Wednesday 9/18/13 Straight 3

Dear Father in Heaven:  Thank You very much for a really blessed day.  Please, dear Father, forgive me of my sins and start me again fresh.  I love You, dear Jesus.  Please, Lord, thanks for watching over Dolores this morning when she fell.  Please help her to stand and not fall.  Thanks for the food blessings that came in today and thank You that we could help others through the Ministry You have granted unto us.  Thanks for all You do, and please now, Father, help me with the message and then please dispatch it for me.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Good afternoon,my dear brothers and sisters.  It is Wednesday and that means it is Salvation Wednesday on this line and the day we pray for the lost.  Pray that God will open doors for you to witness to others.  Please remember we can only lead people to Jesus, He is The Savior and takes care of His end, we must just get our end done for Him.  Praise report.  New Hope Ministries gave us two skids of cereal, cleaning products and other things this day.  In return we were able to give to them peanut butter and canned veggies that we have been able to purchase.  Praise report.  Dolores fell this morning and she was okay, and so was the floor.  Please keep praying for Patsy and Burt and those others who have been on our prayer list.  Now let me get to the message, Straight 3.

Salvation Wednesday, September 18, 2013, Straight 3.

Isaiah 40:3 - A voice of one calling:  "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God."  (NIV)

Matthew 3:1 - In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."  3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah.  "A voice of one calling in the desert.  'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"  (NIV)

John the Baptist, the wild one who people say might have looked like me (beard, long hair, etc.).  But while I love honey, i just ain't going to eat the locust, although being a biker I have downed a few flying bugs over the years.  Anyway, you can see in the scriptures above how what is recorded in Isaiah, what Isaiah talked about came to be with John the Baptist.  Make straight paths for Him, the Bible tells us.  Prepare a highway for God.  What does this  mean?  Prepare a highway for God?  Make straight paths for Him?   First, to make straight paths for Him is to remove the obstacles.  This is how highways are made today, obstacles must be removed.

Today, if we are going to make a straight path for us, a straight way to the Lord, we also need to remove obstacles that would be blocking our path, our highway to salvation.  What are those obstacles?  SIN, SIN, AND MORE SIN.  Also, folks, we who have been born again still need to fight to keep in that straight path.   Forces of evil are going to try and turn us from God.  Christians will be under attack more and more all the time.  Have you ever watched a football game?  Sure you have!  Have you watched from time to time a player running down that sideline?  Running for the goal, and some other player from the other team comes and tries to knock him out of bounds.  Picture it, we are running down that sideline, that straight path toward our goal which is not the end zone but Heaven.  Well, that really would be our "end zone."  Over and over others try and knock us out of bounds.  Instead of a football under our arm, we are running with our Bible.  Some will try and take it in the end.  But we must keep running straight, our eyes on our Lord Jesus.  Please do not let sin push you off line or "out of bounds."

Folks, as John the Baptist was speaking out that the Lord will be coming, we must be doing the same today.  It is our turn to be calling out, not just in the desert, but in the office, in the cities of our country, in the big towns, in the back woods.  The Harvest is ripe, and we must  bring in the crops.  Autumn is the time of the time of the harvest and I truly believe we are in the Autumn years and we really need to be working the crops.  Salvation Wednesday.  Let's pray.

Dear Father in Heaven, we need to be working more and more for You and we confess we need Your help to get it done.  Open doors for us and anoint us to do this work.  Be with all those on our prayer list.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  Love ya.  Pass it on.  Pastor Dan.