I guess when they get like this, it reminds me of many church members that I know.
There are many mean people in the world, and at times we find some of them within the church. That is, they are unkind and vicious in the way they treat others!
Illus: They remind me of the story of President Bush and Saddam Hussein, who decided to settle the war once and for all. They sat down and decided to settle the whole dispute with one dog fight.
They would have 5 years to breed the best fighting dog in the world, and which ever dog won, that country would dominate the world.
Hussein found the biggest, meanest Doberman and Rottweiler female dogs in the world and bred them with the meanest Siberian wolves. They selected only the biggest and strongest puppy from the litter, and removed his siblings, which gave him all the milk.
After 5 years, they came up with the biggest, meanest dog the world had ever seen. It’s cage needed steel bars that were 5" thick and nobody could get near it.
When the day came for the dog fight, Bush showed up with a strange looking animal. It was a 9-foot-long Dachshund that some refer to as a “Weenie Dog!”
Everyone felt sorry for Bush because there was no way that this dog could possibly last 10 seconds with the Afghani dog.
When the cages were opened up, the Dachshund came out of it's cage and slowly waddled over towards Hussein’s dog. Hussein’s dog snarled and leaped out of its cage and charged the American Dachshund - but when it got close enough to bite, the Dachshund opened it's mouth and consumed Hussein’s dog in one bite. There was nothing left of his dog at all.
Hussein came up to Bush, shaking his head in disbelief. "We don't understand how this could have happened. We had our best people working for 5 years with the meanest Doberman and Rottweiler female dogs in the world and the biggest, meanest Siberian wolves."
"That's nothing," said Bush. "We had the best plastic surgeons working for 5 years to make that alligator look like a weenie dog."
Again, I remind you there are people within the church that are vicious. They look like Christians, but sometimes you can not help but wonder if they really are.
In Ephesians 4:32, the Word of God says, “And be ye kind one to another...”
This is something a lot of folks do not know a thing about. It is amazing how much unkindness and rudeness you will sometimes find among God’s people. They are vicious, and they enjoy inflicting as much sorrow as they can on others.
They literally enjoy making fools out of others. But nobody enjoys being made to look like a fool. I guess the reason most of us do not want others making fools of us is because we do a good job of it ourselves without the help of anyone. We all have done some very foolish things.
For example, we have done some things and afterward we asked ourselves, “WHAT WAS I THINKING OF WHEN I DID SUCH A FOOLISH THING?” We did these things because we were not thinking at all. If we were, we would not have done them.
Illus: When it comes to THINKING, have you noticed that women are very curious by nature? For example, you will be sitting in a restaurant eating a plate full of spaghetti, and your wife will say to you, "What are you thinking about?"
Now immediately every man knows this is a very important question and he had better answer it right if he wants to finish his meal. He certainly better not say, “I was thinking about that pretty red head over there!”
To him, the answer should be obvious to her. He is eating spaghetti and he is concentrating on how he can wrap that stuff around his fork without getting it all over his suit and tie!
Now, the obvious question here is: WHY DO WOMEN WANT TO KNOW WHAT WE ARE THINKING? Women are always thinking about many things.
For example, a man can go up to his wife and ask her what she is thinking about, and off the top of head she will say:
• "I'm thinking about the party we're having Saturday, and how I'm going to fix that chandelier in the front room so that people can walk around without hitting their heads.”
•“Also I'm thinking about my work schedule this week and whether or not I'm going to have time to do some of the things I need to do at home as well.”
•“I'm also wondering if it's too late to get tickets on a plane to go out of town for Christmas.”
•“And I'm thinking about getting a snack."
Not only is she thinking about something, she's thinking about four separate things. And now she wants to know what is going through your head.
The best way to keep a woman from constantly asking you what you are thinking, is to have a ready, pre-memorized answer for the times that she does ask. Fellows, you might want to jot down some of these thoughts for the next time she asks what are you thinking.
• If you want to look intelligent say, "I was wondering if there is actually life on other planets."
