Wednesday 3/19/14 Goals 2

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You, Lord.  Please wash me clean of sin this morning.  Thanks for taking us through the night.  Lord, help us work for You this day and every day by going out and working in Your fields of harvest.  Once again, dear Lord, I pray that the missing airliner is found and that the folks on board are alive.  I also pray for our nation and President Obama and his family and all others that are working to lead this nation.  Please be with Pastor Kevin Brown and his flock from Lighthouse Baptist Church as they lay plans for a mission trip.  Lord, please touch Dave and heal him.  Lord, hug Jim Orner's family as  his uncle has passed.  Lord, be with us in Carry The Light Ministries as we gather food and helpers to work our Easter event.  Now, Lord, if You would please open Your Word to me today in the form of a message and help me dispatch it, I would appreciate it. Oh, and Lord, I need Your help, I hurt and I am dizzy.  And Lord, one more request.  Please bless the new Catholic Bishop, Bishop Gainer.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Brothers and sisters, it is Salvation Wednesday on this line and the day we pray extra for the lost and that we  might be used to reel them in for Jesus to save.  Yes, we are to be fishers of men and the term reel them in fits.  Please remember, not one of us can save them, just Jesus, but we need to be working for Him to "soften them up" and teach them about Jesus.  It needs to be our GOAL for each day.  Regardless of your church, please pray for the new Catholic Bishop, as you would pray for a pastor in your church.  He will lead 1/2 million sheep in the Harrisburg area.  We also need to be praying for our nation and what is going on in Russia.

Food Pantry news.  Our numbers are going up for Easter.  We are about to do a "call up" and it looks like about 70 families will be called.  That means on packing day we will need to pack and store 350 big bags of food.  Help is needed to pack on April 5th from 9:00 AM until done (about 2 hours). Then on April 12th we need help in the form of prayer warriors, parkers, loaders, etc.  It is fun and goes fast.  The folks come at 9:00 AM.  Helpers need to be here by 8:00 AM.  Your support is needed and it is a good way to "share your blessings."  Now forward on to the message on this LAST full day of winter.  Yipppppppiiiiiieeeee!!!!.  AMEN.

Salvation Wednesday:  March 19, 2014, Goals (Day Two).

2 Corinthians 5:6 - Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  7 We live by faith, not by sight.  8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  9 So we make it OUR GOAL to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.  10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, once again I want to talk to you about goals, and the goals we set, be they long-term or short-term.  I think one of the goals for a lot of us was to get through this very long and cold winter.  If that was one of your goals, you have a day to go and you made it.  As I mentioned, we all should make a goal of working for Jesus, getting His word out and that is true for each day.  Another goal we should have is to have our very own self ready for our face-to-face meeting with our Lord Jesus.

As we can see in our scripture of today, we should always be confident and know that when we are in this earthly body, we are not present (face-to-face) with the Lord.  The scripture also tells us that we live by faith and not by sight.  We need to have faith in our good Lord that all the promises in the Bible are true and correct and someday we will meet Jesus face to face.  And our GOAL, according to the scripture, should be to please Jesus, be we in our earthly body or with Him.  The Bible also tells us we will all be judged when we stand before Him on Judgment Day and we will receive what is due us, GOOD OR BAD.  Our daily GOAL should be to do GOOD in all we do.

Each day we have many goals.  Today, for instance, I have a goal to get this message out to you.  That is a double goal, as the message is working for God and you folks, whom I refer to as my online flock.  Yes, I take this writing very seriously, and when I do not get it out and get it right, I get upset, for I feel I am letting down first God, who gave me the assignment, and all those of you who so faithfully over the years remain on the line.  Other goals I have each day are to pray a lot, do our Bible study, take care of Dolores, our many animals, the food pantry, and all the other daily chores so we do not get too far behind.  We also have a goal of paying our bills the day they come in.  Praise God, the more we do for Him, the easier it is to keep up with our bills, even our really big electric bills this winter. Beside our electric heat pump, we have four large freezers and one fridge running in the food pantry, plus one personal fridge.

You folks also need daily goals, and regardless of your condition, you can still have a goal to love God and to treat others with respect, have a goal to love your neighbor, to tell the truth, and a goal to follow the commandments of God.  No one said your goals in life will be easy, for they are not always easy and some days you will think you will not get any of them done.  When you are struggling, reach out more in prayer for God.  Look at the good things and LET GO OF THE BAD.

When I look back at my many days I spent on the sidelines of the football field watching my oldest two grandsons play football, I can remember a few goals they had.  Mine was to be in the huddle before the game and offer up a prayer.  Theirs was to win.  As I got older I was on a scooter at many games.  I remember two wonderful events.  One was when Keith Jr. blocked a field GOAL for his team.  The other when he scored a touchdown.  He came running to me on the sideline and said, "Hey, Pap, I made a touchdown."  He had crossed that GOAL line.  Why bring it up?  Well, brothers and sisters, our goals change often, even day by day, but once again the goal of working for the Lord should be daily and those of you with little  ones should plant that goal on their hearts and minds.

I think you have the point of today's scripture.  Make your goal to serve God, be it in your earthly body or when you get to heaven.  Our goal forever and ever is to serve the Lord, even in  heaven.  Please go back to the top and re-read the scripture.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  And yes, I really do love all of you very, very much as you are my assigned flock.  Please pass on my love to others.

Pastor Dan