Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for a great day and thanks for seeing us through it. Please forgive us of our sins, please forgive me of my sins. On this day we call Salvation Wednesday, I pray for all of the unsaved, and I pray that You will strengthen we who are saved and give us courage to go forth for You in working in the fields of Harvest. Lord, please keep watch over our prodigal sons and daughters and please help them come back to You. In Jesus' name now, help me with Wednesday' message, sorry, Lord, about being late again with it. The dispatch it for me and help me get working on the Thursday message. I am sorry I am behind in working for You, Lord, for You are never late working for us. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Pastor Dan's Safety Tip: Say this after me ... Boats float, cars don't!! Please do not drive through standing water.
Hi, brothers and sisters, and yes, I am getting this message out a day late, so as soon as I get this one out I am going to work on Thursday's message. Please pray today for Salvation through Jesus Christ and pray that He will honor you by using you to help bring in the lost. Start by renewing with Christ. In other words, pray for God to clean you again and then get busy working for Him. Let me get to the message today, Faith and Heroes.
Luke 1:26 - In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at the words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus." ------------------- 38 "I am the Lord's servant." "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. (NIV)
Please take time, my brothers and sisters, to read from Luke 1:26/45 to get the full story on Mary being informed she was going to be the Mother of Jesus.
Today I want to talk about a few ladies that I have had faith in, and first I will start with just one of those "Lady Heroes" from the Bible. You just know it would have to be our "Blessed Virgin Mary" so why would I choose her, well, not just for the fact that she was the earthly mother of Jesus and had to tend Him during his baby and early childhood, but by the way she was picked and by the way she answered. Again it sounds to me like she had a choice to accept or turn down the work and that is what it would be, work, that God wanted her to do. Old Gabe the angel of the Lord showed us and talked to her, and here this young mother-to-be tried to understand just what was going on. The angel had to explain to Mary how she would become with child even though she was a virgin, never lying with a man. She questioned that, but DID NOT QUESTION the angel's answer. But my number one reason for picking her as one of my heroes from the Bible was her just saying "I am the Lord's servant, may it be tome as you have said." Without question she accepted what the work was, what the job was that God wanted her to do. She would become the mother of Jesus, she would raise him, only to see what He was put through before and during His death. My Lady hero from the Bible. Tomorrow, another lady hero from the Bible. Or so I think right now.
Now how about a female hero from my life today, one that would NOT be today, my mamma, for all of you know how I felt and still feel about my late mamma. Today I want to tell you about a lady that I met about 20 years ago and who went to be with Jesus at an all too young age. This lady helped me on my way back to Jesus. She stepped me up a notch on my walk back and she helped me learn to read and study the Bible, not just read words. This lady, the late Pastor Karen Engle Layman, was pastor at Hope United Methodist Church and was along with some of the flock from that church had started a church service at the then Silver Springs Flea Market. I had come back to Jesus but was not attending church services each Sunday and started going to the flea market before going to church on Sunday morning. One Sunday morning I heard some singing coming from the grandstand of the speedway and stopped in and sat through one of the services that they were doing. Well, I started to stop in each week and really liked the short service and the music. I was invited to come to Hope Church once the flea market service closed for the winter. So I stopped in and I was made to feel very welcome. It was my first time back in a small church setting after being part of a very large church for a long time. I enjoyed it and started going to Bible studies, and the first was on the book of Mark. Then it was a couple of discipleship classes. Pastor Karen was a top-shelf teacher with a lot of love to give and a passion for sharing the Lord's message. I also was asked to join the choir, and I loved it. And I love that old chapel along the pike and I still do to this day. It was in one of the Bible study classes where I met my singing partner Pamela Bower and even came up with our Ministry name, "Carry The Light." Pastor Karen was transferred to Allison United Methodist in Carlisle and I will never forget the day I received a personal email from her asking me to place her on our prayer list as she had cancer and it was bad. Her daughter Anne has stepped in her shoes and is now a pastor. I missed her, for when I had a question, she, like many other pastors on this line, would be right there to help me, even after she left Hope Church. When I first went to the service at the flea market, I rode in on my motorcycle wearing leathers. One day years after that, after she had been transferred to Carlisle, we had sung south of Carlisle at a small Methodist church and coming back toward home, we saw people walking into Allison and decided to stop and hear Pastor Karen. What a day to stop, for her subject was me! She had changed the name but after starting the message, she stopped and told her flock that this person was in the church, and she had no idea I was stopping. Now once again, I will say that no one stands above our Lord Jesus, but so many have helped me get my focus where it belongs. She was one of those people. The last I was with Pastor Karen, she was very ill, and I told her, if I did not see her here on earth, I would see her at the feet of Jesus.
So where is your faith today? Keep it on Jesus and He will never let you down, but there are times when you need to put faith in people of today. For now, I will say go forth and share your blessings. Love ya. Pass it on.
Pastor Dan
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment