I do not have any additions to our prayer list today. However, it is Wednesday, meaning it is Salvation Wednesday on this line, so please pray for the lost, and pray that God uses we who are saved to bring in the lost.
Dear Father in Heaven: Thanks for taking us through another night and thanks for watching over our families and our friends and even those who might not like us at all. Lord, help us this day to follow Jesus and help us this day to bring the lost to the feet of Jesus to be saved. Forgive me of my sins this day, Lord, and help me today with a message and then dispatch it for me, please. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Hi, brothers and sisters. It has been a great day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. I pray all is working well for all of you this day. I pray that you are saved and that you will then go out checking on the unsaved and doing your best to lead people to our Lord Jesus. Still not too late to let us know you can come to a work morning this Saturday at our Ministry Food Pantry. Speaking of the Food Pantry, please pray for a lady who was caught shoplifting food last evening at WalMart. She has been arrested for it, but but our fine police officers (Silver Spring Township) have referred her to us to help her so she does not need to steal food. Yes, of course I have withheld her name. Time now to get to the message about "loving each other.
Salvation Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Loving Each Other, Day Two.
1 John 4:12 - No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that The Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, if we do not love God, dare I say we do not know how to love, or do we really love each other? Our scripture for today tells us just that. "If we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us." Now let us look at
1 John 4:14 - And we have seen and testify that The Father has sent His Son to be The Savior of the world. (NIV)
Let me support that with some more scriptures.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, God loves us so much, all of us, that He sent His Son Jesus to save us. But we need to share the message, and the message is the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ. Father God did not just send Jesus to save one of us, but all of us, all of the children of the world. Back in the days of Noah and the big flood, God destroyed what He had made because of the sins of man. He did bring forth Noah and Mrs. Noah and their family and animals to start over. This time when sin was again getting out of hand He sent forth Jesus, first to show us a humble birth, and then Jesus showed us how to live, and how we should follow Him and do our best to be like Him. And then of course Jesus went to the cross to save all of us, ALL OF US, from our own sins. But God did not send Jesus just to save you and me, brothers and sisters, He sent Jesus to save the world, all of the people. One of the things we need to learn from this, and there are many, one is that we must love all people. It should not make a difference to any of us about the color of one's skin or their religion or even their lack of it. Our job is to tell all that Good News. Now let me repeat that good news for you.
John 3:17 - For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (NIV)
Brethren, on this day, this Salvation Wednesday, can you think of any better news to tell anyone? Our Bibles are full of good news and a lot of bad things also. We need to share that good news. Here is the commandment that tells us, that commands us to take that good news out today. And please do not wait until tomorrow, do not put it off until tomorrow what you can do today.
Mark 16:15 - He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (NIV)
Now, folks, this is really worth repeating. "Go into all the world and preach the GOOD NEWS to all creation. That is it, folks, we need to take the good news about the love of Jesus to everyone we see. I love sitting down with folks, as our ministry team does often, and we break bread and we talk about things and of course we talk about Jesus, but we need to be taking the good news to others that do not know the Lord as their Savior. So let me be blunt today and ask you, when was the last time you talked to someone about Jesus that might not know the Lord as their Savior? If you have your Jesus eyes and ears on, you cannot get past any one day where He does not open a door for you to witness for Him. I mean it! It might start when someone asks you, "how are you today?" And you could answer as my dear friend "Doug Boyer" always answers, "never better." Over the years I have copied that saying of his, and I use it often. People will ask me when I am going into the store, how are you, Pastor? And I will tell them, "never better, I am really blessed." You can put a song on your heart and lips, and if you can't sing, hum the tune but be happy. I am telling you if you are a GRUMP, it will turn people off and it turns them off in a hurry. And if you are a GRUMP and you are trying to tell people about Jesus, they might, they just might think, if knowing Jesus is going to turn me into a grump, I don't want to be like that.
