Monday 12/7/15 The Big Trip (5)

Dear Father in Heaven: I love You. Dear Father, 74 years ago today the Japanese bombed our Navy's Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. It was a day most people in America will never forget. But as we see today by the number of Japanese cars and trucks and other products that are made by Japanese people, while the event is remembered, the fences have been mended. This is what You have taught us to do, love our enemies. Yes, I pray we never forget what happened that day, and I am thankful that we  have signed a peace treaty and have moved on to where we get along. How wonderful it would be if that could be used as an example of how things should work after things were really bad. Love is the number one gift You have given all of us and if we all loved You and would take the cue from You and love You and all others this could and would happen. We also know and have faith that some sweet day this will happen. So today, Lord, I want to pray for all those who hate us, all those who might hate me, and Lord, I want to walk with You and try to teach others that love. So many people do not have You in their life and that makes it impossible to love and forgive. Father, thanks for all You do for all of us and thanks for Jesus who died for all of us on the cross. Jesus, I do believe that You love me, that You died for me and that You were risen from the dead. Please help we who believe teach others that very, very important step in Love and the needed step in the Road to Heaven. Please, Lord, help me now with the message and then to get it dispatched. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Pearl Harbor Day, brothers and sisters. I was just under seven months old when we were bombed. And while I don't remember anything other than what I was taught about that day, I do remember things that went on in later years of the war. I remember the air raid drills that we had. All lights  had to be out, even the street lights were turned off. An Air Raid Warden would walk the streets with his flashlight and if you had a light on in your house they would stop and tell you. The sirens would blow and blow and yes, we, we little ones were scared. I can remember in school how we not only had fire drills, we would also have air raid drills. We would stand in the halls with our faces buried in our arms so as not to  have our eyes hurt by the flashes of the bombs. To this day I just can't believe how hard it must be to raise a family in an area that is being bombed almost daily. Brothers and sisters, we really need to be centering our prayers daily on peace and the return of Jesus to give us that peace, and we need to be working hard to get THE WORD OF THE LORD OUT ABOUT SALVATION. Once again I want to remind you that if it would help you to bring someone to the cross by using what I write, by all means please use it. Now let me get to the message of today.

Monday: December 7, 2015: The Big Trip by Donkey Dan (Day Five)

Luke 1:26 - In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at the words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be, 30 but the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a Son and you are to give Him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end." (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, I have reused the part of the scripture from my last writing since it all ties together. We animals are sure getting excited, why, watching old Gabriel the angel of the Lord it is getting so exciting just to see what he is going to say next, for we animals know that his words are coming right from the Lord. And we animals know that our Lord God loves us also or He would not have made us. He also made man to take care of us. I was just telling Clyde, you know, my buddy Clyde the camel, that I am praying that Mary does not question what Gabriel is going to say, because he might then make her silent, and you just know how hard it would be on a woman not to talk. Hee Haw, did I say that?

Anyway, Gabriel told Mary that God loved her and she was highly favored in His eyes, and while Mary was troubled, she at her young age has learned to trust in God. Now Gabriel has told her that she is going to have a child and she is to call the child Jesus for He will save His people. You remember that Gabriel told Zechariah that he and Elizabeth even at their old age would have a son and to name him John. Now Gabriel is telling Mary who is just a teenager that she is going to have a boy, and how is this going to happen? Let's take a look and see what happens next. Back to the Bible.

Luke 1:34 - "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God." (NIV)

Now Mary knew she was never with any man and was smart enough to know that she could not be in the motherly way without that contact by a man. (I made that nice, didn't I?) Anyway, how will Mary handle this? Wow, what a great honor to be having such a wonderful child, but how will you tell family and friends, how will she tell Joseph, the one she is engaged to? How will he understand this? How would you ladies feel? Try and put your feet into the shoes of Mary, and men, try and put your feet into the shoes of Joseph. How would we handle thees things? Right now we have been given things to do for the Lord. Do we question them or do we just go forth and do them? As we know, today we will not get that chance to do what Mary and Joseph did; however, our jobs working for God are just as important. If we refuse our assignments from God, will we be made silent? Or could or would something else happen to us? Tomorrow we are going to see just how Mary handles this and how Joseph finds out about his beloved Mary being with child. We are also going to find out a few things about Mary that we might not know, or maybe we will not even want to know. Well, Donkey Dee is about to bring me something to eat. Wow, that was good. Tomorrow we are going to find out what Mary said to the angel and how she will start to handle the assignment that is being given to her. We animals are so excited about this, oh, I want to sing about it. Hee haw, hee haw. We animals must watch where we stand for we are standing on Holy Ground.

We are standing on Holy ground,
And I know that there are angels all around.
Let us praise Jesus now.
We are standing in His presence on Holy ground.

We are standing on Holy ground,
And I know that there are angels all around.
Let us praise Jesus now.
We are standing in His presence on Holy ground.

Dear Father in Heaven, help us to accept and carry out any and all assignments that You might give to us. And Lord, help us to do them to the very best of our ability knowing and trusting in You and knowing that You will not let us fail. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth loving and serving Jesus and remembering this.

We are standing on Holy ground,
And I know that there are angels all around.
Let us praise Jesus now.
We are standing in His presence on Holy ground.

Love ya.

Pastor Dan