BEYOND REASONING! THINK OUT OF THE BOX.
WHERE WILL YOU FIND GOD? EXPECTATIONS?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Nothing creates more deep seated anxieties than the false assumption that life should be free from anxieties.
Many years ago I was at a Preacher’s meeting and I heard this poem read by a Preacher from Memphis, TN. I ran up and asked to borrow it, and I wrote this in
the front of my Bible. The writer is not known.
I FEEL A SERMON
I STAND AT NIGHT AMID THE CITY’S THRONG,
AND I SCAN THE FACES THAT PASS ALONG.
I READ A HISTORY OF WOE, AND OF WANT, AND OF GRIEF,
AND MY HEART GOES FURTHER THAN MY HAND CAN REACH,
AND I FEEL A SERMON I COULD NEVER PREACH!
I could never tell you how many times I have spoken these few words.
I feel sermons, that I could never preach.
I. HAVE YOU EVER BURNED A BRIDGE BEFORE YOU CROSSED OVER IT? WE MUST KNOW THERE IS A LAND SOME WHERE BEYOND HUMAN REASONING...
THAT OPERATES IN THE REALM OF FAITH.
Arise to the challenge.
Matthew 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
God has a plan for us to be overcomers!
Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
1 John 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
A. DO WE HAVE TO STAY THIS WAY?
WILL WE REQUIRE MORE OF OURSELVES?
DIG A NEW BED? FILL IN THE OLD?
I wish I could take you to the mountains of eastern Kentucky. They are beautiful to see, and the poverty can be seen all around. There are so many lessons to learn.
B. THERE WAS A MOUNTAIN IN CUMBERLAND GAP NATIONAL PARK, FOR MANY YEARS HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DIED IN CAR CRASHES ON THE MOUNTAIN.
They nick named the mountain: MASSACRE MOUNTAIN.
I had friends die there. My sister and her husband wrecked on the mountain.
Today there is no worry traveling through Middlesboro, KY. They did the impossible, people laughed, --- dig a tunnel?
Today travel 25 and Massacre Mountain has been tamed,
a huge beautiful tunnel goes under Cumberland Gap, it is level road.
THEY DID IT! It took many years, but the tunnel will save thousands of lives.
THANK GOD SOMEONE DREAMED AND DID NOT ACCEPT THE NORM AS THE NORM.
There was more than death on the mountain, a team of believers came together, and changed the history of this area.
This team operated in a realm beyond human reasoning.
C. Let me take you to one county away from West Virginia, the county is called PIKE COUNTY. The county seat is PIKEVILLE.
Pikeville is in the middle of the coal fields. At one time the coal fields were booming.
Today coal has hit the bottom and the huge coal operations have all closed. A few family mines still produce coal, but coal is not King like it was
30 years ago. Pike County and Floyd County are home to many sweet mountain people.
For the history of the mountains flooding has been a terrible destructive force. I pastored in Floyd County, the Big Sandy River flows through the
center of Pikeville and Prestonsburg.
First Assembly of God was flooded in 1952, 1957, 1963, 1972, 1982.
The flood waters leave much mud and destruction.
Pikeville could never over come the floods.
The river ran through the middle of the city. On the average of about once in seven years a massive flood destroyed the heart of the city.
Many years ago, the city voted, they were tired of the floods and a multi-million dollar project began.
The Army Corps of Engineers began what was an impossible project.
They dug around a mountain and re-routed the Big Sandy River.
Today where there once was a river that flooded the city, today the river bed is a massive four lane highway, and the river does not pass through the city.
Now the city has built and grown without the threat of massive floods.
Pikeville is forever changed because some people THOUGHT OUT OF THE BOX.
D. Then in Harlan County, they began a massive project, and now the city of Harlan
has overcome it’s massive flood problems.
E. Then in Bell County, the city of Pineville has massive flood walls and the road is not the same, the flooding that limited the city --- is now a city that lives beyond the threat of the massive floods that seemed to forever limit it’s future growth.
F. Go over the mountain into Virginia, there was a town forever doomed by flooding. Today the city has moved and they worry not of floods?
Someone had to break out of the box of traditional thinking.
G. Go to Hazard, Kentucky, no not the Duke Boys, it is Perry County. Today much of Hazard has moved above the flood plain.
H. SOMEONE HAD TO GET TIRED OF THE FLOODS.
Can you imagine the first time the suggestion was discussed in Pikeville, let’s move the BIG SANDY RIVER?
