The ABCs of School

Good morning, everyone! It's really great to be here with you. My wife would be here, too, except she had a cold and a cough and decided not to share that with you. And we're happy that she wasn't that giving this morning. Anyway, she's getting better, so I'm giving her lots of garlic. And garlic, really, is my mother thrived on that. In fact, sometimes when I would visit my mother at home, when she'd open the door, I was afraid to light a match. So, anyway, garlic helps. She's getting better, and she certainly wishes she could hear my sermon, but I said, well, you'll get it somewhere down the line, perhaps. Anyway, it's great to be with you. I'm doing a lot better. The walker gives me some steadiness. My right leg is the one that was broken, the femur, the thigh bone. And where it was fixed, still a little sore there from time to time. I can walk around the house with a walker, and I can get up, and I can stand, stood and shave today. I didn't sit down and shave, and took a shower myself. I'm doing a lot of things. I've been discharged from all the care at home that they're giving me, from nurses to occupational to physical therapy. I don't have that anymore. They said we brought you as long as far as you can go. So it's just a matter of this healing up. I'm feeling great. I'm feeling healthy. I'm feeling happy. And I'm glad to be back. And I'm certainly glad to see all of you today. So today we want to talk about something very important to the young people. And by the way, I appreciated the song. And when we give our heart to God, we're not only giving our words, we're giving our feelings, we're giving our being to God. That's when you give your heart to someone. So I thank you, girls, for the presentation that you gave today. Thank you so much. And thank you, by the way, for all the greetings. I've never been greeted so much when I came in. I thought I was going to be late getting down here because there were so many people to greet me. But anyway, it was really nice to be here. Well, summer is quickly coming to an end. And that means school is about to begin. I remember very well that vacation time. When summer vacation came, when I was in grade school, we had to erase all the marks we put in the books to turn them back so the text went back. When you were doing that, that was fun because you knew there were no more classes. And you were so happy to be out of classes. So happy to be finished with a school year. But then, summertime comes and you have a lot of fun to start with. It's relaxing. Then it gets a little boring because you don't have as much structure as you once had when you were going to school. Plus, if you had friends at school, and most of us did, you miss those friends. You miss being around them. You miss being in that circle or that group.

It was a real joy to be able to be with them. I had lots of nice friends and I can share some of that with you. But as we begin to go back to school, we think of new clothes, new shoes, new backpacks, new totes, new lunch boxes, perhaps, new computers, new teachers, except if you're homeschooled. If you're homeschooled, you have the same old ones. So you have to get used to them and handle that.

And by the way, I'm a fan of homeschool. I am. Years ago, I wasn't a fan of homeschool. I am a fan of homeschool. I'm not saying I'm not a fan of public school. Public school has its benefits. Homeschool has its benefits. You have to figure out which one works for you.

But I talked with a homeschool family and they told me that their school begins about this time, too.

So, you know, it follows basically the public school pattern. It doesn't as far as when they're in and when they're out of school. So this will apply to everybody. But you have new classes, new friends, perhaps. You'll make some in the group. If you're in a homeschool group, you'll make new friends there. New environment, new experiences. There's a lot of newness. I always remembered going back to school. I'd like to wear cowboy shirts, so I would wear my mother would get me a new cowboy shirt or whatever with the buttons on it and everything. I'd like to wear. I felt really good going back to school. But the one thing I really missed over the summer was seeing the growth that took place in all my friends.

And when I went back to school, some of them, in two to three months, had really grown a lot. Some of them had changed. Some of the peoples had developed differently than they were before. So it was a real interesting time. I used to wonder how all my friends had changed in those two to three months, having not seen them.

See, I lived on a farm. And when I was home, I was home. I didn't go into town. I didn't hang in our huge metropolis of one thousand in Claysville, Pennsylvania, with one theater and one grocery store and one whatever post office. So it was okay. I didn't hang with them, but I did hang at home. And I did have fun at home.

And I think I saw one of my friends through the whole summer who biked to our place. It was about a mile from the town. And he biked down our lane, three quarters Red Dog Road, all the way down to our house. And I had a good time with him. But he went back. And that was the only friend, really, that I saw during the summer unless I played Little League Baseball, which I did. So I saw some of them who were athletes who played baseball. But it was so nice to be able to go back. School can be exciting. Or it can become drudgery. Depending on how you and your heart look at it.

