|
|
MESSAGE: Begin your message by singing an altered version of “Old McDonald” and put your name in place of Old McDonald.
“Farmer (your name) he/she had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on this farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O, with a moo-moo here, and a moo-moo there, here a moo, there a moo, every where a moo-moo, Farmer Tim he had a cow,
E-I-E-I-O.
Now on this farm his cow ate hay, lots and lots of hay. Every day his cow ate hay, lots and lots of hay. Hay over there, hay over here, hay in the manger, hay on the floor. Farmer (your name) he had a cow and it ate lots of hay.”
So that song brings me to my children’s message today called, “The Hay is in the Barn.” Now just about everybody knows that animals like cows and horses and sheep eat grass for food. They go out in the spring and summer and get to munching on that nice green grass in the pasture. Why to a cow or a horse, green grass is better than any pizza or double cheese burger. The problem is that when it gets cold in the winter, the green grass turns brown and there is hardly any food left for animals to fill up on.
So farmers go out in the summer and cut the long grass in fields and put the grass into small bales or even giant round bales we call hay and then they store the hay in their barns. That way when winter rolls around and they need food they just pull out the hay. Now when a farmer says “The hay is in the barn,” they are simply letting everybody know that they have done all of their work to get ready for winter. They have stored up the right stuff to get them through the hard times.
Now for us, spiritual hay is the word of God and the barn is our heart. So, I need to take the spiritual hay, the word of God, and let it fill my heart, fill the barn that is inside of me. Proverbs 2:1 tells us, we need to store up His commands, let it dwell inside of us. We will see that allowing His word to dwell inside of us will allow us to grow spiritually and give us strength, the discipline, the endurance to be able to run the race of life.
“Hebrews 12:1, “Let us run with endurance, the race set before us.” God reminds that the race of life isn’t always going to be easy. That’s why we train, store up His commands in our hearts to prepare for the race of life. God never promised that this race of life was going to be easy, but that we would have to endure. We have to draw from God’s commands and scriptures to keep going with the hay we have put into our hearts.
My prayer this week, “Dear God, just like a farmer stores up hay to feed his animals in the winter, help me store up God’s word in my heart so I always know that the hay is in the barn. Amen.
“Farmer (your name) he/she had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on this farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O, with a moo-moo here, and a moo-moo there, here a moo, there a moo, every where a moo-moo, Farmer Tim he had a cow,
E-I-E-I-O.
Now on this farm his cow ate hay, lots and lots of hay. Every day his cow ate hay, lots and lots of hay. Hay over there, hay over here, hay in the manger, hay on the floor. Farmer (your name) he had a cow and it ate lots of hay.”
So that song brings me to my children’s message today called, “The Hay is in the Barn.” Now just about everybody knows that animals like cows and horses and sheep eat grass for food. They go out in the spring and summer and get to munching on that nice green grass in the pasture. Why to a cow or a horse, green grass is better than any pizza or double cheese burger. The problem is that when it gets cold in the winter, the green grass turns brown and there is hardly any food left for animals to fill up on.
So farmers go out in the summer and cut the long grass in fields and put the grass into small bales or even giant round bales we call hay and then they store the hay in their barns. That way when winter rolls around and they need food they just pull out the hay. Now when a farmer says “The hay is in the barn,” they are simply letting everybody know that they have done all of their work to get ready for winter. They have stored up the right stuff to get them through the hard times.
Now for us, spiritual hay is the word of God and the barn is our heart. So, I need to take the spiritual hay, the word of God, and let it fill my heart, fill the barn that is inside of me. Proverbs 2:1 tells us, we need to store up His commands, let it dwell inside of us. We will see that allowing His word to dwell inside of us will allow us to grow spiritually and give us strength, the discipline, the endurance to be able to run the race of life.
“Hebrews 12:1, “Let us run with endurance, the race set before us.” God reminds that the race of life isn’t always going to be easy. That’s why we train, store up His commands in our hearts to prepare for the race of life. God never promised that this race of life was going to be easy, but that we would have to endure. We have to draw from God’s commands and scriptures to keep going with the hay we have put into our hearts.
My prayer this week, “Dear God, just like a farmer stores up hay to feed his animals in the winter, help me store up God’s word in my heart so I always know that the hay is in the barn. Amen.