Focus on the Message and Not the Messenger!

Good morning to all on this glorious Sunday morning! Waine and I are enjoining a long holiday weekend and although I am on call I am able to bustle around my house and do some fun things. We played Bid Whist with some neighbors yesterday. It was emancipation day in Thomaston and the tradition here is that every one has a cook out in their yards. Neighbors sit with each other, exchange news and catch up. Which is what Emancipation Day is all about. Apparently in the South, although the slaves where legally emancipated  on January 1, 1863 by Abraham Lincoln many Southern slave holders did not let their slaves know and kept them enslaved. In Georgia the official day the slaves were emancipated was in the summer of 1865 and thus the tradition. Thomaston, Georgia has the distinction of having the oldest, continuously-observed annual emancipation event in the USA. Freddie and Tracy celebrated Hailie Christine's 2nd birthday yesterday. She is the cutest little something walking on 2 legs!! Happy Birthday Hailie!!

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 26, verses 16-24, "Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” Some of the elders of the land stepped forward and said to the entire assembly of people, “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets. Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves! Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king was determined to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Akbor to Egypt, along with some other men. They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people. Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death." May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word. Amen.

Nothing has really changed since the times of Uriah, Micah or Jeremiah! People who are living contrary to the will of God will always attack both the messenger and message! Satan and his minons have always been among us and uses some of us, that let them, to be a mouth piece that creates confusion and distrust of God. Brad Pitt, who has an instant platform, was recently asked what makes him the maddest and he replied "when someone says they will pray for me". Now why would that make anyone mad? His issue is that he doesn't need God because He is a moral person who does good works on his own. This is the great deception of Satan. If you are moral and live your life as a "good" person then that's all that is required. Christ says that there are no good people. He lived among us and was without sin and still when He took on our sins, God turned His face from Him. Sin is the key that locks the door through which a relationship with God is possible. Our repentance of sin opens this door and makes a relationship with God possible.

Some wonder why a relationship with God is required. They live a good life here on earth. They help others. They are prosperous. Why do they need God? I can tell you I need God because without Him I am unfulfilled. Now that I know what a life with God is like, not to be in His presence is like not having oxygen to breathe. I was swimming yesterday and I frequently pray and commune with God while swimming. I pray for my family and the challenges they may have. I pray for the salvation of my family, their health and prosperity. God reminded me of the many laps I swimmed and prayed for some members of my family and how He has answered my prayers. I was shouting hallelujah under the water because I was reminded, lap after lap, of God's goodness and mercy. How even in the midst of despair and evidence to the contrary I kept praying only to see that God would bless me with an answer to my prayers! God always has a "ram in the bush" for His faithful. Christ was the utimate "Ram" in the bush. Like Uriah your "lamb" may be to go home to God; like Jeremiah it may be to live to continue your ministry; like me it may be to celebrate all the love and affection that God showers on me daily. God is never far away and yes pray for Brad Pitt and his salvation so that he will know the love of God as you do. Pray and witness to the unbelievers of this world boldly and wait upon the Lord. Wait expectantly and proclaim the Good News that Christ died so that we could live and have an abundant life!! God loves you this day and so do I.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie