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I Needed This Today! 1/15/17
It is hard to believe it has been THREE YEARS since the death of my oldest grandson, Devin Ross Boleman!!!
I AWOKE (PTL for awakening AGAIN!) after a wonderful night of sleep!!
Amanda only woke me up ONE TIME (4 AM) and then slept until 7:30 AM!!
WOW-PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!
Upon arising, I checked my FB account and they had posted this sermon as a
"MEMORY."
I needed to hear this message today and perhaps you do also.
I add to this message a PROMISE from God I desperately CLING to:
Job 42:10 (KJV)
10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
One last FACT before I go-please note that God DID, indeed, give Job:
"TWICE AS MUCH AS HE HAD BEFORE" of his material things!!!
Job 42:12 (KJV)
12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
Note that Job "HAD"
Job 1:3 (KJV)
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
Job originally "HAD........."
Job 1:2 (KJV)
2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
The question then BEGS to be answered:
If God DID, indeed,
"also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before."
WHY, then, did God NOT give Job 14 sons and 6 daughters!!??
SMILE!!! THE ANSWER IS THE ORIGINAL "7 SONS AND THREE DAUGHTERS" WERE AND ARE NOT DEAD/GONE/FORGOTTEN/DECEASED!!!!!!
THEY ARE IN HEAVEN!!!
On that GREAT DAY when Job went to Heaven-then and only then did he realize the FULL completion of God's PROMISE/WORD:
Job 42:10 (KJV)
10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
May this sermon today strengthen and ENCOURAGE you TODAY!!!!
Told Ya' So! 1/15/14
John 14:1-3 (KJV)
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
It is Wednesday again, in fact early afternoon, as I sit in my familiar stall at the local Chic-fil-A.
"They" say, (I wonder who THEY are?) that "TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS!!??
I can only PRAY "they" are correct.
These past few weeks and months were excruciatingly difficult as a series of events and tragedies bombarded me and my family relentlessly.
Devin in the hospital, children incarcerated, grand kids suddenly dumped in our care, all while the Holidays engulfed life, demanding we cooperate in the gleeful celebrations.
Ours was not to e a time of joyful celebration. Too consumed with the cares of this life, there was not even time to put up a Christmas tree, yet alone no time for shopping and the giving and receiving of gifts.
I spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and night in the hospital with Devin, and then spent New Year's Day and night in the same place.
But ALL WAS well! I was NEEDED and I GRATEFULLY accepted my sacrifice.
Then my love Devin passed right before my eyes in a crumpled mass of flesh. How eerily haunting was my last look into his lifeless eyes.
My very first taste of GRIEF erupted almost 40 years ago when my dear mother passed away. I REMEMBER, but without the pain, her passing, and remember how my life stood still.
Truly, "THINGS OF THIS WORLD" mattered nothing for that period of time and life went on as usual soon enough.
The passing of my grandson Connor was equally as hurtful and required a PERSONAL APPEARANCE of my Savior to appease my grief and heal my broken heart.
The death of my daughter Wendy hurt, but was manageable. She had lived a good life, I KNEW she was saved and in a better place so I stoically marched onward and upward.
But Devin HURT! Devin cut deep to the bone but I had little time to bother with grief.
I had to bury him also.
Surrounded by LOVING friends and family I marched right through his funeral last Saturday.
That was Saturday and today is today.
As my last company departed my house Monday night, the "reality" of life began to consume me. Left alone now, with only my thoughts and memories, some "strange and forgotten" ache began.
Because of Devin's passing, there are meals I will never cook again and places I never want to visit again.
As I sat alone in my favorite Thai restaurant today, I remembered the VISION God gave me of Heaven.
I remembered seeing Jesus' sandal-clad feet, my father's shoes and my mama's big clod-hoppers, wondering if Devin's socked feet and checkered pant leg I now long to greet would be there?
Heaven truly never sounded sweeter to me than now.
Heaven is now a much more sought for place now.
Heaven HAS to be TRUE and REAL!!!!
I wrote all the above to make one point sure.
As I sat at my kitchen table last Friday night-the night before my beloved's funeral-I expressed to two dear friends my STRUGGLE in my BELIEF in the REALITY of there even being a HEAVEN!!??
I have never been there! I have never personally seen Heaven?
I do not PERSONALLY know of anyone alive today that has been there and came back?
Yes, I BELIEVE the Bible is TRUE and that many, many people have written and testified of their personal visit to heaven.
But still, in the back of my mind lingered the Question:
Is there REALLY a Heaven and will I see my loved ones again??????
Haltingly, hesitatingly, last Saturday night my friend Angie spoke:
"Pastor Doug, what part of John 14:2 do you not understand/GET???????"
John 14:2 (KJV)
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
"DOUG, DID NOT JESUS JUST SAY IN THAT VERSE-
'IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
DUH!!??
Slowly, ever so slowly her words flowed into my aching heart:
"IF IT WERE NOT SO- JESUS SAID-
"I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!"
Perhaps and maybe this sermon is not for you...............,
BUT I believe that Jesus added those WORDS
"IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU SO" for maybe nobody but this Doubting Thomas of a Preacher!!!!
It is almost as if Jesus knew that day was coming and I NEEDED to be SHOCKED and AWED!
My FAITH needed a booster shot!
Jesus was saying to ME,
"You DUMMY, did I not just say there were mansions in heaven and "
I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, YES YOU, Doug Drucker!!"
Jesus was saying to me, a dumb and doubting believer,
"Doug, my son, I GOT THIS!!!
I KNOW what I am doing and I KNOW Who I am!!!
I wasn't just beating my gums, spouting UN-truths and tall tales!!"
TODAY, beloved, Jesus has PASSED into Heaven and IS preparing a PLACE for US!
DON'T be a DUMMY like me!!
"IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU!!"
Got it!!??
AMEN!
GOD BLESS YOU!
PASTOR DOUG
404-295-5644 or Church address:
GOSPEL OUTREACH CHURCH
70 STONE RD.
MCDONOUGH, GA. 30253
Any donations will be GREATLY appreciated and can be sent to the Church
address or by accessing PAYPAL on our web site
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