Lad and Dad Day

When I was a young preacher,  I was very hard, when preaching, on my fellow Christians.  I heard an elderly preacher say, "young preachers are like a pack of young hunting dogs, they will just bark at anything and bark because other young dogs are barking"   It is very humorous now, in my mid fifties and over 30 years of serving Him, but I still appreciate the zeal of a young preacher, and, I hope they will stay with God. (the god of this world can blind their eyes)

But as a young independent fundamental missionary minded preacher boy, I was hard on my fellow Christians and questioned their love and devotion in attendance and activities to the church. Of course that was when I was a young single man. Family and children changes things. Although many years later, I had a great realization in my life, if I missed a couple of Sundays or Wednesday nights, I still 50 other Sundays or Wednesday nights to attend.  And if I had members there, at church, 50 times a year it was alright. (especially these days)  :-)

I heard an evangelist say many years a go, that God first established the HOME, House of God, then human government.  And just in that order, first the home (family) House of God (worship & fellowship) Human government (rules & laws to live by)   And the devil attacks and is still attacking each one today!!  It is very sad to see the down fall of the home and house of God.  Also human gov but that's another blog post, someday.

So the lad and I will spend time to together this weekend.  Another model train weekend.  We will pray and we will play.  Or execute the proper train load and composition of freight cars in the era of our models.  :-)   (maybe he will remember the good times)

But dear friend, the bible seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, Acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

God Bless you,

RevDanSam

(song, I'd rather have Jesus)

How to draw all men

  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. John 12:32

I am amused and interested in the things in which today's modern church will do to bring the lost in to the church.  So Pastors are numbers men, they are always wanting and going for the large numbers.  And I understand their argument for doing it.   The more you get, is the more you win.  And some will say this is what Jesus did, then use the numbers from the Feeding of the 5000, to back it up. 

Some are into name changing.  You don't call it church, you call it a Family Center. you don't call it Sunday school, you call it Bible study or small groups.  And you definitely don't mention denomination such as Baptist or Methodist.   And I want to say, that I am not throwing rocks here, just making a friendly observation.  We should be laborers together with Him.  :-)

But if you use secular ideas to draw them, then you will have to use secular ideas to keep them.  If you use entertainment to draw them, you will have to use entertainment to keep them.  If you use music to draw them, then you will need music to keep them.  And so-on and so-forth . . .

Jesus used healing, helping and happiness of truth to gain His multitudes. Those who were healed and many of their family members followed Him.  Those who were helped and their family members followed Him.  Those who were so happy about His great and loving truth that He taught followed Him.  His miracles, mission and message is what He used in that day.

In my half century life, of which 37 years was spent serving and following Him, I still think the cross will work, the cross will still draw men.  It touched many hearts and will continue to touch hearts.  The gospel is the net and can still be used today.  If we lift Him up to the world see a loving sacrificial savior, then He will draw all men. If you use the cross to draw them, then the cross with keep them. 

So let us be laborers together and work for Him.  Followers of Christ make followers of Christ.  Go ye into ALL the world.   If each one could reach one.  The church would double tomorrow.

But dear friend, if you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, you need to do so today.  Now is the accepted time, for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever shall believes in Him shall not perished but have eternal life.

God Bless you,

RevDanSam

Something I will never forget

1985 was an interesting year in my life.  I was on Bible College at night, preaching on our local radio station on Sundays and very active in my home church, while holding a 40 hour a week job at an electronics company.  Our church had a grown to a 300 member church and my Pastor wanted to take us to another level spiritually.  "Campmeeting"  Some churches and Pastors had met in the North Atlanta area had gotten together to form a large co-operative choir and booked local pastors and evangelist.  The newness was great.  The worship in singing, shouting and sharing was great.

The church where we had the actual meeting was in Norcross Georgia.  It was a little less than one mile from my office where I worked.  And for a week and half I was able to take my lunch hour during  the day services, for we had day and night services.  And I was able to experience that each day at lunch time, something that I would never forget.

There was a sweetness about those morning services.  Some days I would come in and there was hard preaching going on and another time I came in there was testifying and worshipping going on in the services. Like I said before, just another level of spiritual worship.  For we had revivals, and they were good, we had mission conferences and they were good.  But the camp meeting worship was another level.

I met people that year that have been friends for life since that time and now I still worship with them.  That meeting in 1985 ran it's course and a couple of years later we had our own camp meeting which became an annual event for us and many years to come.  But I will never forget that year that I got to go to church, that is, go to camp meeting during my lunch time.

But dear friend, God may be speaking to you.  Do you hear Him while He is calling you?? Accepting Him today, in you heart, will be a something that you will never forget.  Call on Him today, trust in the Lord with ALL your heart, for whosoever shall call on the name of Lord shall be saved.

