Good morning on this first Saturday in the month of September. The hurricanes are lined up in the Atlantic ocean off the east-coast shores like planes stacked up at the O'Hare airport in Chicago. Hanna, Ike, Josephine, et al.. are currently on our radar screen and this is after serious havoc with Fay which drenched Florida for days and Gustav which caused New Orleans to be evacuated. We've recently had powerful earthquakes in Asia, tornadoes in the central and southern states and an old-fashioned wind whipping storm right here in the Quad Cities with 96 mile an hour winds leaving a trail of destruction. All of these things remind us of both the natural and unnatural disasters which will be coming during the Tribulation Period which is vividly described in the book of Revelation in the Bible. The Word of God describes it as a time of great tribulation such as the world has never known before (Matthew 24:21). The natural disasters we have previously alluded to will be like a Sunday school picnic compared to what will happen then. Thank God that we will not be part of this devastation and destruction but will be safely with the Lord in Heaven. Have you ever found yourself saying when you watch the accounts of various disasters in different areas, 'Thank God I don't live there." Perhaps that is what we'll be saying many times while the Tribulation is raging on earth. We should not only continually be thankful for what we have, but also for what we don't have to endure! It is the flip side of the "give thanks" commandment.
Tomorrow's message is entitled, You Won't Believe What You Can Do. It promises to be an inspirational and challenging sermon. I hope I'll see you there.
Pastor Mel Brown