#1 FORGET NOT --- TUNA AND CRACKERS!
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
THIS IS PART ONE OF A TWO PART LESSON.
I do this part in two parts.
Matthew 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
I start this sermon with a metal baseball bat.
I talk about how most of my life I have used the diplomacy of a ball bat.
I often used the mentally of the ball bat in my family.
In the church I have used a smaller ball bat, but how I would like at times to
forcefully swing my bat and make people be faithful and have good attitudes.
Then I pull out an old towel, well worn.
I talk about Jesus’ attitude was to wash the feet of people that had not caught
his message.
At the end of the service, I will give every one there a wash cloth, they have to grow
it into the towel of servanthood.
Matthew 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Psalm 61:3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
Psalm 103:2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psalm 116:12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?
BENEFIT:
an act of kindness, something that promotes well being, to be useful,
to make profitable, favorable, helpful, aid, do good,
I. COULD YOU IMAGINE? TUNA AND CRACKERS EVERY DAY?
A. There was a hard working young man. He was very poor.
He worked long and hard and saved his money.
He met a beautiful young woman and fell in love.
He later asked for her hand in marriage, and a few years later after saving and
working all the over time he could get, the young man purchased a modest house.
He worked hours remodeling and decorating the old house.
One day he and his beautiful bride moved in the home.
He worked so hard. He began saving money to take his wonderful wife on a cruise.
One day he went to the travel agency and booked their cruise.
They took several suitcases and a trunk.
In the trunk he packed hundreds of packages of crackers he had slipped out of the
restaurants, he had saved while the working in the restaurants.
He also purchased many cans of tuna over the months prior to their departure.
So every day at meal time, he and his lovely wife slipped back to their room and ate crackers and tuna.
One day they would eat tuna and crackers and drink water, the next day they would eat crackers and tuna.
They loved each other so dearly.
On the last day of their cruise a man said to them, we haven’t seen you eat in the dining room, go eat with us. The young man lowered his head and said, we have had limited funds after buying our tickets so we ate tuna and crackers in our room.
The man explained the meals were free, included in the price.
They could have ate lobster and steak? Instead for ten days they ate tuna and crackers.
What a shame, they paid for food, and never took advantage of what was rightfully
theirs?
The man cheated his new wife as well as himself?
B. FORGET ME NOT?
Psalm 103:1 A Psalm of David.
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
C. HOW SAD THE DAY WHEN WE REALIZE: THERE WAS MORE THAN THIS?
II. DO WE UNDERSTAND THE REFRESHING POWER OF REGENERATION GOD GIVES HIS PEOPLE?
A. David must have known about the nature of the EAGLE.
Every year the eagle begins looking old and tattered.
Once a year the eagle withdraws on a cliff, far away from life.
The eagle goes through the molting process and pulls out all its feathers.
The eagle rubs it’s talon on the rocks until it gets down to the quick.
Then the eagle rubs it’s beak back and forth against the cliffside, until there is no more beak.
They say the eagle looks ugly and appears near death.
Then one day the eagle steps back to the edge of the cliff.
The eagle feels the wind, and launches into flight with all new feathers, razor sharp talons, and a strong sharp beak.
B. EAGLES HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO LIVE IN CAPTIVITY OVER A HUNDRED YEARS, HOW LONG CAN THEY LIVE IN FREEDOM IS NOT KNOWN?
GOD HAS A POWER OF REFRESHING AND REGENERATION FOR HIS PEOPLE.
C. OUR GOD IS AWLSOME AND HE WANTS TO RENEW, REFRESH, ENCOURAGE AND DEVELOP MORE IN YOU!
III. REMEMBER GOD HAS BENEFITS FOR ALL BELIEVERS.
A. God will forgive you from all sins, and remove the sin as far as from east to the west.
IF IT WERE NORTH AND SOUTH WE WOULD BE IN TROUBLE.
If you started traveling north today, at some point you would reach the North Pole, and then you would be headed south.
You can travel east all your life time, and it is still east.
The is no east/west line.
WHEN GOD THROWS YOUR SIN INTO THE SEA OF FORGETFULNESS,
DON’T GO FISHING.
COME HOME PRODIGAL!
B. ANOTHER BENEFIT OF SERVING GOD IS HEALING.
God’s plan is more than to deliver people from pain, but rather to raise up ministry.
Peter’s mother-in-law was healed and immediately started ministering to others.
C. God wants to restore His people to soundness and freedom from fear!
God will make you right, if you want to be right?
Psalm 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
D. Our enemy has big plans. He wants to kill, steal and destroy everything that belongs to you.
GOD REDEEMS US FROM ALL DESTRUCTIONS.
Note: Destructions has an "S" on the end.
That means PLURIAL. GOD HAS A PLAN OF ESCAPE FOR YOU!
E. GOD CROWNS US WITH LOVINGKINDNESS!
Jesus broke the chains and fetters.
Open the Book of Remembrance, and see what the Lord hath done!
F. TENDER MERCIES: I love the words tender mercies.
Jesus said: COME UNTO ME ALL YOU THAT ARE HEAVY ---
FEEL THE WARM KISS ON YOUR CHEEK? THE FATHER LOVES YOU.
The Law kills, BUT THE SPIRIT BRINGS FORTH LIFE!
G. SATISFACTION AND CONTENTMENT WITH GOOD THINGS.
Man has tendencies to never be satisfied.
Someone asked a multi-millionaire: How much is enough?
A DOLLAR MORE, he replied?
1 Tim. 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
IV. I MUST SHIFT GEARS, I WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT SHARING GOD’S BLESSINGS! WHY DOES GOD POUR OUT BLESSINGS?
GOD WANTS HIS BLESSING TO SPILL OUT OVER YOU.
YOUR UMBREALLA OF BLESSINGS CAN COVER OTHERS.
A. OUR GOD HAS A PLAN ALL THROUGH HIS WORD:
GOD’S PLAN IS TO HAVE MEN AND WOMEN THAT ARE WILLING TO STAND IN THE GAP.
Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
B. ONE BENEFIT OF GOD IS A GAP STANDER...
God needs not vast sums of people, one person can stand in the gap.
C. ONE PERSON CAN BUILD A HEDGE THAT TURNS AWAY JUDGMENT AND GOD’S WRATH.
D. EVERY GENERATION NEEDS A GAP STANDER!
Every family needs a GAP STANDER!
E. WILL YOU EXERCISE YOUR DIVINE PRIVILEGE AND USE YOUR INFLUENCE IN A POSITIVE WAY TO BRING BLESSINGS TO OTHERS?
F. IF NOT YOU? --- THEN WHO?
IF NOT HERE? --- THEN WHERE?
IF NOT NOW? --- THEN WHEN?
G. Will we allow sin, compromise and the demand for popularity force our hearts from being WILLING TO INTERCEDE?
WILL WE BUILD A HEDGE?
WILL WE STAND IN THE GAP WHEN THE WHOLE WORLD IS COLLAPSING?
H. WILL YOU TAKE THE RISK, MOVE IN FERVENT PRAYER AND INTERCEDE FOR REVIVAL?
IF WE HAVE SOMEONE TO ARISE TO BUILD THE HEDGE...
WE CAN AVERT GOD’S WRATH AND JUDGMENT!
V. GOD WAS DISAPPOINTED WITH PEOPLE AND THEIR CHOICES TO DO WRONG.
GOD HEARD THE BELLY-ACHING AND COMPLAINING INSTEAD OF THE PRAISE OF HIS PEOPLE.
GOD SAW THE NEGATIVE ATTITUDE --- WE CAN’T DO IT, THUS GOD CAN’T DO IT, UNTIL GOD WAS READY TO RAISE UP A NEW HEART CRY.
A. Moses spent 40 years thinking he was something.
Then he spent the next 40 years thinking he was NOTHING.
But he spent the last 40 years learning that GOD IS EVERYTHING!
B. AT 80 YEARS OLD MOSES LAUNCHES A NEW MISNISTRY!
Don’t quit, we are on the brink of a miracle.
C. Moses came down from being with God to find a gold calf?
AARON DENIED AND THUS FAILED TO REPENT AS HE SHOULD!
Exodus 32:24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
D. Moses knew, God knew, that a calf of gold did not walk out of a fire.
The people contributed individual to this gold calf.
E. THEN THE PEOPLE CHOSE SIN, OUT IN THE PUBLIC UNGODLY BEHAVIOR, TO BREAK GOD’S HOLY HEART.
F. CAN WE FEEL A COMPELLING TO MINISTER FOR GOD ON THE BEHALF OF A LOST, SICK, HOPELESS PEOPLE?
G. Is what breaks your heart the same thing that breaks God’s heart?
H. MOSES JUMPED INTO ACTION, HE BECAME A MIGHTY HERO, A HEDGE BUILDER, A GAP STANDER.
Exodus 32:32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
I. BLOT:
Spot, stain, disgraceful act, obliterate.
WHAT IF MOSES HAD NOT INTERCEDED?
