Each Lord’s day I teach a class of young people. 2nd graders – 5th graders. During those classes I consistently teach them about patterns and the importance of those patterns that God gives us.
Steps to becoming a Christian: Hear: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Romans 10:17
Believe: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:10
Repent: “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3
Confess: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10: 9-10
Baptism: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Mark 16:16
Remain Faithful: “. . . .be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
Revelation 2:10
Teach Others: “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” II Timothy 2:
Five Acts of Worship: Singing, Praying, Preaching, Giving, Lord’s Supper
I then teach about Adam and Eve and God’s instructions for them in the Garden of Eden and the consequences for disobedience. They had to follow the pattern, instructions.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:17
I told them that God gave Noah a pattern to follow when building the ark that would save he and his family, and that the pattern had to be followed exactly or otherwise they would not have been saved.
“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower second, and third stories shalt thou make it.” Genesis 6:14-16
I then tell them about Naaman and the instructions that God gave him for curing his leprosy and that it was not until he humbled himself and followed God’s pattern that he was cured.
“And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God,and strike his hand over the place,and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some treat thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? then went he down, and dipped himself seven times int Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” II Kings 5:10-14
I’ll tell on myself now, and my not following a pattern, or in this case a recipe. My friend broke his shoulder about two years ago. He had to have surgery and was placed in a sling, so I went over and made his lunch for him on the day he was out of surgery. Well, the pattern did not go as expected. I decided I would make fried chicken. Simple enough. When I fry chicken I place all of the ingredients in a zip lock bag and shake the chicken. I noticed what I thought was an extra piece of chicken and remembered thinking how nice it was of the grocer to place that extra piece of chicken in the package. So, I fried the chicken, made mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and pineapple cake. I thought I had done well. This was right about the time my friend became a Christian. Nevertheless, I sat with him while he began to eat. He took one bite of chicken and said, “Eileen, you fried the diaper of the chicken.” “What?” “You fried the napkin placed underneath the chicken to drain liquid.” Haaaa! I was so embarrassed, but it is a great example of not following instructions. I should have looked just a little closer before frying that chicken.
The next mistake I made in not following through with the recipe, pattern, was a pumpkin pie. I made it according to instructions, I thought. I thought wrong. Once more, this was for my friend. I thought I had placed the sugar into the ingredients, alas, I did not. Well, you know the rest without my explanation. Another great example of not following a pattern, recipe in this case, but still the same. To this day I am reminded of those errors by everyone in town. No good deed goes unpunished. Haaaa! Looking at this I’m surprised he became a Christian. It’s a good thing the preacher baptized him. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened. Haaaa!
We must follow God’s pattern for worship, becoming a Christian and staying with the pattern, otherwise we will not make it to heaven. Naaman had his way, but was not cured until he followed God’s way.
“I hold to the standard that there is no situation so hopeless that, through perseverance,
I cannot make worse.” (This quote applies to me and my not following the patterns, recipes.)
Eileen Light