Category: VCOLS in Utah

MP3: https://planetarystatusreport.com/mp3/20230810_The_riddle_of_innocence.mp3

Donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/doctorfreckles

After this service you will still have a question, and it may never be resolved.

Hosea 4, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea%204&version=NIV

Matthew 10: 40-42, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+10%3A+40-42&version=NIV

Deuteronomy 24:17-22, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2024%3A17-22&version=ESV

A prayer for answers:

Lord in Heaven,

You sacrificed Your only Son to redeem the world, and through His blood we are made innocent.

But what of those who have not HEARD YOUR WORD?

What of those millions, billions, throughout time, who did not benefit from seeing Your Son, knowing His Truth, or experiencing the fire started by His Apostles?

I pray, Dear Lord, for all those who have not been touched by You that they may Know You, it is a mystery.

I pray for those friends I made in Utah, who are on the ROAD, as so many of us are, not fully understanding Your grace and Love.

We pray for the widow, the orphan and the stranger.

We pray for the ignorant and the outcast.

We pray for the abandoned and the suffering, wherever they might be.

We pray, and WE KNOW that YOUR WORD is powerful and crosses through time.

AMEN

Luke 23:32-43, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+23%3A32-43&version=NIV

Romans 2:12-16, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%202%3A12-16&version=NIV

Luke 10:25-37, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010%3A25-37&version=NIV

Discussion:

Off topic: today was a day of spiritual weakness, the cop following me, and other stuff not relevant or significant to mention.

Hosea’s accusations … something to consider.

Think of Abraham wandering, wondering, if today is the day he will be destroyed by some random person. Before he had a family, a wife, land and herds, as he wandered what must have seemed ENDLESSLY through a bleak and dangerous world.

And yet, not all that Abraham met were bad, and many became his family.

1. I had a hard time finding a bible quote this morning, and then there’s the thing with the computer mouse yesterday …
2. Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton, and “grok’ing out” God … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodoxy_(book)
3. The conundrum of the “good Atheist”, knowing and living the Word.
4. my friends in Utah, the Good Samaritans.
5. Do dogs go to Heaven, and WHY the Devil HATES dogs.
6. Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, and Abraham.
7. Knowing the Word without being GIVEN the Word.
8. Living the Word without being GIVEN the Word.
9. What does the DEVIL steal from the world? What does he cherish above all else? – innocence, the destruction of innocence, and then he takes you SOUL, or tries to.
10. Where do children go when they are too young to understand scripture or God, and they die? Mark 10:14 … https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2010%3A14&version=NIV

A moment of silence for Wisdom from the Word, The Holy Spirit, from Jesus and Our Father in Heaven.

A moment of silence for children that have died.

A moment of silence for the widow, the orphan, the stranger.

Lord’s Prayer:

GO IN PEACE and SPREAD THE WORD BY LIVING THE WORD, so that no innocent might be condemned.

MP3: https://planetarystatusreport.com/mp3/20230719_WHAT_IS_FAITH.mp3

Donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/doctorfreckles

READING 1: GENESIS 22: 1-19

READING 2: 1 PETER 4: 12-19

READING 3: PSALM 42

“Oh Lord, how do I stay steadfast in this place?”

Oh Lord, how do WE remain steadfast in this place?

WE sojourn,
Dear God, 
at Your request per Your plan.

WE ARE alive, 
because Your breath is in US, 
because You WILL IT!
WE exist, 
and WE ARE in pain.

Jesus,
Your Father sent You to this World to save the sinners,
Your Father made a way for His flock,
in spite of our GREAT SHEPHERD,
we STRAY.

We wander off the path,
We long for shinier gods,
We lust for the world and its promise,
and in all this,
SATAN is waiting,
as a wolf,
ready,
to take Your children and turn them to stone.

Lord in Heaven WE ARE struggling,
WE ARE hounded by the demons,
WE ARE CHASED by evil men,
We should take comfort that You are there,
but the offers of Satan are many.

Lord,
help us in this wilderness as You helped Abraham,
help us to be AS STRONG as Your saints,
help us to remember that You are always HERE.

God,
WE renew our faith IN YOU,
WE will pray with open hearts,
WE will nourish ourselves with YOUR WORD,
and we know,
as the darkness falls,
that YOUR LOVE is our LIGHT.

In Your name we serve,
Jesus Christ,
AMEN

READING 4: JOB 7

READING 5: MARK 11: 22-24

Discussion:

AIRBORNE SCHOOL – 1997: it was hard, ground week was a real pain. Tower week no longer used the “towers”, and jump week …

Jump week was one of the best weeks of my life. 5 jumps, at least one was a night jump, and I was stick-leader: so I stood in the door, and jumped first.

Back then I was an Atheist … I saw “right and wrong” but developed my own connected way it “made sense”, absent God.

But Dan, the Atheist? – he could jump out of that plane, with no fear, because he believed that the specialist or PFC or sergeant that packed my chute knew what they were doing – I had faith in strangers, so much I could jump out of a plane.

Many years later, 2011 I think, I was driving across the cascades early in the morning, and as I drove down the pass, on that empty road, I had a sense of vertigo – a feeling that I was out of control, and that my life was, and that I was going to careen off the road into the chasm below. Something had changed – and it wasn’t just my age.

What is faith?

It seems like a simple question, and it should have an easy answer, right?

Is faith attending church services regularly?

Is faith paying a tithe or donating to some random minister on channel 23?

