Dear Father in Heaven: Thanks for all the blessings You send out each day. Thanks for flooding us with those blessings. Thanks for forgiving me of my sins and all others who ask. Lord, please heal Patsy Emig. We just found out she has cancer, Lord. This lady loves You, Lord, so I ask in the name of Jesus that You clear her body from cancer. Also, Lord, our dear little one we have called "Baby Ali," no longer a baby, but she needs Your healing hand also. Bless the Orner family as they work with Ali. Lord, be with Burt this day as he is beside himself over Patsy. How they both love You, Lord. Please, please touch them. Lord,our president needs Your touch, so please, Lord, touch his soul. I pray that he would come to You and ask You into his heart. Now, dear Lord, please bless me once again with the message of today and then dispatch it for me, please. In the wonderful name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, Burt called us last evening to let us know that they received word that Patsy has cancer in her female organs. Pray for Patsy and Burt, please. And those of you on the line for a long time remember how we prayed and prayed for "Baby Ali." Her dad, Jim Orner, asked we pray for her again as she is very sick with a virus behind her brain. Today our ministry team is taking a day out to see a Christmas play. Pray we can witness to folks while we are there. God is so good, just so good, and He does answer prayers.
We are still in need of people to help us pack food on December 7th in the morning, and also help on distribution day on the 14th, also in the morning. Let me know if you can make it. It really is fun, and I have made veggie soup for the 7th, and a surprise for the 14th. (Surprise = I did not plan it yet.) Okay, let me get to the message.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013, A Time (Day Five).
Ecclesiastes 3:6 - A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away. (NIV)
Dear brothers and sisters, for this one, I must go back to when the streets were dirt, when I was a young child, and we would play in the evenings that game of "hide and seek." Back in those days I was "it" a lot. Anyway, we kids would gather and one would hide their face against a power pole and count to a hundred. When I counted, it went like this ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 15, 35, 60, 70, 100. Ready or not, here I come. And then whoever was it would search. You would find people and race back to the base and call their name. Billy, you are out, Sally, you are out. Then after searching and searching, we would "give up." All in free, we would yell. Back then when we were searching we were not searching for the lost, but today, we should be searching for those who are lost, and I am talking about being lost by not knowing Jesus as their Savior. I know people who have those things on their phone that tell you how to get from point A to point B. They have them built into the cars, and right now I cannot for the life of me think what they are called, however, you can go to Mapquest and print out a map. Some people get trip tickets from AAA for road trips. A lot of those folks who have all those things so they do not get lost are people who are really lost. The very best thing you can get into your hands to prevent you from getting lost is a Bible. Then you search out the scriptures and find out how to become saved. Once you invite Jesus into your heart, you will not be lost again. HOWEVER, searching then really gets started. You see, we are to go out and search in God's fields of Harvest for the Lost. Now there is a time to give up when out searching for the Lost. When time after time you have talked to that same person, over and over again you have tried to tell them about "knowing Jesus" in their hearts and you can't reach them. It is time to move on searching for others who are lost.
Matthew 28:18 - Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (NIV)
You can see clearly where we get our orders to go and search out the lost. There is also another time when we can "give up" on this search for the lost, and that is when we get called home. AND SOMEONE SAID AMEN!!
Okay, now let's take a look at "A time to keep and a time to throw away." Over the years, I think most of us found that one of these two is much easier to do than the other. Over the years our closets have become full of clothes. Some of us had several sizes in that closet, our skinny clothes, our regular clothes, and our "fat suit," so to speak. Also, we tend to put back many things, little treasures we might call them, however, the Bible does warn us not to build up our treasures here on earth. So I am a "junk guy" you might say, yes, I have trouble throwing away things. Will I ever need this again, or will I be able to use that again? Of course when it comes time I do need that something I held onto, I do not have a clue where to find it. Now as I am getting where there are many more moons behind me (no smart remarks) than in front of me, many more days behind than in front, I am now going through things and giving them away or pitching them out. At one time I even saved "belly button lint." Now I do not have a belly button, so I threw out the collection. (I am just kidding, folks.)
In Bible school, we learned to "make new friends and keep the old, for one is silver and the other gold." I also did find out as I came to the Lord, some people out of my past that did not come to the Lord, I do not see them anymore. I did not throw them out, but it seems we do have a circle of friends that love the Lord. I should pray for God to help me seek out those in my past who might not be saved and tell them about Jesus.
Oh, another example I think all folks could use about "A time to keep and a time to throw out" might be when looking in that old fridge. Folks, if it is in there growing a beard, it might be time to throw it away.
There is a time we came to the Lord, a time we asked Jesus into our hearts, a time we decided to follow in His footsteps, and as that happens there is a time to throw away our old habits and our sins.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall perish but have eternal life. (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, as we clean out some of our important papers, we often burn them, put them in a burning barrel and light them off. Brothers and sisters, we have our Lord, Jesus Christ, sent to us so we do not need to go into that fire. Do not let Satan get his hands on you and toss you into the barrel of fire. O once was lost, on my way to the fire, but then was found, saved by Grace, and I am found!! PRAISE THE LORD.
Thanks, Jesus for the message of today. Open hearts to receive it and heal us this day of our sins. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
Now go forth and share your blessings. Love ya. Pass that love on, please.
Pastor Dan
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