God has such a heart for the lost that he will move heaven and earth to bring the lost sheep into his Kingdom. Our job is to do the same, to bring into the church those who don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

We train our people to go out and take the Good News of the Gospel to those in spiritual darkness. But we must “earn the right” to present the Gospel, which means we must establish a relationship of trust and friendship. There are many ways to begin such a friendship, but my all-time favorite is the way my mother, Miss Daisy, conducted her evangelism over much of the 92 years the Lord gave her on this earth.

Her way was simple, to the point, and it opened more doors than any method I know of, short of a Billy Graham Crusade. She would simply bake and take a pound cake to the person she was evangelizing.

Now I must tell you that Miss Daisy’s pound cake was the best I ever tasted, cooked in the old-timey way, a pound of this and a pound of that. Her classic pound cake was plain, big and heavy, cooked on a round cake pan with a hole in the middle. She would plan her evangelism visit so that the cake was hot out of the oven, and still warm when she presented it. No one could resist such a gift. It was wonderful served hot and would last for days. Then you could toast a slice of cake for breakfast and serve it with jelly or preserves on top.

Sometimes she would vary her offering, covering the cake with white icing. But the one which caused the most comment was her chocolate pound cake with really thick chocolate icing on top, and the hole in the middle of the cake would be packed with icing.

Now what lost soul could resist such an offering? Whether friend or stranger, Miss Daisy’s pound cake would open the door to the stomach, and to the heart. With a tummy full of warm pound cake, the person would be quite open to listen to whatever Miss Daisy had to say. And what Miss Daisy had to say was always about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, followed by a prayer and an invitation to church for the following Sunday morning.

She would always go by and drive the person to church, rather than have them come to a strange place alone. If they wanted to drive, she would arrange to meet them in the parking lot and walk in with them.

I grew up watching Miss Daisy doing her work of evangelism, and bringing folks into the church and the kingdom. But what was it that made her method so successful? Couldn't anyone bake or buy a cake and have the same results? No indeed! It wasn’t the cake, it was the Holy Spirit that opened the door for Miss Daisy and opened their hearts to hear the Gospel. You could almost call it a “supernatural” pound cake.

Here’s how it worked. First of all, Miss Daisy was a woman of prayer and she prayed every day, “morning, noon and night.” As she baked her cake, she would pray for the person who was to receive it. And as she prayed, she would feel the love of God rising up in her heart and in her cake. When she presented the cake, the smell of warm pound cake would help melt the person’s defenses against the Gospel. Then they could feel the love coming from Miss Daisy and from the Lord. From that moment, it would be a Divine Appointment.

As a boy growing up, when I saw Miss Daisy walk out the door with her warm pound cake, I knew there would be a new person in church on Sunday, and a new member in the Kingdom of God.

Her method was personal, loving and direct. And while we can’t all make pound cakes, we can take a gift of love, and we can prepare for our visit with prayer and the asking of the Holy Spirit to go ahead of us and prepare their hearts to receive us and to hear the Gospel message.

Blessings in Jesus,
Harold

A number of you have written in and asked for her recipe. I couldn’t find the original plain cake recipe, but I did find her recipe for chocolate pound cake with chocolate icing. Here it is, just as Miss Daisy wrote it in her own handwriting:

CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE
Here’s what’s cooking: Chocolate Pound Cake
Recipe from the kitchen of Grandmother Daisy
1 stick margarine
1 stick butter
1/4 cup Butter Crisco
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour (plain)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Hershey’s cocoa
1 1/4 cup Carnation Milk
1 tablespoon vanilla (pure)
Cream butter, margarine, Crisco and sugar
Add whole eggs, one at a time.
Add flour and milk, alternately.
Add vanilla last.
Cook at 300 degrees for one hour and 20 minutes.
Grease and flour pans.

CHOCOLATE ICING
Melt one stick margarine.
Add 1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
One small can of Carnation milk.
Cook until it bubbles up.
Beat in one box 4X sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat until smooth.
Spread on cake

May the Good Lord bless your cake baking!
Blessings in Jesus,
Harold

Please check out our pages with articles for men and women. Powerful and well written. http://fairfaxshepherdsheart.com//WomensMinistry.html and http://fairfaxshepherdsheart.com//Men.html

Visit my church’s website at (www.shepherdsheartcec.org). Previous messages may be read here under Saints Alive (archive). I would also love to hear from you as to how Saints Alive touches your heart. Write a note to me at (Harold.Hammond@shepherdsheartcec.org).

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