It's Time For A Garage Sale

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Pastor James May

IT’S TIME FOR A GARAGE SALE

Right now our church is in the process of collecting all sort of things for a garage sale that will be happening in just a few days. As I looked at the mound of “stuff” that is piling in the Fellowship Room, I could not help but think about the past use of some of those items and the fact that their days of usefulness to the present owner have ended. Things that once cost hard-earned dollars, and some that were not real cheap when they were new are now counted as nearly worthless.

There is one statement that I have heard so many times in conjunction with garage sales, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” It is upon that presumption, that someone will need what others don’t need, that we hold garage sales, in the hope of raising extra money for special projects from these discarded items instead of simply giving them away or casting them into the refuse heap.

I believe that we may learn some lessons from a few of the items that will soon go on sale. Each item has its own story of usefulness, then irrelevance, being cast aside and finally being either buried, burned, trashed or, perhaps, being bought once again to begin the same cycle all over again.

One item that I saw in the sale was a big easy chair. That chair seemed to speak out to me, cry out to me, help me, rescue me, I’m still useful and I can still be comfortable for someone to sit in. Sure it had a few signs of wear and tear, perhaps it didn’t match the décor of the previous owner’s home, and yes, it needed a little cleaning before it could be used again.

That chair was once a “comfort zone” for someone. I can just imagine how many hours would have been spent just sitting there in comfort while visiting with old friends and family or watching the TV. Then, for whatever the reason, it was a comfort zone no more.

Have you ever lived in a comfort zone in your walk with the Lord? Have you seen the time when you felt as though you had the devil by the tail and you were driving him? Then there were times when you had him by the tail and he was dragging you! We all experience comfort zones every once in a while. While being certain of your salvation is a wonderful thing and knowing that your relationship with Jesus is strong, we can’t afford to let our guard down – and that’s what is dangerous about being in a Comfort Zone.

So many of God’s people are saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, and have been washed in the Blood of Jesus and yet there seems to be no “fire in their bones”.

The “Weeping Prophet”, Jeremiah said in chapter 20, verse 9, "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay."

Jeremiah was saying this because he had determined that he had gone as far in God as he was willing to go. He had reached his limit on what he was willing to do for the Lord. He had began by prophesying against Israel that they would soon be taken into captivity in Babylon.

There is no doubt that his message was from the Lord. There is no doubt that God had ordained him to be preaching this message, spreading this warning and making every attempt to get Israel to fall on their face before God in repentance before it would be too late. Now you might say that, since God ordained the message and anointed the messenger and it was all done according to God’s plan to reach out to Israel, that God would bless the efforts of Jeremiah, and yet that was not to be the case.