Thursday 3/28/13 Easter Week 4

Dear Father in Heaven, I love You, thanks for another wonderful day.  Thanks for Your hand on Thelma Blough.  Thanks, dear Lord, again and again, for trusting us to work for You.  Thanks again, dear Lord, for Your Word and for those who wrote about You and passed it on down so that we may read about You today, and we are really happy that the truth lives on this day in You.  Lord, be with us Thursday as we double up on services, and please be with all pastors as they work this Holy Week, and I pray that they all teach and preach the truth.  Lord, thanks for being with all of us all the time, even when our minds are elsewhere and not on You.  Help us to fall deeper and deeper in love with You each day.  And Lord, it is just in, thanks for taking care of Helen Thomas and now please as the tests go forth, help them be clear of cancer.  In Jesus' name, I pray and give thanks.  Amen.

My dear brothers and sisters, I do not know if this will reach you on Wednesday evening or Thursday, but it is the Thursday message, and please remember we are having communion.  I do pray that you don't just pass on this.  If you do not have grape juice, use something else for the blood, just ask Jesus to bless it, and if you do not have bread, use the bread from a donut or sticky bun.  Just be sure that you ask God to bless them.  And remember this is the "BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS."

PRAISE REPORTS, Yes, two of them!  The other day we prayed for Tim Blough's mother who was to be in stage four or five cancer.  Okay, first, her name is Thelma, and there is no cancer in her liver as suspected, and her cancer has been downgraded to stage three.  Praise the Lord, we know God was at work already and cleared that liver.  Now we keep praying expecting a clean report.  All glory and honor to God.  Helen Thomas had her surgery this AM (female surgery). The surgery went excellent, she is home, tired and resting, Praise God!  Keep praying now that there is no cancer in the testing.

Time to get to the message, and remember it is communion.  So off we go to the Upper Room!

Easter Week 3/28/13 Day Four.  The Upper Room.

Vine and Branches:  John 15:1 - "I am the true vine and my Father is the Gardener.  2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."  (NIV)

Two weeks ago Dolores and I purchased palms so that we could give palm branches out to those coming to church last Sunday.  We ordered a lot of them and Grant and Wanda helped us get them ready for church.  We had plenty to share so they took also for their church.  These palms are kept at the florist, they were in a big cooler to help keep them fresh until they delivered them to us.

Even before our church service you could see how they were drying up because they were no longer attached to the tree.  I also purchase cut flowers for Dolores from time to time.  (Ain't I good?)  I bring them home, cut them down and put them in water with stuff they give to keep them fresh.  Still, they wither and die because they are cut from the plant.

Folks, we are the same way, if we become detached from Jesus we are going to wither up and just die.  I am talking about your soul dying and when your soul starts to die, what do you have left?  A brain and body that wants to work on its own.  I have tried that, I have tried walking without Jesus and it was not easy, although I thought it was then.  Since I found Jesus, and truly walk with Him, that walk got better.  I did not say it was easy, folks, because we still have trouble.  We still have problems, and we also find out that getting old is not for sissies.  However, if we stay attached to Jesus, we have a Lord and Savior who will  help us each step of the way.  Folks, if anyone is going to cut you off from the Lord, guess who it will be.  A gardener cut off the palms, a florist cut those flowers, but who cuts us off from the Lord?  Who cuts us off from that True Vine?  Brothers and sisters, if you said Satan, you are wrong, really and truly wrong!!!  Oh, he will come after you, he will try and get you away from Jesus, but the one and only one who will prune you away from Jesus is none other than YOURSELF.  Freedom of choice.  Picture yourself as Howdy Doody, that puppet from our youth.  He had strings attached and the puppet master would pull those strings.  If the puppet master would cut the strings, Howdy would fall.  But God did not make us to be puppets, no strings attached to us. He gave us free will, but He also gave us a way to stay attached.  He gave us Jesus!  He gave us His Word.  He gave us the Holy Spirit!  He gave us all we need.  We just need to take it.  If Howdy Doody were to get scissors and reach up and cut the lines, he would fall, he would not work.  Folks, God did not have strings on us, just His Word, and if we reach up and cut ourselves from Him, we will also fall and fail.

Folks, all of this is in The Book, The Book we call The Bible.  Let's get really attached this week as we walk nearer and nearer to God and try to understand just why this man named Jesus died for us.  Let's go to Him now in prayer.

