Verses For The Week

 Matthew 11:28 -- "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Hebrews 13:6 -- "So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me?"

The Weekend Sermon -- "Help Is On The Way"

      Thank you for taking the time to read the sermon today. I hope that you are having a very good week. I know that I am very glad to be able to post the message for this week. 

     For the next few weeks, we will be focusing on the Advent season as we prepare for the birth of the Savior on Christmas day. It is a time of hope, peace, joy and love. 

     In today's message, I would like us to focus our attention on the situation that existed before Jesus' Advent into this world. And I would like us to focus on the hope that Jesus brough then, now and in the future. 

     There are a couple of hymns that reflect for us the way in which the world found itself before the coming of the Lord into this world. One hymn that we sing at Christmastime is O Come, O Come Emmanuel. This hymn tells us that the people needed Emmanuel to come and rescue the people. The world was in darkness, and they needed the light of the Messiah to bring what was right back into this world. Another hymn that I think of at this time says "the whole world was lost in the darkness of sin, the light of the world is Jesus."

     Before Jesus was born into this world, sin reigned within this world. Darkness was everywhere. God originally created this world perfect and there was no sin. But our forbears sinned, and death passed upon all people. Sin reigned, and darkness reigned. 

     However, in the midst of all of this sin, darkness and seeming hopelessness, all was not lost. The Father in Heaven was not content to let His creation abide in darkness and hopelessness. Clear back in Genesis 3:15, a promise was made that one born of woman would come and break the hold of the evil one on this earth. That is the first promise of the Messiah. The first promise of the Savior. 

     There are many other passages in the Old Testament that speak of the one that God would send to redeem His people and bring help and hope into this world. Isaiah chapter 11 and Isaiah 53 are passages that speak of the Messiah coming to this world to make a difference. He would come and bring forgiveness of sins and light into the darkness. 

     Jesus came into this world as the one who was promised by God. In Jesus, the light has come into the world and the darkness has not overcome it. Jesus is the one who was promised, and He has brought to us the love of God. Through His life, death and resurrection, sin is defeated. He has brought help and hope to the human race. 

     Jesus brought help to us in our sin then, and He offers His help and light to us now. But, the world is not all that it is supposed to be yet. However, there is coming a day when Jesus will return. When He does, all that is opposed to God and the things of God will be done away. All will be well. 

     Right now living in a hard world we can take heart in the fact that help in on the way. Jesus is coming. Just as He came in the First Advent, He is coming again. We can live in hope and live in the light of His ever present love. Amen. 

Prayer Requests

     Please pray for me in regard to my health. I am having a hard time. 

     Remember to pray for peace in Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and Sudan.

     Let us keep praying for those recovering from the storms in Alaska, the Caribbean, the Philippines and Vietnam. 

     For our prayer focus countries, let us pray for those in the nations of Iran and Sierra Leone. Pray that many will come to know the Lord. 

     Next week, we will have another Advent message. I will post the verses on Tuesday and the next chapter of the book on Wednesday. May God bless you all. 

I Remember Thanksgiving

      If you have read the blog for any amount of time, you know that my best friend(I call him my eternal best friend) was a corgi dog named Toby. I believe that Jesus gave him to be my friend at a time that I needed a friend to help me stay in this world. 

     The two of us had a great life together. I call the years that we were together the golden years. They are the best years of my life. 

     Thanksgiving was our favorite holiday. Mainly I think because it was a time for delicious food. We were both big eaters who loved any opportunity for a large meal. Thanksgiving was that time. This was especially true on the occasions when my grandma stayed with us. She made excellent pies in abundance. 

     My Mom was a great cook. Her turkeys were always made to perfection. We also always had stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, sweet potatoes, corn and dinner rolls. We also had cranberry sauce out of the can because that was something my Dad really liked. 

      I ate a lot on Thanksgiving. Toby had his fair share too. We always gave him some turkey because he loved it. It was OK for his stomach which had issues. He also had some of his favorite thing in the world which was green beans. He liked that better than anything. I've never known a dog who was such a fan of green beans. He also had one dinner roll. 

     After the meal, we would all watch the football game with the Detroit Lions. I was a big Lions fan because I first saw them play when I was in the hospital as a small boy. They brought me some joy on a bad day, and I've always been a fan. One day they will reach the Super Bowl. Maybe even during my lifetime. 

