Thursday 1/23/14 "I Promise!" 4

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You:  Please wash me white today and  help me to repent.  Please be with Eleanor and heal her so she can come home.  Please also be with Sandy and help her eyesight.  Lord, thanks for taking care of Beverly's knee.  Help her heal, Lord.  Be with Ruby, Patsy, Burt, and others on our prayer list. Please straighten Dave's legs and ankles so they are back to normal.  Please, Lord, touch the back of Dolores.  Lord, please watch over this line and be it Your will, help me with the daily message and then help me get it dispatched.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Good day, brothers and sisters.  Please forgive me, as I am running behind.  I was a tad under the weather yesterday and laid down for a nap.  The nap lasted all night.  I guess I needed the rest.  People who know me as "Santa" keep saying it is my kind of weather.  No, Santa likes it warmer.  Anyway, let me get to the message of today, more on "I Promise!"

Proverbs 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.  (NIV)

Have you made a promise to someone today?  Or is it too early?  If you made one, are you going to keep it?  One of these days we are going to talk about Jesus and the promise that He made to us about taking care of our burdens.  And one promise that we often break is when we cast our burdens to the Lord  and then we take them back. Maybe I will get to that in the next message. Let's look at the scriptures of today.

Proverbs 22:6, and this is a promise from God,and I am so glad that I had a mamma and pop who raised me up in the way of the Lord.  My parents raised me in the way of  the Lord and the Lord's promise has held true.  For indeed I drifted but now that I am old, I will not turn from it.  I am sure there are parents on this line right now that lean hard on this promise.  I know for a fact that Dolores and I do when it comes to our son Matthew.  If you were a "prodigal son or daughter," I am sure you will come home or have come home.  I am also sure if you have a "prodigal son or daughter" you are praying like we are for that son or daughter.  I would love, I would love to post a list of children of those who use the line and have drifted from God so we can all pray for them.  Let's list them and pray over them daily.  Promises are great when they come from God for we know that the promise will not be broken.

Matthew 3:11 - "I baptize you with water for repentance.  But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."  (NIV)

We see in Matthew that "John the Baptist" is baptizing people with water, and he is telling them that one will come after him who will baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  By the way, we need to be "baptized" by Jesus and the Power of the Holy Spirit, and once that happens, we are forgiven of our sins, and we are put on fire for Jesus.  And when we are baptized by the Holy Spirit, we are a brand new person, for we have been "Born Again."  Now some people get confused on this and think if you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit you will speak in tongues and that you need to speak in tongues to get into heaven.

Speaking in tongues is a great gift of God, but it is NOT needed to get into heaven.  In fact, speaking in tongues is a gift from God, but is not His greatest gift to you.  The gift of Love is the greatest gift of all and there are many gifts that God has given us, and we all have them if we indeed truly love God.

One great big promise that we need to make to our Lord Jesus is when are baptized by Him we need to promise Him that we will try our best to repent of our sins and walk away from them.  So as I wrap up the message of today, will you pray with me asking God to help you to repent of your sins and walk away from them?  It is a promise we are going to make.  Will you join me now?

Dear Father in Heaven, some of us today are coming to You and asking You this.  Please, Father, forgive me of my sins, and Lord, then help  me repent of them and to turn and walk away from them.  Lord, I ask You this day to take Satan away from me and put me on fire for You.  Help me walk forth this day and to spread the Good News about Jesus.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Did  you make that promise with me?  Let me know, and we can keep after each other helping each other to keep the promise.  It is called being a good brother or sister.  Okay, done for Thursday.  Now go forth and share your blessings.  Love ya, and please pass on that love.

Pastor Dan