Gtcotr/043023
Luke 15 NKJV
11 ¶ Then He said: “A certain
man had two sons.
12 “And the younger of them
said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to
me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.
13 “And not many days after,
the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there
wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
14 “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.”
1982
was a good year for me and my family.
·
We
had been married a decade
·
I
had completed 6 years active duty in the USAF
·
Our
daughter was 5 and our son was 3
·
I
was in the 3rd year as Pastor of a Church in my hometown
·
I
was attending East Texas State University at night
·
The
Church had about 35 or 40 wonderful people in attendance on any given Sunday
and about half of those were related to me.
·
My
mom and dad were in their early 50’s and I was their pastor. Without their
support we would never have made it.
·
We
lived on 5 acres where we ate eggs from own chickens, vegetables from our own
garden, and the game I caught or killed.
·
I
even raised peanuts, popcorn, and watermelons for the kids.
· I sold plastic barrels out of my yard and rode other people’s horses to make a little extra money.
God used each day and every experience to grow me into a vessel He could use.
My dad who had always been a truck driver and diesel mechanic, recently changed his profession. He was an uneducated, hard-working man who always seemed to have a reason why he did something. If we were working or talking together and he made a comment, I wanted to listen. He had a way of encapsulating and communicating principles of life in such a way that they were easy to understand and hard to forget.
Not everything my dad told me is repeatable in some settings, however I can’t think of anything he said that wasn’t true. I think this is where I got my love for the plain truth and where I learned the value of being responsibly honest.
In 1982 my dad had a small business wholesaling willow furniture.
He employed a family who relocated without notice to another riverbank in Arkansas or Oklahoma, wherever the willow had regrown from their last cutting, and worked when they felt like it, hand-making different pieces of this furniture by the truckload. My dad bought everything they could make.
Sometimes when my dad was running low or had a big order he would get in the truck and drive all around those parts of the country to see if he could find where they had moved to. Other times they would just show up with a truck and trailer or two stacked as high as the law allowed and start unloading it knowing my dad would pay them in cash.
I recently saw two of the sons of the family who were just young teenagers back then. They were set up at Canton, Texas trade days wholesaling this same furniture close to the spot where my dad’s lot was for the last 10 years of his life. We reminisced about the good ole days and they told me how my dad convinced them to get into the sales end of the business which neither of them had ever considered. They said they never imagined they could do it, but my dad believed in them and encouraged them to try. My dad, who was their whole family’s main source of income, died in 1987, and they have been wholesaling and retailing ever since.
One day in 1982 we went to visit my mom and dad while they were set up at Canton Trade Days. My dad had a permanent lot there and he was the only vendor selling this furniture in those days. I was sitting on one of the chairs on the back of his trailer watching the people walk past and listening to my dad sell piece after piece, set after set, and take orders to be delivered during the next month. It was not unusual for us to visit on these weekends, but I remember this one day as plain as if it were yesterday.
My dad told me he was going to go get himself a cup of coffee and asked me to take care of the customers until he got back. I told him that I’d stay there and let people know he would be back soon but that I was not going to give anyone a price on the furniture. I just couldn’t. I knew what he paid for it and I just didn’t believe it was worth what he was asking. I said it with a chuckle, and it was all ok. I just couldn’t imagine myself asking what he was getting for these chairs and tables and baskets.
I had made some of the baskets and tables for him myself when he got into a bind for an event he was invited to and asked to supply the center pieces and tables for. He paid me $1 for each basket and $3 per table. All I had to do was to gather and cut the willow and make them. I actually made good money. He was selling them for $35 and $50. The chairs he paid $10 for he would retail for $200. I’m not complaining, the 3-piece set I just showed you … it now retails for between 1500 and 2000 dollars.
When I told my dad I was sorry, but I couldn’t ask someone to pay that much for something I didn’t think was worth that much, he just smiled like he always did when he knew he knew something I didn’t know. He said, son, “It’s not how much it cost, it’s how much it’s worth.”
My dad was a good and honest man; he believed what he was selling was worth more than he was asking. He later told me that “if something isn’t selling, go up on it.” If you don’t think it’s valuable no one else will either.
I
have valued these truths ever since. Those of you who have known me for a while
have probably heard them before and you know they work.
· It’s not how much it cost, it’s how much it’s worth. And: You need to believe what you’re selling is worth what you’re asking.
A few years ago I bought an airplane, sight unseen, from Atlanta, Georgia. I sent a friend to pick it up and he wasn’t sure it was worth what I paid. Pastor Ken and I flew it down to Mexico to check on an orphanage we were helping out and when we got back, I decided to sell it. I put a good price on it hoping to move it along quickly and I could make a little money in the process. I ran a for sale ad with a picture in Trade-a-Plane and this cute little Mooney sat at the airport here for a couple of months without so much as one phone call. Then, when it came time to renew my ad for the third month, I was a bit concerned. I had a really cheap price on this plane. I thought about lowering the price just to recover my investment but then I remembered what my dad said.
So, I doubled my asking price and ran the ad. Guess what? It sold in the first week and I had calls from people wanting to buy it for another month.
People need to believe what they’re buying is worth what they’re paying.
How does this figure into our message today?
Two things I have learned from my father and God.
1. Jesus is what I’m selling, and He is worth what I’m asking.
Even at double the price, Jesus is worth it. If you don’t value Jesus, don’t expect anyone else to.
The devil tries to convince Born-Again Believers that witnessing to people about the love of Jesus is in some way bothering them and not worth their time. That’s just not the truth.
Salvation is free to all and everyone needs the life change and the peace offered by God through Jesus. Pulling someone out of a fire is not bothering them and it is worth well worth the effort.
2. Family matters.
From the dawn of human creation, the devil has pursued one goal - The separation of man from God. He wants to make God dislike you, not bless you, curse you, and live without you. If the devil can’t do that then his next best is to get you to not like God, not worship Him, even curse Him, and live your life without Him. We see it all around us. The devil’s strategy has worked from the Garden to the Cross and all the way to 2023, and it’s even working in families right now. However:
God is our father. We need to do our best to be more like Him.
Parents, give your children a good experience with repentance. This is one of the lessons taught by the father of the prodigal son.
Even God showed us what to do when we have a child who won’t talk to us, won’t listen to us, or separates themselves from us.
God, like the prodigal son’s father, prepared for our return. He created and maintained a safe place for us. He didn’t nurse His hurt, anger, or disappointments. He watched and waited. He hoped and He prayed. He was prepared for the return. He knew his child would be hurting, and wanted them to have a good experience when they came home.
Luke 15 NKJV
20 “And he arose and came to
his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had
compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21 “And the son said to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer
worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to
his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring
on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23 ‘And bring the fatted calf
here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
24 ‘for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
Give
your child a good experience when they repent. Don’t ever say “I told you so.” Teach
them family is a safe place and family matters.
