Friday 5/23/14 Wars 3

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You. Thanks for taking care of my sins.  Thanks for watching over family and friends, and thanks for watching over Carry The Light Ministries.  Please watch over folks on the highways and in the air this weekend.  And Lord, help us to pause to remember those who gave their lives to keep our country free, and Lord, please help us to never forget that Jesus died for us, for our personal freedom.  Thanks, Jesus, for all You do for all of us all the time.  Now, Lord, please help me with the message, and please then help me get it dispatched.  In the Name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters:  What a beautiful day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole.  I think spring made it!  Thank You, Jesus!!  I want to get right to the message, but before that here is a "start of summer safety tip."  Hang up and drive.  Be alert and do not text.  And do not drink and drive.  Now to the message.

Friday:  May 23, 2014, Wars and what causes them! (Day Three)

James 4:4 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit He caused to live in us envies intensely?  6 But He gives us more grace.  That is why Scripture says:  "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  7 Submit yourselves, then to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  8 Come near to God, and He will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  9 Grieve, mourn and wail.  Change your laughter to mourning and your  joy to gloom.  10 Humble yourselves before the Lord.  And He will lift you up.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters.  Yesterday I offered up a question and asked if you had any idea where I was heading in my messages, "Wars and what causes them."  I had a lot of people reply and all of those who replied gave the same answer, "Greed."  While we might use a few other words in place of greed, greed was the one I was looking for.  Other words that I can think of all lead back to greed.  People wanting things that they do not have and are not willing to work for them.  Stealing can start wars, people steal land from one another and why?  Greed.  Why does a man or woman rob a bank?  Greed.  They want money and are too lazy to work for it.  You can trace greed right back to man's very first sin, where God gave Adam and Eve everything they needed to live and live well.  But they were ordered not to eat from that one tree.  Greed set in and sin started.  We even go to God and ask for things, and sometimes God does not give them to us.

Yes, the easy answer when we talk about wars is to tell others not to worry or be concerned as there will be wars and rumors of wars.  Brothers and sisters, stopping wars before they start must start with each of us.  We need to be happy with what God has lent to us here on this earth and share that with others.  When we indeed share our blessings, God will give us more and more.  When we cling to God, it will only get better and better.  When we pass from this earth it gets even better still.

In America, in the greatest country of all, we could have all we need without going out of the country and even help other countries.  But the town with the most greed, Washington, DC, will never let it happen.  Let me wrap this all up with these two things.

First:  Love God!
Second:  Love all others, but not ahead of God.

Dear Father in Heaven:  Let us be peaceable people, for we do want peace.  Please, Lord, help us to get ready for the return of Jesus, help us to lead others to Him.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.