Tuesday May 28, 2013 Promises

Dear Father in Heaven, You have made us so many, many promises, and I want to thank You for all of them.  Thanks for a great holiday weekend, and thanks for watching over friends and family.  Thanks for a relaxing day on Monday.  You are wonderful, Lord, just wonderful.  Thanks for supplying our needs and leftovers enough to help others.  Lord, please be with those on this line.  Thanks for the good news about Dick and please keep our hand upon him.  Be with Dolores as she heads for her next eye surgery, and Lord, please heal her leg.  Lord, I pray today for Grant, Matthew, Curtis, Ruby, Bert, Patsy, Barbara, Barbara, and Lord, without me putting down a name, help that person overcome his hate for another.  Lord, please help me with the message of today, and protect this line.  Oh, and thanks for the rain.  I love You, Lord.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Pastor Dan's Safety Tip.  Speed limits posted on our roadways are posted for ideal conditions.  When conditions are not ideal, CUT YOUR SPEED!

Howdy, brothers and sisters.  I pray you all had a beautiful weekend, we sure did.  Oh, I have listed Barbara twice in my prayers.  That is because we have two of them that could use some prayers.  I must tell you this, I am so excited about it.  We are just so blessed, we really are.  Listen t this, I woke up this morning, it is raining, and I was not getting wet in my bed (no smart remarks there).  But I am thinking, it is raining and we have a roof over our heads, and a lot of people do not.  Not just those in Oklahoma but you think about all the homeless who live in boxes or tent cities or under bridges.  Some by choice and some not.  This morning while waiting upon the Lord to furnish me with a topic for the week, He rolled my mind back to things I had talked about before.  Promises, and twice I did three weeks of promises, and without looking back to see what they were, I think we need to again look at some of the promises of God.  There are just so many.  So we will tart with day one today and see how many we can look at until Friday.  I am going to try and do one from each testament of the Bible each day.

Love is the greatest gift God has given us.  How long will is love last?

Jeremiah 31:3 - The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying, "I have loved you with an Everlasting Love; I have drawn you with loving kindness."  (NIV)

Drawn in Hebrew means "Continue."  So let's take a look at this.  Just how long is everlasting?  Well, folks, when we get married, the statement we make states 'til death do us part.  But think about this, everlasting goes way back to before we are born, for Jesus knew us "before we were in the womb."  So His love started then for us and it goes on until we get called home.  No, it goes on after that if we indeed are saved. Everlasting means it never stops, and think about this, His love goes on for us, even when we had walked away from Him.  His love goes on for us regardless of what we have done.

I think aback when I was a child and my mamma or dad would need to punish me.  Yes, really, it did happen ONCE.  They would say, this is going to hurt me more than you.  And after the punishment they would say, I love you, as they hugged me.  Think about our Lord Jesus and how we hurt Him by our sins, and still He loves us, and when He needs to punish us, He still loves us.  If you think we have a God who does not punish us, think again.  And I am sure that He is saying this is going to hurt me more than you, even as He carries out that punishment.  EVERLASTING LOVE!!

Luke 15:7 - "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."  (NIV)

This is Jesus being quoted.  Jesus taught in parables, and this comes from one of them.  It is about the lost sheep. Today I want to give it as an example or examples I have seen.  I have attended many good gospel concerts since Dolores and I were married back on May 30, 1982 (better remember that date).  She took me to my first gospel concert, and we also were members and attended Christian Life Assembly of God (our membership is now with Carry The Light Ministries).  I have also witnessed this at Glenvale Church of God and Bethel United Methodist Church, where a call for salvation was made and a person or two came forward to confess themselves over to God.  I can remember how excited all those who were already saved would get when someone stepped out for Christ.  People would gather around them, anoint them with oil and pray for them.  Now only Jesus can save them, but just seeing them step out, how excited the rest of us wee.  Some might have come forth because they drifted away, some might have been first-timers, but it was exciting.  It was neat, thee we were, a group of sinners who were saved, praying for a sinner to become saved.  Some of the largest crowds where I have seen this was when traveling with The Brotherhood gospel quartet at their concerts, and with the Couriers up at Christian Life Assembly on a New Year's Eve.  The smallest setting was at Bethel Church when closing one night for them after a concert, someone came forward.  The size of the crowd does not make a difference, it was the fact that a sinner has come home and the rest of us were rejoicing.  Even just working on it is exciting, and again, when we pray for someone and anoint them, God will be the judge.  I told you about the other day when our small ministry team got a chance to anoint a lost brother, and we do need to keep praying for "Mike."  We were so excited.  So with the example that Jesus used in the scripture about the lost sheep I just wanted to show you how exciting it still can be.  Think of it, how up in heaven, how the rejoicing will be when one comes to Jesus.  And we are to be helping with that.

The Promises were/are there will be rejoicing in heaven.  It is so nice to know that while we rejoice here on earth for these events, WE HAVE A PROMISE THAT WE WILL STILL BE REJOICING IN HEAVEN.  Only it gets better.  "Because Jesus will be leading the cheering section."  And you can quote me on that one.

Okay, enough for today.  I really love you folks!  Have I told you that lately?  Now go and share those blessings, and do some rejoicing, for look around you, you are blessed, please share that.  Love ya.  Pass it on.

Pastor Dan