Is faith an exercise, a ritual, a habit – or is it something deeper?

1. some recent events involving my faith (blog hosting, needing to find a place to live, etc) … my connections to these things and my fear of “losing” them seemed greater, yesterday, than my faith … I got angry … I stared at a checking account with 3 bucks in it … I emailed a friend for beer money … a friend with greater and stronger faith than mine
2. if my faith were strong? – would I even question that You, Lord, would not find another home for me?
3. if my faith were strong, would it not be easy for me to forgive, to let go of my anger?
4. if my faith were strong, would I not be someone who helps You, as a disciple, to bring the Word of God to ALL?
5. if my faith were strong, would I drink so much beer?
6. If my faith were strong enough, why would I be afraid to strip myself of the few possessions I have left, and wander out into the world, with a bible and with hope and knowledge that I am saved?

There is a LOT in this simple word: FAITH

There is more than I understand.

If we have faith, as Christians, we can change the world in a million important ways …

If we have faith, we can walk into a room and say, without fear:

“I am a Christian, and I believe in God, and I know He loves us, all of us.”

Moment of Silent Prayer:

Lord’s Prayer:

Go out into the world and let your daily work be an example of living faith.

Here is a song for understanding what life was like for men like Abraham …

MP3: https://planetarystatusreport.com/mp3/20230528_Power_Of_Prayer.mp3

Donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/doctorfreckles

Greetings and updates.

Reading 1: Jeremiah 33, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2033&version=NIV

Reading 2: Proverbs 28:9, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+28%3A9&version=NIV

Reading 3: Matthew 7: 7-12, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A+7-12&version=NIV

Prayer:

Lord in Heaven,

In our daily lives we often forget that You are always here, always near.

It is hard for us, often, to escape the ritual, the Sunday Mass and Worship,

the various commitments we have to the churches we attend,

and in our actions these forms of remembrance become empty and disconnected.

But did you not Jesus, in the garden, humble yourself to pray?

Did you not, Dear Lord, on the Cross, pray for the forgiveness of those who “do not know what they do”?

If Jesus could humble himself to pray, with heart and vigor and passion, and He is the Son of God, then can we not humble ourselves to pray, with passion, to our Lord in Heaven, asking for his help on our part and for those sinners who need Him now?

Jesus,

We pray to you this day for the wisdom to know the words,

We pray for the compassion to send our love, to you Christ, on the part of those we love.

We remember the stranger, the orphan, the widow – and we remember them in prayer.

We pray for guidance and grace, so that we can forgive others, as we ourselves are forgiven.

In Your Name we serve,

AMEN

Reading 4: Mark 11: 22-26, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+11%3A+22-26&version=NIV

Reading 5: Luke 22: 39-46, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2022%3A39-46&version=NIV

Discussion:

1. Jesus in the garden, Jesus before he died on the cross.
2. kind of angry at my neighbors over the dog situation.
3. kind of angry at parents who blame everything for their kid’s situation except for themselves.
4. But the anger? – is bad.
5. So I pray for peace, for grace, for my ability to forgive.
6. Prayer is critical when times are hard, prayer is essential for grace and thanksgiving.
7. How do you pray?

Moment of silence: Prayer – for those in our lives who need the help and need to begin.

Have a great week!

LORD, we must love THEE with PASSION.

In our life on this Earth, we face travails and challenges. As often as not we place the blame on God … “WHY DEAR LORD DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?”

We shake our fists, beat our chests, scream and yell and tear asunder while cursing Your name, dear Lord.

But in our anger, in our repentance, in our frustration, we still LOVE you GOD, for you gave your son Jesus, your only son, to save us – to save all of us from sin and perdition.

So I say Jesus, my Lord in Heaven, I LOVE AND WORSHIP YOU.

I will work to be a disciple of Christ.

I will wander this world, and stumble and fret, and still my heart is yours.

In your name we SERVE, Jesus Christ.

AMEN

MP3: https://planetarystatusreport.com/mp3/20230418_LOVE_THE_LORD_WITH_PASSION.mp3

Donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/doctorfreckles

Greetings and Announcements …

PSALM 103: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20103&version=NIV

2 Samuel 11: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Samuel+11&version=NIV

LORD we must love Thee with PASSION!

John 15:9-17: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015%3A9-17&version=NIV

Discussion: the RIDDLE of David.

In Old Testament times, the Hebrews had different names, for the SAME GOD. One of his names, as I recall: His Love Endures, or something like that …

1. I had another topic for this week – but this morning it occurred to me, the message was wrong.
2. The dumb stuff the dogs do, and yet there is that love
3. The dumb stuff people do, the sinning …
4. A friend once told me, when I was still an Atheist: you can’t have a strong marriage without Jesus … and like most my irreligious friends, I scoffed … I mocked.
5. The message of the LAST LETTER at the beginning of REVELATION
6. HESED … His infinite Love … Lucifer, and the belief that God’s love is finite
7. Finally: love and forgiveness … https://planetarystatusreport.com/?p=5602

The Lord can handle us ANGRY, SAD, and JOYFUL … and any number of other emotions, but the Lord does demand our obedience and love.

The Lord can handle an angry shout towards the sky …

The Lord has big shoulders.

Love is understanding.

Love is forgiving.

Love is passionate, with all the pain of the cross.

His Love Endures …

(moment of silence)

Lord’s Prayer

Final words of discipleship …

*** Find a congregation, a place of worship and love

*** Christian Service, in progress …