Monday 10/20/14 Contagious 2

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You.  Please forgive me of my sins.  Thanks, dear Lord, for the blessings of this day.  Thanks for watching over families and our flock on this line and our former flock at The Bridges.  Lord, thanks for watching over Patsy and Burt.  Both need Your healing hand, Lord.  Lord, so many people are suffering from depression.  Please cover them with Your healing hand.  Lord, please help me with the message and help me to get it dispatched.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters:  First, let me wish our oldest daughter Danelle happy 50th as she turns that Tuesday.  We are blessed to have two daughters, both with "Contagious smiles."  Please keep praying for Patsy and Burt.  Other prayers needed for Jeff, Glenn, Marie, Grant, and Wanda.  Please pray also for all people who suffer from depression.  I do not mention names on this, it is very private.  Right now we have about ten requests for prayers for depression.  I was blessed today.  I went to our son's garage, had my car inspected, etc., and he paid.  Please keep Leslie in your prayers.  I need to get to the message, Contagious.

Monday, October 20, 2014:  Contagious (Day Two)

John 15:5 - "I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing."  (NIV)

I told you that we would discuss some ways you might become "Contagious" as a Christian and how you might best spread the Word of God to others.  Let's look first at our scripture as Jesus tells us that we are to stay connected to Him.  Yes, that is what this means.  Now this does not just apply to being Contagious when when talking about the Lord to others, it is in all we do.  It tells us that in the Bible.  Jesus is telling us this, and while we might think we can go apart from Him and bear MUCH  fruit, you cannot.  You just think you can.  So let's start out by doing this.  If you are not attached, let's take care of that right this minute.

Dear Father in Heaven, I have slipped and came apart from You and I need to attach myself back to You.  I need You to mend me and heal me so that I am once again attached.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Now that prayer is for one who feels like they have been cut off from the Lord.  However, you would have needed to cut yourself off from Him.  When we look at a branch on a tree, once we saw that branch off, it dies.  Now while in a tree that grows from the ground, you cannot put that branch back on.  But PRAISE GOD, if we become apart from Jesus we can reattach as He will hold His arms open and welcome us back.

Okay, how do we work for the Lord, how can we be Contagious as a Christian and not drive someone away?  Fist, have Jesus in you and then people will see that, and trust me, it shows.  Put on your Jesus smile when you greet people, and remember, all people have pain, all people have problems, so we must push forward past that pain.  Look at your cup as half full,  not half empty.  In the course of a day, look at the best things that happen and dwell on them, and not the worst.  When you are in your office, you do not need to be telling your co-workers scriptures all the time, just put some nice things around you and pictures of your family and remember that Jesus heads up your family so put a picture of Him on your desk.

Trust me on this, I have messed up even when I had a picture of Jesus on the wall, and that lets others know that while you love Him, He will also forgive you when you mess up.  However, try your very, very best to live up to the standards of Jesus, but remember we are all sinners, those who are saved and those who are not.  Treat all people equally, remember when God sends rain, it covers the believers' lawns and the non-believers' here on earth.

Here is something that will drive people away.  If you take your Bible the first time you meet someone, believer or not, and get loud while pointing to the scripture in the Bible, you will turn them off.  You can be Contagious by praying for others.  Please do not be afraid to take one's hand and pray for them.  Please be sure that before you touch a stranger you have their permission.  I have prayed for a lot of people in the food store, people I do not know.  You might see them struggling and you ask them, "Are you okay?"  The answers might surprise you.  If you say, "can I pray for you?" and they say yes, you still need to ask before you touch them.  I say, please give me your hand, and then I pray for them.

My assignment from God has changed.  In the food store I am the one on the scooter with the basket, and people are always asking me, can I reach something for you?  Sometimes I say please, and other times I say I can get this, thanks anyway.  I guess my point is, if you really want to be Contagious as a Christian, YOU CAN DO IT, regardless as long as you stay attached to Jesus.  You really can get it done.  Some days it is not easy, and I don't want you to think it is always a "piece of cake," for it is not, but you can do it.  Also some things that might help you:  Have the phone number with you of people who you know will pray with you over the phone.  Have more than one person for people cannot always break from what they are doing to pray with you.  Yes, Christians need prayer, and sometimes we need that prayer of support right then and there.

I have gone on long enough today, more on this tomorrow.  In the meantime, go forth and share your blessings, and you can pray for people anytime, even when you are not with them.  God's line is always open.  Use it often from wherever you are, and remember He can even hear your prayers for others when the one you are praying for can't.

Love ya.  Please share the love of Jesus and my love with others.

Pastor Dan

A man was rushed to the hospital after eating a bag of daffodil bulbs.
The doctors told his family "he will be out next spring."  (This is bad.)