Dear Father in Heaven: Thanks for the blessings that You have given to us. I love You, Lord. Please, dear Lord, please be with the families of the police officers who were gunned down in New York and in Florida yesterday, and please protect these protectors of peace. Please help me this Sunday with the message and then help me get it dispatched. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Brothers and sisters: Before I get to the Big Trip, please take time to pray for our police officers to be protected by God. Maybe a good time to pray for "total peace." Please take time to read the special I put out yesterday. All honor and glory to God for the help we could give others. Now let me get to the Big Trip.
Sunday: December 21, 2014: The Big Trip (Day Eleven)
Today as we fire up our big yellow bus 36 we are going to watch as Joseph, Mary and many others start their long walk to the City of David and that town of Bethlehem. As we jut lumber on watching them travel, I want to talk to you about some other things. Look, do you see that? Mary is riding sideways on the donkey. That just cannot be comfortable. Joseph surely is looking back a lot as he leads the donkey. Do you notice how quiet he seems to be?
Revelation 3:20 - Here I am! "I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me." (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, as we head to the birthplace of our King, I just want to talk to you about something. As we celebrate the Birth of our Lord Jesus, we need also talk about and hopefully celebrate our rebirth. That is really what Christmas is about, the Birth of our Savior Jesus, a baby that was "born to die so we might live." So we look at our scripture of today, Revelation 3:20. Jesus is standing at the door, and in the pictures it shows there is no door handle on the outside of the door. For our Lord Jesus, this great gift given to us, will not force His way on you, He will just knock. He will know you, but He will not break the door down. No battering rams or fancy kicks by Chuck Norris, who is by the way a Born Again Christian. The reason you do not see the door handle is that you must let Him in. Picture that door as your heart, your very own heart. Today He is knocking, every day He will be knocking until you either invite Him in or block Him from entry. He will be there for you, wanting in, really wanting in. You need to let Him in before you "check out" or you will go to Hell!!
There is a big choice here for you to make, do you answer the door now? Are you ready to do that? Or are you going to just sort of miss the chance again? The birth of our Lord Jesus in the manger is really also about The Cross.
Luke 11:9 - So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you." (NIV)
As we look at one more scripture today, I was led to this. It is again talking about knocking, only this time Jesus is inviting you to knock. So how do we knock? You just said Jesus was standing at the door and knocking for us. Yes, that is right, but here is Jesus turning that around. It is not double-talk, folks. It would be us knocking, and how do we knock? Follow me on this.
Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive me of my sins. Please wash me white as snow, and I want you to know that I have faith in You and believe in my heart that You died for me and were risen from the dead. I believe that, Father. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
Now if you did that with me, you have just done a couple of things. If you prayed in faith, you indeed knocked for Jesus and you indeed opened the door of your heart for when He was knocking. And if it as the first time you have it and you did it in faith, WELL, GLORY, YOUR LIFE IS ABOUT TO CHANGE. Yes, when we pray, that is our way of knocking for Jesus. When He knocks on the door to our heart, that is His way of showing the love He has for you.
Wow, look, while we were doing that, Joseph and Mary and the others are settling in for the night. Tomorrow we will fire up the bus again. We will watch some and also see what else this birth of Jesus tells us. I can tell you this, it will be about SALVATION!
Go forth now and share your blessings, and please really think about what I am telling you. Love ya. And please share my love with others.
Pastor Dan
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