School can be a great opportunity. School can be a drudgery. I have once calculated 2,100 days, approximately 180 days a year. You have to be in school. It's like being sentenced to six years. Six years is a long time to spend. So you can either spend it in drudgery, or you can spend it in an exciting way. And I hope you can see school as an exciting, wonderful opportunity. Hosea 4.6, we read the scripture, talks about, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. When we go to school, and we all are in the school, some of us are in the school of hard knocks. You know, falling and breaking your femur is not exactly what I call soft knocks. But it was a school of hard knocks. And I learned something very valuable. I learned to endure. I learned to pray more for people in hospitals. I learned to think about them more. In life, we're learning a lot. When we study the Bible, when we read and we read the scriptures, and we follow world news, we're learning a lot. We're learning a lot about our world. If you're in business, you better be learning a lot. As a counselor, I had to do 30 hours of credit to be renewed every few years. And I had to turn that in and show that I did it, to be a marriage and family therapist. I had to show that I had completed those courses. In life, we're always going to be learning. I know when we finish 12 years of school, we say, Whew! Now I don't have to learn anymore. Oh, yes, you have a lot to learn. You have a lot to learn how to apply what you learned in school. So my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. We do need certain knowledge that comes from schooling, so that we can be able to function in this world. And always being aware of God's perfect knowledge. When he said, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, he wasn't talking about how to write your ABCs. He wasn't talking about how to do algebra. He was talking about knowledge, basic knowledge of life. But you know what? In school, you do get to practice that. You do get to practice that, if you're aware.

So I hope in this sermon that I'm going to give, because as one who has been in school for 20 years, I had 12 in high school, 8 more in graduate classes. I know a little bit about what it takes to be successful in school. Plus, I taught 32 years, 16 in Pasadena and Big Sandy, and 16 in ABC. So I know a little bit about knowledge and dissemination of knowledge and how to be a good student. I learned that, but it took me 20 years or more than that, 52 years, to learn all that.

And I didn't always enjoy going to school. But most of the time I did, because we lived on a farm for eight years. We didn't farm, but we were away from town, so I never interacted socially with anybody unless it was at a dance, a school dance, which I went to rarely. I didn't date much until we moved to Bridgeville, my junior-junior-senior year. And then I was right close to the school. I was right across from the school. We were a mile and a half from the school. We had to drive in to school or take the bus before. But after we moved back to our hometown where I was born, I was able to go right across the street.

I could wake up, get my clothes on quickly, and go to school. I'll talk about that as we go on. I have this sermon I have. I want to show you how you may have the most successful school year. So this is aimed at the young people, all going back to school. I could call it Back to School or the ABCs of School. We could say the ABCDE of school. That's what I'm going to cover, the ABCDE of schooling. So here are some ABCs to an enjoyable, fulfilling school year. Whether it's public school or whether it's homeschool. Please try to apply this knowledge as you may.

So here we go. Here are the ABCs. They may be adapted, certainly, by all of us. Because I hope you're still learning. I hope I never stop learning until I can't learn anymore. Because there'll be dirt over top of me. I hope every day we have a learning experience. I hope every day we say, I wonder what today will bring.

I wonder what I'll learn today. I wonder what life will be like today. I wonder how I can live life today. So let's begin. Here's A. A is for active. I've taught classes where people sit there and they look at me like they're dumbfounded, like they're on some type of a tranquilizer, sitting there looking at you. They're not really with you. They're not really actively listening. And there is a whole section I could do on active listening.

When you're listening to somebody, when somebody's talking to you, you're showing interest in what they're saying to you. You're not sitting there looking at your watch or fumbling or had your head in your hand. That does not show any activity.

Be active as a student. You have every reason to be active. And I know when I was first in the ministry, when I was first going to Ambassador College, I was a little bit shy about this. I'm going to a small, unaccredited college, and my relatives would ask me, so what are you going to become? I don't know. I didn't know what I was going to become. I know I was learning how to live.

They said, well, what are you learning? I said, I'm learning how to live, because if I learn how to live, then I'll learn. I can learn a trade. But I need to learn how to live, and that's what I'm learning now. But I didn't angle in any way to become a minister. I just did the best I could in college. I tried to learn.

In high school, I tried to do the best I could. And that's the thing, to be active, to show your interest in what's being taught, in what's being done. In whatever school activities, not every school activity is horrible. Not every school dance or school occasion is going to be horrible.

Look for the ones that you can do. If it's in a public school, if it's in homeschool, have excitement. I know you have the same old teacher, but you have a new class. What am I going to learn out of this class? What is this going to be like? And really, you have to say to yourself, there's opportunity for me to grow.

