinks since he has been re-elected that he can just pass laws himself.  Folks, don't be alarmed for our Lord God is still in charge, even in Washington!!  Let me get to the message.
READY OR NOT

Acts 1:7 - "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority."  (NIV)

Matthew 24:36 - "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  (NIV)

READY OR NOT!  I remember standing in the evenings when I was young (back when the streets were still  dirt and the Dead Sea was just sick) with my head buried up against a power pole or a tree counting to a hundred while all my friends and neighborhood playmates would run and hide. I confess that sometimes I would cheat when counting.  Then I would turn around and say ... READY OR NOT, HERE I COME.  In most cases all would be hidden from me, for it was my turn to be "It."  If someone did not get hidden in time and I called out their name, then they would be "It" for the next game.  But you still had to hunt down the others and try and get them out.  READY OR  NOT HERE I COME.  Then you would go look and when you found someone you had to race them back to home base, the pole or tree where I had my face hidden.  If you did not catch anyone, you would be "It" again.  In senior high school I had a nice car, in fact a couple of them, and some people would say, you think you're "It" with that car, and I would say, I am not it anymore, but sadly I did not tell people that God really was "It" the way they were saying it.  Hey, back to my game of hide and seek.  Yes, when I would get up to 100 in my count, I would yell out ... "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME."

Brothers and sisters, we are not going to get that kind of warning from our Lord Jesus when He comes back, so we are getting our warnings now, and remember this, when our Lord Jesus returns it will not be a game of hide and seek, for you will not be able to hide from Jesus.  Let's face it, you can't hide from Him now, not even Adam and Eve could hide from God in the Garden. Jesus is good.  Now you might go to your Bible and try and figure out when Jesus is coming back, but it tells you, you just don't know.  In fact the Bible tells us that our Lord Jesus does not know.  Only the Father.  Old Gabriel the horn player does not know.  Only God The Father knows.  Folks, most every day I write in one form or another about Salvation, and I can't help wonder how many put it off thinking they have lots of time to come fully to Jesus to be saved.  How many did not read, or did not repent?  But my job for Jesus is to just get the word out that He is coming back, not to tell you when.  Gosh, I don't know when and neither do you, nor does any other person.  Not one person knows.  And again I tell you to be ready.  God The Father someday will get tired of the way we are living, get tired of the cursing,the swearing, the abortions, the unfaithful in marriage, and I could go on and on.  He is going to get tired of all the sin.  In the days of Noah, He went to Noah and had Him build an Ark, He had warned people.  It is the same today, we have been warned and warned and warned.  From John the Baptist to Jesus Himself have told us to "Repent for the Kingdom of God is Near."  So, brothers and sisters, maybe, just maybe God the Father is doing the countdown or count-up.  You have heard some parents counting when their kids are bad.  I am counting, I heard a mother say one day at the food store, to her unruly child.  One, two, three, she went, and then she said, I really mean it.  I am counting, one, two, three.  You are going to get it.  One, two, three, I mean it, you are going to get it.  I am thinking, hit the brat, already.  My dad was a math teacher, but he never counted when I got out of line.  He punished and I love him to this day for it, but then he would forgive me.  Brothers and sisters, God the Father is going to send Jesus back to get those who are saved, those who are Born Again, those who are washed in the blood.  ALL OTHERS WILL BE LOST.  The game will not end like a game of hide and go seek when the one who is "it" would yell after giving up, "All in Free, All in Free."  Oh, no, no free pass to heaven after the big event, your free pass needs picked up now!!  If Jesus would return right now ... WOULD YOU MAKE THE CUT?

