Stay In The House

One of the most discouraging phrases you can say to a child is ìstay in the houseî. Most children would agree that they would rather get a whipping instead of being told to ìstay in the houseî. I remember getting in trouble in school and praying that I would get whipped. For I knew that if I were to ìstay in the houseî I would miss out on playing basketball, I would miss out on playing tag, tether ball and hide and go seek. For I would rather get a whipping than to be told to ìstay in the houseî!!

I have observed that there are two reasons why a parent will tell a child to ìstay in the houseî

The first reason is to prevent that child from enjoying the pleasures of what is ìoutsideî.

*For if your child gets an F on his report card you will say ìStay in the houseî.

*If your child gets in a fight at school you will say ìStay in the Houseî.

*If your child stays out too late, you will say ìStay in the houseî.

The second reason you will tell your child to stay in the house is to prevent the child from suffering exposure to the danger of what is outside.

*For if you hear a gun shot you will say to your child ìstay in the houseî.

*If its extremely hot or extremely cold outside you will say to your child ìstay in the houseî.

*If there is a known troublemaker in the neighborhood you will say to your child ìStay in the HouseîÖ

The reason we tell our children to stay in the house is because the house is a place of refuge. The house is a place comfort. The house is a place of safety.

Everything that has a purpose has a house.

The executive branch of our government has a house, the White House

The representative branch of our government has a house, The House of representatives

In the south you will find in the country a hen house, if you look a little further you may find an out houseÖ

Barbie and Ken have a houseÖ a doll house

Even rover and fido have a houseÖ.a dog house

Everything that has a purpose has a house!

And in our text, we have a young man who is ready to take control of his life. This is not a greedy young man, nor is he a poor young man. He simply is tired of being under the rules and restriction of living in the house. Some people have said that he should not have asked for his inheritance at such a young age, I disagree.(calmly) There is nothing wrong with abundance of blessings as long as you stay in the house. The reason some of us are not receiving all that God has for us is because God canít trust us to stay in the house with his goods. We get a new car and drive right pass the church, get a new job and suddenly we resign from bible study and graduate from Sunday school. This young man had everything a young man could want, Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation, Maids, Butlers and a ChaffeurÖ all the latest cdís (Bustarhymes, Puff Daddy, Tupac etc) all the latest tennis shoesÖ He had it made. But he didnít have control. So he ask for it and he got it. He said ìDad I want my inheritance nowî. Now he has it all. Money, clothes, pagers, cell phones etc. And heís doing ok until he made one mistake. HE LEFT THE HOUSE!

Today there are three houses that I have observed that our young people need to stay in.

The first house I want you to stay in is the SCHOOL HOUSE.

A press release came out few weeks ago that determined that only 66% of all 9th graders will graduate high school in California. So statistically speaking, if you have 3 children one of them wonít graduate. The devil wants our young people to leave the school house because he knows that an uneducated Christian is a Christian that will perish, for the bible says ìMy people perish for lack of knowledgeî. Young people get your education,

*we need doctors in the kingdom

*we need lawyers in the kingdom

*we need teachers in the kingdom,

*we need journalist in the kingdom

Donít let anyone tell you a high diploma is worthless, Donít let anyone tell you a college degree is worthless. The kingdom needs some educated people to handle Gods businessÖGET YOUR EDUCATION!

The first step to dropping out is getting behind in your school work. When you are behind in your school work then you will get discourage and skip that class. Before you know it, you have dropped out completely. And young people have to quit making up excuses for failing. (excited)