I Am Not What I Wanted To Be?

I AM NOT WHAT I WANTED TO BE?

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.

I do this in two parts, I do points I through V in the morning, and reveiw and patys VI through X in the night service.

I, GUARD AGAINST THE ENEMY OF APATHY AND LAZINESS!

2 Timothy 1:6 Wherefore I put thee to rememberance that thou STIR UP THE GIFT OF GOD, which is in thee, by the putting on of hands.

A. Many times it is easier to start a new fire, than it is to keep an old flame burning brightly.

It is easier to divorce and find a new love, than to keep the home fires burning.

It is very easy to hop from church to church than it is to dig in and help bring about real change.

B. Did you hear about the college professor that despised all the sport jocks that came through her class room? She wanted to make a point so one day in great

anger the teacher walked to the board and wrote A-P-A-T-H-Y.

She woke the football player up and said, now what does APATHY mean?

The big, slow student looked to the board and shrugged his shoulders and said: I DON’T CARE!

The teacher just allowed the student to go back to sleep.

C. Paul the old preacher is writing to a spiritual son named Timothy.

Paul has learned of many of the dangers of ministry, and one of the greatest dangers can be apathy, indifference, and lukewarmness. Paul warned Timothy to keep the fire stirred up. Keep your first love!

D. God promised His Children to lead, guide, guard, preserve, and protect us.

Will you stir the fire? Will you fan the flame? Or will you let the fire cool and lose it’s effectiveness? The preacher is depending on you! God is depending on you!

II. DON’T QUIT! DON’T QUIT!

A. Many years ago I was visiting a lady named Deanna in the resthome, she had a copy of this little poem, I borrowed it and made a copy. I ask you to ponder these words:

DON’T QUIT (author unknown)

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re traveling seems all uphill,

When the funds are low, and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

REST IF YOU MUST, BUT DON’T YOU QUIT.

Life is strange with all its twists and turns,

As everyone of us sometime learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won if he stuck it out;

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver lining of the clouds of doubt,

You never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit,

It’s when things seem worse, THAT YOU MUST NOT QUIT!

B. We are walking in satanic overtime, our enemy knows his days are short, so he is throwing all the

garbage and vomit he can at God’s people.

C. Remember, God’s people are not perfect, they are just forgiven!

D. If the enemy is throwing up your past, remind him of his future!

III. WE HAVE A POTTER, BUT AT BEST WE ARE CLAY! WE CAN’T SEE!

A. We have a Potter, we are clay, then we have the Potter’s tools that make the clay.

1. Clay, water

2. Potter’s wheel, Potter’s oven

B. Isaiah 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds

of the earth? Shall the clay say unto him that fashioned it, WHAT MAKEST THOU? or thy work, he hath no hands?( Potsherd -- POTTERY FRAGMENT)

C. Isaiah 64: 8 But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and our potter. and we are the

work of Thy Hands.

IV. THERE WERE THREE TREES GROWING ON A MOUNTAIN TOP, THEY ALL HAD BIG PLANS!

A. Often the trees would discuss what they wanted to be when they got big.

One tree wanted to grow and become such beautiful wood that when it was cut down it would become a

Treasure Chest that would hold the King’s diamonds and pearls.

One tree said he wanted to grow huge and become a great ship that carried the King to far away ports.

The other tree said, I want to grow so tall on this hill that people can see me from miles away.

The tree that desired to be a Treasure Chest was cut down and became a manger for animals in the barn.

He knew he was a failure.

The tree that wanted to be part of a great ship to carry the King to distant ports was cut down, and the