Good Salvation Friday morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is a beautiful morning here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. What a great day we had yesterday, and it was so beautiful.
God gave us the strength to get out of here for awhile yesterday, so we did some things that needed done. We went to the office of State Farm Agent Tim Peiffer where our daughter Danelle handles all of our insurance needs. We needed to finalize our insurance o our new food pantry trailer. As we did this we had a nice visit with all the staff and got to share God's love. God is good how He works out ways to share His love. In the near future we will be posting a picture of the trailer online. I need to get it out where we can get the picture. The trailer will not just transport food, we will also be rigging it so we can use it for our concerts. This trailer is a "billboard for our Lord Jesus." And brothers and sisters, it is all paid for. Dolores and I sold another one of our antique buses and what we received covered the cost of the trailer and the lettering. Not one cent, not one cent was used from our food pantry funds to purchase this. ALL HONOR AND GLORY TO GOD, PRAISE HIM. We are now watching for the hams to go on sale so we can pick some up for our Easter distribution. This will be held on Wednesday, March 20th, the first day of spring. Different from Christmas, we will not have as many families in on one day so we decided to go mid-week and also have it in the afternoon. We will need some helpers but not nearly as many as Christmas. Our ministry team will get together a few times and get the packing done. All the food is already sorted and all out-dated food has been removed. Folks, please, and this is not just for us, but if you are giving food to a food drive, do not clean out your own shelves to get rid of your food. When we have food drives we get in food, some outdated as long as 10 or more years. Other than canned veggies which can go well beyond their dates, we are doing our best to have all food to be within dates. All of God's people need that good food. We do use bread that comes out of date on the day we get it, but we freeze it the same day so it is fresh when we hand it out. I went on very long in the opening, but it needed to be done.
Prayer requests today for Church of God pastors Judy Bork and Al Hayden and lay person Louise Lyle. Praise report from Pastor Larry Hale. Pastor and his wife Luella took a short trip south for a couple of days, they are back home safe. Praise God.
Salvation Friday and the day we pray for the lost and pray that God uses we who are saved to bring in the lost to His feet to be saved. We are the farmers, folks, and the "harvest is ripe" and the "workers are few." Be a worker for God in all you do. Let me get to the message, Getting Dressed.
Ephesians 6:10 - Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggles are not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. With your breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the Shield of Faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take up the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)
Once again I have posted the complete scripture for our studies this week. This gives you a chance to review it. So as I get started today, let me sest out the final scripture for this series.
Ephesians 6:17 - Take up the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)
Always amazing to me how God works out the messages He gives me. Today we are on Salvation Friday, you recall that we at one time not long ago had Salvation Wednesdays. Check out this first verse ... "Take up the Helmet of Salvation."
The Helmet of Salvation, just what does that mean to me, folks, as I look at it and pray about it? The Helmet of Salvation, that crown of thorns that was placed around the head of our Jesus. As in all things, God has opened this series more and more as I go into it. Those thorns around His head caused blood to come out.
Matthew 27:29 - And then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. (NIV)
As I look at this Helmet of Salvation, I think of how sports players in many sports use helmets to protect their heads, how race car drivers use these big helmets to protect them. The Helmet of Salvation that we place on our heads as we pray is to protect us, protect us from all the evil that folks want to put on us because we love our Lord Jesus. The crown of thorns caused our Lord Jesus to bleed. Most of us get our hands into those thorns when cleaning out the weeds in our gardens, these weeds, some with thorns caused by sin of man to start with! (Thanks Adam!) So we put on that Helmet of Salvation not just to protect us, but to me, also to remind us of the work we need to do for our Lord Jesus, that work of getting into the fields of harvest for the Lord. And folks, that field of harvest which is going out to bring in the lost, is also full of thorns, but not the kind found in the weeds, these thorns are going to be some of those i the fields of harvest who work for the evil one and who will try all they an do to hurt us and also the one you are working on to bring in to Jesus to be saved. The Helmet of Salvation, please put it on daily.