Dear Lord, let us walk with Thee.  Hold us tight as we struggle each day in our walk here on earth.  Thanks for keeping us afloat and helping to hold us up.  We know if we become detached we will surely fail.  Lord, we have faith in You and ask in Faith that You would look over our prayer list and answer it according to Your will.  We thank You this day for all things and pray in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Luke 22:3 - Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.  4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.  5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money.  6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. (NIV)

Have you ever worked at a place where you did this great job and found out that others who were friends to your face were really trying to either get you fired or get you in trouble?  Folks, this happens over and over in the workplace and even in our schools.  It seems to me that "backstabbing" might be working every place we might go, even in some churches.  I know that when I was working at the school and in charge of Transportation for that school district someone would always be at my back.  There came a term I would hear often, "it was lonely at the top."  If you are in a job where you work with customers and you go far beyond what needs done, you will find that the "slackers", those who do little, as in just enough to get by, will try and take you down.  If you are in sales and are selling well, others will soon hate you and say you are taking their customers.  And it goes on and on and on.  Along the lines, you will even find "bosses" who get involved for they like people to run to them about what is going on in the office or places of employment.

I brought this up today to let all of you who have had these kinds of things happen, to tell you to keep your faith for you are in good company.  Please take the lead of Jesus who had this same thing happen to Him and just keep on your mission.  Jesus had disciples who traveled with Him, His disciples and out of the twelve, one of them sold Him out, yes, really sold Him out, for money.  Now our Bible tells us that Satan entered Judas Iscariot, and of course, when Satan gets on board with you and you with Satan, only bad things can happen.  But we people cannot always blame Satan, for you have heard me say we give that king of evil too much credit.

Folks, if people are cutting you in the back, first as always try to work it out, be really, really nice to those others, knowing that is what Jesus would do.  If that does not work, then just keep on being in touch with God and work as Jesus would.  Do not talk about the ones backstabbing you, do not put them down, just go on with your tasks and remember to never do it to someone else.  You know it is easy when working with others to get caught up in the trash talking and gossip, please don't get drawn into it.  Do not be a Judas now or ever and if you ever did, do all you can to correct it.

Dear Father in Heaven, please today forgive us of our sins, we do indeed want to walk with You and we want to do it clean.  Today please bless the communion elements that people bring forth for communion this day.  Bless the Bread to be the Body of Jesus and the Grape Juice to be the Blood.  Clean us not just for this communion today but to get us ready for the day You send Jesus back for us.  In the name of Jesus, we pray together, knowing that we must each ask for our own selves to be forgiven.  Clean us, Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask this.  Amen.

Holy Communion and Salvation Through Jesus:

Luke 22:14 - When the our came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. 15 And He said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."  (NIV)

Today I want to review a few steps about our Salvation through our Lord Jesus, with the steps that must be taken by us as individuals.  I want to of course not just tell you about it, I want to back it up with scriptures.  First of all, why did God send His One and only Son to do this for us?

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.  18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."  (NIV)

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  (NIV)

Romans 10:9/10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth you confess and are saved.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus took our sins with Him to the cross, not one sin or a few sins, but all of them, if we just confess our love over to Him we can get rid of our sins and get ready to face Jesus.  We also, folks, must repent, we must repent.  Do you remember these passages from our Bible ...

Matthew 3:3 - "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him'" (NIV) That was John The Baptist.

Matthew 4:17 - From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."  (NIV)

Then, folks,  we must go to work for our Lord Jesus.  We cannot work our way into heaven, but faith without the works is dead.  See Ephesians 2:1/10.

Are we ready now for online communion?  We went to Gethsemane with Jesus yesterday and on Friday we are going to the cross. Yes, there will be an Easter Sunday Morning message.

Are you ready now with your bread and juice, or wine if you choose?  We will use the service from Luke.

Luke 22:19 - And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."  (NIV)

Please take now your bread which is the body of Jesus, and break it apart and join me ... This is the body of our Lord Jesus and my dear brothers and sisters, it is broken for us, you and me ... take and eat now ...

Luke 22:20 - In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the New Covenant in my blood,  which is poured out for you."  (NIV)

Now take your juice/wine which is the blood of Jesus, which was given up by Jesus while He was on the cross ... Brothers and sisters, this blood of our Lord is still flowing today ... Take now and drink, for this is the blood of Jesus, the blood of the New Covenant, it is shed for us, you and me.

Still pouring out today ... for that let's look at one last scripture today ...

Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  (NIV)

And all God's people said ... AMEN.

Now go forth and share your blessings, share Jesus who is your very best blessing.  See you Friday as we go to the cross!  Also on Friday if you care to join us, Carry The Light will be in concert at The Bridges at 2:00 PM.  Call me if you need directions, 717 991 0754.  Love ya (pass it on).

Pastor Dan.