Tuesday 7/1/14 Blessed 1

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You very much.  Thanks for the Blessing of forgiving my sins.  Please help me walk nearer and nearer each day.  Thank You, Lord, for the good news on Ken.  Please keep Your healing hand on him, and Lord, please keep Your hand on our prayer requests from yesterday.  Please, Lord, bless our nation's leaders, our veterans, and our troops.  Please keep them safe.  Please watch over those traveling, including Leann, Tiffany, and Tara, and all others on the road, in the air, on rails, and on the waters.  Lord, please protect Your children.  Dear Lord, please bless me with another message, and then help me to dispatch it.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Brothers and sisters, let me hear all of you say, Praise The Lord.  What for, you ask?  Just because we should praise Him, that's why!  It is hot here at the Southern Location of the North Pole, but praise god we do not need to shovel it.  Let me hear all of you say this.  "Independence Day."  It is just one of my things, I guess, but the 4th of July is not the holiday.  The holiday is "Independence Day" which falls on July 4th.  And this year on this great holiday, our nation will be 238 years old.  Just one year older than my wife!!  I need to get started on the message, and please remember there is something special coming forth on Independence Day.

Tuesday:  July 1, 2014, Blessed (Day One)

Genesis 1:2 - "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on the earth will be blessed through you."  (NIV)

As I start out talking about blessings, I want you to look at this scripture, and I want you to think about America, the good old United States of America.  Why?  Well, back to Hebrews for that.

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

Has not our Lord God made us into a great nation?  Has He not blessed our nation?  He stated "I will make your name great.  Has that not happened?  Has God not cursed nations who have come against us?  And up until now have not people all over the world been blessed by America?

I ask you to really think about this, as I take you to another scripture.

Deuteronomy 7:11 - Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.  12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep His covenant of love with you, as He swore to your forefathers.  13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers.  He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land, your grain, new wine, and oil, the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that He swore to your forefathers to give you.  (NIV)

Again, this is the First Testament, but look at how it fits us today.  Brothers and sisters, if we would just follow His commands and commandments and the laws of the land ... yes, and if we pay attention to the laws and if we are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep His promise of love to us as He swore He would.  Does this not fit today when it comes to America?  The Bible tells us He will love us, bless us and increase our numbers.  Look at how our numbers have grown, and not just by birth, but by people coming to America.  He said He would bless the "fruit of our womb."  Please do not just think about the "womb" of a mother, but look at our nation's growth as the "womb" of America.  Look t the rest of the blessings listed.  Our grain, our wine, our animals, and yes, even our oil.  We are an oil-rich nation and some people want to block it.  Some people do not want us to grow, and brothers and sisters, people are surely breaking those commands.  Look around you.  Will God keep on Blessing America?

One of the gas companies wants to run a pipeline through some of Lebanon and Lancaster Counties.  Yes, and I said the other week in "Wake Up America," not in my backyard but yours.  They said put the pipeline right outside of Lancaster County.  Those folks protesting the pipeline more than likely had no trouble as roads were built and the Amish horse and buggy trails were covered with blacktop.  Think about it, we must grow and we should grow with God.  Okay, enough for today.

Go forth now and share your blessings.  Love ya.  Please pass on my love.

Pastor Dan