Dear Father in Heaven, we do not know the time or the date, but I for sure want to be ready and I also want to work for Jesus and get the good news of Salvation out to the masses of people.  Help us, Lord, to do just that.  Help us reach out and help others in Your name, Father.  I love You, Lord, and I pray that all who these words reach also come to You if they have not already.  Lord, thanks for blessing this line.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings, all of your blessings.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Monday 1/4/13 Doggie Wash

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  What a great weekend.  I don't know about where you live, but in our area it was warm, even if we did not see the sun much.  I will tell you this, and maybe there is a future message in it.  We did not see the sun much this weekend, even though the sun is out each and every day.  This weekend it was just covered with clouds and fog.  Sort of like the Son is out all the time for us, but on some days we are so covered with fog and clouds, you know, sin and dirt of worldly living, that we cannot see the Son, our dear Jesus.  Monday and the day we pray for our leaders and our veterans, our military, our state and local police and firefighters, and all those who work to keep us safe and healthy.  Please pray also for all those who have the flu and for God to heal this virus and throw it away.

James 4:7 - Submit yourselves then, to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  8 Come near to God and he will come near you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

Revelation 22:14 - Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.  (NIV)

Doggie Wash:  Some time ago, as I was washing my little dogs, holding them on my shoulder in the shower, I just got to thinking, I am cleaning these little ones up, washing them real good.  Wash their heads with baby shampoo so the soap does not burn their eyes.  Then oatmeal shampoo to help their skin, then a good people shampoo and conditioner so they brush out nice.  I wash and rinse them and dry them off.  I place them on the floor and they shake and then after awhile they go outside AND ROLL IN THE DIRT!!!  You folks that have dogs know what I am talking about, what is it with dirt that makes these dogs want to roll in it?  Then they come in and want to jump back up on the bed or a chair or your lap, and yes, I let them do that.  Then I pet them and tell them I am not mad at them, but it would be nice if they stayed clean for a bit.  The other morning I took our three dogs, two of which are blind, and even being blind they like to roll in the dirt.  WAIT A MINUTE.  WAIT A MINUTE.  Hold on just a minute.

How often has our loving Lord Jesus picked us up and washed us off, cleaned us of our dirt (sins) and put us back down to find out that we go right out and ROLL IN THE DIRT?  How often have we gone to Him asking that our robes be washed whiter than the new-fallen snow and we go in the filth of this worldly earth? I am sure Jesus is not happy to see this happen just like we are not happy to see our dogs roll in the dirt right after a bath.  Each day I start by asking God to forgive me of my sins, wash me white as snow and then sometime during the day either my actions are not what Jesus wants and expects from me or my thinking goes astray.  How about you folks, how often do you take a roll in the dirt?  But we know better or we should, but so often we forget to repent and we go in that old dirt pile.  And you know when we come back out of the dirt pile, Jesus does not turn His back on us, no, He will hold us tight, He will work with us, and yes, He will work with us, and yes, He will give us another bath.  Just as we do with those pets that Jesus gave to us.

I hope you get the point of this short message today.  It is an example that God gave me before and again today.  Folks, He gives me the same messages over sometimes, and I would think it is because we did not take the warning seriously the first time.  Oh, and like I told my dogs today, I think Jesus is telling us the same thing.  STAY OUT OF THE DIRT.  KEEP CLEAN.  And love your Master.  Of course you do not need to tell your dog to love their master, our dogs and cats just love us, but for people, well, we need to be told.  So today, remember to tell people to LOVE THEIR MASTER, our Lord Jesus.  Amen.  Oh, and as you pray today, it is okay to hold your pet.  God loves our pets also, and yes, there will be dogs in heaven.

Dear Father in Heaven.  Please wash me today, wash me clean of sins with the blood of Jesus.  Lord, I confess that I am a sinner and saved only by the dear grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus.  Be with those on our prayer lists this day and watch over them.  Be with our leaders and also those who keep our country free, safe, and healthy.  Please, Lord, heal the flu in our country.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Go forth sharing your blessings and sharing the Love of Jesus to others, and please, "stay out of the dirt."

