This morning we got up, read our Bibles, took a shower and headed down to St. Francis hospital with Robin’s mom. This week she started radiation treatments for cancer. It amazed me to see how many people were coming in and getting treatments for this disease.

Just imagine, when we get to heaven there will be no bad hearts, no cancer, no mental illness, no alzheimers, etc. Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace, I wanna see my Saviour’s face, cause heaven is a wonderful place, I’m gonna be there! Are You? 

Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into Him, and have fellowship with him and he with Me!”

It’s 7:08 a.m. on a Saturday morning and I’m sitting in my recliner reading my bible. As I sit hear I realize how blessed I am. I just heard a blue jay call outside my window. I hear Robin upstairs walking around getting on to George my basset hound. And yes, I can hear the voice of God whisper in my ear!

God continues to show me how blessed I am to be married to a woman like Robin. He shows me how blessed I am to have George living here even though he sheds, for he lets us know when someone is stirring around outside. God shows me how blessed I am that I can hear a blue jays call early in the morning.

I’m blessed that God talks to me, a sinner. I’m blessed that He wants to spend time with me! It still amazes me after being a Christian all these years that the King of Kings wants to meet with me daily! I am blessed, you are blessed and our families are blessed! Let’s thank God today for His mercy and grace!

Why would a person help their neighbor pull weeds or trim the hedges? Why would a man walk a little old lady across the street? What is their intention or motive? Is it to be seen by others? Is it done to make them feel good about  themselves? Is it done so they can brag about it to their friends?

In this present age, in this lost world in which you and I live today, our main motivation should be to bring honor and glory to God. It doesn’t matter if we’re pulling weeds for someone or washing their car! The aim and purpose of our lives should be to glorify our God!

Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven!”

There has been times that fear controls what I do, what I say and the way I think! My biggest fear is being locked up in a closet or being bound! I have a large mail bag that I use to preach a sermon on concerning the return of Jesus. You have to get inside the bag with someone and allow yourself to be locked inside the bag with the other person.

I don’t like preaching this sermon because of that so I try to avoid it. There are times God wants me to do it and I know it, so I have to make a choice. Am I going to be obedient, or is fear gonna get the best of me! I’ll have to admit, there has been times that fear has gotten the best of me and I didnt’ obey!

There are people who have a fear of flying, a fear of witnessing, a fear of giving and the list goes on and on. Fear keeps us from being all that we can be for God. God says in Genesis 26:24, “Fear not, I am with thee…” Even inside the mail bag He is there, I simply need to trust Him!

Don’t worry, be happy! Many people go to bed and rise in the morning with one thing on their mind. How am I gonna pay the bills this week? How am I gonna feed my family? You see, some families live from pay check to pay check and others don’t get a consistent pay check at all!

Matthew 6:26 says, “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

Birds cannot sow or reap. Birds cannot gather anything into barns, but you and I can. We are to sow, reap, and gather with the same abandon that a little bird has. The little bird is trusting God to take care of him, and you are to trust God also.

My advice is, keep God first, work hard, be honest and watch God meet your every need!

As I travel throughout the USA people who are saved will sometimes ask me this question. “Should I get  baptized?’ The answer to that is a definite YES! I remember when I was saved at the age of sixteen I wanted to follow the Lord in believers baptism! Getting baptized is one way for a person to thank the Lord for saving them!

We must recognize that we have to be identified with Christ, and that is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. Our water baptism is a testimony to this! One time an old salt said to a young sailor in trying to get him to accept Christ and be baptized, “Young man it is duty or mutiny!” And when you come to Christ, you are to be baptized because it is a duty. If you are not, it is mutiny! (We Could Also Say This About Having A Daily Quiet Time! It Is Duty or Mutiny!)

Matthew 3:16-17 says, “And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Today we take Rambo, our Ford Explorer to the mechanic. It’s been running rough so it’s time to have it checked out. One mechanic told me the spark plugs and wires need to be changed. He showed me one wire that had a small hole in it! Now, I’m not a mechanic but I do know when spark plug wires go bad it affects the running of the entire vehicle!

Bad spark plug wires remind me of sin. When we allow sin to come into our lives and camp there it affects us just like a bad spark plug wire affects a car or truck. It not only affects us but  it affects those around us and if not dealt with will destroy your relationship with your family, friends and the Lord!

Scripture says this in Matthew 3:1-2, In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent means your going in one direction, your direction, and you decide that’s not the direction you should be going because you’re not walking with the Lord. In other words, you turn from doing what you want to doing what God wants!

Do you remember trying to figure out what you were going to do in life? I do, I was a senior in high school getting ready to graduate. I was going to leave home, play college football and then coach football after graduating from college. Upon graduating from college my degree was in physical education and history.

I was offered a job in Georgia and one in Coweta, Oklahoma. Instead of coaching I went to work at Git N Go and then Pepsi Cola in Muskogee, Oklahoma. During that time I sensed God wanting me to go into the ministry but I ran from that like a scalded dog!

Finally, God got my attention and I surrendered to the ministry at the age of 32. The point I’m trying to make is this, our plans are not God’s plans. I had plans on being a football coach but He had different plans for me!

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailShare

I love watching cowboy movies and rodeos. I was watching the rodeo on TV one day and noticed that the majority of the cowboys who tried to ride bulls or horses were thrown off.  As soon as they hit the dirt they’d get up, put their hat back on, brush themselves off and go to the sidelines and quit!

No, they don’t quit, they go off somewhere and think about where they made their mistake in trying to ride the bull or horse. Once they figure it out they try not to make the same mistake again. That’s what makes a cowboy a winner or a loser!

Did you know that their are Christians who live a victorious life and there are those who don’t? They sin and it’s all over! They walk around looking like they’d been beaten with an ugly stick! They feel sorry for letting the Lord down and others!

My advice is, get over it! Take it to the Lord and give it to Him! If you’ve offended someone, go to them and get right! In other words, get off your blessed assurance, get right with the Lord and others and climb back in the saddle again!

Being thrown from a horse is no disgrace, the disgrace comes when the cowboy just lays there on the dirt and feels sorry for himself. In the same way, God knows we’re gonna sin, that’s human nature. That’s why He provided a saviour, a saviour that we can go to and ask  for  forgiveness! Christians, it’s time, no, it’s past time for some of us to get up, brush ourselves off and start all over again!

My sister and her husband have been with us in Houston for the past 7 days. We get excited when they come and are saddened when they leave. When they’re here we just hang out and relax. We go to bed when we want to and get up when we want to.

We play games like Joker and Pegs and a new one we found called Farkle! When they’re  here we don’t watch what we eat. We have pickled eggs, boiled peanuts, turtles, chips and the list goes on and on! We just sit around chit chatting about this and that.

Wonderful fellowship, it’s sad that it has to end. Tommy and Cecelia left this morning to go home! It’s quite and we’ll all miss them today. Can you imagine what heavens gonna be like. Some of our family and friends will be there and we can chit chat for an eternity!

If you don’t know Jesus you can know Him today! Ruth asked Boaz this question in Ruth 2:10, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes?” You and I can ask God the same question regarding grace to us. Note the progression. We come as sinners and hold out the hand of faith, and He, by His grace saves us!