One Pebble At A Time

ONE PEBBLE AT A TIME

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.

Kyfingers@aol.com

TEXT:

Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the

offence might abound,

but where sin abounded,

grace did much more abound...

Mark 9:35 And He sat down, and called the twelve,

and saith unto them: IF ANY MAN DESIRE TO BE FIRST,

THE SAME SHALL BE LAST OF ALL, AND A SERVANT OF ALL.

I ponder Failure and Perseverance.

So you have failed? You are in some mighty good

company.

In ministry I needed some lumber to help me build.

I prayed for the lumber, and God GAVE me an acorn.

I said, "No! God, not an acorn, I need the lumber now."

God said: "HERE IS THE SEED!"

I prayed again,

"God I have this mountain, it haunts me!"

God heard me, and sent a bird,

that move the mountain, one pebble at a time.

I have had to learn to love the little changes and

yet keep dreaming for greater.

Read Psalms 51:1-19

David was a big failure and yet the Bible says he

was a man after God’s own heart.

David disappointed many people,

sin disgraced the King’s family ...

Yet Psalms 51, the greatest chapter in the Bible on

repentance was written because of a failed moment.

We would not have Psa. 51 if David had been perfect.

David clearly was penitent.

David was not just sorry he got caught,

he was very sorry he had broken the very heart of

God.

David came home to God.

David was an example of changing a heart.

David failed, but he was not a failure!

Peter often wore his foot in his mouth.

Peter had the nerve to rebuke the Son of God,

along with many other stupid things,

yet a change came over him in the book of Acts.

He delivered the first message to the church after

the resurrection...

"What meaneth this?"

Peter failed, yet he was not a failure.

Ponder this:

When he was seven years old,

his family was forced out of their home on a legal

technicality, and he had to work to help support

them.

At age nine, his mother died.

At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk.

He wanted to go to law school, but his education

wasn’t good enough.

At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a

small store.

At 26, his business partner died,

leaving him a huge debt that took years to repay.

At 28, after courting a girl for four years,

he asked her to marry him.

She said no.

At 37, on his third try he was elected to Congress,

but two years later, he failed to be reelected.

At 41, his four-year-old son died.

At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost.

At 47, he failed as the vice-presidential candidate.

At 49, he ran for the Senate again, and lost.

At 51, he was elected president of the United

States.

His name was Abraham Lincoln, a man many consider

the greatest leader the country ever had.

Some people get all the breaks? -- Unknown --

What is success and failure?

Salary?

Increase?

Fame?

How do I measure success?

I have never found it!

But I ponder success...

I think life has taught me success is much more than position, square footage in the house, or the type of car that you drive.

We long for a life of great ease, and the ability to order others to meet our demands.

God’s system varies much from what we expect and think ---

Mark 9:35 And He sat down, and called the twelve,

and saith unto them: IF ANY MAN DESIRE TO BE FIRST,

THE SAME SHALL BE LAST OF ALL, AND A SERVANT OF ALL.

WHAT?

"HE WHO WOULD BE GREAT NEEDS TO BE A SERVANT OF

ALL."

Now come on... ???

Failure comes when we quit overcoming obstacles.

Why can we not see obstacles are opportunities?

Real success is learned by approaching every

problem as a chance to lose God,

by patient waiting and persistence we overcome.

Most of us seek paths left by big crowds,

not realizing the path so popular to the crowd

might not be God’s plan for us.

Success is simply overcoming obstacles big and small.

Perhaps God leads you to cut a new path and leave

a trail to the hurting and the dying.

How can we discover great areas of ministry sitting on a padded pew, as the minister quietly rubs our belly until we have a satisfactory burp?

We can take ordinary talents, and bury them ---

or we can take extraordinary perseverance teamed

with our ordinary talents,

and reach new levels,

and minister to hurting and lost neighbors.

If not you --- then who?

If not now --- then when?