Saturday 6/22/2013 The Prodigal Son 4

Dear Father in Heaven, thank You for a very good and nice day.  Thanks for all those who came to pick up food, and thanks for the fact that by Your hands we ALL are fed.  Thanks for those who support the ministries of Carry  The Light Ministries. Without You, we would be nothing, without You we would not have anything.  Thanks for saving my sorry sick soul from sin and thanks for forgiving me.  Please watch over those we list as prodigal children, children of Yours who have temporarily gone astray.  Lord, please be with

Matthew, Sean, Rita, Rhonda, Jeff, Sarah, Dan, Daniel, Christine, Ellen, Todd, Sherry, Mark, Kyle, Brandon, Lexi, Holmes, Becky, Jenny, Danielle, Aleks, Greg, Kory, Jelena, Madeline, Arden, Holden.

Lord, thanks for taking care of Grant and thanks for the good report on his body and bones.  Lord, help him learn to take it easy, and be with him, please.  Thanks for being with us today and everyday, and now, dear Lord, if You would be so kind to bless me once again with a message and then put it in dispatch to where it goes.  I love You, Jesus, I really, really do.  Forgive me of my sins and sinful thinking.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Pastor Dan's Safety Tip:  Deer are herding animals, so if one crosses the road right in front of you, be very careful, he/she will have friends.  Speaking of animals on the road, the other day I was coming back to our home and the road goes right along the creek.  A mother and father goose were crossing their peeps from one side to the other.  I stopped and watched for awhile and then I honked, and guess what they did?  They honked back!  Oh, stop it, Dan, you're at it again.

Brothers and sisters, it is a beautiful day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole, just beautiful.  It was very busy.  I was up early and mowed the grass.  Grant and Wanda had all the trimming done, so I just needed to ride the tractor a tad.  Anyway, today I want to wrap up the writings on the Prodigal Son.  But by all means, we do not want our prayers to stop for these drifting children of ours.  Let me get moving on the message right now.  Please keep sending in the names of our lost children.

Saturday June 22, 2013 - The Prodigal Son, Day Four.

Luke 15:25 - "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field.  When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.  26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.  27 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'  28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in.  So his father went out and pleaded with him.  29 But he answered his father.  'Look!  All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your order.  Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  30 But when this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'  31 'My son,' the father said.  'You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.  32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"  (NIV)

If you look at the last part of this story as we humans might want to do, we sort of understand what this older son is talking about.  For here we have two brothers, and let's say this would be on a farm today.  One brother asks his dad for money and gets it and then does a walk-about, going far and wide until he is flat out of money, and then he comes back and gets greeted and treated like a king when he returns.  In the meantime, the other brother stayed home, worked hard on the family farm and worked hard for his father.  After a few years, the one son came back and the father was so happy to see him he welcomed him home and had a big party for him.  This upset the brother.  Now as humans, we can relate to that, correct?

But we are talking about someone coming back home to Jesus, and by darn, all of us should be excited when a lost person comes back home.  And why should we get so excited about it?  Now think about it, really think about it.  Were not all of us at one time or another the one who might have drifted away from God and are we not very happy that we have a very loving God who has not put numbers on us?  Yes, my dear child, our Lord welcomes us back, and he does not say to us, listen, if you do this again, you will not get into heaven.  What about you, are you not happy that the Lord wants you back?  And I do not know of any family members in our family that would not welcome a lost child back home.  I know our kids all pray for Matthew and keep pulling for him to return to God and to his family.  When my dear late brother found out he had cancer and was given just a few months to live, he was not sure he would make it into heaven.  So I went up to his farm and talked to him and we prayed together.  I did not say to him, hey, I told you, but you would not listen, so I don't want to hear about it now.  No, I was so excited that he wanted to be sure he would make heaven.  I was not excited about him having cancer ...

Will one of you, any one of you, tell me about your prodigal son/daughter story, about your walk-about on someone in your family?  How did you handle it?  God is good.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  Gosh, folks, I really love you all.  Please remember our picnic two weeks from today.  Bass/baritone singer Timothy Beitzel will be with us with music starting at 11:00 AM.  Picnic is served up at noon, and then back to some more singing.  Tim is one really great singer of gospel music.  If any other gospel singers happen to be there and want to sing, we surely will let them.  Pam and I will more than likely do a couple of old hymns.  Also some of the folks who call on Carry The Light Ministries for food help will be coming to the picnic.  Our flock from The Bridges will be coming over by bus.  A lot of our family members will be there.  It is going to be a great day.  Listen to this food line-up.  Like a lot of older folks, I am a soup and sandwich person.  So we are having turkey corn soup and also BLHT veggie soup, and it is really good.  BLHT = beef, lamb, ham, turkey, all in the soup base, and then in goes everything but the kitchen sink.  As for the sandwiches, we will have hotdogs and BBQ's for starters. And desserts!!!  Cake and pie, and pie and cake.  Cookies and other goodies.  Plus sodas and water to drink.  Please, no booze, do not bring it.  If you do, you will be asked to leave and take it with you.  Please RSVP at 717 691 8200 with your name and how many are coming.  Now, folks, let me end today by saying this ...

I love ya.  Pass that on, please.

Pastor Dan