#2the Greatest Man I Never Knew? Series

#2 THE GREATEST MAN I NEVER KNEW?

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

This is #2 of a 2 part series, The Greatest man I never knew.

REVIEW FROM THE PREVIOUS LESSON.

It can be possible to be religious in form and not really know Jesus in a real personal way. We must KNOW HIM AND THE BEAUTY OF LOVE AND SERVICE.

Years ago I was in a church and at the end of the service a lady stood up and testified. She said, God was not here at the first of the service.

She went on to say, God was not here during the singing. God was not here during the preaching, but God came in just a few minutes ago!

I was embarrassed for the Evangelist and the Pastor.

The lady was wrong.

I knew God was there from the start, I brought Him with me. But I also knew God was there before we got there, and God would be there when we left. Because I trust in an Omnipotent, Omnipresence Holy God!

Ever heard the line:

NO JESUS, NO PEACE!

KNOW JESUS, KNOW PEACE.

Let’s not get to dogmatic and throw out the baby with the dirty bath water. There is a good, pure religion and may we know the fullness of this. To testify in a court one cannot offer hearsay, it must be a first hand account.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

TEXT:

Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon this earth.

26 And though after my skin the worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

27 Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reigns be consumed within me.

I. I PONDER WHO WAS THE GREATEST MAN I NEVER KNEW?

A. Reba McEntire has a hit song, I will play this hit song before this sermon.

B. I understand that Reba sings this song about her Dad. She tells about how she loved her Dad, and she knew he loved her. He worked hard and raised his famous daughter, but somehow they never really got to know each other.

C. HOW SAD? We can live in the same house and not know each other.

Here are the words to Reba’s hit song.

THE GREATEST MAN I NEVER KNEW!

Author not known.

The greatest man I never knew lived just down the hall

And everyday we said hello, but never touched at all

He was in his paper, I was in my room.

How was I to know he thought I hung the moon

The greatest man I never knew came home late every night He never had too much to say too much was on his mind I never really knew him and now it seems so sad

Everything he gave to us took all he had

Then the days turned into years and the memories to black and white He grew cold like an old winter wind Blowing across my life

The greatest words I never heard I guess I’ll never hear The man I thought could never die He’s been dead almost a year He was good at business But there was business left to do He never said he loved me Guess he thought I knew

II. IS IT POSSIBLE BLIND PEOPLE CAN SEE MORE THAN

THOSE WITH VISION?

A. THERE IS A BEAUTIFUL SONG CALLED BEULAH LAND,

written by Squire Parsons, Jr.

Squire looks at the potential that faith is going to end in sight.

Squire says:

I am kind of homesick for a country to which I’ve never been before; No sad goodbyes will there be spoken, for time won’t matter any more.

Beulah Land, I am longing for you, And someday, on thee I’ll stand; There my home shall be eternal, Beulah Land, sweet, Beulah land.

I am looking now across the river, WHERE MY FAITH WILL END IN SIGHT; There’s just a few more days to labor, Then I will take my heavenly flight.

B. THERE IS A FAMOUS SONG WRITTER NAMED FANNY J. CROSBY.

There are many wonderful old hymns forgotten and bypassed for more popular, faster, more fun choruses.

I love Fanny Crosby. She has written hundreds of old hymns.

One of my favorite works of Fanny is BLESSED ASSURANCE.

She says:

Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight: Angels ascending, bring from above, echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

FANNY J. CROSBY WAS TOTALLY BLIND, YET SHE HAD

VISION BEYOND THIS WORLD.

Fanny J. Crosby wrote another song: