#2the Gifts Jesus Gives

THE GIFTS THAT JESUS GIVES! By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com Part#2

I. ARE WE CRYING AND DEPRESSED BECAUSE THINGS ARE NOT AS WE HOPED? Can we rejoice when everything seems to be going wrong? There is a time we must quit crying and by faith find JOY!

Neh. 8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

A. I love the story from Pastor Rex Johnson’s book WITH A PALM AND A WILLOW...

B. Page 98: We are people that dance before the Lord. Rex states that in the 1940’s the Nazi’s sent hundreds of Jews to the shower. It was in December and the weather was freezing. The Nazi’s made the Jews go outside while still wet from the showers and stand in the sub-zero degree cold. Scores of victims stood still and would freeze to death. The people were like frozen statues before they fell over in death.

C. Scores died that day. One by one falling over frozen. One young boy battled the cold, his bare feet froze solid to the ground. Horror was all around and this young boy was resigned to die in minutes. He remembered many things from the past. He thought of hopes of the future.

D. Then the lad recalled a lesson from his RABBI. The young boy in pre-death visions heard his RABBI’S LESSON.

E. He could hear the Rabbi’s voice saying... WE ARE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BEFORE THE LORD. Over and over in his ears he heard the lesson: WE ARE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BEFORE THE LORD. HIS FEET WERE FROZEN TO THE GROUND AND HE HEARD: WE ARE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BEFORE THE LORD.

F. WE ARE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BEFORE THE LORD. The young man willed himself to speak aloud from his blue lips: WE ARE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BEFORE THE LORD.

G. He started saying, A HASID MUST SING. A HASID MUST DANCE. WE ARE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BEFORE THE LORD. The Rabbi’s words shook the boy... He started to sing and dance before the Lord. As his feet began to dance, his feet were loosed from the ice. He tore off the soles of his feet dancing, the blood covered the ground.

H. Hundreds of people died around him, as he sang and said: WE ARE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BEFORE THE LORD. This young man survived the Holocaust and lived to tell others.

I. This story was recorded in the HASIDIC TALES OF THE HOLOCAUST By Eliach Yaffa, Vintage Books, New York 1988 on pages 109-110.

J. Rex Johnson goes on to say: For when we face adversity, we do not have to dance in a pool of our blood. WE ARE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BEFORE THE LORD. We dance and rejoice because God gave His Son, and Jesus shed His blood for all our sin and we have the GIFT OF SALVATION.

NOW WE MAY REJOICE. MAY WE DANCE BEFORE THE LORD. WE MUST QUIT CRYING AND DANCE.

II. LET US START WITH A GIFT OLD PEOPLE WILL ENJOY MORE THAN YOUNG PEOPLE! HOME! YOUNG PEOPLE CAN’T WAIT TO LEAVE HOME! OLD PEOPLE DREAM OF HOME!

A. HOME: HOME MEANS DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE.

B. Webster says:

HOME:

A place of HARMONY

One’s place of residence. Relax, comfortable.

Domicile, house.

A social unit formed by a family living together.

A familiar setting.

A place of origin.

An establishment where people care for other people.

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto

myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

C. SOME SAY: YOU CAN NEVER GO HOME --- THAT IS A YOUNG PERSON TALKING!

D. Many years ago Lynn Knox, one of my church members, had been in Nashville in the

hospital many months. It is a drive, so twice a week I would drive to see my old

friend. We would sit for hours and talk. He became a very dear friend to me.

After four months in the hospital the doctors transferred him to a local rehab center.

Lynn had to learn to walk again. I went into his room one day, he had his eyes closed.

I thought Lynn was asleep. I gently coughed and Lynn opened his eyes.

E. I said, Lynn, I thought you were asleep.