There's opportunity for me to learn. I always tell my classes, I've heard lots of sermons over the years. I'm 60 years in the ministry coming up in about six months. I'll be 60 years in the ministry. I've heard a lot of sermons. I've heard good sermons. I've heard bad sermons. I've heard in-between sermons. And I have to say to myself, what am I going to learn? Maybe I'm going to learn something good today. You can't go there saying, I hate this class. What am I going to learn? And it's really important, young people, for you to set your attitude to say, what am I going to learn? I wonder what we're going to learn about this today. I wonder if we'll learn how to do that today. I wonder what's going to come to anticipate. Proverbs 3, verses 13-16. I've got these written out so I can save time in turning to the Scriptures. But Proverbs 3, verses 13-16, we read this from New King James. Happy is the man who finds wisdom. It takes knowledge to understand how to have wisdom. Wisdom is being able to know something and being able to use the understanding of that something to form a proper decision. That's wisdom. Character is how to use that proper decision. So we want to have go all the way to character. But happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. So you want to understand something. And by the way, if you don't understand something, be willing to ask a question.

Be willing to ask a question. Sometimes in class, I joined, I became a marriage and family therapist. A lot of the people in the class were younger than I was. I was 48 years old. A lot of the younger people, a lot of them were just barely out of college. Some of them weren't even out of college. They had had all these classes in psychology.

I hadn't had any classes in psychology. And they understood certain things. And sometimes the person would say something, who's the instructor, and I don't know about that. And I'd think, if I ask that, I'll appear stupid. Then somebody else asks a question, and it comes across, great! So if you don't understand something, ask a question. That's part of being involved, going on. He says, for her proceeds, that's wisdom, are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold.

So it takes knowledge to be able to have wisdom. Why? Because I have to know and understand something before I can know how to apply it. So as you go to school, you're sifting through. Some knowledge is not going to be good. Some knowledge you'll never use. How often do I use algebra? Almost never. When I go to the store and give them some money and have change come in, just a minute, I'll take out my algebraic calculator here so I can figure out how.

I don't have to do that. And I took minor, I have a minor in math from college. How much of that do I use? Solid geometry, analytic geometry? I don't use it because I'm not in a chemical lab field. So what do I use? Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. Learn your basics and use them. But it takes that knowledge to be able to use it wisely. So he goes on to say in verse 15, She's more precious than rubies.

The wisdom that can come as a result of having the knowledge to start with, and all the things that you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches in honor. So what he's doing, he's extolling learning. He's extolling adding to your life.

You want to know the right thing to do at the right time? Watch people who do the right thing at the right time. You can learn from different things. You can learn from knowledge, from hearing. You can learn from observing. You show me how to do something. I'll do it much better than if you give me a book to read on it. Show me. Watch. Observe. Observe people who have their act together so you can have your act together.

And you know, as a young person, this is... Proverbs are written. We'll do a lot of Proverbs today, written for young people. But then we can all learn from them. So Proverbs 3, 13 to 16, A is for active. I have a couple of other Scriptures. Listen. Active listening, when you're in class, listen. Proverbs 2, verses 1 to 5, we read this from... from the sage Solomon. Many of them are Solomon's writings. My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom. When you incline your ear, what are you doing? You're leaning in toward that person.

You're leaning in. You want to hear what they have to say. You're not back and lazy. I'm listening to you. I want to find out what you have to say. When we go to school, listen. I always tell my class, if you listen carefully to what I teach, you'll make good grades, because you will hear me emphasize everything that's going to be on the test.

And in my teaching, I had in yellow all the points that I was supposed to stress. I did that. That's it. You listen. You'll do great. That's why if you go to class sleepy and tired and you get a good rest and your mind's not thinking, you'll miss. So then you have to try to cram to get it all in when it was already there. So again, listen. Listen. He says, incline your ear to wisdom. Apply your heart to understanding. I want to understand that. I know sometimes I look, I read over a scripture and I say, now he said this, what did that mean?

I kind of skipped over because I was looking for something. Take the time to look at my concordance, look at, see what my inner linear, see what that word means. Or look up a commentary, see what they say about, oh, now I understand. I didn't understand. Now I understand. Seek understanding. He says, apply your heart for understanding. Yes, if you cry out for discernment, God, help me to discern. Help me to see the right from wrong. And by the way, you should see the right from wrong. You should be choosy. We'll come to that as C.

You should be choosy in the knowledge that you just accept. Mr. Armstrong, the one who brought this current era of the church, not the human, he wasn't the leader, Christ was the leader, but he was a human man. And what he said, how he pictured people in education is they have a picture full of knowledge, worldly knowledge. And you have a pupil with a hole in his head. And you put a funnel there, and you just dump this knowledge in. Just dump it in. There's no learning. There's no discerning. There's no thinking to that. But we want you to think. We want you to listen. We want you to play it through your head.

Does that make sense? I always say, does that make any sense? It doesn't make sense to me some of the things that I see happening in our world. It doesn't make sense. When they write who I am, when I'm born, I know who I am. I may feel like something else. I may feel like yapping like a dog, but I'm not a dog. I may feel like meowing like a cat, but I'm not a cat.

