Whatever Happened To "CLASS?"
I HAVE DONE ABOUT 230
TEACHINGS FOR YOU. I HAVE NEVER CHARGED
ANYONE FOR THE TEACHINGS. THEY ARE FREE
FOR YOU TO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO WITH THEM. YOU CAN TEACH THEM, YOU CAN
LEARN FROM THEM, OR YOU CAN GET RID OF THEM.
Now, and for the first time, I am going to
do a teaching for myself. I am going to
enjoy it and I hope very much that you can learn a great deal from what I'm
about to write.
-- Have you ever thought about the concept of “CLASS”
? --
Let
all things be done decently and in order. – I
Corinthians 14: 40
If you read the context of this chapter,
you will easily see that it is referring to the church of the Body of Christ –
the born again believers. Remember,
there are three ways in which the Bible interprets itself and one of them is
'in the context'. However, because this
is true, does that mean that anything done outside of the church, in your
personal life or personal dealings, should be indecent and out of
order?!
Now let's take a look at a very important
Scripture which tells us about the future and what will and is taking
place. We can presently see that this
will continue to evolve in the direction mentioned in the verse. We are simply setting up an introduction for
this teaching.
Whereby
[by which] are given unto us exceeding great and
precious promises: that by these ye
might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. -- II Peter 1: 4
The key to understanding this verse is the
word 'corruption'. This word means
getting worse and worse and worse via lust, which is over-desire. That is what is happening in this present
evil world in which we live. And that
sets the foundation for this teaching.
Now let's take a look at a definition of the word CLASS.
Since
even the dictionary is giving me a hard time on the definition, I will have to
use what it is giving me, which is really enough -- enough for me to expound my
case. Most dictionaries will refer to
class as ‘slang’. Here is all that my
large dictionary says about this subject.
CLASS: Slang: "High style in manner or dress: a
girl with class."
Honestly, I wonder if this definition, small as it
may be, was written so that I can illustrate part of this teaching. Let me give you my own definition of class
because I want to make sure that my reader understands what I am referring
to. If the definition above is not
enough, then let me say that class is being 'cool'. It's a characteristic that not only refers to people but to
material things also. Let me give you
some real-life examples and start out with 'a girl
with class'.
C’mon, you all know what I mean by class. Let's go back to the 70’s. Because I had a tumultuous home life, I became almost obsessed with having a girlfriend as an escape. I was always amazed at what God can create. My home life was hell so I turned to dating as much as possible to have something to look forward to. In this present day and age, I would rather spend the night with my computer. Why? Because most women today, practically all of them, do not have any class -- none whatsoever. Style?……...That’s a joke. Back to the 70’s. I'm going to tell you what it was like for me to go out in the evening after school and where I spent some of my time. This was at a local pool room where I was a hustler -- I was one of the best. Why? Because I was a natural -- what a crock that is. It is because I practiced sometimes three to four hours a day. I could never stand the use of that word 'natural'. There is no such thing. It’s the same with the Word of God.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth [practices] the
will of God abideth for ever. – I John
2: 17
Notice that the meaning, in context, of the word ‘doeth’
is to PRACTICE. It doesn’t just
happen. You must work the Word and
renew your mind to what it says. It
does take work and very much practice.
We will never have a totally renewed mind until Jesus Christ comes back
so this is a continuous process. The
results are ‘class’ and ‘style’ among countless other benefits. Without the Word, we will never get these
benefits. We may receive a counterfeit,
but it won’t last. Let me get back to the subject matter.
I had a young
girlfriend, that to me, had no end of what seemed like natural class and original style. But I shouldn't really say that because most
of the girls back in my time all had similar characteristics and personality
traits. This girlfriend of mine would
dress in blue jeans that were not too tight and not too loose. They were just right -- did you get
that? Just right. She used to comb her hair in a number of
different ways, but she always looked neat and appropriate. Back in those times, many of the girls used
to wear light-colored blouses. I can
still remember -- I have a very detailed memory. She wore either a very light yellow blouse, light blue or white
and V-neck sweaters that went perfectly with her blouse. Everything matched her blue jeans and colors
never clashed. Her hair either was long
or tied in pigtails. Her personal
hygiene was above and beyond. She
looked outstanding in every respect.
She acted sensible, cheerful and I showed respect for her. She had class, man, and I was the envy of the whole high
school. Can you see it? Can you look back? Are you following what I'm saying? All I needed to do was to hold this girl's hand and I felt like I
was on fire. You see, I'm really
tearing down the situation today. I'm
comparing and contrasting what it's like today. Why would I now rather spend my evenings with my computer?