For a week or so, I am going to set aside Pastor Dan's Safety Tip and I am going to put or try to put a song on your heart for the day. I pray it will help you go forth singing or humming or maybe you are a "Pat Boone" and will whistle that tune. One of the very best ways to share the love of Jesus is first to live the love of Jesus, by loving not just Jesus but everyone. When you are telling folks of the love of Jesus, be sure they see that love coming out of you.
Now go forth and share your blessings and be sure to share the Love of Jesus with others. Now the best way I know to tell you this is just say this ... I love ya, Pass it on. Pastor Dan
And now let's roll back to Vacation Bible School and sing this song ...
Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong. I am weak, but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.
Let us just do that again.
Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong. I am weak, but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.
Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.
Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.
PASS IT ON! I am talking about His love, not necessarily the message, but you can if you want to.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Mon/Tues 8/5-6/13 Loving Each Other
Prayer list for today: Patsy and Burt Emig. Patsy is still in the hospital after a bad fall. Burt needs God's touch upon his eyes.
Eleanor Saylor. Surgery is over; Eleanor needs the healing hand of our Lord.
Bob Coburn and Jendi Sansoni. Surgery is over, but I did not receive updates yet.
President Obama and all of our leaders. All of our veterans and current military, and our police and firefighters.
Carry The Light Ministries upcoming work day, this Saturday morning.
Forgiveness of our sins ... Yes, ours, mine, and yours.
Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for another night's rest, and I am so sorry I did not get to the computer yesterday to put out a message for You. Please forgive me. Please, Lord, wash my sins away. Lord, be with those on our prayer list and honor our prayers according to Your will in our lives. Lord, please stop the terrorists and bring peace upon this world You created. Now, Lord, please bless me with a message and then dispatch it for me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Good morning, my sisters and brothers. Sorry about yesterday, the day just got away from me. After many, many years of emailing and then mailing things back and forth with Patsy and Burt, and many years of their support of Carry The Light Ministries Food Pantry and other ministries, we finally got to meet them. On Saturday Dolores and I went to the York hospital and for the very first time we got to see these dear, dear folks face to face. Over the years these folks stepped out in the love of Jesus to help Carry The Light Ministries. It started out when someone put them on the list to receive messages daily. When their computer gave up, we started mailing them daily. Please pray for them daily. Maybe this is why God has pointed me to a message about love and loving others.
Monday/Tuesday August 5-6 2013, Loving Each Other, Day One.
1 John 4:7 - Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed His love among us; He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (NIV)
Love, God's greatest gift. What is love? What really is Love? First, let me tell you what love is NOT. Sex is not love, sex is passion or just lust. God loves all of us, even those who hate Him. Who then loves us next? Well, folks, it might just be your pet!! I just had to shed a tear on that one. I miss my dear little Martin. Okay, back to the message. God's love goes to all of us, He knew us and loved us even before we were in the womb, He loved us in the womb, and He has loved us enough to die for us, for our filthy sins. Over the years we have had many men and women who loved all of us and loved our country enough to sign up for our military or to be a police officer or firefighter. Not all men and women who go into the military went to battle but they were willing to go. Over the years men and women laid their lives on the line for people they did not know, they just went out and did it. This week I really want to look at love and by the end of the week, I pray that all of you will love everyone, even those who might hate you. After all, we are going to take our lead from our Lord Jesus.
Let's look at our scripture from 1 John. The Bible tells us that we should love one another because love comes from God. Can you truly say that you love everyone? I confess that I must work on it and work on it daily. It is easy to love those who love you, but sometimes hard to love someone who over the years have treated you wrongly. The Bible tells us that Love comes from God and surely Jesus loved/loves all of us, even when we mess up. When Jesus was on the cross and dying, He did not look ahead in time and say, hey, Danny Lehman, I am not going to love you, because you were a bad boy. He went to the cross loving and dying for me, and of course all of you.