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Thur/Fri 1/10-11/13 Working Together 4

Good Afternoon, my dear brothers and sisters.  It is really another nice day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole.  We are expecting rain, and praise the Lord, it is January, and we do not need to shovel the rain.  (Come on, Spring!)  I promise Jesus each winter that if He gets me through the winter I will never complain about the heat of summer.  The real truth is I just love spring.  I love to see the new birth that spring brings.  Each spring as I watch the new growth I wonder in my little mind how anyone can not believe in God.  Today, Salvation Friday, is the day we pray for all those working the fields of harvest for our Lord, and also pray for Salvation for the unsaved, those who have been born only once.  Also pray for all who are saved, are born again, to be used by God to help lead in the lost.  We are awaiting our animal veterinarian to come to the house.  One of our senior dogs, Angie, our Yorkie with a tail, we call her, will be going to doggie heaven before the day is out.  This is always a hard job for us to do as we take in senior dogs so they can live out their lives here with us, and so often we need to make this final choice for them.  So pray for us this afternoon as we go through this hard part of the walk with senior dogs.  The love we get from this old dog is just so loving.  It is so nice when I, and I don't do it often, but I go into my room to take a nap and four or five dogs and a cat or two come with me.  It is the same at night.  Later today or tomorrow I am going to send out an email update on Carry The Light Ministries.  It is a copy of the letter we send out after our big Christmas push.  Some of you will get the hard copy.  We want you to know that we appreciate your support, and praying for us is one of the best kinds of support you can do for us.  Writing the daily message is the second longest running part of Carry The Light Ministries.  Our singing outreach to senior homes is the longest.  Look for the ministry update coming later.  Now let me get to the message.

Romans 12:9 - Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.  11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  13 Share with God's people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.  14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  16 Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.  17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, "It is mine to avenge, I will repay," says the Lord.  20 On the contrary:  "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  (NIV)

Yes, brothers and sisters, it is the same scripture as I used on Wednesday.  I really only got through Romans 12:10.

Romans 12:11 - Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, the Bible tells us when working for God, never be lacking in zeal.  Let me put it this way, when working for anyone, never be a slacker, in fact, so many people are slackers in life, some don't even try and get jobs, others get jobs and do not give the people they work for a full day of work for the full day of pay.  God knows if you are a slacker, and He surely does not want people going out half-heartedly with the Good News Message we are to be taking out.  When you are out working for the Lord, or anyone else as far as that goes, work hard, work with a smile on your face, enjoy what you are doing, and stop complaining.  I am sure that if God wanted to complain about us, He could find a lot of things that did not please Him in the way we live.  When you are telling the good news about Jesus, tell it like you believe it, have faith in it and live it.  Tell people that Jesus died on the cross for you as He also did for me.  Walk in His light daily.  I know of folks who have a lot of Bibles, lots of different versions of the Bible, but do not read any of them, or they read them and don't follow them.  I know of people who pray for things but do not do one thing to help God along, and as I have said before, all can do something when it comes to working for God.

The Bible tells us to be joyful in our hope and patient in affliction.  We are also to be faithful in prayer.  If I were to ask all of you right now this question, and okay, I am asking it ... DID YOU PRAY YET TODAY? Think about it, folks, you do not need to tell me the answer, for I know there are some days I have started the day and did not pray, or started a concert and did not pray.  Brothers and sisters, we need to ask Jesus to be involved in all things we do.  If it is not worthy of asking for His help, then it is not worthy of our doing it.  SOMEONE SHOUT AMEN!!  Let me move on ...

Romans 12:13 - Share with God's people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.  14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  (NIV)

We are to share with God's people who are in need!!  Who are God's people?  Do you need to be saved, or born again to be one of God's people?  NO!!   We are all God's people, all born in the image of God and given free will.  How are you using your free will today?  For good?  Or for not so good?

Each day I close I ask you to share your blessings.  Everyone can do just that, there is no one on this line who is not  blessed in some way and that means all on this line can share those blessings.  The Bible tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.  Let me tell you that it is much easier to rejoice with the happy than to sit and mourn or talk to people about problems.  God knows all of this, and if we truly love Him and have faith in Him, we can do this, you can do this.  I have done it.

Romans 12:14 - Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.  (NIV)

Live in harmony with each other.  Folks, in some families the family members cannot even do this, let alone strangers.  Folks, we who are Christians need to be the go-getter in this.  But let me point out here, in many churches, and I touched on this the other day, in many churches they do not have harmony in the church itself.  Even the disciples of Jesus, one of those went against Jesus, think about it.  Again, we who love Jesus need to extend to others that we want to live in harmony with them.  This scripture should have been used years ago when the big city churches would not open their doors and welcome in the new neighbors of changing neighborhoods.  In other words, those big churches with "white" congregations did not swing open wide the doors of the church and welcome in their new "black" or "Spanish" neighbors.  Think about that and tell me I am not right on it.  I know, I was raised in Harrisburg, and I saw it happen.  Maybe it was those folks that were funding the big churches were too proud to ask in those that did not have money!  The next part of that scripture is be willing to associate with people in low positions.  Have you ever been to a party in a nice big house where lots of people came?  Maybe you noticed that no one invited their "trash folks."  I have been there, brothers and sisters.  But I have changed, have you?  How we treat the least of those among us is how we treat Jesus!!  The Bible also tell us not to be conceited.  Please address yourself on that one.  We had nicknames for folks that were conceited, we call them "goody two shoes."  Don't know why, but we did.

Romans 12:17 - Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, "It is mine to avenge, I will repay," says the Lord.  20 On the contrary:  "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  (NIV)

As we finish up the scripture for today, please take a good look at it and digest it really well.  As Christians it is not always easy to do just what our good Lord wants us to do.  But as Christians if we want to stay in good standing with our Lord Jesus we must do our very best carrying out His Commandments and rules for us.  Hey, sorry, I am just the messenger, God made the rules.  I know they are hard to follow sometimes, and these are some tough ones.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Think about that when someone cuts you off in traffic, would you not just like to pass them and cut them off or even give them the (no, I am not saying it)?  The Bible tells us to do what is right in the eyes of everybody, and that is true, do what is right in front of everybody.  Now if we would want to make it sound better, let us just do what is right in the eyes of Jesus and that should be good enough for everyone, and that is what I mean when we talk about following in the footsteps of Jesus and walking in His light.  Jesus is the Light of the World.  The Bible also tells us not to take revenge but let God handle the wrath.  Let God do what He is to do, and let us follow His commands and do what He wants us to do.  The Bible tells us if our enemy is hungry we are to feed him.  If he is thirsty, we are to give them something to drink.  In short, the Bible tells us that the only way to overcome evil is by doing good.  Overcome evil with Good ...  Sounds like a plan to me, how be we put it into our daily practice?

Dear Father, sometimes in this world Your commands for us sound very hard to do, and Father, it is very hard to follow in Your footsteps.  Lord, I love You and I want to walk in Your light.  Lord, the farther we get off the path You light for us, the deeper we get into the darkness of evil.  Help us to stay on Your light path.  Forgive us when we sin and help us, dear Lord, with our walk with You.  Help us also, Lord, to live for God, and forgive those who commit evil against us, help us to bless them with Good, Your Goodness, Lord.  Help those who are not saved to come to You and use we who are saved to help bring in the lost to You.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Wednesday 1/9/13 Working Together 3

Good evening, my dear sisters and brothers.  What a great day we had today here at the Southern Location of the North Pole.  Please pray for the residents and staff at the Church of God Home in Carlisle.  I understand they are hard hit by the flu.  We need to be asking God to get rid of the flu across the world.  Please pray today for all, and I am serious about this, please pray for all those folks that you dislike.  It does not make a difference why you dislike them, today I am asking you to hold them up in prayer.  Today I am going to talk about the greatest gift God gives us and that is the gift of LOVE.  Now sisters and brothers, our Lord Jesus tells us that we must love God and love all others.  While we need to love all people, we do not need to like or love their sins, in fact we should hate the sins.  So today, and maybe tomorrow, we will be talking about the gift of love.

