Happy Anniversary!

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Today is an important day in our family.  Today is my Grandparents anniversary.  They are both living in Heaven now.  I miss them so badly that I cannot begin to tell you how much.  I would love to sit with my Grandpa and tell him how I am the Pastor of a Church now.  He would be so proud I am sure.  I would love to sit down with my Grandma and learn how she makes her tomato gravy.  I crave it sometimes this time of year when the tomatoes are fresh from the garden.

Today is important because it is my cousin’s anniversary also.  Buddy and Marlene were married on this date twenty-one (21) years ago.  They picked this date in honor of our Grandparents.  I am glad because the day still holds great reason for celebration.

As I sit here remembering years gone by and events long past my mind moves to the Word of God in Proverbs 10:7, “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.”  As I sit here musing on the just ones of my family it makes my heart smile thinking about the godly heritage I am blessed with.  I only hope one day that I can leave a legacy like these who have gone on before us.

So, how are you doing?

Rest

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Dear faithful readers,

I want to thank you for reading my daily blog posts.  I do appreciate your reading and following my daily posts.  Due to the ministry that God has given to me I am going to take some time off from writing this daily blog.  As I am away I will be reevaluating where my time is best spent for the LORD.  The ministry is a rewarding and fulfilling activity and it requires much more than people realize.  In order to better minister to the Church family our LORD has blessed me to lead  I am going to take a break from the writing ministry.  It is my plan to return at the end of the month if God so desires.  He is in control of my life and so I yield this writing ministry to Him.

Thank you and may God richly bless you and your family,

Pastor David Dale

God’s Mercy and Compassion

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It is sad to watch our nation go from drifting away from God to now running away from God.  You see on television that the city of Detroit is putting up a statute of satan.  Planned Parenthood is selling human body parts taken from aborted children.  It is horrible!  Yet, America still exists.  This is a miracle!  God’s judgement is sure to come crashing down upon America.

People laugh and even scoff at the idea.  People live like there is no God.  There is coming a day in the not so distant future that they will scoff no longer.  It is by the mercy of God that we have not been destroyed as of yet.  Look at what king Solomon said in Lamentations 3:22-23, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

Rest assured that one day God will judge America for her sins.  I am sorry that I can be named in the list of those who have sinned against Holy God; but, I am.  Now, all we can do is beg God for forgiveness and turn away from our sin and seek Him.

So, how are you doing?

License

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I was thinking about licenses the other evening.  We have seen some serious Church bus crashes in the recent past and I usually wonder if the driver had the proper license to operate the bus and a multitude of other things that I think about.  Sometimes my background haunts me.

As I was talking with a friend on the phone last night we were talking about his wife.  He said the other day a fly got into the torch lamp and burned up.  It caused a horrible smell of burning.  His sweet wife was concerned for their welfare.  She insisted they sleep on the sofa because there is access out of the house by three different doors.  She placed her cell phone, keys and their marriage license on the table close to them in case of an emergency exit.

My friend was looking at their marriage license and noticed that the city and county were the same indicating there is an error in the city.  He told his wife that their license was void and he was a free man because their license was invalid due to this error.  We had a good laugh.  He also told me that he not only did he have a marriage license; but, he also possesses a “Pestering Permit”.  We had a good laugh over this.

Here is the thing.  God created man and woman to live together and perpetuate humanity.  Look at Genesis 2:18, “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”  Now, God did not intend for man and woman to just co-exist.  I believe that God intended the marriage relationship to mirror the relationship of Jesus and His Church.  So, I also believe that our relationship with our spouse should be one that is modeled after Christ and the Church.  There should be joy, gladness, happiness and many other emotions.  Yes, there will be trials, temptations and troubles.  These make us stronger and should drive us closer to one another.  If this does not describe your marriage relationship you are sadly missing out.

So, how are you doing?

Dwell Together

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You and I all know that there are people in life that we would rather just run away from.  People that we just do not want to be around.  Then there are those other people.  These people are fun to be around.  They encourage you.  When you leave these people you seem to have a void in your life.

I am blessed to have some people like that in my life.  Yes, I have them on both sides of this fence.  There are people that I would love to run from like I was being chased by wild animal.  There are yet others that I would pay money (if I had any) to spend time with.