I know who I am, but we have to complicate that. You don't feel that way today. You can feel something else. I'm sorry. That doesn't play straight in my head.

And you need to make sure you listen so you can see. He says, if you seek for her as silver and look for her hidden treasures, what do they mean by that?

What does that mean? Now, what I didn't like when I went to another college, they would have us read poems, poetry.

Now, what did this writer mean? What did Keats mean? What did he mean when he wrote this? I don't know! How do I know what he wrote? I don't know! I can tell you what I think it means. I don't have access to him right now.

They want to tell you what they think it means. I'm sorry. It's what you think it means. You're asking me what I think it means? I tell you what I think it means. And I was wrong because I was supposed to have a certain other answer.

How do you know? But see, you should be thinking. You should be thinking. Search for the hidden treasures. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. That's Proverbs 2, verses 1 to 5. Learn. Listen. And by the way, if you suspect false knowledge is being disseminated, ask your parents.

Your parents should be able to tell you the difference between true and false.

And if they can't, they can seek help from the ministry.

But if you don't agree with something, that doesn't sound good to me. Ask your parents.

Now, if you need to put that same answer on a test, you can say, well, the answer that you want is this.

The answer you want is this. Some people say, I would answer it this way. But the answer you want is this. Here's my final answer.

Here's yours. Here's what I would say.

But don't get yourself in trouble and fail a course by saying, wow, that's stupid. Say, this is what you... the answer you're looking for might be this. That's not my answer.

Again, you want to stand up for the truth. We'll cover that in a moment, too.

And the second point under this A, being active, is ask questions. Ask questions.

Jesus Christ, in Luke 2, verse 46, we read this. Remember, He stayed behind.

And He went to His Father's house. He'd been taught. Your Father is over that temple there. He was in His Father's house asking questions of all these noted theologians.

And they were dumbfounded at His questions and His answers. Luke 2, 46. Now, so it was after three days, they found Him, His parents found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of teachers, both listening to and asking them questions. So the Son of God was not afraid. Now, the idea, children should be seen but never heard.

This throws that right in the toilet. Children should not bud in. You teach them proper. But there's a time when there's a breath taken with two people, you can ask a question.

It doesn't mean, shut up, kids. You can't say anything. You should invite your children.

You should make it known that they can ask you questions. You should welcome their questions. They should not be ashamed to ask questions, whether it's at home school or whether it's at public school.

Luke 2.46, the Son of God in the flesh, asked questions of teachers, and He listened to them. So listen and act. That's A. Be active. Don't just be a bump on the log. Don't just sit there, enduring.

Be active. What am I going to learn today? Accumulate that knowledge. Second letter, B. B is for befriend others. Befriend others. I had friends at school, grade school. I liked a girl named Bonnie. I must have been, I don't know, third grade, second grade, third grade. She was really cute. She sat behind me. She was really cute.

I never dated her. I never went out with her. I never held her hand. I didn't...but I thought she was cute. And when I went to school, I always liked seeing Bonnie. It was nice to see Bonnie. I liked to go to school because I could see Bonnie at school. As I evolved to seventh grade, eighth grade, I liked...and she was brunette. I liked a girl who was a blonde. Her name was Linda.

I never dated Linda. We were both in the same marching band. She played clarinet and I played trombone. So I wasn't really close to her at all in the band. But I always thought she was cute. And I would always try to dress spiffy as spiffy as I could dress as a guy living on a farm coming from a town of a thousand people. But anyway, I tried to dress as nicely as I could because I would see them. I was keyed up for the day. I'm going to see Linda. And then later on, Barbara. My wife's name is Barbara, but the girl that I used to like was named Barbara II. Not Barbara II, Barbara Ann.

And that was when I was in high school. And she was the only girl I took to...she was the first girl I ever took to the prom. And the first girl I ever kissed. And the only girl I ever kissed.

Only girl. And only a peck.

And I dreamed all night.

I asked her if I could give her a kiss goodnight, and she said yes. To my surprise!

And I had never kissed a girl before, so I didn't know what that was going to be like. But that was a growing experience. And her name was Barbara. And she was beautiful.

And of course, Barbara Ann, my real wife, came along afterwards when I went to college and met her and got to know her. It wasn't because of the name that I married her.

But the other girl's name was Barbara Ann as well. My wife's name was Barbara Ann.

But it was fun to go to school because you would see them. It was exciting to have friends. When I went to college, I went for my master's degree in marriage family child therapy. There used to be a guy there who was a Jewish fellow.

