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Pastor Tom at the Mic
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Marcus Dahl's Web Page
Thanks for visiting my page. This is the page where I will post links to some of my favorite websites, interesting articles and, of course a comment or two. I hope this page is an encouragement to you and your faith.
June 28, 2010
There to meet Jesus
“I saw you crying”, the boy gently whispered,
almost asking if what he saw was true.
“Yes”, his father answered. “I was overcome”.
“Why were you crying up there, Dad?” he continued.
“Shhh”, the Dad quieted then drifted back into prayer.
He had just been given the privilege of serving communion with his pastor. As the musicians lovingly played the hymns, charged with words wafting up through the sanctuary, lifted toward the Saviors home. Blessing and honor and glory and power forever.
As he served the communion a simple prayer was answered. “Lord, help me love more. Lord, help me love those I love, help me to love them more. Lord, will you give me even more people, that I can love? Please Lord!”
Then it began to happen. I began to see.
Somehow, the heart began to soften. Thoughts began to become overcome with new sights given to an awakened heart.
The rows of the pews began in an orderly fashion, as the people were coming up to meet Jesus. The familiar and unfamiliar faces to me, were all familiar to Jesus.
A young Mom, her husband near her side and the sweet children with beautiful eyes. Her brain tumor was gone, she was a healthy young woman again. The prayers spoken in the same sanctuary were heard and answered. Only months later, now back again this morning. They knelt at the altar together, they were there to meet Jesus.
Next, a young man with his wife holding back tears. There little boy wrapped in her arms. His cancer had worsened. They knelt, rose and walked back. Her arm reached to his shoulder, lovingly. They were there to meet Jesus.
Next a young couple. There baby boy had just been hospitalized again. We had prayed with the couple when the received the news earlier in the day that there would be complications. That was two months ago, her Doctors were right. My eyes moistened as I served them communion. They were there to meet Jesus.
Another couple, clean and healthy. Robust and strong. Joyful and new, the baby
wiggling in her arms. This couple, radiant with that special quality that eludes description, a new family begins. They were there to thank Jesus.
The soft pink cheeks of the baby had barely faded from my heart, when I leaned down and saw the bright blue eyes and wrinkled cheeks of a woman. She was a girl who now was approaching ninety. She carefully and slowly knelt to meet Jesus.
The people were different, the Savior the same. Some healed, some struggle, some weak and others strong.
The overwhelming love and forgiveness to each special one, given by an even more special Savior.
Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Amen
Marcus Dahl
Fire Suit
June 28, 2010
There are men who fight fire. They volunteer and promise to give their lives for others, where they are needed. These men run into the flames and do not consider the sacrifice they make as they run. A fireman’s suit is able to sustain temperatures that approach 800 degrees. These men do not sit idle, but are ready at a moments notice. They have the equipment and the training and above all the courage to protect others from danger.
There are Christians who are like these firemen. Situations might appear to be less dramatic, less obvious to one in common conversations. Yet, there struggles and courage are no less heroic. The gentleness, loving smiles, and encouraging words are part of the equipment. Their strength is from Jesus Christ, who radiates in their hearts. Christ expresses himself through these ordinary people, sometimes using them in extraordinary ways.
These Christians are often unnoticed, that’s why I want to share one of my close friends with you. As I tell you about my friend, my heart desires to life up Jesus Christ. I want you to see how Christ works in my friend’s life, so that you can be encouraged that Jesus works through yours. So let me introduce you to my friend, Chip.
Chip is nearly seventy years old and attends three early morning Bible studies a week. He
is not a fireman but has the special job of unlocking church buildings, setting up chairs and greeting the men who fellowship. He carries an oversized radio/cd player from his car trunk into the church and plays a song for the group. He begins each Bible study with a few words of encouragement, and prayer. Like a fireman, Chip pops out of bed and drives himself to these meetings before 6 am. He doesn’t consider sleeping in, how cold or dark it is outside, or anything else that could easily derail his ministry. He knows what Paul meant when he wrote in the 12th chapter of Romans, “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep”. I’ve seen Chip cry. I love that about him. I’ve seen him dance.
I told Chip that his breath stunk like garlic one morning, he told me mine stunk too and then we both laughed so hard tears ran down our cheeks.
