THE BATTLE OF THE PEBBLE IN THE SHOE...
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
COLD HARD FACTS:
15% of all the people in church this week...
Will not be in church within a year period....
Think what this does in 2 years?
In 5 years 75% of the people in church today will not be in church?
I ponder WHY?
3/4 of the world is water...
The oceans of the world are made up of little drops...
I. DIFFICULTY CAN HURT... BUT SOMETIMES WE ARE NOT AS EFFECTED
BY THE GREAT MOUNTAIN WE CLIMB AS MUCH AS WE ARE EFFECTED
BY THE PEBBLE IN OUR SHOE...
A. Have you ever watched a COWBOY SHOW?
A small burr or a thorn gets under the saddle of the horse?
Think what happens?
Song of Songs 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines
have tender grapes.
B. How long does it take to TRAVEL from SWEET to being MEAN and Cruel?
C. MOST OF US WOULD NEVER FALL BY A GREAT SIN...
BUT GRADUALLY OF A PERIOD OF TIME WE BECOME HARDHEARTED
AND STUBBORN...
D. IF YOU WILL KEEP? ...
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have
kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
1 John 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.
And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
II. WARNING MY FRIEND, DO NOT FALL LITTLE BY LITTLE...
WE TEND TO PALLIATE SIN...
WE TRY TO HIDE SIN UNDER THE BLANKET?
A. Do we enjoy God's word? Is it a labor?
Do we enjoy pray? Or is it work?
DO WE ENJOY BEING IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SON OF GOD?
B. BEING A CHRISTIAN IS LIKENED AS TO THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB?
Does the spouse become HEAVY, the JOY STOLEN from the family?
C. WE TEND TO THINK LIGHTLY ABOUT SIN...
When we first COME TO KNOW JESUS AS MASTER AND LORD...
We have a conscience that is SO TENDER...
Romans 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that
it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful.
D. WE DESIRE TO PLEASE GOD AND NOT OFFEND HIS RULES...
The slightest of sin brings fear and correction.
WHEN THE VINE IS TENDER, THE BLOSSMS AND BLOOMS START TO BEAR
TENDER FRUIT... a serious changes occurs...
E. WE GROW CALLOUSED TO SPIRITUAL THINGS...
WE FAIL BY THE SPIRIT OF GRADUALNESS...
We tend to loose focus on the ETERNAL, and specialize in the TEMPORAL.
F. One DEGREE at a time...
I am told that if you PUT A FROG IN HOT WATER he will jump out...
But they say if you put a FROG IN COOL water and warm up ever so gently
that the FROG WILL SMILE WHILES HE BOILS to death?
G. Here we are today, THE SIN that once ALARMED US, is compromised
and becomes ACCEPTABLE?
H. IF YOU STAY NEAR A BOOMING CANNON, you can not hear the cricket singing...
I. CAN WE SEE A DIFFERNCE IN FALLING ...
AND TRIPPING?
III. HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED THE STORY OF THE YOUNG BOY
THAT DISCOVERED A HOLE IN THE SAFETY DIKE? WHILE EVERONE
WAS ENJOYING LIFE THE YOUNG BOY FOUND THE HOLE, THERE WAS
NO COMMITTEE MEETING, THE BOY DID WHAT HE COULD...
HE OFFERED THE USE OF HIS FINGER TO PLUG THE HOLE
AND SAVE THENATION...
A. LITTLE PROBLEMS CAN ERODE INTO LARGER PROBLEMS...
Luke 19:17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been
faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
B. If you can't be faithful in little things, what makes you think you can
handle BIG ISSUES?
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.
IV. FOLLOW THE TRAIL OF MAN KIND... LET US BRIEFLY LOOK AT THE
FIRST 4 KINGS OF ISRAEL... THEY ARE EXAMPLES OF THE PEBBLE STORY.
1. 1ST KING OF ISRAEL: SAUL SON OF KISH... SAUL HAD IT AND LOST IT...
