DON’T QUIT: BUT GOD
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT: 2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
2 Timothy 1:12 (MSG) It's also the cause of all this trouble I'm in. But I have no regrets. I couldn't be more sure of my ground—the One I've trusted in can take care of what he's trusted me to do right to the end.
Recently I was at the Kentucky (east) day of prayer. Our Pastor Joe Girdler shared a thought that IGNITED IN MY SPIRIT. I have not been able to shake this thought. Pastor Joe said: BUT GOD. He then shared many needs that we have across this commonwealth. There was family fighting a battle with cancer. Then Pastor Joe said: BUT GOD. He went on to tell of an old pastor’s wife… But God. He informed us of breaking news one of our Pastors just found out there was a large brain tumor… BUT GOD. Request came in… But God.
I then started praying Cousin Danny near death --- BUT GOD. Virgil Lee in a life battle --- BUT GOD. Don --- But God.
Pastors doing their absolute best and see little fruit --- BUT GOD! Hands that are hanging down --- BUT GOD! Marriages on the rocks –BUT GOD. I PLACE MY TOTAL INVESTMENTS AND MY LIFE ENERGY INTO: BUT GOD. I have no regrets for the miles I have traveled --- for I KNOW: BUT GOD…
BUT GOD… ONE DAY THERE WAS NOTHING BUT DARKNESS AND VOID… BUT GOD CAME AND SPOKE 4 WORDS AND CHANGED HISTORY…
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Do we realize all life as we know it COMES FROM LIGHT…
There would be nothing: BUT GOD SPOKE 4 WORDS …
I once read a little lesson. Our enemy challenged God to a contest to show his stuff. He challenged God to
make man. Our enemy knelt down to the earth and picked up some dirt and he was going to make a man.
God said: OH, NO YOU DON’T YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR OWN DIRT. The enemy lost the contest. He has no dirt. He does not have the ability to create from nothing. BUT GOD DOES… GOD CAN SPEAK THE WORD.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
MY FRIEIND, BUT GOD --- God can handle this. God has made a way.
There is a way of escape. LET US TRUST BUT GOD…
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
JACOB LEFT HOME WITH WHAT HE COULD CARRY. HIS MOTHER SENT HIM AWAY FROM HOME TO SAVE HIS LIFE FROM HIS BROTHER.
Laban was his father in law and cheated him… over and over… BUT GOD’S BLESSINGS HAS NOT ALLOWED HIM TO BE HURT.
Genesis 31:7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
JOSEPH’S BROTHERS HATED HIM. THEY INTENDED TO KILL HIM, THE BLOODY COAT OF MANY COATS WAS RETURNED TO THEIR FATHER… THE COAT REPRESENT THE FATHER’S BLESSING. THEY MAY HAVE STRIPPED HIS COAT, BUT GOD…
Genesis 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:
WHILE JACOB, NOW ISRAEL WAS DYING, ISRAEL KNEW WHAT HIS 10 SONS HAD DONE TO STRIP AWAY THE FATHER’S BLESSING, THE COAT OF MANY COLORS WAS STILL ON JOSEPH EVEN WHILE HIS FATHER WAS DYING.
Genesis 48:21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
BUT GOD SHALL BE WITH YOU… THROUGH ALL THE TEARS, ALL THE YEARS OF JOSEPH’S FEARS, MISERY AND PAIN.
BUT GOD.
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
WHAT CAN I SAY?
Romans 8:31 (KJV) 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
SAMSON WAS VERY STRONG, BUT HE CAME TO THIS PLACE HE WAS GOING TO THRIST TO DEATH? THERE WAS NO WATER TO BE FOUND… I AM GOING TO DIE?
Judges 15:19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
BUT GOD? God was ready. God had the water ready in the JAW BONE. What brought death to the enemy, brought life to God’s servant.
KING SAUL WAS A POWER MAN, HE SWORE TO KILL DAVID…
1 Samuel 23:14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
Never fear David --- BUT GOD that helped slay Goliath, and has lead you all the way ---
BUT GOD WILL DELIVER YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE OVERWHELMED AND THE ENEMY IS 100 TIMES GREATER THAN YOU? LET US ASK JEHOSHAPHAT WHAT HE HEARD FROM GOD?