There are many men in these Bible studies that have a lot of struggles. Foreclosure, bankruptcy, even divorce. Chip has problems too. He cares for his wife, takes her to medical appointments that consume a lot of his time. He’s unemployed, challenged by the job market and has financial issues too. However, he has a striking optimism and a deep faith that protects him. His wife prays and recites Psalm 91 from memory every morning. She prays for Chip and he is always praying for her.
Despite these daily struggles, Chip brings his problems and worries to the cross. This is Chip’s fire suit. He doesn’t put the suit on and then rest, he dashes forward. He told me last week that he volunteered to teach VBS first graders at his church.
Chip knows what it means to press on toward his high calling.
We all have problems, struggles, worries, and distractions. Trust Jesus as your fire suit and dash forward, desire to serve him and he will use you too.
REJOICE!
“Do you know the part in the Bible where Jesus asks his disciples to come, and he will make them fishers of men? Well, whenever I would hear that verse for the last twelve years I would think to myself, I could never do that. See, I’m kinda quiet when it comes to my faith. I never really talk about it with my relatives and friends. I have relatives, one of them doesn’t even believe in God. But since the Lord has blessed me with the Holy Spirit, I talk about Jesus to everyone. I think the Lord is using me to share His message. He had to allow me to get brain cancer to get through to a bone head like me. But what I’ve realized is that Jesus has been with me since day one. He is close to us right now. I know that he will heal me, and I am pumped to tell people about Him.”
Tom recently turned 71, just three weeks after learning that he has stage four lung cancer that has spread to his brain.
I had gotten an email about him from a mutual friend last week, about how Tom is on fire for Christ and how the cancer has cleared up his thinking about sharing the Gospel.
So we spent a few minutes on the phone together, praying about how we can encourage others to share the Gospel –
Jesus Christ died on the cross for all that you’ve ever done wrong, He took your place, died and rose again. Trust in Him and you will have eternal life!
Simple
You see, I love broken people. In Romans chapter 5, Paul writes that “we rejoice in our sufferings…” Doesn’t that sound spiritual? Hold on a second, are you kidding me? Isn’t that getting a little too carried away.
Let me repeat, “we rejoice in our sufferings…” Stop and think about this for a moment.
Let me get theological for a moment. Do you think the Lord tests you? Yes, of course.
No really? Do you think He tests you?
I’ve had tests and trials over the past five years where I have literally had to breathe the next verses. I want to share them with you.
1 Peter 4:12-13, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.”
I love early morning Bible study. One of my close friends that I met there has been unemployed and struggling for the last couple years. He’s in his late sixties and has many burdens. Do you know what Chip did last week? He spent the week helping teach first graders at VBS.
Watch carefully. Chip probably drove to his church on gas fumes. He might’ve driven by the store and skipped buying coffee. However, he did not succumb to the distractions of this life, instead he rejoiced in his sufferings and shared his time blessing children with his warm and friendly Grandfather like presence.
This is the point. When the trials come, we press on. When butterflies swarm our stomachs, we share Jesus. When I go out to share the Gospel, do you know what I factor into the schedule? I will lose my car keys, the dog might throw up. Many fiery arrows and distractions can come up.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us speak boldly the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the antidote to every problem, trial and temptation.
Let’s not wait, pray and share today!
Amen
Monday, July 6, 2009
Well, it is a pretty amazing night. At any moment, or a moment just passed,
a young man (young husband and father of a 2 month old son) will receive a
phone call from his oncologist. The phone will ring and startle the awaiting couple
as they hear if any further cancer treatment is viable.
Earlier today I, my telephone rang. My friend's wife was completely healed of a
blood clot in her leg that has limited her for several years. Deemed untreatable,
even by the Mayo clinic, she testified that the Lord spoke to her in prayer a
couple months ago that this would happen. Her husband prayed for her three
weeks ago, her leg tingled, she removed her medical equipment, and was told
today by her physician that she her health is totally restored.
I cried as I prayed with my friend. I prayed and thanked the Lord, quoting Romans,
that there are prayers too much for words, and that the Holy Spirit intercedes in
those moments, it was one of them.
I cried as I prayed, yesterday with the young man who will get news tonight about
his cancer, his future, his family's future...
I prayed throughout last night for him, as I also prayed for another man I
know who had open heart surgery this morning.
I made a new friend tonight also, who is following after the Lord, going through
similar trials that I have been through.
But as I was watching the sun set tonight, I was thankful that the Lord answered
a recent request.