One person that I found over the years the hardest to love, and folks, I do not want to offend anyone here, but I am going to tell you who it was. Who was the hardest person in all of God's world for me to love once I fully came to understand what love really was and is? To love someone we must follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus, we must walk as He did, and we must walk in His light. One of the main things we must do is learn to forgive, and we must forgive so that we may be forgiven. So who is that one person that I have had trouble loving after I came to Jesus? Well, that one person was! Maybe I should make you take a guess at this. No, I will tell you, the hardest person for me to love was ... Daniel Webster Lehman, Jr., and that of course is me. Yes, I have done things in my life that I am not proud of, that I should not have done, and I knew better. But after years of loving God I have given it all over to Him, and in that way I now can look in the mirror and truly know that I love who I am, not who I was, but who I am. One of the hardest things to do is take all your junk, all your sins, and give them over to God and then let them be.
Some people might come up and say that I remember him or her when she did this or that. You tell them that you are a new person now and all those things have been washed away with the blood of Jesus.
Over the years, since I have fallen deeply in love with Jesus, and I mean deeply in love with Him, I find it much easier to walk with Him. Yes, I slip and even fall once in awhile, but He helps me back up and I grab hold of Him and keep on watching and working for Him. I find it easy to pray with people and people I don't know. I watched as a mother and her daughter walked out of a doctor's office crying. Now this mother and daughter were older. It was a warm day and I was waiting for Dolores when this mother/daughter walked out and were heading to the car next to mine. I said to them, ladies, it looks like you might have received bad news. And they answered yes. I said, can I pray with you and for you? They welcomed it, and in a few minutes there on the parking lot, we brought Jesus to them. Now they already loved Jesus, and I was just a reminder that He would be with them. We prayed and then we sang a few songs. They love Jesus and I now have two new sisters. I did mess up when I did not get their names, but the Lord knows them and loves them and they love and know Him. Let's look at a few more scriptures.
Romans 12:9 - Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (NIV)
And this, the number one scripture world-wide ...
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)
Okay, as I wrap it up for this day, remember this: We need to honor one another above ourselves. So, folks, we must also love ourselves. So if you have burdens on you today, let us bundle them up right now and get rid of them. Are you ready?
Dear Father in Heaven: Yes, I am indeed a sinner, and I do have some burdens that I carry, and today I want to turn all of them over to You, and I do not want to look back on them ever. So forgive me, please, dear Jesus, wash me white as snow with Your blood. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Now go forth and share your blessings and love on each other, tell folks you love them, put a song on your heart and lips and sing it as you travel today. In fact, to help that, I am going to skip the safety tip and try and put this song on your mind, heart, and lips. So sing it, my dear brothers and sisters,sand share your blessings. Love ya, pass it on. Pastor Dan.
Come on, let's "Fly Away."
Verse One:
Some glad morning when this life is o'er ... I'll fly away
To a land on God's celestial shore ... I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I'll fly away.
Verse Four:
Just a few more weary days and then ... I'll fly away
To a land where joys shall never end ... I'll fly away
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I'll fly away.
Just a few more times
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I'll fly away.
One more time!!
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I'll fly away.
Have a blessed and wonderful day. God go with you and you with God. Amen.
Eleanor Saylor. Surgery is over; Eleanor needs the healing hand of our Lord.
Bob Coburn and Jendi Sansoni. Surgery is over, but I did not receive updates yet.
President Obama and all of our leaders. All of our veterans and current military, and our police and firefighters.
Carry The Light Ministries upcoming work day, this Saturday morning.
Forgiveness of our sins ... Yes, ours, mine, and yours.
Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for another night's rest, and I am so sorry I did not get to the computer yesterday to put out a message for You. Please forgive me. Please, Lord, wash my sins away. Lord, be with those on our prayer list and honor our prayers according to Your will in our lives. Lord, please stop the terrorists and bring peace upon this world You created. Now, Lord, please bless me with a message and then dispatch it for me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Good morning, my sisters and brothers. Sorry about yesterday, the day just got away from me. After many, many years of emailing and then mailing things back and forth with Patsy and Burt, and many years of their support of Carry The Light Ministries Food Pantry and other ministries, we finally got to meet them. On Saturday Dolores and I went to the York hospital and for the very first time we got to see these dear, dear folks face to face. Over the years these folks stepped out in the love of Jesus to help Carry The Light Ministries. It started out when someone put them on the list to receive messages daily. When their computer gave up, we started mailing them daily. Please pray for them daily. Maybe this is why God has pointed me to a message about love and loving others.
Monday/Tuesday August 5-6 2013, Loving Each Other, Day One.
1 John 4:7 - Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed His love among us; He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (NIV)
Love, God's greatest gift. What is love? What really is Love? First, let me tell you what love is NOT. Sex is not love, sex is passion or just lust. God loves all of us, even those who hate Him. Who then loves us next? Well, folks, it might just be your pet!! I just had to shed a tear on that one. I miss my dear little Martin. Okay, back to the message. God's love goes to all of us, He knew us and loved us even before we were in the womb, He loved us in the womb, and He has loved us enough to die for us, for our filthy sins. Over the years we have had many men and women who loved all of us and loved our country enough to sign up for our military or to be a police officer or firefighter. Not all men and women who go into the military went to battle but they were willing to go. Over the years men and women laid their lives on the line for people they did not know, they just went out and did it. This week I really want to look at love and by the end of the week, I pray that all of you will love everyone, even those who might hate you. After all, we are going to take our lead from our Lord Jesus.
Let's look at our scripture from 1 John. The Bible tells us that we should love one another because love comes from God. Can you truly say that you love everyone? I confess that I must work on it and work on it daily. It is easy to love those who love you, but sometimes hard to love someone who over the years have treated you wrongly. The Bible tells us that Love comes from God and surely Jesus loved/loves all of us, even when we mess up. When Jesus was on the cross and dying, He did not look ahead in time and say, hey, Danny Lehman, I am not going to love you, because you were a bad boy. He went to the cross loving and dying for me, and of course all of you.
One person that I found over the years the hardest to love, and folks, I do not want to offend anyone here, but I am going to tell you who it was. Who was the hardest person in all of God's world for me to love once I fully came to understand what love really was and is? To love someone we must follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus, we must walk as He did, and we must walk in His light. One of the main things we must do is learn to forgive, and we must forgive so that we may be forgiven. So who is that one person that I have had trouble loving after I came to Jesus? Well, that one person was! Maybe I should make you take a guess at this. No, I will tell you, the hardest person for me to love was ... Daniel Webster Lehman, Jr., and that of course is me. Yes, I have done things in my life that I am not proud of, that I should not have done, and I knew better. But after years of loving God I have given it all over to Him, and in that way I now can look in the mirror and truly know that I love who I am, not who I was, but who I am. One of the hardest things to do is take all your junk, all your sins, and give them over to God and then let them be.
Some people might come up and say that I remember him or her when she did this or that. You tell them that you are a new person now and all those things have been washed away with the blood of Jesus.
Over the years, since I have fallen deeply in love with Jesus, and I mean deeply in love with Him, I find it much easier to walk with Him. Yes, I slip and even fall once in awhile, but He helps me back up and I grab hold of Him and keep on watching and working for Him. I find it easy to pray with people and people I don't know. I watched as a mother and her daughter walked out of a doctor's office crying. Now this mother and daughter were older. It was a warm day and I was waiting for Dolores when this mother/daughter walked out and were heading to the car next to mine. I said to them, ladies, it looks like you might have received bad news. And they answered yes. I said, can I pray with you and for you? They welcomed it, and in a few minutes there on the parking lot, we brought Jesus to them. Now they already loved Jesus, and I was just a reminder that He would be with them. We prayed and then we sang a few songs. They love Jesus and I now have two new sisters. I did mess up when I did not get their names, but the Lord knows them and loves them and they love and know Him. Let's look at a few more scriptures.
