Teaching Them Diligently Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Teaching Them Diligently

All scripture is KJV 1611 and all definitions are Webster’s 1828

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates.

In the spring of 2017, we had a stewardship conference at our church. JC House brought the messages. I love to hear God’s Word through this man’s preaching. He is one of those “old school” preachers of which there are not many left. During this conference, our Spanish church was invited to join us for our services.  Our Spanish pastor, Francisco “Poncho” Maya, his wife Liz, and their four children were there and sat in the section in front of us. I, being the social butterfly that I am, was making the rounds shaking hands and saying hi to others throughout the congregation before the service began. My husband stayed at our seats and being the people watcher that he is, he shared with me when I got back a very thought provoking (to me at least) observation. He told me, with a bit of a laugh, how great it was to see Bro Poncho walking around with his second to youngest son and the son of a visitor shaking hands. Sounds pretty normal, but what made it great was that he was instructing them on how to do it. Right hand…look them in the eye...don’t squeeze a lady’s hand too hard…etc. I was like, aww, how sweet, but then…The Holy Spirit got me to thinking, as He often does, “If we don’t teach them, who will”. Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered teaching our children. Remembering the things we taught them and the things that we didn’t, but should have. Also, remembering their successes and our failures.

This past weekend, we had our Ladies Spring Banquet. Mrs. Roberson spoke to us from her heart. It was a blessing. Then Sunday morning and evening, her husband preached. Once again, the Holy Spirit got me to thinking when the preacher mentioned teaching kids. So, as I will do when something comes up during a message that I want to look into further, I wrote it to the side of my notes.

So, on to what I found…

The Late William “Bill” Nelson said, we are all teachers no matter if we want to be or not. We are good teachers or bad teachers, no matter if we want to be or not. I say the last part is our choice. We have to choose to be a good teacher to our children, grandchildren, young people, and others. We are always teaching them something.

So the Bible tells us in Deuteronomy 6:7a And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children…

Teach “THEM”… What is the “them”? If you look back to chapter 5, you will see that Moses now has the Ten Commandments.  God says to teach them to our children…To not just teach them, but to do it diligently.

Diligently is an adverb, so it tells us how to teach:

DILIGENTLY

With steady application and care; with industry or assiduity; not carelessly; not negligently.

STEADY is interchangeable with CONSTANTLY, adverb 

Firmly; steadily; invariably; continually; perseveringly.

APPLICATION, verb

1. The act of fixing the mind; intenseness of thought; close study; attention;

2. The act of directing or referring something to a particular case, to discover or illustrate the agreement or disagreement; as, I make the remark and leave you to make the application

3. In theology, the act by which the merits of Christ are transferred to man, for his justification.

INDUSTRY, noun

Habitual diligence in any employment, either bodily or mental; steady attention to business; assiduity; opposed to sloth and idleness. We are directed to take lessons of industry from the bee. Industry pays debts, while idleness or despair will increase them.

ASSIDUITY, noun

1. Constant or close application to any business or enterprise; diligence.

2. Attention; Attentiveness to persons. Assiduities, in plural, are services rendered with zeal and constancy.

ENTERPRISE, noun

That which is undertaken, or attempted to be performed; an attempt; a project attempted; particularly, a bold, arduous or hazardous undertaking, either physical or moral.

Here are a few verses that correlate to Deut 6:6-9:

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart  <Psalm 199:11>

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, <Psalm 1:1>

and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.<Proverbs 6:9-11>

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, <Ecclesiastes 9:10>

and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.< Philippians 4:8>

And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house <Joshua 24:15>

and on thy gates <Matthew 7:14>.

Who is going to teach them, if we don’t? The WORLD.

Joseph and the Butler and Baker Genesis 40:1-19

Joseph and the Butler and Baker

Genesis 40:1-19

I was listening to this being preached on awhile back. The sermon had a different subject matter than what was laid on my heart to look at.

You have Joseph, who is my hero from the word of God. (Some say he was a picture of Christ in the Old Testament. There are many parallels that can be made through their lives). As the part about the Butler and the Baker was read over during the service…my mind got stuck and the wheels started turning.  I wrote it down to come back to…I didn’t want to miss the service at hand. Now I am sitting down to look closer at this part of Joseph’s life.

Before we go any further let me just say this: there are two types of wine in the Bible: fermented and pure from the vine, juice. When the Bible is referring to wine that represents Christ or created by Christ it is pure…NOT going to argue…SO with that said…

The Butler and the Baker did something to make Pharaoh mad. Not sure why, but they ended up in prison with Joseph. One day Joseph came in and saw they were sad and asked what was the problem?  They both had had disturbing dreams and didn’t know what they meant. So, Joseph said that he could tell them, with God's help, what was the interpretation. 

The Butler went first:

BUTLER (Wine steward…fresh juice) Gen 40:9-13 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:

Then, the Baker went:

BAKER (Works with leaven) Gen 40:16-19 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

After three days both interpretation came to pass…Bad for the Baker, good for the Butler.  Now let's look a little closer (excitement mounting)…

BUTLER: 1. A vine was before him…John 15:1 Jesus says He is the true Vine.

