Thursday 9/17/15 Gifted (3)

Dear Father in Heaven: I love You. Father, I am so blessed and all those blessings come right from You. Thanks for watching over family and friends, and Lord, please watch over the lady I call "Teach." Lord, please be with and lay your healing hand on Burt and Patsy and their family. Lord, be with John who had the double lung transplant and please drive the infection out of those new lungs. Lord, thanks for ending strangers to help me when I am loading things at the stores. Please, Lord, help me now with the message and then please help me to get it dispatched. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters. Sometimes I just need to set the record straight. When I sign off each writing with "Love Ya. Pastor Dan," I really do love all of you. Some people on this line I have never met in my life, and still I feel very comfortable telling all of you I love you. Again I ask you to keep praying for our nation and for safety for Pope Francis when he is in our country. I am not Catholic,  however, we need to cover all people in prayer, for we know there are people who want to kill Christians. Let me get to the message, Gifted.

Thursday, September 17, 2015: Gifted (Day Three)

1 Corinthians 13:1 - If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a sounding gong or clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love I am nothing. (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, I went over a lot of gifts yesterday and they are reviewed in these verses of 1 Corinthians 13. If you see people who claim to have one or more than one of those great gifts listed above and yesterday and they really do have love, you should be able to look at them and see a big Jesus smile on their face.

I want to tell you about this lady that we know. She received the email writings long before I ever got to meet her and her husband. Her name is Patsy and she is in a retirement/nursing home. She spends most of her time in a bed or in her room and she never stops witnessing for our Lord Jesus. People, including other residents of the home and also employees, stop into her room so she can pray for them. This lady, and she is just that, a lady, and her dear sweet husband, are more concerned about others than their very only problems. When I was off the line back a few weeks they called me to find out what was going on. She does not have a computer so she gets the messages by United States Mail. This family has a lot of gifts, but most of all she has this great gift of "Love."

Over the years I have married a lot of people. Okay, don't get ahead of me, yes, I have been married more than once, but I am talking about people I married, or remarried as a pastor. Here is one of the scriptures that I use in all the weddings.

1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, if we loved like this we truly would be like our blessed Jesus Christ. And if all those who were getting married would live by this scripture it would sure help in their marriage. While you can read all of these for yourself, I want to point out the part that tells us "It is not easily angered." Remember that when Jesus walked this earth He was not easily angered, but I do remember the readings where He cleared out the temple chasing the money changers out. However, right after that in the same verse the Word tells us, "It keeps no record of wrongs."

When Jesus was angered and He cleared the temple, it was over and then He would forgive people and move on. When we as humans anger sometimes we do not get right over it, and sometimes even if we do forgive that person we might bring it up again later. We who truly love should also "hate." What did I just say? I said "we who truly love should also 'hate'." Yep, I said that. What should we hate? Look again at verse 6 - Love does not delight in evil. So it is evil we should hate and even try our best to stay away from it. Amen. More on Gifts tomorrow.

Dear Father in Heaven. Please teach us to love, love everybody, and to try our very best to follow Your lead in all we do. Thanks for being a God that forgives us. Thanks for all the times You have forgiven us, forgiven me. In Jesus' Name, I give thanks and pray. Amen.

Now please go forth and share your love and share Jesus with others. Love ya.

Pastor Dan

P.S. I am getting ready for surgery. If I miss a day now and then, just keep me in your prayers. I will give you the date later as soon as I am cleared, then you can cover Dolores and me in prayer. Thanks, ladies and gentlemen, for your prayers.