Romans 12:9 - Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (NIV)
And this, the number one scripture world-wide ...
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)
Okay, as I wrap it up for this day, remember this: We need to honor one another above ourselves. So, folks, we must also love ourselves. So if you have burdens on you today, let us bundle them up right now and get rid of them. Are you ready?
Dear Father in Heaven: Yes, I am indeed a sinner, and I do have some burdens that I carry, and today I want to turn all of them over to You, and I do not want to look back on them ever. So forgive me, please, dear Jesus, wash me white as snow with Your blood. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Now go forth and share your blessings and love on each other, tell folks you love them, put a song on your heart and lips and sing it as you travel today. In fact, to help that, I am going to skip the safety tip and try and put this song on your mind, heart, and lips. So sing it, my dear brothers and sisters,sand share your blessings. Love ya, pass it on. Pastor Dan.
Come on, let's "Fly Away."
Verse One:
Some glad morning when this life is o'er ... I'll fly away
To a land on God's celestial shore ... I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I'll fly away.
Verse Four:
Just a few more weary days and then ... I'll fly away
To a land where joys shall never end ... I'll fly away
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I'll fly away.
Just a few more times
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I'll fly away.
One more time!!
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I'll fly away.
Have a blessed and wonderful day. God go with you and you with God. Amen.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Friday 8/2/13 Trials and Temptations 5
Please keep praying for Patsy Emig, Eleanor Saylor, and please add Robert Campbell to your prayer list. Since we have two Robert Campbells on line, this gentleman goes by the name of "Bob" and is from Lemoyne and the other is "Rob" and is from Newport. I am sure, knowing Rob, he would welcome prayers anytime. Please also pray for Jendi Sansoni and for Bob Coburn. Pray for my buddy Dave and his mother Beverly. Also pray for sinners and for God to forgive them. I need on this list, how about you?
Dear Father in Heaven, let me start by thanking You for sending Jesus to save me from my sins, to save me from self-destruction. So, please, Lord, forgive me of my sins and Lord, please hear the call of others needing sins to be washed away. Lord Jesus, please be with those on our prayer list and heal them according to Your will. Lord Jesus, be with all those who will be going out in the fields of harvest to spread the Good News. And Lord, our dear friends Dave, Duane and Neil will soon be going on a final tour of Canada and I pray You keep them safe and fill each place where they sing and that people come to You through their witness for You. Watch over their families also. Now, Lord, please bless me with a message for today and then dispatch it for me, please. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Good Evening, brothers and sisters. I pray that your day was as good as mine and your week as good as mine. I sure have been blessed. We were blessed yesterday when some new-found friends gave us a rooster, and he loves to crow. He is really happy to be in the chicken house with my four girls, Dolores, Pam, Wanda, and Sally. This guy is beautiful, and we have named him "Sir Charles Chicken." Times to get to the message.
1 Peter 4:1 - Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourself because he who has suffered within his body is done with sin. 2 As a result he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. (NIV)
As we round out a week of talking about our trials and temptations, I came upon this scripture in 1 Peter. Jesus came to earth and walked among us, and He suffered while in His body here on earth. As followers of Jesus, we are told many places in the Bible to expect to be persecuted because of our love of Jesus. I know as one who has a lot of pain in my body, and I know of others who have pain in their bodies, this scripture helps me understand just why we do have this pain. Have you taken notice how much nearer you get to Jesus and how you really work hard to get away from evil when you have pain, when you suffer you get nearer to God? The Bible tells us that when we suffer in our body, we are done with sin. I have noticed that the nearer I get to Jesus, the more I suffer in pain, the more the earthly part of my life is changing. How about you? As we have more trials and more temptations, more pain and more suffering, we come nearer to our Lord Jesus. Let's look at another scripture.
