Queen's Edge Farm: Today's Sermon

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Today's Sermon

I don't know if I have mentioned (I have a bad memory) that I attend a really small congregation. At the maximum we will have 40 in attendance on a good Sunday (meaning no one is sick, off doing mission work, out of town, on military manuevers, etc.) With Candi and Brian's recent joining, that has increased our membership by 5 (soon to be 6). Yeah!

If you want to read our Statement of faith go to www.geocities.com/fellowshipofbelievers

We are very close, especially since we are so small. We all attend each other's birthdays, Superbowl parties, etc. The other members have helped each other build storage sheds, they came out and tilled my garden one year, and walked my small town with me handing out flyers when I was running for city council. That's the kind of church we are...we try to be there for each other by watching each other's kids, sharing our food surpluses (the guys in the congregation got five hogs recently) and more.

We don't have our own building, and meet in one of the community centers in town. We only meet there on Sunday mornings. any other time we mostly meet at the Pastor's home, but have been known to meet at each other's homes for a variety of reasons (except mine, I live out of town).

Today's sermon started out in 1 Chronicles 29:1-5. In these scriptures King David is talking about the building of the temple (the church) and how everyone's contribution is needed. We also discussed worship, and how important it was to God. God is so worthy of our praise! Other verses to ponder: Psalm 9:1, Psalm 111:1, Psalm 138:1, Psalm 119:1-9, Psalm 63:1-5, Psalm 98:4, Jeremiah 33:10 and II Chronicales 29:27-30.

A couple of points to focus on are 1) wholeheartedly worship, 2) have an upright heart (Psalm 119) 3) worship is meant to be joyful, if you don't find it so, your "worshipper" is broken 4) what you are and what you do during the week prepares you for worship on the sabbath. You cannot worship on Sunday, if you aren't worshipping in some way during the week. It won't be true worship 5)What does God desire from each of us?

Prayer requests:

Voice of the Martyrs Christmas offering
Mrs. Workman's sister Brenda having surgery for thyroid cancer on Monday, please be in prayer.

*I will be speaking on responsible, biblical stewardship, and how to be debt free this week at a San Antonio church. Send me an email if you are interested in attending.

1 comment:

Bob Westbrook said...: That's the way it's supposed to be. When I was in the ministry we started a church that met in a room at the YMCA. It was good.; November 13, 2007 at 7:14 PM

Grandma's Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs active dry yeast or 5 tsps if using bulk yeast
1/2 cup warm water (not too hot)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening, butter, margarine
2 tsps salt
2 cups milk, scalded
1 1/2 cups cold water
10 to 12 cups flour (white or whole wheat)

Yield: 4 loaves

Soften yeast in warm water, springkle in a tsp of the sugar
In LARGE mixing bowl blend sugar, shortening, salt and milk until shortening is melted. Add cold water, cool to luke-warm. Stir in yeast. Gradually add flour to form a stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and satiny, 5 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover with foil or damp towel. Let rise in warm place (85 to 90 deg) until light and doubled in volume about two hours. Punch dough down by plunging fist in center. Knead dough for about 5 minutes.

Roll out one fourth of dough to a 16 X 12 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 TBSP of melted butter. Combine 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (or more to taste). Sprinkle mixture over dough. Starting with 16 inch side, roll jellyroll fashion. Either cut into 16 1 inch slices or leave as a whole loaf. Place on a greased pan, cover and let rise in warm place until light, about 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees about 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix one box 10X sugar with 2 tbsps water. If too stiff, add more water until icing consistency, add a drop of vanilla too. Spread on baked bread while bread is still warm.

2010 Homestead Stats

Laundry Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small washpan or bowl that holds about 2 gallons.

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the washpan. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Transfer soap (using a funnel if necessary) into empty plastic laundry holders, milk containers (I use my empty glass milk bottles and old Fab containers) Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

5 cups grape juice (about 3 1/2 pounds of ripe grapes)1 (1 3/4 ounce) box of sure-jel pectin7 cups sugarBefore getting started it is best to clean the entire kitchen, making sure the sink is empty. Bleach the sink and all utensils used in making jelly (I do this as I sell my grape jelly as part of my homesteading business.)

Wash the canning jars in warm soapy water, and rinse well. Set off to side.

Place a large pan of water on the stove to heat. Once it starts steaming, place lids and rings in the bottom, and 2-3 jars (depending on if you use actual jelly jars or pints) to sterilize.

Next make the grape juice using clean washed grapes (make sure you use rubber gloves when picking or washing wild grapes)To 3 1/2 pounds of clean grapes (6 cups of grapes) add 1 1/2 cups water.Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.Strain and squeeze out all of the juice with cheese cloth (see paragraph below)
I didn't have cheese cloth, so I poured the grape mixture into a large spaghetti strainer with a large pan underneath. I had to stir it around some as the skins and seeds would sink to the bottom, and clog the colander up. Stirring allowed the liquid to drain out. I then used a large metal spoon and squished it some to get more of the juice out.

In a very big pan, put 5 cups of the juice (it’s okay to add no more than ½ cup water to even out amount)Add the fruit pectin to the juice.Mix well.On high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.Stir in sugar all at once, and bring back to a full rolling boil, again boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly.
Remove jelly from heat, skim off foam
Use a large spoon inserted inside the jar to lift CAREFULLY out of the water. DO NOT TOUCH THE INSIDE OF THE JAR OR THE RIM WITH YOUR HANDS.
Ladle jelly into hot jars, place a lid and ring onto jar (do not tighten yet).
Set jars to the side. After a while you should start hearing “pings” as the jar seals.
When jars are completely cool, tighten rings and store on pantry shelf.**SIDE NOTE: Wild Mustang Grapes are normally ready the end of June, so be prepared. Keep an eye open for vines on the side of the road, or any that friends and family may have growing in their yard. Many people just let them grow and don’t do anything with them, so it shouldn’t be hard to find a good supply. Also, the more you pick off the vine, the more the vine produces new grapes, so you probably won’t EVER run out of grapes to use until the vine dies or you get sick of making jelly. Good luck and feel free to contact me at queensedgefarm@yahoo.com for questions.