Dear Father in Heaven: Thanks for this day, dear Lord, and also the blessings that we just know we will receive from You. Thanks for all You do for us each and every day, dear Lord. Please watch over our president and all of our leaders in Washington, and I pray, dear Lord, that our president soon stands up before the people of the United States and starts to tell the truth, not half-truths. Father, I still do not understand how our leaders in Washington, DC, can put You out of every place You can think of and then close a speech by saying God Bless America. As I pray for our leaders, I pray they will come to You soon, soon, as in real soon. I pray today for our veterans and our current military, for police and firefighters. Today, Lord, I also want to pray for Pastor Bob, and Young's United Methodist Church, that you protect them and watch over them and bless them as they open their church for upcoming elections and that they have a great showing and outpouring of the love of our Lord Jesus at the church on Election Day. Dear Father in Heaven, we want to pray for this church and their flock each day until election. Help them be ready. Please watch over Vicki and help her this day. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Good Afternoon, my dear brothers and sisters. It is a brisk, cold, and very sunny day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. The weather people seem to be making a big deal out of an incoming snow storm. If you are willing to wait around for an hour of a newscast to get the complete weather report, you might see the way they work this just to keep you tuned in. It is sort of fun to see how they try and guess what the Lord is going to do. We who love the Lord know He sends the weather, and be it a blessing the day we get it or the day it melts away, you can always count on it, if it is from God, if you trust in Him, and abide by His will, in the end, He will work it all for God. Anyway, it is beautiful today, enjoy it, please, and give God the glory for it.
Dolores and I had doctor appointments this morning and I was to get my neck injected. However, since I am on a medication for infection due to an animal bite, she would not do it. Then it was off to the heart doctor for me. They did a heart test, found out that I had one, and said it was in pretty good shape for an old man. I was told to take an aspirin and go to bed. Just kidding about going to bed. I have a heart flutter, a valve leak. I will check with my son, the auto mechanic, about a valve job. So all good news today, all glory and honor to God ... Amen.
Luke 14:25 - Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them He said, 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be one of my disciples. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." (NIV)
Malachi 1:2 - "I have loved you," says the Lord. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?" "Was not Esau Jacob's brothers?" the Lord says, "Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals. (NIV)
Matthew 10:37 - "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (NIV)
Back in the days of my childhood, back when the streets were made of dirt and I started my car with a crank. No, I did not need to crank my old Ford. I just had a couple of strong buddies who would push it or I parked it on a hill. Back in my Sunday School days at the 29th Street United Brethren Church at 29th and Derry Streets in Harrisburg, I was asked who I loved more than Jesus, and I told the teacher my mamma. The teacher told me it was a different kind of love. The teacher was wrong, he should have pointed out to me in the Bible why, and maybe I would have understood it, but back in those days, I really loved my mamma. Now I understand the difference.
In the Bible it tells us that to be a disciple of the Lord we must hate our relations. Here it is right from the Bible and it is a quote of Jesus.
Luke 14:26 - "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be one of my disciples." (NIV)
Now brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus does not really want us to hate anyone, in fact, He tells us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as our very own selves. But the greatest command tells us that we must love the Lord our God above all else. Our Lord Jesus was putting it so that His disciples we would understand it. Jesus is telling us we must put Jesus ahead of all else, including our family, but not limited to our family. Dolores and I had this thing we did at Allenberry when we did Santa and Mrs. Claus and greeted people. I would tell folks that she is number two in my life, and they would say do you mean you put yourself above her? I would then tell them to ask her. Then she told them she was just under Jesus on my list, and folks, once I decided to put Jesus first in all I do, things have gotten better. I mean I love my family and my friends, I love our ministry team, I love my kids and grandkids, but folks, none of them do I love as much as Jesus. Now we also are told to lay down our cross and pick up His. In other words, to me, what this is meaning is this. Instead of laying on others my problems, I need to put them aside, put God first, and then tell those others about the cross of Jesus and why He died for us and why that is such a good thing. Yes, to work as a disciple for our Lord Jesus we must put Him first, and above all else. If you have trouble understanding this, you need to work to get closer to Jesus, for the nearer you get to Him, the more You understand just how He works for us and how He gave His life for us. And brothers and sisters, if you really want to show your love for your family and friends, then you need to get them to love Jesus more and more each day until they put Him even above you. In other words I must, in the words of Jesus, tell my kids to hate me and love Jesus.
Once again I tell you that Jesus is using the word hate so that you know how important it is to put Him first in all yo do. Amen.
Dear Father in Heaven, I love You, and yes, I understand what You are telling me, and I love my kids, but compared to my love for you, it is like hating them. Help my family and friends to understand that. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Now go forth for Jesus and share His blessings that He has laid on You.
I love ya (pass it on). Pastor Dan.
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