1 Peter 4:12 - Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. (NIV)
The Bible tells us not to be surprised at the painful trials we are suffering. We have been warned that this would happen to us just because we have followed Jesus. Brothers and sisters, regardless of the trials that come my way, regardless of the painful things that happen, I AM NOT TURNING BACK, and I pray that you will not either. Hang in there, my dear brothers and sisters. I want to leave you with a couple of scriptures that should lift you when you are suffering. Remember these please.
Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (NIV)
Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV)
So brothers and sisters, REJOICE, Jesus is still the same, and REJOICE for when we love Him, he will always work things out for the good, according to His will for us. And brothers and sisters, REJOICE, for God's will for us is always better than what we try and do on our own.
Now brothers and sisters, REJOICE and LOVE one another, and please go and share those blessings of the Good News, and share your blessings that God has entrusted to you. And REJOICE for Jesus loves you. Love ya. Pass it on.
Pastor Dan
Please remember our short work day, Saturday, August 10th, from 9 to noon. Let me know if you are coming ...
Dear Father in Heaven, let me start by thanking You for sending Jesus to save me from my sins, to save me from self-destruction. So, please, Lord, forgive me of my sins and Lord, please hear the call of others needing sins to be washed away. Lord Jesus, please be with those on our prayer list and heal them according to Your will. Lord Jesus, be with all those who will be going out in the fields of harvest to spread the Good News. And Lord, our dear friends Dave, Duane and Neil will soon be going on a final tour of Canada and I pray You keep them safe and fill each place where they sing and that people come to You through their witness for You. Watch over their families also. Now, Lord, please bless me with a message for today and then dispatch it for me, please. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Good Evening, brothers and sisters. I pray that your day was as good as mine and your week as good as mine. I sure have been blessed. We were blessed yesterday when some new-found friends gave us a rooster, and he loves to crow. He is really happy to be in the chicken house with my four girls, Dolores, Pam, Wanda, and Sally. This guy is beautiful, and we have named him "Sir Charles Chicken." Times to get to the message.
1 Peter 4:1 - Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourself because he who has suffered within his body is done with sin. 2 As a result he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. (NIV)
As we round out a week of talking about our trials and temptations, I came upon this scripture in 1 Peter. Jesus came to earth and walked among us, and He suffered while in His body here on earth. As followers of Jesus, we are told many places in the Bible to expect to be persecuted because of our love of Jesus. I know as one who has a lot of pain in my body, and I know of others who have pain in their bodies, this scripture helps me understand just why we do have this pain. Have you taken notice how much nearer you get to Jesus and how you really work hard to get away from evil when you have pain, when you suffer you get nearer to God? The Bible tells us that when we suffer in our body, we are done with sin. I have noticed that the nearer I get to Jesus, the more I suffer in pain, the more the earthly part of my life is changing. How about you? As we have more trials and more temptations, more pain and more suffering, we come nearer to our Lord Jesus. Let's look at another scripture.
1 Peter 4:12 - Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. (NIV)
The Bible tells us not to be surprised at the painful trials we are suffering. We have been warned that this would happen to us just because we have followed Jesus. Brothers and sisters, regardless of the trials that come my way, regardless of the painful things that happen, I AM NOT TURNING BACK, and I pray that you will not either. Hang in there, my dear brothers and sisters. I want to leave you with a couple of scriptures that should lift you when you are suffering. Remember these please.
Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (NIV)
Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV)
So brothers and sisters, REJOICE, Jesus is still the same, and REJOICE for when we love Him, he will always work things out for the good, according to His will for us. And brothers and sisters, REJOICE, for God's will for us is always better than what we try and do on our own.
Now brothers and sisters, REJOICE and LOVE one another, and please go and share those blessings of the Good News, and share your blessings that God has entrusted to you. And REJOICE for Jesus loves you. Love ya. Pass it on.
Pastor Dan
Please remember our short work day, Saturday, August 10th, from 9 to noon. Let me know if you are coming ...
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