THERE IS A SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS...
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Take a two liter of soda and ask how heavy is this?
Ask a strong young man to come up and hold the bottle of soda.
How heavy is this?
Then ask him to hold the bottle straight out from his body?
Now how heavy is it?
Now hold the bottle as far away from your body as you can while I am teaching?
Will the bottle get heavy?
It is not always about the weigh, but the load and long the load has been there?
There can be a proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back?
I. DO YOU KNOW THE SONG THAT MANY THINK SHOULD BE THE CHRISTIAN
ANTHEM?
A. HOW MANY CAN REMEMBER THE OLD HEE HAW TUNE...
Gloom, despair, agony on end...
Deep dark depression, excessive misery,
If it weren’t for bad luck,
I’d have no luck at all,
GLOOM, DESPAIR, AND AGONY ON ME...
B. MANY REGARD PSALMS 88 THE SADDEST CHAPTER IN ALL OF PSALMS.
THE WRITTER FEELS ALONE, REJECTED, AND ALL PURPOSE SEEMS TO ELUDE HIM.
C. HE HAS SUFFERED MENTALLY, EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY AND HE CAN
NOT UNDERSTAND WHY? WHY? WHY?
Psalm 88:1 O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: [2] Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; [3] For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. [4] I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
D. In great faith the Psalmist declares
1. HE WILL NEVER LET GO OF GOD...
2. He confesses the Lord is still His God and God is in control.
3. As the pen is in his hand he declares that God may permit SEASONS OF
DARKNESS --- SADNESS AND DESPAIR --- God still loves him and God’s
plan is still in tact.
4. While God seems so far away, he trusts that God has not forgotten him.
5. He also trust that God keeps good records and DELIVERANCE WILL COME...
II. THERE ARE TIMES GOD SEEMS TO BE SILENT AND THERE IS NO HUMAN
REASONING THAT CAN EXPLAIN OUR SUFFERING AND OUR HEAVINESS.
A. MINDSET:
Mental attitude that can influence one’s interpretation of facts, events or situations... Inclination or a fixed way of thinking...
B. HAVE YOU EVER HAD LIFE TRY TO DICTATE YOUR EMOTIONS?
I knew a lady that hated any song about MOTHER.
If she was at church and they sang a song about MOTHER, SHE WOULD GET
UP AND WALK OUT. If she could not walk out she would put her fingers in
her ears and try not to listen...
SHE HATED HER MOM AND BECAME VERY BITTER ABOUT MOTHERS...
I knew another lady that would cry and cry when any song was sang about
Mother. She loved her Mom and had fond memories of her.
C. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
Could the mindset of the individual help in the interpretations about the facts?
D. HEAVY:
**HARD
**DIFFICULT TO LIFT OR BEAR...
**of great weight or great density
**severe or intense ... heavy fighting
** doing something excessively ... heavy smoker
**very large
**needing much physical or mental effort
**serious or somber in attitude
**HARD TO DIGEST
**HARD TO UNDERSTAND OR HARD TO ENDURE
E. HEAVY GOING:
** slow or difficult progress
F. HEAVY HEARTED:
sad, doleful
G. When I was a teenager there was a song:
HE AIN’T HEAVY --- HE IS MY BROTHER...
III. WHILE WE WALK IN SEASONS OF HEAVINESS WE MUST GUARD THAT WE DO
NOT GROW HEAVY EARS: TO HAVE APATHY, TO BE INATTENTIVE, DISOBEDIENT
KJV
Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
NIV
Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
IV. HEAVY BECAUSE I DIDN’T GET MY WAY...
SOME TIMES WE CAN GET HEAVY OVER THINGS... WE DESIRE MORE...
WE CAN POUT AND PITCH A FIT...
A. WHY DO HUMANS POUT?
B. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT MANIPULATION REALLY IS... CONTROL...
To gain one’s own personal advantage --- usually unfairly.
KJV
1 Kings 21:4 And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
LB
1 Kings 21:4 So Ahab went back to the palace angry and sullen. He refused to eat and went to bed with his face to the wall!
V. THERE MUST BE MORE THAN IDENTIFING A SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS, THERE MUST
BE SOME INDIVIDUALS THAT WILL DEVELOP A PLAN TO OVERCOME THE
HEAVINESS IN UNITY AND DEVELOP A STRADEGY TO OVER COME...
A. We have in the church today many spiritual thermometers that know how to measure heavy spirits ...
WE NEED SPIRITUAL THERMOSTATS THAT DO MORE THAN MEASURE, THEY
MUST SEE THEY ARE PART OF THE BELIEVING CROWD THAT DOES NOT HAVE
TO ACCEPT DEFEAT AS A NORM...
KJV
Exodus 17:12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
NIV
Exodus 17:12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up--one on one side, one on the other--so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
LB
Exodus 17:12 Moses’ arms finally became too tired to hold up the rod any longer; so Aaron and Hur rolled a stone for him to sit on, and they stood on each side, holding up his hands until sunset.
B. BE A MEMBER OF THE TEAM. There is no I in team...
TEAM --- Together Each Accomplishs More...
VI. IN YOUR HEAVINESS THE ENEMY WILL STEAL GOD’S PLAN AND PURPOSE...
HE WILL TRY TO STEAL YOUR REST...
A. OUR ENEMY HAS A THREE FOLD GOAL:
1. To steal
2. To kill
3. To destroy
KJV
Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
MESSAGE
Matthew 11:28 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. [29] Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. [30] Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly."
B. The only effective ammunition our enemy has --- are the bullets
you give him.
VII. HEAVY HEARTS --- HEAVY EYES... A SPIRIT OF SLEEP...
Matthew 26:43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.
Mark 14:40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
KJV
Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
NLT
Isaiah 61:3 To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.
VIII. THE PREACHER TELLS THE CHURCH, IT IS TIME TO QUIT CRYING, LET US REJOICE BY FAITH... FAITH KNOWS THE VICTORY SHOUT OFTEN MUST COME WHILE STILL IN THE SPIIRIT OF HEAVINESS...
A. The people walked around the walls of Jericho one time a day for six days.
Then on the seventh day they walked around the walls 7 times...
THEN THEY SHOUTED... THEY HAD TO SHOUT BEFORE THE WALLS CAME DOWN...
B. TODAY MANY ASSUME LET’S SHOUT AFTER WE HAVE THE VICTORY...
FAITH KNOWS THE emotions will not do it alone...
Neh. 8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
C. DO YOU REMEMBER LIFE IS BUT A PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT LIFE?
ARE WE WEIGHING WHAT GOD WANTS FOR US AS INDIVIDUALS, OUR FAMILIES
AND OUR CHURCH?
D. WE MUST NEVER FORGET:
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, [39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
CONCLUSION:
OUR GOD KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER HIS PEOPLE FROM THE SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS.
2 Peter 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
His servant,
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
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