J. WHAT HAPPENED BECAUSE MOSES WAS NOT SATISFIED TO STAND BACK IDLY?
WE NEED A MOSES TO ARISE AND BUILD THE HEDGE AND STAND IN THE GAP.
VI. THERE IS A DEAR GIFT OF THE FRUIT OF YOUR VISION!
PLANT, REAP FROM THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!
SOW SPARINGLY, REAP ----???
Isaiah 3:10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
2 Cor. 9:10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your
righteousness;)
A. Years ago I was visiting with my father-in-law.
He was telling me about a friend of his that had planted an apple orchard years prior.
He had 5,000 red apple trees of various kinds, and 5,000 yellow apple trees.
The man had several contracts to provide apples for many large food chains.
I could not wait to go see this farm the next day.
I looked for huge tall trees.
I was so disappointed, the trees were pruned and trimmed, they were not real tall. But there were thousands, millions of apples on these trees.
The old man pulled a yellow apple off one of the trees and was eating it.
He said, these trees have made me money, but several generations after me will EAT THE FRUIT OF MY VISION.
He went on to say each year they planted more trees that replaced sickly or dying trees.
THIS IS THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING! What fruit are you leaving?
B. MY FRIEND, IF YOU DAILY CHOOSE THE WALK OF THE RIGHTEOUS, AND BUILD HEDGES, AND CLOSE THE GAP, YOUR EFFORTS WILL BRING ETERNAL HARVEST!
Proverbs 12:12 The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
VII. WE HAVE A RESTRAINER FROM GOD. AVERT THE DARKNESS!
PRAYER INTERCEDES GOD’S POWER TO DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN HOLD BACK THE ENEMY.
A. I have been to many church seminars that left the taste in my mouth that I am a terrible failure. Count the numbers? I am nothing?
My friend, you have never failed if you release the power of the Holy Spirit to others as an intercessor.
Don’t look for trophies? Don’t look for the crowds to brag on your record.
A real intercessor’s work is done in a secret prayer closet.
B. YOU WILL NEVER ARISE IN PUBLIC BEYOND WHAT YOU ARE YOUR PRIVATE PRAYER LIFE.
C. GOD HAS A POWER OF RESTRAIN TO HELP US IN THE BATTLE.
D. RESTRAIN:
TO HOLD BACK, to prevent from doing,
To limit, to restrict, to keep under control
To moderate or limit the enemy’s force or development.
To bind, to curb, to bridle by checking or subduing.
To rein in.
E. The punctuation of the Bible is not perfect, and some Bibles have a few comas out of place. Isaiah 59 has a misplaced coma.
LET US CORRECT IT....
Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come(,) in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
F. WHEN THE ENEMY COMES IN --- LIKE A FLOOD THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD LIFTS UP A STANDARD!
G. Have you ever heard the enemy tell you how worthless you are?
Has the enemy tried to remind you of a stupid sin from the past?
H. As the young preacher was felling a tree to help build the new school of ministry, he lost the axe head --- without his CUTTING EDGE he could
not do God’s work.
I. GOD HAD A DIVINE PLAN TO RETSORE THE CUTTING EDGE.
KJV
2 Thes. 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
NIV
2 Thes. 2:7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of
the way.
LB
2 Thes. 2:7 As for the work this man of rebellion and hell will do when he comes, it is already going on, but he himself will not come until the one
who is holding him back steps out of the way.
NLB
2 Thes. 2:7 For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.
J. WE NEED TO RELEASE THE RESTRAINING POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, TO HOLD BACK THE ENEMY AND BRING UNITY AND PURPOSE TO GOD’S PEOPLE.
K. LET ME WARN THOSE THAT ARE GOING TO MISS THE RAPTURE, THERE WILL BE NO RESTRAINER ACTIVE IN THOSE 7 YEARS, WOE!
L. Right now the church and Christian believers are allowing the restraining power of God to help push back the darkness.
THE DARKER THE NIGHT, THE GREATER THE LIGHT!
M. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PRAYERS HAVE CAUSED THAT RELEASED GOD’s PROTECT AND SHIELDED YOU OR THOSE THAT YOU HAVE STOOD IN THE GAP ON THEIR BEHALF?
YOU WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT SATANIC ATTACK YOU AVERTED BY PRAYER AND THE ACTION OF OUR ENEMY WAS TURNED TO NAUGHT.
N. Don’t forget the benefit of averting the enemy’s attack that would have destroyed your church, your family, or you --- but the power and benefit of
prayer released God!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
I do not ask for any return of my efforts and time but one, would you please, pass this on to another. You can double the size of my reach?
This is part one of a two part lesson.