Back to the 70’s and
now I'm going to get into some subjects that I never went near before. My girlfriend and I, well, we did go parking
quite a bit. But do you know what? I respected that woman and she surely did
the same for me. We can simply hold
each other in our arms and it was like we were in heaven. You see, today, you look at the Internet and
it’s plastered all over the place with women who don't know the first thing
about class, self-respect, or style.
Why? I blame the parents. I have a couple living next door to me who
teach nothing to their children. The
boy is a delinquent who I caught vandalizing my property among other
things. The couple has had about 8
ambulances and at least 10 police cars at their home. They enjoy that. They
like to live like the devil because they are possessed by the devil. That’s right. They are afraid of one thing and that is me! I will drive them away if it’s the last
thing I do. Just by being myself. The husband is an animal abuser that I
reported 7 times to no avail. Turn only
to the arm of God or you will be sorry.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. -- Matthew 6: 33
Matthew 6: 33 is
nonexistent to these neighbors and to countless people especially today. And believe it or not, inherent deep in the
Scripture is the fact that if God is not first, again, you get worse and worse
and worse.
I want now to get off
the subject of the Mall because just thinking about it makes me sick. Let me conclude the Mall mess. About 20 years ago, I walked the same Mall
and many of the people dressed in suits and the women in business suits and the
stores were brighter and much more popular than today. I hope to God that you can see the
difference between my girlfriend and the women who walk these Mall's
today. If you can't, then I almost feel
sorry for you, but not quite. You have
free will to turn to or not to turn to God’s Word. Next, we are going to take a look at a Scripture in the book of
Proverbs. I have had this different
teaching on my mind for a long time.
Only two days ago did I run across a familiar Scripture that has an
explanation for it in the center reference.
I will explain it to you because it just blew my mind, what it says, and
I will let God’s Word conclude this one particular subject and example for now.
As a jewel [ring] of gold in
a swine’s snout, so is a fair [beautiful] woman
which is without discretion [who lacks taste, style or CLASS]. – Proverbs 11: 22
[Note: Center references here were taken almost literally from the Thomas Nelson KJV of the Holy Bible].
Now for a complete change of venue – AUTOMOBILE
ADVERTISEMENTS in general. You read
that right.
Auto and truck
advertisements on television are geared to the consumer of today – silly and
BRAINLESS. They insult the intelligence
of a person who still has intelligence.
They show people running around a dealership as if they were mad – they
show trucks performing tasks that 99.9% of people will never do – they show cup
holders!!?? - etc., etc., etc. But did
you notice, they very seldom show the actual car or truck? I mean really demonstrate the vehicle. Why?
Because most of the styling of these cars, especially imports, is just
plain ugly. Do they show the contours
of the interior in detail? Maybe for a
second or two. Why? Because they only want YOUR MONEY. God help them if they actually show you the
car. It is all a big distraction and
people who put God last are susceptible to this distraction. Gas mileage or not, I am not driving an ugly
car made in Hong Kong! I drive an
immaculate Corvette and two other Chevies like brand new because I keep them
that way. I sold cars before college to
sensible people. The focus was on the
car – not “Drivers Wanted”! The
adversary has just influenced these buyers that they are “drivers”. I have noticed that these people are the
WORST drivers on the road. They
tailgate, drive recklessly etc. and again why?
The company’s advertisements went to their head, controlled their
thinking and gave them a counterfeit sense of power and pride. When I see one of them behind me, I pull on
the side of the road. “Brains
Wanted” That’s the counterfeit and here
is the genuine.
Back again in the 70’s or 80’s, they had auto ads on TV like the following. Let’s use the Buick. An attractive model (not the car), well-spoken, would walk around the car slowly and in detail, showing and explaining all the features of the car – inside and out. You could see the body style and all the details of the interior. AND GUESS WHAT? The car was not moving. The ad was simple, no yelling and screaming, people were not acting silly like fools. The ads had CLASS. They were geared toward sane people unlike today.
Just to wrap it up in this category. Cars were quiet and had sleek lines and style. Today, many cars remind me of a miniature
Hurst. And they go ahead and put on
what is referred to as ‘fart’ mufflers.
They aren’t ugly enough, they make them sound uglier also. This is all the result of the influence of
the adversary. He stole most of the
CLASS.
The thief cometh not, but for to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I [Jesus Christ]
am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly. -- John 10: 10
Did you forget who is the god of this present world?
