Dear Father in Heaven, Thank You for the special blessings that You put upon us this weekend. You are indeed in charge of all things and I love You very, very much. Please help me with the message and to keep this line open. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Good evening, brothers and sisters. Today is a side trip from the message, but I must share with you just another miracle of our Lord Jesus Christ, plus I have been asked to write a recipe for my favorite cookie that I bake, and trust me, I can cook, but I never baked anything. I want to share this with you, and it might be used in the Sentinel out of Carlisle, PA, next week. The write from the Sentinel is Tammie Gitt, who came to Santa's House and did a story on it. Tammie is a wonderful young lady and a born-again Christian (yes, you must be born-again to be a Christian). So let me get to the side trip story and tomorrow back on the Story as we head to Christmas and beyond. Remember, it is Monday and the day we pray for our leaders, our veterans, our military, our police,our firefighters, and all who work to keep us safe and healthy.
Malachi 3:6 - I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' 8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you? "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse, the whole nation of you because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessings that you will not have room enough for it. (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, I used the above scripture because it fits the message of today. First of all, I do want you to notice that the very first line of the scripture in Malachi 3:6, I the Lord do not change, is the same as the one I use so much found in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. But let me move on, with the miracles that Jesus gave to us yesterday.
First, we all know that each day God gives us blessings, and if you think about it, they are miracles, all of them, and I do not want to make light of them. For example, God still sees that we are fed daily, and folks, that is a miracle if you really think about it. But folks, listen to these events of yesterday, Sunday, 12/9/12 that happened to us.
We started our Sunday as always, up in the morning early, take care of our many dogs, cats, goats, and our pet chicken (no, she does not live in the house). We get ready and head to the Bridges where I pastor and Dolores plays the piano. We had a great morning with a full room, then after closing, Dolores and I headed out to eat. On the way out of the Bridges, James, one of the office workers who, when there, always goes out and gets our vehicle and brings it around, also loaded in the back two boxes of clothes that someone dropped off for our ministry to use. After eating we returned home and were going to rest as we had a Santa appointment that evening with Doug Boyer and his ministry outreach for seniors up in Newport, PA. I change out of my Sunday clothes and put on some jeans and told Dolores I was going to unload our little pantry truck down in the food pantry which is under our home. I went down, backed the truck up to the door and went inside and my heart went into my throat, for there was water every place in the food pantry. I put out a call to Grant and Wanda but they were out singing, I called up the stairs to Dolores to "get me some help" and folks, you need to know we have packed food all over the place as we packed out for this week, and some of those bags were placed on the floor. I started to pick bags up off the floor and put them doubled up on tables that were already full of packed food. Other food that had come in since we packed and was not sorted was stored all over the place, most of them up on things so water could not hit them, but not all of them. I got out the shop vac and got it ready when the first neighbor showed up with his young son, and the son, Steven, about 10, took the vac and went to work. Steve, his dad, put up a few more tables and started to move some things to higher ground, so to speak. Soon Jared, our other neighbor, showed up and went to work finding the leak. Now listen to this, here is the miracle. No water hit any food product or anything. The only thing lost was a few boxes that had some of my junk in them. Remember that the food pantry is in our basement so I do have some things down there. The water that came in was from a broke pipe that only leaked when our well pump went on. In the meantime I had already placed a call for my son-in-law Jeff Davis who has a plumbing business and is a great plumber, and I left a message on his phone. Now Jeff called me back within 20 minutes but my neighbors had already found the leak. We shut down the pump, they ran to their homes and looked for some plastic pipe. They had some and were making the repair when Jeff called back. We did not need to run him the distance from his home to ours to make the repair, but he informed me if I have more trouble just call him back. The repair was made and after some time waiting for the pipe glue to set up good, we fired up the pump and the leak was fixed.
Sadly, we missed our appointment with Doug Boyer and his group, who was so nice and told me no kids were coming, it was a senior thing, and he excused us with his blessings. On Monday, Grant came over early and we cleaned up the mess and put things back together, later on Wanda joined in sorting out clothes for Saturday.
Folks, you just had to see the way the water circled around the food that was on the floor. As a rule, no food is ever put on the floor except when we pack once a year for our big Christmas distribution. Next year, nothing will be on the floor. Again, not one thing was lost except for a few cardboard boxes. At this time, if you are like me, you are yelling out PRAISE THE LORD!
Now one more thing today ... I want to show you what I sent to the Carlisle Sentinel to be used in the paper next week. This is where the rest of the scripture I used kicks in. I do hope you enjoy it.
"Well, kids of all ages, Old Santa likes all kinds of cookies, and trust me when I say that I have eaten my share of those cookies. But the truth is Santa does not bake, because so many good little boys and girls of all ages have placed cookies and milk out for me to eat along with carrots for the reindeer that till I get to the last stop on Christmas Eve, it just amazes me that I can still fit down the chimney. I do have fond memories of some of my favorite cookies that have been set out for me each year. One girl, Bobbie, makes Old Santa some special Sand Tarts and even mails them to Santa from Florida. I get them before Christmas, I think she is trying to get extra gifts!! I have eaten Sand Tarts, Ginger Snaps, Chocolate Chips, of all shapes and sizes, and even one year someone made me Rum Cookies, and they had a little kick to them. I am glad Rudolph knew the way home that year. Santa does have a recipe for Christmas, however, and how folks can receive more gifts. As we know, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior, and in the Bible it tells us that if we love Him, and if we pray to Him and if we SHARE OUR GIFTS, He will multiply the gifts over and over again. So dear children of all ages, remember to love God and love your neighbors and that will keep you on the nice list for both Jesus and His helper Santa Claus.
Now during the year, Mrs. Claus does bake up some Oatmeal Cookies to keep old Santa happy and here is her recipe for Oatmeal Cookies. 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup molasses, 2 eggs (beaten), 1 tsp. soda dissolved in 4 tbsp. of milk, 2 cups oatmeal, 2 cups flour, 3/4 cups raisins and nuts mixed, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, pinch of salt. Mix together in order of recipe, drop on greased pan and bake in a hot oven set at about 350 until done about 10 to 15 minutes.
One thing old Santa always liked to do and that was eat some of the cookie dough before it is baked!
Bad Santa! Now boys and girls, please go to bed early on Christmas Eve. Unless of course you are going to a late evening Candlelight Christmas Eve service. Santa ALWAYS stops along the way for one of those services. Oh, and would you please this year set out chocolate milk with those cookies? Thanks and God Bless all of You!" -- Santa
Now you are back to me live, so to speak ... And let's close up today with a prayer, but today it is different, I would just love for you to send me the prayer today at icarrythelight4God@msn.com
Thank you
Now as I close, we are looking for a few more helpers for Saturday. If you can come, please let me know. We have distribution from 9 to noon and need helpers here by 8:30 AM to get things lined up. This is a fun day. Now go forth and share your blessings.
Love ya, Pastor Dan.
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