Good Morning Everyone from Hawaii to all points of the world.
First of all Happy New Year, to everyone! I must say myself and my small family of believers decided, even with all the problems and negativity surrounding our lives, we are determined to start the new year every day with a fresh, and positive outlook on life, thinking that perhaps that is the only thing God might be asking of us! It could be that simple. So maybe, all of us could try that attitude this year, meaning just to try a little harder, that’s all. Also, with a little more love in our hearts. After all, that is Gods main objective for the human race. To love one another, sincerely. This should be not just a New Years resolution, but a way of everyday life, or as actors rehearsing in the theater would say, O.K., one more time, with more emotion, or to us one more time, with more love and love is one of the ten pure emotions existing. God only wants love and kindness in our hearts and everything will follow through naturally with positive thoughts.
Dear Heavenly Father, We come to you this morning asking peace. This week has been so hard on this Church. We have gone through so much. Dear Lord, please bring us to the mountain top. Please cast away all fear. Lord I have such incredible pain and I cannot do too much of anything. I do not know if I will be able to post this sermon. Everyone seems to have some ailment and I of course can not even sit up and type. Father I feel I cannot or will not be able to write this sermon. Father I need your strength. I am very scared. You see a Preacher for a Church should not be scared, but I am, I still live in the flesh and I am in massive pain. The pain is so great I can barely make it to the bathroom. I am trying to keep my mind clear, but now is the time I need You the most. Father we have to worship You, we want to worship you. I am on the couch and I cannot move, help me Lord! Lord, help all of us that are suffering. We wanted to start this New Year with blessings and praise in Your name for all the goodness that has happened this year so far. We all know the devil is behind all of this. Father, please heal our friends and staff so we can put this worship service together. Father, bring us the outside part of our family to help us because I cannot do this on my own.
I am so alone and helpless and I have no one that is close at this particular time that can help me with this sermon. Only I right now can do it. I need your strength and spirit to please forgive me of all of my sins. Please guide me in the next step to our opening prayer. We are gathered here today to worship you. We are here to worship you in spirit and in the truth. Lord, please bring upon Your Holy Spirit to me and to us all to capture the glimpse of Heaven and to feel the anointing of our Lord Jesus. Please Father, we even though I am very sick please Lord help us to complete it. This gathering is for so many others.
We are pouring are hearts out to you Father, we are in tears, we need your help, we all need forgiveness and we all need to repent and we all need to get rid of every flashy attitude of and worship and rely totally on you in full trust. In Jesus Name. Amen
Back in those days the Pharisees considered wealth the proof of a person’s righteousness. The Jesus tells this story of a diseased egger is rewarded is Heaven and a rich man will be punished, and they judge themselves accordingly.
That is the way so much is today people judge your appearance but we know God judges the heart. Most people of today to count on their possessions and accomplishments. I feel at times I myself am treated like the diseased beggar and at other times like a simple pastor. The point of why the rich man went to hell is because he did not care for him, or feed him, or even take him into his home. Lazarus was too weak to do anything and this is the way I feel right now. I am so weak and cannot do anything, yet there are people out there that know how sick I am, not our staff of course, but some of the doctors have been like angels, which took days of deep prayers to God to have these current Doctors. My neighbors do not know how sick I really am and what I have to go through just to make it through the day.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” Luke 16:19-31
Welcome to our 57th Church Service at The Church Ministries.
This past week has been a nightmare for me. As you know my medical condition has been very poor. You all know that has been ever so mystifying. As you all know I have had my face blow up on me on Nov. 13th 03 and I have gone through the mill of doctors with no answers. I have lost all my strength because of not eating correctly and the pain in my mouth has been unexplainable. As you all know I have put in the beginnings of my sermons a medical update. It is very hard for me to write and very hard to think through this last week. Monday I prayed and talked over the medications with my Angel Doctor, which I prayed for in the one Church downtown. We both prayed over changing me back to the medication I had in the beginning. God was definitely with us. We prayed at our last appointment and nothing seemed to happen. So I just continued on with the same medication. This Monday when we prayed she said God made you not allergic to them anymore. I said that is good. I do not know what I will be like after surgery. Thank God because he is helping me even now. Praise The Lord!
That Monday, my travel arrangements were supposed to be set up by the insurance company on the 3rd for the biggest appointment of my life to see the Doctor that knows all about TM. They did not have my travel arrangements ready so the secretary got on the phone and got on them more than I could ever do, I am not the type of man that speaks very loud or abrupt. She did get the job done. I figured my chances to go to Honolulu were very dim on top of it all my case worker was out sick and she said she would have everything ready, but there was not anything ready. About 4:30 the secretary called and said all the arrangements were made. Flight plans and taxi cabs all numbered and to the letter. I was amazed. Then I had to go home and get all my stuff ready to go and take this trip. The timing was forever running. I drove myself to the airport. I got on the plane got a window seat and we were on our way. All I had to do was call the cabs phone number and give a voucher number.