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. -- II Corinthians 4: 4
Not convinced? Did you know that we deal with people who are influenced by devil spirits every single day? Let God tell you.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places
[from
on high]. --
Ephesians 6: 12
Where
should we go next? How about back to
the way many parents raise their children today? Now here you have parents that abuse their pet, argue constantly
and, in reality, don’t have a brain in their heads. That’s the example for their children. They have zero
class and they transfer their habits to their children. I mentioned my neighbor who is an animal
abuser and therefore his children follow suit.
For your information, many serial killers started off with animal
abuse. When I worked in a State
Hospital, I read in many patient’s charts that they were involved in animal
abuse. Where did it get them? Confined to a State Mental Institution. Many of these same children are going to
hold political offices and have important decision–making positions. God help America. These people will be corrupt and dangerous because they had no
direction when they were children. It’s
that simple.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from
it. – Proverbs 22: 6
Literally,
that is referring to a child of a very young age. If he is taught the way of the Word when very young, he will grow
up righteous with morals and common sense.
He or she will be a good productive leader and will make his parents
proud. In the first example, the child
will probably wind up in prison or on a mental ward. In the second example, this child will stand before God approved
and will be able to further God’s purposes for society and for God and for himself. The second child has style – he has CLASS. The
first child has no class and operates by and for the god of this world which is
presently Satan. Most children imitate
their parents – they have no one else to imitate. Some grow up with no sense of right or wrong. As I should also mention, I know a person’s
wife who ridicules her husband at work every day for years. Her children have no direction and no
example to follow. This so-called
family has no relationship with the true God whatsoever. I doubt if they have any idea of the
knowledge and guidance contained in the Bible.
THAT’S WHY THEY HAVE NO CLASS AND IT DIRECTLY REFLECTS UPON THE BEHAVIOR
OF THE CHILDREN and, in turn, on society as a whole. This subject is a most serious problem in the world today – a
world that gets worse and worse and worse.
Class can be referred to as living
life according to the Word of God. I
found this last example to be very true and very serious. We see homes being broken up so often and
children left by the wayside. The enemy
is after the family -- he wants to break it apart and this is his main goal.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good report; if there
be any virtue, and if there be
any praise, think on these things.
-- Philippians 4: 8
These are the things that God wants you to think on and
to speak on in our daily lives. At
times, when we teach God's Word, we must address the adversary. Anything related to him does not appear to
be very positive -- in fact, it is quite negative. But in the long run, this negative will evolve into a positive
thought in our mind. It will teach us
to deal with and to defeat the god of this world in every facet of our lives.
In this teaching, I seem to be struggling with individual
subjects being somewhat engrossed in the first two subjects that I spoke about
which are related to cars and social relationships with the opposite sex. I feel a sense of urgency to return to both
of these subjects and give you some more interesting and exciting real life
examples of the concept I am trying to get across to you, which as you know by
now, is CLASS.
So, let's go off in the same subjects, similar, but not identical
by any means. What I am about to teach
you, I have told only one person in my life.
The events concerning the subject of this teaching are so outstanding in
the following example that now I believe it happened so that I can teach you
about this subject and about how the world is changing for the worse. Let's go back to the very first Scripture
taught to you in this teaching. It will,
once again set the stage for an experience that I once had that almost seemed
like a dream to me. I hope with all my
heart and believe that many of my readers will be able to identify with such an
experience. It's one that I will never
forget -- it will stay with me all of my days.
The good part about it is that it always blesses me and I know that even
before I knew the Word of God, God was with me and He was trying to help
me. He was waiting for the time when He
knew that I would believe His Word. Let
me get to this adventure after I refresh your mind with this Scripture. Back in those days, which were in the early
1970s, I was able to live this Scripture for a short period of time even though
I did not know God's Word. Have fun
with the story. It made a major
permanent positive impact on my life.
There’s nothing wrong with good memories. Just don’t dwell on them.
Let
all things be done decently and in order. – I
Corinthians 14: 40
There was a time in my life that I had gone away to my
second college way out in Erie, Pennsylvania.
This was an extension of the Penn State University. This was about a 10 hour drive from where I
lived. I was ‘running’ at the time away
from a state of temporary depression due to, you guessed it, a breakup with another
girlfriend of mine. For the sake of
time and space, I am going to get right to a night that changed my life and
taught me the real meaning of the word CLASS.
