Dear Heavenly Father: Thanks for being with us each step of each day. Thanks for all You do to protect us and our family and the families of those on this line. Father, please clean me up today of sins known and unknown. Please be with Patsy as she goes to her doctor appointments and heal her so she can come home to Burt. Please heal Eleanor so she can come home to Sharon and Bob. Please touch Vicki. Please be with the Stoner family and clear Dan of cancer. Be with Debby also. Protect Leslie and watch over her, please. Thanks again for sending Doug our way and into our lives. Lord, now please plant in my mind some additional memory. Lord, please now help me with the message and help dispatch it for me. In Jesus' Name, I give thanks for everything, even the pain I carry, Lord. I love You, Jesus. Amen.
Thursday, November 7, 2013, Jesus Loves Me (Day Seven).
Ecclesiastes 9:1 - So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits them. (NIV)
Psalm 25:10 - All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of His covenant. (NIV)
John 20:1 - Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and she said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put Him!" (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, we go right to the message now and my personal words come later. Let's take a look at the scriptures that God has given me this day. From Ecclesiastes 9:1 ... It is concluded that what righteous and wise folks do is in God's hands, and folks, that holds true for today. It also states that no man knows whether love or hate, meaning good or evil, awaits them. That also holds true today. So often we hear today, why do bad things happen to really good people? While we will never really know the full answer to this until we face God, I can only say that all of us are sinners and are only saved by grace. Also, if you never had a bad day or a hurt in your life, would you appreciate the good days? But more so, and I know a lot of people come to God as very young children, but a lot of us came to God at our lowest point in life. And let me also state that when those really bad things happen, how can one get past it without God? Who do we really lean on? I don't know how often in my life since I have been saved I got into trouble on projects and had been working and working and then called on God. Lord, will You please help me, I know You love me. And He speaks to my heart saying, so now you call on Me, why did you not call on Me first, before you started your project? Brothers and sisters, Jesus loves me so much that He wants to be helping me from the start of a project and Jesus loves you also and wants to be in on the ground floor.
Let's look now at Psalm 25:10. It tells us that ALL THE WAYS of the Lord are loving and faithful. All of them for those who keep the DEMANDS of His covenant. We looked at this word the other day, His love is a covenant to us, but we see here He is demanding something. Nothing new, we are to keep His commandments and commands. But do we always keep His commandments and commands? No, I mean I don't, I try, but I mess up. So I say to you, are any of you without sin? So just do not think of those twelve commandments. Think of one like this. And He took the bread and He broke it and as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me. Now while that might not be word for word as it appears in my Bible and used for communion services, it is telling me as often as we sit down to eat, which we call breaking bread, and most of us have bread at a meal, we are to remember Jesus. So do you always remember to pray before you start eating? Even at work? Or at school?
Now don't lie about it, just think about it. If you said yes, you just might be telling that lie. Gosh, am I hard on you today? Yes, and on me also!! So all the ways of the Lord are loving to us, and He does love us, but His love might even be stronger if we did not mess up, if we indeed obey the commands and commandments.
Now to John, and I will bring that one down for you, and I do this for me also so I do not need to be rolling my screen up and down.
John 20:1 - Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and she said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put Him!"
Now this took place on the third day,which would have been after He really showed His love to us, in the biggest way ever, because He had just given His life for us. But we see here how Mary Magdalene went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. Now let me stop right here. While this more than likely was John, who Jesus was closest to, He loved all of His disciples. Sort of like when we have special friends, and while we love all people (and you do, right?), we are nearer to some than others. Look, for now I want you to stand in for the disciple who is not named, and I want YOU to come as near to Jesus as you can. Jesus should be our special friend, and while we should love all others, Jesus should be the one we love above all others. Your very best friend, above your spouse, your children, and/or others, Jesus should always be first, the one closest to your very own heart. When we say, "Jesus First," do we really mean it? I DO! I pray you do also. It does not mean you will not mess up, but we really need to try and not sin. Even after all these years, over 72 of them, and in all I have done in my past, Jesus still loves me, the difference, I now love Him more and more each day. Amen.
Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for speaking through me today, and thanks for hearing our prayers and answering them according to Your will. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, a beautiful day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. Happy Birthday to the Reverend Billy Graham who is 95 today. Please pray for Patsy and Burt Emig, and the Saylor family and keep them in your daily prayers. I will try and get an update on the Stoner family. Oh, and please pray it does not snow until we get that new plow installed on the truck. It is ordered, needed a special mount to fit our older model truck. The price of the new plow has now been received with the donations now in, and the sale of the old plow for parts. God is good, and He loves all of us and not one cent will be taken from donations received for the food pantry. Also remember that Carry The Light Ministries food pantry stands ready to help any of you who need food.
Now go forth and share your blessings, and when you share them, watch them grow. Love ya. Pass that love on.
Pastor Dan
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