People laughed, they mocked at the stupidity?
OTHERS DEMANDED WE DON’T HAVE TO STAY THE SAME, WE CAN
DO THIS. TODAY THERE ARE MANY TESTIMONIES OF THE WHOLE AREA CHANGED BECAUSE SOME DARED TO NOT ACCEPT THE NEGATIVE NORM AND THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCES, WE CAN OVER COME THIS.
II. DO WE WALK IN A CONFIDENT EXPECTATION IN THINGS BEYOND THIS WORLD? WHERE SHALL WE MEET GOD?
A. Will we find God looking in nature? Maybe? Maybe not?
Will we find God at your house? Maybe? Maybe not?
Will we find God at church? Maybe? Maybe not?
B. Where you meet God will depend on several things?
ONE IS WHERE IS YOUR HOPE? WHERE IS YOUR EXPECTATION?
Is our hope in education? Is it in the religious crowds?
Romans 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
C. I know, this has always been this way?
I know this dysfunctional family has a generational problem. I say, LET’S DIG --- THERE IS A HOPE!
THERE IS NEW HOPE, A LIVING HOPE, A HOPE AGAINST HOPE.
D. A LINE I OFTEN STATE IS THIS:
YOU ARE INSANE IF YOU THINK YOU CAN STAY THE SAME AND EXPECT A DIFFERENT OUTCOME.
E. WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR THINKING PATTERNS?
WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE WAY WE REACT TO PROBLEMS!
F. FEW CHRISTIANS LEARN TO ACT IN FAITH, WE REACT IN THE FLESH TO THE VISIBLE.
G. In Pikeville it was not enough to just dig a new river bed, cut a hole through the mountain, THEY HAD TO FILL IN THE OLD RIVER BED.
H. See down through the years, the river enlarged itself. The river bed got deeper and wider, the river re-enforced itself.
I. CHANGES STARTS WITH HOPE AND A DREAM.
I don’t have to be this way. I don’t have to accept STATUS QUO.
J. Many would rather walk an old path, than to blaze the trail for a NEW PATH.
K. Some see the things the way they are and wonder why?
God calls you to see not how things are, BUT HOW YOU AND GOD COULD BRING ABOUT A NEW DIRECTION AND MAKE A NEW PATH THAT LEADS TO DELIVERANCE.
L. Ever heard: ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY?
ROME WAS NOT CHANGED IN A DAY EITHER.
M. BURY THE PAST, OR IT WILL BURY YOU!
SO YOU TRIED ONCE? TRY AGAIN! THEN TRY AGAIN!
N. WE MUST FIRST OVERCOME NEGATIVISM.
MAYBE YOU CAN NOT OVERCOME NEGATIVISM, MAYBE YOU HAVE TO OVERWHELM IT!
FEARS WITHIN, STRUGGLES AND BATTLES WITHOUT?
IT IS ALL ABOUT YOUR CHOICES, YOUR DAILY MENIAL CHOICES CAN BECOME DEADLY RUTS THAT ENTRAP YOUR HEART AND HINDER GOD!
O. SEE THIS MOUNTAIN? THERE IS A TUNNEL? THERE IS A WAY?
TOGETHER LET’S OVERCOME THE REASONING WHY WE CAN’T DO THIS, AND START SEARCHING --- WE HAVE A DIVINE APPOINTMENT TO OVERCOME.
There are rewards for over-comers!
III. WHAT APPEARS TO BE THE REASONING OF A BASKET CASE IS A DIVINE APPOINTMENT BEYOND HUMAN REASONING...
WHERE WILL GOD MEET YOU? WILL GOD COME OVER HERE?
MAYBE GOD WILL BE OVER THERE?
A. DO ALL YOU CAN, AND THEN EXPECT GOD TO DO WHAT YOU CAN’T.
Exodus 2:3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein;
and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
B. Moses’ mother knew there was something special about this son, as she made a little basket Moses parents Jochebed and Amram had to:
HAVE HOPE AND TRUST BEYOND THE REASONING OF BASIC BASKET WEAVING!
C. As Miriam hid in the bushes SHE WAS MOTIVATED BY MORE THAN HUMAN REASONING.
As Pharaoh’s daughter looked in the basket, WHAT she saw was more than a pretty
baby, her human reasoning was moving in the ARM OF THE SPIRIT.
