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Sermon of 05-05-01 lesson
from frogs by
Dr. D.A. Farmer, pastor Today’s
sermon is mainly for the children. But the adults may listen if they
would like to. But if you parents chose not to listen, then young people
please hand your bulletin over to your parents and grandparents and tell
them to behave themselves. This morning sermon is for you. Young
people and adults please take your Bible and turn with me to the tenth
chapter of Mark. Here we find recorded the case of the rich young ruler.
This young man's tastes and desires were not bad; he wanted to grow to
know Jesus better. He saw Jesus blessing the little children; he was
convinced that Jesus must be a good man. He
was sure that he could live like Jesus wanted him to. Rushing over to
Jesus, he knelt before him, and said, "Good Master, what good
thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Jesus asked,
"Why do you call me good? There is none good but God: but if you
want to be saved keep the commandments.” The rich young ruler said
to Jesus, “Which Commandment?" Then
Jesus said, "Thou shalt do no
murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt
not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself."
The
rich young ruler said to Jesus, "I’ve been keeping these
Commandments since I was a youth. What do I lack?” This rich young
ruler was willing to do good things. And he was proud that keeping Gods
law. The rich young ruler felt that his character blameless. But Jesus
said to him; "If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything
you have and give it to the poor. Then you will have the treasure of
heaven: then come and follow me." You
realize young people by helping the poor and needy, this rich young
ruler would have been laying up treasure in heaven. A great test had
come to this rich young ruler him. What would be the result? Sad but
true, when he heard Christ's words, the Bible says "he
went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."
{see
RH, Sept. 11, 1900} Jesus
tested the young ruler by a true standard, the law of righteousness,
which requires every man, woman and child to love his or her neighbor as
him or herself. The rich young ruler thought himself to be rich and
perfect. But he only proved that in truth he was penniless in love for
either God or man. He went away unhappy, because he could not keep all
his money and at the same time follow Jesus. Many
young and older people come to Jesus today wanting to inherit eternal
life! To be saved. But when Jesus says to take up our cross and follow
Him, just like the rich young ruler, when tested, refuse to deny self.
They refuse to take up the cross and follow Jesus. But
young people, the Bible is clear we must be willing to give up anything
God ask us to. We must be willing to surrender everything so that
someday soon we may obtain the crown of life. The rich young ruler
represents many in our world today. He represents the large class of
people who want to be called Christians as long as there isn’t a cross
for them to lift or carry. People
who want to do as they please. He represents a class that gets into the
things of the world. It’s sad but true; sin takes a hold of all of us.
It grabs a hold and doesn’t let us go. We have a hard time taking up
our cross and following Jesus where He leads us. To give Him everything
we own. In fact nothing we own is really ours. In fact we ourselves are
not our own. The Bible declares in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Ye
are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God
in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Young
people, God calls us all to turn from the things of this world and look
toward heaven. Jesus wants us to keep the 10 Commandments. He wants us
to do what we know to do is right. I would like to tell you a story to
end this sermon with. But before I tell you the story let me ask you a
question. Have any of you ever had someone ask you to do something you
know is wrong? Have you ever had someone try to get you to do something
you don’t want to do? I’m sure we all can say yes to those
questions. Young and the not so young here. So how do we keep from doing
wrong? Let me answer that question by telling you a story about 3 boys. Now
I realize this a little bit different story than you probably heard on
Sabbath morning but stay with me because I have a point to make. You
see there were 3 boys and their mother that lived many years ago in the
back hill of Tennessee. They didn’t have a car and were very poor. But
they got by the best they could. One day the boys had been very good.
They did everything mother had asked them to. In fact they even did
their chores without having to have mom tell them to do them. Well,
because they were so good mother wanted to do something special for
them. Mother thought and asked herself, what do my boys like? Then she
thought – oh yea, they like to eat. Then she asked herself what is
their favorite food. Then she remembered that frog legs were their
favorite food! So that evening after school she asked her boys if they
would like to have frog legs for dinner Sunday after church? They boys
jumped up and down yelling, “Yes – yes – yes!” See
the boys knew that not only were they about to have their favorite food,
but they also knew that they get to catch the frogs! And that meant
swimming every evening. How many of you have ever been frog hunting
before? You know in some parts of the country that is a huge sport. You
use this huge fork called a frog jigger. It looks like a devil’s
pitchfork. Anyway, behind the home of the boys was this gigantic pond.
And the only thing that loved that pond more than those 3 boys were the
enormous bullfrog’s that lived there. At
nighttime you could hear those bullfrog’s singing. Ever heard a
bullfrog sing? Sounds like this. “Ribit – Ribit – Ribit.” So
every night the 3 boys would go down to the pond. Now
if you have ever been frog hunting before you know that frogs are pretty
easy to catch on dry land. You just chase them into a corner. But in the
water, well, that is a different story. See in water they are home.
Water is their turf and neighborhood. They can swim fast and get away
very easy unless you know how to catch them. Well
these 3 boys waded down into the cattails and waited. They would listen.
Very quietly they listened. Then all of a sudden one of the boys would
yell I have one I have one. He would run over to a bucket and lift the
lid and throw the bullfrog in and close the lid very quickly. The other
boys would yell – would you quite down – I have another one over
here too. Night
after night the boys went down to the pond and caught more and more
bullfrogs. Came Saturday night mom went out to the barn where the boys
were keeping the frogs. She lifted each lid and counted the frogs. She
counted – one, two, three, four, five, ten, twenty, and finally she
said boys, you have enough. Sunday you can have frogs for dinner. Well
the next day at church wouldn’t you know it, the preacher had a very
long sermon. The boys kept whispering to each other how they wish the
preacher would hurry up! Don’t he know they have a very important
dinner engagement? Finally the preacher had the final prayer with an
“amen” and the boys yelled AMEN back and ran out the door. They
ran home as fast as they could. Only problem mother couldn’t walk very
fast. So the boys got home a long time before mother. The boys got very
anxious. They didn’t want to wait on mother. They wanted to help but
were not sure what to do. Finally the oldest boys said I know what to
do. I’ve seen mother do this a million times. He
said to the youngest – “Go get some fire wood.” You see this was
before everyone had gas stoves. All some people had to cook with were
stoves that was built for burning wood. Sort of like you pathfinders and
adventures do on your camping trips. Anyway, as the youngest went to get
the wood the oldest told the middle boy to go and get some fresh water
in a bucket. He had to go out and pump it. Do any of older kids remember
the old hand pumps? Well,
the oldest started getting the kitchen ready. When the youngest boy
returned with the firewood the oldest boy said now throw it in the
stove. And about that time the middle boy brought in the fresh water and
placed it on the stove. Then the oldest boy lit the wood and a huge fire
started warming the water. Have
you ever watched water come to a boil? First you see a small bubble
build up on the bottom. That was a sign that the water was about to
boil. Then another and another until the whole water pot is churning in
frenzy. After the water was really boiling good, the oldest boy picked
up the meanest, greenest, ugliest frog you have ever seen. He was the
boss! The leader of the other frogs. He
looked at the frog in the eye and said; “Good-bye Mr. Frog, I’ll see
you at dinner!” And he threw him into the pot but the frog jumped out.
The other 2 boys replied, “What are you doing – quit playing around.
Put the frogs in the water, not on mom’s floor.” The
oldest son said; “I’m not playing around, watch.” And he threw
another frog into the pot but he too jumped out. So the other 2 boys got
into the contest and started throwing frogs into the water but they all
jumped out on the floor. Soon there was around 20 to 25 frogs jumping
around so free - and guess who walked in the kitchen about that time?
Yea – mother. “Boys
what are you doing?” Mother said. The boys said, “We’re trying to
help you cook these frogs mother but the won’t cooperate.” “Every
time we throw them in the water they jump out.” “Boys” mother
said, you’re doing it all wrong.” “Go and get me some fresh
water.” “But mother, this is fresh water.” “Don’t argue with
me, just go and get us some fresh water.” “Now place the frogs in
the water.” “But mother” the boys said, “the frogs will jump
out.” “Just do it,” the mother said. So they place the big mean
green ugly frog in the water and he didn’t jump out.” No instead he
went to the bottom. He thought that this fresh cool water felt pretty
good. Much better than the hot bath he had just had. So they placed all
the frogs in the water and they all just found a nice cool spot. Got
comfortable. Relaxed. They thought their new home felt cozy. “Now”
mother said, “build another fire.” The boys cried out, “You watch
now mother, they will all jump out.” But they didn’t. In fact they
didn’t do anything. But soon the water started getting warmer. But the
big green ugly frogs said to his buddies, “It’s OK – just a hot
summer day. We’ve had them before. Don’t worry. Just continue as you
were.” But then a bubble hit the big frog on the bottom. He didn’t
know what to think of that. But he told the other frogs not to worry.
Everything is cool. And about that time the water began to come to a
boil and the big green ugly frog realized they were in trouble and
yelled to the other frogs to “Get out! We are in hot water!” But it
was too late. They could not jump out. The hot water had zapped their
strength. And that night – those 3 boys and mom had frog legs for
lunch. Now
you adults are probably wondering what does a frog leg lunch have to do
with this morning topic? Well it’s simple. Sometimes we see things
happening all around us. Many times we know that what is happening is
wrong. But,
even though we know it is wrong, we don’t do anything about it.
Sometimes our friends may invite us to do things we know is wrong. And
because pressure can be strong we join. Then just when you know you have
gone to far and you want out you can’t. The devil has zapped your
strength. That is why we must stay close to Jesus everyday! Don’t forget the Rich Young Ruler. The one who represented a class who become part of the world. Always remember that sin can take a hold of all of us and will never let us go. That is unless we give our hearts to Jesus. Remember we belong to Jesus. Again the Bible declares in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
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Printed From Texarkana SDA Church Website http://www.tagnet.org/texarkana |
