Friday 10/18/13 Listen 4

Dear Father in Heaven:  Thanks for the messages You are giving me this week, for Lord, You are indeed teaching me to listen more.  Dear Father, please forgive me of my sins and start me fresh this day.  Dear Lord, please be with Patsy, Burt, and their two daughters.  And Lord, please be with Fred Thibeau and heal him, Lord.  Please touch Helen and heal her.  Lord, it is so nice that You hear our prayers and regardless of the location of where the person is we are praying for, You are taking care of them.  Lord, as we head to the weekend, I pray for pastors, Lord, and all those stepping out and teaching, preaching, and singing Your word.  I pray today for Wanda, Lord, and I ask that You open Your Word for her as she studies Your Word.  Lord, please know we appreciate You watching over families and friends and helping me each day with a message.  Lord, I pray today for Your blessing upon Carry The Light Ministries as we look to grow again.  Now, Father, in the Name of Jesus,  help me with the message and to get it dispatched.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, please pray today for Fred Thibeau who is in the hospital in Dover, NH.  Also pray for Helen Thomas as she has been sick.  Today I ask you to pray for Carry The Light Ministries.  Over the years, a major plumbing and heating firm and fuel oil dealer has held blanket drives.  Eshenhaur, Inc., has been doing this for 40 years.  We have been notified by them (we are customers) that this is their last year.  It would be a shame to see this wonderful program dropped, so pray for our ministry and for God to give us wisdom in going forward with another mission.  Pray this weekend for all those stepping out in the name of Jesus, be they preaching, teaching, singing, and even like Wanda Crockett, updating her studies.  Now it is time for me to get to the message, and brothers and sisters, I have learned a lot this week about listening.  And Dolores said, it is about time!!

"Wanted" -- A train set or two, as we would like to get a model railroad running for Santa's House.

Friday, October 18, 2013, Listen, Day Four.

Deuteronomy 30:19b - Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him.  For the Lord is your life.  (NIV)

Proverbs 1:5 - Let the wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance.  (NIV)

Mark 9:7 - Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud:  "This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to Him!"  (NIV)

Today I want to talk to you a little more about how we should listen.  I go back to the days of my childhood, yes, when the streets were still dirt and MILK CAME IN A BOTTLE DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR.  As a child I would listen, but not listen!  Did you get that?  Yes, I would listen and not listen!  Here is what I am talking about.  My dear mamma would tell me something and I would sit there and listen to what she said, but then go and not listen.  In short, I was sort of a "brat."  (Right, Martha?)  My Mamma would calmly say, you had better listen to me and by this time she was not talking about "hearing her" but doing what she said.

It is the same with our Loving Lord, brothers and sisters, what good is it if we pray and listen, if indeed we do not listen?  Double talk, no way, it is the fact.  We need to listen and then we need to listen.  Or we need to hear Him and then heed what He said.  Another example might be, your boss talks to you about doing some work, and you listen to him, but then you do not do the job as he wanted it done.  You listened, but you did not listen.  You heard him but did not heed or carry out what you heard.  Jesus has told us that we need to repent of our sins, now we listened and we heard Him say it or we listen as we read it from His Word.  But we did not repent of our sins, so we did not listen.  Getting it yet?  Remember the railroad crossing?  I said we should stop, look, and listen.  So we stop, we look, and we listen, and we hear that big engine horn sounding, but we do not really listen.  Well, if that happens, I do hope that you had decided before this to repent and come to Jesus.  Got ya on that one.

We also when we listen, we need to listen and then decide what is right and what is wrong.  Yesterday we looked at Scripture where Jesus said, "His sheep know His voice and follow Him."  We need to learn the Good Shepherd's voice, our Lord Jesus' voice and we need to follow Him.  Okay, look again at Mark 9:7 and hear what God said.  "This is my Son, whom I love.  LISTEN TO HIM!"  Brothers and sisters, the really neat thing about our Bible is there is no time limit on it.  The Word is as good today as it was back when Jesus walked this earth.

Dear Father in Heaven, I pray again this day asking You to help us not just listen, but to really listen and heed what You are saying.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings and be sure to listen, listen to Jesus, listen to your spouse, and also listen to your children.  And please listen and listen with your ears, mind, heart and soul, and then heed what you listened to.  And remember this.  I love ya.  Pass it on, Pastor Dan.