July 8, 2010 Sharing 4

Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. Family day on the line and today as we pray for families please pray for the Speck family. If you have not done so, please see the praise report from last evening about Alison. In fact, it is worth sharing again and here it is again with the prayer that I put with it...

PRAISE GOD FOR HE IS GOOD... Brothers and sisters. I just could not hold this till Thursday. Pastor Larry Hale just sent me a message that Allison (Speck) is out of surgery and doing good, and that the surgery went well AND THE TUMOR HAS BEEN REMOVED... Keep praying warriors and please stop right now and thank God with me...

Dear Father in Heaven, all honor and glory to you this day, thanks for Doctors, Nurses, and all who work with Allison, thanks for taking care of her and also watching over her family... Again Lord, all honor and glory to You, and Lord not just for this but for all things good. You are wonderful, Lord... In Jesus' name we give praise and thanks... Amen.

Another praise report... Once again today my good neighbor "Art" was out early watering his plants and I was at The Rock of Hope in my yard, watering the plants around the rock with water supplied by THE ROCK. Once again we got together and prayed, and brothers and sisters, it is wonderful to have neighbors to pray with and there is NO BETTER WAY to start the day than with early morning prayers and also with a great neighbor. Folks, if you are an early riser and you are out and about your yard and you see a neighbor, talk to them and see if you can't pray with them. That is some really good sharing and someone say AMEN...

Sharing 4: Hebrews 12:8 - Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. (NIV)

As I look at Hebrews 12:8 and remember back at not just my father but also my mother and remember as they disciplined me: Now I know you all thought that I never, ever did anything that was wrong that would require my parents to discipline me, but once in a while, I did step out of line. Once in a while, ok, every now and then, ok, daily!! I am not going farther than that one... If I was raised Catholic they would have needed a confessional just for me. I would have had to have my very own priest. Ok, I was not all that bad, but I did get disciplined and most of the time, the punishment was far less then I deserved. If one of my parents would send me to bed without supper, the other would "sneak" me up some food. Looking back I think they planned it that way. As I look at the statement that our fathers disciplined us for a little while I could get two meanings out of that. One would be that the little while would be till we left living under their roof, the other would be a short punishment. I can look back and remember some of the punishments. One thing my daddy would not stand for would be for me to talk back to my mamma. That would be the worst of the worst, the belt. Now my daddy never beat me, but I did have some red butts in my young days. My mamma was good with the back side of a butter knife, if acting up at the table, she would grab the blade of the knife and the other end would come across your knuckles. Oh, and I ate my share of soap, in fact, my mother made soap and I think it was called lie soap (I spelled it that way for I ate it each time I lied.) Other punishments were being grounded. Now I must tell you this, once I got my first cars and my old truck, I did try hard to behave for my parents said if I was bad, they would take my car... and I never lost that car. The line was put down when I was sixteen and they had the punishment that I listened to. But what does all this have to do with sharing? Folks, here is how I feel about that. I learned a lot from my parents and their rules of house and home, all based on the Bible. What they shared with me back in my tender years has not left me. I had good parents, and folks, I used a lot of the same rules with my kids. Rules are needed, and should be made and shared. If parents would teach their kids rules and punishments in those tender years we would not have so many in jail today.

The second part of the scripture tells us that God disciplines us for our good, and I really think our parents did it for the same reason. Now think about this, God disciplines us so we can share in His holiness. Now some folks might think that God does not discipline us. I have heard people say we have an all-loving God and everyone will make it to heaven. Not so, folks, only those who are born again. If God were to let our bad behavior slide, not pay any attention to it, it would not be love. A good example is how God sent Jesus to be punished for us. Think about it, and God does punish us, but look at the example He set for us. Jesus stood in for us for our sins, and all we need to do is say we are sorry. But does God really punish us or discipline us? Of course He does. Some will disagree with me, but I think some of our pain and suffering is a direct result of things we might have done wrong. Now does he cause all of it to happen, no, but He could stop some of what happens to us that is bad, that causes pain. But does he cause any of this punishment that the Bible in this scripture refers to as discipline? Let me first remind you that Jesus Christ is indeed the same today as He was yesterday and He will be the same tomorrow. And with that said, may I remind you of Noah and his family and how the rest were destroyed. So you think God will not discipline us... I am telling you right now we need to get straight with God, we need to go to Him on bended knees and ask to be forgiven of our sins, and we need to work hard at getting it right.

Father in Heaven, thanks for sharing discipline with us, thanks for parents who followed those rules with me, and thanks for forgiving me just as my parents did. But Father, you went beyond that, You sent Your son to die for us. Forgive me today, Lord, please forgive me... and again, thanks for sharing Your love, and all the needs we have and thanks for dying for me... In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings with others, and please remember to share God's love as it is your best blessing... and if you have children, show them how you need to share discipline when they need it... love ya, Pastor Dan.