#1leaking: Broken Cisterns Series

#1 LEAKING --- BROKEN CISTERNS!

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

This is part #1 of 2. I did part 1 in 2 parts.

I. LEAKING, BROKEN CISTERNS HAVE LITTLE VALUE.

Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

A. How foolish is it to allow a huge city to be built below the sea level?

Remember the story of the dyke leaking and the small lad placing his finger in the hole and saving his community?

B. LEAK, LEAKING:

To escape through an opening by fault or mistake.

Information that becomes known despite efforts to conceal

A crack or hole that lets something in or allows it to escape

C. CISTERN:

A reservoir dug out for collecting and holding water in a reserve.

IN THE BIBLE SEVERAL TIMES EMPTY CISTERNS WERE USED AS

PRISONS OR DUNGEONS.

Seems Joseph’s pit, may have been an old well or cistern.

Jeremiah was held in a deep cell prison.

D. A cistern is much different than a deep well or a spring that offered fresh, cool water.

E. A cistern could get slimy, stagnate and breed many germs.

F. THE BIBLE WARNS OF BROKEN CISTERNS --- leaking out the life that it holds.

A broken cistern has little value in keeping fresh, good water.

All water is wasted in a BROKEN CISTERN!

G. HAS OUR FATHER EVER INVESTED IN US RICH BLESSINGS AND WE LEAKED THEM OUT EVER SO SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY?

II. IS IT POSSIBLE TO DEVELOP LEAKING VALUE SYSTEMS?

HAVE YOU EVER PONDERED WASTE?

A. Do you ever waste?

What are some sad things that we waste?

B. WASTE:

Sparsely settled, barren regions, desert.

Uncultivated land

Broad and empty

Loss through break down

Damaged or defective

Rejection

Sewage

To damage or destroy by gradual and progressive steps

To cause to shrink

To loose strength

To wear away

To spend or use carelessly

To discard as worthless

C. My Mom always said, SON, THERE ARE PEOPLE STARVING TO DEATH ALL AROUND THE WORLD! Therefore, you must clean your plate!

I cleaned my plate. I would lick it clean to help the starving kids, and yet they were still starving.

D. WE WASTE:

WORDS

RESOURCES

TALENT

TIME

ENERGY

MINDS

E. I ponder wasting time?

He who kills time --- kills himself.

An inch on the sun dial can never be reclaimed.

1 Cor. 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

2 Cor. 6:2 NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME...

F. Many of us try to be good stewards of our money and resources, but we forget the great danger of waste. We do not value some very important things.

G. I think God shall hold us accountable for many things that we take very lightly.

H. DO YOU THINK THE FIVE FOOLISH VIRGINS HAD A LEAKING PROBLEM?

What was the sin of the five foolish virgins?

They were still pure, they were still virgins!

Part of their wrong was wasting their time and taking lightly serious moments.

The five foolish virgins never held the oil tanks accountable, and they took their responsibilities lightly.

I. Some of us use our talents wisely, and purposefully invest our talents into the seed bank expecting a wise harvest.

III. AS SAND IN AN HOUR GLASS SO OUR THE DAYS OF OUR LIFE’S!

HOW DO YOU SPEND TIME? DOES YOUR HOUR GLASS LEAK SAND?

DO YOU INVEST YOUR TIME WISELY?

GOD KNOWS HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME.

A. Notice that we use the words --- SPEND TIME --- TO CONSUME WASTEFULLY?

SPEND MEANS: to use up, to pay out, to exhaust, to wear out.

B. Poor stewards of time keepers. Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.

Spend not your time in vain.

C. An inch on the sundial is worth more than diamonds.

D. Who steals my purse steals trash, but who steals my time robs me, and thou shalt not steal.

E. A stitch in time saves nine.

F. It is easy to spend life and not learn what is most important.

IV. SEEMS WE WILL WASTE MUCH TIME ON THINGS THAT ARE NOT IMPORTANT? OUR ENEMY USES TIME SO GRADUALLY --- HE SNEAKS by PROCRASTINATION TIMES THAT CAN NEVER BE RECALLED.

A. WE DON’T SEEM TO SEE THE VALUE AND WORTH OF TIME.

TIME, HE HAS US WASTE OUR TIME.

HE GETS US TO THINK WE HAVE PLENTY OF TIME?

B. We want to balance our bank books!

We count our calories and carbohydrates!

But what about time?

C. Time is limited, a rich man can buy no more time than a poor man.