My friend and I went out
for the weekend and we split up at a nightclub. This nightclub mainly catered to older high school kids. Myself, I was only about 18 years old so I
did not feel out of place. Again, to
make a long story short, I decided to dance with a few of the girls -- at least
I thought so. I cannot figure out what
was wrong with me that night. I was
known at my high school to be a most handsome guy -- they choose the title, not
me. I walked up to at least four
different girls in that nightclub and politely asked each one if they would
dance with me. They all looked away and
apathetically said "No thanks".
I can only remember that the place was engrossed with black lights and
it made these girls appear more attractive.
A few of them were very beautiful and yet they would have nothing to do
with me. I never forgot that feeling
and I finally walked out of that place about as dejected as you can be. Now closely examine and study the following
Scripture. Many people in the world who
know nothing about the Bible stumble onto Biblical principles. This is one principle that I knew I should
apply, even back then.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to
him that knocketh it shall be opened. -- Matthew 7: 7, 8
Can you see the depth of the
Scripture? God wants you to ask. Secondly, and most importantly, in my
situation described above, God wants you to seek. He says if you seek, you shall find. And when you find it, you must act upon it -- you are going to
knock on that door and that door is going to open to you. It is really such a beautiful Scripture
containing so many principles, it is beyond description.
Back to my excursion at the
high school nightclub. I found that
what had happened to be hard to believe.
It never happened to me before.
Yes, I felt dejected. Can anyone
identify with that? I walked away from
that nightclub and I walked up a very lonely road all by myself. I had no idea where I was going and I really
didn't even know how to get back to my campus.
But God had taken my hand because He knew that I was to be a disciple of
His in the future and that I could use these experiences to teach His Word to
others like yourselves.
My memory is so vivid at
times, it makes me wonder. But I
remember turning right on what seemed like a main road and I kept on
walking. On the far left, there was a
winding road that led to some type of complex.
I decided to walk up that road and I came to a set of wrought iron gates
that were actually a work of art. I
found out much later on that these gates were actually a historic landmark,
that's how beautiful they were and they were the entrance to pure,
unadulterated CLASS. The gates
themselves were the classiest form of iron gates that I had ever seen in my
life. I was wondering what I was
walking into. As I continued through
the gates, I saw a large tall brick building on the right-hand side. To my surprise, I found out that this was a
dormitory. It was a large girls’
College of Art.
To get right to the point,
I walked farther into this magnificent complex and I came to a building where I
could hear some music and I thought there was some type of a dance going
on. I walked inside and sure enough
there was a dance. The building was
immaculate and the dance seemed to be extremely well organized. All that I can see from a distance was the
silhouette of people dancing and what I believe was one girl standing near the
edge of the dance floor.
Who can find a virtuous
woman? for her price is
far above rubies. -- Proverbs 31: 10
The above verse is in reference to a woman of God. The verse below is in reference to a woman
of the world. Which one would you
choose? Ridiculous question, isn't it?
For her house inclineth unto
death, and her paths unto the dead. -- Proverbs 2: 18
By the way, how about a little test? What type of a woman is a virtuous
woman? What quality does she
possess? Boy, that's a tough one, isn't
it? Let's move on.
Let's go back to the dance, where I pushed myself out
onto the dance floor and I said to myself
"Oh God, not again!"
But you see, in my heart, I simply did not give up and I kept seeking
someone to be able to dance with. Now
how simple can that be? As I approached
closer to the actual dance, the lights from the band behind most of the people
were still shining quite brightly. So
again, I can only see the outline of people.
And man, here it goes.
I saw this lovely girl and I can only see her profile and long flowing
hair and what seemed like a perfect figure.
I could see that she was extremely polished and just stood there looking
as cool as ever. I said to myself, hey
I've got nothing to lose and I worked up the nerve to approach her. I cannot understand how a woman of such
character style, and apparent virtue would have anything to do with someone
like me. Why, I was just shot down by
four girls in a row. I was out of place
here, wasn't I? I mean this place was
pure class and you know what I felt like -- take away the ‘c’ and the ‘l’.
Well, when this woman turned towards me, she was even
more beautiful than I imagined. I
pushed the words out of my mouth and I said "Would you like to dance with
me"? Time stood still. She smiled and looked me straight in the eye
and she said "Of course, I would."
I simply placed my arms rather gently around her and we slow
danced. I wasn't really there, I took a
trip to a different dimension. Well, it
turned out that this young lady was most friendly and had no pride whatsoever. She was intelligent, well versed, and excuse
the terminology, but she was dressed to kill.
Everything matched -- just everything.
I can go on all day. I'm cutting
everything short since this teaching is quite long already and I don’t want you
to lose interest. I stayed with her at
the dance and we talked a sensible conversation. When the dance was over, I walked her back to her dormitory and
she said to me, "Ralph, you can only go inside the lobby". Guys are not allowed past the lobby. Man, you talk about decent and in
order. These girls were not only
exceptional -- but so was this college.
It was set up with rules and regulations that would protect the girls
living in the dormitories. As I believe
I mentioned, this was only a school for girls.
I was able to call her from my campus and meet with her
again. We did this quite often and when
I waited in the lobby, it had a sunken beautiful fireplace burning away. The receptionist at the desk had to call up
to ‘Ski’s’ room to tell her I was here.
(This was a nickname that I gave to her and she loved it). The problem with this whole situation was
that I did not have a car. I borrowed a
friend's car once or twice to take Ski out.
By the way, if you have any doubts, she was an honor student majoring in
art. But you see, there was no
snobbishness about this girl. I mean
she didn't act in her life like she was a BMW, got it? Sorry.
This woman was the ultimate in cool and she had defined the word CLASS for me.
I had never in my lifetime met anyone who had as much class as this
woman. She also made me feel so damn good
about myself.
Just out of nowhere, I began to go through bouts of
depression. They just came upon me and
eventually almost totally destroyed my life.
Ski was trying to help me, but no one could help except God Almighty.
But one time, Ski mentioned to me about what her
girlfriends thought about me and I just never forgot it. It was an innocent complement. She said you know what Ralphie? She said do you know what my girlfriends
think about you? I took a breath and I
said no I do not, as I laughed. She
said they think you're sexy. Ha. You tell me that anyone in the world doesn't
like to hear a compliment like that.
Well we had a really great time together, but I did not have a car. Some guy from another college in the area
asked this girl out and he did have a car.
We slowly slipped away and eventually I quit school again. I was searching and searching and searching
until I found it. That is for the Word
of God rightly divided and applied. But
I never forgot the example of this person and her college.
This college is still operating at full tilt and you can
take a look at it on the Internet. It's
called Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. From what I remember, the website shows the library and the iron
gates etc., and you are not going to believe the quality of the woodwork of the
furniture in that library. So this
college is still a class act. And I am
almost sure that everyone who graduated from such a decent and orderly
organization has been successful in whatever endeavor they chose to pursue in
their career. I have no regrets about
Ski, only fantastic and comforting memories.
She saw the depression I started to deal with and she simply was not
qualified to help me even though she tried.
I must say that I have never had such vivid memories of those three or
four months together. The strange part
about this whole story is that other guy who had the car -- he married her.
I've got to say this.
One night many, many years later, I was really distraught and I did
something a little bit crazy. I
searched the Ohio phone directory at 1:30 AM and of course I always remembered
her last name. I called the number that
I thought could be her and I wound up speaking to her sister. Her sister informed me that she had married
the guy from Gannon College and all I remember happening is that I broke down
in tears. I was happy for her but yet
sad to know that I lost her for good.
Do you know how her sister reacted?
She practically cried with me and she said I'm so very sorry. Ski did tell her sister about me. Her sister said that she would relate this
message to her. Can you imagine that? What about Ski’s sister? She had what? You tell me. You tell me
what she had. Man, what a story. I skipped so much, but maybe you can read
between the lines.
We've got to move on to our last example which is a quite
different in many ways. I have been
having some difficulty trying to come up with examples that will make an impact
on your life. For now, I can only think
of using another example relating to cars because everyone seems to like their
car. This particular example will close
out this teaching. So let's get right
to our final example.
TRANSFORMING something by individual
CLASS:
This last example will
illustrate something that is individual in nature. In other words, you will make it happen. You will take something in your life that
has no class and you, yourself, will bring it to life. In this teaching, I am using about four
different examples and of all of these examples, the four of them concern two
of the same subjects. You remember from
before that I used an example of a Buick advertisement. Now, this example has much more impact on my
own life because I made it happen myself.
To me, it is very exciting and very memorable even though I lost the car
through no fault of my own. By the way,
on the advice of a female reverend, I sued the construction company at fault
and I won. So much for turning the
other cheek. People do not understand "The Seven Administrations" and what is
written directly to us today and what is written for our learning.
When I was about 19 years
old, I had secured a good job in a very large factory. I was finally able to afford my own
car. Back then, muscle cars were
predominant and many of my friends had beautiful machines. I searched and searched for the right car
and finally, just like the Word of God says, I sought it out until I found
it. Strangely enough, but not by
coincidence, the car was at a dealership that was partially managed by my
cousin. This turned out to be a great
benefit to myself because the car did need some work on the carburetor. Most dealerships will not do detailed work
on a car, but they will sell it as is.
Also, my cousin took my motorcycle as a trade-in. He never even saw the motorcycle and later
sold it by sending someone to my home.
The car was a 1968
Camaro. I could see in my heart, that
the car had great potential. However,
it sat quite low to the ground, it did not have a spoiler on the rear, and
worst of all, it had these spinner-type factory hubcaps. The paint was rather dull, but I could see
that the color had outstanding potential also.
The car was Canary Yellow with a black vinyl top and black racing
stripes. It was a four speed stick on
the floor and except for the carburetor acting up once in awhile, it ran very
well. It seemed to be well taken care
of and there was not one rip on the black vinyl interior. Of course, the car had bucket seats and the
interior was very sharp. Well, I
shouldn't have to tell you about ‘68 Camaros.
I paid about $3200 for the car.
Today, that same car is worth about $70,000.
I polished the paint with
a white polishing compound because the car did not have a clear coat back in
those days. Then after that, I
hand-waxed the car with Simoniz which seemed to take forever. This wax, which is still around today, is
extremely difficult to apply and remove.
Only small sections at a time could be done. When I finally finished the car, it glowed like the sun. That was the first step. I took off the spinner hubcaps and put a set
of dish mags on the front and wide chrome reverse wheels on the rear. I put spacers between my front springs to
raise the car up and Gabriel Highjackers on the rear to raise the rear end as
high or as low as I wanted to. The car
was beginning to come to life. I
purchased a brand-new spoiler from a Chevy dealer, but the spoiler was primer
colored. I had a good friend of mine
who is an expert detailer spray the spoiler canary yellow to match the rest of
the car. We bolted it to the end of the
trunk and it looked just perfect. The
whole appearance of the car had now changed.
It went from a grocery-getter to a monster. I had my own ideas on detailing and I did something that I never
saw anyone else do. I sprayed the frame
where it can be seen underneath the car, WHITE! No one I knew had ever done that before -- they always used
black. The factory equipment, including
the engine that I had completely tuned, turned out to have amazing
potential. A friend of mine who rebuilt
engines, drove it, and just took a deep breath and said to me "This car is
a freak". He told me that it had
an exceptional amount of power for the motor that was in the car. We figured out later that the car had what
is referred to as high compression heads.
Only one time when I had this car did someone pull ahead of me on a
street race. This was because I gave
the guy a slight head start on purpose because he had an automatic
transmission. Otherwise, I never lost a
race with this car. Sadly enough, and
because someone did something that I told them not to do, I was driving the car
sooner than I should have. I went off a
25 foot cliff with the car and demolished it.
This is what can happen when someone else influences your life and
throws off your timing. That is why you
need to know the Word of God.
But what did I do to this
car? That's the point of this
teaching. I made it into something that
was dull and ‘normal’ into something that had no end of CLASS. Even the police
standing on a corner used to stop me to admire the car! They would always tell me to take it easy
and I would get out of there as soon as possible. The car had so much class that even though I was popular in
social circles, I have to say that many girls would approach me and ask me if
they could go for a ride in my car.
This is how I met at least one of my girlfriends -- probably two or
three. The car was attractive and it
would attract people. This is something
that you should remember as a believer.
If you have something that's really exceptional in your life, it blesses
other people. There is nothing wrong
with this. Even though today, many
people are jealous and envious of things that you own, don't let it get to
you. It's normal today because as I
said, how many times, that the world is getting what? It's quite bad out there, so watch out for yourself and protect
yourself from the people, places, and things that have no class whatsoever. Remember, that the Word of God will instill CLASS into your life and the unbeliever will try to take
it away. Just stand strong on the
revealed Word and Will of God and He will protect you and show you how to
function in this present evil world. I
can only think of one appropriate way to conclude this teaching. Do you want to have class in your life? Don't you want to have something that
everyone else wants? Then keep God
first and respect Him and people may ask you, "How do you do it? What is your secret?" Then you will also, and most importantly,
have an open door to speak God's Word.
Remember, that most often, people will not read the Bible, they will
read you. May God bless you and
continue to teach you according to your own free will.
We are on this earth for
only one reason and that is to respect God and to keep His commandments.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole
matter: Fear [respect] God, and keep his commandments: for this is the
whole duty of man. – Ecclesiastes 12: 13
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