Thank you for joining me for the Weekend Sermon today. It is a great privilege to be able to share these messages with you each week. I hope that they are a help to those who take the time to read them.
This week has had its ups and downs. I had to get a new air-conditioner. I am thankful to the Lord that my brother was able to help me install it. Also, I had to get a new tire for my lawn mower. It has been so hot where I live that it is almost unbearable. All you have to do is step outside for two seconds, and you are covered with perspiration. We've already had a 110 degree heat index this summer, and late July is the hottest time of the year where I live. I don't even want to think about how hot it is going to be if current trends continue.
I am thankful to the Lord that I was able to make good progress on the book this week. I had been struggling with one section of the book for quite sometime, but I was finally able to figure out what I wanted to say. I am behind schedule on the book, but I hope to have it ready for publication this Fall.
In prayer this week, please pray for those who are suffering with the terrible heat in the American Southwest. Also, pray for those affected by the wildfires in that same area. Continue to pray for an end to the Zika virus. Pray for those suffering as a result of what occurred in Orlando.
Syria and Iraq continue to be in a terrible shape. Let us really focus our prayers for peace on these two nations.
In our prayers for the nations of the world, let us pray that the people of Israel and Egypt might respond to the message of the love of Jesus.
For the next several weeks, we are alternating back and forth each week between two different sermon series. Last week, we studied in the Ten Commandments series. Today, we will return to our lessons from the animals series.
The first dog who I spoke about last time was a dog named Abraham. Today, I want to focus on an important lesson the Lord showed me through my best friend Toby. I will have a few different lessons the Lord showed me through Toby in this series, so that is why this sermon is designated as part 1.
As I've mentioned before here on the blog, I grew up in a very fundamentalist church culture. One aspect of the churches that I went to was the yearly youth retreat. This was actually in two parts. It was expected that all of the younger people, say 12 to 16, would go and spend one or two weeks at one of the religious youth camps. I never went to any of these. I had severe asthma, so my Mom didn't want me out in the woods.
However, I couldn't get out of going to the weekend youth retreat held each year for those who were juniors and seniors in high school through college age. I really did not want to go, but I was sort of forced into it.
I'd had Toby for about 4 months when it came time to go to one of these youth retreats. The two of us were getting along so well, and I was finally feeling happy for one of the first times in a long time. But, we had started to go to this new fundamentalist church with a big youth group, so I was informed that I would be going.
As I expected, I did not like this youth retreat at all. Here's why. This is the way all of these things went. All of these young people who were held back, got a little freedom, and they went wild. We were staying at an hotel, and I don't even want to get into all of the shenanigans that went on that weekend.
I just decided I was fed up with it, and I went to my room and watched boxing. I can still remember it as clear as day that John Mugabe was fighting his first major opponent. Like most people Mugabe fought, until he faced Marvin Hagler, the opponent didn't last too long.
Well, the last night of this youth retreat, the minister preached against all of the sins the youth had committed while on this retreat. They all decided to repent and went down to the altar and laid on the floor crying half the night. They all thought I was unrepentant since I just sat in my chair and watched the whole thing. I didn't feel I needed to repent for watching a boxing match.
Well, the next day when we arrived back home, I had one of the best experiences of my life. Waiting in the car for me with my parents was my friend Toby. When he saw me walking over to the car, he got so excited I thought that he was going to launch into outer space. He was so happy to see me. My parents said that they had to bring him along because he was so depressed while I was away that he wouldn't even eat. He just laid by the front door waiting for me to come home. He missed me, and he was so glad that I was back. I was glad to be back too.
Seeing Toby and his reaction that day let me realize that no matter how bad things were in my life, as long as he was around, somebody really cared about me. Toby showed me that he loved me by his actions.
Thinking about these events from many years ago now, I have come to realize that it is important in our lives to demonstrate our love for others and for the Lord. We don't want to just say the words, we want to show our love in tangible ways. I John 3:18 says it this way, "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."
We should certainly tell others that we love and care about them. We need to show it too. If you have someone that you care about in this life, I urge you to do something this week that demonstrates how much they really mean to you. Go out of your way to do something nice for someone else. If all of us would do this, the world would be a nicer place.
We have a world filled with hurting people all around us. We can show that we love this world by doing things that show our love. We can visit the sick, help collect food for the poor and the homeless, the list can go on and on. Let us all try to find some way to show our love to those in this world who are hurting and who need help. If you pray and ask Jesus for help in this area, I believe that He will show you how you can be a blessing to others.
Also, we need to demonstrate our love for the Lord. We can say that we love Him, and we should, but there are things that we can do to show our love. Helping others shows our love for the Lord. Jesus said that when we do something for the least among us, we do it as unto Him.
We also demonstrate our love for the Lord when we tell other people how much He means to us. When we share the message of salvation, we demonstrate our love for the Lord. When we follow the path that Jesus set our for us, we show our love for the Lord.
Finally, I want to say that God didn't just say that He loved us, He showed us. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus came to this earth to show us in word and deed how much God loves us. Jesus died on the cross because He loved us and wanted us to have a relationship with Him. In love, Jesus calls everyone everywhere to come to Him and receive the forgiveness. love and rest that He offers.
I learned a lot of lessons from my old friend Toby. I will share more of them in the weeks to come as well as lessons from some other animals that I have known.
After that experience with the youth retreat, I didn't go to anymore of those activities. I started to become even more of an independent thinker than I already was. I started to see who Jesus really was and how much He truly loved me.
Before I close this week, I just want you to know that Jesus loves you. You may have been raised in a religious atmosphere like I was where Jesus was presented as mean, judging and condemning. You were always in fear. I want to tell you that Jesus really cares about you. He did not come to condemn the world but to save it. He wants to be your friend. I hope that you will let Him be your friend today.
Next week, I will post the verses on Monday. I will have review on Wednesday. We will return to our Ten Commandments series next week, May God bless you all. Amen.
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