If you really want to impress her, when she asks you what are you thinking about, ask her some questions, such as:
• If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
• Instead of talking to your plants, if you yelled at them would they still grow? Would they end up troubled and insecure?
• Is there another word for synonym?
• Isn't is it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice"?
• When you open a bag of cotton balls, is the top one meant to be thrown away?
• Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all"?
• How do they report power outages on TV?
• What do you do when you see an endangered animal that is eating an endangered plant?
• What's another word for thesaurus?
• Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
• Why do people who know the least know it the loudest?
• If the funeral procession is at night, do folks drive with their headlights off?
• If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
• When it rains, why don't sheep shrink?
• Why is the word abbreviation so long?
• When companies ship Styrofoam, what do they pack it in?
• If you're cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right?
• Why do women always want to know what men are thinking?
The fact is, many of us have done a lot of foolish things without thinking.
• We have had people make fools of us
• We have made fools of ourselves
But every one of us are FOOLS in this life in one of two ways. For example, some are-
I. SATAN’S FOOLS
There are foolish people who will walk around saying, “There IS NO GOD!” Those who make these statements are the dumbest people on the face of the earth.
Illus: They remind me of a fellow named Mike, and his pregnant wife who live on a farm in a rural area in the west of England. No running water, no electricity, etc. One night, Mikes' wife begins to deliver a baby.
The local doctor is there in attendance. "What d'ya want me to do, Doctor?" "Hold the lantern, Mike. Here it comes!" The doctor delivers the child and holds it up for the proud father to see. The doctor said, "Mike, you're the proud father of a fine strapping boy."
But before he could get the words out of his mouth, he said, "Wait a minute. Hold the lantern, Mike." Soon the doctor delivers the next child. "You've a full set now, Mike. A beautiful baby daughter."
Again the Doctor cuts in, "Hold the lantern, Mike, Hold the lantern!" Soon the Doctor delivers a third child.
The doctor holds up the baby for Mike's inspection. But Mike is amazed and he says to the doctor, "Do you think it's the light that's attracting them?"
Listen, there are a lot of dumb people, but the dumbest person on this earth is the person who lives on this earth and says to himself and to others, “There is no God!”
There are TWO KINDS OF ATHEISTS that the Bible says are FOOLS!
(A) THE MOUTH FOOL (THE PROFESSING ATHEIST)
One of the ways you can tell a man is FOOLISH is by what comes out of his mouth.
People have DONE some very foolish things with their lives, but most of all they have SAID some dumb things. People’s mouths have gotten them in trouble more than anything else.
For example:
• The “Dixie Chicks” made unpatriotic remarks in a foreign country and it has cost them greatly
• On March 30, 2003, journalist Peter Arnett went on Iraqi television and made anti-American remarks. He has paid for those anti-American remarks dearly. After he made these remarks, we read - “NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett on Monday, saying it was wrong for him to give an interview with state-run Iraqi TV in which he said the American-led coalition's initial plan for the war had failed because of Iraq's resistance. Arnett called the interview a ''misjudgment'' and apologized.”
• Trent Lott made some racial slurs at Senator Strong Thurmond’s retirement party, and he paid for those remarks dearly in the political world.
• Tom Daschle made some remarks about the President in time of War, and also has paid for those remarks, and wonders if he will be able to win re-election because of them.
When will politicians and entertainers ever learn that when they open their mouths they had better be careful what words come out?
Illus: Someone said, “We can look at a person and we might wonder if they are a fool, but once they open their mouths they remove all doubt.”
But there are some it seems, who can not shut their mouths and they make fools of themselves. They just will not shut up!
Illus: Phil and Jill had been married for ten years, but now were in divorce court.
• The judge asked, "Phil, is it true that for the ten years of your marriage, you did not speak to Jill?"
• Phil replies, "Yes Judge, that is correct."
• "And how do you explain this unusual conduct?" the judge inquires.
• Phil replies, "I didn't want to interrupt her Your Honor."
