Monday 2/24/14 Repent

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You, and Father, please forgive me of my sins and sinful thinking.  Thank You for watching over family and friends, our flock at The Bridges, and all those on this line.  Thanks for all You do for us.  It is appreciated.  Lord, please be with Jim and Bev Orner.  Jim needs a job and Bev broke her arm.  Please, Lord, be with Ruby, Patsy, Burt, Barbara, and Lord, there are two of them needing Your touch.  Please be with Donna and her family, including Beverly.  Please be with the Saylor family, with the Stoner family, and Glenn and Marie.  Please help Wanda as she has such a full load.  And Lord, watch over Jaylea, please.  Lord, thank You, all honor and glory to You for bringing Art and Elaine home safe.  Lord, be with our president and other leaders, our veterans and our military, our police, firefighters, linemen, trash haulers, and all others who work hard to serve others.  Now, Lord, if You would be so kind to bless me with the message and then help me to dispatch it, I surely would appreciate it.  Oh, and Lord, please touch Dolores and carry some of her pain, and me also, Lord.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Brothers and sisters, after five weeks of writing about promises, it is time to move on to another subject.  I have a lot of prayer requests, and if you would just look over my personal prayer which I open with each day, you will find those requests in that prayer.  It is nice to see the sun out today and what a great weekend we had here at the Southern Location of the North Pole.  NASCAR is back and baseball has started spring training.  Hang in there, spring will be here in a wink.  Let me get to the message, REPENT!!

Monday, February 24, 2014, Repent (Day One).

Matthew 3:1 - In those days John The Baptist came, preaching in the desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near."  3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:  "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"  (NIV)

Isaiah 40:3 - A voice of one calling:  "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for God."  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, as I have told you so many, many times, when God gives me a subject to write about, most often, most often, He wants me to look at the subject not just to send to all of you, but for me to look at for myself also.  So today's subject is for all of us, and again I would like to point out that us equals me and you.  Yes, and I even put me ahead of you on this one.

I wrote out the scripture from Isaiah 40:3 just to show you how the prophet Isaiah's words have been long ago fulfilled.  When we look at the scripture from Matthew 3:1/3 we can see it is John the Baptist who came preaching, and what was he preaching about?  Repentance!  And he was telling the people of that day that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.  How long has it been since you have heard a really strong message in church that tells you that you need to REPENT for the Kingdom of Heaven is near?  And I mean really hit hard on repentance.  I want to bring out two more scriptures today and they come from:

Luke 13:3 - "I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Luke 13:5 - "I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish."  (Both NIV)

These scriptures are both quotes of Jesus, my dear brothers and sisters.  Now who was He talking to?  It really does not make any difference since Jesus is still the same today as He was back then and He will be the same forever and ever (Hebrews 13:8).  So what Jesus is saying is unless we, and gain I am using a word that means me and you, or you and me, we will perish.  I am telling you that when you really dig into The Word of Jesus and study it you can get scared.  Maybe we should call the Bible "Scared Straight."  Years ago, if my memory still serves me right, the police had a program called "Scared Straight" and they would take kids to a prison or jail and show them what it might be like to get locked up.  How dare I say this next statement, but maybe our schools should have a cell type room where if you got out of line in school you were put in the jail cell all day and even serve them lunch through the bars.  Have a toilet and sink in the cell.  Why, the school board would be sued in a heartbeat over that one.  Anyway, we are going to dig into the subject really good this week and each day we should all pray for God to help us repent.  You can't do it alone, folks, you need Him to help you.  See you tomorrow.

Now go forth and REPENT OF YOUR SINS, and of course share your blessings.  Love ya, please pass on the love.

Pastor Dan