Romans 12:9 - Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.  11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  13 Share with God's people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.  14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  14 Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.  17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, "It is mine to avenge, I will repay," says the Lord.  20 On the contrary:  "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  (NIV)

Dear sisters and brothers, that is a lot of scripture to digest today, and I pray you take time to read through it a few times and really look at it.  This scripture tells us how we must love and how we must hate evil while we love.  I would guess by now you have all heard the news that in our National Cathedral they are going to be doing gay marriages.  Gay marriages are now legal in the eyes of the law in Washington, DC, so they are going to permit them to take place at the National Cathedral.  The person making the announcement in Washington, DC, said:  "That is the way Jesus would want it!"  They also said that according to the Bible gay marriage is permitted.  I would like anyone, anyone, to show me where in the Bible it is written that Jesus endorses marriage between two men or two women.  This brings me to a point about love.  We must all who are Christians love those who are gay, but we do not need to love that sin, and indeed it is a sin.  Once so called pastors start doing gay marriages in the National Cathedral, watch for a storm or something like that to  hit the Cathedral.  If you do not think these things are upsetting God, you need to go back and read the account of Noah.

Now with that off my chest, let's go back and start looking at the scripture of today.  I am sure I will not get through this complete scripture today.  Let's start with ...

Romans 12:9 -  Love must be sincere, hate what is evil and cling to what is good.  (NIV)

Love must be sincere.  First of all, my dear, dear friends, let's get this meaning of the word love.  The word love does not mean sex.  I hear so many people saying something like "they were making love."  So I ask you today, is your love for Jesus sincere?  I am sure you are going to say "YES".  So now I ask this, is your love for others, all others, sincere?  Come on, address it, folks, think about it, someone who might have "done you dirty" in the past.  Have you forgiven them?  If you have not forgiven someone, how in the world can you really love them?  First of all, folks, we must forgive those who have "done us dirty" or we will not be forgiven for our sins.  Again, folks, I do not make the rules, I am just telling you what they are.  Please, if you do not agree with this, just go and pray the Lord's prayer and then look at what you just prayed.  The Bible tells us we must hate evil, or hate sin, and we should cling to good.  And yes, God is good and we need to cling to Him.  The Bible also tells us ...

Romans 12:10 - Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.  (NIV)

We must love one another.  The other week I was talking about love and telling the folks at the Bridges in our greet your neighbor part of church that they should tell their neighbor they love them.  We have several people who took that very seriously, and I hear them each week without being reminded telling those sitting next to them that they love them.  I also have many now leaving church telling me as they leave that they love me.  I try and tell each one, each week that I love them.  Some people have trouble telling others they love them.  It seems those words might scare them a little.  The Bible tells us that besides loving each other we must be, listen to this now, we must be devoted to them.  How does that work?  It means you must be sincere.  The other week, one of the flock sitting in the first row in church for the first time, said very loud, THE PASTOR JUST KISSED THE PIANO PLAYER.  It got a big laugh, as this man did not know I guess that Dolores is my wife.

I think I have covered enough for one day.  So your homework for today besides reading over the scripture and really studying it ... I want you to think about who you are upset with, I want you to really pray about it, and if you need to be forgiving that person, then ask God to help you with it so it is sincere.  Also if they need to be asking for your forgiveness then make it easy for them.  In other words, patch up the problem, letting God help you.  And please remember that Love must be sincere ...

Dear Father in Heaven, I love You and that I know, but there are days when it seems I did not show it.  I also feel that I love all others, but if there is someone out there that I need to clear the air with, please point it out to me.  Also, may all my love for others be sincere and may I put my full heart and faith into it.  Lord, be with those on our prayer lists, and please, dear Lord, keep blessing this line.  Thanks for the message of today, and thanks for walking me through a hard subject.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Now, brothers and sisters, I find that so far we have at least three gifts.  We have the gift to serve, the gift of sharing, or helping others, and the gift of love.  How do I know that, well, it is like this, you can serve God, while you love Him and others, and your love for others can show as you share your blessings with them.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.