March Madness Vs March Gladness

MARCH MADNESS OR MARCH GLADNESS…

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes)

*MADNESS: The state of being mentality ill, extremely foolish behavior, chaotic, frenzied, thinking that can be dangerous, folly, lacking insight, anxiety can lead to madness,

* THERE ARE 4 TYPES OF MADNESS: 1. Bad-- mad; 2.ANGRY-- MAD; 3. SAD-- mad; 4. GLAD-- mad…

*GLADNESS: joy, wellbeing, awesome, see the best, cheerful, delight, content.

Text:

Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

LET US CONSIDER MADNESS… IN TEXAS ALONE THERE ARE 24 PREACHERS’ PARSONAGES WORTH MORE THAN $1 MILLION DOLLARS.

One preacher has a $14 million, 15,700 square ft. home. He owns million dollar homes in California.

Another TV evangelist has an 18,279 square ft. HOME, $10, 825,462. This one owns several other properties, 25 acre, 35 acre farms. I can find easily pastors having homes: 2.8 million, 7 million, 5.5 million. One TV evangelist owns 3 properties worth more than 5.4 million. Another TV evangelist has a 40,000 square ft., 25 rooms $20 million … This is just the tip of the iceberg. Many of these properties are not listed as church property but rather to personal and family control. If you do a computer search it will make a person sick of the homes valued at many millions of dollars.

We need not discuss tax exempt jets registered to companies not to the church ministries. One preacher has two jets worth over 18 million. Another has a jet exemption of over 20 million. This does not count matching collectors automobiles, etc.

LEAVE BEHIND? WHAT WILL I LEAVE BEHIND? MADNESS? GLADNESS?

A PREACHER NAMED JOHN WESLEY WAS BORN IN 1703. He was one of the greatest evangelist of his day. JOHN WESLEY had a pure attitude and motive in ministry. Wesley said: HAVING, FIRST, GAINED ALL YOU CAN, AND, SECOND SAVED ALL YOU CAN, THEN GIVE ALL YOU CAN.

Wesley limited his use of money so he had more money to give to the poor. In his 1st year of ministry he received 30 pounds of money. He lived on 28 pounds and gave 2. Year two Wesley doubled his income to 60 pounds, he gave away 32 pounds. (More than average yearly salary.) His 3rd year he made 90 pounds, he gave 62 pounds. He advanced to 1,400 pounds and only spent 30 pounds. He gave 1,370 pounds that year.

Wesley died at 87, the only money he had was what was in his pocket. Wesley preached 53 years. All he had was a handful of books, a Geneva gown that he preached in and 6 SILVER SPOONS, that people had given him. He left instructions to give the SIX SILVER SPOONS TO EACH OF THE POOR MEN THAT WILL CARRY ME TO MY GRAVE.

WHAT DID JOHN WESLEY LEAVE BEHIND? THOUSANDS OF SAVED PEOPLE, AND YES SOMETHING ELSE… THE GREAT METHODIST CHURCH. He could have died rich. He built ORPHANAGES, printed Bibles, and with his brother CHARLES printed the METHODIST HYMN BOOK. At death JOHN WESLEY DIED WORTH ABOUT $30.00.

MARCH MADNESS? “CINDERELLA” WEAR THE CROWN OF MARCH MADNESS?

There is a nationwide anticipation and most watched event called MARCH MADNESS. The NCAA DIVISION 1 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT. This tournament started in 1939 with 8 teams participating. Oregon beat Ohio State that first year. In 1951 the NCAA enlarged the tourney to 16 teams. In 1968 the tourney went to 64 teams, then 65. In 2011 the tourney grew into 68 teams to play for the championship.

Today 68 teams compete in 7 rounds for the national championship. There are 4 regions that play in a single elimination tournament of a 3 weekend period. Each winning team advances, the losing teams go home. The games go

from 68 to 32. Then it is called the SWEET SIXTEEN, the ELITE EIGHT and then the FINAL FOUR. This reduces the field to the national championship game.

32 TEAMS RECEIVE AN AUTOMATIC BID BY WINNING THEIR CONFERENCES. The remaining 36 are given AT LARGE BIDS based on their game records. This is a single elimination tourney.

THE BRACKETS OF 68 are broken down into 4 regions. Each team in the bracket is given a seed, 1 through 16. The higher seeds play the lowest seeds. Occasionally there will be a CINDERELLA TEAM that will beat the higher seed. The games that are played in the 4 regions are supposedly NEUTRAL SITES. So there are 4 number 1 seeds.