And I just happened to sit beside him the first time I went there, and he would always save me a seat. And then there was a Jewish lady who...her life was pretty perfect. She was married 19 years, and she enjoyed...a children she enjoyed her husband. Now let me tell you something about therapists. Many therapists are messed up. That's why they become a therapist. They think they can... because I've been messed up. I can help other people not become messed up. Sometimes that's good. Sometimes it's not good. This lady would say, can I...can you sit beside me? Can you come over and sit beside me? She was married and happily married. I was married for 30-some years at that time. And she would say, can you come sit beside...they never pick on you.

You never say anything bad about your life. They never pick on you. Why don't they pick on you? They pick on me all the time. Because I'm happy with my husband. I'm not done on him. I don't have any issues that I'm bringing to the fore. And she felt good to have me sit beside her. She felt strength. But I had my friends at that...and that made me...when I went to school every...all day long...

all day long on a Monday. And then Sunday had come over there for various things that we had to get together. So there were a lot of...all day long I was with them. So again, let me say, befriend others. Proverbs 18 and verse 24. We read this, a man who has friends must show himself friendly. But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. So have friends. Make friends. They could be casual friends. They could be so-so friends. They could be good friends. But you want to make...when you have friends, you're going to have to be choosy. Okay? There's a friend who sticks closer than a brother if you show yourself friendly. And some of those people were like my brothers.

Even in school. Even though they weren't in the church. They were nice to me. My daughter, when she went to school...and both daughters... My daughter Susan is here from Nebraska. And my granddaughter Stephanie is here. She's going to ABC, so she's here to get settled. But my daughter Susan and Jan, who's down there back there translating probably. But anyway, the two of them went to Arcadia High School, which was a very nice high school. But had a lot of drugs. And I said, does anybody ever come to you for drugs? No. They know who the good kids are. They leave the kids alone who don't go that direction. But some of the good kids would go to...one of my daughter Jan's friends said, I was lamenting at lunchtime. I haven't had a chance to study my Bible today. And Jan said, well, we have a magazine called Youth 83. Youth 84. Whatever it is. And she said, you can take that. That's a good idea. So she subscribed to get Youth 83, 84, whatever it was at that time. So it was a blessing to be 93, 94 at that time. So she was able to have friends like that. And they didn't do drugs. And they stayed together. They didn't just isolate themselves. But you'll find people that are decent. You'll find people that are good in the world. And having a friend is not a bad thing. Now, if you have a friend that misleads you, we'll talk about that in a little bit. In Proverbs 14, Verses 7 and 8. Proverbs 14, Verses 7 and 8 is the next scripture I will read.

Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge. So you want to be selective. You want to even talk to your parents about your friend. Oh, I met this really nice guy, this nice girl, this nice... Ask them, hey, what do you think? They do this, they're that. And sometimes you can say, hey, I'd like to meet your friend. Bring him over to the house.

So that you get to know what your children are choosing. It says, go from the presence of a foolish man, when you perceive... when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way. But the folly of fools is deceit. People will try to deceive you.

Don't fall for their deceits. And then, again, we need to be careful. So I had Dickey Day, Ron Blaney, Jean, Vanderhoof, Walt Mason, Chuck Chardong, and my cousin Michael among my friends. And I still remember them to this day. They're still my friend if I ever happen to see them. But of course, I don't live in their same area. It is motivating to see your friends and those who are special to you. But if you perceive in them shenanigans, difficulties, I don't want to be there. And I would say to them... I had one guy at college, ambassador, who came to me to counsel, and we discussed it. He said he had a drinking problem.

He said, I don't know what I'm going to do when I go back home, because as soon as I get with this crowd, the first thing they want to do is go out and get drunk. I don't know what I'm going to do. I would say, well, you know what the Scriptures say, right? Yes. I would tell them, look, you're my friends.

I can't stop what you do. But if I go with you, I'll be the designated driver. I will not drink like I used to. I will not run to the same excess... what is it? 1 Peter 4-4. I will not do what I used to do. Don't be afraid to tell them, look, I've changed. I'm not going to be this way anymore. So if you're uncomfortable being around me, then don't invite me. You're still my friends. I like you as people, but I don't like to get drunk, and I won't be.

So count me out if that's what you're going to be doing. So stand for something. We'll come to that next. All right. C is for choosy. A-B-C. C is for choosy. C-H-O-O-S-Y. Be choosy of your behavior or character. Be choosy of what you're going to be around anybody. You know what character is? Doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason.

Doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason. You're not doing it to be proud. I'm self-righteous. You're doing it because it's right. It's the right thing to do. And if you have character, you're not going to let somebody infringe upon it. Philippians. Sorry, let's read Proverbs 1, verses 10 to 16. This is a warning to young people. He says, My son, if sinners entice you, don't consent. Hey, let's go. We're going to go do this.

We're going to go do that. We're going to go torch the instructor's car. We're going to go bar it. We're going to go key it. Would you do it? Hey, let's all go do it. Let's all put key marks in his enamel on his car. Would you do it? To be a part of that group? Well, if you're a part of us, you should be willing to do it.