God Bless you and have a great day,

RevDanSam

What a connection

A few years ago, I had an opportunity to conduct a prayer service at an assisted living home for the elderly.  It was nothing new to me for I have been there and done that before.  The first place that I was called to was a local convalescent home in my home town. There was only one at that time and now there are several in the area.  This was a new one and they wanted a mid-week service.  So Kathy and I went, she played the piano and I led singing and preached. (preaching, praying, singing, shouting)  :-) 

One couple that was there heard me talk about my first bible.  It was given to me from one of my Mother’s co-worker, Mrs. Whittmire.   A red cover bible and she put my name in it and the date that she gave it to me in 1973.  Also, she wrote on the cover Proverbs 3:6.  Hand written Beautifully,  she wrote out the whole verse.  Proverbs 3:5-6 would become my Life’s verse and would be the first verses that I taught my son.

But, this couple whom I was preaching to was friends with my Mom’s co-worker, and had known her for very long time.  And it was no surprise to them and he shared with me how she was a dear Christian friend and lady.  It was like her good works came full a circle for me.   What a connection!!

I think about this and it puts a smile on my face.  Who but God could make a connection like that?  Perhaps God allowed it for me or maybe to show me that approved what I was doing.  That bible was given to me in 1973, I met that couple in 2009, some forty-six year later that that gift kept on giving. WOW !!

But my friend, Jesus gave his life for you, that you might have life, eternal life, in eternity. First, you have to be saved, born again, accept Jesus Christ in to your heart and ask forgiveness of sins.  Trust in the Lord with all your Heart.  And “ In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct they path”.  That verse was given to me in a bible and I give it now to you. P-R-A-I-S-E   T-H-E   L-O-RD !!

God bless you,

RevDanSam

Unexpected Hand

Isaiah 59:1

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened at all, that it cannot save, nor His ear dull with deafness, that it cannot hear.

In my last blog post, I talked about my son holding my hand to have prayer time, of which was an unexpected blessing, see “ train up a child” blog.  But a similar thing happened many years ago when he was a very young child.  We were out in a field flying a kite.  Then when we were done we started to walk home across the field.  The grass was a little high, not for me, but it was for him.  And as we walked through the grass I felt him grabbed my hand.  For he needed me to help him walk through the roughness of the grass.  He didn’t say anything; he just grabbed hold of my hand.  It was unexpected but I was glad to help him and it felt good.

On the day that  he re-started his prayer time with me and grabbed my hand for prayer it was unexpected and a blessing, but as I thought about this at work God moved and touched my heart. I work in a shared office where I am in one corner and my co-worker is in the other.  He’s on the phone and I’m on the phone.  But as I thought about my son, I thought about our Heavenly Father. And I wanted Him to hold my hand as I prayed that morning. So I held out my hand to Him and a tear came to my eye. I prayed and called on His name.

Perhaps it was unexpected, but nothing ever surprises God.  And there in the quietness of my shared office I wanted to hold the Lord’s hand as I prayed. And His hand is not short at ALL. Nor is His ear dull with deafness.  And I say praise the Lord and rejoice and do rejoice in Him.

But dear friend, GOD wants you to reach out to HIM.  HE IS THERE. He said call unto me and I will show you great and mighty things, which you don’t know about.  Most of all, He wants you to call on Him for salvation, to be saved, to be born again. He wants you to become a Christian, His child. For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and He shall direct your path.

God Bless you,

RevDanSam

Train up a Child

 

The Bible says our children are our heritage. Many times, they are a blessing or a burden to us.  We have a tendency to say that’s my boy, when they do good and / or say look what YOUR boy done when they do something wrong.  Well, this time, I would like to write is when my son was a blessing. 

For many years, I took my son to school every Monday morning, as I had Mondays off and I worked a four day work week Tuesday through Friday.  So we would climb into my Ford F150 pickup and we would have prayer time while the truck warmed up and before we started out.  I know we did this every week and every year that he was in high school.  I was really inspired to do this from one of our church friends, that said at one of our testimony meetings, that she would have prayer with her daughter in the living room before she carried her daughter to school.  So it was a “my thing” with my son and we would have prayer time and quote a bible verse.  John 3:16, prov3:5-6. John14;6 …etc just to name few verses that I had him to quote and he still knows them today.

Well, my son graduated high school and started an internship with the Siemens corp. in Atlanta, Project Life.  My job changed and I started working Monday through Friday, with the hours of 9-6.  So I am with him in the mornings.  After my wife leaves for work, I check my emails and Twitter account on the computer.  On one particular morning, while I was on the computer, my son grabbed my hand and said Dad let’s have prayer time.  WOW, it took me off guard, I wasn’t expecting it, but he wanted to pray before he started his day. And I thought, well praise the good Lord’s name. The bible says train up a child and he shall NOT depart from his ways.  Boy, did I see that verse become true in our lives.

But dear friend, verses in the bible about salvation are true, you must be born again. You must call on the name of the Lord.  For whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  Why don’t you call on Him today? 

God Bless you,

RevDanSam