Learning The Lessons

INTRO.- ILL.- A little boy came home from his first day at school. His Mother asked him, "Well, what did you learn today?" He said, "Not enough. They want me to come back tomorrow."

I always had to go back too. The truth is even once we get out of school we are still engaged in the learning process.

ILL.- Winston Churchill said, “Personally I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” I can’t say that I am always willing or ready to learn but I should be. I may not like my teacher, but I should be open to learning.

When you come to church and Sunday School you should come hoping, praying and expecting to learn something about the Lord that will bless your life and deepen your devotion to Him. YES, YOU SHOULD PRAY BEFORE YOU COME! At least, whisper a prayer. “Thank you, Lord, for the church and opportunity to learn and grow. Help me to learn and know you better.”

You should come to church like many little kids do! Haven’t you noticed? Some come into the building excited, jumping, yelling, etc. They are glad to be here! What about you?

Ps. 122:1 “I was GLAD when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.” Are you glad when someone says, “Let’s go to church?” Or do you say inwardly, “Ugh”? Or “Do I have to go?”

ILL.- Here was Henry Ford’s perspective on education even though I don’t think he was an extremely spiritual-minded man. He said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or at eighty. Anyone who keeps on learning not only remains young but becomes constantly more valuable, regardless of physical capacity.”

I think there’s something to what Henry Ford said. If we stop learning, reading, looking, listening, dreaming, inventing, thinking, etc. we will dry up and die, so to speak. This is especially true when it comes to learning about God and His Word.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matt. 5:6)

Ps. 1:1-2 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

We are blessed and will be blessed if we ignore and shun the counsel of the world and instead seek the Lord’s face and His counsel. As we delight in God’s Word we will be blessed, but we have to be “into” God’s Word in order to learn how to delight in it. The more you study, the more you’ll want to study.

Ps. 42:1-2 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”

ILL.- I often miss my children and my grandbabies. They are sweet and precious. They are a strong, deep throb in my heart. But God is my God. He is the giver of life. He is the giver of everything that is good in life. He is the very intense lover of my soul. He loves me even when others don’t, even when my own children may not love me or like me. He loves me with a pure love. He loves me with an undying love. And He longs for fellowship with me. HOW CAN I NOT THIRST FOR HIM?

When we get thirsty for God that’s when He will pour out His blessings on us as never before!

ILL.- Thomas A. Edison, the great inventor, was talking one day with the governor of North Carolina, and the governor complimented him on his inventive genius.

“I am not a great inventor,” said Edison. “But you have over a thousand patents to your credit, haven’t you?” asked the governor.

“Yes, but about the only invention I can really claim as absolutely original is the phonograph,” was the reply. “Why, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean,” said the governor.

“Well,” explained Edison, “I guess I’m an awfully good sponge. I absorb ideas from every source I can, and put them to practical use. Then I improve them until they become of some value. The ideas which I use are mostly the ideas of other people who don’t develop them themselves.”

That sounds like me when it comes to sermonizing or preparing sermons. I don’t prepare the best sermons in the world but I get some good ideas from other preachers and put them together and come up with something that hopefully will bless people!

And we all need to be good sponges when it comes to the Word of God and the truths that His people are preaching or presenting! We are never, never too old to learn!