No, I'm not going to do it. Worst character come in. And don't compromise. Don't consent. If they say, Come with us, let us lie and wait to shed blood. Let's beat up somebody. Let's go cost them. Would you do it? He said, I'm not going to do that. That's not what I do. Let us lie and wait to shed blood.

Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. And you'll find they'll pick on you if you're innocent. They'll pick on you. They want to corrupt you so you could be like them. Don't do it. Don't do it, son. Let us swallow them up alive and whole like those that go down to the pit. Let's send them down to the grave.

We shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil. You know one young man who was in the church? He got involved in the wrong group. You know what they did? They thought they could go in and steal this old man's stuff. They thought the old man wasn't home. The old man was home. You know what they ended up doing? Stabbing him to death. You know what happened to that boy? He ended up in prison.

You know what finally happened to him? He committed suicide. Wrong choices. That's why he says, don't throw in with them. You know this is wrong. Is it wrong to beat up somebody just because you feel like beating somebody up? Yes, it's wrong. Character says, don't do it. Do you have that character? Is it more important to have fame with your group of hoodlums or thugs? Or do you want to get out of that group?

You're in that type of group? Get out of it. Don't listen to them, son. He says, if they entice you, don't consent. They'll say, we shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil. What good does it do? If I steal your watch, I'm not going to show it around, am I? Because you might be in the audience. So I'm not going to say this.

I'm not going to look at this watch. I've got to look very careful. That doesn't make me feel very good, does it? Having your spoils on me, that doesn't look very good. And I won't enjoy it. When I was a little kid, I always loved plums. In fact, we have some plums on our fruit boat. I saw this green grocer come, and he would take food into people's houses, go buy, get what they wanted, and he would drive his truck, and it was sitting there. And I'd seen him take these things in before. So my little kid, I'm still a tricycle rider.

He went into this house. I went into his truck, and I took a plum. Came out. Jumped on my little trike. You know, trikes, you just have to go around and around. You don't have any coasters in it. I was riding up the street as fast as I could get up there into an empty lot at the end of the street. I dived into that area behind a rock on this empty lot.

That plum. And then all of a sudden that truck kept coming up the street gradually. I thought, oh no, he's going to stalk where I am. And he didn't. The stolen fruit may taste good, but the pain I went through before I ate it wasn't worth it.

It isn't worth it to steal somebody. Why do I want to enjoy the fruit of their labors? If you're thinking straight, if you're not thinking straight, oh, that looks nice, I'll take it. I was about a four-year-old or five-year-old. I wasn't in school yet. But my road, that little trike, as fast as I could up that sidewalk, dived into that area, I hope, before that guy. He probably didn't know I even took it.

But you can do wrong. If you get into the wrong group, they'll say, let's do it. Cast your lot in with us. We'll all have one purse. We'll all share what we get. My son, verse 15, Proverbs 1, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. All they want to do is cause trouble. Is that what you want to be known as? The troublemaker?

God said we should be what? Peacemakers. Peacemakers.

Proverbs 22 and verses 1-3, always keep this in mind. Before I knew God, what kept me in line was my love and respect for my parents.

I never wanted to do anything that would cause them shame, to be ashamed of me.

In fact, I asked my dad in his latter years when I stayed in the church and the rest of my family, who used to be in the church, were no longer in the worldwide Church of God. I said to my dad, are you disappointed in me because I stayed in the church?

And he said no. He loved my wife and me.

He loved us for who we were.

And you do what's right, you'll be loved and admired and appreciated because you have something that a lot of people don't have, character, when you choose to do the right.

So a good name, Proverbs 22 verses 1-3, a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.

Would you rather have stolen goods or would you rather have a good name? We can trust that guy. We can go to him.

We know he's true, tried and true. Are you tried and true?

I hope you are. He said, loving favor rather than silver and gold.

Do you want God's favor toward you? The rich and the poor have this in common. The Lord is the maker of them all. In verse 3, a prudent man, this is the one I wanted to come to, the prudent man, foresees evil and hides himself.

What's the end of that? Where are they going? What are they going to do with this? Let's go out and do this. Let's talk. Talk and turn into action. Hey, it's a talking stage. I don't like where this is going. I don't like where this is leading.

Count me out. I'm not joining you.

Again, prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself. But simple. They pass on and they're punished.

Oh, okay, let's go do it. Aren't you thinking? Why do you want to do that?

Where it's wrong and you know it's wrong. Hold the line. I'll come to that in a moment.

Deuteronomy 30, 19 says, I call heaven and earth to as witness today against you that I've set before you life and death. That's why I say be choosy.

Blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live. Do you want to live? Do you want to set an example for your children?

It's a great way to do it by being choosy, by making proper choices in life. Philippians says, be interested in others' welfare. One thing about being choosy, you can choose to be nice to people.

You can choose to say thank you. You can choose to help somebody. Somebody's having difficulty in class. You can say, hey, if you'd like to study with me, I'll be happy to study with you. If you're doing well in that class, don't volunteer.

You don't want their grade to go down. But if you're doing well in the class, say, hey, if you'd like me to study with you, I'd be happy to study with you.

Once again, you have that opportunity to be choosy.

Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4, be interested in others' welfare. And apply the golden rule. Apply the golden rule. What's the golden rule? Matthew 7, 12. Whatever you want others to do to you, do to them.

However you want them to treat you, treat them that way.

And at school, you can apply it. And you will be friendly, and you will be accepted, and you will be nice.

People will admire you because you care.

They will admire you because you care.

So read Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4. He talks about, let each of you look out, not for your own interests, that's verse 4, but also to the interests of others. So somebody dropped something on the floor in your class, helped them pick it up.

Somebody spills his or her pencils or whatever they do now on the floor, dropped a computer program or whatever. Help them pick it up.

If their tote spills out all the contents of it on the floor, help them.

Here, let me help you. What does that ever hurt to help somebody?

That's C, be choosy. D is for daring. Daring. I suggest you dare. Don't be risky, but dare. What do I mean by this? I mean, dare to lead.

Don't shrink back. I hope nobody notices me because I have this strange religion. Your religion is based on the scriptures of God. How can you go wrong with that?

Don't be afraid. Don't shrink back.

Dare to lead. Dare to stand up to trials. Instead of trying to circumvent them and avoid them. I don't mean you want to rub it in people's faces. But dare to stand up. Dare to be tall. Dare to stand for what you believe and what you've been taught, what your parents have taught you. And your parents have gone this way before. They know what school was like. Maybe not as bad as yours. I'll grant you that.

But they know what rough times are at school. They had them too. Maybe not in the same way.

They can be a wonderful resource for you. Dare to stand up. Dare to be involved. Dare to say, well, I'll help with that program. I'll help with that set up for the dance on Friday night before sunset. I'll help. Instead of saying, I can't do that, I can't do this. Look for ways you can help.

Be a leader. Don't be a shrinking violet. Don't be someone who's... I've got to hide in the corner. I hope nobody notices me. That way I won't have any trouble. And you won't have any goodness either. Stand up for who you are. Be willing to let your light shine. You know Matthew 5, verses 14 to 16? You as a young person can let your light shine. As I recall, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego almost got lit up, didn't they?

Yeah, because they were letting their lights shine. And they almost got lit up with some fire. Because they wouldn't stand up. Daniel's three friends. Can you stand? Will you stand? When it comes time. Again, let your light shine. Ezekiel 22, verse 30. This is the last scripture, the only scripture on D. God said, He looked through the land. He was looking for somebody who would stand for something.

And He said in verse... Ezekiel 22, verse 30. I have stand in the gap. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before Me. Who's going to stand for My way? Who's going to stand for this? Who's going to stand for righteousness? Who's going to stand for goodness? He said that I should not destroy it, but I found no one. In Israel, as He indicted them, He found no one who was willing to stand in the gap.

Will you stand in the gap? Do you stand in the gap? Or do you avoid the gap? I don't want to be in that gap. Stand tall. When difficulties arise, stand tall. So again, Deus for daring. Let your light shine brightly. He talks about not being ashamed and not hiding it under a bushel.

I hid my light under a bushel when I was a new Christian. I didn't want anybody to question me about my beliefs that weren't traditional. I didn't want somebody to ask me why by eating crackers and cheese during I'd Love and Bread instead of a nice sandwich. I didn't want them to ask me that. Who likes to be out of step with the whole group?

Not many. But the reason you're in step, and they're out of step. One lady said she saw her son marching in the band, and he was out of step. Everybody else was left, right, left. He was right, left, right. She said, isn't it amazing how my son's in step and everybody else is out? Be in step with God.

Your parents have taught you God's way. God's way is a way that's right and satisfying. And I can tell you that because I learned it at around age 17, 18, I started to get interested. And I can tell you it's a satisfying way of life. And as one who's seen hundreds and hundreds of students, college age and otherwise, you apply these five A, B, C, D, E points, and you'll be a success.

And you'll not just be a success. You'll be happy. So point D, D is for daring. A, B, C, E is for excitement or excited. Do you know that school is the best time in your life? I didn't think so when I was in school. When I look back, boy, that was a great time. School can be the greatest time in your life while you're always learning something. You're learning how this fits. You're learning how that fits. You're learning what to do. You have sports. You have activities. You could be a part of. All those things work for your good, for your benefit.

