Tuesday 4/15/15 Paying Caesar

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You, and I ask that You forgive me of my sins as I start this day.  Please, dear Lord, keep Your hand upon all of us this day and may we walk in Your light each minute of the day.  Thanks for helping us yesterday.  Lord, I give You  honor and glory this day for answered prayers.  Thanks for Your healing hand on one who had leukemia and thanks for the one who donated part of himself to see the other healed.  This fine and true gift of life, given truly in love, is wonderful.  Lord, it is a reminder of the life-giving blood Jesus gave to us on Calvary.  Thanks, Jesus, for dying for us, and yes, for me, for I am so unworthy.  Lord, please now help me with the daily message and then get it dispatched.  And Lord, please watch over Matthew.  And Lord, please heal Sandy.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, please add Sandy Davis to your prayer lists.  Sandy is very, very ill.  Brothers and sisters, I received a really nice note from a reader yesterday.  She lives in Philly and she sent me a note about Nancy Guyler who I listed for prayer yesterday.  Nancy has leukemia.

This is Holy Week and my calendar is full for writing, but next week I am going to ask God to guide my hands and mind to write about a young man with a family who gave of himself to save the life of someone he did not know.  Please pray for me this week as I write during Holy Week and also for Carry The Light Ministries as our singing part of the ministry steps out in concert on Friday for what just might be our final concert.

The concert is at The Bridges and is scheduled for 2:090 PM.  Dolores is going to kick it off at 1:45 PM with 15 minutes of piano music.  We are going to break in the middle of the concert for communion services and then after a short message we will return to singing.  We need your prayers for this.

Now remember today is TAX DAY, April 15, 2014.  So my message is on, well, what else?  Paying Caesar.

Tuesday:  April 15, 2014, Paying Caesar (Tax Day 2014).

Matthew 22:15 - Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap Him in His words.  16 They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians.  "Teacher," they said," We know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.  You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.  17 Tell us then, what is your opinion?  Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?  Show me the coin used for paying the tax."  They brought Him a denarius, 30 and He asked them, "Whose portrait is this?  And whose inscription?"  21 "Caesar's," they replied.  Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."  12 When they heard this, they were amazed so they left Him and went away.  (NIV)

So today is tax day and I can already tell you what will be on the news stations all across the United States of America.  Each station will have a TV crew at the local post office talking to folks who are dropping off those last-minute returns.  Our Bible, the best history book of all times, is showing us that even in that day, people who are in charge of collecting tax money can have their picture on that money.  Now just think about that for a minute and then look on the face of your dollars and even cents.  And with all the great pictures of the men and ladies on the bills and coins over the years the biggest concern some folks have is that small wording on the bill or coin that states "In God We Trust."  People want that removed!

Jesus tells us and it is recorded in scripture we are indeed to pay our taxes.  We are to pay Caesar what is due him and we are to give also to God what is due to God.  Now over the years it seems to me that "Caesar" has gotten greedy.  Let's face it, there are a lot of Caesars with their hands out.  You have Caesar from Washington, DC.  And you have Caesar in each state house.  You have Caesar in your county government and you have Caesar in your local government.  You have Caesar in your school districts.  And on this day  you can be reminded that you have Caesar all around you.  My little Martin Martin Jr. was just on my lap and he had his Caesar tag on his collar.  Yes, his dog tags.  You cannot go any place any day and not find a Caesar holding out their hand most often done by the hands of others as they collect what is said to be due to Caesar.  I have heard it said more than once that there are only two things one must do.  "Pay taxes and die."  However, that is wrong.

Brothers and sisters, the Bible tells us, Jesus tells us, that we should give Caesar what is due him, and to Give God what is due Him.  Praise God there is indeed only one God, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ.  And if we indeed give to God he will bless us over and over again when we indeed give.  Oh, and that statement, "Pay taxes and die," is indeed wrong.  Oh, we must pay taxes, but if we love Jesus and have faith in Him, we are not going to die, just move on high.  "Pay taxes and die."  Not for me.  I am going to pay Caesar and I  have learned to pay God and I have faith I am going to heaven.  So how do I know about this?  Well, the Bible told me so.  Let me show you.  First to Hebrews.  Only one God.

Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  (NIV)

And now to show you how your dollars when invested in Christ grow when you give in faith.

Malachi 3:6 - "I the Lord do not change.  So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.  7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.  Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty.  "But you ask, 'How are we to return?'"  8 "Will a man rob God?  Yet you rob me.  But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'  In tithes and offerings."  9 "You are under a curse -- the whole nation of you -- because you are robbing me.  10 Bring the whole tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so many blessings that you will not have room for it."  (NIV)

Now I have been going on and on.  I have had people tell me that they do not have money left to give to God after paying their bills.  I say, pay God first and then pay the bills and do it in faith.  You can start with a small amount and then as your bank account grows, you can give more to God.  I know it is hard to give completely off the top, for Caesar gets his share taken out first.  But GOD tells us "Test me on this," and it is the only place that I know of in the Bible where it tells us we can test God.  All else we are to be walking in faith, for we are indeed a faith-based religion.  So let me close once again by saying this.

So forth and SHARE YOUR BLESSINGS and also know this.  I love ya.  Please pass on my love for others.

Pastor Dan

P.S.  Please keep praying for our president.  I heard him speak yesterday and he did talk about loving God.  So please keep praying for him to come completely to God.