THE MAN THAT LOST HIS CROWN...
A. SAUL was head and shoulders taller than anyone...
I. Chronicles 8:33 And Ner begat Kish, and Kish begat Saul, and Saul begat
Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal.
1 Chronicles 8:40 And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valour, archers,
and had many sons, and sons' sons, an hundred and fifty. All these are of the
sons of Benjamin.
B. SAUL CAME FROM A LONG LINE OF EXPERT SLING AND ARCHERY.
C. THE EXPERT CALLED ON A LITTLE BOY TO USE HIS SLING...
D. Saul's early season was HUMBLE, OBEDIENT, SELF CONTROL...
E. SELFISH, jealous, hate driven, disobedient, sought a witch.
2. DAVID WAS THE SECOND KING OF ISRAEL... HE WAS A MAN
AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART... DAVID WAS A MAN THAT ALLOWED
GOD TO USE HIM FROM SHEPHERD BOY TO THE THRONE...
A. Boaz,(Ruth),Obed, Jessie, David...
David listened to Nathan.
B. champion, warrior, man of compassion and passion,
C. Terrible failure, sex sin, killed a warrior,
D. Preacher rebuked him, David repented and corrected his sin...
E. Established Jerusalem as worship center...
3. THE 3RD KING, SOLOMON, HE TOOK GOOD AND MADE IT BETTER...
THE KING OF WISDOM AND GREAT FOOLIISHNESS...
HE LET A PEBBLE DESTROY ALL HIS GOOD WORKS...
2 Samuel 12:24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and
lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD
loved him.
A. SOLOMON'S TEMPLE, DAVID'S HEART?
B. He allowed women to dictate his life...
1 Kings 11:4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away
his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as
was the heart of David his father.
5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom
the abomination of the Ammonites.
6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD,
as did David his father.
7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab,
in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children
of Ammon.
4. THE 4TH KING STARTED AS AN IDIOIT AND DIED WITH MANY PEBBLES
IN HIS SHOES... REHOBOAM... A TERRIBLE SAD CASE OF SIN...
1 Kings 12:4 Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous
service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will
serve thee.
5 And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the
people departed.
1 Kings 12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him,
and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood
before him:
A. REHOBOAM had evil friends...
B. REHOBOAM DESTROYS EVERYTHING THAT DAVID AND SOLOMON
BUILT...
C. THE SAD STORY OF ATTITUDE...
V. DO YOU RECALL THE KING AND HIS NEW ROBE...
YOU ARE A FOOL IF YOU CAN NOT SEE THE ROBE?
EVERY BODY SHOW THE ROBE... BUT A LITTLE BOY...
A. The tailor was busy at work...
The King saw it... the body guards saw it...
The Queen saw it... The crowd saw it...
THE LITTLE BOY SAID: WHERE IS THE KINGS GARMENT?
B. ONE WISE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE...
DAVID WAS THE KING...
JOAB THE GENERAL...
C. AN EVIL MAN WAS BRINGING JUDGMENT ON THE WHOLE NATION...
Then comes the time JOAB, the General has to do battle and deal with the
pebbles...
D. Sheba has been partying and disrespects every thing of God.
E. SHEBA RUNS IN ABEL OF BETHMAACHAB FOR SAFETY AND
REFUGE... JOAB IS PREPARED TO DESTROY THE WHOLE CITY...
F. ONE LADY KNOWS ... GET RID OF THE PEBBLE...
2 Samuel 20:16 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you,
unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.
17 And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And
he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid.
And he answered, I do hear.
18 Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They
shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter.
19 I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to
destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance
of the LORD?
20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow
up or destroy.
21 The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by
name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him
only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold,
his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.
22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off
the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a
trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab
returned to Jerusalem unto the king.
CONCLUSION: In the battle of the pebble vs the mountain, one person can
make a difference... WILL YOU STEP UP?
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Help me? Pass my works to another?