     As I said, Toby and myself needed a lot to eat, so we would also have supper. The folks said they didn't know how we could eat anymore, but we did. More turkey and whatever else was left. 

     On Thanksgiving night, I would go outside with Toby and we would enjoy the cool evenings. Sometimes it was really cold. We liked to look at the stars, and I liked to imagine that the two of us were on a distant planet living there with no one else around who would be mean to us. 

     Thank you Lord for those wonderful days. 

Toby -- The Story of My Friend -- Chapter 13

 Chapter 13

     Allegri's Miserere is one of the finest examples of choral music known in the Western world.  When the composer Mozart first heard the piece performed in the Vatican, he was so impressed and moved by its brilliance that when he arrived back home, he wrote out the complete composition from memory.  If anyone listens to this piece, I believe that they will be impressed.  It is all well and good for people to appreciate the wonders of Allegri, but when Toby showed his appreciation for Allegri, I was intrigued.
     One July afternoon, when it seemed like I'd left no task undone, I sat down to relax and take in some good choral music from a recently purchased compact disc.  Toby appeared quite content to listen to the selections from Bach, Handel and Palestrina.  But when the selection from Allegri began to play, Toby raised his head and looked at the CD player with rapt attention.  He really enjoyed the vocal beauty of this timeless work.
     Immediately, when the singers began, Toby's ears pricked up and turned to capture a superior acoustical tone.  As the soprano voices raised on high, Toby's head cocked slightly as if in contemplation of the words.  Toby put his head back down, closed his eyes and went to sleep when the next selection from Mozart began.
     I am a great fan of classical music, but I enjoy other types of music as well.  I love jazz almost as much as classical music.  Whereas Toby shared my appreciation of classical music, he did not like most jazz.
    When most of the jazz I listened to came through the speakers, Toby would go into the other room, which is about the only time he wasn't where I was at.  The only type of jazz Toby seemed to like was smooth jazz.
    Another type of music that Toby expressed his displeasure with was contemporary Christian music.  He always stayed in the room while it was on, but I'd hear him moan once in while as if he thought it was horrible.  He liked hymns though.  He didn't moan when they were on.
    Well, no two creatures like all of the same things.  I was glad that Toby liked to listen to classical music with me.  You can't complain when a dog likes classical music.
     One thing Toby also liked was to listen while I played the tin whistle.  In addition to classical and jazz, I also enjoy Celtic music.  I taught myself how to play the tin whistle so that I could play some tunes.  Toby liked to sit and watch me while I played the whistle.  I think that the ancient Celtic blood of the Welsh was stirred in him when he listened to the tin whistle.
     The two of us had many good times listening to music.  On many afternoons, we would relax in the back room or out on the patio and listen to my favorites from Barber, Rachmaninoff, Ives, Copeland and Faure.  There aren't too many things better in this life than listening to great music with a grand friend.

Verses For The Week

 Colossians 4:2 -- "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."

Psalm 107:21 -- "Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind."

Weekend Sermon -- "Blessed, Grateful, and Thankful"

      Thanks for stopping by to read the sermon this week. I am grateful for the continued opportunity to post these messages, and I hope that you are all doing well. 

     In the United States, the Thanksgiving holiday will be here next week. This week is the last chance that I will get to post a message on that theme before the holiday is upon us. 

     Thanksgiving was a really important holiday for me and my friend Toby. It was our favorite day of the year. My Mom always made a great Thanksgiving dinner, and both of us ate way, way too much. What strikes me here in the US is that Thanksgiving is getting by-passed now with a big emphasis on Halloween and then people go straight into Christmas. I think we are missing something that should be a lot more important. 

      This time of year here in the US, and other days if you live elsewhere, are important times to stop and reflect on all of the blessings of the Lord. James 1:17 tells us, "Every good and perfect gift is from above." We have all been very blessed in our lives. I know that I have. The Lord has given me good things to eat, a place to live, a job and I was certainly blessed with good parents and a great friend like my friend Toby. We have also been given great blessings spiritually by the Lord. He has given us His Son the Lord Jesus to be our Savior. We are redeemed, and the Lord has prepared a place for us with Him in Heaven so that those who are in Christ can look forward to always being with the Lord. 

