Jonah Series (pt.5): "Looking Back on Jonah" (Luke 11.29-32)

Sunday I preached "part five of my four part series on Jonah." Yes, I have an odd sense of humor. A couple of people in the congregation caught the jocularity of my statement. Maybe some who read this post will miss it until they go back. That is understandable.

Anyway, the ministry continues to be a major blessing. The Lord has been so good to me and my family. I have grown through this ministry experience. My heart has changed as well. More importantly, I notice a change in most of the people at the ministry. Obviously, I am more concerned with the growth of the people we are ministering to.

I am not putting in the sermon outline because I am hand writing my notes at this point. If anyone really wants the sermon outline, just email me and I will type them up. Otherwise, I will just offer this streaming or downloadable sermon.

Finally, I posted on Facebook (to be my FB friend look me up at facebook.com/pregador27) yesterday:

I am tired physically, but God is refreshing me this morning. Beginning a new message series at Emmanuel Ministries and "If I say, 'I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,' there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot." (Jeremiah 20.9 ESV)

Yes!!! Jeremiah's context was almost a frustration meeting a determination, mine is an excitement and a heart filled with gratitude. I am so thankful for the opportunity to minister at Emmanuel Ministries.

Sunday, I plan to preach on Philippians 1.1-2. It is developing nicely thus far. I am being personally enriched as I study. God is awesome!

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Streaming audio below:

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Emmanuel Ministries Thoughts... (1/3/2010)

I think that I will occasionally share some of my thoughts concerning ministry here at Emmanuel in Dade City, FL. They will not be a regular feature, at least I do not think they will be. The "thoughts" posts will be reflections that may include subjects for prayer or just anything that crosses my mind.

Today I was thinking about how little one particular family has at this time. They are a husband and wife with a young child. They are literally one parking ticket away from total homelessness. They live in a converted bus. Their generator was stolen during the early Summer and they have had no A/C in the Summer and now no heat in the Winter. Their son was removed by the Department of Children and Families- apparently due to their inability to furnish heat in the winter. These people are struggling mightily. Right now I know they are in the bus under a couple of blankets hoping that they will find a way out of this situation. Jonah chapter two was a good place for them to be this morning. They said so as well. They profess to be Christians and I have no reason to doubt their word.

The husband has some severe health problems and the wife is not in shape to work at this time- although she may have been trying to find work, honestly I do not remember the situation fully. They are trying to work through the system to get a home, but it has been fruitless thus far. They have little money for gas and look for places to stay that will not be trouble (parking the bus can be problematic at times).

Whatever the reasons for their situation, it is serious and heartbreaking. My dear wife gave the wife a sweatshirt and they were given some money to help (although it was a very small amount, as the ministry does not give cash out and most of the people there have little means to be helpful with money). I wished we could do more. You cannot work at a place like Emmanuel Ministries without finding new levels of caring and compassion.

At this point all we have left to do is to pray for them. Please, if the Lord leads you pray for the people who live in the bus. God knows their names and situation. My heart is overwhelmed for them and some other people from the ministry. However, my thoughts post is about them alone because they are who the Lord placed on my heart to pray for today.

Thank you, Lord, for choosing my family to minister at Emmanuel Ministries.

Jonah Series (pt.2): "The Repentant Prophet"

This is part two of the Jonah Series. It covers all of Jonah chapter two. I was recovering from being sick, but God was gracious and allowed me to have voice and strength enough to deliver His message. It was about 40 degrees (F) during the service and we have no heat at the ministry. It was a joy to have the opportunity to preach none-the-less.

If anyone would be interested in joining us in prayer for specific needs we collect during the service, please email me or let me know of interest in the "Comments" section. Thank you and God bless you!

