Between A Rock And A Hard Place?

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE. --- REGULAR CHECK-UPS?

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (I do this lesson in two parts.)

REGULAR CHECK UPS?

Near the end of the school year, I was teaching the 6th grade just out of Pennington Gap, Virginia. The section we were studying in Health was the 10 SIGNAL SIGNS OF CANCER. I had my aid run off copies of the SIGNAL SIGNS OF CANCER. My aid accidently ran double the amount I needed. I was in the hall and I saw the 5th grade teacher and offered her the extra copies. She read them while we were standing there. She bowed her head and said I have all 10 of these signs now. She made a doctor’s appointment for the next week. She found out she had terminal cancer and had a short time to live.

At the end of the summer, a new year began. With tears in my eyes, I took her name plate off her class room door … 30 years she taught in that class room. She was so busy with her husband and her daily life she forgot TO HAVE A CHECK UP?

TEXT:

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NLT) Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (MSG) Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.

THIS IS A TEST! THIS IS ONLY A TEST! THIS STORM SHALL PASS! THIS PROBLEM CAN BRING FAILURE OR IT CAN BRING GREAT OPPORTUNITY.

LIFE IS 10% WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU! 90% HOW YOU HANDLE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU.

THE BATTLE IS NOT EXTERNAL, THE BATTLE IS INTERNAL.

Why do birds sing? Because they can. There is a Thrush that sings its best during dark storms. I am amazed how God loves to give us a song in our dark times. Sometimes we play music because we feel like it, other times the song is simply by faith. My friend, arise and sing unto the Lord. Never allow our enemies to steal our singing abilities.

WHEN YOU LOSE SIGHT OF THE GOAL ARE YOU CAN SEEM TO FOCUS ON IS THE OBSTACLES.

I was driving slowly down a small country road. I saw two birds fighting over a grasshopper. I came to a stop and watch the birds dancing and fighting each other. They were really being mean to each other as they fought over the grasshopper. I thought there are a million grasshoppers in that field, why fight over that one? It was beautiful to watch them jump up and down and dance as they fought one another. I saw a large 18 wheeler coming at a high rate of speed. I tried to honk my horn and warn them, but they was so focused on fighting each other they never heard me. The next thing I know there are two dead birds in road and the grasshopper jumps back into the grass? How foolish to so focus on fighting each other that that they died that day. What a waste?

I have a preacher friend, Doug Fightmaster, that wrote a story he called GET OUT OF MY WAY.

The story asked a question: HAVE YOU EVER BEEN LOOKING STRAIGHT AT SOMETHING, BUT YOU CANNOT SEE IT BECAUSE SOMETHING IS BLOCKING YOUR LINE OF SIGHT? He goes on to tell about two ducks fighting each other in front of his house. He was enjoying watching the ducks fight in the road. They kept fighting and moving until finally the ducks were hidden from his view because a huge tree was blocking his view. He could still hear them, but his vision was limited because of the large tree.

Doug said that the HOLY SPIRIT WHISPERED TO HIS HEART: DOUG, MANY TIMES THAT IS WHY YOU CAN’T SEE WHAT I AM DOING, BECAUSE YOUR DESIRES, YOUR BUSYNESS HAVE HINDERED YOUR VISUAL FIELD AND YOU HAVE ALLOWED THE ENEMY TO DISTORT OR BLIND YOUR ABILIITY TO SEE CLEARLY WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING, BECAUSE SOMETHING IS BLOCKING YOUR VIEW.

Doug then thought about: WHAT HAS BLOCKED MY SPIRITUAL VISION? ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE SEEING WHAT JESUS DESIRES TO DO IN YOU, THROUGH YOU AND AROUND YOU?

WILL A MAN ROB GOD?

ROB: TO TAKE SOMETHING BY NEGLECT, TO FORCE, VIOLENCE OR THREATS, to take something that does not belong to you, to wrongly take what is not yours.