The Sword of the Spirit. We carry that Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Let's look again at that verse in the Bible.
Ephesians 6:17 - The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (NIV)
So today as we think of that Sword, picture it as your Bible. You can get a Bible and read it and even carry it with you as you talk to people about Salvation. BUT PLEASE, please, you must earn the respect of the unsaved by showing them love, not by JAMMING the Bible under their nose and pointing to scripture, for you may drive them away. After you have shown love to the lost by helping them in some way and hold onto them and pray for them, then after you can get to talking to them, then the Word of God can be shown in the Bible. This, brothers and sisters, is why I tell you all the time that once people start coming to Christ, we need to get them into a GOOD church, one where the word of God is taught, preached, and practiced. Again I will tell you that if you need to find a good church, I will help you. There are many good churches in our area, many, but we must be careful for some support abortion, they support gay marriages or unions. You need one where the pastors and leaders use the Bible and believe ALL that is in it.
This brings me back to the mouth being more powerful even than the sword. Be sure what comes out of your mouth will help you win one for the Lord, and yes, one on one is to my thinking still the best way to win folks to the Lord. When the pastors in a church pray for Salvation and ask those who want to be and come to the Lord to raise their hands, someone should be watching so those people could be contacted later. Years ago when I was attending a small church I was seeking the Lord, I raised my hand wanting to come nearer to the Lord. The next day, the very next day, that preacher was at my door. However, at this time, he jammed a Bible under my nose, and I was not ready for that. So it slowed down my coming back to Christ, it really did. The pastor must win the love of the one he is trying to reach, and he did not do that with me.
I know I am going long, but I want to finish this today.
Ephesians 6:18 - And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)
Praying in the Spirit I understand would be praying in tongues or that language understood by the Lord and others praying in that same style. Brothers and sisters, I do not understand all of this, and brothers and sisters, if you cannot speak in tongues or pray in tongues or in the Spirit, it will NOT keep you out of heaven. I was told once long ago if you did not have that gift you will not go to heaven. NOT TRUE. You need Jesus in your heart and you need to love Him and share your blessings about Him, work for Him in other words. With that in mind, we do need to be praying on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. In other words, do not be afraid to ask God to help you or others. A lot of people have lots of problems, one who comes to mind, and we pray for her often as she has a full plate, we need to be praying a lot for our sister in Christ "Vicki". Do not be afraid to talk to our Father in Heaven, talk to Him through Jesus. (John 14:6)
And last, pray for all the saints. Brothers and sisters, if you ARE NOT A SAINT, you do not get into heaven. You become a saint when you get saved. So pray also for the saved, not just the unsaved, pray for all those who have come to Christ. And to wind out with the words of this one song ...
"Oh when the Saints go marching in, oh when the Saints go marching in ..."
I love that number, it is one of those that gets played at football games and many other places by bands and people get singing it and it is spreading the word of God and it is falling on the ears of the unsaved. Don't you love it when we can still keep getting the word to the masses and some will come to the Lord through the words of a song? "Oh when the Saints go marching in, oh when the Saints go marching in ..." Keep that tune on your mind and lips today.
Dear Father in Heaven, I think I wrote a book today, and I thank you and give You the glory. Please, Lord, be with those on our prayer lists, and please, Lord, point out the lost to us so today all of us might get to talk to at lease one person and share the Love of You with them. And Lord, protect us from evil as we put on the full armor of Yours and head into battle for You. In Jesus' Name, please be with Vicki, and we pray today and sing praises to You in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Late breaking news. A massive meteor has broken apart over Russia, please pray for all those hurt in this. Again, God has control over all things,. We never know when things will happen, so that is a good example of why we need to be ready to go home. In other words, we need to be saved NOW and tell others, and you can do that by SHARING YOUR BLESSINGS. Please pray for me as I go to God for a subject for this coming week. Yes, I need your daily prayers to keep this line going.
Love ya, Pastor Dan.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment