Hi everyone, its Aunt fernita.
today's story is called "payday at the vineyard"
The memory verse is from Acts chapter 10 verse 34
it says, "God does not show favoritism "
Today's message is God wants us to treat others as He treats us
John was busy raking leaves in his yard after an hour, his friend Sam came by and offered to help
John found another rake and the two boys worked together
2 hours later, they were done with the job
John's father was very pleased
He gave each boy some money to say thank you
John and Sam received the same pay
even though John had worked 1 hour more
John thought to himself "This is not fair!"
Then he remembered a story Jesus told about Fairness
The kingdom of heaven is like a land owner
Who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard
In Jesus's time men would gather in the marketplace at 6 o'clock in the morning
there they would wait for someone to come and hire them
One morning a vineyard owner came looking for workers
At 6 o'clock he hired some men
He agreed to pay them the usual pay for 12 hours of work
at 9 o'clock he came back to the marketplace
he saw men still standing around
"Go work in my vineyard and i'll pay you what is right"he told them
At noon and at 3 o'clock he hired more men
again at 5 o'clock in the afternoon just one hour before quitting time he did the same thing
at six o'clock in the evening the land owner told his foremen to pay the workers
he should begin with the those who were hired last
and end with those who were hired first
first the foremen payed those who had only worked for an hour
he gave them a full days' pay
then he pay those who worked for 3 hours
he gave them a full days' pay too
Those who were hired first began to smile
They were sure they would receive more
After all, they had worked longer and harder than the others
it would only be fair wouldn't it?
but when they received their pay
their smiles turned to frowns
They got the same pay as everyone else
"Wait! " they complained
"Those men only worked an hour"
"You made them equal to us"
"we did most of the work and in the heat of the day too"
"I'm not being unfair to you" said the land owner
"You agreed to work for the usual pay for a day's work, that's what i''m paying you"
"i can do what i want with my money, don't be jealous because I'm generous"
Then Jesus said it again, "the last will be first and the first will be last"
Do you like that story? do you think its fair?
You may not and that's the point Jesus is making
God does not treat us the way we deserve
God treats us much much better than that
It is grace that saves all of us
those who accept him at the last minute and those who accept him early
God doesn't have to save any of us, he does it because he loves us
Do you treat others in God's family the same way God has treated you?
when someone is mean to you, do you treat them with love and kindness?
Try to treat others as God treats us
in that way, you show at God is much much better than simply fair