Dear Father in Heaven: Thank You for a blessed and wonderful Tuesday, working all day for You. Thanks for trusting us to do just that. All honor and glory to You for healing Vicki and her not needing surgery. Lord, she still has some other issues and needs Your help. Lord, be with families this day, families that touch our lives through the ministries of Carry The Light. Be with those bringing food, and be with those needing food. Be with our flock here online and also at The Bridges. Lord, I pray this day for Patsy and pray she will be healed and be able to go home to be with Burt. Be with Eleanor, Bob, and Sharon each day, Lord. Be with Dave who had a very bad fall. Be with Beth and Craig and their struggles with their home. Lord, please keep Your hand upon Dolores and also me as we want to keep pressing forward and even grow this ministry You have blessed us with. In Jesus' Name, I pray this day. Amen. And now, Lord, please help me with the message, and help me to get it dispatched. Thanks again. My prayers go up in the name of Jesus. Amen.
WEATHER ALERT: Watch for black ice!!
Brothers and sisters, this morning I sent a letter to all online on our annual ministry update. Hard copies of this letter will also go out today. Some of you will receive both. I just want to mention this; here in Central Pennsylvania we seem to have a shortage of liquid propane gas. I called to have my tank filled last week and was told I would be put on a list. DON'T LET YOUR TANKS GET TOO LOW. On Monday I started a series on Attitudes, and as you can see, I missed yesterday. We had a very busy day, and so you know I have been ordered to be off my legs more. So after starting at 4:00 AM yesterday morning at 6:00 PM I needed to get off my legs, and I went to lay down. Well, Martin Martin Jr. and I fell asleep. So here I am. Good morning to you and I am playing catch-up again.
Praise report: Vicki, who we pray for a lot, needed hernia surgery. She was at the surgeon yesterday and her hernia is GONE, removed by God. Can we shout AMEN today? WAY TO GO, GOD!!! Thank You, Jesus!!!
Praise report: Patsy took 8 steps yesterday. She has been bed-fast and that is the first she has walked in three years. Well, glory!!
Tuesday/Wednesday, January 14/15, 2014, Attitudes (Day Two).
Hebrews 4:12 - For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and ATTITUDES of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (NIV)
Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever. (NIV)
I mentioned the other day that every one of us has an attitude, some are good, some are bad. I mentioned that even our pets have attitudes and more so I mentioned that our Lord Jesus also has an attitude and that attitude is of Love.
Let me talk a tad today about our attitudes and how God might be, well, not might be, according to the scriptures, He does look at our attitudes all the time. I use Hebrews 13:8 a lot, and I have used it again today just to remind you and yes, even myself, that although our Bibles were written years and years ago, our Lord Jesus has not changed, therefore making The Word, God's Word, God's inspired Word true to this very day and even unto the end of time. There are things in the Bible that will not happen again, as in the really big flood that destroyed everything. God never promised there would not be smaller floods and we have seen many, many of them. There is nothing like a good dose of God's weather in the winter to humble us and have us praying for spring. I know I am walking around the house saying "come on, summer." However, I really am ready to see those first flowers sticking their heads through the earth when our earth becomes "born again." However, He promised that never again would He destroy everything with a flood. And once in awhile we see the rainbow in the sky and that is God's sign reminding Himself about what He had promised.
Let me get to Hebrews 4/12 and go over it with you. The first thing I want to point out is that the Bible tells us: "The Word of God is LIVING and ACTIVE!" In my terms it means it is alive and well, it is healthy and it should be living and active where? In each of us! What good is The Word of God to be just in the Bible or just written on paper or in an email such as this, or even preached by a preacher if it is not living and active in us? How can we even talk about the Word of God if it is not alive in us? But some people do and some of the best at quoting God's words are the nonbelievers. Going back to the scripture in the Bible tells us His Word is "sharper than any double-edged sword." I have told people they need to "fear God," and that is in the Bible and they said they do not fear Him because He is all-loving. Yes, He is all-loving, but according to His Word we need to fear Him. That is one place we need to have an attitude adjustment. Our attitude toward others is the same as our attitude toward God. Now why would I say something like that?
Jesus said: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat."
Now if our attitude toward feeding the hungry would have Jesus saying this, then why would not our attitudes toward all others be the same as if we were doing the same attitude unto Jesus? Think about that one really hard, folks. I am about to bring this out some more, but remember the next time you are showing an attitude that smells like the old outhouse, remember God knows, and He can smells the stink. Let's look!
Again pulling from Hebrews 4:12 - "It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and ATTITUDES of the heart." Wow, is this scary or what? "It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." That would be your heart and my heart, folks, God knows what we are thinking and even what is in our hearts. Did you ever need to stop and just pray, Lord, forgive me for what I am thinking? Oh, I have, I confess and it happens a lot. You know, sometimes what comes out of our lips is not what we are thinking in our hearts. We need to line those things up and line them up for God! Hang in there with me, folks, I am going as fast as I can go. Now let me bring down ...
Hebrews 4:13 - Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Do you see this? Nothing, the Bible tells us, nothing is hidden from God's sight. The Word tells us that EVERYTHING is uncovered and laid bare before Him and WE MUST GIVE ACCOUNT. And brothers and sisters, that means our attitudes. Today is SALVATION WEDNESDAY on this line. Will you join me in prayer today, asking God to help give all of us an attitude adjustment that I know I need and more than likely we all need? Let us ask Him to adjust our attitudes that we would want Him to see and our Mamma to see. Speaking of which, my mamma died long ago. I wish I could have pulled back some of my attitudes toward my mamma. She told me more than once in my short life with her, you will think of this day often when I am dead and gone. She was right. Join me, please.
Dear Father in Heaven, we might be born again, we might all be in love with You, but once in awhile our attitudes stink and we ask that You will help us clean them up. Not just those that the public see, but all of them, and of course the attitudes of our heart. Help us to work this day to bring in the lost so You can save them, and Lord, please, please pour out a good attitude upon us to do this work. Forgive me of my sins and sinful thinking in my heart. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Now go forth and share a good attitude and your blessings. Love ya. Please pass on that love with a good attitude.
Pastor Dan
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