Monday 4/8/13 "Danger"

Good Morning, Dear Heavenly Father, and thank You for the beautiful morning, and thanks for watching over all of us during the night.  Thanks for watching over family and friends.  Please, dear Lord, comfort the Warren family in their time of loss, and also, Lord, please be with all of our brothers and sisters in Great Britain as they suffer the loss of their former leader.  I pray she is with You this day.  Be on this line with us and protect it from the common "trash" that gets into computers.  Be with Ed Ruth and Mary Kessler and help them.  Also be with all who are in any kind of danger and watch over them.  Thanking You in advance and giving You all honor and glory for this coming day and night.  And Lord, all honor and glory to You for taking care of my neck.  Lord, please be with our leaders, our veterans, our military, our police, firefighters, and all who take care of our safety and health, and Lord, please take the brain cancer away from that seven year-old boy who was seen on TV running that football.  Sorry, Lord, I did not catch his name.  I guess, Lord, I dropped the ball on that one.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Good Morning, dear brothers and sisters.  The sun is coming through my window so strong this morning I had to tilt the window shade so I could see.  For all of you who might be British, I suffer with you in our loss of a lovely leader, Margaret Thatcher.  This former leader stood side by side with our former President Ronald Reagan.  I pray she was saved and is now enjoying heaven with President Reagan.  Please pray for Pastor Rick Warren and his family in the loss of their 27 year-old son.  Also pray for a 7 year-old with brain cancer.  I do not know his name, but you might have seen him on TV running that football.  Also it is Monday and the day we pray for our leaders,our veterans, our military, our police, firefighters, and all who take care of our safety and health.  Please pray for our ministry and I would appreciate that you keep us in your daily prayers.  I need to get to the message ... "Danger."

Monday 4/8/2013 - How to protect yourself from "Danger."

Psalm 121:1 - I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?  2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.  3 He will not let your foot slip, He who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  5 The Lord watches over you, the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.  7 The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life.  8 The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, if you are like me, you like some of those old TV shows of the past.  I like old Andy of Mayberry and the folks on that show.  Now Sheriff Andy Taylor never carried a gun but his deputy Barney carried a side arm that was unloaded and he carried one bullet in his shirt pocket.  And these two fine officers of the law were the protection over the folks of Mayberry night and day.  I also remember the bank guard and I think his name was "Asa" and most of the time he was sleeping at the door of the bank.  Oh, and back in my real young days, "when I still had teeth," I loved those old cowboys that protected people.  They would ride in the wild west, getting 25 shots out of six shooters, while a full size band would play music.

Today our safety is guarded in our area by a wonderful police department (Silver Spring Township) and by the way, I just anointed their police cars with oil last week.  We also have help from one of the best State Police departments in the Nation. However, in some areas the protection is very thin.  We also have our military standing watch over us and that is to be night and day.  But wait a minute, when we are in danger, danger, who is always there to help us?  Yes, of course, our Lord Jesus.  And folks, danger does not just come from a bad person, a robber or thief, some danger comes from, well, different things.  Construction sites come to my mind, and thee are cave-ins, and in fact, I just purchased cave-in insurance.  Danger comes when one jacks up a car to change a tire or when we are cooking on a hot stove (it does not work to cook on a cold one).  Just the other day families were burned out because someone was frying chicken in oil and walked away from it and it caught the house on fire.

Okay, first of all, we need to know that God has given all of us free will, and He gave us a brain to use and a heart and mouth to use.  Let me say right now that we need to start each day by using our brain,heart, and mouth to call on the Lord and not wait until the danger hits to call on Him.  The scripture that God pointed tome today, Psalm 121, tells us in verses 7 and 8, "The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life.  The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."  While the entire Psalm talks about protection, these two verses tell it best.

He will watch over our coming and going now and forevermore.  No one on the face of this earth can offer that kind of protection, not one single person, none, zip, zero.  And brothers and sisters, you can talk to "Guard Jesus", "Night watchman Jesus", anytime day or night and that is what we need to do.  When you go to bed at night, do you pray for protection while you sleep and pray for your family and friends?  Come on, you folks, pray this one with me right now.  Do you remember this?

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.  (Then as kids we went on.)  God bless mommy and daddy, my brother Leonard when he is not hitting me, bless my dog and cat and my goldfish too, and please, Lord, keep the cat out of the goldfish bowl.  Amen.

Now tell me, did that hit your memory button today?  Yes, let me know, I love hearing from you.

Talk to God often, talk to Him before you start the day and when you end it, talk to Him before you crawl under your car or go up on a roof.  Talk to Him, and please, please remember this.  You say, "Dear Lord, protect me as I go up onto the roof."  Then remember to give thanks when you get back down.

Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for hearing this word today.  Thanks for helping me with it, and dear Lord, thanks for keeping us from danger.  In Jesus' name, I give thanks.  Amen.

Now, brothers and sisters, go forth, praying often and sharing your blessings.  Love ya.  Pass it on.

Pastor Dan.