Dear Father in Heaven: I love You! Please forgive me of my sins. Thank You for forgiving me. Dear Father, thanks for watching over our families, our online flock, our flock at The Bridges, those who help with the food pantry, and those who pull food from it. Lord, please help them in all they do. If they are sick, please, Lord, heal them as per Your will. Father, please be with President Obama and watch over him and his family as he leads this country. I pray first for his soul and then that he comes to You with the nation's business before he talks about it with others. Please watch over our veterans and our military wherever they serve our country. Please be with Governor Corbett as he leads our sate and all of the guard units. Father, thank You for Jesus, and Jesus, thanks for dying for us, for me. Now, Lord, if You would bless me with a message today and then help me to dispatch it, I sure would appreciate it. And thanks for trusting me to work for You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Good morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is a really beautiful morning here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. For those who might have missed it, we were at the Support Your Troops Rally on Saturday on the Capitol steps, and I anointed Governor Corbett with oil and prayed for him. God opens many doors for us to witness. Please do not be afraid to walk through them. Dolores donated her late uncle's World War II helmet to a group and it was used in the service. A picture of it made the Sunday Patriot News from Harrisburg, PA (5/4/14).
Please pray for our president and all our leaders in Washington, DC. Also pray for the governor of your state and the leaders of your state. Please pray for all your local leaders including those who lead your schools. Please also pray for our veterans, active military, police (local and state) and all the first responders in your area. These are people we should pray for daily. I try and remember to list them once a week, on Mondays.
Now let me get to the message, "God's 2nd Greatest Gift."
Monday: May 5, 2014, God's Second Greatest Gift (Day One)
Exodus 20:12 - "Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (NIV)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Just so you know, in my opinion God's second greatest gift is a mother. This week we are going to talk about mothers. This coming Sunday, May 11th, is Mother's Day, so please remember your mamma with at least a phone call.
One of the original "Ten Commandments" instructed us to honor our father and our mother. It also tells us that if we do that we will be rewarded with a long life. So all of you who are blessed to still have your mother, please remember that, and if your mother, like my mother, is deceased and gone home to the Lord, one can still honor her. I am sure before the end of this week I will tell you some things about my dear late "Mamma" and how we loved each other. Right now I want to talk to you about the very first mother.
Genesis 2:19 - Now the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him." (NIV)
I invite all of you to read Genesis chapters 1 and 2 about creation which includes the account of Adam and Eve. I just cannot type it all out for you. In Genesis 2:19 our Lord God talked about that it is not good for man to be alone. He needed a good helper. You will remember that God made all the animals, those that walk the earth, those that fly, and those that swim. Now God put them under the care and custody of Adam but to God that was not enough, not good enough for God in all of His wisdom knew that Adam would need a helper, a "suitable" helper the Bible tells us. So let's take a look at how this happened.
Genesis 2:21 - So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh. (NIV)
So we see in scripture that Adam was the first man, who became the first father, and Eve was his wife, and became the first mother. Now we know how God placed Adam and Eve in this wonderful garden with all they needed, everything, all their needs furnished, but they were told not to eat from that tree in the middle of the garden. However, we know that Eve was tricked by the serpent into picking the fruit that looked really good. Eve, our first mother, then took the fruit to Adam who did what he was not to do and he ate of it. Now brothers and sisters, both did what? They sinned! What happens next in my words was God walked into the garden, Adam and Eve were hiding because they knew they did wrong, and when God found them hiding, the blame game began. God asked Adam, did you eat from the tree I told you not to touch? Yes, but Eve made me do it. And then our first mother blamed it on the snake.
I might note here that we can see in our animals, when our dogs do something wrong and they know it, they go and hide from us.
If we really listen to this story about Adam and Eve, we find out lots of things. One is right from the start, man (woman), even when they had everything they needed. Greed, I would call that. "Greed." Oh, and today, how many of us sin over greed? Go and address yourself in the mirror on that one. Next, man blamed his wife. MEN, we are to head up the household after our Lord God. God is number one in our life always, and in charge, but then man is next. Mothers in my opinion are God's second greatest gift, however they are to be a helper, not someone to place blame on, or shove the dirty work onto. If Adam did what he should have done, he would have told God something like this: God, we messed up, but it was my fault, God, the buck stops here. So what I am saying, do not blame your sins on another, for you might think you get away with it here on earth, but someday we will all stand before "Judge Jesus." You also will recall that Adam and Eve and even that snake were punished. Adam's garden and all gardens since have weeds in them, and thorns and all that. Eve, our very first mother, caused all of you mothers to have pain in childbirth. And for the serpent, he will crawl in the dirt forever and ever.
Brothers and sisters, I did not say that each story about a mother would be good, I just want to point out some of the mothers who affect our lives, and surely Eve did, for God formed her out of man, and man was formed from dirt. I do want you to remember this and I want you to try your very, very best to live up to it. Yes, men and women, fathers and mothers, live up to this.
Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in His own image,in the image of God He create Him; male and female He created them. (NIV)
Yes, you and I are created in the image of God, and God did not make junk. So each day you walk this earth, do the best you can to honor the One who made you in His image. Amen.
Now go forth and honor your father and MOTHER, and please share your blessings. Love ya. Please pass on my love.
Pastor Dan
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