I prayed that the Lord would open my eyes.
I prayed that I can see more clearly --- those around me. Those opportunities.
As in Romans 12, "to rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep."
What a thrilling time to be a Christian.
As I follower of Jesus Christ, I know that the most important thing in the world is
knowing that I will be in the Lord's presence when I die. Whether that time comes
tonight as I sleep, next year, or many years from now, I have that FULL ASSURANCE.
This is something I long to share with others. It is this assurance in Jesus Christ that
I pray for others. I pray salvation more often than any other thing.
I know -- and am reminded as I was today -- that the Lord is alive, he hears our prayers. His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
There are days like this that make you burst. Overcome with assurance, and joy,
and weeping, and sadness, and sympathy, and hope.
Amen
Marcus Dahl
Here is a letter to Pastor CH Spurgeon penned on December 1, 1964. Ah, the good ole days!
My Dear Pastor,
The fact that God has pleased of late more than ever to lay on your mind the necessity for a larger outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our church and congregation, should be, and is, I believe, a matter of very solemn interest. There is, I know, a very general sympathy with you in the minds of the members of our church; and to give a practical expression of this sympathy, I beg to lay before you for your consideration, the following suggestions:--
1st. That you should call a meeting of the deacons and elders of the church for special prayer for their own families.
2nd. Then you should fix an evening when you would meet the elder children of the members of the church, to urge them to immediate attention to the salvation of their souls.
3rd. That you should call a church meeting for special prayer for a still larger blessing on the ministry, the college, the sunday school, the tract visitors, the classes, and the other efforts to extend the knowledge of the savior now in operation among us.
4th. That a general meeting of the church should be held also for thanksgiving for the blessings we have enjoyed in the past.
5th. That you should invite from the pulpit ALL members of our church to set apart, in their own homes, one particular day (which you should name) for special prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
6th. That you should invite the deacons and elders, and from fifty to one hundred members of the church to open their homes from seven to nine
on some particular evening, for special prayer for the same object. The subjects to be attended to at these meetings, and the list of the houses, to be laid before us by yourself in a printed leaflet which should be placed in every pew in the tabernacle.
7th. That you should set apart an evening in which yourself, with the elders, should meet all those in your congregation who are yet undecided, but seekers after salvation. The object of this meeting would be for special exhortation and prayer with these friends, urging them to immediate decision for Christ.
8th. That yourself with the elders of the church, should meet the students, the sunday school teachers, the tract visitors, and the several classes, for special prayer and conference, that their laborers may be made more effectual in the salvation of sinners.
9th. That you would draw up for your consideration as a church and have printed a selection of promises out of the Bible which we might plead before God on this matter, and so lead us to attend to this object with understanding, having the mind of the Holy Spirit made clear to us all.
10th. That with a view of gathering in the fruit which I believe such a course of proceedings as is now suggested would certainly produce, the elders should be appointed to see inquirers after every one of the services, both on Lords days and week days.
I submit, my dear Sir, these suggestions to you with considerable reluctance, as I feel if they are carried out, they will involve considerable labor on you personally, and take up much of your valuable time; but the importance of the object, and the deep seated feeling which I know you have in this matter, induce me to lay them before you; and I pray that God may guide you in reference to the acceptance or rejection of any or all of them.
If there is one more interest than another, I believe it is the one having reference to our families. There has not been as yet so large a blessing on many of our families as we could desire, nor so great an ingathering as the word of God would lead us to expect, and therefore I feel that this matter will commend itself to the minds of all our church members. Excuse reference to one other subject, it is this, that while we have abundant reason to bless God for the constant tokens of His presence and approving smile, we have not as yet realized the fullness of the blessing, and I think it is very desiriable that our Monday evening prayer meeting should be even better attended than it is. Many of our brethren who are standard bearers amond us, men of worth and influence, both in the church and the world, either do not come at all, or are seldom there. If they could be induced to attend, I feel certain the results to themselces and the church would be gratifying.
Leaving these suggestions in youtr hands, and praying that the blessing we desire may come down first and chiefly on yourself, so that you may be still more greatly honored in the conversion of sinners, and that the largest and best desires of your heart for a revival of pure and undefiled religion amongst us, and in the Christian church generally, may be more than realized,
I remain, my dear Pastor,
Yours in the bonds of Christian affection,
AN ELDER OF THE CHURCH
POSTED 3/17/09
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