I got to the Queens towers building where all the best Doctors have there offices. I went in to see my Doctor I had been waiting to see for six months and I finally get in to see him. I sat down with him and he told me I had two things wrong in my brain then we went over the history of this pain in my mouth, and what the radiologists found in Mechals Cave was no TN. Praise God I do not need brain surgery. The two items that were wrong come in pairs and years ago they did brain surgery on these items, but not now. The worst news was that he had no diagnosis for me and suggested that if it were he, he would go to the mainland and seek out some University and talk to as many people as possible. I have not yet told this to my case workers and do not know what they will do for me next. This is really unbelievable! Please pray for a Doctor to come into my life that can help me. It is in the hands of the Lord.
The surgery the next day, a double hernia operation went very well. I was in very good hands. My surgeon is top notch, but the surgery, of course, is why I am in so much pain and worry. They had me come in as an out patient. One day surgery and then back to the doctor two days later to check the bandages which are just fine. He said I am doing just fine. The bad thing is that I may be on this couch for six weeks. The pain is bad. Then I have to find out what is really wrong with my mouth.
The rich man did not think about the poor diseased man, even though he had great wealth to share, he had an abundance. To take care of Lazarus would be no major loss of any of his wealth as people say today it would have been a drop in the bucket. It is like the story of Kamei who sits on the same street on a bench everyday (*see salvation page*) his beard and hair is longer and his nails are long and he wears the same clothes everyday. And everyone would drive by the man and not do one thing for the man, I would figure there was a few, I have been seeing him sit on that bench for almost two years, without anyone giving him a chance or a home. And he is a very nice man, I wonder about this world. Many times when I went into the local store I brought him out a gift. The thing is everyone sees him, and it seems know one helps the poor man, and when I had strength and money I always went over and sat with him, .and you know when I drove away I cried my eyes out. Now I do not get around much anymore. I have been trapped generally alone, and I do not come out for days at a time. I even had some fruit cakes to give to the neighbors and I never had the strength to give them away.
You know for a pastor I cry a lot almost everyday. I am sensitive to all the things going on all around me, news, weather, Christianity etc. The loneliness and pain is bad enough and it is the future that bothers me, for everyone.
Lord, please help others realize that their money and possessions can help people and might grant then into heaven if they are born again and believe in the Lord Jesus. Remember it is a gift of grace that saves us not by works. (Eph. 2:8-9)
Selfish refusing to feed the man, hard hearted. You see it getting worse and worse on the streets. Even when I worked s a stateside Missionary, I saw a lot of things in my day. The rich man just wanted to sit in his money. Like many people today older people do not want to sit on there money. If they do not they just forget all about God and his discipline (Heb12:11-13) and not think about anything else. Do not you know that when you utilize your money for a good cause God rewards you.
Even many decades ago I worked in a particular mission, and we had this dinner to raise money to continue to feed the poor. As the night passed they were explaining to everyone how the walk- ins were stocked and that we needed donations to keep the kitchen stocked. Little did anyone know I stood there in shame I was one of the cooks, and the thing about it was I wanted to stand up that evening and say very politely. Excuse me ladies and gentleman that I am one of the cooks and meal planners; I do not have one egg in the entire kitchen.
I thought about it at the time I did not want to be part of the deception. I was hoping some of the donations and money would go to the mission for food, and for the next week or so nothing changed and people would come into the mission and ask me how should I donate with money or food? I told them straight out, food would be the best; at least I could feed these hungry people with something. I know things might have changed, but I could no longer work there. I loved my work and I was very close to getting up there to preach and to tell you the truth it was one of the happiest times of my life except for the deception. Money back then meant nothing to me and I was so pleased to have that relationship with God, I would get chills when good things happened, like small anointings that could never be replaced except maybe 25 years later handing out food and packing and storing, I received so many anointings from the power of God. Tears of joy would run down my face almost as if the spirit of God was right upon me
Dear Heavenly Father This is the hardest thing I ever had to do; Father please let this sermon bring a smile to your face. I am just a man and I can only do so much. Father you know how injured I am and how I have to watch for infection and eat and take my vitamins and take the milk of magnesia and how I cannot walk around and do things. Father this might be in prideful thing this church to a point or even something along that nature, please help me finish this sermon Lord, without hurting myself or causing more damage to myself. I am as comfortable as possible and I am regulating my meds the best I can despite the pain. I just wanted to express myself to you. As I said before I feel as if I am the beggar Lazarus and the only comfort I have is the wild cats that come by to see me, they do not lick me in the face but just knowing they are their and healthy is a great blessing. Father as one of your children you know from my heart that I truly love You and I do not want to hurt anymore. I thank You for the last doctor, God please take this loneness and hardship away from me. Please enlighten all the others who do not know me we all love You Lord we all love Jesus. Please grant us one gift Father eternal fellowship with You and Your Son, Father who ever reads this sermon knows how hard it was to put this out, faith without works is dead. (James 2:19) I can’t leave my people without a closing prayer. All of the staff knows I am talking about everyone, last week we prayed for everyone for that multi - country earth quake, just like many of us are praying even now, I never wanted to sound like a pastor that just talked about himself, and I am sorry to for the whole church, forgive me, the pain is to great. In Jesus Name, Amen and Amen
The Parable of the Rich Fool
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 1Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13-21 NIV