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Jonah Series (pt. 2): “The Rebellious Prophet”

Jonah Stayed (v.1)

• Three days could be partial, Jews counted partial as whole day


• Even Jonah's rebellion and dilemma God had His purpose


• Sign of Jonah a for foreshadowing of Jesus burial and resurrection

Jonah Prayed (v.2-9)

• The testimony (v.2-7)




1. saved from the sea and certain death


2. see a confidence he had in God that he will be safe


3. actively praying through the ordeal
   
   

• The thanksgiving (v.8-9)




1. prayer turns to thanksgiving


2. looks to the future when he will continue to serve God


3. declares that “Salvation belongs to the Lord”- it is a gift of God's grace

Jonah's Replay (v.10)

• He has a “do-over”- a second chance to follow God's direction


• Vomit is a sign of disgust: God may well been unhappy with his prejudice even now


• Picture of Christ differs from this point Jonah was prejudice, Jesus died for all who would receive despite their race

Closing: During Jonah's 3 days he was a good example of faith in God and actively praying through adverse situations. However, his attitude was still not right toward the Ninevites as we will see in the future.

Jonah's three days is a foreshadowing of the three days between Jesus' burial and resurrection.

We can learn, like Jonah, to pray and trust God during difficult times. We can also learn to put away prejudice and seek to share the Gospel to everyone- in love- no matter the differences.

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Jonah Series (pt.1): "The Rebellious Prophet"

This is from Sunday December 27, 2009.


The Sermon Outline is available in a previous post. If interested, just look under "Sermon Outline" in categories.

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"Finding Forgiveness in Christmas" (Ephesians 4.32)

Nicholas was born in the third century in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey. He was born into an affluent family, but his parents died tragically when he was quite young. His parents had raised him to be a devout Christian, which led him to spend his great inheritance on helping the poor, especially children. He was known to frequently give gifts to children, sometimes even hanging socks filled with treats and gifts.

Perhaps his most famous act of kindness was helping three sisters. Because their family was too poor to pay for their wedding dowry, three young Christian women were facing a life of prostitution until Nicholas paid their dowry, thereby saving them from a horrible life of sexual slavery.

Nicholas grew to be a well-loved Christian leader and was eventually voted the Bishop of Myra, a port city that the apostle Paul had previously visited (Acts 27:5–6). Nicholas reportedly also traveled to the legendary Council of Nicea, where he helped defend the deity of Jesus Christ in A.D. 325.

Following his death on December 6, 343, he was canonized as a saint. The anniversary of his death became the St. Nicholas holiday when gifts were given in his memory. He remained a very popular saint among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, with some two thousand churches named after him. The holiday in his honor eventually merged with Christmas as they were celebrated within weeks of one another.

During the Reformation, however, Nicholas fell out of favor with Protestants, who did not approve of canonizing certain people as saints and venerating them with holidays. His holiday was not celebrated in any Protestant country except Holland, where his legend as Sinterklass lived on. In Germany, Martin Luther replaced him with the Christ child as the object of holiday celebration, or, in German, Christkindl. Over time, the celebration of the Christ child was simply pronounced Kriss Kingle and oddly became just another name for Santa Claus.

These stories of Santa Claus were first brought to America by Dutch immigrants. In the early twentieth century, stores began having Santa Claus present for children during the Christmas season. Children also began sending letters to the North Pole as the legends surrounding an otherwise simple Christian man grew.

At Emmanuel Ministries, we keep the center of our holiday focused on Jesus; it’s probably what Nicholas would have wanted. (this introduction is based on a post by Pastor Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA)

Jesus had a purpose (Luke 2.1-14)

• importance is realizing Jesus was born with a purpose, a mission
• to bring forgiveness
• to offer salvation through trusting in Him

Jesus had a message of how to be forgiven by God (Luke 24.45-48)

• Jesus preached repentance and forgiveness
• a salvation based on grace through faith (Ephesians 2.8-9)

Jesus paid the price

• in His own blood for our forgiveness (Ephesians 1.7; Hebrews 9.22)
  
• We are redeemed by His blood (sacrifice on our behalf)

We have a responsibility…

• we are to forgive (Ephesians 4.32)
• with Christ’s sacrifice, we have no right to be unforgiving (Luke 23.34)
• Benefits of forgiveness

**obedience to God
**brings healing

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"If, Then and Now/Si, Entonces y Ahora" 2 Chronicles 7.14-15

Sunday 12.6.2009 message recorded at Emmanuel Ministries. Bear with it, it is bilingual and I am not. I gave it my best shot. My dear wife helped too!