School's the best time. Learn the lessons. Don't refuse unless it is wrong, according to the Scriptures. Proverbs 12 and verse 1 we read, Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. Learn. Study. Listen. Be excited for it. And again, let me encourage you this, that you need to be practicing to be the best you can be. I played sports. I tried to live right. I wasn't converted yet. But I always played decently. I wouldn't play dirty. I wouldn't play dirty to win.

But I played basketball two years, varsity, and I was on the teams. After the first game of the season, my junior year, I was starting. And I started, while the way through my senior year, I started. And I would not play dirty. But I played strong and tough. But I wouldn't play dirty. I wasn't in the church yet. But I had moral standing. My dad taught us not to lie. My dad taught us to be true. I did that because my parents taught me.

You can dare to be, you can be excited for the opportunity. And I encourage you, as young people, try to excel in something. Maybe you're good with computers. Maybe you're good at sports. Maybe you're good at art. Maybe you're good at writing. Maybe you're good at speaking. Maybe you're good at singing. Maybe you're good at playing a piano. Whatever you do, really practice it. Learn to do well. And you'll be a stand-out. And you will be respected. Practice doing something good. The one girl would tell me, when we had a church, we had just a church volleyball, we could get together on a Sunday night or whatever, play for a couple of hours.

And I'd say, why am I always chosen last? I said, because you're not good. Let's bring you to some reality. But I said, you don't have to stay that way. Take a volleyball home and practice it. Practice hitting it. Practice, you know, the reason you're not picked, because you're not good. But I didn't discourage her, I said, but you can do. And sure enough, she started bringing a volleyball home to practice and get familiar with it. If you stand there and you hit the ball, all the bombs, everything, who wants you on their team? Nobody! I didn't tell her that. But she was always picked last. Sorry.

Reality is, you're not good. But you don't have to stay there. And I encourage you, whatever it is, if you're academically strong, they'll look at you as a brain, and they'll respect you. If you're good at art, you can volunteer to help with their various prom decorations or their various school dance decorations. Hey, I can help do that. I can paint that. I can do that.

I can draw that. It makes you a leader, automatically among those who look for people that are good, whether it's the faculty or whether it's your fellow schoolmates. I helped, I joined, I didn't know how to put a yearbook together, but I became co-editor of the yearbook. My friend and I put it together, and we put together a really nice yearbook. And we worked after school with this teacher that showed us what to do, how to do it. We worked together with her. You can do the same thing. You don't have to lay back.

You don't have to say, well, I believe in the church, and I did the church. I hope the church doesn't tell you to do it. I hope you do it because you're seeing it now, depending on your age. It's your choice. Until you get a certain age, it's your parents' religion. But you know what? It's not my religion that tells me to do this.

It's the Word of God. It tells me to live right. So Ecclesiastes 9-10 tells us, Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there's no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. When I see people run up and down a basketball court, or play baseball and run to first base, or slide into second, I go, Oh, my leg!

And I think I used to do that. But I don't anymore. You only come that way once. While you're there, young people, do it with your might. Whatever it is, whether it's learning in school, whether it's art class, whether it's music, whatever it is, do it well. Be in the chorale. At school. I loved being in the chorale at school. But do your best. Proverbs 18-15, we read, The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

I want to learn. I want to learn how to do that. And where would we be? Where would we be if we didn't learn our ABCs? Where would we be if we didn't know how to spell? Where would we be if we didn't know how to add, subtract, multiply, or divide?

Where would we be if we didn't know how to speak in life? So, again, those are the ABCDEs of schooling. And it is my hope that you as a person will grow and have the best school year. Parents, help them. Be interested in your children's schooling, what they learn, what new friends they've made. You're not interrogating them, you're asking them. You're showing interest in them. Help them with their classes. How are their teachers? How exciting that they learned today, this past week. Show interest and listen to them. Brethren, these are your children. They're your church family children.

You can ask them, hey, so how'd school go? How was school this past week? It's coming up on Thursday, I think, for public school. How'd your day go? How's your week? How's your week been? Then chat with them. What did you learn? How are your classes? Ask them. Show an interest in them. Let them know that if they needed any help with something, you'd be happy to help them.

Maybe you're a college grad. Maybe you went through high school and did well. Show interest in them. They're your children, too. Maybe not physically your children, but spiritually they are. So education provides building blocks for the future. And it's a tremendous asset in all careers. If you had not learned the ABCs at kindergarten and did not learn to read or write, where would you be in life now?

Those are the ABCs of school that I've given to you. And to be successful, summer break is about over, but an exciting school year is about to begin. May your school year be wonderful and fulfilling, and may you truly enjoy it.