Thursday, December 29,
2011
Dear Family and Friends, our pastor started a series on Story tellers this morning - The Gospel writers. He challenged us to share our stories with other. Those of you who knew Kermit, Know that he was a storyteller. As I started to look for a blog this morning - this was the first to come up! Be blessed! These posts now number about 1400, including this year.
“He
hath sent us to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound - and to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God and finally to
comfort all that mourn.” (Isaiah 61:1 NASB)
I have said it before and
I say it again, we have been truly blessed to have been used by God to send out
Gramps Morning Thoughts – 395 of them. But I sense it is time to stop, at
least for a season. We are packing the car preparing to head to
Bartlesville, once again, where we will work \volunteer at the Voice of Martyrs
ministry for at least three weeks and
then off to Kansas for a month or so with family.
The work at VOM is hard
for folks who are older than dirt and we probably should spend more time in a
rocking chair, but we thoroughly enjoy being with the people and knowing that
each piece of mail that we touch is an opportunity to send a blessing along to
a persecuted Christian someplace in this world. And the neat part of the
hard work -God gives us the strength to put in eight hours of hard labor
five days a week!
As I write this final message,
my bride is out (you might have guessed it) volunteering her services at a
local ministry. I do not know how many hours we have spent in such
services this year, but, we have driven over 4500 miles in getting to and from
projects and will surpass the 5000 mile mark before the year turns.
Luke 6:38 has been our
guide and the foundation of all that we have tried to do with our lives.
Luke wrote, “Give, and
It will be given to you”. Wow, I like that Lord! You mean I have
something to say about the blessings I will receive? I believe that is
what He is saying; “They, (the blessings) will pour
into your lap a good measure- pressed down, shaken together, and running over”.
Now notice these final words of this text, “FOR BY YOUR STANDARD OF MEASURE
IT WILL BE MEASURED TO YOU IN RETURN.” Does that not deserve a double Wow?!
The rock on which we have
tried to build our lives has been based on Paul’s words in Galatians where Paul
warned: “We will reap what we sow in our lives!” (Gal 6:7) Matthew adds
to this in the parable of the sower: he tells us we will reap more than we sow,
and it makes a difference where and how we sow. (Matt. 13:3-9)
Returning to Paul for the
fringe package that goes with ‘Seed Planting’, “Now this I say, he who sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully.” Now, notice the power part of this verse: “Each must
do as he has purposed in his heart not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God
loves a cheerful giver”.
Do you want grace
to abound in your life? Do you want to have all sufficiency in your
life? Do you want to have ‘abundance’? Then know, “He
who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your
seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2
Cor. 9:6-11).
Soooo, my good buckaroos,
my prayer for you - that you, too, will be a “seed planter”, and that you
will have a hunger and thirst for His Word and be a sacrificial giver to those
who are not as fortunate as you are and need to see God’s love and plan of salvation
through you. For those reading this who might not know Jesus as Savior, we
pray that you will read John 3:16, ask Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, and
seek out a friend or pastor who will help you grow.
Gramps
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