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Unemployment Down! (even Though we lost more jobs)

If you lack the intelligence to realize losing 11,000 jobs and claiming unemployment is down from 10.2% to 10% cannot occur without playing with numbers, you just may be a liberal.

Joblessness is still a major issue in the United States. The way they figure unemployment numbers now is different than how it was done 25 years ago. Unemployment now if calculated the same way as then would be around 17%.

Now the government stops counting people unemployed for over a year, considering them as no longer interested in finding employment. I have met many in construction who have not worked in about a year who are very willing to work. But they do not count. Nice.

If I would have used government math in high school I never would have graduated.

WELCOME TO THE USSA.

With pelosi and her ilk passing Comrade Obama's pet socialist health care bill, we have officially become a Communist nation. All elections are just a mere formality.

This sickens me. The government (I will no longer call it our government, as they serve their own best interest, not ours) sickens me.

A bunch of "special" people in congress are not bound by this health care trash, but we peasants are. I am disgusted. All of you who voted for obama and pelosi and the rest of those who voted for this suspension of basic freedom are responsible for the fall of the former United States. We are now the Union of Soviet States in Amerika.

Now if you do not have health insurance, you will be fined and/or jailed. The vote was 220 communists to 215 who still favor freedom.

Link to the story: "House Narrowly Passes Health Care Bill" (in the dark of night)

Update on the Outrage at Ft. Hood

Early reports were inaccurate, Malik Nadal Hasan is alive and apparently acted alone.

This "man" has a history of praising "suicide bombers." More information is bound to come out in the next few weeks, but this is an act of terrorism.

On a positive note, the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the action. Of course, if they didn't it would have been a public relations nightmare. Either way, they did the right thing this time.

Hopefully Obama is as outraged about this as he was when Tiller the abortionist was murdered.

See previous post for links about this story. Some will contain updates.

OUTRAGE! TERRORIST ATTACK ON MILITARY BASE

Despite our idiotic government already declaring that this was not a terrorist attack, I am declaring just the opposite- THIS IS TERRORISM!

Major MALIK NADAL HASAN was killed after killing other soldiers and civillians and reports are that two others have also been captured. He undoubtedly expected to meet allah and get 72 virgins, but he will be in hell regretting his mythological beliefs.

Yes, I am prejudging the events of today; but when will the UNITED STATES wake up to the fact that Islamic terrorism is our enemy? We should not be making things easier for them.

I went to the White House blog to see Obama's thoughts, but there was only commercials for his socialist ideas. My understanding is that he made a statement, but it is not on the whitehouse.org site at the time of this post. UPDATE: I added a link to a YouTube video of Obama's statement. Not quite as heart-felt and condemning as he was with abortionist Tiller, but he did make a statement.

Links about the terrorism unleashed today:

12 Dead, 31 Injured in Foot Hood, Texas (WND.COM)

12 Dead, 31 Wounded in Shooting at Ft. Hood Army Base (FOX NEWS)

Army: 12 dead in Shooting Rampage (ABC NEWS DALLAS)

Coverage of Fort Hood Shootings (CNN)

Report From The US Army (army.mil)

Who is Major Malik Nadal Hasan? (MY FOX DC)

PENTAGON REPORT ON TERRORIST ATTACK (Pentagon Channel/army.mil)

OBAMA ON YOUTUBE- Statement about the shooting (YOUTUBE)

Twitter Search on Malik Nadal Hasan (Twitter)