WHEN I GET HOME: THE POWER OF THE SEED…
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
DO WE REALLY UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF THE SEED? I hold an acorn and a peach pit in my hand.
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
JESUS TALKS ABOUT WHEN HE GETS HOME…AS OFT AS YOU DO THIS, DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. JESUS SAYS BOYS TAKE OF THIS CUP AND OF THE BREAD--- BUT I AM NOT GOING TO EAT THIS COMMUNION WITH YOU TODAY… I AM GOING TO WAIT AND WE WILL ALL CELEBRATE WHEN WE ALL GET HOME, TOGETHER FOREVER…
Matthew 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. 30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
I visited an old man at his house. His wife greeted me at the door. She said he is sleeping in his chair and invited me in… Sure enough he was sitting in his favorite lazy boy chair with his eyes closed. When he heard me, he opened his eyes and said: I LOVE TO SIT HERE AND DREAM ABOUT MY BOYHOOD HOME. He said momma canned all summer. We would sleep on the porch when it was hot. I was thinking about momma’s cooking, the potbellied stove, the featherbeds… He said Preacher one day you will understand how wonderful it is to think about home. Lynn said Young people can’t wait to leave home. Old people dream about home.
Many months I went twice a week to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville to visit this man that had a second set of valves placed in his heart. Several months the man was on life support. He hallucinated and felt the nurses were trying to kill him. He would write on paper to me begging me “to get him out of here AND TAKE HIM HOME.” After several months he was able to be moved closer to home in a super rehab center. I visited him daily. He had an amazing recovery. He worked very hard and learned to walk again.
On one visit I went in his room and he appeared asleep to me. I stood there and prayed and turned to leave. I coughed and he opened his eyes and spoke. I said I thought you were asleep. He said no, I had my eyes closed and was thinking about home. He explained to me: the fire place is on the left… my recliner, right in from of me is the piano, to the right is the dining room table, passed the table is the kitchen, the cook stove is on the far side. He explained to me in great detail his HOME. Lynn said: I AM JUST LAYING HERE THINKING OF HOME. I am dreaming of going home.
Lynn had a little over a year at home. He was able to attend church some. The last service he attended he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said I AM THINKING ABOUT HOME… WILL YOU HAVE ME A GOOD FUNERAL? I answered the best!
The BEATLES HAD A SONG: WHEN I GET HOME… The song was about getting to go home to see their girlfriends. It started: “WHOA, WHOA, I GOT A WHOLE LOT OF THINGS TO TELL HER WHEN I GET HOME.” It went on to say: Come on get out of my way, ‘cause I’m going to see my baby today. I got a whole lot of things I gotta say…
My older brother had been in Germany and Vietnam. He wrote a letter home. Charles said: Mom, in 73 days, 18 hours, and 36 minutes I will be home. He said mom will you have meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn bread and banana pudding. As the day drew near, mom would practice the meal to feed her soldier boy when he came home from Vietnam.
LET US TALK ABOUT SEEDS AND FRUIT.
We can not always believe what some people say. Let me first start with a promise from God. I have recently heard an invalid idea. The people were well intentioned but was very Biblically incorrect. Their statement was that the seasons will not be recognizable in the end times. Seems some are teaching that one of the signs of the second coming of Jesus will be the inability to recognize the changes in the earth’s seasons. Let us find great assurance in God’s word.
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
We have a divine promise as long as earth lasts there will be seasons of planting and harvesting. There will be times of hot and cold. There will be spring, summer, fall and winter. We have this confidence that day and night will never cease. SEEDS PLANTED WILL BE LIFE…
COULD THE CALL OF GOD UNDERSTAND THE GREAT ROLE OF A MOTHER? IF IT IS MOTHER’S DAY I GIVE EVERY MOTHER A RED PLASTIC CUP… (This illustration works on father’s day or any day.) THE CUP TODAY WILL SYMBOLIZE A HUMAN LIFE. AN EMPTY CUP IS ALMOST USELESS. It is not the value of the cup rather what will the cup hold?
I personally am using a red cup. The cup is the person. My opinion is every living being needs THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST to be fulfilled. Every living person but two had a mother… (Except ADAM and EVE.) Eve is the first mother. All human seed comes through ADAM and EVE)
Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
The cup may seem like a little start. An apple seed could grow into a tree and feed many, but it started in small cup.
WHAT IS THE GREATEST NEED IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY? WE NEED GODLY LEADERSHIP? WE NEED PREACHERS WITH THE HEART OF JESUS? WE NEED SCHOOL TEACHERS TO BE MORAL COMPASSES? THE GREATEST CALL OF GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE OFFICE OF A MOTHER.
God put something in a little girl’s heart, as she holds and loves the little baby doll. Our current society rarely stresses how important being a GODLY MOTHER IS. If the mothers are not faithful to attend church? If mothers don’t read and study the Bible? If mothers use prayer as a SPARE TIRE? If mothers refuse to raise their children in the fear of God society will suffer greatly. THERE IS NO GREATER CALL THAN A GOD COMMITTED MOTHER.
NEXT I HAVE A BAGGIE FILLED WITH POTTING SOIL FOR EACH PERSON… GREAT IS THE YIELD OF A FERTILE FIELD. THE DIRT REPRESENTS YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
If this mother’s day I call mothers to the altar, if this is just an event I call each person to the altar. I have a red table cloth over the baggies with a cup of potting soil. I do not give the bags of dirt, I require each person to exert effort to claim their bag of dirt.
Explain the potential in this bag of dirt. This could feed the family if we grow the right seed. The dirt could be useless dirt. Of course you could be the first to throw your dirt at someone else. Please understand if you throw your dirt, you are the one losing ground. The only difference in a molehill and a mountain is how much dirt there is?
Understand and don’t get angry, but your child and friends are the dirt. Each bag of dirt has a potential but someone has to invest time, talent, energy and patience to develop the potential of growth.
NOW COME WITH ME AND SEE THERE HAS TO BE WATER TO GROW LIFE. WATER IS A TYPE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Water is essential to all life. Remember in 1 Samuel 26:11-12, David steals King Saul’s cruise of water. Saul will die on the same hill with his sons.
THE SEED MUST DIE… SEEDS WILL NEVER BEAR FRUIT IN COMFORT ZONES… I HAVE SMALL BAGS OF MANY KINDS OF SEEDS… YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHATEVER SEEDS YOU HAVE… I give out a small bag of seeds.
John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
YOUR BAG OF SEEDS ARE RANDOM, YOU MUST PLANT WHAT YOU HAVE.
MUSTARD SEEDS… small but growing and supports life.
ACORNS… sickly oaks grow from sickly acorns.
FORGET ME NOTS…Are you too busy, too busy to take time to sow the seeds..
ROSES… maybe be red, but they have thorns.
SUNFLOWER… bright, joy, hope.
I put Cheerios for donut seeds.
We must more than love the plants we have to hate the weeds.
ALL GROWTH GROWS TOWARD THE LIGHT.
CONCLUSION: I HAVE A PAIR OF PRUNING SHEARS. AT THE RIGHT TIME THE MASTER GARDENER RESERVES THE RIGHTS TO CLIP AND PRUNE THE PLANT FOR A MORE HEALTHY FUTURE. PLUS YOU MUST ALSO REALIZE THE MASTER HAS THE RIGHT AT ANY TIME HE DESIRES TO CUT THE FLOWERS FOR HIS BOUQUET. Someday, we will travel the last mile of the way---- HOME AT LAST.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
(Illustrated lessons can be very powerful.