God allowed the man that ordered Moses killed, pay for Moses’ education!
D. I believe that for 40 years Moses walked on the BACK SIDE OF THE DESERT, no doubt Moses looked out his tent door in the evening and thought about the weather
of tomorrow. Moses probably even thought about the memories in Pharaoh’s palace, and he could not understand, WHY AM I HERE?
E. MOSES’ HEART YEARNED: GOD I KNOW THERE IS MORE THAN THIS...
In my opinion Moses carried one question, one statement in his heart for 40 longs years:
GOD I KNOW, I KNOW THAT I KNOW --- THERE IS MORE THAN THIS.
F. My friend, CAN YOU SEE, WE WALK IN THE LAST DAYS? DOESN’T YOUR HEART KNOW BEYOND HUMAN REASONING, THAT THERE IS A REALM OF FAITH AND IN THIS REALM WE CANNOT ACCEPT HUMAN LIMITATIONS?
IV. DO WE SEEK HONEST ANSWERS: IT IS UP TO YOU!
BLESSED IS HE THAT EXPECTS NOTHING, HE SHALL RECIEVE EXACTLY WHAT HE EXPECTED! YOU WILL FIND GOD AT WHAT EVER LEVEL OF EXPECTANCY YOU THRIVE?
A. You cannot dream yourself into what you could be.
Triumph is just a little TRY with a big ---UMPH.
B. Tomorrow’s dream? Yesterday’s regrets? --- TODAY’S OPPORTUNITY.
KJV
Matthew 9:29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
LB
Matthew 9:29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "Because of your faith it
Msg.
Matthew 9:29 He touched their eyes and said, "Become what you believe."
NIV
Matthew 9:29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you";
C. Any sports have boundary lines. God has boundaries for blessings!
In basketball you cannot shoot a shot from out of bounds?
In football you cannot stand on the side line while the line is blocking, and start running and running in the lines and catch the ball.
D. WHAT DOES OUR HOPE AND FAITH EXPECT?
Have you ever been knocked down? You must get up and try again.
E. I hear: I JUST LEARNED LIFE ISN’T FAIR...
Honey, you are a slow learner. I learned in Kindergarten life wasn’t fair.
I had 8 fat Crayola Crayons, the girl in front of me had 64.
F. Do you believe God is in control?
What if your dream came true?
Do we believe in miracles? Can God work a miracle for me?
KJV
Col. 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
NIV
Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
LB
Col. 3:2 Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here.
MSG
Col. 3:2 Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—
that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.
HIS LAMP AM I!
UNKNOWN
His lamp am I to shine where He shall say;
And lamps are not for sunny rooms,
Nor for the light of day;
But for the dark places of the earth,
Where shame, wrong, and crime give birth.
Or for the mulky twilight gray,
Where wandering sheep have gone astray.
Or where the lamp of faith grows dim,
And souls are groping after Him.
And as some times a flame we find,
Clear shining through the light,
So dark we cannot see the lamp,
But only see the light.
So may I shine, His Love aflame
That men may glorify His Holy Name.
Unknown
V. WISE WE ARE TO TRUST GOD AND EXPECT HIS BLESSINGS TO OVERCOME
THE ATTACK OF THE ENEMY.
STUDY A FEW OF THESE PHILOSPHY 101 IDEAS.
A. We need a basic philosophy system that holds these truths.
1. Nothing creates more deep seated anxieties than the false assumption that life should be
free from anxieties.
2. Nothing is as bad as it first appears.
3. Trouble is temporary, THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
4. THE GOOD NEWS IS THE BAD NEWS IS NOT THE TRUTH.
5. Time is a tonic. With time God can heal all problems. Be patient.
6. Tribulation is a test tube/ crucible.
7. GOOD COMES OUT OF BAD.
8. LIFE IS A MIRROR!
9. You deserve what you tolerate.
10. WHAT HAPPENS IN YOU IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU!
11. Circumstances are neutral.
Life’s circumstances do not make you good or bad, they just show which you are.
12. You can if you want too ...
It takes more faith to get out of the boat, than it does to sit back and be critical.
B. REACH BEYOND HUMAN REASONING, RELEASE GOD!
TRUST GOD. EXPECT GOD. THEN WAIT PATIENTLY.
Ephes. 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
NLB
Ephes. 6:13 Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm.
msg
Ephes. 6:13 Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet.
Is it not better to aim at the star and hit the moon, than to land in the mud puddle every time?
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
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