Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for another great day yesterday, thanks for the much needed rain, and thanks for a good night's rest. Thanks for watching over the families on this lie and their extended families. Today I pray that families come back together again. I pray for healing for Eleanor Saylor and for Burt and Patsy Emig. Bobbie Tucker also needs your touch, dear Lord. I pray also for my dear friends Grant and Wanda and I want to give You all honor and glory for sending them to us years ago. Dear Lord, thanks for all those who stopped for food since Friday, and thanks to You, Lord, we have it to give out in Your name. Now, Lord, please if You will be so kind, help me with the message and then please dispatch it for me. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is one really beautiful day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. Last evening we had some much needed rain. We spent a good bit of yesterday sorting food from last week's food drive, to packing food for those who were coming in. Please add Eleanor Saylor to your prayer list. Eleanor is in the Holy Spirit Hospital. Please pray also for Dan Saylor and his family and also Bob and Sharon Saylor (Bob and Sharon are brother and sister). Remember the safety tip is now at the end of the message. Now off to the message.
Tuesday July 23, 2013, The Thorn (Day Two).
2 Corinthians 12:7 - To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. (NIV)
2 Corinthians 12: 9 - But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, the I am strong. (NIV)
I repeated yesterday scriptures and I am wondering, when I do a series, does it help you? Yesterday we talked about Paul's thorn and how it, according to the Bible, was a messenger of Satan, sent to torment him (Paul). Then we see again in the scripture from yesterday that Paul asked The Lord three times, in fact it says he pleaded with the Lord to take it away from him. So today we see that Jesus is telling Paul that "His grace is sufficient for him." Jesus tells us, now please remember that what is in the Bible, what Jesus is saying, is still the same for us today, and I think I need to remind us all where that comes from.
Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (NIV)
Okay, so we are the "Paul" of today, we are the disciples for Jesus, or we should be. So Jesus is telling us that "His power is made perfect in weakness." Now put in the word "our". His power is made perfect in our weakness. Remember, please, that our is me and you. So in our weakness His power comes forth. Sort of reminds me of this song. Sing a verse or two with me please.
"I am weak but He is strong; Jesus, keep me from all wrong.
I'll be satisfied as long as I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Just a closer walk with Thee; grant it, Jesus, is my plea.
Daily walking close to Thee. Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
When my feeble life is o'er, time for me will be no more.
Guide me gently, safely o'er to thy Kingdom shore, to Thy shore.
Just a closer walk with Thee; grant it, Jesus, is my plea.
Daily walking close to Thee. Let it be, dear Lord, let it be."
Did you try and sound like Patsy Cline? I just love gospel music, and many, many times the songs come to me as I write for Jesus or even just when I am walking around. Let me get back to the message now.
So to honor our Lord Jesus, to honor Him this day and from now on, we need to remember this from Paul ... "for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties." We need to slip into the shoes or sandals of Paul, and we again means you and me, or me and you. We need to delight in weaknesses and in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. Then we will be made strong, and again to quote Paul, "For when I am weak, then I am strong." Can we put "we" in there? Sure we can. For when we are weak, then we are made strong.
So as much as when we have a thorn in our sides, so to speak, let us use it for good, for God, and remember that through it we will be made stronger, and that is a promise from God.
So it is time to go, so go forth now and share your blessings, and how about we go out singing and pick up on the safety message tomorrow. Love ya. Pass it on.
Pastor Dan
"I am weak but He is strong; Jesus, keep me from all wrong.
I'll be satisfied as long as I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Just a closer walk with Thee; grant it, Jesus, is my plea.
Daily walking close to Thee. Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
When my feeble life is o'er, time for me will be no more.
Guide me gently, safely o'er to thy Kingdom shore, to Thy shore.
Just a closer walk with Thee; grant it, Jesus, is my plea.
Daily walking close to Thee. Let it be, dear Lord, let it be."
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