                  2. Jesus refers to the grape juice as being the "New Testament in my blood" Jn. 22:20 (and it is because of that blood that we have life)

      3. Jesus was three days in the deepest of deep pits taking our sin to hell and releasing those in paradise (and it is because of the resurrection that we have eternal life)

      4. Joseph asked him to tell Pharaoh about him to bring him out of that “house” (prison)  Jesus ask us to tell others about Him…to give our testimony, to help deliver those out of the bondage of sin.

BAKER: 1. Leaven is a picture of sin. It is hidden in the flour. You can see the effects of it. Gal. 5:9 says “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” I doesn’t take much sin to affect your whole life. Without Jesus our sin will be the spiritual death of us with an eternity in Hell!

A Healing Called Beautiful Acts 3: 1-18

A Healing Called Beautiful  Acts 3: 1-18

This man, just like all the others that God healed, was healed completely. Understand this...they did not have to learn to walk...or talk...or understand words. Once the Lord healed them, they no longer had any excuse to grope around, crawl, have others carry them, let others support them, none of that.

When the Lord saves us it is completely. We are the ones still walking with the limp of sin. Blind, only because we are not looking at the Lord...we are blinded by the devil and this world. We are healed, we just don't act like it. We still have on our unclean leper clothing. We are still laying in our bed of infirmities. Begging for help when He has already helped us. (John 8:36)

Keeping by Day and by Night II Samuel 21:10-11

Keeping by day and by night     
II Samuel 21: 10-11

Rizpah means glowing coal. Can her life shine a warning to us?

We don't know what kind of mother Rizpah was before her sons were taken. We do know she was the daughter of Aiah grand-daughter of Zibeon who was either a Hivite or a Horite, but was not of the house of Israel. She was a concubine...So with that said she was taken care of...but not as a complete family...her children's father was not a fully active part of their lives.

I cannot imagine how this poor mother felt. Here her sons had been taken to pay a debt that wasn't even theirs to pay. But the Bible says the sins of the fathers are past onto the children for generations.

My Dad: Fred Spears

My dad was born in 1931 and like my mom lived in West Virginia's post depression. He went to school with a boy who was older than he and came from money. This boy was very kind to my dad...he always had big juicy apples and would share with my dad. When my dad speaks of this I can see his eye shine from the held back tears.

My dad told me about the time that he and his brothers pushed over the outhouse with granny in it...and then he told me of the tanned hide he received afterwards.

Behind the house he grew up in was a train (coal) track. The kids would follow the train and collect coal and sell it for a little bit of cash.

It was there on those same train tracks that my Uncle Ronnie got born again. They were walking along the track whose knows where and uncle Ronnie and this boy were talking about the Lord...it wasn't long and they both knelt down where they were and Uncle Ronnie asked Jesus into his heart to save him. They ran up and told my dad what he had done. He understood what Ronnie was doing when he did it but wasn't saved himself...It would be many years later and many more chances before he would trust the Lord.

My Mom: Kathryn Spears

My mom was born in 1938 and she grew up post great depression. I don't know if the people of West Virginia got the memo about the depression ending though. When my mom was in school she had a friend, a little redheaded girl, she would come to school everyday without shoes. Her family couldn't afford them. My mom would tell me about this and said how much she had felt sorry for her. I have seen the picture of my mom and uncles from that time...they didn't have much themselves but they did have shoes.

My mom's best friend was Francis...and boy did they find themselves in trouble quite a few times. One time mom and Francis went to her house without telling her mom. When mamaw found her she whipped her all the way home. Mom never did that again.

My mom's papaw owned a grocery store that had a little movie house in the basement...they sold popcorn and soda's. Mom and Francis used to sneak in to the movies.

Mom had a very rough life, I won't go into details. When I was about 12 years old my mom worked at an auto parts in Lorain Oh. She Had a friend, Gail, that worked with her and invited us to be her guest at church, Victory Baptist Temple when it was on Cooper Foster in Lorain OH. The first time my mom went to church there she said it felt like something was pushing her out. Well she tried to keep going anyway.  The church moved to Elyria OH and we stopped going for awhile. Then We started going with Gail again to Tower Baptist Lorain OH. It was here that my mom finally got saved. Thank God for friends inviting friends to church. I CANNOT even begin to imagine where life would have taken me without the Lord in my life. Now I wasn't always perfect and have a lot of scars from running head long into sin. But, that's another story....

5-12-14
Carabineers are wonderful to have with you. I have two hooked to my purse strap. One holds my hand sanitizer and hair bands. The other I attach my keys to and then my purse to the shopping cart, so if someone goes to grab my purse it will slow them down. The other day at church I used it to keep my moms oxygen tank from falling over in case it got bumped. I a public bathroom I will NOT sit my purse on the floor. If there is not a hook but a hand hold I can hook it to that or wrap the strap around the handicap bar and hook it to itself.
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Plastic shower caps come 8 - 12 in a package for a $1 at the dollar store. These make great bowl covers...and are much cheaper than the Saran bowl covers.