But the most foolish thing that can come out of the mouth of a mortal is for them to say, “THERE IS NO GOD!”
WHY IS THAT THE MOST FOOLISH THING A PERSON CAN SAY?
Illus: Bill Gordon says, “Atheism is rationally ridiculous. The most anyone can claim about the non-existence of God is agnosticism - to say you don't know. But as soon as one takes the atheist's viewpoint, he opens himself and his philosophical system to a dilemma. No finite being can say there is no God, for outside the limits of his knowledge God may exist. To be an atheist one must claim to know everything. Of course this is one of the attributes that only God processes. Therefore, the only way one can prove God doesn't exist is to be God which is rationally ridiculous.”
A person that will go around and say, “There is no God”, shows their foolishness.
Illus: Joseph Addison said, "To be an atheist requires an infinitely greater measure of faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would deny." (Joseph Addison - Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 33.)
The atheists make fools of themselves constantly.
Illus: Heywood Broun said, "Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God." (Heywood Broun-Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 33.
The PROFESSING ATHEIST is considered to be the MOUTH FOOL, he goes around making these ridiculous statements, such as, “There is no God.”
But their is another kind of atheist that God considers to be a fool.
B. HEART FOOL (THE PRACTICING ATHEIST)
He does not go around proclaiming with his MOUTH that there is no God, BUT HE LIVES HIS LIFE AS IF THERE IS NO GOD.
By the life they live, their heart within is saying, “There is no God to govern my life. I do what I want to do, because I am my own God!”
Dear friend, one day you are going to find out that you can live your life as you want to, but you are going to stand before Almighty God and give account to Him for the way you lived it!
The PRACTICING ATHEIST is as much a fool as the PROFESSING ATHEIST, the only difference is that one talks like a fool and the other one lives like a fool.
We have looked at SATAN’S FOOLS, but now let’s look at the-
II. SAVIOR’S FOOLS
1 Cor. 4:9-10, we read, “For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.”
We all have had people make FOOLS of us. We all have made FOOLS of ourselves in serving Satan.
In some of these things we didn’t have a choice, but we can choose to be FOOLS FOR CHRIST!
WHO ARE THESE THAT ARE FOOLS FOR CHRIST SAKE?
A. THOSE WHO TRADE THIS EARTHLY LIFE FOR A HEAVENLY LIFE
Look at Mark 8:35, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
There are people who have become so attached to this world they are not willing to turn loose, even if it means they will go to a Christ-less eternity.
Illus: Remember Lot’s wife. God told them specifically that when they left Sodom they were not to look back. But when they were leaving, she loved that place so much, she had to look back and at least get one more glimpse of it. And the Bible says she turned into a pillar of salt.
This was a very salty region, and it seems that maybe God is saying, “Since you love this place so much, I’ll make you a permanent part of it.”
Remember the rich man that loved things in Luke 12. He wanted to build a bigger barn so he could store more of what this world has to offer. But the Lord spoke harsh words to him.
Look at Luke 12:20, we read, “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?”
It is bad when someone calls us a fool, but it is worse when God calls a man a fool. When God calls him a fool, that is exactly what he is. But when a man is willing to trade what the world has, for heavenly things, he is wise.
We see THOSE WHO TRADE THIS EARTHLY LIFE FOR THE HEAVENLY LIFE, and-
B. THOSE WHO BEAR THE SHAME AS WELL AS THE NAME
Look at Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
There are some folks that would like to accept the Lord, but it is NOT THINGS that hold them back, IT IS PEOPLE.
They know if they accept the Lord it is going to cost them some SHAME, and they are not willing to bear the shame.
Conclusion:
Lost person, I want to ask you something. What is in your life that you are willing to die and spend eternity in hell for? IS IT SOMETHING or is it SOMEONE?
We are all a fools of some kind.
I. SATAN’S FOOLS (Psalm 14:1)
II. SAVIOR’S FOOLS (1 Cor. 4:9-10)
