Dear Father in Heaven: I love You very much. Please forgive me of my sins. Today, Lord, I want to lay our president, President Obama, in Your hands. Please help him with his sins, and I pray for his soul. Please, Lord, also be with our veterans and our troops, and please, Lord, help get our Veterans' Administration in order. Please, Lord, help me with the message on growth and then please, Lord, help me to dispatch it. In Jesus' Name, I pray, Amen.
Brothers and sisters, we are going to talk a few more days about growing and growth, and of course I want to be sure you all know the bottom line is growing in our Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray today for our president and for all our veterans and troops. Today I want to bring in some other people that helped us grow. Read on to learn who I think these people are. And yes, they all helped us grow in Christ. Now off to the message.
Thursday: May 29, 2014, Growing (Day Three)
Exodus 20:12 - Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, God took care of watering my tomatoes and they did not need fertilizer today. So I am going back to Exodus and bring out the commandment on honoring your father and mother. If we look back in our lives and really think about it, our early childhood teaching came from our parents. They helped us grow in many things. As I look back I can say I got most of the early teaching from my mamma, you know, the stuff you really needed to know. Yes, we learned to "pee in the potty," as early training and I learned that I was not to play in the potty. I learned from my mamma that my rubber ducky was okay in the bathtub, but it was not for swimming in the potty. As a young boy, I learned to put the lid down when finished at the potty. And I learned that one well. My mamma taught me table manners and my dear pop taught me how to count and together they taught me lots of other things. I learned early on to tell the truth, for if not, I had to eat some of the lie soap, which my mamma made. Yes, it was homemade lye soap, made from pig fat and lye. So our parents were a very big part of our early learning "back in the day." Grandparents also helped a lot, although in my case I only remember my grandparents on my mamma's side as my other grandparents died before I learned about them.
Now let me talk about school teachers. In our early days, we, gosh, we survived without kindergarten and started in first grade. In school we learned to play with others, we learned there were boys' potties and girls' potties, and where I went to school (Melrose, Harrisburg, PA), we had to raise our hand and ask to go to the "basement." Those early teachers taught us the basics, reading, writing, and arithmetic. We also learned to share, which we had learned some before we started to school. Also our parents would see we got to Sunday School and church, plus Wednesday night service, and how to use our Bible. Our school teachers back then also taught us about the Bible and about Jesus. We still read the Bible, prayed the Lord's Prayer and also did the pledge to our country's flag before school each day. We all could use our own Bibles so not one person would ever get upset about what we read. We also learned to get along with one another and I also learned really early in life if I got a spanking in school, I got another when I got home, and it was harder. The teachers were always right, and you never ever would sass them. Oh, my gosh, if I sassed my mamma or pop or a teacher, I had to eat on the lye soap plus feel some hickory stick.
Also, we had other teachers that would teach us. Sunday School teachers, Cub and Boy Scout leaders. And my big brother also taught me things. One of the best teachers in my favorite subject my daddy taught to me, before I was taught in school. My daddy taught me how to drive very, very early in life. I started at about ten years old. I always liked to drive and also teach driver training. I got my first car and truck at the age of fourteen and my car was a convertible. Two of the first things I learned about the car was how to put the top down and what the "back seat was NOT to be used for." I did well on the instruction on putting the top down. I did struggle from time to time about the back seat issue.
Titus 2:9 - Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. 11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age 13 while we wait for the blessed hope of the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. (NIV)
While I never believed in slaves, the wording in this should be used by all of us. Instead of being a slave we work for people for a wage. Other than that we should be the same. As long as we work for them we should be trusted, not steal from them, and trust me as a business owner, people seemed to think they could "tap the till" whenever they wanted, just do not take much at a time. We should never talk back to our bosses, and if we did not like what they did to us or the pay we made, we could go elsewhere and work. We also should do our work for our masters (bosses, supervisors) in a godly manner as if working for Jesus Himself.
Proverbs 1:8 - Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. (NIV)
Proverbs 3:1 - My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, 2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. (NIV)
And to finish for today I just want to bring out two proverbs, these from God telling us to listen to our father's instructions and our mother's teachings. And if you are blessed to still have your parents, you still should be listening to them. Then that last Proverb for today, God is reminding us to remember His teachings and not to forget His commandments and that would also be His teachings.
Now go forth and share your blessings. Love ya. Please share your love with others.
Pastor Dan
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