Friday 4/11/14 The Entry 5

Special prayer request today for John Dellinger who has Pulmonary Fibrosis and prayer for his wife Jan and their son Johnny.  Also pray for Barb Paules.

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love you very much.  Please forgive me of my shortcomings and sins.  Thanks for trusting me to work for You.  Please help me this day with my message and to get it dispatched.  And Lord, thanks for sending help to the food pantry this day and also sending in those who need food.  You are wonderful and loving and so gracious and I really want to give You all honor and glory for it.  Now Lord, please guide and direct me, and not just for an hour or a day but for the rest of the days You give to me, and may I work each one for You and work hard making up the lost time when I was not working for You.  Again, Jesus, I really love You and pray in Your wonderful Name.  Amen.

Brothers and sisters, blessings in the name of Jesus on this beautiful Saturday afternoon.  Yes, I know it says Friday at the top.  However, it is Saturday and I am just now getting to the Friday message.  We had a great Friday and Saturday doing God's work that He gave us to do.  Friday Grant and I went and purchased 50 hams and brought them back to the food pantry.  We then started to make final preparations for today's food preparation.  Later, Wanda joined us and together we worked through the day.  Joanne came later in the day with potatoes, bread, and cereal donated to us from another food pantry.  This morning started with prayer as Grant and Wanda were first to arrive so Dolores and I huddled up with them in prayer.  Later a wave of helpers came and we got set up and formed our prayer circle and went to God again.  The day went excellent as only God could work it out.  And it was a great day, needing only shirtsleeves to work in.  (Yes, the rest of the shirt also!)  Lots of folks came and prayers were offered up with all who came.  Prayers first and then cars were loaded.  As helpers left hugs were flying, and then as we ended the day, Grant, Wanda, Dolores, and I again circled and gave praise and honor to God.  GOD IS SO GOOD.  We do have a few prayer requests, and I left my notes down in the food pantry, so I will post them later.  Special thanks to all who came and helped, and we will give all honor and glory to God for this help.  Now let me get to the message.  Happy Palm Sunday.  Now to The Entry.

Friday:  April 11, 2014, The Entry (Day Five).

Matthew 21:8 - A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  9 The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!"  "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"  "Hosanna in the highest!"  10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"  11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the Prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee."  (NIV)

Luke 19:39 - Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"  40 "I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."  41 As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it 42 and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace -- but now it is hidden from your eyes.  43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.  44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.  They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."  (NIV)

I picked up today in the book of Matthew as I wanted to bring out not just how Jesus' disciples praise Him, but also all the folks, the crowds of people who praised Jesus and sang praises, and put their cloaks and palm branches on the roads, and children praised Jesus also.  This coming week we will talk about how things changed in just a short amount of time.  But for today, let's go out singing and praising God.  How about it?  Now I am going to sing one today that will have you shaking your heads.  But think about it and the words of this first verse.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come.  Let earth receive her king.
Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

Now you an see, brothers and sisters, that in this town on this day there is Joy because indeed the Lord has come.  Please, brothers and sisters, never miss a chance to sing and praise the Lord.  You say you can't sing?  Please read Psalm 100.

Now go forth and share your blessings and please go to a good church tomorrow and listen to the word of Jesus.  I love ya.  Please share that love from me to others.

Pastor Dan