Wed/Thur 11/13-14/13 A Time 2

Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for keeping me going.  Thanks for all You do for all of us.  Lord Jesus,  I need Your healing hand upon me.  Giving You all praise and honor in advance.    Lord, watch over Dolores and please, Lord, protect her health.  Lord, be with Troy and help him to come back to You.  Protect Dave and Linda as they travel.  Lord, Ruby needs Your healing hand.  Lord, help me with the message.  Implant it in my mind and heart and then please help me dispatch it.  In Jesus' Name I pray.  Amen.

Brothers and sisters, I really need Your prayers.  I don't know what I got, but I got it, and I do not have time for it.  I need the Lord's healing hand as we hit our busy season.  I refuse to let Satan get me in any way, shape, or form.  On to the message.

Wednesday/Thursday, November 12/13, 2013, A Time, Day 2.

Ecclesiastes 3:3 - A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build.  (NIV)

Deuteronomy 5:17 - You shall not murder.  (NIV)

Exodus 20:13 - You shall not murder.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, sometimes people will look at one verse in the Bible and run around talking about just that.  Here we find in Ecclesiastes 3:3, "A time to kill," and it does not mean there is a time we just go out and kill someone.  So let me tell  you what God is giving me on this.  I want to call your attention to the Whitetail deer herd in our dear sweet Pennsylvania.  While I at one time hunted, I don't anymore.  With that said, there is a time to kill off the deer and thin out the herd, otherwise they are killed on the highway and cause lots and lots of damage to cars and even hurt or kill people in those accidents.  Also in the farmers fields they cause damage to crops, etc.  So with that deer herd there is a time to kill, and when the season for hunting is over, then there is a time to heal and they mate and have young again.  Our Lord gave us animals that are for eating, and while I am not a butcher, I will tell you that I love a big burger topped with all the goodies.  So there is a time to kill, but to have meat and keep it going there is a time to heal, keep reproducing.  There has to be controls on this.  Let me take you now to Luke 13:6/9.

Luke 6:  Then He told this parable:  "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look  for fruit on it,but did not find any.  7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any.  Cut it down!  Why should it use up the soil?'  8 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it.  9 If it bears fruit next year, fine!  If not, then cut it down.'"  (NIV)

There are orchards all around Central Pennsylvania, and each year the orchards are reworked after the harvest.  Trees that have run their life span are killed and new ones planted.  Those folks running the orchards know the time when it needs done.  Even little old me knew when I had at one time a really nice strawberry patch that to keep it going you would replant after three years.  So you did one section of the patch every three years.  That way you always had the fruit.  Yes, a TIME TO KILL AND A TIME TO HEAL.

Now let's look at that second part of verse 3, a time to tear down and a time to build.  For the example here I want to bring you forth to our present times.  Let's look first at housing.  Over the years lots of houses had to be torn down.  Some because people did not build on the "Rock" but on sand, others because they were built badly and did not last, and still others because people just did not take care of them.  Born and raised in Harrisburg, PA, I have seen some of the neighborhoods being rebuilt over and over again.  Most of this, and I am calling it like it is, folks, most of it is the housing that people do not need to pay for or don't pay much for it.  While that is not always the case, it does seem like if one is not working for what they get, they do not have that ownership pride in it.  For whatever the reasons, those buildings are taken down and new ones put up.  A TIME TO TEAR DOWN AND A TIME TO BUILD.  Also things have changed in business.  Years ago there were gas service stations on each corner.  Down they came and up went the super stores with gas.  Now they have places where they sell gas and you can also eat there.  Next thing you know a sign will be put up that says, "EAT HERE AND GET GAS!"  Yes, I just had to do it.  Big steel plants have been torn down, land sets empty, then along comes someone wanting to use the land for something else.  A TIME TO TEAR DOWN AND A TIME TO BUILD.

Now for all those who waited until the end, let me put it like this.  A time to kill off sin and a time to heal by asking Jesus to forgive you of those sins.  A time to tear down that old sinful past, and by holding onto Jesus rebuild your life.  Yes, I once was lost but now am found, I was blind but now I see.

Dear Father in Heaven, I never know when I sit down at the keyboard how it is going to go, and I am amazed each day at what You place on my heart.  Thanks for speaking to me this evening and thanks for Your healing hand on me.   Now please bless this line and all who use it, and I do ask and pray, and give all thanks to You,in the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.  I love You, Jesus.  Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings, killing off the bad habits and healing with new ones.  And remember, please, you cannot outgive the Lord.  Love ya.  Pass that love on, please.  Pastor Dan