I remember seeing a post on social media the other day about a boy that was talking with his father.  He was asking the father some questions that seemed very personal to the father.  Finally, the father scolded the child and sent him to bed.

After a while the father felt bad for his actions.  He went to his son to apologize for his actions and attitude.  When he took the time to listen to his son he learned that the boy had been saving money to pay hid father’s salary for one hour so that his father would spend that one hour with him.  The father broke in sorrow.

Look at Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”  Far too many times we cannot have unity.  This is elusive as the legendary snipe.  There is benefit when people “dwell together”.  We can encourage one another to say the least.

The problem is that there are too many opposing forces against unity.  These things, people, circumstances, etc… work hard against unity.  The truth is that if we were united we could accomplish so much more.  This is the problem.  The enemy knows that if we bind together with Jesus and other Christians that we will be an unstoppable unit.  So, he fights against it as hard as he can.  It is time to restore Bible unity.

So, how are you doing?

The Love of God 5

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John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

God’s love is extravagant.  Notice he says, “that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  There have been a couple times in the recent past that my wife or I have received something free because of the “pay it forward” movement.  I like the concept and I try occasionally to do that because I have been very blessed with others helping me.

As I think about the love of God there are many words that come to mind.  One word is extravagant.  That means unrestrained, especially in regard to feelings.  When I think about how extravagant God love is there is one verse that comes to mind.  That verse is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

That is extravagant love.  That is love that motivates.  Our love should motivate us to serve God.  Even more so His love for us should motivate us to serve Him.  Jesus gave all for us so the least we can do for Him is to give Him our all.

So, how are you doing?

 

The Love of God 4

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John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

God’s love is exemplary.  John tells us in the next phrase “than this”.  He is sharing with us the example of God’s love in Jesus Christ.  He is telling us that it is exemplary.  That means that it is worthy of imitation and it is an illustration for us to follow.

Look at what Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:14, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:”  The love of God is our example and it compels us to do things.

What has love motivated you or I to do?  It might do us well to take an inventory and see if we have lost our love for what God has given us love for.

So, how are you doing?

The Love of God 3

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John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

God’s love is exceeding.  He says, “hath no man”.   There is a saying circulating social media that says, “Only two men have died for you.  Jesus Christ and the American soldier.”  Being patriotic I like this saying.

As I was thinking about God’s great love and how His love is exceeding, I thought about David and Jonathan.  Look at what David said as he lamented in II Samuel 1:26, “I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.”

The love we have here on earth can be deep love; but, there is no love that is like the love of God.  God’s love far exceeds the love of any man, woman, boy or girl.  God’s love is exceeding love.

So, how are you doing?

The Love of God 2

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John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

God’s love is extending.  the word “love” is the Greek word “agape” and it means affection or benevolence (Strong’s Concordance).

God’s love is extending to anyone and everyone and everyone.  The problem is that some reject God’s love.  There are many reason why people do this.  I think if people really understood the love God has for them they would respond differently.

I like the words of Ephesians 3:19, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”  God’s love surpasses our finite knowledge.  We cannot fully understand the love of God.  It is impossible.  One day when we receive our glorified bodies then we will understand it all.  Until then we take it by faith because we have God’s Word on it.

One day when we arrive in Heaven we will know perfectly the love of God.  We will finally understand it fully.  Until then we take Him at His Word.  He loves you supremely!

So, how are you doing?

The Love of God

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I was thinking the other day about the love of God.  As I was thinking some thoughts came to me so I wrote them down.  I am going to take the next few days and share them with you.

John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

I want to look at the truth that God’s love is exceptional.  The first word of our verse is “Greater”.  The word “Greater” means larger (figuratively, specially, in age).  taken from the Strong’s Concordance.

So, John is trying to tell us that God has loved us for a long time.  In eternity past God looked down through time and saw that human beings would need a Saviour.  He saw our sin problem.

As He looked at us He knew that He would have to provide that payment for our sin.  That is where Jesus steps in and goes to the cross and dies as the Sinless Lamb of God.  His sacrifice paid the debt of sin for each person who will receive Him as their Saviour.

I chose the word “exceptional” for a reason.  It means far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree, surpassing what is common, usual or expected (taken from the Word Web dictionary).  It took just exactly this.  It took someone who was sinless and perfect.  Only Jesus could pay that sin.
So, how are you doing?