Tuesday 12/11/12 The Story 13

Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil.  For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory Forever.  Amen.

Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for that wonderful prayer You taught us to pray.  It sure does cover all the bases.  Thanks for watching over us this day and thanks for traveling with us to our sing-along and thanks for the great report on Dolores at the doctor.  Please, Lord, watch over Vicki who has had another setback and really needs Your help.  Please keep Your hand upon Ruby, Dick, the Saylor Family, Matthew, and also Dale.  Watch over please our flock at the Bridges and also our dear friends at the Museums in Hershey, PA.  In Jesus' name, I pray this day, Amen.

Hi, brothers and sisters.  Wow, back to writing in the evenings for awhile again.  It seems I just cannot get up early enough to get started like I once did.  Even getting up this morning at 4:30 AM I got the animals taken care of, it was time to get that shower and get on the road as Santa.  Tomorrow we are heading out to get potatoes and then back to bag them up for Saturday.  Speaking of Saturday, if you are coming to help, it would be appreciated if you could arrive between 8:30 AM and 8:45 AM.  Please park in the driveway in front of the house so the circle part of our driveway is open.  It is to be a nice day and we have a lot of things to set up outside.  We also need to get all the pies and cakes out of the freezers and onto tables to be picked up by our guests coming for their food.  Let me get to the message ...

The Story Day 13.

Luke 2:1 - In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  3 And everyone went to his own town to register.  (NIV)

As I start now trying my best to time the writings to run right to Christmas as we head out with Joseph and Mary on this trip before the baby was born ... In verse one today we see that Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken.  Let me tell it like it was stated in the King James Version of the Bible. "There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed."  And those taxes have been going on for a long, long, long, long time and going up and up and up and up.  Sort of reminds you of our nation right now with all the fighting over taxes.

Stop.  Late breaking news just coming in.  Coming in from Portland, Oregon.  There has been a shooting at a mall, reported so far at least 60 shots have been fired.  Source, Fox Cable News.

Dear Father in Heaven, please protect Your people at this mall, please help the shooters be stopped.  Protect the police who are responding and all the shoppers and workers.  In Your name, Jesus, we place this event ... Amen.

Now back to my message.  What about all these taxes and how should we handle them?  For that, let me go right back into the Bible and to this scripture ...

Matthew 22:17 - "Tell us then, what is Your opinion?  Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?  19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax."  They brought Him a denarius, 20 and He asked them, "Whose portrait is this?  And whose inscription?"  21 "Caesar's," they replied.  Then He said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."  (NIV)

So now we know we are to give to our Caesar what is his, but what about all the Caesars we have today?  Let's look at it.  We have Washington, DC, Caesar, we have in our area Pennsylvania State Caesar, Cumberland County Caesar, Silver Spring Township Caesar, and Cumberland Valley School District Caesar.  So we have five Caesars in our area alone, and some of you might have even more in your area.  Wait, hold on, we have turnpike Caesars, bridge toll Caesars, oh, I could go on and on and on.  Someone once said the only two things you really had to do in life was to pay taxes and die.  However, I know for a fact we can get away with just one thing.  Yes, we must pay taxes, but if we really know Jesus we do not need to die.  HOW ABOUT THAT??

So the decree went out for the Roman world to be taxed, and the Bible tells us that everybody went to register.  Let me compare that with today.  While we have many, many Caesars, we also have many, many people who try really hard to not register anywhere.  Some sneak into our country and even work here and do not pay their share, yet our current Caesars want to keep raising those taxes.  So, brothers and sisters, our Lord tells us to pay Caesar what is Caesar's and to pay God what is God's.

I have this great idea.  If God can run the world on 10% (Old Testament) or just being a cheerful giver, I think we should add all our Caesars all together and tell them, if 10% is good enough for God it should be good enough for all of you.  Let me make this point and then go to prayer.  I think if we are honest with Caesar and we are honest with God then we will be okay.  I know this because the Bible tells us to do it.  It tells us we just cannot out-give the Lord.  Let's pray.

Dear Father in Heaven, as we close again for this day, I pray You will be with those on this line, and those injured in the shooting that is now being reported.  Please be with the families of the lost.  And Lord, we do not need to look to foreign lands to see fighting, Lord, we lose more folks in a day in America in murders and vehicle crashes than in wars, and Lord, we seem to think nothing about that.  Lord, again I pray that our nation comes back to You.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.