The Lord gave a us a great day in His house on Sunday. I have been preaching through the book of Mark for about 18 months now. I was in chapter 11 this week, preach about our Lord’s Triumphant entry in to Jerusalem. As you know, Jesus made this journey on the back of a donkey, in fulfillment of Zachariah’s prophecy, Zach. 9:9. As I was preaching, I began to think about that donkey and kind of got hung up there Sunday morning. I came back on Sunday evening and finished the message. The Lord moved in power in both services.

Anyway, I want to share a thought with you about that donkey. There are three truths about him that make him special and that allowed him to be used of the Lord.

That Donkey Had To Be Redeemed – Ex. 13:13; 34:20. That little donkey was alive and useful to the Lord because it had been redeemed by the blood of a lamb. Praise God that is why I have life today. That is the only reason you and I have any usefulness to the Lord today. Praise God for the redeeming power of the blood of Jesus

That Donkey Had To Be Released – Mark 11:2 – It was bound and had to be set free before the Lord could use it. Before you and I can be of any use to Him, the chains of our sins are going to have to be broken and we are going to have to be set free. I praise His Name that is just what He does for His saints, Rom. 6:14; John 8:36.

That Donkey Had To Be Ruled – Mark 11:2 – Someone had to take charge over that donkey. Verse 2 tells us that the donkey had never been broken to ride. Yet, it submitted itself to the Lord Jesus and yielded to His control. That donkey wasn’t frightened by the crowds or by their noise. It surrendered itself to the Lord totally. That is what He expects of us! He is looking for total submission and total surrender, Rom. 12:1-2.

I just thought I would share that with you today. It isn’t so bad being a donkey if the Lord can use us and get glory to His Name. Hallelujah!

Alan Carr

Our 2008 Bible Conference will be held here at Calvary Baptist Aug. 3-7. If you are interested in more information, you can find it here: Calvary Baptist Church – 2008 Bible Conference.

As usual, we have had some people sick and in the hospital this week. One of our dear ladies was in very serious condition on Monday evening. She was put into ICU and the docs got pretty aggressive with her treatment. I am pleased to report that the lord touched her and she is doing much better today. Praise the Lord. I am grateful to God that He hears and answers the petitions of His people. Of course, that is His promise, Jer. 33:3; Matt. 7:7-11. God is good to His people!

One of the major problems on battlefields down through the generations has been battlefield communications. Soldiers in the field have had a difficult time communicating with the commanders behind the lines. In our modern age, with cell and satellite communications, most of those problems have been solved. When God fielded His army, the church, He did not leave us here without a means of communication. He gave us the tool of prayer. Through prayer we can speak with Him any place, any time and for any reason. I am grateful for the privilege of prayer. I would recommend that we utilize it more often than we do. In fact, I think I will get off here and go talk to Him.

Have a great meeting tonight!

Alan Carr

What a morning! The Lord showed up and showed out at Calvary this morning. The saints of God worshiped Him, praised Him, testified of Him and loved on one another. It was a special time in the Lord. Best of all, we had one of our precious young people saved today. Hallelujah! God sure is good to us! I am looking forward to getting back to the house of God this evening to see what He will do next. I praise Him for being so amazing and for blessing our church like He does. We never know when God is going to bless like He did today, but I can honestly say that I am always a candidate for it. Pray for our church and for the other souls at Calvary that need to be saved.

Alan Carr

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, with church, family and preaching business occupying nearly every minute of our time. Joan and I just returned from a week in Vanntown, TN with Pastor Milton Martin, Associate Pastor Craig Clemons (This is for you friend!) and the great folks at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church. I was there preaching in their annual Bible Conference. Some of the other preachers in the meeting were Bob Weldon, Keith Purser, Ken Bowman, Chuck Ivey, and Ronnie Galloway. Singing was provided by the excellent church choir, the Hendersons from Fort Payne, AL and others in the church. This meeting is one of the highlights of my year. I truly enjoying going to Pleasant Hill and worshiping with these fine folks. They sure know how to take care of God’s men. Thank you Brother Milton and Brother Craig! I love you fellows!

Now, it’s time for us to get ready for our own Bible Conference here at Calvary. Our meeting with be August 3, 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM and August 4-7, 9:30 AM and 7:00 PM. Our featured preachers in the morning services will be Scott Moneyham, Rick Safriet, Eric Snider, and James Lockee. Our evening speakers will be Steve Dagenhart and Tom Hayes. Special singing will be provided by The Fortune Family of Toomsville, GA. We will also be providing a delicious, home-cooked lunch each day fee of charge. Please pray for the meeting and come if you can!

See you soon!

Alan Carr

I could plead a busy schedule. I could cry about how I was in Alabama for a week with no Internet service. I could give you one excuse after another about my long absence from the blogosphere. But, as you probably know, an excuse is merely the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. So, we won’t go there. To cut to the chase, I haven’t blogged because I have not taken the time to sit down and my keyboard and do it.

Well, I am back today, but just for a moment. I stopped by to encourage all the preachers out there to stand up and put out tomorrow. Get you a word from God and faithfully declare it to the people who show up at your place. I will be praying for you. I hope you will do the same for me.

No promises as to my success, but I will try to do a little better about blogging in the future. Just a little, maybe. I will try. We’ll see what happens. See you soon, I think, I hope, I….gotta run!

Alan Carr