     Because of the blessings of the Lord, I am thankful for what He has done for me. I believe that we need to make it a habit of expressing our thanks to the Lord for the good things that He has done. When the Lord hears and answers our prayers, we need to say thank you and not just let it go by. I think we need to continually give thanks to the Lord for taking away our sins and being ever present with us as we make our way through this life. 

     In addition to being blessed and thankful, I want to be grateful. To me, being grateful is a little bit different than being thankful. Gratefulness is like a lifestyle. You realize how blessed you are and you live in a sense of continuing thanksgiving for all that you have been blessed with. 

     I hope that during this coming week whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving or not that you will take time to really count your blessings. Thank the Lord for all that He has done for you and provided for you. Then live in gratefulness for what God has done and for what He has provided. Amen

Prayer Requests

     Please pray for me regarding my health. I am having really bad issues right now. Please pray that I can get well again. 

     Pray for those affected by the storms. Pray that those in Philippines, Vietnam, Alaska, and the Caribbean will get the aid and help that they need. I am glad that group here where I live has gone down to help in Jamaica

     Keep praying for peace. Sudan really needs our prayers. Pray that peace holds in Israel and Gaza. Please keep praying for peace in Ukraine.

     For our prayer focus countries, let us pray for those in the nations of Benin and Jordan. Pray that many will come to know Jesus. 

    Next week, I will probably start posting messages for the Advent season. I will post the verses on Tuesday, and I will post the next chapter in the book on Wednesday. May God bless you all. 

Toby -- The Story Of My Friend -- Chapter 12

 Chapter 12

Although some might not think of this as an unusual behavior, Toby was a dog who liked a routine.  This was certainly true when it came to taking his medicine in the morning.  As I said early, Toby had to take medication every day of his life because of his ulcerative colitis and other ailments.  Each morning, we would put his pills in a cheese ball.  He loved cheese and would gobble his cheese and pills right down.  However, he wanted his cheese ball placed in a certain place.  Toby would not eat his cheese ball if you placed it in his food dish.  You had to put the cheese ball outside of the dish, or he wouldn't eat it.  He also wouldn't take the cheese ball out of your hand.  He wanted the cheese ball placed on the floor.  I don't know why.
    Another quirky behavior that Toby had was his reaction to the phrase, "It's coming".  One day we were watching a movie on television and someone on screen said, "It's coming."  Toby bolted awake and started barking his head off.  He did the same thing later in the movie.  I could set Toby off barking anytime by saying these two words.  I don't know what "it" was, but Toby didn't like it especially when it was coming.
    One of the other things I got a kick out of was Toby's funny noise that he would make.  Toby could make a noise in his throat that was like a yodel and bark and a tongue roll at the same time.  It was loud, too.  He'd only make this sound if you asked him a question.  It was like he could understand exactly what we were saying.  One time, Dad was talking to some people about the county commissioner candidates.  I said to Toby, "You don't think that guy would be any good do you?"  Toby looked at me and made his crazy noise and everybody cracked up.  Toby was right.  That candidate won, and he was a lousy commissioner.
    The two other behaviors I want to mention in this chapter involve food.  At least two Sundays a month, Mom would make her delicious chicken and noodles for dinner. She had a special pot she used just for making chicken and noodles and vegetable soup.  When she would get the pot out to make vegetable soup, Toby didn't even notice.  But on the days when Mom was making chicken and noodles he would race into the kitchen and stare up at the pot waiting for some of the chicken Mom always gave him.  How he knew it was time for noodles and not vegetable soup, I don't know.  My Mom would say to Toby, "Toby, there's no use waiting there, the chicken won't be ready for awhile so just go away."  Toby would go and do something else, but the minute that that chicken was ready, he was back waiting.  Toby loved chicken more than any other food in the world.
     Toby also knew each morning when breakfast was ready.  He would wake me up for breakfast just as Mom was done fixing everything.  I have to give my Mom credit.  Even though she worked every day, she always got up and made everyone a nice breakfast.  She was an outstanding cook and a wonderful person.  Well, Toby wouldn't let anyone in my room when I was asleep, so I was glad that he was looking out for me so that I got my breakfast in the morning.  This is the only time he got me up when I was asleep is when breakfast was ready.  If Toby had to go out to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he would go into my parents room and get one of them up to take him out.  My Mom told him to get me up to take him out many times, but he wouldn't do it.