2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.
Hey King, quit looking at the obstacles. Obstacles can hide your goals. Trust God! The battle is not yours. If you take what is not yours you are stealing. This belongs to God. Trust Him. BUT GOD.
JONAH WAS PITCHING A TEMPER FIT? TWICE GOD SAYS: JONAH, O PREACHER MAN IS IT WELL YOU ARE SO ANGRY?
WHO IS GOING TO PREACH TO THE PREACHER? GOD HAS A LESSON TO LEARN…
Jonah 4:7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
God was tired of Jonah’s emotional journey. Jonah was up and down, here and there. BUT GOD TRIED TO GET JONAH
TO CHANGE… I am glad God never gives up on us.
WE COME TO SCARRED LIFES… COME, LET US ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF SIN… AND SEE THE POWER OF SCARRED HANDS REACHING TO SCARRED LIFES…
Mark 2:7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? 8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? 9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
WHO BUT GOD CAN FORGIVE SINS? JESUS SHOWED THOSE RELIGIOUS BIGOTS --- HE FORGAVE AN INWARD WORK AND THEN PROVED IT BY AN OUTTER WORK OF HEALING.
BUT GOD HOLDS US ACCOUNTABLE. MAY WE NEVER FORGET THAT BUT GOD HAS A RECKONING DAY, THE BEAMA SEAT OF GOD. BUT GOD KNOWS YOUR BANK ACCOUNT AND YOUR SPIIRITUAL ACCOUNT.
Luke 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
BUT GOD KNOWS YOUR HEARTS…
BUT KNOW THIS: GOD KNOWS YOUR HEARTS… YOUR WORDS, YOUR MOTIVES.
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
BUT GOD GIVES THE INCREASE… MAN TAKES PRIDE IN INCREASE AND GAINS GREAT APPLAUSE AND TROPHIES FOR INCREASES. BUT GOD…
1 Corinthians 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
I have never gained great ecclesiastical success sheets and shining trophies that gather dust. I realize that much of who I am and whose I am is because of the foundation that my Dad and my Mom have built upon. The music I play is a gift of many showing me licks? Not just my talent? I have had Sunday School teachers, aunts and uncles, fellow preachers that invested time, talent and energy in me. While I am in debt to all these sources, we must never forget the BUT GOD IN MINISTRY. I stand on the shoulders of those that worked before me.
I PRAY THIS PRAYER FOR ALL THAT HEAR THIS SERMON AND ALL THAT TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS LESSON.
I DO NOT SEEK GREAT GIFTS FOR YOU --- MY HONEST PRAYER IS THIS: I ASK “BUT GOD TO RAISE UP FRUIT TO ABOUND AND REMAIN.
Philippians 4:17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
Conclusion: I KNOW MANY ARE HURTING TODAY. Your load has been great. The pain has seemed endless. The heart breaks are so numerous. You have been hurt. People that you have invested in seem to never remember you. Sometimes the only call you get is someone wanting something. As Aaron and Hur lifted up the arms of a tired preacher
So would I like to lift you this day.
Hebrews 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Please beware of SPIRITUAL BURN OUT, BITTERNESS. One preacher I was working with told me I am not BURNED OUT, I am BURNED UP. I know there is a heavy burden and no applause. Nights so dark and long and seems no one cares. The screams from the church are more often GIVE ME, GIVE ME! I pray you never forget the BUT GOD. I pray you NEVER FORGET HEAVEN.
I pray for you. I know you have traveled many miles. I know of many preachers that have paid out of their pockets church bills and given your personal time. I know many of you have never had a vacation or a day off. Some are so often criticized and kind words are seldom heard. I have asked Jesus to lead you to this work and that you learn to encourage yourself and find the fountain of refreshing that comes from God. I pray this prayer for you: BUT GOD.
Numbers 6:22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, 24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. 27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.
Once I read where England was under attack and the bombs were dropping all around that Winston Churchill
was asked: ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE YOUR POST OF DUTY FOR A SAFER PLACE? Churchill replied: I WILL NOT TAKE THE COWARDLY PATH. I WILL STAND AT MY POST DUTY!
Let us stand at our post of duty until Jesus calls.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Pass this on to another? Never forget: BUT GOD! 1/19/2018
